Daventry

Daventry can refer to several things: Properly, it's the name of the Kingdom of Daventry, but the name can be also used to refer to the whole planet of King's Quest, World of Daventry, it can also refer to Castle Daventry, Daventry Town not far from from the castle, and in some cases its an alternate title for the continent of Serenia.

Kingdom of Daventry
Daventry proper, is a kingdom, on the continent of Serenia.

It was founded about 4000 years after the withdrawal at (0 DC) (according to the unofficial KQ9 timeline), by the immortal Legenimor (according to KQ2 (AGDI)). If we reconcile both informations, immortal Legenimor ruled for about 600 years before giving up his immortality.

However, the official source material says that the kingdom of Daventry has been around for thousands of years, which implies it has been around much longer than the approximately 1600 years that the KQIX timeline gives the kingdom. It is four hundred and eighty-seven heptans-square in size. Magical beings, such as Elves, Fairies, and Witches roam the land. The Kingdom was held strong and rich with the help of the three magical treasures: The Magic Mirror, the Magic Shield and the Magic Chest. It was met with much disaster when King Edward the Benevolent lost them, and Graham, a knight at that time, had to retrieve them before King Edward died, so he would be named king. At the time Graham was looking for the treaures the land was almost completely surrounded by containment barriers, which prevented travel outside the kingdom bending the edges of the kindom back on itself. It can be assumed that the return of the treasures broke spells creating the barriers. River Fools and Merelee River are two rivers that pass through the kingdom. Lake Maylie lies to the north of the castle, close to the castle walls. During Graham's reign other disasters befell Daventry, but they were healed. One of the children born to Graham and Valanice was stolen from his cradle while in the castle daventry nursery which lies near Lake Maylie and didn't return home for almost 18 years, when the kingdom was ravaged by a three-headed Dragon. Daventry at the time was surrounded by many stone walls built by other kingdoms to prevent the dragon from leaving daventry and ravaging their lands, and the Great Tear ripped Castle Davantry from its foundations and settled it back on the ground unscathed(though the tear left the moat drained). Then the castle and the Royal family, with the exception of Graham, were minimized by Mordack in order for him to try to break the spell on his brother Manannan. Years later, almost every person in Daventry turned into stone when the Mask of Eternity was broken, but they were healed by Connor.

Daventry is bordered on the north and the east by the Great Mountains, which separate Daventry from the land of Serenia to the north, and the Kingdom of Sorrow to the east. Also beyond Daventry's borders lie the Swamp, and the Old Wood. Daventry has at least 1, possibly 2 main population centers. Though both village and town of daventry could be the same location, its unclear in the novels. The community that Connor, Julia, Sarah and others reside in is likely another village, making 3 possible towns total.

Village of Daventry
It was a village that lies just outside the main gates of Daventry Castle, seen in the book "Kingdom of Sorrow". It may be the same place as Daventry Town, but the books are unclear.

Daventry Town
AKA Town of Daventry was seen in See No Weevil. It could be another name for the Village of Daventry, but the books are unclear. It is the town where most of the citizens of Daventry live. It is located not far from Castle Daventry. A road lead from old castle to the town. Old Sam the Butcher, Hrothgar, Peter the Smith, Hesthia, Benjamin, Betony and Benard live there. Around the town is a large farming community(whose lands the weevils found irresistable once)).

The town was south of the Castle between the castle and Merelee river, and daventry fair grounds lay over a bridge that crossed the river.

In the map of daventry and the lands around as shown in MOE shows Daventry to have apparently two towns just below the hill that the new castle was built on (though the towns are shown to be much larger than can be seen in the game itself). The two parts could be the village, and town of daventry, if the old castle keep is meant to be the same castle from King's Quest 1-6. If that is the case then it means the old Castle, Daventry town, and village of Daventry are near the secret entrance to the new Castle Daventry hidden behind a great waterfall to the south, and it ends at the borders of hill lands and the Old Woods. Though this leaves major inconsistances between the maps of MOE and the earlier King's Quest games geography, however. For example the location of Lake Maylie and many other lakes from KQ1 are completely missing in MOE's map.

King's Quest Companion places Old Castle Daventry to be inland to the east near the eastern Great Mountains, if the village and town are located there then there really are no direct inconsistancies with previous games..

Connor's Village
An area just outside of Davantry(meaning the castle most likely), though apparently part of the Kingdom of Daventry. The town in which Conner, Sarah, and others live in. The community is made up of mostly farmers. A grinding mill in the center of the community is for the processing of grain. Connor lives here where it's less populated and nearer trade with hunters, as he is a tanner.

It may be the same as the village of Daventry due to its proximity to old castle keep(if the castle keep is the same castle from KQ 1-7). It most likely larger by the time of KQ8. If so its larger at that time since it surrounds what's left of the old castle. However the ruins probabaly are a much older castle predating even Edward's Castle Daventry, so its likely this is the 2nd-3rd known town in the kingdom of Daventry.

However since its supposed to be a less populated farming community, its probably a different village altogether since the town from the books was supposed to be the main population center in daventry. If its a different village it would make the ruins its near a much older castle that predates even King Edward's castle.

Additionally it should be noted that according to the information in the MOE manual, as well as facts about the continent established in the King's Quest Companion, that the map is actually turned to be alligned with the east and west, rather than north and south, the swamp that is located to the left and below the town of daventry on the map, is actually located to the north of Daventry, with the Underground Realm of the Gnomes north of it, and the rest of the lands shown still further north(possibly part of the Great Mountains). New castle Daventry is actually located to the south of the town of daventry. The ocean shown to the top of the map is actually located a bit farther the west of Daventry.

The map of daventry as seen in the magic map seems to be mis-alligned as well and doesn't appear to match up with the load screen map exactly.

Castle Daventry
Castle Daventry is where the King and his family lives. The three treasures of Daventry were kept there. It was the castle seen throughout most of the series.

New Castle Daventry
New Castle Daventry was built upon a mountain in southwestern daventry overlooking the shores of the western sea. It is simply called Castle Daventry by the inhabitants of the land as it appears to be the current seat of power. The royal family moved to it at some point in between King's Quest 7 and 8, for some unknown reason.

It rests on top of a high mountain with cliffs on each side, foregoing the moat which was a classic design structure in former castles of Daventry. The main hall lacked the benches used by court nobles. No alcove was built along the right wall to house the mirror (as it was in Edward's castle) but rather the mirror is on the same wall as the royal thrones just above a small table. A hallway that lead off from the left wall of the throne room lead to a banquet hall. Inside the banquet hall was a fireplace with a hidden passage that lead to the a river, near Connor's village. Two paintings hung on the wall in the banquet hall including one of King Graham, and the other of Queen Valanice.

It is possible that the new castle was only a retreat, and that Edward's castle Daventry was still in use most of the time of the year. In which case it would mean that the mirror is moved to whichever castle the family is currently staying at. However this is unlikely since the new castle is known simply as "Castle Daventry" according to the signs and people living around it, implying that it is the only currently used castle daventry, and that Edward's castle is no longer used.

Its unknown but it may be possible that the "new castle" was intended by the designers to be the the same castle from previous king's quest games, even if its physically, and locationally inconsistant with all previous versions of the castle.

Old Castlekeep of Daventry
In KQ8 there is an Old Castle Keep of Daventry which may be a much older castle ruins that even predates the castle that Graham and Valanice lived in during King's Quest 1-7. This may be highly likely since on Derek Karlaevaegen's map of the continent of daventry he places the castle much farther in-land closer to the eastern great mountains. If the ruins is another castle that predates Edward's castle it may explain why it has traps, a strange magical device, and a magical teleportation square hidden within its ruins.

However its also possible that the games designers may have intended the old ruins to be the same castle daventry that the royal family lived in during King's Quest 1-7. If this is the case they have since moved out of the old Castle Daventry which appears to have fallen into ruin by the time of KQ8. They moved moved into a newer castle built upon a mountain, near the western sea. Its not easy to tell when the royal family moved into the newer castle. It is likely after KQ6, as the throne room in that game was roughly the same as the throne room seen throughout the previous games, though by that time it appeared to be covered in gold. It would appear that after the events of KQ4 that the castle was renovated due to the by the Three-Headed Dragon, and made a bit larger as seen in KQ5, as well as the throne room being more decorated at the time of KQ6. Mordack shrunk the castle and fit it ina bottle in order to capture the royal family.

It was implied in See No Weevil that the moat and main gate of castle daventry faced the Town of Daventry, and that the town and Merilee river was located south of the castle. However if the old castlekeep is the same castle, it seems that MOE turned the moat and gate of old daventry in the opposite direction from the town, towards a barrier mountain range(though its most likely a gameplay mechanic and its not to scale). So there could be an issue here. There is apparently also more than one entrance into walls of Castle Daventry that existed at one time, and all that's left is the main keep, and its one entrance (which itself is crumbling). It seems as if most of the moat that once surrounded the castle has dried up by the time of KQ8 except for the moat at the front of the castle. So its likely that if the world was seen to scale that more of the village of daventry would surround the castle to the south of the keep's gate. Indeed the world map of MOE shows that the town is much bigger than what can be visited in the game itself.

The river and lake seen in KQ8 could possibly be a diverted river fools(which now connects to Lake Maylie) though it could be any number of other rivers in Daventry, and again its another scale issue. Though River Fools is supposed to be more dangerous than the trickle seen in the game. Also it appears the river is probably man-made anyways since it originates from an aquaduct, near the new castle, it could still be diverted into Lake Maylie. However its possible that Lake Maylie dried up by the time of MOE, since the castle walls, and castle nursery was supposed to near southern shore of the lake. Though its possible if the lake is Maylie, and since the walls, and most of the castle is gone, including the nursery, what is left no longer reaches to lake Maylie. It can be assumed that the rocks that once made up the walls and most of old castle daventry were probably recycled to build the town that now surrounds it. Of course the old castle in the game is not likely to scale.

However if the castle is an old ruin that predates Edward's Castle Daventry, which is the most likely scenario since Derek showed Edward's castle to be farther east within the continent, then there are no issues with Daventry's geography really, as in that case the previous part of the kingdom seen in KQ 1-6 is not seen in MOE.

Continent of Daventry


According to Derek Karlvaegen's map it is the name of the entire continent where the major nations of Serenia and Daventry are located, along with many lesser nations. However in his notes he refers to the continent as the "Continent of Serenia".

The land of Serenia lies in the north beyond the Great Mountains. The Endless Desert lies to the northwest. While Daventry is located in the south of the continent. According to the charts in KQ3, the continent of Daventry is a bit smaller than it was in future games, and it had Daventry located just south of a mountain range (which had a beautiful forested valley with a river directly behind it, and yet another part of the mountain range directly behind it) on the northern edge of the continent. However this is because the designers hadn't thought of placing the land of Serenia in the northern part of the continent yet. However the KQ3 inconsistancy can explained to fit with the KQ5 retcon, it can be assumed that the the artists who drew the charts hadn't seen the northern parts of the continent, and only travelled to or heard about the southern kingdoms and assumed that Great Mountains made up the northern edge of the continent. It seems that the the artists of the charts couldn't even agree on the shape of the continent of daventry or its location either since one artist has the western edge of the continent directly under Llewdor, and the shape being a bit sharp, while the other shows all of daventry to be east of llewdor, and the shape of the continent is rounded.

Also the KQ3 chart is not to scale, as the western sea in between the continents is actually much farther from Llewdor than is shown, taking at least a month's travel time to cross between them

World of Daventry
According to King's Quest Companion "World of Daventry" or simply "Daventry" is the name we humans would use for the entire world where King's Quest's lands are located, although this is not the proper name of the planet.

Derek Karlvaegen explained, "'We have no name for our world, our universe, but you may call it Daventry if you like. We think of it as home.'"

However in later documents sent by Derek Karlvaegen, the other authors also referred to the world as either Daventry or World of Daventry this was most likely editing by Derek to simplify things for those in the Other World, that were reading the documents. Though possibly the authors began think of their world as Daventry, which is very much implied by Peter Spear in one of the new chapters of the 4th edition.

Some fans, prefer to refer to that planet as Serenia, which in reality is only a realm of that world. The reason behind this is that civilization spread from Serenia, which was where humans arrived after the first withdrawal. The designers of King's Quest ZZT have the characters within the game refer to the world as "King's Quest".

Daventry as a Location on Earth
However alternatively it is strongly implied in the original manuals and the introduction for KQ6 that events in the King's quest games occured a long time ago in our past here on earth.

See On the Origin of Daventry for further Information.

Island of Daventry
In the non-canon King's Quest ZZT series, the Daventry is greatly inconsistant with how it is seen in the official lore though somewhat similar to the KQ3 charts. In the game Daventry is an island located in a world known as King's Quest, it lies south of the Island of Tamir, and east of the Island of Llewdor. Between Castle Daventry and the Aberian Desert is Elven Village of Dhurgei. The eastern part of the island is comprised of the Aberian Desert, while western part of the island is the Kingdom of Daventry. North of the Kingdom of Daventry floating above the northen reaches of the kingdom is the Andropodia Uplands.

Real world
Daventry or Daventria is an actual name of a real place in Europe. Why Roberta Williams chose this name for her fantasy land, is unknown. Maybe she liked the real name and decided to adopt it.

Though as implied in the manuals and introduction for KQ6 that King's Quest's stories occur a long time ago in earth's past, its possible that she intended that the Daventry of the games to be the same location as the modern Daventry, just many centuries in the past.