Castle Daventry

Castle Daventry is the home of King Graham and his family, and the administrative center of the Kingdom of Daventry. The castle located in the middle of the kingdom of Daventry near the eastern Great Mountains, just south of Lake Maylie. Overlooking the town of Daventry, it was built (or perhaps renovated) by King Edward the Benevolent as a gift to his bride, Queen Maylie. Although it was apparently rebuilt in the same location as the previous Castle Daventry as the moat predates King Edward's reign. The castle is also known as King Edward's castle. Edward later passed the castle to his favorite knight, Sir Graham due to having no blood heir.

Description
The castle is protected from potential conquerors by thick stone walls and is surrounded by a moat infested by alligators and moat monsters with a taste for human flesh. the moat monsters were first established in the castle's moat as an additional line of defense by an early king of Daventry. Statues of lions grace the front gate, acting as silent guardians. A few steps lead up to the castle gate, which is protected by two large doors and a portcullis. Beautiful urns and a small garden adorn the front of the castle. The castle walls are carpeted with a thick tangle of vine growing out of the urns. Along the top of the half of the walls, banners and flags wave gently in the wind. Behind the castle lies a well-tended vegetable garden (containing carrots). Gate wardens keep vigil from the watchtower near the gates from a guard window thirty feet up the wall.

Castle gardens
The castle garden is a grove with a small pond in the center. Boulders, bushes, and trees are scattered around the edge of the pond.

Courtyard and foyer
Beyond the front gate is the courtyard of the castle. The area is usually filled with the Ladies and Lords of the castle. A tiled marble path leads between grass lawns. The Royal Stables are located to one side. The marble path leads from the gate to the main steps of the keep. At the top of the steps are massive doors which lead into the antechamber, a long marble hall lined with suits of armor. An oil lamp hangs from the ceiling. On the other side of the foyer and around the corner is the set of double doors that leads into the great hall of the castle. Above the doors is the upper balcony, looking down into the hallway. The castle's main staircase leads down from the balcony into the hall. The stairs are made of gray marble like the rest of the hall.

Great Hall (King's Chamber)
The Great Hall, the King's Chamber is the first of the castle's two throne rooms located on the western side of the castle. At the far end of the great hall are the thrones of Daventry. Both thrones were ornamental wooden chairs that were well polished and well worn (and plain). Not a single jewel or trace of gilt marred the stark woodenness of the thrones. For ceremonies and formal occasions, a plain wooden chair was set up for the princess Rosella, next to the queen's throne. The chair was in storage the rest of the time.

Near the entrance to the hall are large tables where citizens and courtiers ate at official dinners. Along one side of the room runs the great gallery, built of dark wood oiled to a soft luster and containing three long ranks of benches, padded and upholstered with dark purple velvet. It is here where knights and their ladies would sit during important assemblages. Another series of seats runs along the other side of the room. Between the two sets, the nobles and citizens of the kingdom could view daily trials and court proceedings of the Kingdom. At the head of the hall, was a raised marble dais, upon which were set the wooden and padded thrones of Daventry's king and queen, flanked by banners embroidered with the kingdom's venerable crest. Though at times only the king's throne was there. . Sometimes a third padded seat was brought into the room known as the Judgment Seat, where judgment would take place after every new moon. To the right of the dais, set into a shallow niche, hung Merlin's Mirror, one of the irreplaceable treasures of Daventry, for it is a magic mirror, with the power to forsee the future and show events occurring in faraway places. , A side door leading to the castle living quarters was located on the wall to the left of the thrones.

The ceiling soared a hundred feet overhead. It consisted of the impressive ribbed vaults that supported the roof of the great hall. From them hung the banners and colors of Daventry's noble families and the flags and colors of foreign lands friendly to Daventry.

At times of distress or war, the thrones may be moved away from the wall at the far end of the great hall, and the council table was set up. It was a small brightly polished table surrounded by mahogany chairs. It is roughly circular, having been cut from the trunk of a single tree. The tree rings show through the polish and candle wax on the table's surface. The table was where the King's inner council sat when they needed to meet. During times of war it was used for war councils.

Throne Room
The second is the drafty, smaller Throne Room, which housed the official throne, the throne that King Edward once used in the Great Hall, it was made of solid gold, and stone inlaid with gold and gems, and is used mainly for coronation ceremonies. The throne was located on a small dais against the northern wall. Windows lie high on the walls on both sides, allowing light to stream in. At some point before the Cataclysm the king and queen's thrones had been moved to the room, and the Merlin's Mirror was placed on the wall to the right of the thrones, above a small table. Four pillars hold up the ceiling.

Dining Hall
A hallway on the westside of the Throne Room leads off to dining hall. The Royal Family of daventry would often have feasts in castle. Two paintings hung on the wall in the banquet hall including one of King Graham, and the other of Queen Valanice. Behind King Graham's painting was hidden a key that unlocked a chamber to a teleportation device in the Old Castlekeep of Daventry, the ruins of a much older castle in Daventry.

Royal apartments
The side door from the Great Hall opens into a corridor leading to the royal apartments. A portrait of King Edward hangs in the corridor, along with the portraits of many of the other kings and their wives. A passage in the hall leads to the main staircase (a circular staircase) leading from heart of the castle up into the castle's living quarters.

The upper floor of Daventry Castle had a hallway with doors leading to dusty rooms that were locked part of the year. They were too cold and drafty to live in during the winter, even with fireplaces and shutters. The castle staff would air them out for summer living. One locked door leads to a circular staircase which leads up to the tallest parapet of the castle.

Some of the rooms contained diplomatic quarters were people visiting the kingdom would stay.

Royal Library
The Royal Library was off one of the hallways near the royal apartments. When Alexander returned to Daventry, he placed Manannan's Magic Map into the safe keeping of the Royal Library of Daventry. The library of Daventry Castle holds many fine books, from history of Daventry to best methods for defeating dragons. A small room containing housekeeping supplies was located just past the library down the hall, and up a small flight of steps.

Hidden passages
Secret tunnels worm their ways beneath the castle in a labyrinth of passages not totally mapped. It is said that there are magical windows at the end of some of those passageways that allow one to be teleported immediately to other parts of the world. A fireplace in the smaller Throne Room dining hall lead into one such secret passage. The passage lead to an aqueduct connected to a river near Connor's Village.

Other Locations
The castle also includes a kennel were wolfhounds are raised. Rosella once accidently let Valanice's prize wolfhound out one night, and a few weeks later mongrel puppies were born. Valanice had been furious.. The kitchens serve the meals for the castle. The dungeon is where prisoners are kept. The Royal Stables of Daventry holds the Royal Family's horses. The castle also contains a rose garden.

The castle was refurbished not long after the events of KQ5.



Geography
Castle Daventry is usually located in a valley within the Kingdom of Daventry. Sometime between 25 GC or during the Cataclysm a mountain had risen beneath the castle forms cliffs around the castle, and a waterfall flowing from the moats above. It seems that during the cataclysm that all lands and kingdoms to the west of Daventry mysteriously vanished. The damage caused by the cataclysm blocked many of the castle's passage ways, including the gate that leads into the smaller Throne Room. This mirrors the events of the previous disaster in Daventry when the three-headed dragon rampaged through the lands. At the time, great earthquakes changed the landscape destroying landmarks and creating others, the Great Tear was formed. During that time Serenia had mysteriously shifted somewhere else, leaving the Great Mountains along the northern edge of the continent (only to reappear later). As Derek Karlavaegen says the world is always reinventing itself.

While it still had a moat, as it rested on top of a high mountain with cliffs on each side, the moat did not surround the entire castle, and flowed under one of the castle's gates. It appears that at the time of the cataclysm Graham was then using the smaller throne room rather than the Great Hall (where the great gallery was located). Because no niche existed in the small throne room (as it was in the Great Hall), the Magic Mirror was placed on the same wall as the royal thrones just above a small table.

Castle Daventry in the Unofficial Games
In KQ2 (AGDI) Edward's Castle Daventry is still in use in its previous location after the events of MOE according to its timeline. One of the images of the future shows Connor walking through the court yard with Graham, up the steps into the Great Hall, where he is to be told he is to become the next king of Daventry.

In King's Quest ZZT series Castle Daventry's hallways more or less correspond to the hallways seen in King's Quest 1. In King's Quest ZZT a passage in the southern wall of the throne room leads to a balcony. The entrance hallway to the Throne room is L-shaped. In King's Quest ZZT 2, passages in the western wall of the throne room lead to the kitchens (northern passage), and the war room (southern passage). There are also two passages near the entrance to the throne room which lead to Alexander and Rosella's bedrooms. The entrance hall has a second passage heading opposite direction of the throne room, which opens up into another hall heading north, which leads into more rooms of the castle.

Trivia

 * The castle's architectural appearance and layout has varied throughout the series (including the various remakes and ports of the original King's Quest and King's Quest V) and some variances within the novels.
 * The King's Quest Companion speaks of secret passages leading to portals to other parts of the world being hidden under the castle. Similarly, a secret passage under the Old Castle Keep of Daventry also leads to a portal that can be used to reach other parts of the world (once similar portals are discovered elsewhere).
 * Graham has a chessboard in his study.
 * The castle latrines are said to emit a horrible smell during the heat of the high summer.
 * Brightly colored frescoes are painted on some of the walls in the castle.

Quest for the Crown
At the time of Quest for the Crown the castle was known as King Edward's castle.

In the original King's Quest, Graham can actually walk behind the castle. He can head south from the gardens to reach the castle wall.

To Heir is Human
It is also known as the Castle of Daventry in the KQ3 hintbook.

See No Weevil
At the time of See No Weevil, the thrones were moved away from the far wall of Great Hall (though still within the far end of the hall). The area behind the thrones was used as the council hall, and the council table was kept there. In most other sources, the thrones are set against the wall on a dais.

Mask of Eternity
The Castle Daventry shown and mentioned throughout King's Quest games (up to King's Quest 7) and books is intended to be the same castle. Additionally according to Mark Seibert, MOE's producer, the Castle Daventry seen in KQ8 was intended to be the same castle from the previous games. According to Mark Seibert;
 * "Yes, the castle entered through the passageway behind the waterfall is Castle Daventry. The reason you don't see much of it is that it was damaged in the opening scene. That is why you can only go so far in before you find blocked passageways. We wanted to originally let you explore the entire castle, find the royal family turned to stone, etc, etc, but as you know, things had to be cut and this was one of the many things that was easy to have a story reason why not to do it."-Mark Seibert.

According to Roberta Williams;
 * Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth." -Roberta Williams, Talkspot Interview, part 1 (1:20:40 to 1:59:58)

However that version of the castle has inconsistencies with previous material, including geography, and architecture. It's location is inconsistent with the fact that the Castle Daventry was located in a meadow within a valley according to KQ1, KQ3, and KQ5, rather than on top of a mountain as it is in MOE.

Another interesting tidbit is that throne room in the game shows the mirror on the back wall next to the thrones, whereas in earlier games it was in a nitch on the side wall. Its an interesting fact though that in a piece of artwork in the King's Quest Companion, actually supports the Throne Room seen in Mask of Eternity, which also shows the mirror in a similar location to the right of the throne, and the thrones on a small dais.

Also knowing that Castle Daventry has two throne rooms (according to King's Quest: The Floating Castle) can be used to explain away the throne room issues, as it can be assumed that in earlier games you see the Great Hall, and in MOE you see the smaller Throne Room. The geography issue can be explained by using Derek Karlavaegen's explanation that the world is always in flux, and lands appear and disappear at times, and physical changes happen to the land. If that was the case then a mountain rose beneath Castle Daventry, and all lands west of the castle disappeared or shifted west(similar to how land of Serenia had "disappeared or shifted north" during the time of KQ3). Additionally its possible that castle Daventry was moved through magical means to its new location (its not the first time Castle Daventry was moved by magic, as KQ5 is an an example).

The King's Quest Companion speaks of secret passages lying under the castle, one such passage is seen in KQ8. This implies that the castle is most likely still in its original location. Additionally its possible that changes to castle's location might have occurred during the period of KQ7 as Rosella appears in the introduction singing on mountain at the top of cliffs with a waterfall. This may be near the castle's garden, where she talked to Valanice about marriage. This may be similar to the waterfall seen coming from the mountain into the lake in MOE (the one that leads into the castle). However in KQ7 these two locations seem to be distinctively different. An outcrop hangs perilously over the waterfall, which leads to a path which passes under two parallel rows of trees. The area seems largely wide open otherwise (with no discernable castle behind her, other than the one she imagines briefly in the clouds). There are also a few shots of her looking back into the valley down on the forests below and the lands beyond, but there is no noticeable signs of civilization.

Also it may be important to point out that the picture of the Castle Daventry as seen in the overworld map of all the zones in KQ8 shows the rest of the castle. More of the castle than the loading screen picture(above) shows. It shows that a moat surrounds most of the castle.