TOG universe

Comparisons between classic King's Quest series, and the new King's Quest series, King's Quest: Your Legacy Awaits by The Odd Gentlemen.

Note: This is subject to change as more information is released.

See also, KQ9 timeline.

Background
The new King's Quest is currently being released through the 'resurrected' Sierra Games, and Activison and developed by The Odd Gentleman (although its technically not KQ9, but rather a series of connected adventures).

It has been said that the original games are considered part of the canon of the new game, though the new game is seen as neither a reboot nor necessarily a sequel but a reimagining (while developers deny that this game is a 'reboot', many journalists still refer to it as a reboot in their previews).

Still many details appear very different than they appeared in the original games (manuals, hintbooks, or other spinoff material). The Odd Gentlemen described this as 'reimagining', but usually attempt to avoid the use of the term 'reboot'.

Some of the story changes, may be subject to Graham' retelling his story to his Granddaughter, and contain exaggerated embellishments (and based on her Grandaughter's imagination and perception of the stories he tells), or perhaps an example of liberal use of 'artistic license' being used by the developers, at worst it might be set in an alternate universe from the original (in the same way that aspects of the KQ1 remake are alternate to the events of the original King's Quest).

An article on Polygon.com supporting embellishment (suggesting it changes each time he tells and retells it) idea states:
 * "No longer able to go on adventures, he instead creates fanciful retellings of his past glories for his granddaughter, Gwendolyn."

Graham admits concerning his embellished version of KQ1 Dragon's Lair events:


 * "It wasn't exactly how I remembered it, " old man Graham says. "But it wasn't all that different either."

According to the developers:


 * This isn't a reboot, and its not necessarily a sequel. It's a reimagining. Everything that exists in the past games is still canon." These stories exist between those stories. Over the course of the game players will experience Graham's previously unknown adventures. "We're definitely not retelling the old games...we're nodding to them and respecting them, but this isn't King's Quest 1 HD. The new scenarios deal with some of the blank spots in the King's Quest timeline. How did Graham become a knight in King Edward's Court? How did his young love with Valanice develop? These tales from the past are framed by Graham's present; he is now a very old man, and he is recounting his adventures to his granddaughter, Gwendolyn. She's an energetic youngster who eats up the stories of Graham's exploits, and she is eager to have her own exciting stories to tell...


 * The game is completely reimagined; it’s not King’s Quest IX or anything like that,” Korba explains. “Think about it like when someone reimagines The Wizard of Oz, or Peter Pan. That’s how I see King’s Quest, [as one of] those classic fairy tales that keep being retold and reimagined.”


 * "We're not throwing out the canon that they already established. We're fitting our stories between those, or taking bits of those and reimagining parts of it."Gamespot preview

Matt Korba clarifies in another article which might suggest that the reimagining might go further to change details from what we know:
 * "I look at this the way people might look at The Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan," Korba says. "A sort of classic fairy tale thing and this is our take on it." As such, this new adventure won't drastically alter the canon, but it will update and throw out a ton of references from past games.

This is unclear on if Matt Korba is stating that a ton of references from past games will be made incompatible with the new unniverse, or if the game will make tons of references to past games.

Certain aspects may completely change or ignore backstory from previous games, novels, and books. If so this would be an indication that the game occurs in a different universe than the original series (though differences may be 'slight' and general stories still occurred).

Currently it seems that the new series disregards the game manuals, the specific events of King's Quest I, The King's Quest Companion, most likely the novel trilogy, and certain specific details from the previous games. Instead reimagining events in a different way. An alternate universe that shares similar events from the original universe, but also very different.

For more details concerning the new series treatment on this wiki and special policy notes, see KQ Omnipedia:Canon Policy.

Kingdom of Daventry
The Kingdom as it appears in the game is not quite the kingdom as it appears in KQ1, or later games. But it might be similar to how KQ8 showed a different portion of the country than KQ1 did.

A river/s and Forest Well, the home of the dragon appears, but are very different than they appear in earlier games. The town appears in the game, as has only appeared or mentioned in previous games.

Daventry now has a Tournament Theater, that is located roughly southeast of the Town of Daventry (a town known simply as "Town Square", or "Daventry Square"), and south of Castle Daventry.

There is a crossroads King's Glen with Edward Statue as well (northwest of the Tournament Theater, and just south and east of the town), which has not been seen in any previous game.

To the south between the rivers is a pond, and to the north, northeast of the town, but west of the forests where Castle Daventry is located at another lake, is the Fantastical Floating Island. The river system may or may not be a different river than that found in King's Quest 1, but certainly has inspiration from that river (or possibly the Merelee River from the novels, but this is unclear). But there are certain aspects that are very different than the river in KQ1. See Rivers and Troll Bridges.

Quest for the Crown
In addition it seems that in this universe, all the knights were competing to be the new heir of Daventry, and the Knights Initiation was more as an attempt to rise up in the ranks and be chosen to go on Edward's final quest. Rather than Graham being chosen because he was the son of Edward's best friend, although Graham may still be considered his 'favorite knight'.

Castle Daventry
The architecture of Castle Daventry is very different than it appears in earlier games. Highly inspired by fantasy Disney castles. While architecture of the castle was known to change throughout the series, especially with KQ8, this castle shares no elements from any previous rendition of the castle, except for maybe the castle as it was interpreted on the cover of original King's Quest on PCJr, or the first edition of the King's Quest Companion.

Rather than looking like a medieval keep, it looks more like a fairy tale castle with high spires, and built on a mountain.

Graham's Heritage

 * In the original series Graham is noted to already be a knight of Daventry. There is little about his backstory except for a few references to his 'father' in side material (King's Quest 6 Hint Book and Hoyle I, see Graham quotes (Hoyle I), and Rosella quotes (Hoyle I), and some of the narrative added to KQ1SCI (mentioning he attended Daventry High School)). The Companion offers a little more, and became source of references in other manuals and hintbooks. The Companion and Hoyle I suggest that he has lived in the kingdom with a somewhat plush lifestyle with lords and ladies giving him pies as a child, and being the son of one of Daventry's knights. The Companion also discusses his years enrolled at Daventry's Palace School, and Royal University, and years training in Daventry's army, while Hoyle I mentions Knight School (and his father and grandfather's role in the Kingdom of Daventry). The three novels hint a bit as well, about Graham's heritage, suggesting his ancestors do not go back very far in Daventry's history, and that he traveled around the world much in his youth (although the latter sources saw less or no direct influence by anyone working at Sierra, and this detail might be in conflict with what Hoyle I or Companion suggests).
 * In the new game it appears that Graham has newly come to Daventry, and may not have seen it before. He has come to the kingdom after hearing about a knight tournament being held there. He has a wanted poster showing the castle, and asking him to go to the Knight Theatre, and mentions that he has had nothing but trouble since he decided to come to the kingdom.

One another major aspect that diverges from the original series history, is the backstory of Graham's childhood, in the new game he was not originally from Daventry, he came from an unpronounceable land (one easter egg might suggest Llewdor, but it could be only a joke). He comes form a long line of nobility, and one dentist. He studied at The Academy in his homeland, and still lives with his mom Mom Cracker. Before he graduated tried to find knight jobs, but the job market had dried up locally, and so Daventry was his last choice. He had learned of Daventry through travel books, that discussed its famous landmarks. It wasn't until he learned of the yearly Knight Initiation tournament, that he decided to come to the land to become a knight, and try to become a knight in King Edward's court. This is another large indication that the game occurs in a different universe than the original series (though differences may be 'slight' and general in-game stories still occurred). The change to Graham's childhood backstory also effectively make details about Graham's youth in KQ1SCI remake (which states he went through Daventry High School), the Companion (which states he went to Daventry's Palace School, and Royal University, and father was a knight of daventry), and Hoyle I (Knight School, father and grandfather knights of Daventry) effectively incompatible with this version of the story as well.

Additionally Graham's clothing is very different than it appeared in King's Quest 1, though it is certainly inspired by some of Graham's wardrobe appearances throughout the series. He now wears a large cape which has bottomless pockets that hold obnoxiously huge objects. While this kind of thing occurred in previous games see Superman, in companion it was explained he had a satchel to hold things.

Swimming
Gram does not know how to swim in the first chapter of King's Quest. The lack of swimming maybe to avoid having to program extra animations and physics in the game. This appears to be why the Dragon's Lair has no swimming sequences, see below.

Forest Well/Legendary Beast
See also Dragon's Lair comparisons. The new King's Quest appears will be retelling/reimagining certain aspects of Ancient Well/Dragon's Lair encounter in the prologue introduction. From the reveal and according to further information, the introduction story in the first episode will be a partial retelling of the events of the Dragon's Lair sequence in King's Quest I (but the team has no intention to retell the events of any other game from the series, but only tell stories that take place in between the earlier games).

This sequence is very different than the version that occurred in King's Quest 1 or the KQ1 remake, and is a complete retelling that is intended to replace what occurred in the original games, with several completely different alternate outcomes. It also ignores the backstory given in KQ1 manual which states that no one knew where the Sorcerer took the mirror, only that there were rumors it was taken to his hidden lair somewhere, and guarded over by one of his beasts, and that Graham just stumbled upon it while searching the entire land.

The reveal shows off for example his journey down the Forest Well (which looks roughly like Ancient Well as it appeared in the KQ1 remake) into the [[Dragon's Lair, the bottom of the well looks like it is dry (avoiding the swimming sequence from the original games). There is a door and tunnels filled with Mattresses (which apparently foreshadowing something significant in the main story in the first and future episodes, and possible to the villain of the entire series), and pullies and gears. There is also some kind of door at the bottom of the well (as well as bones and traps).

It is said that Graham will initially distract the dragon somehow, allowing him to take the Magic Mirror. It doesn'tappear that Graham defeat the game by throwing a bucket of water at it (or using his knife to kill it) as he did in the previous game (unless a similar event is portrayed in the game when he first 'distracts's the dragon).

Upon his escape, it appears it then turns more action oriented, and the dragon treated as a large chase/escape sequence/boss fight. This chase will lead to a decision from Graham that will test his bravery, wisdom or compassion, leading to separate outcomes (that have future consequences), either blinding the dragon with a arrow (causing it to be a future enemy), sending it away to look for food using a bell, or freeing it from its bondage by unlocking its shackles, making a friend in the process, and it returning the favor later on in its life. This sequence is very different than the version that occurred in King's Quest 1 or the KQ1 remake. It is unclear if this is an expansion to what appears in the previous games (that occurs in areas not accessible in the first game (off screen between lair and the exit cave) with the dragon ultimately escaping and removing the bolder to the exit as shown in the original game. Or is a completely retelling that is intended to replace how it was explained in the original games, with several completely different alternate outcomes.

Another thing of note is that this (the Magic Mirror events) will be Graham's 'second journey to the Dragon's lair", where as in the original it seems it was his first time. But perhaps Graham will enter the Dragon's Lair from a different entrance, and have to discover the well entrance later on when he attempts to find the mirror a few years later. On the other hand the game may just suggest he went down the well both times, but failed to get the mirror the first time. Or perhaps he never sees the mirror at all his first trip (he apparently states about the later period that it was the last place he checked for the mirror). It will at least bend the idea that Graham's discovery of the Dragon's Lair beneath the well occurred during KQ1 (see King's Quest Companion), or might leave the King's clues as unknown location of the treasure, but who stole it as mentioned in King's Quest by Roberta Williams slightly redundant.

In the game, the prologue shows his journey down the Forest Well (which looks roughly like the well as the old well appeared in the KQ1 remake, but with the crank put to the side) into the Dragon's Lair, the bottom of the well is mostly dry (avoiding the swimming sequence from the original games, and in this series Graham is said to not be able to swim). There are caves filled with Mattresses, the Bed Caves, which foreshadowing something significant from the chapter's main story, and has something to do with the villain for the entire series), and pullies and gears. There is also some kind of door at the bottom of the well (as well as bones from a previous attempted raid on the caves and dangerous traps). Graham initially distracts the dragon with a feeding mechanism, allowing him to take the Magic Mirror. Graham does not defeat the dragon by throwing a bucket of water at it or using his knife to kill it as he did in the previous games.

The Dragon notices him, and then it turns more action oriented, and the dragon treated as a large chase/escape sequence/boss fight. At the end of the chase, Graham is left with a decision that tests his bravery, wisdom or compassion, leading to separate outcomes (that have future consequences), either blinding the dragon with a arrow (causing it to be a future enemy), sending it away to look for food using a bell, or freeing it from its bondage by unlocking its shackles, making a friend in the process, and it returning the favor later on in its life. Graham then escapes back up the rope through the well (an option that leads to less points in the original game).

Another change is that it places the Mirror as the final and only treasure Graham discovered before he returned to the castle ("Yeaaaah, yeah, yeah, and King Edward was sooo proud that you returned his lost treasure he made you King. Everyone knows that part..now can we get back to that dragon?"). In KQ1 Remake the shield was the last treasure discovered, and in the original and companion, the Chest of Gold was the last treasure on the list in Edward's decree, and in the novelization it is the last treasure he finds.

It's not clear when the mirror was taken by the sorcerer, assuming the sorcerer was behind the mirror being stolen in this universe. There is a poster asking for the "Missing Magic Mirror" (as if no one knows who took it, and as if it was simply stolen) on a note board. So it was stolen before Graham comes to the kingdom, but apparently after Maylie's death. It also seems to be the only one of the three treasures stolen (though the other two can be seen in Graham's bedroom).

When Graham visits the cave for the first time during the hideous eye quest, or during the main tournament, there are no beds, the place still has traps, but not the same ones found later. The dragon is not tied up, and there no indication of the mirror to be found. It's also mentioned that the dragon's lair under the well is a well known testing ground for knights, and many have died trying to take on the beast (obviously different than the prologue story for KQ1 in which no one knew of the secret under the well.) Either way Graham can get Achaka to shoot the dragon in which case he receives an eye, or prevent achaka from taking the eye.

During this first trip Graham even takes a different route through the caves. Many of the bridges from later trip do not yet exist. However, it is clear that the beds are being stolen at this point according to Maya, and its possible to see some goblins carrying away a bed as well, near Pillare Hill. Maya lost her bed the night before the tournament.

The Dragon breathes fire during the first trip into the cave, but apparently cannot breath fire anymore when Graham goes down their to find the mirror. There is no explanation for this as of yet. Graham just mentions the breathing fire was a 'surprise' in the story for Gwendolyn that was different than his other story.

Rivers and Troll Bridges
There are several rivers seen in the game, and waterfalls. Some of the rivers appear to merge, but other maybe disconnected. There are a series of horns located all over the map of Daventry, which can be used to call giant Bridge Trolls. The trolls have bridges growing out if their heads.

While this is roughly inspired by the Bridge Troll/forest troll/s of King's Quest 1, it's also very different.

WHile there may be some trolls afraid of goats (even though many enjoy the taste of goat), these goats are not, and even easily eat goats (it's their favorite delicasy), in disregard to the one known rule about trolls and goats. However, its because trolls like the taste of goats, that goats hate them intensely. And a little goat is no match for a trollish giant.

These trolls are also rather friendly, and not like the trolls from KQ1. Apparently have a business going on with the Knights of Daventry and other citizens, for crossing the rivers.

The trolls look roughly similar to the Old Stone Bridge, but its unlikely that the old bridge is a troll, for obvious reasons. Obviously the other bridges in KQ1 are not trolls either.

This region while inspired by Daventry from previous games, doesn't appear to correspond directly to any specific area, other than it is an area near the convergence of rivers in KQ1. The Forest Well and Ancient Well are intended to be the same landmark. The Town of Daventry is located near the well however (which might be inspired by the reference given in the Official Book of King's Quest). But Castle Daventry seems like its been placed in a completely different area, east or northeast of all the rivers (but still impossible to tell how far from any other landmark, and might be closer than the castle appeared in KQ1 to the river, but in a different splot).

Magic Mirror/Three Great Treasures
In this game's backstory, the Magic Mirror was the only ('if not the last') treasure Graham collected, it mentions that he had already scoured all the rest of the hiding places in Daventry, and the well was his last place to check. Gwendolyn states after Graham mentions climbing out of the well, and returning to the Castle: "Yeaaaah, yeah, yeah, and King Edward was sooo proud that you returned his lost treasure he made you King. Everyone knows that part..now can we get back to that dragon?"

In original KQ1 and King's Quest Companion the order the treasures is collected in is said to be Mirror, Shield, then Chest. KQ1 SCI and The Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition makes the order Chest, Mirror, and then Shield. Though technically in the games themselves, in the original game all three can be found in any order, and in the remake the first two can be found in any order.

In addition, based on the comments made by Graham, and Gwendolyn, it seems to imply that Edward's last request, might have been only to find the Mirror. There are no direct references to the shield or the treasure chest (though all three can be seen in his bedroom). Gwendolyn states specifically that Edward sent Graham on a 'quest to find the stolen mirror', to which he would get the crown if he found it:


 * ... "Yes! King Edward sent me, the greatest knight in all of Daventry, on a quest to return his stolen mirror. A gigantic, hulking, beast of a dragon, was the last thing in my way to... in my way to..."

In the main story there is a note board with a poster asking for the Missing Magic Mirror, which also suggests that its the only missing treasure (or at least by that point in the story), suggesting that Maylie died before the Mirror was stolen, and that the other treasures hadn't been stolen.

While there is mention of Daventry running out of money to pay anyone but the guards. There is not direct indication this is due to a stolen treasure chest. Its almost as if the 'chest and shield' were just random treasures Graham discovered at some point, and to find the mirror was the last request he was given by Edward (the reason why it was the only missing object being discussed on the note board).

The other two treasures do exist, and can be seen in Graham's bedroom in the game, but they do not seem to have any important bearing on the plot in the first episode. They were not stated to be part of Edward's mission for Graham.

Magic Mirror
The Magic Mirror is a story telling device in the new game, Graham uses it to show his adventures to his daughter, and it also acts as the inventory, and communication interface for the game. It's already known that Graham is being a little loose with his 'story telling' an 'unreliable narrator'.

However, in classic lore the magic mirror has the property of 'showing the truth, whether of past, present or future'. If Graham is embellishing his stories with his daughter: "It wasn't exactly how I remembered it, " old man Graham says. "But it wasn't all that different either." (see death scenes, or other changes to the story/history, in comparison to previous games/published events), then it is perhaps not so truthful in the 'reimagined' universe. Of course its possible that she doesn't see everything that that her Grandfather claims happened but only fragments on screen, so only the truthful fragments are shown in the mirror (the mirror does seem to swish over with shadowy fog, at times, and not show all the events). Still it does seem that it would suggest that the mirror is still showing a less accurate (less truthful) or different version of the Dragon's Lair events, then happened in the original games.

Magic Chest
There is very little information on the whereabouts of the magic chest at the time of Graham's tournament. It's not confirmed to have been stolen, its not even confirmed if Edward even owned at all. Its not even indicated to have been a target of Graham's quest to find the "Magic Mirror". It does exist however, as it can be seen in Graham's bedroom late in his life.

Maya Blackstone implies that Daventry was running out of money, and can't afford her... But others suggest that Edward is only spending money on keeping up the army (hence the frivolous yearly Knight's Tournament), isn't bothering to help with the upkeep of the kingdom. It is not clear where this money is coming from.

The Queen and the Downfall of Daventry
Maya Blackstone states that the kingdom collapsed when the queen died. She seems to suggest that gold started running out when the queen died (if it actually has been running 'out' rather than simply the king's priorities have been switched to paying for knights instead).

However in the prologue to KQ1, it started to fall when the mirror was taken by the sorcerer, the very first of the three treasures to be taken. She died at the time the second treasure was stolen, and things only got worse. But they still had the gold at that point. It wasn't until sometime later that the gold was stolen.

However the Missing Mirror Poster would suggest that the mirror was stolen recently (many years after the Queen's death), there is no other mention of missing Chest of Gold, or the Magic Shield. Though both of those can be seen in Graham's Bedroom, and its obvious that Daventry was losing money (or at least the King changed the priority of expenses). To make things even more confusing the game seems to imply that Edward's final request was to 'find the magic mirror', and not necessarily find three missing treasures of Daventry.

Eldritch
Eldritch appears to be treated as a land on the same world as Daventry, rather than in another world, as stated in the game, and other material. But the reference to Eldritch is pretty minor. Other than the fact that Graham knows about the land (he knows about were-bears and crystal dragon living there). Olfie also seems to know about the crystal dragon living there, which he calls Susan.

In the original series, the land was a mysterious place in another world/universe, a land beyond dreams/enchanted world beyond, that mortal world had heard little or nothing about. In such a way that neither Rosella nor Valanice knew about it. The King's Quest Companion went further to suggest that time moved differently in the realm, and it was part of the Multiverse. Note: Of course were-bears aren't necessarily only native to Eldritch, just as crystal dragons are native to more than one world.

Of course this could be one of those bits of the story flavored and influenced and embellished by Old Graham in hindsight (making his younger Graham say things he would never have actually said, but would entertain Gwendolyn).

Llwedor/Llewdor
Likely, a misspelling of Llewdor (they both appear to be pronounced the same, although its worth noting that Llewdor was never pronounced in an official game). A home of bridge trolls (there were no trolls in KQ3), once home to Amaya Blackstone, and possibly the unpronounceable homeland of King Graham. See above. Note: This may get fixed in a future patch.

Moat Monster
The new history of the moat monster is that it apparently infested the moat, and is not intentionally supposed to be there. It's been a problem for King Edward since its arrival, eating his guards.

Two things this means in this new storyline there ever was only one "Moat Monster" (there are several in KQ1SCI described as 'moat monsters', that can be on screen at once), and that its not supposed to be there, and only been introduced late into Edward's reign (as one of those disasters that befell his kingdom due to the loss of the kingdom's greatest treasure, the Magic Mirror (as opposed to the three treasures). At least according to the novel series, they had been introduced by an early king of Daventry, so early on after the founding of the kingdom.