Riddling Sphinx: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Mirror Mask|Mirrormask]]'' has gryphons and sphinxes, which are similar catlike creatures with human heads, but mixes up their properties. In the film, a gryphon guards the area known as Giants Orbiting, requiring Helena answer the classic Riddle (she succeeds by giving a literal answer) and stump him in return (she gives him something unsolvable and sneaks off while he's thinking about it). Meanwhile, the 'sphinxes' are ravenous beasts which speak seldom and pounce on anyone who seems vulnerable.

* In ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Harry Potter]]'', Harry encounters a sphinx in the hedge maze and has to answer a riddle in order to pass by it safely; however, she does tell Harry that if he decides not to give an answer and just retreat, she won't stop him. She's also generous enough to repeat the riddle a second time when he needs to listen to it closer. ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'' states this as the reason the sphinx is classed as a beast rather than a being, as it only speaks in riddles and puzzles and reacts violently if given the wrong answer.

* ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians]]'': When the half-bloods meet a sphinx in the Labyrinth in ''Battle of the Labyrinth'', it tries to administer a multiple-choice standardized test, with mundane trivia questions. Annabeth, who was expecting a riddle that would test her cleverness, is not amused.

* The Southern Oracle in ''[[The Neverending Story (novel)|The Neverending Story]]'' is protected by two sphinxes who petrify anyone who fails to answer their riddles.

* This is a standard theme for sphinxes in ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'':

** The original sphinx, [http://magiccards.info/lg/en/199.html Petra Sphinx], had players guess the top card of their libraries. This same guessing game was also used for [http://magiccards.info/cmd/en/42.html Conundrum Sphinx].

** The sphinx depicted is [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Guardian_Sphinx Guardian Sphinx], which has a slightly similar "return monsters to the hand" effect; in the video game ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008]]'', the player has to solve Duel Puzzles with the Sphinx as their opponent.

* ''[[Oedipus the King]]'' is the [[Trope Maker]], making this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]].

* ''[[Wario Master of Disguise]]'' has a sphinx as the boss of the third level. It asks you a series of questions, and if you answer them wrong, it kills you.

* ''[[Fantasy Quest]]'': A Sphinx leaps into your path and asks you a riddle. Unless you're playing the original, console game, you get to choose your answer from a list, so this is one of the game's easiest portions.

** It shows up in several other kingdoms after you beat the main storyline, with a few better ones.

* ''[[Gastrophobia]]'' features a sphinx who is repeatedly humiliated because she only knows [[Riddle of the Sphinx|the one riddle]], and [http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-09 everyone], even [http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-03-06 the little kid], knows the answer already.

* The party of ''[[Nodwick]]'' encounters a riddling sphinx in a dungeon. [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|They bribe it to let them pass]], even though [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|Nodwick]] knew the answer.

* The protagonist in ''[[Mixed Myth]]'' runs afoul of a sphinx early on in the story. The answer she gives sounds like it ''should'' be right, which causes the sphinx to realize that it's been so long since someone got it right that she's forgotten what the right answer is, so they'll have to head back to her home to check the answer (our heroine is wrong, but gets points for creativity, which lets her off the hook since she managed to endear herself to the sphinx on the journey).

* In an episode of ''[[Superfriends]]'', the sphinx asked Batman and Robin, "What builds up castles and tears down mountains, makes some men blind and helps others to see?" The answer was "sand". The sphinx was a [[Sore Loser]] and attacked them anyway, but they quickly defeated it.

* In ''[[Sabrina the Animated Series]]'', a sphinx asks Sabrina the [[Riddle of the Sphinx]]. Sabrina answers "Man." Unfortunately, as it turns out, there's a magical nine-legged creature that fits the riddle a bit more literally.

* In an episode of Disney's ''[[Hercules (1997 film)||Hercules]]'', the Sphinx is a quizmaster, voiced by game show host Wink Martindale. His riddle was "What does a man do standing up, a woman sitting down, and a dog on three legs?" The answer is {{spoiler|shake hands}}.<ref>This is a reference to the induction ceremony for the [[wikipedia:Ancient Order of Turtles|Turtle Club]], a real-life [[Brotherhood of Funny Hats]], where the inductee is given a series of supposedly lewd riddles and has to give the correct, family-friendly answer to each one.</ref>

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[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]