The World of King's Quest: A Brief History of Daventry is a supplement included in the King's Quest V Hint Book by Roberta Williams. It offers summaries of each of the first four King's Quest games leading up to King's Quest V. Roberta went on to write a similar article for InterAction called the The Magical World of King's Quest, which contained summaries of first five King's Quest games leading up to King's Quest 6. Some of the original article in the hintbook, contained development information about each game, but this has been edited out in this wiki for the summaries only.
Note": The first part Quest for the Crown has been edited to leave only the story part, and not the behind the scenes story how she came up with the idea for the series.
The World of King's Quest: A Brief History of Daventry
King's Quest I: "Quest for the Crown":
Sir Graham...lived in the enchanted land of Daventry. He was the favored knight of Daventry's monarch, King Edward the Benevolent. As King Edward was getting on in years, was in poor health, and had no heirs, he decided to call for his favorite knight one fine spring day with a special pronouncement. He informed Sir Graham of his dilemma of having no heirs, and thus no one to replace him should he die, and which in his weakened condition could be soon. He told of three treasures belonging to the kingdom of Daventry, which had been stolen in times past by some less than agreeable characters: a magic mirror, which foretold the future; a magic chest, perpetually filled with gold coins; and a magic shield, which would protect the bearer from any harm. But since the disappearance of these treasures, Sir Graham was informed, Daventry has weakened, and may soon crumble and die along with its old monarch.
This was terrible news indeed, but King Edward had a solution to his problems; if Sir Graham could find, and return, the three lost treasures of Daventry, he would be crowned king after King Edward's death. Saddened by the thought of the old king's death, but heartened by the possibility of helping Daventry, Sir Graham bravely set out to recover the stolen treasures. After various adventures and altercations, Graham successfully retrieved the three treasures and brought them back in triumph to his king. Soon thereafter, though, King Edward died and Sir Graham was indeed crowned King of Daventry.
King's Quest II: "Romancing the Throne":
Several years later, King Graham being popular and respected, and Daventry having regained its peacefulness and prosperity, the future seemed bright indeed. There was one small problem, however, King Graham was very lonely. He wished for a wife to bring him love and happiness. He wished for heirs for his kingdom. But there didn't seem to be a suitable candidate in the in the immediate Daventry area. What to do?!
One day, while gazing in the magic mirror hanging on the wall near his throne, King Graham happened to see a vision of a beautiful girl imprisoned within a quartz tower in the faraway land of Kolyma. Her lovely face captivated him, her plight intrigued him, and her obvious courage under such dire circumstances attracted him. She seemed to be looking at him, calling for him. King Graham was impelled to go to her; to rescue her from her prison. Would she love him? Would she consent to be his queen? He didn't know the answer to those questions, but he had to try nevertheless.
King Graham subsequently went on a journey to the land of Kolyma wherein he discovered a door standing up all by itself in mid-air, at the foot of a mountain range. Curiously he studied it. It just looked like a plain door, leading to nowhere. He walked around to the back of it. Nothing there but the back of the door. He tried opening it. It was locked. Just then he noticed an inscription written on the door. The inscription suggested that this could be a magic door, and offered a clue to where a possible key could be found. Thus enlightened, King Graham set out to search the land of Kolyma for an elusive key to the magical door.
After an exhaustive search, and many adventures, King Graham eventually discovered not only one door, but THREE doors, one right behind the other, which required THREE keys to be found. Once through the three magical doors, Graham found himself on an enchanted island in a wild sea, where he discovered the quartz tower and successfully rescued the beautiful girl. As soon as King Graham saw her he fell instantly and deeply in love with her, and she with him. Her name was Valanice and she told him she had been imprisoned in the tower by a jealous witch. And yes, she agreed to become his wife. After returning to Daventry, in a beautiful wedding ceremony, Valanice became King Graham's wife, and Queen of Daventry.
King's Quest III: "To Heir is Human":
A year after the wedding of King Graham and Queen Valanice, twins were born to the happy couple; a dark-haired boy, and a golden-haired girl. The boy was named Alexander, and the girl, Rosella. One morning about six months later, Queen Valanice looked into the nursery and found it unattended with Alexander's crib empty and Rosella crying uncontrollably. The castle was scoured high and low, and every inch of Daventry was searched, but there never was any sign of the little boy. The entire kingdom sank into a deep depression that never lifted, and as a direct result, was unable to defend itself when a terrible dragon moved into the area and caused mass destruction. Through it all, the big question remained like a brick upon the breast of Daventry: what HAD happened to little Prince Alexander?
Eighteen years later finds an unhappy lad by the name of Gwydion searching desperately for a way to escape the slavery enforced upon him by the evil wizard Manannan. Manannan and Gwydion lived in a house high upon a mountain peak in the center of Llewdor, a land far across the sea from Daventry. The poor boy knew not whence he came from, or how he got to be there; all he knew was he'd lived his entire life with the cruel wizard. For as long as Gwydion could remember, the wizard had treated him cruelly and very rarely let him out of his sight.
Manannan was very keen and noticed anything out of the ordinary, so the boy needed to be very careful with any escape plans. Gwydion decided to fight fire with fire; that is, to fight Manannan with his own magic. When the wizard wasn't looking, Gwydion would sneak to the laboratory and learn magic spells and would secretly gather the materials needed to cast them. One day he got the break he needed; when Manannan's attention was diverted, Gwydion was able to turn the wizard into a cat, who ran away vowing he would get even. But Gwydion wasn't worried, he was too happy about his new-found freedom.
During his subsequent travels around Llewdor, Gwydion discovered his true identity; that he was really Prince Alexander of Daventry. With this news he was eager to find his way there, and later managed to cross the vast sea dividing Llewdor and Daventry. From the coast he next needed to cross the great mountains surrounding Daventry, whereupon he discovered a dragon which had been terrorizing Daventry for years. Using his fledgling magical skills Gwydion...oops!...Alexander managed to overpower it, and save his captive sister Rosella in the process. From there, the brother and sister went on home to a joyful reunion with their anxious, but loving, parents.
King's Quest IV: "The Perils of Rosella":
Prince Alexander and Princess Rosella were tearfully and joyfully reuniting with their parents, King Graham and Queen Valanice, who had feared they had lost BOTH of their children to devious circumstances, when the stress of it all proved too much for King Graham. He was about to pass his old adventurer's hat on to his two children, when he was suddenly struck with a severe heart attack. As he doubled over in pain and fell to the floor, dropping the hat in the process, his wife and children rushed to him in a panic. The hat was quite forgotten and left lying on the throne room floor in the ensuing uproar.
As King Graham lie, near death, upon his bed, his wife and two children hovering worriedly over him, Princess Rosella was suddenly overcome with emotion at the terrible thought of her dear father dying. Sobbing, she ran from her father's chamber, and into the throne room where she knelt at his throne and wept uncontrollably into its cushioned seat, staining it with her tears. As she was thus preoccupied, a vision of a beautiful fairy suddenly appeared in the magic mirror hanging on the wall near the throne. The fairy spoke to Rosella, through the mirror, and told her of a magical healing fruit which grew in the faraway land of Tamir, where she herself lived. The fruit, Rosella was assured, would cure her father and bring him back to full health.
Of course eager to help her father in any way she could, Rosella learned that the fairy could magically transport her to Tamir, where she could find the healing fruit. But before returning home, she also learned, she would first need to need to help the beautiful fairy, whose name was Genesta, with a slight problem SHE had. Rosella immediately agreed to it; anything to help her dying father. She had no sooner assured the fairy of her help than she suddenly felt herself being magically transported from the throne room in her castle to a balmy beach in a strange land. The fairy Genesta appeared in person and informed Rosella of her need to have her talisman returned to her from her archenemy, the evil fairy Lolotte. Without it, Genesta would die in twenty-four hours. As it was, she was already becoming very weak.
Rosella's tasks were thus set. Not only must she save her father by obtaining a magical fruit, but she must also save the life of Genesta by obtaining a talisman from an evil fairy; and she had to do it all within twenty-four hours! Of course Rosella, being a very resourceful girl, managed to successfully avoid various perils thrown in her path while traveling throughout Tamir. She was victorious in her quest for the fruit; she managed to extricate the talisman from Lolotte and thus save Genesta's life; and she found a possible true love in the person of Edgar, Lolotte's kind-hearted son. True to her promise, the grateful fairy then sent Rosella immediately back to Daventry.
Upon her magical return to the throne room, Rosella picked up her father's hat still lying on the floor, and then rushed to his bed chamber. After giving King Graham the healing fruit which indeed restored him to perfect health, she proudly placed his old adventurer's hat upon his head, proclaiming that he was not yet ready to give it up; that he had many years and adventures still left in him. There were hugs all around, and the future looked very bright, for themselves and for Daventry.
And life in Daventry continues...
Behind the scenes
- 1 GC
- KQ1 (spring)
- ? GC ('several years later')
- KQ2
- (? + 1) GC
- The twins are born.
- (? + 1 GC + six months) GC ('about six months later')
- Alexander is kidnapped.
- (? + 1 + six months + 18) GC(19 years plus six months; roughly twenty years)
- KQ3
Like similar summaries made in other sources, there are sometimes inconsistencies with assorted source material. This one is no exception. Here are a few of the differences.
In the original KQ1 manual, it was claimed that the shield "fends off all enemies". In the second King's Quest I manual claims, "he who bore the Shield was invincible, and his army always victorious", KQ2 manual calls it the "the invincible shield", and the KQ5 manual describes it as "an enchanted shield with the power to overthrow any invaders". In the game KQ1, it is shown to be immune to most enemies, except the dwarf thief is able to steal it and dragon fire can melt it (which would seem to contradict the legends). The summary claims it can protect the user from "any harm".
In the manual for KQ2, Graham learns of Hagatha through the mirror, although this is not shown in the game. In the summary Graham learns of the jealous witch from Valanice after he rescues her.
In the game, Graham is told about the door in the Mirror before he even reaches Kolyma. In the summary, he discovers the door while in Kolyma.
In the game he returns to Kolyma and marries Valanice inside the Monastery, and then it shows them returning to Daventry after the wedding. In the summary, it says he returned to Daventry, and had their wedding there. Note: it is possible that Graham and Valanice had a second ceremony for 'appearances' in Castle Daventry 1 year after returning from Daventry, and 1 year before the birth of the twins (this might 'fix' one of the timeline inconsistencies related to KQ4 manual and this summary).
In the manual for King's Quest 4 it says that the children were born two years after King's Quest II, in the summary they were born one year after the wedding (assuming 1 year after King's Quest 2). In manual for KQ1 and King's Quest Companion the twins appear to have been born between 2-4 years after KQ2 (although the timing is not exactly specifically clear).
In original manual for King's Quest III it is implied that Manannan kidnaps boys when they are one year of age. In lore related to King's Quest Companion, Alexander was kidnapped from the shores of Lake Maylie during a Summer picnic approximately a year after his birth. Manannan had cast a spell on everyone there in order to take the boy. In the summary, Alexander is kidnapped six months after being born, from the castle nursery while Rosella cries nearby.
In KQ3, it is said that Alexander was kidnapped from a cradle. In the summary it says he was kidnapped from a crib.
In this article it is suggested that the Dragon attacked Daventry, not long after Alexander was kidnapped. Eighteen years would pass before Alexander returned. In the King's Quest novels; Kingdom of Sorrow and See No Weevil, Daventry more or less moved on from the loss of Alexander (although Graham still acknowledges his loss in KOS), and the kingdom remained relatively peaceful until some 14 years after the twins birth (the endless winter, and the ravaging of the weevils and sloks not withstanding). In the summary it seems that the remorse remained strong the entire "eighteen years" until Alexander's return. It was the reason the three-headed dragon was able to conquer the kingdom (perhaps much sooner than the novels would imply).
In KQ3 and KQ4 manual and other sources, it is said that Alexander returned to Daventry while he was still seventeen before his eighteenth birthday. In the summary it says that he returned eighteen years after being kidnapped.