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 world in which the King's Quest games take place, the World of Daventry. The name can also refer to Castle Daventry, the great keep and seat of power for the Kingdom of Daventry, and Daventry town ( which is not far from from the castle), and in some cases it is an alternate title for the continent of Serenia.

Kingdom of Daventry
Daventry proper, is a kingdom, on the continent of Serenia, having been a united country for more than a millennium. Daventry is (at least in the view of noted Daventry writer Derek Karlavaegen) the greatest kingdom on the continent, and there is a great deal of evidence to support his belief.

The land is a monarchy and is a very peaceful and fair land, ruled by King Graham, who was ruled the realm for over two decades He is renowned as a mighty, just and strong king, and is a beloved hero and leader to his subjects, and runs his Kingdom fairly and wisely. Under Graham, the kingdom has grown to be rich and strong, a great turnaround from many years of poverty and weakness, and it's population has grown to great numbers, and it's borders have gone through a period of growth as well since the start of his reign.

The Kingdom, not an overly large nor overly small realm, is four hundred and eighty-seven heptanes-square (at the last official reckoning--around the time Rosella was nearing her 15th birthday-- but the size of kingdom has possibly grown between that time and time of the the Cataclysm). Magical beings, such as Elves and Fairies roam the land, but the humans make up the majority of the population. At one time, the land was infested with evil creatures such as Ogres, Dark Elves, and Witches but those fell beasts were banished from the Kingdom long ago through force during the rule of Graham.

A strong nation, Daventry is defended by a large army and a good number of loyal and devoted knights and the Castle Guard (lead by Captain Roderick). Daventry also supports a Naval Fleet, whose flagship was at one time the lost Johannes Bey.

The land 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. There are western and southern kingdoms that border Daventry as well. Also beyond Daventry's borders lie the Swamp, and the Old Wood. Daventry has at least one main population center. Over time the Village of Daventry turned into the Town of Daventry. The community that Connor, Julia, Sarah and others reside in is a small farming community north of Castle Daventry.

History of the Kingdom
Founded thousands of years ago, the land was held strong and extremely rich for hundreds of years with the help of the three magical treasures: The Magic Mirror, the Magic Shield and the Magic Chest.

However, tragedy befell the land as King Edward the Benevolent lost the treasures one by one, and in the years that followed the loss of the treasures, Daventry became a poor and weak country, wracked with poverty, famine and war. Again and again Daventry was invaded, it's once mighty borders growing smaller and smaller, and as time passed Edward grew older and weaker until one day, years later,before the immanent death of the aged ruler, King Edward sent for his noblest and bravest knight, Sir Graham, and charged him with a great quest, to find the lost treasures which would restore the land to it's former glory. If he succeeded, he would succeed Edward, and become the King of Daventry.

At the time Graham was looking for the treasures the land was almost completely surrounded by containment barriers, which prevented travel outside the kingdom bending the edges of the kingdom back on itself. The restoration of the kingdom due to the return of the treasures broke the spells creating the barriers. River Fools, Merelee River, and the river through Connor's Village are three rivers that pass through the kingdom. Lake Maylie lies to the north of the castle, close to the castle's northern walls.

Graham was successful in his perilous adventure, and thus became the King of Daventry, and began a long rule which continues to this day. A couple of years after his coronation, Graham embarked on a quest to find a bride and queen for his kingdom, and at the culmination of his long and perilous quest he married Valanice, a princess of the Land of Kolyma and soon the King and Queen provided the Kingdom with heirs, twins; a son and daughter named Alexander and Rosella and all seemed well.

However, during Graham's reign other disasters befell the long besieged kingdom, but they were healed. The son of Graham and Valanice was stolen from his cradle in the castle nursery by the shores of Lake Maylie. He wouldn't return home for almost 18 years, when the kingdom was ravaged by a three-headed dragon. Daventry at the time was surrounded by many stone walls built by other kingdoms to prevent the dragon from leaving Daventry and ravaging their lands, and the Great Tear ripped Castle Davantry from its foundations and settled it back on the ground unscathed (though the tear left the moat drained).

A year later 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.

Castle Daventry
Castle Daventry is the castle built by King Edward for his wife Queen Maylie. It is renowned throughout Daventry for it's magnificence and beauty, and is where the Royal Family resides and rules from. The castle also houses the Three Treasures of Daventry, and is the seat of power for the kingdom and the meeting place of the realm's Nobility for Council meetings. It housed the two throne rooms, the Great Hall, and the Throne Room. The castle containes many entrances, some secret and others visible. Surrounded mostly by a Moat infested with Alligators and Moat Monsters, it was the castle seen throughout most of the series.



At one time, Castle Daventry was located in the middle of a serene valley in between several mountains, but during the time of the cataclysm it rests on a high mountain near the shores of the Western Sea. It seems likely that the land around it was magically altered (in an event similar to what happened with the Great Tear) due to the fact that secret passages still pass from the castle to the bottom of the mountain.

Old Castlekeep of Daventry
In the countryside of Daventry (As seen in KQ8) near Connor's Village, lies the Old Castlekeep of Daventry, the mostly abandoned ruins of a much older castle keep that predates Edward's Castle. The ruins contain traps, a strange magical device and a magical teleportation square hidden within its walls.

Daventry Town
The town of Daventry, aka village of Daventry is the main center of civilization in Daventry. Castle Daventry lies to the north overlooking the town.

Connor's Village (and other possible towns)
Another village is Connor's Village. Castle Daventry lies to its south.

Continent of Daventry
Daventry is the name of the continent that which the kingdom is part of. (though the continent is also known as Serenia as well). According to Derek Karlavaegen's maps, Daventry is the name of the entire eastern continent where the major nations of Serenia and Daventry are located, along with many lesser nations. However in his notes he refers to the continent as the "Continent of Serenia". Though Alexander refers to the continent as "Daventry", in his interview with Derek. Derek also refers to the Continent of Daventry in a few notes as well.

The land of Serenia lies in the north beyond the Great Mountains. The Endless Desert lies to the northwest. While Daventry is located in the south of the continent. When Gwydion landed on the northern shore of the continent, the northern half of the continent and Serenia was mysteriously missing (according to Derek Karlavaegan the shape of the world is always changing do to magic). The shore he had landed on lay close to the edge of the kingdom of Daventry, which was located in a valley between two mountain ranges at the time (a river flowing through the valley). Derek's maps sent around the time of 24 GC (KQ4 era) show that Serenia was missing. Sometime later by 25 GC, Serenia and the northern half of the continent reappeared (in time for Graham to visit the kingdom).

''It should be noted that the nature of the change in continents is because the designers hadn't thought of where Serenia was located yet. Also the KQ3 chart is not to scale, as the Western Sea in between the continents is actually much farther from Llewdor than is shown, taking at least a month's travel time to cross between them.''

World of Daventry
According to King's Quest Companion "World of Daventry" or simply "Daventry" is a name humans may use for the entire world where King's Quest's lands are located, although this is not the proper name of the planet. The world is actually earth from a long time ago in our distant past, and like the present earth shares the solar system with at least Jupiter. At several points in history magical beings withdrew into Daventry to avoid persecution by the increasingly scientific societies. The world is continued to be called "Earth" by the gnomes from the Underground Realm of the Gnomes, and the occasional human (according to the games and manuals).

Derek Karlavaegen once 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, the world is also referred to as Daventry (or ''World of Daventry) by various authors of the Chronicles of Daventry including Derek himself. Derek also calls the world Earth in the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles.

See On the Origin of Daventry for further Information.

The Silver Lining
It was founded about 10,000 years after the withdrawal at (0 DC) (according to the unofficial The Silver Lining timeline). In the The Silver Lining the Royal Guard is headed by Connor McLyrr.

King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones
Daventry was founded by the immortal Legenimor (according to KQ2 (AGDI)). If reconciled with The Silver Lining, using both sets of information, immortal Legenimor ruled for about 600 years before giving up his immortality.

Castle Daventry is back in its original location as seen in King's Quest 1.

King's Quest ZZT
In the non-canon King's Quest ZZT series, the Daventry is greatly inconsistent with how it is seen in the official lore though somewhat similar to the KQ3 charts. In the game Daventry is an island located in a world known as King's Quest, it lies south of the Island of Tamir, and east of the Island of Llewdor. Between Castle Daventry and the Aberian Desert is Elven Village of Dhurgei. The eastern part of the island is comprised of the Aberian Desert, while western part of the island is the Kingdom of Daventry. North of the Kingdom of Daventry floating above the northern reaches of the kingdom is the Andropodia Uplands.

The designers of King's Quest ZZT have the characters within the game refer to the world of Daventry as "King's Quest".

King's Quest 3 Remake
Daventry's layout in the King's Quest 3 remake is inconsistent with how it was in the original King's Quest 3. However, certain screens bare resemblance to locations seen in Daventry during King's Quest V.

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 and introduction for KQ6 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. Daventry may also be located in the location of present day Yosemite, Half Dome is said to be located near the kingdom in KQ3.

Some fans, prefer to refer to world of Daventry as Serenia, which in reality is only a realm of that world. The reason behind this is that civilization spread from Serenia, which was where humans arrived after the first withdrawal.