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, the town of Daventry near 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.

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.

During Graham's reign other disasters befell Daventry, but they were healed. One of the children born to Graham and Valanice was stolen from the cradle and didn't return home for almost 18 years, when the kingdom was ravaged by a three-headed Dragon. 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 one known town, one which is located not far beyond the Merelee River. The town Connor, Julia, Sarah and others reside in is most likely a newer extension to the same town due to its proximity to old castle daventry, and the bridge.

Town of Daventry
There is one known town, where most of the citizens of Daventry live. It was originally located on the opposite side of the Merelee River not far from the old castle. A road once lead from castle to the town over a bridge that crossed the river. Old Sam the Butcher, Hrothgar, Peter the Smith and Benard live there. Around the town is a large farming community(whose lands the weevils found irresistable once)). Old Castle and Town of Daventry are near the secret entrance to the new Castle Daventry hidden behind a great waterfall, and it ends at the borders of the eastern Great Mountains. It appears that town in which Conner, Sarah, and others live in is an extension to the same town built near ruins of the old castle and it lies near the old castle, and the bridge(which crosses Merelee River most likely).

In the map of daventry and the lands around as shown in MOE shows Daventry to have only a single town below the hill that the new castle was built on (though the town is shown to be much larger than can be seen in the game itself).

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). Additionaly 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 to the west of Daventry.

The map of daventry as seen in the magic map seems to be mis-alligned as well putting the road to new Castle Daventry to top of the map, however it is actually located to the south.

Additionally the game seems to have turned the moat of old castle daventry the wrong direction facing it away from the river, towards the "southern" mountain barrier.

Castle Daventry
Castle Daventry is where the King and his family lives. The three treasures of Daventry were kept there. The old Castle Daventry appears to have fallen into ruin by the time of KQ8, and the royal family moved into a newer castle. Its not easy to tell when the royal family moved into the newer castle. It could possibly be after KQ4, since the castle in that game seemed larger than older castle seen in previous games. Mordack shrunk one of these castles and fit it ina bottle in order to capture the royal family.

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. However in his notes he refers to the continent as the "Continent of Serenia".

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 to simplify things for those in the Other World, that were reading the documents. Though possibly the authors began think of there world as Daventry.

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 civilisation spread from Serenia, which was where humans arrived after the first withdrawal.

Daventry as a Location on Earth
However alternatively it is strongly implied in the original manuals 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.

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 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.