Manannan (Or Manny for short) was a former goblin and one of the Knights of Daventry in the King's Quest: Adventures of Graham. He was the shortest of the competing knights, and lacking neither brawn or courage is considered the smart one. Later he used a cosmolotion and became an elderly human. Over the years he became one of the worlds most powerful wizards and the adversary of King Graham.
Background
Manny was originally a goblin who later became victim of a baby switching prank. His adopting human parents however chose to raise him as their own. Growing up he developed an incredible intellect and began to practice magic and learn several languages. Do to being the smartest of his kind he slowly developed a superiority and prideful attitude either from himself or born from the immense praise he most likely received.
Over the years he became convinced of the mistreatment of his people and chose to use his intellect to help him reach power both to prove the value of his kind and satisfy his ego. He became so convinced that ruling was his destiny he developed a ruthless, machiavellian attitude in which he deemed nothing wrong as long as it lead him to power. He also began to show some slight sadistic tendencies do to a combination of his feelings of superiority, his ruthless nature and the hatred he felt towards other species for the mistreatment of goblins.
Eventually he set his sights to the throne of the now declining Kingdom of Daventry. Forging a suit of armor to conceal himself he entered the knight tournament, knowing it was his best chance at getting favor from the king. He arrived on time and was the fourth and final knight in line in the welcoming parade. Manny quickly took his time to study the other competitors, eventhough he already recognized them either from knowledge or the meeting the had had prior. He realized that Achaka and Graham were his biggest threats. Noticing Grams naïve, kind and trusting nature he began to forge an alliance with him introducing himself by his nickname Manny. Before this however he made sure to cross the bridge without his help and then thank him for helping the others, something he noticed Graham wished. Then he began to disguise his personality as a respectful and friendly knight, however he could not hold from self praise. In an effort to both hide this and compliment Graham, he began to praise him as well. However he would later admit he had already began to hated Grahams behavior and regard him as a idiot.
Now that he was certain Graham had been taken care of, he began to work on tricking Achaka. He was the only one who spoke Achakas language so he managed isolate him from the others. Knowing of the knights bravery, he told him about a dragon who lived bellow the well of Daventry which he would be unlikely to survive. He may have even exaggerated the dragons weakness or the danger of the quest to further convince him. This was all done in an effort to get Achaka killed.
He faced no trouble at finding an eye of a hideous beast, as he had already purchased and entire jar from the Hobblepots store. He probably purchased the entire delivery in order to both appear impressive and make sure none of the other competitors could. After Graham proved himself by also collecting an eye, Mannanan begun to see him as a way to assure his victory. Soon he out about his success in tricking Achaka and sending him to his death, an event he would remember proudly. However, noticing Graham's wish to give up he made up a story about a tribal village which Achaka had sworn to save. By this lie he convinced Graham that by continuing on he would be fufiling his final wishes.
Manny then made sure to put Graham against Acorn in strength and Whisper in speed, knowing that he could easily beat both in the opposite duels. Now certain his knighthood was assured he began breaking his façade, showing himself as abusive, insulting and superior behavior towards the other competitors. Despite his satisfaction he still remained true to his alliance with Graham, both because he found him the most inferior and to keep the value of his word. He did his best to cheat Graham into victory while acting abusively towards Acorn and Whisper, even basing his entire strategy on mocking them on a personal level, giving rise to his sadistic nature.
Once his plan came into full fruition he set up a final scheme to assure his victory. Using a game of hypnotic powder he had trained on he hypnotized Graham. Now absolutely certain he would win, as he controlled his opponents moves, he completely dropped the act and revealed his true nature shocking both Graham and the guards near with his sick and evil nature. After his victory the guards Kyle and Larry jumped upon the board and cleared it before a formal account could be made which forced a rematch. Despite this he remained confident he would win still and did the same game with the powder hoping for the same results. However, Graham used a color changing potion to assure himself a safe cup. Manny, also getting a safe cup, was disappointed but was still completely confident he would win and continued to insult him and his friends, showing more of his psychopathic mentality. However, despite all odds Graham won and was declared the winner of the tournament. Manny refused to accept the results and challenged him to a duel in which Graham also emerged the victor. Still not accepting defeat he requested another duel, which Graham denied him giving him instead a speech about how sometimes even the most skilled may falter at their craft. While the speech moves everyone in the crowd Manny remained in affected and begins to use Achakas village as a desperate excuse for a rematch. However he misremembers the made up name and Graham quickly realized his trick. Surrounded by his enemies and defenseless, Manny fled on his steed. Despite what the people of Daventry assumed, Manny did not give up on his quest to rule and instead began to look for other ways to obtain it. Since that day he began to see Graham as his rival and arch-enemy swearing to one day destroy him.
Through the following years he made a home in Hornswaggles cave and enslaved the dragon. He also began to hear tales of Grahams adventures and reputation, which only fuled his obsessive hatred for him. He stole at the very least one of the treasures of Daventry, the Magic Mirror, and left it in the care of the dragon. After Graham became king he became absolutely determined to destroy him and the foolish town which had supported him. To get his revenge he crafted a story for the goblins, knowing that in recreating it they would trap Graham and all the others in the kingdom and they would eventually die of starvation. Despite this failing, Manny found the man who had once been switched with him as babies. He named him Mordon and decided to raise him and teach him language and his skill in magic, eventually calling him his brother.
Years later he became involved with the witch Hagatha, with both he an his brother purchasing from Hagatha. At some point he determined that to his body was to week to accomplish his goals and made plans to change into a perfect form. Using some of Hagatha's transformation potions he began developing a 'cosmolotion' which could change his form. During this time he briefly encountered Graham, who had transported to his home by accident, and tried to capture and kill him. However he failed and Graham escaped again. Despite this Graham failed to learn his plans and the cosmolotion was successful, changing his body into that of an old man. This body proved to be superior as Mannanan quickly began to use complex spells with ease and quickly became one of the most powerful wizards in the world. At this point he changed homes and began to live in a house in Llewdor, becoming the brutal and feared ruler of the town near him. Mordon went of separately on his own, possibly to an island where he began his own reign of evil. It is possible that at this point they also became members of the Brotherhood of the Black cloak.
After many years in plot he finally executed his revenge. He invaded the castle of Daventry singlehandedly and killed at least 2 guards, notably the guard Larry. He gave them all of them chance to surrender and flee, which most refused. However, he was far from merciful making a guard slowly choke to death and leaving Kyle to suffer the death of his partner. Entering the royal bedroom he encountered Graham once again, this time easily besting him and his wife, Queen Valenice. Despite this he chose not to kill either and instead came up with a far more cruel plan. Seeing a recently born Prince Alexander he decided to kidnap him and raise him to be a monstrous as himself then later return with him, now with his ideals and wishes as truth in the boys mind. He was disappointed by the boy's name and renamed him Gwydion, a name he found fitting for his slave. Indeed, after successfully escaping the castle Mannan returned to Llewdor and raised 'Gwydion' as his persona work boy and slave. When raising the boy he displayed coldness and cruel, sadistic and unfair attitude possibly as a way to convey the hatred he had felt for Graham through the years. Despite this he made sure to share with him his immense knowledge and teach him how to use magic himself.
He was successful in hiding and raised his captive for nearly 2 decades. When the boy got older he began to trust him with the house and go to trips, possibly visiting his brother or another of his partners or slaves. At some point he found the now amnesiac and slightly mad former best friend of Valenice and manipulated her into becoming as cruel and malevolent as himself and turned her into his servant under a false guise of friendship. Under his command, she built a ginormous ice castle in what had formerly been Hagatha's tower and designed a maze of puzzles on the outside of it to make sure her victims could not escape her. However, Mannanan's trust of Alexander proved his undoing as the boy learned of a transformation spell and made a batch of cookies with them. Mannanan fell for the trick and ate the cookies, which in turn transformed him into the form of a cat. Seeing as he had been beaten, Mannanan fled to Valanice, now calling herself Icebella, for refuge. There he found the remains of Hagatha's potions and developed more cosmolotions. His constant abuse of them in an effort to return to his old form transformed him into a Spinx, an unnatural creature made up of a mix of several species. Now once again in a position of power he contacted his partners as to his new state and remained in a constant contact with Mordon. Knowing that the royal family would soon vacation in what remained of a now destroyed resort, he set the stage for his next revenge.
Legacy
Personality and traits
This character lies, and he lies a lot. One should take anything and everything he says with a 'grain of salt'.
Manny is a master of disguise, including shape shifting and other feats.
Manny's alignment is more 'intelligence', 'smart' and 'knowledge' than 'wisdom'. He is certainly not aligned to the positive 'wisdom' of the virtues (he views Graham as the 'Moron' or the 'Imbecile'). He marginally aligned to 'Bravery' path, but only if Graham didn't collect the dragon's eye (in which he gives Graham a jar of eyes), see Tapestry of Time.
Titles and Nicknames
- Manannan (his full name, and the name he makes his slaves call him)
- Manny (only what he lets his friends call him)
- Master
- The Sphinx
- Goblin Sorcerer Manannan
See also
Behind the scenes
He is played by Wallace Shawn, the actor who played Vizzini in the The Princess Bride movie.
Much of the events surrounding the character is also inspired by Vizzini, including the 'drinking game'/'duel wits'.
He is character a returning character that appears in later episodes. Manny appears to short for Manannan (this becomes more relevent by chapter 3). He appears to be in league with Hagatha and one her minions or at least manipulating her like he did previous characters (is he or Hagatha under the rule of someone else?). He does have an unhealthy interest in the magic of the The Hobblepots, knows a bit too much about the goblins (who are stealing the beds, and putting them in the Dragon cave), is known to be manipulating them, and has ties to Mordon (who becomes the young Mordack)
He is known to be a goblin himself, in league with the other goblins.
By Chapter 3 it is now known that he is the Sorcerer/Enchanter in charge of the Well Dragon, Hornswaggle for Hagatha (KQGS) He becomes Manannan by the end of the chapter. Although he was in goblin for when the mirror was stolen, and the mirror was likely stolen by goblins. Another departure from,the original KQ tale.
Manny may also be a pun based reference to the term Mannikan or manikin which simply means 'small'. "a person who is very small, especially one not otherwise abnormal or deformed."
Manny's 'old' model in Chapter 3 after his transformation uses Graham90s model, but only shows his arm. It is unlikely that he has changed his form to look like Graham, and this is probably just a placeholder. A sketch made in How to Tame Your Dragon book appears to show what Manannan is more likely to look like.