A Summary of King's Quest was a supplement by Lorelei Shannon found in the Sierra's King's Quest VII: The Official Hint Guide. It contained accounts of all the King's Quest games leading up to KQ7 in 'hip' lingo during its release. It mirrors the accounts given in The Royal Family: A Celebration in the KQ6 Hint Book in some ways.
A Summary of King's Quest[]
King's Quest: Quest for the Crown[]
It was just a few days past Sir Graham's 19th birthday, but the young knight was bummed. Good King Edward was dying. Edward called for Graham, who was his favorite knight, and sent him on a dangerous mission. You see, many years back, the king had lost the three great treasures Daventry: Merlin's Mirror, the Shield of Achilles, and the Chest of Gold. How'd he manage that, you ask? Well, between you and me, King Edward was a really sweet old guy, but a little naive. Anyway, ever since the magic treasures had been missing, the kingdom had gone into a tailspin. Edward sent Graham out to recover the lost treasures before the Kingdom of Daventry bit the dust, and promised to make the young knight king if he succeeded. Graham set out to look for the lost goodies, and found out in a big hurry what a mess Daventry had become. Under the influence of evil, it had filled up with witches, ogres, wicked sorcerers, and all sorts of unsavory critters. Graham was a smart kid, so he managed to whip them all, either by knocking the stuffing out of them, or outwitting them (ogres aren't the smartest guys around). He made quite a few buds, who helped him on his way. To make a long story short, he found the three treasures, and returned to the castle victorious. Graham was crowned king, but a few hours later, poor old Edward passed out of the veil of tears. That night, after his coronation, King Graham, went into his chambers and cried, which goes to show you that it's OK for strong, brave dudes to show their feelings.
King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne[]
Not too long after he took over the throne of Daventry, Graham realized that he was a lonely guy. King's have a lot of responsibility, and it's hard for them to get out and meet girls. Graham was staring into the magic mirror one day, wondering if his biceps needed more work, when he saw a vision of the most beautiful lady in the world. This lovely babe was wasting away in a tower, so Graham wasted no time in setting out to find her. He packed his suntan lotion and headed to the tropical kingdom of Kolyma, searching for the three magic doors that would lead him to his lady's prison. Along the way, he met one of the magical, mysterious merfolk, who decided he was cool and introduced him to King Neptune. He entered the home of Hagatha, evil witch, lousy housekeeper, and kidnapper of Valanice (the woman of Graham's dreams), and he rescued a magical nightingale from right under her (pretty major) nose. He freed a winged horse from an evil spell which had turned it into a snake. Graham even met some dead guys, and if you've met any, you know dead guys always have a really nasty attitude. He finally got to the Enchanted Isle, where Valanice was still locked up, wasting away from boredom and bad tower food. The tower was guarded by a humongous lion, which the good-hearted Graham managed to defeat without spilling a drop of its blood. So Graham freed Valanice, and she took one look at him and decided he had a really cute thing going on. She flipped for him. They were married immediately, and they're still crazy about each other to this day.
King's Quest III: To Heir is Human[]
Talk about a bad break! King Graham and Queen Valanice produced the cutest pair of twins anybody had ever seen. But when the baby boy was still just a squeaker, he was snatched from his home by the evil wizard Manannan, and made a slave. He was so little when the nasty sorcerer took him that he never even knew he was a prince. That creepy Manannan even changed the boy's name from Alexander to Gwydion. He made the poor kid clean his house, take care of his animals, cook for him, and basically do all his dirty work. He would punish poor Gwydion in a totally harsh manner for the smallest mistake, and sometimes for nothing at all. The one good thing Manannan did was to teach Gwydion to read. That was a big mistake, because knowledge really is power! Gwydion figured out that Manannan intended to kill him on his eighteenth birthday (some present!), and that was only a few weeks away. Gwydion dug through the wizard's books and found a righteous spell. He whipped up a cookie that turned the foul-tempered warlock into a foul-tempered alley cat. Gwydion hot-footed it down the mountain and got the heck out of there. After a dangerous adventure and a close encounter with some cranky pirates, Gwydion (he's really Alexander, though, remember?) jumped ship and swamp to an unknown shore. What luck! He'd landed in Daventry! He didn't have much time to be jazzed about this, because a dragon was was about to barbeque his long-lost twin sister Rosella. Using a big bad spell, Alexander clobbered the dragon. He was reunited with his family, and took his rightful place as crown prince. You can still make him look if you call him Gwydion, though.
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella[]
The royal family of Daventry just can't get a break. During the big party after Alexander's return, poor King Graham collapsed. Watching his daughter almost get turned into Dragon Flambé and then suddenly finding his long-lost son was just too much for his heart to handle. It looked like he was headed down that final road to Angelville, when a fairy queen named Genesta appeared to Rosella in the magic mirror. She told Rosella that there was this magic fruit in a land called Tamir which would save Graham's life. Genesta couldn't get it herself, because she'd been beaten up by the local evil fairy, Lolotte, who wanted to take over Tamir. Lolotte had swiped Genesta's magic talisman, which was a really powerful thing. With it, Lolotte could take over not just Tamir, but probably the rest of the world as well. This was not good, because evil fairies just don't make caring world leaders. Genesta whisked Rosella away to Tamir so she could get the fruit herself. After befriending seven dwarves, ditching a troll, and charming a snake, Rosella found the fruit. Just then Lolotte sent some foul flying monkeys to snatch her up and carry her to the wicked fairy's castle. Rosella cleverly convinced Lolotte that she was just a peasant girl, which undoubtedly saved her bacon. Instead of killing her, Lolotte demanded that Rosella bring her three treasures which she hadn't been able to get for herself (bad fairies can't do everything, luckily). Rosella went out and got the three treasures, but when she got back, Lolotte laid a bombshell on her; she had decided to marry Rosella to her deformed son, Edgar. Rosella was mortified, but she found out that good looks aren't everything. Edgar, who was really a sweet guy, helped her escape from her room. Rosella crept into Lolotte's boudoir and shot her right through the heart with the golden arrow of Cupid. This caused the black-hearted fairy to have a love overload, and she dropped dead. Rosella took the talisman from her and headed back for Genesta's island. Using the talisman, Rosella fixed the severely sick Genesta right up. She also told the good fairy what a great guy Edgar was, so Genesta turned him into a gorgeous young dude. Edgar had fallen hard for Rosella, and he asked her to marry him, but Rosella was just a kid and she wasn't ready for marriage. She let poor Edgar down easy, and went back to Daventry to save her dad. The family was finally all together again. For about five minutes.
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder[]
Graham was out taking a stroll in the woods one day when his castle flew away. No, really. There was this big blast of evil magic, and the castle (with his whole family inside of it) was gone. It just so happened that this owl named Cedric had seen the whole thing. He told Graham that Mordack, the brother of Manannan (remember him? Cat man?) had kidnapped his family in revenge for his brother's kittyfication. Cedric took Graham to a nice wizard named Crispinopher in the land of Serenia, who helped him prepare for his trip to Mordack's island. Crispin gave Graham a bite of whitesnake to help him talk to animals, a battered magic wand, and Cedric, who whined about it, but finally agreed to go. Graham and Cedric stopped in at the capital of Serenia for supplies, and then headed off across the burning desert. They nearly croaked of thirst, sunburn, chapped lips and beaks. They managed to give some nasty bandits the slip, and finally got to the other side of the desert alive. They got a deal with some savvy Gypsies, and ventured into the Dark Forest. They met a wicked witch in the woods who would just as soon eat them as look at them, and they had to deal with a slippery little elf. Things got tougher from there. They kept going north, climbing up into some totally extreme and frozen mountains. The cold-hearted Queen Icebella captured them, but Graham managed to charm her, so she didn't feed him to her fearsome wolves, after meeting Bigfoot (no, really), Graham and Cedric got the heck out of the mountains. They found a boat on the shore of the ocean, and headed out to sea. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, and they ended up on an island full of man- and owl-eating harpies. They escaped by the skin of their teeth (I never understood that expression), but Cedric got the stuffing knocked out of him. He seemed to be winging his way to the great big birdcage in the sky. Graham packed him up anyway, got back into his boat, and kept sailing. They finally reached Mordack's castle. They snuck past the enchanted laser gates and wound their way through a labyrinth, looking for any trace of the royal family. Graham met the gorgeous princess Cassima, who had been enslaved by Mordack. He promised to free her. She didn't believe him, because at that point, she didn't trust guys very much. Would you? Anyway, Graham found his family, and he was bummed. They had been shrunken down and stuck in a little glass bottle! Manannan the Kranky Kitty showed up to hassle him, but Graham bagged him. He recharged Crispin's wand in a bizarre cheese-powered machine, and got into an intense magical duel with Mordack. King Graham was doing really well for a guy who doesn't know beans about magic, but Mordack was about to whip him when Cedric managed to haul his pathetic self up and save Graham from a deadly blast of magic. Graham stomped Mordack once and for all, and his family was freed. So was Princess Cassima, who decided that all men aren't creeps after all. In fact, she decided Prince Alexander was kinda cute. She went back to her home in the Green Isles, and the royal family went back to Daventry and slept for a week. Cedric? Oh, he got over it. Owls have good immune systems.
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow[]
The royal family of Daventry was finally all together. No one was kidnapped, no one had heart disease, and everyone was content. Okay, not everyone. Alexander was pining away for the lovely Cassima. He had taken one look at her and fallen madly in love. He was gazing into the magic mirror one day (doesn't that thing cause a lot of trouble?) and saw that poor Cassima had been locked up in a tower! He decided to sail out to the Green Isles and try to save her. His ship sailed for months, and finally one night it hit a terrible storm. The ship went down, and Alexander was separated from his crew. He started exploring the island where he'd been washed up, and found out that he had actually made it to the Green Isles, and had landed on the Isle of the Crown. He went to the castle to see Cassima, but he was told by the very sneaky-looking Vizier that she was engaged, and she didn't want to see him. Alexander didn't buy that one. Instead, he bought a magic map that allowed him to bop around between various Green Isles in search of a way to save Cassima. He went to the Isle of Wonder, where he met a pack of gnomes and a bunch of talking veggies. He started to venture into Chess Land, but the silly sniping between the Red and White Queen, was enough to make him want to keep out of it. He went to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain, where he had to climb a brain-buster of a cliff. He solved all of the riddles, got the top, crawled into a cave, and found himself in a mind-boggling set of catacombs. I mean, these things were so bad, you could get lost just standing in one place. Cleverly avoiding the catacombs' tricks and traps, he got to the lair of a hideous Minotaur, who wanted to eat him for lunch. The Minotaur was basically a big bull at heart, and Alexander took care of him like any good toreador would. Alex finally got out of the catacombs, and was he glad to get some fresh air! He got to meet the lovely but snobbish Winged Ones, and an incredibly wise oracle. From there, he went to the mysterious Isle of the Mists, where the Druids hang out and do their Druid thing. So he kept on bouncing between the islands, bringing Beauty and her Beast together, befriending a down-in-the-mouth clown, and being followed around by a sneaky golden-eyed genie. Alexander even ventured into the Realm of the Dead, where all those guys with nasty attitudes originate. He got into it with the Lord of the Dead (yikes!) and won, saving the lives of Cassima's parents, the King and Queen of the Green Isles. All that was left to do was to save the princess herself. Alex snuck into the castle, managed to evade the fuzzy but fang-faced canine guards (imagine six-foot Scotty dogs with swords. Gives me the chills!), and burst in on the wedding of Cassima and the Vizier. There was a big hullabaloo, everybody was having a major cow--and Cassima turned into a genie! Okay, it wasn't really her. Cassima was never going to marry the Vizier. See, he just wanted to marry her so he could kill her and take over the throne, so he had the genie impersonate her--anyway. The upshot of all this is, with Cassima's help, Alexander kicked the Vizier's pants, and the happy couple got married. Yay!
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride[]
You think I'm giving you a plot summary before the hint section? HAH!
Behind the scenes[]
This source includes a couple of timeline related references, the main one is the reference to Graham being 19 during KQ1 (similar to The Royal Family: A Celebration,), and is even more specific to say it was only a few days after his birthday. The second is that Alexander was close to his 18th birthday (KQ3/KQC/KQ6 Hintbook). It also repeats the idea that Edward died a few hours after Graham was crowned king.
This contains King's Quest Companion references in the use of the names of the Three Treasures.
It also suggests that KQ2 took place, "not too long after he took over the throne of Daventry".
It places their 'marriage' as 'immedietly' after they met each other "love at first sight".
It exaggerates, suggesting that KQ5 took place about '5 minutes' after KQ4!
It exaggerates again, suggesting that KQ6 took place a 'week' after KQ5! (alternatively everyone was just so tired from the ordeal they rested for a week). It clarifies that KQ6 takes place 'one day' (as in some time after).