Fun Fact of the Week: Top 5 Quests of All Time
This week, the fun fact section of the Quest quests for a quest! Let us embark to find the ultimate striving goal of all time!
The Quest for Circumnavigation
The first recorded Circumnavigation of the globe was accomplished by one Mr. Ferdinand Magellan
So it turns out that the story that Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe is a bit of a myth. Magellan died on the 27 of April, 1521, while his ship, the Nao Victoria, returned to Spain in 1522. Instead, only 18 out of the original ~270 crew who set off on the journey ended up completing it. The only one who left a written account was Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian guy who is so unremarkable that I can’t find a single interesting fact about him other than that he made the trip and wrote a book about it.
Although the clout of this quest is massive, I personally would not wish to undertake it, as being stuck on a 60 foot long ship for over two years surrounded by unbathed Spanish men does not sound pleasant to me. 3/10 for that quest. Many points deducted for colonialism and murder.
The Quest for the First Unassisted Trek Across Antarctica
Colin O’Brady was the first person to cross Antarctica. . . sort of. Although being widely credited with the achievement in 2019, this Portland raised explorer was the first person to travel from one ‘coastline’ (covered in ice, so about 100 miles further inland than other attempts) to the pole, to another ‘coastline.’ His route across the unexplored vast stretches of Antarctica followed flattened tracks with marker poles about ⅓ of the time. Though he did complete an incredibly difficult feat, his victory was only “a first in only a very limited way,” as described by the president of the International Polar Guides Association.
For now, it seems like the quest of “The Unassisted Trek Across Antarctica” remains open to any other aspiring explorers. Although it seems like a quest for what exactly the definition of that achievement is might be more important.
A cool quest which is impressive, but like. . . 4/10 for winning on a technicality.
The Quest for the Holy Grail
Definitely a banger when it was first released, but in the centuries since the idea dropped it has been so overused as to be banal. However, one must give this quest credit for being so versatile: countless books, movies, games, and more have been published off of this narrative. This story is so classic that it might be considered to be the quest of Western literature. For that alone, I give it a 6/10. For the Monty Python Movie, I give it a 8/10
The Quest for Knowledge in The Magic School Bus
We all have felt/feel this way in Hum Conference every time our conferences run out of things to say. We feel that our collective quest for knowledge has hit a lull, and we yearn desperately for someone to provide any modicum of intellectual value to our conversation. We fantasize about the perfect class, where learning would never be a challenge, the teacher is passionate, and our endless thirst for knowledge would be impossibly quenched. Luckily, in 1986 Jonna Cole and Bruce Degen created the perfect solution for you. Although it remains to be seen if “The Magic School Bus: At the Walls of Uruk”, or “The Magic School Bus: Inside a Research Reactor” will be produced anytime soon, Ms. Frizzle and crew teach us how to learn and have fun while doing it in a 10/10 quest for knowledge.
The Queme Quests of the Quest
The Quirky Quests of the Quest have multiple advantages over the other entries in this list. Primarily, the Quest’s Quality Quests are multiplicitous; if you don’t like one of the Quest’s Quintessential Quests, you can just go to another edition and find another. Additionally, they’re a little more attainable than the other entries on this list, and yet, the honor among Reedies is just as, if not higher. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is that compared to the other Quests featured here today, the Quest’s Quotidian Quazi-Quixotic Quests don’t take themselves too seriously. 100/10.