The Door of Destiny is a living door in Kolyma 'created' by the Ancients, to be used only once, taking whoever found the Gems of Nature to whatever their heart desired. Its origin is known to but a very few.
Background[]
The Door of Destiny was an entity cursed by the Ancients for meddling in the life cycle of mortals. His soul was imprisoned within the door. The intent was to remind the entity that the cycle of Birth, Growth, and Death should not be altered.
It was 'alive' and had the ability to communicate with others, allowing them to choose locations to travel. It is capable of shape shifting either fading into the mountain, or becoming a face. It could only be opened once, and once it had been used it could no longer be used again.
Long ago, the trust bestowed upon the Ancients was betrayed... and they were forced to leave the world. And it was all because of One. One did not hold in such high regard the principles of His peers and felt not the duty that His kind shared. He would not keep sacred the natural order of the living. Repeatedly He manipulated the spectrum of destiny to his own advantage. No regard He gave to any feeling, save His own. To the detriment of the living world, He drew closer His own desired destiny.
The other Ancients, angered by His selfish and callous behavior, moved to punish Him. Within the very stone of the mountains, They sealed Him. Imprisoned, he would remain, until such a time he learned the essence of the natural order.
To him, they spoke: "This world was good, but has been tainted by selfish action. No longer can We remain here. But You shall remain; imprisoned and alone. The cycle of of life, natural order of the living, shall be Your only means of salvation. Only when the Gems of Nature are brought to thee, will You be freed from Your eternal, accursed existence."
Then to Him, They spoke no more.
And thus were formed the three Gems of Nature.
The first was cast into the water, from where all life had sprung. The second was cast skyward, to be consumed by cloud and consciousness. The third was placed beneath the earth, to where the living committed the lifeless.
And then, the Ancients left the world.
Time passed. Yet One remained as He had seen; seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing.
His past slowly ebbed from recollection. In time, He had forgotten His own name. In time, He became It.
He became an intelligent slab of stone with three slots on the surface, requiring the three Gems of Nature in order to break its curse. These were the Birth Gem, Growth Gem and Death Gem, which also represented an element (Water for Birth, Air for Growth, Earth for Death). They began to be known as the Water Gem, Air Gem, and Earth Gem. The three gems were sealed away across Kolyma. Graham obtained the gems and activated the door, breaking its curse.
Still, It waited.
Though maddeningly dormant, It had retained knowledge of the spectrum of destiny, and knew of one who would, one day, approach: a being... a human being... who would seek his own destiny through what it had long since become.
It even knew what this being would say:
"Greetings. I am King Graham of Daventry."
Once Graham had unlocked the door's secret, Graham could finally enter the Tower Realm, and the soul was freed.
The riddle of the Gemstones follows:
Realms[]
Behind the Scenes[]
It was inspired by the inanimate Magical Doorway in the original KQ2. Which required Magical Keys rather than stones.
The story behind the door was posted by Daniel Stacy on the AGD forums.[citation needed] It appears in the PDF manual for the game.
As Easter Eggs, the other locations offered by the door lead to King's Quest 1 (Past Realm), King's Quest V (Future Realm), Police Quest (Metro Realm), Space Quest (Galactic Realm), and Leisure Suit Larry (Lizard Realm). Needless to say, all are non-standard game overs.