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. The moat can be crossed either by two bridges on the side, or a drawbridge that lowers from the front gate of the castle.

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

Valanice's rose garden lay around a corner from the staff apartments in a small courtyard. It was one of the most beautiful places in the whole castle--full of blooms of brilliant red and salmon, peach and yellow, white and pink. The heavy perfumes of the flowers permeate the garden. An arched gateway is located at the far end of the garden. A stone path lead near to a stone bench in a far corner of the garden. The location of the rose garden appears to be somewhere near a set of doors to the great hall. Many insects and arachnids made their home in the garden including hairy spiders, lady bugs, dragonflys, and ants.

The castle's vegetable garden is located behind the castle surrounded by a low lieing stone wall.

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 hard flagstone path of marble 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. It was long the home of royal ceremonies, host to royal dinners, and site of royal traditions dating back hundreds of years. The throne room was built to grand scale, with high ceilings and vast expanses of polished marble flooring. Even still, it was a harmonious in design, and conveyed the impression that was almost intimate.

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. Graham's throne was wooden and padded and confortable to the backside. 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. Also near the entrance a balcony looked down upon the great hall from a floor above. 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. They may also meet in the council chambers. The Council sessions could also take place in the Great Hall, with Graham and Valanice conducting it from their thrones.

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.

Council chambers
The council chambers is a small room where King Graham held council. It was apparently the regular location for the council table. During times of council Graham would stand at the head where he met his staff, and the room was filled with people. Two guards stood by the doors. The council room is a public space and there are plenty of tables for people to work. The small council room was located off the conservatory. It is close to the kitchen and has alot of windows.

Dining Hall
A hallway on the westside of the Throne Room leads off to the royal dining room, near the main kitchen. Other corridors led to other parts of the castle. The Royal Family of daventry would often have feasts in castle. It was a small room, hardly fitting a royal family, but large enough. An oak table was the main feature of the room. Candle wax stained the worn surface of the table. Two paintings hung on the wall in the banquet hall including one of King Graham, and the other of Queen Valanice. Around the room on the walls, brightly colored tapestries of hunting scenes relieved the starkness of the gray stone. Small oil lamps gave off an orange glow. 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.

Kitchens
The main kitchen was located through a small door off from the dining room. The cooks inside kitchen are always busy with staff running to and fro to prepare teh meals for the castle. The castle's larders are stocked with food for the castle's feasts, and the cooks prepare the feasts months ahead of time. The kitchener can provide snacks such as fruit or cheese to those hungry, before the full meals are ready.

They serve many dishes; breakfasts may include flapjacks, slices of Daventry ham, and hot porridge. Other meals may include mutton, roast fowl, spiced roots, and warmed bread dripping with butter. Hunks of bread and cheese, and tall mugs of ellenberry wine.

Royal apartments
The side door from the Great Hall opens into a corridor leading to the royal apartments. The corridor floor was polished gray marble and the walls had been paneled in oak stained a light blue. A portrait of the late King Edward hung in the corridor on one side, along with the portraits of many of the other kings and their wives. On the other side hung a boar's head. A small strip of red cloth hung from the boar's mouth. The story behind it was a mystery as there was no one around who remembered what the story might be. 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.

The quarters that Graham and Valanice shared was large. The front room was were they received certain special visitors. There sleeping quarters were farther back. The sleeping quarters contained their bed. There was a table by the window, where Graham kept his tortoiseshell comb.

Alexander's bedchamber was the place Alexander sleeps when he visits the castle. The room was not opulent, but it was comfortable, and suited Alexander well enough. The main important feature was his bed of course, covered with blankets. A faded old tapestry sewn with hunting scenes hung upon one wall; a walnut wardrobe occupied most of the opposing wall. A narrow window allowed light to stream into the room, falling upon the chest at the foot of the bed. To the right side of the windows was his desk, its surface supported a silver pen tray, a bottle of ink, a thick white candle, three-leather bound books, and a rolled parchment map. Just outside his room the hallway lead to four flights of stairs that lead to the top of the keep.

Rosella's room in the castle is luxuriously furnished.

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

Staff apartments
This wing of the castle housed the royal tutors and most of the staff. Portraits of various tutors hung on the walls. A portrait of Master Rokaill, Rosella's former tutor, graced the left wall. The portrait had been commissioned on his sixtieth birthday.

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.

Royal Stables
The Royal Stables of Daventry holds the Royal Family's horses.

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. It is a dark little hole. The worst criminals are kept in the deepest dungeon where they might be forgotten over time. The light gray stone of which the building was constructed, and brightly woven tapestries were hung in the corridors, giving the place a cheery and bright air.

There is also a ballroom and conservatory. The grand hall of the castle has a wonderful fireplace. Woodbins hold the wood needed to burn the fire.

In the hallway outside of Rosella's room was a laundry chute, and another door lead into the bathing room. The room had a long, low stone tub. Rosella would take baths in stone tub filled with steamy water and white foam scented with jasmine. The bathing room was filled with many cabinets holding the bath supplies such as soap, perfumed oils, towels and bath robes.

The castle parapet was the highest point in the castle. From it one could see far around the lands of Daventry. At the top of the keep the splended purple-and-gold banners at the keeps four corners flap noisely in the wind.

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.

Defenses
Besides the castle walls, the gate, and the moat, the castle is defended by a small army consisting of guards and archers. The kingdom also has many knights, who can be called to the castle when the need arises.

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.

Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
The castle has a drawbridge coming from the front gate of the castle. There is also a large keep sticking up above the outer castle wall.

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 for the council table. In most other sources, the thrones are set against the wall on a dais. The book also discusses a council chambers in a small room.

The book also discusses the front gates mentioning the drawbridge of KQ5, the portcullis of KQ1 remake, and the the gates that open outwards as in original KQ1, KQ2, and KQ3. It explains that the drawbridge raises before the gates. When the drawbridge is lowered, the front gates can be opened, and the portcullis behind can be raised.

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.