Who Is The Knave?

Logic Level 2

In a magical land there are three different types of people:

  • The Knights (who always tell the truth),
  • The Knaves (who always lie),
  • The Jesters (who do both),

You go to this magical land and meet 3 people you know to be a Knave, a Jester and a Knight. Each of them made one of the following distinct claims:

Person 1 : I am a Knight.
Person 2 : I am a Jester.
Person 3 : I am a Knave.

Who is the Knave?

Person 1 Person 2 Person 3

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Jenna Turner by Jenna Turner , 18, United Kingdom

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6 solutions

Aastrid Bacchus
Jul 8, 2016

Relevant wiki: Truth-Tellers and Liars

Knights always tell the truth, so Person 1 is the knight.

Knaves always lie, so the Knave must be Person 2 (not Person 3).

11 Helpful 1 Interesting 1 Brilliant 1 Confused
Steven Maggard
Jul 10, 2016

Only the Jester could say he is a knave, so you know the knave has to have made one of the first two statements. The knight cannot say he is a jester, but the knave can. Thus, the knave made the second statement.

5 Helpful 1 Interesting 2 Brilliant 0 Confused

Knights don't lie so it can't be statement 1. The knight is who says they are a knight.

Than you just have to find who says they are a jester, because that means they are a knave lying

4 Helpful 1 Interesting 1 Brilliant 0 Confused

Any of the three could have made statement 1. Only the Jester or Knave could make statement 2. Only the Jester could make statement 3.

3 must be the Jester, which means 2 must be the Knave, and you can ignore statement 1.

Brian Egedy - 4 years, 11 months ago
Peter Macgregor
Jul 12, 2016

Let's think about the KNIGHT first. He always tells the truth, so he can make neither of statements two and three. So the KNIGHT must make statement ONE.

Now let us think about the KNAVE. Only statements two and three are left for him. He always lies so he cannot make statement three. So the KNAVE makes statement TWO.

For completeness note that the JESTER makes statement THREE, and in this case he is lying.

2 Helpful 1 Interesting 1 Brilliant 0 Confused
Saya Suka
Feb 9, 2021

Knights are the serious sorts, they won't ever claim to be anything other than who they are. This is Person 1, a Knight truthfully claiming to be knight.

Knaves are the mischievous bunch, they will distort as many truths as they can. This is Person 2, a knave deceptively claiming to be Jester.

The leave us with a Jester who chose to be deceptive by claiming to be a knave.

Answer : Person 2.

0 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused
Diana Bradish
Apr 29, 2020

All three types can say that they’re Knights, but only the Knaves and Jesters can say that they’re Jesters. Only Jesters can say that they’re Knaves, because Knaves can NEVER ever speak the truth and say that they’re Knaves, and Knights can NEVER ever lie and say that they’re Knaves when they’re not.

0 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused

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