Cedric the Owl

Cedric the Owl is an educated owl; guide, counsel, and friend to King Graham.

Background
He accompanied the king as he attempted to rescue his family from Mordack. Cedric is the familiar, servant, and companion of the high wizard Crispinophur. He is a short and stout owl, and clad in a vest and monocle.

Although Cedric describes himself as being in the employ of Crispin, it is more likely that he is more of a friend and aide-de-camp to the great wizard. Cedric keeps Crispin's house and thoughts in order.

It is said that the great wizard Merlin had an owl as a familiar. Merlin's Owl was named Archimedes. It is possible that Crispin and Cedric are Merlin and Archimedes, living in Serenia under assumed identities. But there is no evidence to know for sure. Cedric is a wise bird, if nothing else. He is well-known for his cowardice.

Behind the scenes

 * Cedric is inspired by Archimedes, Merlin's owl familiar. He is also similar to Dr. Watson's role to Sherlock Holmes. Owls were the symbol of the goddess Athena who was the goddess of wise counsel. She was also a protectress. Because Athena was considered wise, and the owl her symbol, the owl came to be looked upon as a wise bird. Athena is told to give her her owl to Perseus to help him in his quest for Medusa. Instead, Athena has a wise clockwork owl crafted, and it aids the hero, almost perishing in the process. This quite similar to the relationship that developed between Graham and Cedric.
 * Roberta Williams mentions in the KQ5 hintbook; That Cedric isn't around to help much, but is more of a pesky sidekick. He offers a few hints, telling Graham which direction to go to get to different places around Serenia. At first, Cedric helps Graham become familiar with the local area; warning Graham about dangerous places. Once they enter the mountains, though Cedric becomes less useful in that particular way, but then becomes Graham's friend, from a "story" point of view.
 * He is given the title, Cedric the Owl in King's Questions. He is said to have no surname according to the King's Quest Companion.
 * His main purpose in King's Quest V is to save King Graham's life just before the final battle with Mordack by flying into the path of a spell. Beyond that, the only other useful thing he does is on certain screens he'll give simple directions on what lies on nearby screens, taking the place of the narrator in similar situations in previous games (although a player can discover this information on their own by simply exploring). He also exists as a simple warning system (akin to the warning in KQ6 if you try to reach the Catacombs without all the proper items) for dangerous locations (that may require items to explore safely). Although many of these warnings are rather obvious (such as his infamous 'poisonous snake' warning)...
 * In the PC version of KQV, the description of the spell used on Cedric is not specific. Graham states that Mordack may have killed Cedric. According to the King's Quest Companion, and KQV on the NES, Cedric was turned to stone.
 * Cedric warns of a 'poisonous snake' in the original script of KQ5, although Cedric had an falsetto pronunciation of poisonous in the CD-ROM version this did not correspond to any script change (other than the sentence begins with Graham ), the updated script on the later released KQ5 on the NES maintains 'poisonous snake' from the original script.
 * Interestingly, in The Royal Family: A Celebration, and A Summary of King's Quest, it is claimed that Cedric followed Graham into the Endless Desert of Serenia and the Dark Forest. However, this does not actually occur in the game. Instead he waits outside those places, waiting for Graham to return.
 * Though Cedric offers some assistance to Graham, he usually manages to wind up in some sort of trouble, and then needs help getting out of it.
 * Cedric offers Graham advice on how to cross the stones trapped in the frozen waterfall. Later he saves Graham's life.

Parodies
Cedric came to be unpopular with some fans. A reason for this is perhaps that he doesn't play any significant help for the riddles nor does he provide any hint when talked to; he even declines to follow Graham in a couple of places and even gets in his way by being captured or wounded, and requiring help. Perhaps because of his unpopularity he has been parodied in subsequent Sierra games.


 * He was referenced in King's Quest 6, where one can buy "Owl Courage Potion" in the Pawn Shoppe
 * Cedric was also referenced in the VGA remake King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones. During the last Cloud Spirit challenge, you can choose "King Graham's Madness", which results in Graham chasing Cedric with a sword.
 * He appears in Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist eaten by vultures
 * He was also parodied in Space Quest IV
 * In Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness, Cedric is one of the options for answering Leshy's riddle. It causes his bush to shudder violently.
 * In the King's Quest Companion, there is a bit of sarcastic banter between Graham and Cedric. With Graham at times feeling annoyed by the owl's uselessness, and some of the characters poke fun at the owl's cowardliness. Though by the end of the journey they had become friends.