Three-headed Dragon

The Three-headed Dragon was a wingless dragon that ravaged lands across the continent of Daventry and ultimately focused its destruction in the Kingdom of Daventry.

Background

Deep within the forests came rumblings of a terrible beast who was ravaging a bloody trail through the kingdoms of the continent of Serenia, on the way to Daventry. The news of its path of destruction towards the kingdom of Daventry brought fear to land. As the years crept by the notoriety of the beast grew as great as the destruction it wrought, and each time a human was swallowed whole by the vicious beast. Soon the whole population of Daventry tremored with the news of the dragon's approach, and each homestead dwelt in terror.

Time wrought many changes, and with it much sorrow. The kingdom of Daventry was ravaged by the deplorable dragon, and the young Princess Rosella was abducted. The entire kingdom was overcome by the brutal onslaught of the beast, and though forewarned, found themselves helpless to defend against its supernatural strength. Much weeping and wailing was heard throughout the land. Even with its power of prophecy, the Magic Mirror could provide no answers, not even a clue, for some bearer of black magic had cast a cloud of darkness upon its face...

The people of the other lands put up walls surrounding Daventry to contain the dragon there and while those walls saved many lands it amplified the destruction inside of the kingdom. At the suggestion of Gerwain and by the demands of the dragon itself, a maiden was sacrificed to the dragon each year. Still the dragon continued to burn the land all around and drove many people away from the Town of Daventry and killed many people. Those who remained were terrified to even come out of their houses. The town was left crumbling. Ultimately Graham was forced to send Rosella to be sacrificed to the dragon, despite the guilt he felt at doing so. She tried to remain brave, hoping her sacrifice would save the kingdom. She was taken to the Land of the Clouds above Daventry and was tied to a pole to await the coming of the dragon.

Gwydion a young slave boy escaped the clutches of the evil wizard Manannan in Llewdor learned from an oracle that he was the son of royal family of Daventry, and that his sister was to be offered as a sacrifice to the dragon. After crossing the sea to the continent of Daventry, and making his way over the mountains, he finally reached the kingdom of Daventry and rescued the maiden just as the dragon was about to consume her. Under an invisibility spell to hide from the dragon, he cast the Brewing a Storm spell, causing a massive thunderstorm. Several lightning strikes from the storm hit the dragon, killing it.

Alexander wrote that the dragon was most likely under some ensorcellement. If it had been marauding on its own, it would have cindered Rosella quickly and moved on to new victims. It is still a mystery to all as to who set that particular dragon of fire to ravage Daventry, as it could neither have been Manannan or Mordack. Although at least Manannan took joy from watching the dragon's destruction from afar. Whoever was involved was likely the bearer of black magic who darkened the mirror as well.

Physiology

It was a massive beast, smoke drifting out of its six nostrils. A corrosive fluid dripped from all its maws and sizzled the earth when it splashed. Its scales were covered with moisture, and where its claws gripped the ground, great gobs of earth were ripped out. Most of its body is covered in green scales, and underside of the main body and each neck has grey plates.

The dragon has three heads on three long necks, and each head is capable of spewing fire. It lumbers on two large feet, and has smaller claws for hands on scrawning arms. Each clawed hand has four fingers. One arm and hand may be larger than the other (perhaps showing a physical deformity). A ridge of yellow plates running down back spine and the spine of each neck. Two horns grow out of each head.

It does not have wings, and is not capable of flight.

Red three-headeded dragons apparently exist as well. They are long and serpentine wyrm like.

See also

• Three-headed dragon (KQGS)

Behind the scenes

Three-headed dragons exist in myths and legends of several countries. Perhaps to fit in with the theme of Celtic and Irish legends such as Gwydion and Manannan, another source of inspiration might be the Ellén Trechend, which in legend was said to have laid waste to Ireland before it was defeated. It has been portrayed as a fire breathing three-headed dragon, or a three-headed bird among other forms in artwork and designs. Another, and one of the most famous is the Greek legend of the Lernaean Hydra, a wingless dragon-like water beast with three heads. For each head severed, two more would grow. It had poisonous breath and toxic blood. There is also the the balaur, a wingless dragon with fins in Romanian mythology, that could have three or more heads. In eastern slavic mythology there is the Zmey Gorynych which sometimes described with similar regenerative abilities as the hydra. Like more traditional dragons, it was green, sometimes depicted with wings, it also could spit fire. One version of the dragon was slain in the Russian fairy tale, Dobrynja and Gorynytch. The dragon in KQ3 is wingless.

The The Three Dogs a story in Andrew Lang's Fairy Books, contains a dragon that demands a yearly maiden's sacrifice.

The King's quest companion states that neither Manannan nor Mordack could have had anything to do with the dragon's rampage towards Daventry. However, it says nothing about their sister, Hagatha. It may be possible that the dragon was sent by their sister in revenge for losing Valanice. However, the dragon is sentient enough, that it is capable of demanding specific maidens (see Rosella), that it's possible that it made its journey on its own, and made its own decisions. Or at least only partially in control of its own decisions, and ensorcellement stayed its breath.

Another possibility would be that it was revenge The Sorcerer, the enchanter of beasts, who originally stole the mirror sent the dragon in revenge for Graham having defeated its pets The Dragon, and taken the Mirror back for Daventry. In addition the Sorcerer would likely had more experience with the mirror and know how to blacken it as well. Perhaps the new dragon is the same dragon after twenty years of growth and magical mutation. It does appear to have much of the physical coloring and certain physical appearances appear similar to the original dragon. However the The King's Quest Companion states that it is assured that the dragons are not the same.

In both KQ3 and the King's Quest Companion, its stated that the dragon demanded the sacrifice of Rosella specifically (she was taken up to the land of the clouds and tied up for the dragon).. Strangely enough, in some of the synopses published in other sources (KQ4 manual, for example) it is suggested that the dragon "abducted" Rosella from Castle Daventry.

Its not specific when the dragon finally reached Daventry in most of the sources (and the amount of time varies).

In KQ3 says it reached Daventry years ago. It is implied by Rosella that she remembers a time when Daventry was still a beautiful country and Castle Daventry was in good condition. Which would suggest she was at least a young girl when it happened. This at least seems to be supported in the Companion as well, as it suggests that her education included her learning archery, riding, swimming, and climbing trees. Which all suggest there was a time when she could leave the confines of the castle. On the other hand, Rosella also mentions that hard times hit Daventry right after Alexander was kidnapped, and implies that the Dragon then came soon after. However. if Graham had been offering maidens to the Dragon may have successfully slowed the dragon from destroying the kingdom for many years (but it’s unclear when he started offering maidens).

According to Roberta Williams in the The World of King's Quest: A Brief History of Daventry, its suggested that the dragon reached Daventry, about 18 years before KQ3, not long after Alexander's kidnapping. This account would suggest, that Graham sacrificed as many as eighteen maidens. However, if this was the case its unlikely that Rosella would remember the time when the kingdom was peaceful, as stated in KQ3, unless Graham was dutifully following the Dragon's demands, and it stayed its breath and avoided destroying the kingdom at that time (however, several accounts suggest it attacked and destroyed first, and asked for maidens after, to avoid further destruction).

The KQ4 manual suggests that it was years before it finally reached Daventry, and that Daventry was hearing stories of its destruction in other lands. It suggests that the Dragon reached Daventry about the same time, the magic mirror stopped working (in KQ3 this was on the night of Alexander's kidnapping), which would also seem to corroborate with the above point of view, but still seem to have issues with the period of peace Rosella remembers (the 'better days').

According to the King's Quest Companion it took years for the dragon to finally reach Daventry (but doesn't explain when it reached exactly), but the description seems to paraphrase the description given in the KQ4 manual in part. However, it seems to place the dragon's date of arrival at least several years after his kidnapping (as it describes Rosella's early years as fairly uneventful, including her education, and time spent swimming in Daventry's many lakes, and that she had 'happy times of childhood'), this is at least in line with the account in KQ3 (which also suggests she remembers a time when Daventry was peaceful and beautiful). Rosella's First Quest would seem to collaborate with a peaceful time when she was a young girl as well.

If King's Quest novels are taken into account, it would have to have occurred after See No Weevil as things are relatively peaceful in the novel, and Daventry is lush with bountiful orchards and fields. People are joyfully ready to celebrate the yearly harvest festival (all though Daventry is partially ravaged by the weevils and sloks by the end of the story). There is no indication of great earthquakes or fear of the dragon in the novels. That would mean approximately only 3-4 girls (including Rosella) were sacrificed to the dragon.

In KQ1SCI, in the  game's epilogue it states;

And thus ended Sir Graham's great quest for the lost treasures of Daventry. Despite the loss of their beloved King Edward, the people of Daventry grew happy and prosperous and flourished for years to come. And whenever King Graham looked into his magic mirror, he saw visions of adventures yet to come...for him, for his children, and for Daventry, the land he loved so much.

Which strangely suggests that Daventry was successful and avoided the dragon for many years (but that Graham would have had to have known about those future events). It can be argued to be somewhat alternate/reboot of the universe to the original King's Quest continuity in some ways (as it diverges from the KQ1-3 and KQC continuity in someways), though the novels at least seem to follow it (appear to be set in the same version of the universe based on a few descriptions of the castle, though there is a kind of blending of some of the original universes details in some of the descriptions, and a few King's Quest Companion references as well). That taken into account may suggest that the novels followed the KQ1SCI account as far as 'prosperous' kingdom for most of the years, up to the events of the dragon. Though The Floating Castle mentions Alexander's escape from Manannan, it never mentions the rescue of Rosella from the dragon.

On the other hand, the epilogue could imply another alternate history in which the dragon never really attacked Daventry, and Daventry was quite prosperous. For Graham saw his children's adventurers long before they were born; yet if he had seen that his son would be kidnapped, or that his kingdom was to be overun by a dragon, why didn't he prepare to try to prevent those events from happening?; unless he knew that his kingdom would be destroyed unless he let Alexander be kidnapped, and be trained with the knowledge that would allow him to defeat the dragon. Did he allow earlier sacrifices (only 3-4 girls), and giving up Rosella, knowing it would delay the Dragon long enough for Alexander to return? He would have had to known she would survive, and find the magic fruit (otherwise he might have died to his inevitable heart attack).

Additionally in the KQ1SCI timeline it discusses the people of Daventry grew happy and prosperous and flourished years to come, which would suggest either Three-Headed Dragon came many years later, or its impact wasn’t felt as long as Graham continued to sacrifice his kingdom’s girls. However sacrificing the kingdom’s children would likely have hurt the moral of people of Daventry, they would become fearful and unhappy with their king, which would go against the Mirror’s prophecy. As this prosperity flourishing is also tied to his children’s birth would seem to suggest in SCI timeline things were much more peaceful than the original AGI timeline, and something like the Dragon taking over or Alexander’s kidnapping never happened (or otherwise could have been averted with preparation), or at least as peaceful as things could be under the circumstances and he allowed those events to pass (including Alexander’s kidnapping).

The dragon appears in KQ3, but is also mentioned in prologue of KQ4. It also is mentioned a number of manuals starting with KQ4's manual.

A reference to Alexander's dragon-slaying appears in KQ6.

Three-headed dragon (unofficial)

The three-headed dragon has appeared or is mentioned in fan fiction, including fan games, see Three-headed dragon (unofficial).