Category:Timelines

The subcategories within this category discusses the alternate timelines of King's Quest history, from both canon and non-canon sources.

Official King's Quest Timeline
The Official King's Quest Timeline subcategory contains only dates derived from canon sources, such as the official games themselves, their manuals, official novels, and official hint guides. KQ1 is designated as the year 0 GC date. GC (Graham's Coronation) is an unofficial designation for what is the equivalent to KQ1. These are derived only from official sources, with KQ1 designated as the starting date. Later timelines are inconsistent with the official timeline, and dates are off by a couple years.

Official sources may not always be consistent. For the case of this timeline, only the sources that are the most consistent have been used in the timeline. Contradictory material is discussed briefly. For example; The introductory story in KQ2 manual originally implied that events of KQ2 took place one year after KQ1, according to the KQ4 manual he saw Valanice in the magic mirror and left on the adventure three years after KQ1, the KQV Hintbook placed the events of KQ2 several years after KQ1 (implying it was more than three years).

The KQV Hintbook has other discrepencies. According to KQ4 the royal twins were born two years after KQ2, which is supported by age of twins given in later sources in relation to dates given in those sources (KQ6 Hintbook, King's Quest Companion, KQ7, etc). The KQV hintbook states that the birth of the twins was one year after the events of KQ2 (which doesn't fit with other references). King's Quest Companion states that Alexander was kidnapped by shores of Lake Maylie during a summer picnic. The KQV Hintbook places the kidnapping in the castle nursery. KQV Hintbook also contains a possible discrepency for when Alexander was kidnapped by Manannan. It states that he was kidnapped exactly six months after his birth. However creates problems with other known details in relation to other sources; Alexander's was a few weeks from his eighteenth birthday, the story took place during late summer, and that See No Weevil places the twins birthdays in early autumn. If Alexander was born during early Autumnn, as per See No Weevil and supported by KQ3, and kidnapped during the summer (according to King's Quest Companion), then it would imply that Alexander could have been kidnapped up to nine months after his birth. King's Quest Hintbook's six month date (from autumn birthdate) would place his kidnapping in during late winter, early spring. The KQV Hintbook also places the events of KQ1 during the spring, but it is unclear what affects, if any, that would have on the timeline

Fan Timelines
Fans have created their own timelines with the release of their games.

KQ2 (AGDI) Timeline
The first alternate timeline, KQ2 (AGDI) Timeline, arose with the existence KQ2 (AGDI). The game altered many characters storylines turning several who were once villains into allies of King Graham, and other characters who were once good or neutral into Graham's enemies. It also removed a few characters from the story, added new characters, and changed the geography of Kolyma, Neptune's Kingdom, and even the existence of the Enchanted Island (turning it into a snowglobe in Hagatha's cave).

Although fairly consistent in the way it tied the prequel and sequel games of the series together, it's inconsistent to the King's Quest Companion which followed the original version of the adventure's story. This formed the KQ2 (AGDI) Timeline and which has specific dates, as well as dates that could be interpreted from the given dates on tomb stones. It set its own storyline over the course of three days in Kolyma.

In this continuity King Graham was cursed so that none of his blood heirs would ever receive the throne of Daventry, taking the universe in a much darker and somber direction. Connor becomes the heir of Daventry instead.

KQ3 (IA) Timeline
The bulk of events KQ3 (IA) take place when Alexander is 17 years old, having been kidnapped 17 years before.

While there are few specific dates given the timeline, it differs from the official timeline in one major way. Several months pass between the time Alexander returns to the castle and has his family reunion, to the time that King Graham decides to give away his Adventures Cap, in which Alexander helps repair the kingdom, giving Alexander plenty of time to get to know his father before the events of the King's Quest 4.

Where as only about an hour had passed between those events in the official timeline, it was the shock of happiness that he hadn't lost his children that caused the heart attack.

Some other differences include;

Who kidnapped Alexander and when the kidnapping took place, and why he was kidnapped. Alexander is kidnapped by a Maid rather than Manannan himself. When the kidnapping took place, and why he was kidnapped are different as well.

Additionally, it is shown that some time later, Mordack teleports to Manannan's house to retrive his brother and burns the house to the ground. This is contrary to the offical timeline where the house was never burned down. Not long after the events of KQ3 the house became the home of Derek Karlavaegen. He did not find any sign of the feline Manannan. He continued to live there at least up until the time of KQ7 (using the Eye Between the Worlds).

Many new events not seen in the original version of the game exist as well.

KQ 2 1/4 Timeline

 * The game takes place one year after the King Graham and Valanice wedding in KQ2, beginning at the birth of the royal twins.
 * Eight days later Alexander is kidnapped and the magic mirror goes dark.
 * A week after that the magic mirror briefly works again, showing that Alexander's kidnappers are feeding him infant formula which is making him ill. Valanice decides to begin searching for her son so she can breast feed him.

The one year birthdate is similar to the date given in the KQV Hintbook. Although the date is at odds with the birthdate given in the KQIV manual, which set the twins birth at two years after the wedding. Most sierra sources that give ages for the twins or for when events took place are consistent with the date from the KQ4 manual.

In official sources Alexander is kidnapped at least six months after his birth, other sources imply up to nine months based on references to seasons, and the knowledge that the twins birthdate falls during the autumn months. In KQ 1/2 its a mere eight days after the birth.

Alexander is kidnapped in his cradle in his nursery. This is similar to the account given in the KQV hintbook. It is not consistant with the account given in King's Quest Companion, which had him kidnapped from the shore of Lake Maylie during a summer picnic.

Official lore from KQ3 to King's Quest Companion, states that Mananann kidnapped Alexander himself. King's Quest Companion states specifically that Manannan teleported to Daventry cast a sleep spell on everyone at the picnic, before kidnapping the baby, and teleporting back to Llewdor. When they woke up, they discovered that Alexander was missing. In this game two strange men kidnapped Alexander for Mananann.

According to KQ3 and other official sources, the magic mirror stopped working the moment Alexander was kidnapped and never worked again until his return. The detail that the mirror worked in KQ 1/4, if ever so briefly, ignores that fact.

Official sources state that the family searched all over Daventry but never found any evidence of the location where Alexander was kidnapped. They ultimately gave up search. This game instead has Valanice successfully make it all the way to Llewdor in persuit of his captors. This creates a plot hole as to why Valanice and King Graham would not deploy their armies to Llewdor to take their son back.

King's Quest ZZT Series Timeline
Additionally there is the King's Quest ZZT timeline subcategory which shares an odd, Space Quest 4-style eras format. That is the timeline is made up of the titles of each game, and characters within the game refer to those headings by name.

For example the world that Alexander says he lives in, is "King's Quest", and the era of King's Quest 3 is simply known as King's Quest 3 by him.

"Hey, its the evil sorcerer Manannan who I turned into a cat in King's Quest 3"-Alexander.

In this timeline Manannan's house is still around, Derek Karlavaegen never moved into it. However Ravenlos, Manannan's cousin, moved into the house along with his army, and lived with Manannan.

Variations of the Official King's Quest Timeline
King's Quest originally had one timeline, the official timeline that covered events of all the games. Later novels and the companion were added to it.

None of the sources ever specified any specific calander dates for when the stories took place, though the manuals mentioned how much time passed between each game. Even the official timeline had two different theories on the existence of Daventry placing it in two different points in time or space. The manuals and KQ6 intro movie implied that the games occured a long time ago in earth's past, for example, but the companion implied that people withdrew from earth a long time ago to Daventry, and now Derek Karlavaegen is sending history of his world to earth.

With the release of King's Quest I (remake), an additional alternate version of the King's Quest 1 storyline was made, which included more dialogue. It also altered a few details in the game; including changes geography, item locations, and puzzle solutions. The collection of the three treasures of Daventry was more linear ending with the Magic Shield. One altered detail in the storyline for example was that serpent-like moat monsters had replaced the alligators that existed in earlier versions of the game. Though these changes were relatively minor, and the two games storylines remained relatively the same.

Additionally there was an official version of King's Quest 1 made for SMS, and an official version of KQ5 made for the NES, both had a few minor alterations from their respective games. The SMS King's Quest had new art for the people and places of Daventry, and interface similar to early Lucasarts adventure games, a few of the puzzles were altered in order to work with the interface, though the text of the story remained largely the same as the AGI original version of the game. KQ5 for the nes, had an interface similar PC disk version but the art design for the various locations was much different, and some places like the desert were reduced in size. Some of the dialogue was modified, location names changed, some of the cut scenes removed or shortened (for example Amanda and Austin never show up), and certain puzzles modified or changed. For example Dink will come from anywhere in the maze from the sound of the tamborine rather than than Graham having to find him in one of four rooms, and the maze is different than in the pc version. Additionally the sea monster at the edge of the sea is a tentacle rather than a loch ness type monster. However both adaptations stayed true to the original storylines.

The official King's Quest Companion chose to follow the original version of King's Quest I's story (rather than rewrite the novelization to incorporate the new material) as it was the most common version of the game released at least up to the 3rd edition of the book, and it would go against the conceit behind the story that they were actual documents coming from Daventry. The reference to this reasoning for not changing the story was removed from the introduction in the 4th edition likely due to the remake being more common than the original version by then. However the story was left unaltered for the same reason as the previous editions. King's Quest Companion referenced the alligators in the moat, whereas the novel, King's Quest: The Floating Castle, referenced directly from the remake (mentions serpents in the moat). Another difference is the order that the three treasures are discovered. In the original it could be any order, in the companion it is Mirror, Shield, Chest, and in the remake it is Mirror, Chest, Shield. However that difference is fairly minor.

The King's Quest Companion somewhat branched from the game's timelines in the 4th edition by implying that KQ7 was a fictional story within the King's Quest universe that contained more lies than truth. Though Derek admitted he didn't know for sure, and that the royal family may have chosen to keep the true events secret from him, or that some kind of great dreamer in his world was altering the face and history of his world.

In this timeline it is implied according to the King's Quest Companion that Rosella and Edgar would ultimately become the Heirs of Daventry implying a happy ending to the series as a whole.

Differences Between the Timelines
Though note that events in all fan timelines are inconsistent due to differences in the different development team interpretations of when certain events occurred in relation to other events, so all the timelines may be off by a few months, years, or in some cases decades.

One issue is when the events of KQ2 took place. In KQ2+ timeline, Graham travels to Kolyma 1 year after the events of KQ1, this was directly based off the KQ2 manual which said he talked to King Edward in the mirror who told him to look for a wife, and then after checking all the local woman he looked into the mirror again and saw Valanice, and then chose to travel to to the land of Kolyma to save her. Whereas in the KQ4 manual it specifies that it was 3 years after KQ1 that Graham finally saw Valanice in the mirror (2 years had passed since he talked to Edward). There is no contradiction in the official timeline however as the KQ2 manual never actually specified how much time passed between the time he saw Edward and the time he saw Valanice.

A main difference between the official timeline and King's Quest 3 remake, is that in the official timeline it says that Derek Karlavaegen moved into Manannan's house after the events of King's Quest 3, and lived there throughout the rest of the series (though he had occasional visits to Daventry). The house was burned down at the end of the KQ3 remake.

Derek also mentions that he never found out the outcome of Manannan after the events of KQ5, and hopes he didn't prove to be a threat. In ZZT Alexander runs into Manannan twice, once in Llewdor and once in Tamir.

However in the King's Quest ZZT Timeline, apparently Ravenlos took over the house directly after King's Quest 3, and set up a guard there, while Manannan was still living there. Later Manannan returned to the house after KQ5 somehow having escaped the bag Graham tied him up in on Mordack's Island. It wasn't until some time later, that Alexander returned to Manannan's house and killed the guard, and attempted to kill Manannan(he later learned he only knocked him unconcious). Soon after the Relentless Army took over the house and converted into a base, and enlarged the basement making part of it a War Room. In King's Quest III (IA) Mordack destroys the house just after the events of the game. In its version of the timeline, Derek Karlavaegen would not have been capable of living in the house.

The differences between the official timeline and the unofficial timelines are enough that they cannot easily be reconciled with each other, and must be assumed to be alternate realities of the King's Quest world.

Calendar
In the official material Daventry's Calendar is not specifically mentioned. It is unclear if they use the same 12 month calendar of Earth or if they have their own unique months. It is also unclear if the Daventry year is same as earth or not.

Pan was said to have been playing a Maytime dance, which would imply that KQ4 may have taken place in May. However, as KQ3 took place in summer, this would set it after May.

A few details that can be gleaned include the length of days. According to King's Quest IV a day in the world of Daventry is 24 hours much like on earth (time in the game is a few seconds for every minute, and few minutes for every hour). Weeks are more unclear, only a few references mention the use of days during a week, though not length of week. For example it is said in the King's Quest Companion that the Village of the Crown's Bazaar is open three days a week (which would imply that a week is at least over three days). There are fewer details surrounding months. In the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles, Derek speaks of leaving from Llewdor, and being on the ocean for a month and two weeks before he ended up in the Green Isles (this would imply that he was at sea for a month and a half). According to KQ6, Alexander traveled for three months before reaching the Green Islands. However, it is explained that that three months included a stop in Llewdor, where Alexander spoke to Derek. This would imply that Alexander travelled a little over a month to reach Llewdor, and the rest of the time was used to reach the Green Isles.

In the King's Quest Companion within the King's Quest 3 chapter Alexander speaks of Manannan having had a special clock (a reference to the in-game clock) which Manannan follows for his routine (traveling to other nations, eating, sleeping, etc). Thus it is implied Manannan used a different timescale than what was usually normal for the World of Daventry. This goes two ways however, either Alexander doesn't know anything about seconds and minutes of Earth time (as shown in the clock), although its possible that the clock in the game may not necessarily be the same speed as the clock that Manannan actually used. It could also be referring to something entirely different than an Earth timescale, and that Daventry still uses the same timescale as on modern Earth. In KQ4, Rosella can read a grandfather clock in Whateley Manor (originally from the Other World), which the game calls "Tamir Time". She reads the time breaking it up into A.M. and P.M.

If Daventry occured on earth however then its likely that their time units would likely be the same as those used on earth, or at least similar to one of the other cultural calendars used on earth (most earth calendar types use a 12 month calender with approximatley 30 day months). In that case it would mean that the time system that Manannan uses is based on some other timescale other than the ones used on earth.

The world of Daventry follows the traditional four seasons, of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The dates of when the seasons normally begin is unclear. It is known for at least spring that Culatha brings the spring weather to Daventry (without her help winter weather would be perpetual). Queen Icebella is called the Queen of Winter, but it is unclear if that has an meaning other than the fact that she lives in a kingdom of perpetual ice that stretches across Great Mountains. The druids of the Isle of the Mists keep the Green Isles in an eternal spring, and a tropical climate.

Additionally there are locations within Daventry such as the Old Wood where time doesn't necessarily follow regular patterns due to Faery Magic. For example time in the Old Woods seems to move quicker than outside the woods. So someone who is in the woods could be there for minutes but, hours, days, years could have passed outside of the woods, so trying to lock time in those locations down onto a regular calender would be nearly impossible.

Both May and November are referenced on tomb stones in King's Quest IV. However since the graveyards are said to have been brought over from the Other World, they are not indicative of a calendar in the world of Daventry.