King's Quest Omnipedia
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Viper

A Viper is a type of snake that have an extremely poisonous bite. Graham once encountered a viper at the Top of the Cliffs in Kolyma. The snake appeared to be about ten feet long. It was coiled and ready to strike. Graham tossed the leather bridle onto the snake transforming it back into the winged horse, Pegasus.

Pegasus had been turned into a viper by an Evil Enchanter.

The King Cobra is one of the most dangerous of vipers.

Titles[]

Quotes[]

  • "SSsssssss! Sssstay away or I will ssssssstrike!"

Behind the scenes[]

Graham may either use the bridle or may kill it with the sword for less points.

See also poison, venom, toxin and bane for some of the similarities and differences between terminology. This article is not the place to discuss pedantic online debates on terminology.

"Poisonous snakes" are not uncommon in fairy tales and classic literature from which King's Quest is inspired. Be it from 'poisoning' via venom or snakes being poisonous to eat. See Mohammed with the Magic Finger, The Story of Zoulvisia, or The Snake Prince: in Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. See also Oleg: the Prince Who Was Killed by His Favorite Horse and Charlegmagne and the Snake. The Twelve Brothers in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Sinbad had to deal with poisonous snakes as well.[4], and the story of Riki Tiki Tavi. The use of 'poisonous' to describe snakes and other creatures with venom appears commonly in Gothic literature as well; In The Adventure of the Speckled Band the titular band is a 'poisonous snake', which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson discover as the weapon in a crime..[5] In Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm the worm in question is yet another 'poisonous snake' (not even a beneficial white snake), venomous only appears once but more as a description of malevolence (rather than literal venom). Even the King James Bible uses poisonous/poison when referring to various kinds of poisonous snakes (only uses 'venom' once in one context as synonym of poison). Poisonous Snake is also a common DND creature as well (a 'tiny beast').[6] Notably speaking during middle ages, medieval, dark ages, and early renaissance, poison and venom were interchangeable terms, and venom even came from the Latin word for poison: 'venenum' (both largely having link to 'potions' and 'imbibing'). So the usage of the 'literary' "poisonous" seems rather fitting (its not a zoology or veterinary textbook, its a 'high fantasy/fairy tale game').

References[]

  1. TOBOKQ3E, pg
  2. KQ2HB, pg
  3. KQC4E, pg
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=FBasDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT242&lpg=PT242&dq=saint+brendan+poisonous+snake&source=bl&ots=Z9GWihWJKC&sig=ACfU3U1Or1cdu0Z0ffX30orWHz_GRQxtdQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDx9ilzKnyAhWSZ80KHbqoB84Q6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=saint%20brendan%20poisonous%20snake&f=false
  5. https://www.owleyes.org/text/adventure-speckled/read/the-advantage-of-the-speckled-band#root-218571-247 The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to the victim.
  6. https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Poisonous%20Snake#content
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