Hagatha

Hagatha (King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne)

Hagatha is the witch who resided in Kolyma. She kidnapped Valanice and imprisoned her in the Crystal Tower, due to jealousy. She is the repulsive sister of Mordack and Manannan.

Background

Hagatha is an old and evil witch, with poor eyesight, who lived in the kingdom of Kolyma. She was known for her cannibalism and killed many unfortunate travelers who fell into her clutches; afterwhich, she would place their skulls on stakes outside of her cave or scatter about inside. She threw those she grabbed into her cauldron to make her brew, a broth of bones and human flesh, she loves to have for dinner.:

She was also known for her jealousy of the maiden Valanice (perhaps of her goodness, no less her beauty), the daughter of the prince of Kolyma, Prince Cedric and the miller's daughter Coignice. The jealous crone whisked Valanice away from her home. She took Valanice to an enchanted land, and imprisoned her in a Crystal Tower guarded by a ferocious wild beast.

Years later, after Graham journeyed to Kolyma in search of Valanice, he discovered that Hagatha, was not only Valanice captor, but that she had also stolen the shop owner Milvia's magical Nightingale, and also imprisoned the golden lion.

Hagatha was strong and powerful witch, he had no way to defeat her, and had to avoid her.

He managed to enter into Hagatha's very lair, to rescue the magical nightingale from under Hagatha's wicked nose. Some claim she was not inside the cave when he entered, but was waiting outside when he exited with the covered nightingale. He was nearly caught by the hag, but only the magic spell from a fairy protected him.

Graham later met the antique dealer, and who sent him to retrieve her precious nightingale. He had already rescued the bird, and returned it to her.

Graham ultimately made it to the quartz tower on the Enchanted Island where Valanice was being kept, and rescued her from Hagatha. Surprisingly, Hagatha later made an appearance at Graham and Valanice wedding at the Monastery of the Blessed Wilbury in Kolyma, but she continued to hold a grudge towards the king.

Graham regrets not having pushed Hagatha into the stewpot when he had the chance. But he never attempted it as he thought her too strong.

Graham's rescue of Valanice set off a series of events that have shaped the destiny of Daventry. Later, Hagatha's brother, Manannan, kidnapped Graham and Valanice's son in revenge for Graham's deed against Hagatha. Dame Hagatha disappeared from Kolyma soon after the incident. Mordack's kidnap of Castle Daventry and everyone in it was a direct, if unforeseen, consequence of Alexander's triumph over Manannan.

Derek believes that Hagatha's evil family is the cosmic balance to Graham's. Nothing had been heard of either Hagatha or Manannan since Graham destroyed their brother Mordack. He thinks that is a bad sign.

Personality and traits

Hagatha has very bad eyesight, she doesn't notice those who sneak into her cave. However, she has good hearing, and can hear the nightingale singing. She is an ugly old lady, she's toothless, with warts all over her face, and she has matted grey hair. She has claw-like hands. She has green skin (not entirely unlike Lolotte or possibly even Titania), but she is apparently human like her brothers (although at least Manannan is possibly deity). It is not known if her skin is her natural tone or possibly due to her dreadful habits. She is said to be the most powerful and evil of witches, and has a taste for human flesh (but perhaps not the ugliest but that isn't saying much). The skulls of her victims decorate the outside and inside of her cave.

While it is known that she was jealous of Valanice, it was never specifically clear what caused that jealousy.

She was often seen stirring a brew with a stick in her iron cauldron. The iron cauldron bubbles with a nasty smelling, yellow brew (broth made from human flesh and bone). A hot fire burns underneath.

She can often be seen in the woods near her cave, carrying her walking stick.

She doesn't say much and tends to cackle, chortle, and mutter under breath (and her breath is bad almost to the point to cause people to faint). But those who try to talk to her in her cave have made a terribly bad decision, for she will come after them.

Hagatha keeping Valanice in a Quartz tower is similar to the practice of Dame Gothel, who also kept a princess in a tower.

Sometimes Hagatha lets Valanice order take-out from the Jade Gazebo.

Titles

• Dame Hagatha

• Hag

See Also

• Hagatha (KQGS)

• Hagatha's wardrobe

Behind the scenes

The fact that Hagatha is the villain and the kidnapper of Valanice only appears in the manual (but not in the game). There is no mention of her having had kidnapped Valanice anywhere in the game, much like the gingerbread witch in KQ1, she is treated as a generic fairy tale witch, and is an obstacle in the game, that must be ignored or bypassed in some way. She is however named several times in the game (unlike the wicked witch in KQ1, who is referred to simply as "a witch"). She brought into the plot by the "little old lady" (Milvia) who requests Graham to retrieve her stolen nightingale from Hagatha. In fact there is really only one or two offhand references in KQ2 that even refer to Valanice's kidnapping (but make no specific reference to who kidnapped her).

The KQ2 manual states that Hagatha was jealous of Valanice, but never specifies what she was jealous of (but implies it was either her goodness or her beauty). Beyond her being the sister of Manannan and Mordack according to the Companion and King's Questions there is no other backstory for the character (the companion implies she has always been ugly).

In the official King's Quest Collection trivia program, and King's Quest Companion, she is said to be sister of Mordack and Manannan. In King's Quest Companion this detail was first mentioned in the King's Quest Companion, First Edition in the An Encyclopedia of Daventry (in the articles for Hagatha and Manannan). However, at the time it only connected Manannan and Hagatha together as brother and sister. The articles were expanded to include Mordack in the 2nd Edition, and it is also referenced within the novelization of KQV. The novelization and article for Mordack went on to suggest that Hagatha's family represent an evil force that is fated to battle the force of good represented by the Royal Family of Daventry.

However, the fact that they are siblings is not brought up in any of the manuals or the main King's Quest games.

Peter Spear first established the connection in the King's Quest Companion 1st Edition (then only with Manannan and Hagatha known) and expanded on in the 2nd Edition adding Mordack (both with Roberta's help and blessing) and was later officially included by other Sierra employees in the official King's Questions trivia game (including Josh Mandel) in 1994.

Which one of the following evil people is not related to the others?

a. Endora

That's right! Endora is related to Samantha, Darren, and Tabitha.

b. Manannan

That is incorrect. Manannan is Hagatha and Mordack's brother.

c. Hagatha

No. Hagatha is Mordack and Manannan's sister.

d. Mordack

Sorry. Mordack is related to Manannan and Hagatha.

Years later (many years after having left Sierra, about 15 years after the release of the first edition of the KQ Companion), Roberta apparently did not remember the idea (even though it is said that she gave her assistance to Peter Spear and gave her go ahead for the 1st and 2nd Edition of the Companion years earlier);

"I asked Roberta [...], and sorry to admit that she said she didn't remember the Black Cloak Society. It sounds cool. Perhaps she should have taken it more seriously and featured it in other games. With respect to Hagatha [being related to Manannan and Mordack]: Roberta's answer was, "Would you like them to be related?" Then she said, "Nope, Hagatha was her own separate person...one final thing: Hagatha was never part in any discussion of a Black Cloak Society.-Ken Williams quoting Roberta Williams at SierraGamers (6-9-2003)

It is possible that she forgot about it, as similarly Roberta, forgot most of the details of her discussions of the Society of the Black Cloak, and also forgot some of the details of material that was cut from MOE, and had to be reminded by Mark Seibert, see Talkspot Interview (1999).

"The swamp witch turned into a beautiful lady? I don't remember that in the design?-Roberta Williams

In any case, Hagatha, Manannan and Mordack are officially related according to Sierra Entertainment itself. The King's Questions (1994) confirmed the family's connection when it was released in the 15th Anniversary collection, after the release of KQ6 and shortly before the release of King's Quest VIII.

Hagatha is actually a very common generic name for witches, one example which may have inspired the version in King's Quest is Aunt Hagatha from the 1960-70's TV show Bewitched. This link is actually nodded to in the King's Questions trivia question above (though the Hagatha in KQ is not the Hagatha in Betwiched). Another example Aunt Hagatha on the 1965-68 cartoon show, Milton the Monster, and a traditional green witch, as a cook in the Groovie Goolies a 1970-72 cartoon series on CBS.

• In King's Quest II, if you sneak up to her in her cave and type "kiss Hagatha", you'll get a humorous response: "Smack, hug, whoopie.. yuck, barf, gag." Attempting to kiss her anywhere else the game will state, "What a revolting idea!".
• If Graham walks through the screen with the entrance to Hagatha's cave several times the Batmobile will appear and drive into the cave.
• If Graham takes the cage with the nightingale without covering it - the nightingale will start singing, alerting Hagatha, and she will kill Graham.
• It's possible to safely steal the nightingale when Hagatha is gone from her cave, without the need of the cloth.
• If you have the good fairy's protective spell she will not be in her cave. She can still attempt to capture you in the forest, but will let you go.
• In KQV there is a nod to the fact that Graham has seen several ugly hags during his life, when he look at the Witch of the Dark Forest, "Of all the ugly hags Graham has seen in his life, THIS is by far the ugliest!" Like Hagatha, the witch is too strong to be shoved aside by a mere man such as Graham.
• Of all the wicked witches in the official King's Quest games - Hagatha is the only one who cannot be killed or otherwise rendered harmless (with any object in the game).
• In Hoyle I, Grahammentions he rescued his wife Valanice from the evil Hagatha,  and Rosella ascknowledges her father rescued Valanice as well.

Hagatha (unofficial)

Hagatha appears in fan fiction including fan games, see Hagatha (unofficial).