Video Game / Kings Quest (2015)

In 2015, Sierra^note A new Sierra banner created by Activision, who holds the rights to the original Sierra Entertainment's stuff published a new game in the long running King's Quest series as a five-part episodic game. Simply called King's Quest and developed by "The Odd Gentlemen", the game recounts King Graham's adventuring career in the form of stories told to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. The games are a reimagining/reboot of the series, with each chapter taking place in between the original games. While the versions of events from original games canonically happened in the new series, just how these events took place may differ, and may differ quite a bit (see Chapter 3). This series represents its own 'new canon' ("reboot canon'), but is very different than the original 'canon'^note the official Hand Wave is that the original games represent the "fairy tale" telling, with fantastic records of heroism and good always triumphing over evil, whereas this series is the "truth behind the legend", showing either what actually happened, or adding details to the legend that were otherwise missing. There are three main play styles for Graham which emphasize either bravery, wisdom, or compassion, and which style the player chooses may alter events and dialogue.

The first chapter, "A Knight to Remember," was released in July 2015. It follows Graham's first adventure in Daventry, where he first becomes a knight, with a brief prologue revising how he found the magic mirror. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn has entered the fencing tournament where she will face her cousin Gart, and how Graham behaves in the story affects how she approaches the fight.

In the second chapter, "Rubble Without a Cause," released in December 2015, a mischievous horde of goblins take everyone in Daventry hostage and the recently crowned King Graham must rise to the challenge and save his kingdom.

The third chapter, "Once Upon a Climb," was released on April 26, 2016, and revolves around meeting and rescuing two princesses, both of whom are named Valanice, but originate from separate halves of Kolyma. Unlike before, both Valanices will take a slightly more active role in their own escape and not just immediately marry whoever comes to rescue them.

The fourth chapter, "Snow Place Like Home," was released on September 27, 2016, and deals with the aftermath of Alexander being kidnapped as a baby by Manannan, and of his return from King's Quest III. In this universe, there is no three-headed dragon, and Daventry is actually doing pretty well all things considered; Graham is just busy and needs a family vacation with his reunited family.

The fifth and final chapter, "The Good Knight," was released on October 25, 2016. Graham is almost done telling his stories, and it's time to reveal the details of his final confrontation with Manannan.

The epilogue, which is available to those who purchased the Complete Collection, was released on December 20, 2016. Gwendolyn takes over for her grandfather as the protagonist, and the player guides her on her first adventure — tracking the fabled yarblesnoofs in order to earn a Wedzel Wolf patch.

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The games provides examples of:

A-G

• Aborted Arc: Early chapters imply that we will see the dragon again, especially Chapter 3, where we learn that Manny is attempting to train the dragon. Sadly, the dragon does not make an appearance in Chapter 5^note It's implied that the dragon is the one that ends up terrorizing the kingdom in King's Quest III, but there's no confirmation.
  • Chapter 4 foreshadows Gwendolyn having magical abilities like her father's, and it's bubbling to the surface in moments of anger, and comes to the forefront several times. It's dropped by the next Chapter.
• Achievement Mockery: A few of the unlockable achievements fall into this, such as the one awarded for being eaten by the dragon in the prologue.
• All Myths Are True:
  • Subverted in Chapter 2. Graham suggests that legends, myths, and fairy tales are all superstitions which are never true. He says that dreams rarely play out like they do in the stories and are far more complicated. Goblins literally worship and enjoy the classic fairy tales as we know them, but these are all suggested to be 'fiction' stories (so far in the series, no actual cookie-cutter 'fairy tale' characters, events, or places have appeared as they do in the original series).
  • A dead "Rumpelstiltskin" is found in a jail cell having failed to turn straw into gold. Graham notes something about 'impossible riddles' and banning all spinning wheels in the kingdom.
  • Chapter 3 reinforces the notion that the events of KQ2 as players remember them are only legend and fairy tale, and that the real story of Graham's meeting with Valanice in Hagatha's tower is far more complicated^note in other words, it was not love at first sight, and also no one stays in a tower because they want to: Valanice is stuck in the tower through magical means, and getting into the tower is much easier than finding out how to get out of the tower. This is literally a subversion of King's Quest's general Fractured Fairy Tale approach. The reimagined scenario is similar to the conceit behind the story in Maleficent, which tells the viewer that the stories they heard is not what happened in actuality.
• All There in the Manual: Although it isn't stated in the first three chapters, the Odd Gentlemen said in an interview that Gwendolyn is Alexander's daughter while Gart is Rosella's son. This is later confirmed in Chapter 4.
• All Trolls Are Different: Bridge Trolls are Exactly What It Says on the Tin: trolls who have a bridge on their head and upper back. They are, however, very different than trolls seen in KQI, KQIV, or KQVII.
• Alliterative Family: Graham and his grandchildren, Gwendolyn and Gart.
• All the Worlds Are a Stage: Because of Unreliable Narrator in Chapter 5, and the Dream Weaver / In Medias Res nature of the game, Chapter 5 smooshes elements of all previous chapters together willy nilly.
• Ancestral Weapon: Achaka's bow, which is famous enough in his homeland that his granddaughter Taskia immediately recognizes it. It manages to be this for both Achaka and Graham's families. Graham inherits the bow from Achaka, which he uses on many adventures; he bequeaths it to Gwen, who in turn returns it to Taskia.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: After Graham's sacrifice, you get to play as Gwendolyn at the end of Chapter 5 and throughout the epilogue as she sees adventure in her future.
• Arc Welding: Chapter 3 seems to be doing this for King's Quest I, II, III, and V. Fans have been doing this for a while, but this is the first mention of any of the game villains really knowing each other short of Mordack in V, and Alhazred in VI (or Hagatha being included as their sister in King's Questions and King's Quest Companion).
• Art Shift: In Chapter 5, Graham has two dreams. The first one is in the style of the first two King's Quest games and the second one is in the style of the fifth and sixth King's Quest games.
• Badass Family: Each member of the Daventry royal family (Team Sovereign) gets a chance to do something in the final escape in Chapter 4.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Valanice will try to sort out the situation in Chapter 4 peacefully between your family, Icebella and the Sphinx. The moment Icebella realizes she's Valanice's best friend from the tower of Hagatha, and her memories come flooding back, the Sphinx shatters her, and...
  Valanice: ALEXANDER! MELT HIS BLOODY HIDE!
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Mordack is a lot more amicable to Graham because he saved him from goblinhood.
• Betty and Veronica: Chapter 3 centers around the choice between the level-headed, sensible "Vee" and the energetic, adventurous "Neese". Whichever one you choose will turn out to be Valanice, Graham's queen from the Sierra games.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • The main ending is this. On the one hand, Graham indeed dies at the end. On the other, he lived a good, long life, created a legacy, ensured the survival of his kingdom, found a worthy heir to continue looking after everything, and spends his last waking moments in the presence of family as he hears his story being recited back to him. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn sees adventure in her future, and eagerly grabs her grandfather's old cap to seek it.
  • All of the chapters end on bittersweet notes:
    • "A Knight To Remember" ends with Graham winning the tournament and getting his initiation into the Knighthood (and apparently a trophy, according to Chapter 4), but Manny gets away in the end and Achaka dies no matter what.
    • "Rubble Without A Cause" ends with everyone getting out alive, but not everyone is happy about Graham's choices, with this being reflected in later chapters.
    • "Once Upon A Climb" ends with King Graham finding true love with either Vee or Neese, a love that continues to this day... but the lady that Graham didn't pursue is a victim of the Frost Tonic spell and she tries to hide it in the end.
    • "Snow Place Like Home" ends with Graham and Alexander patching up their relationship and the family being reunited and strong, but the consequence of your choice of wife in Chapter 3 comes back to bite you when it's revealed that the one you didn't pick has now turned into Queen Icebella... and just when it seems like things will be okay as she's redeemed, Manny pounces on her and she shatters and dies instantly.
• Black-and-White Morality: Increasingly subverted as the series continues. With one exception, every antagonist in the game is given realistic motivations and desires, and none of them are explicitly evil. Chapter 2 also deals with the fact that, no matter how hard you try, it's not always possible to rescue everyone^note the best ending to the chapter still has Mr. Fancycakes "killed", forcing Graham to realize that being a king isn't about doing only good, but occasionally doing the least amount of bad. The only character that's unrepentantly evil is Manannan, and even he's given a motivation for it: he can't handle the fact that Graham bested him in the Knight Trials and eventually became King, because Manny's ego is too fragile to accept it.
• Breather Episode: Chapters 2 and 4 are both pretty dark, but Chapter 3 is a fairly lighthearted romantic romp.
• Brick Joke:
  • At one point, Graham needs to set a badger on some squirrels to solve a puzzle. When Gwendolyn asks if the squirrels will remember that, Graham says they most certainly will. They do. This is actually a reference to the TellTale "choice system," in which characters remember a choice that the player makes. There are two of these references in the game, the other being the rescue or kidnapping of the Merchant of Miracles, to which Graham replies that the merchant likely won't remember it.^note The end of game image doesn't show whether you saved him or not, suggesting that there truly isn't a consequence to this decision. He actually does remember it in Chapter 2. But except for some minor changed dialogue, and a whole chunk of optional dialogue choices, this doesn't have an effect on puzzle solving.
  • Several times throughout "Once Upon A Climb," the characters will refer to "adventuring rope". In the end, Hagatha just happens to have one on her.
  • Also from "Once Upon A Climb," an animal will land on both Vee and Neese when they are first met. At the end of the chapter, Gwendolyn will tell Valanice that the animal told her what the perfect gift would be.
• Broad Strokes: The events of the old games did happen (in some form), but certain details and sometimes entire events are recalled or referenced differently than how they happened.
  • The press release comments for Chapter 3 state that we as fans are to essentially see the original games as simply 'fairy tales' and 'legends', and that the new series shows what really happened, the truth. In regards to the events of KQ2, for example, the choice of princesses in Chapter 3 determines the personality and appearance of Valanice in the present.
  • Alternatively, Graham is portrayed as an Unreliable Narrator and may be lying, embellishing, telling tall tales in his old age, using "creative licensing", and even being influenced to some degree by Gwendolyn.
  • Even the Magic Mirror may be changing aspects of historical past as the stories are retold.
  • There's also a strong implication that Graham is just dying of old age, not any kind of magical elixir of Samhain as shown in the last episode, and that the story was concocted only so that he could have "one last adventure"... in Gwen's eyes.
• Big "NO!":
  • Graham lets out one when he sees Achaka be killed by the dragon.
  • He lets out another one when he watches Manannan kidnap his son.
• Book Ends: The flashbacks in both Chapter 1 and 5 entirely take place in Daventry.
  • "Once Upon a Climb" starts out with Graham having to climb the tower, and he does it again in the climax.
  • "Snow Place Like Home" has the first and last puzzle room be the same. You just don't really solve the room the first time.
  • The epilogue mirrors events from the first chapter: Gwen meets Achaka's granddaughter and becomes friends with her, learns to shoot a bow, and is given a bow as a gift. While Achaka is killed by the dragon, Gwen and Achaka's granddaughter befriend a young dragon.
• Broken Bridge: Every single bridge in Daventry is broken, or more accurately, missing. This is because the bridge trolls are on strike. At the start of Chapter 2, Pillare seems to have called in sick, but Olfie takes Graham to the village.
• Call-Back: When Alexander first tries to use the bow, Graham corrects him in much the same way Achaka did for him in Chapter 1.
  • A particularly clever one is used in Chapter 5 both for tragedy and as a sort of closing comment on the game's meta-narrative. Throughout the game, on a few occasions, when the player's gotten Graham "killed", Old Graham, telling the story, comments something to the effect of "Of course, that didn't really happen - I'm alive now." In Chapter 5, when Gwendolyn attempts to tell the story so that he doesn't have to sacrifice himself to save everyone, he stops her, mirroring those humorous statements in a heartbreaking way by essentially telling her, "Of course, that didn't really happen - I'm dying now."
• Call-Forward: The melody of "Girl in the Tower", the Award-Bait Song from King's Quest VI, is used as the musical motif for Princess Vee and Princess Neese in Chapter 3, which re-imagines the events of King's Quest II.
• Canon Discontinuity: Kings Quest (2015) is an Alternate Continuity which features stories set between the main entries of the original series, and is not intended to mesh with the original series. It retells a number of the original games' stories.
  • The prologue and Chapter 1 replace much of King's Quest I.
  • Chapter 3 completely replaces King's Quest II, with Graham suggesting that the original story is a fabrication.
  • Chapter 4 mostly replaces the events of King's Quest III.
  • Elements of King's Quest V and VI are different.
• Cape Swish: Graham's cape billows a lot as he moves around. Sometimes he even does it on purpose.
• Cerebus Retcon: The dragon in the first King's Quest was just another minor obstacle, getting killed by it was (like everything else) Played for Laughs, and nothing much was made of the choice to deal with it lethally or non-lethally other than the non-lethal version giving more points. The whole scenario gets an Adaptation Expansion in this game and the dragon ends up killing a knight Graham befriended, and it's played very seriously. If you choose to 'blind' the dragon in the prologue, Graham is implied to have a very personal reason for doing it, while by 'freeing' it, Graham "forgives it for its terrible past", or he can simply distract it with thoughts of food.
  • Subverted by later chapters as Graham goes off track from the 'story of dragons' he promised in the first chapter, as the 'rippling consequences' from his 'choice' with the dragon simply disappear following chapter 3. While vaguely hinted at in the end of Chapter 5, and the epilogue, the fate of Hornswoggle is never revealed.
• Chaos Architecture: The game world and the location of places has very little to do with the original series' version of Daventry (though many areas seem to be influenced or based on areas seen in King's Quest I). Some of this has to do with the fact that the point of view of the directions changes between screens. But even still, trying to figure where landmarks are located in relationship to each other is a challenge. Daventry Castle seems to lie far to the east, and the Tournament Theatre seems to lie to the south east of the town; however, a sign states that it lies to the 'west' of the town. A hill overlooks castle Daventry much like as in KQ5, but the castle itself looks different as in a different angle (and very different architecture) than the one in previous games. However, Serenia is still located roughly north of Daventry. Chapter 2 suggests that Chapter 1 and 2 take place in an area of Daventry known as the 'Northwestern region,' which apparently is part of two separate Daventries in the same way Kolyma is divided into Eastern and Western lands as seen in Chapter 3. The Enchanted Isles is completely reimagined, as are Kolyma, Tanalore, and Avalon, and they have very little to do with the geography in previous games and books other than Kolyma/Enchanted Isles lies south of Daventry. The tower is initially in Kolyma and not a strange island. Tanalore is completely out of context, as it's been demoted from its own continent into a region on the same continent as Daventry to the south nearest the Enchanted Isles. Llewdor, Eldritch, and Serenia all appear to be roughly close to each other bordering the Infinite Desert (replacing the Endless Desert, Great Western Desert/Medusa Desert, and The Desert from the original games).
• Chekhov's Skill: Inverted. Graham's archery skill is impressive in the prologue, but is terrible at the start of the knight tournament.
• Cliffhanger: Gwendolyn and Gart are both called by a guard to their grandfather's side at the end of Chapter 1.
• Continuity Nod: These are not exactly references to continuity, but more like cameos, name-drops, nods, and homages to the series IP as a whole, since many of the references are out of context or downright go against the continuity of the original series.
  • Lots of name drops and nods to material from the classic games, and even the The King's Quest Companions; however, these are often largely out of context of their original source material, or in some cases, anachronistic (mentioned before the character would even know about it), but are thrown in as fun references for old-time fans who might be keeping track (examples include Serenia, Eldritch, Tanalore, Avalon, Llewdor, and Great Mountains, as well as many of the spells from KQ3). Some of these nods include 'alternate' visual adaptations of the box art from the original series (KQ6, KQ4, and the 2006 KQ collection) which give Alexander a different and more cartoony appearance, including a goatee, and reinterpreted outfit, place Rosella riding on a horse (rather than a unicorn, not that she ever rode the unicorn in the actual story), and a much older Graham fighting a dragon (in the original artwork, it shows a much younger Graham, and was apparently intended originally as a reinterpretation of the KQ1 dragon encounter), or the re-imagined appearance of the magic treasures (and the importance of the magic mirror over the others, and the order they were collected).
  • Werebears (KQ7), Yeti (KQ3/KQ5), Minotaurs (KQ6), Crystal Dragons (KQ7/Mask of Eternity), Spriggans (Mask of Eternity), Ice orcs (Mask of Eternity), and magic elves (KQ1/KQ5) all get referenced once in the game. Even goblins might be a reference to creatures from Mask of Eternity. There also appears to be a couple of references which may be a nod to dragon toads (KQ7), hydras (Mask of Eternity), and bat mantas (Mask of Eternity). Something like a Bat Manta appears in Chapter 2. Ice orcs are also mentioned again in Chapter 2. Basilisks (Mask of Eternity), Griffins (Mask of Eternity's Gryphs), and serpent lords (KQ5) are mentioned.
  • Aged Graham will say in Chapter 1 that he is fine, but wouldn't mind a slice of magic fruit.
  • Gwendolyn's room has tapestries that resemble the original covers of 2006 King's Quest Collection (Graham vs. Dragon), King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, and King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. They have all been altered from the original artwork in some way, however.
  • If Graham pretends to be a bridge troll, he claims to be from the Llewdor branch. Furthermore, there apparently really is a Llewdor branch; the trolls talk about how cruel and violent they are, and that they use tiny bells to be called. (Note: the game actually misspells it from "Llewdor").
    • Conversations with Amaya reveal that she also spent some time in Llewdor before the game started.
  • When asking about the magic potion brewing in the potion shop, two of his suggestions are "the ability to understand the speech of animals" and "[giving] wings like an eagle… or a fly". These are both spells that can be cast in the third game. In the second chapter, the list continues as Graham asks if the potion teleports people at random, creates a storm that follows them, or turns them into cats.
  • Examining the pies in the bakery, Graham exclaims, "Custard? My favourite!"
  • The Wedzel Wolves are said to migrate to the hills of Serenia, likely enough to the domain of Queen Icebella.
  • Graham stores his items in pockets sewn into his cape. This may be a reference to a standard joke from most of the original Sierra hintbooks, answering where characters kept all their stuff (according to the guides, it was always a variation on, paraphrased: 'wherever Superman kept his clothes when he flies, or in extremely roomy pockets.'). Part of this joke is the fact it's never explained where Superman puts his clothes, and it's 'not in his cape'.
  • The layout of Daventry Castle's interior from the start of Chapter 2 is identical to its layout from King's Quest 1 and 3, although there are more embellishments.
  • Graham tries to give his last name, but never gets past "Cr-". It's unknown if his last name is still supposed to be "Cracker," but this is likely a reference, at least. An Easter egg in KQ2 and another in Quest for Glory 1 actually does give him the last name Cracker. Later editions of King's Quest Companion flat out call him Graham Cracker in one section, discussing a potential death at the hands of the witch in the KQ1 remake.
  • In Chapter I, Muriel and Chester discuss their honeymoon in the caves in the Great Mountains (this appears to be both a King's Quest Companion and KQ3 reference, rather than a KQ5 reference), and they also talk about weekend trips to Tanalore (a country and continent also from the King's Quest Companion). In Chapter II, Muriel further discusses their time spent in "Tanalore". In Chapter 3, Tanalore is even briefly visited, but has been portrayed as as part of the continent of Daventry nearest to the Enchanted Isles to the south (the name "Enchanted Isles" is another KQ2/Companion reference), rather than its own continent. It has been reimagined as a tropical vacation spot (rather than the continent where Tamir and Llewdor exist to the west of Daventry.).
  • Merchant of Miracles (CH2) makes a reference to the 'magic maps' (KQ3/KQ6/KQ8), and the Eastern mountains of Serenia (KQ5).
  • Olfie (Chapter 2) talks about Graham solving an 'impossible riddle', climbing a beanstalk, and there is a reference to the other treasures being recovered (the two other treasures or at least finding more treasures in general; golden walnut, pouch of diamonds, scepter, golden egg, etc.) (KQ1). Rumpelstiltskin can be discovered rotting away in his own cell, and there is another reference to 'impossible riddles' related to him (KQ1).
  • Some of the choices a player makes in Chapter 2 includes "never-ending beef stew" (KQ1), "Smooth rounded stone of an unusual color soup" (KQ3), and "Roast fowl with cactus juice" (KQ3).
  • Infinite Desert in Chapter 3 is a reference to any number of 'Endless Deserts' including those in KQ3, KQ5, and KQ7.
  • Neptune's Kingdom as mentioned in Chapter 3 is a reference to KQ2, the ocean that surrounds Kolyma.
  • Chapter 3 includes a number of references: Enchanted Isles consist of Kolyma (Eastern and Western Kolyma), and possibly Tanalore, and Avalon. Hagatha's Tower is first initially in Kolyma before traveling between Tanalore, and Avalon, and then apparently back to Kolyma. The Islands are surrounded by Neptune's Kingdom, and lies in the far south (of Daventry).
  • Madeline of Avalon will briefly recount to Princess Neese of Graham's adventures playing a jig with the leprechauns from the first game, as well as the shrinking mushroom.
  • In her outburst in Avalon, Neese will suggest encountering a minotaur in a labyrinth (KQ6) (and one can even hear the sound effect of its roar), and puzzles involving snakes and bridles (KQ2, though that doesn't happen in Chapter 3's reimagining of that game).
  • Neese's book on fantastical races has an image of a Pegasus/Unicorn (KQ2/KQ4KQ5). There is also a mention to "pegasi" in at least one conversation, but it appears Graham didn't physically encounter any pegasi during this reimagined version of KQ2, more or less replacing the events of KQ2. The book was written by one "A. Leon" likely a reference to the "A Lion", who originally guarded the top of Hagatha's tower.
  • The son of Wente and Bramble Fey is named Taylor Fey, and is studying to be a tailor. This appears to be a reference to the Fey brothers from the King's Quest Companion, who own and run the Tailor shop in Serenia (KQ5), perhaps foreshadowing Chapter 5.
  • Showing off the treasures of Daventry, Graham mentions is Wedzel Wolf patch (if earned in Chapter 1), the magic shield and magic chest, and then the gems "which were just for bonus points". Both King's Quest I and II had various treasures that were merely there for points.
  • Much of Alexander's optional dialogue in Chapter 4 contains these, including the chores from KQ3 (dusting the office, cleaning the chamber pot and feeding the chickens), and saying he has a "type" (alluding to Cassima).
  • In Chapter 5, Graham collects a bucket of water, calling it "Life-giving water! Nectar of the gods!" which is a reference to the line the narrator in KQ5 says whenever Graham drinks from an oasis in the desert.
  • In Chapter 5, Mannanan mentions how he won a pair of goblets, one containing an elixir of destruction, from Lord Samhain. Samhain is the human name of the Lord of the Dead in King's Quest 6. No wonder no force on earth could reverse the effects of the poison, if it came from such a powerful source.
• Continuity Reboot: The game is classified as a reimagining; in other words, the events of the old games still happened, but how they happened may differ in this universe compared to how they did in the original games. It does make many (and perhaps most) aspects of the original canon incompatible, however (see Alternate Continuity).
• Curse Cut Short: In Chapter 2, Wente is about to call the goblins something not nice, but Bramble shushes him.
• Darker and Edgier: The series as a whole zigzags relative to the original seven games, too. The original game was more serious but light-hearted, whereas this new series has a darker and more somber plot, but also takes things in more silly and comical directions (neurotic characters, gags and punning). Graham is strong, determined, emotionally stable and stoic in the original series, where this Graham is known to geek out over his choco-chip pancakes or popcorn-flavored jellybeans even in old age.
  • Chapter 2 is much more serious than Chapter 1, with all the citizens captured and potentially starving to death.
  • Chapter 4 covers kidnapped family members, betrayal by friends, and loss of close friends.
  • In Chapter 5, everyone in town is dead, and an elderly Graham starts contemplating his own mortality.
• Dark Reprise: In Chapter 4, Queen Icebella's introduction is underscored by a minor key version of "Girl in the Tower".
• Deconstruction: In Chapter 1, the townspeople are introduced, each one representing one of the "paths" Graham can follow to complete his tale - Wits (The Hobblepots), Compassion (Wendle), Strength/Bravery/Aggression (Amaya). In Chapter 2, each of those characters is forced to adopt the virtues other than the one they prefer to free themselves: Amaya needs to learn to use Wit (by feigning Compassion) to trick the goblins into coming within range of her; when Compassion fails, Wente first tries to be Witty and make poisoned cakes before he gets aggressive and Bravely chucks them at the guards; and the Hobblepots get angry and brew a bone bomb (Brave), but learn Compassion by sharing their concoction as a soup with the guards, gaining their loyalty.
  • This is similarly seen in Chapter 3, if you use the pictures on the magic canvas to see younger versions of Bramble, Amaya, and Chester. Bramble was a punk (Strength), Amaya was a nerd (Wits), and Chester was The Casanova (Compassion).
• Didn't Think This Through: In "Once Upon A Climb," Graham runs off to a tower to find his one true love. Once he gets to the top, the princesses imprisoned therein ask if he's got any rope. He was actually hoping for a hair ladder.
• Dysfunctional Family: Played straight and averted.
  • Averted by Graham's family, which has many different personality types: the adventurous, eccentric Graham, the compassionate and devoted Valanice, the brash, hot-headed Rosella, the calm and collected Alexander, the bratty but caring Gart, and the imaginative and courageous Gwendolyn. Despite the many personalities among them, it's clear that they all love each other, without reservation, as best exemplified at the end of chapter 4, where Gart is much more upset about the fact that Graham is dying than by the fact that Graham's last official act as king will prevent Gart from taking the throne.
  • Played absolutely straight by Manny's family. Manny, Mordack and Hagatha are all related by birth or by association, and while Mordack and Hagatha are nice to each other without being overly compassionate, Manny treats both of them as disposable pawns in his plans.
• Disney Death: In Chapter 2, the stone goblins carry away the seemingly lifeless bodies of those Graham has failed to save from starvation or sickness. It's revealed at the end that they're all still alive and were sent into a room with beds until the stone goblin king gives Graham the key to free them.
• The Dog Bites Back: Even though they are brothers in loose terms, Mordan supports Manny throughout all of his endeavours. Until the decades of abuse pile up and he remembered how Graham Was Once Nice To Him.
• Epic Fail: How you could describe Graham's attempt at courtly love in "Once Upon a Climb." He travels to the other side of the world to rescue a princess from a tower and marry her. When he climbs the tower he finds two princesses, attempts to propose to one, and she immediately rebuffs him on the not entirely unreasonable grounds that she has no idea who he is. He attempts to propose to the other, who rebuffs him for the same reason, with the added biting comment that she was standing right there when he proposed the first time and that she's mildly offended by the thought of being his "Plan B." Then Graham offers to simply rescue them, only to remember that he forgot to bring rope and so is stuck with them. Not Graham's finest moment.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Mordan / Mordack has a badass baritone and a smooth velvety voice like thick chocolate syrup.
• External Retcon
• Eyes Are Unbreakable: No matter what grisly methods are used to acquire the monster eyes in the first chapter, the eyes themselves will be perfectly intact.
• Eye Scream:
  • One of the challenges in the Knight Competition is getting the eye from a hideous beast.
  • The dragon Graham encounters loses an eye regardless of what the player chooses, it's just the circumstances that differ.
• The Faceless:
  • Queen Valanice is only seen from behind in shadow, until The Reveal at the end of the third chapter.
  • Also, none of the knights remove their helmets.
  • The goblins all wear rock helmets and body suits that hide most of their features. A human raised by goblins takes off his helmet at the end of Chapter 2.
  • Manny, at the ends of Chapters 2 and 3, is only partially seen, speaking some menacing line.
• Face Your Fears: The main theme and aesop of Chapter 2.
• Fix Fic: The concept is briefly discussed towards the end of Chapter 5. With Old Graham too ill to continue his story, he requests that Gwendolyn do so. One of the first things she attempts is to tell the story so that Graham gets to live and everyone "moved to Avalon" rather than him having to sacrifice himself to beat Manny. Old Graham gently chastises her, telling her that this clearly isn't what happened and that the story must be told correctly.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the start of the game, when Graham is retrieving the mirror from the well, he takes a bow from a fallen soldier and does a strange salute somberly. This is the knight Achaka, who taught Graham how to fire a bow, and it is his salute Graham does. The dragon also has an arrow in its eye, which happens during the Knight Tournament.
  • Notice how Old Graham's right arm is on a sling and he is bedridden while he tells Gwendolyn his story from Chapter 1 onward? It's not until near the end of Chapter 5 when you discover that he took a beating from Manannan's Mind over Matter powers that resulted in his legs getting injured and his right arm getting fractured... all the while he got himself poisoned for his trouble in saving the Kingdom of Daventry.
  • Discussed in-universe when Young Graham discovers the entrance to the Goblin Cave behind the Merchant of Miracles' wagon when the wagon is being repaired. Kidnapped King Graham rides down this river on a raft with two goblins.
  • Discussed in-universe when Young Graham arrives outside King Edward's castle and sees the moat monster. Gwendolyn is excited and begins asking questions about it, only for Graham to say it's just foreshadowing for later. Gwendolyn's disappointed when she figures out it means she has to wait.
  • Manny knows a little too much about the goblins, and threatens to return. It seems he left a Pied Piper book for the goblins so that they would kidnap the population of Daventry. Chapter 3 reveals Manny is a goblin himself, but is brewing a potion to give him a human body, suggesting he is a certain wizard who kidnapped Gwydion.
  • Addendum 48677 is mentioned in Chapter 2 by Graham looking it up in what initially seems like a throwaway line. In Chapter 3, Gart quotes the same addendum in a slightly more sinister manner. Chapter 4 finally reveals the significance of it: it allows the King of Daventry to pick any suitable male as his heir. Graham is trying to push through an addendum so that he can pick any person. He also wants this rushed, because he's dying.
  • Whichever princess is not chosen at the end of Chapter 3 gets a frost hand. She becomes Queen Icebella by Chapter 4.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: Largely subverted (see All Myths Are True), unlike the original King's Quest series. Even the press release for Chapter 3 tries to underplay and subvert the idea, by suggesting that KQ2 was only a fairy tale, and that the real story is more complicated and different.
  • However, it is also fully endorsed in that Chapter 1 is essentially a fractured fairy tale version of events from The Princess Bride; Chapter 2 is the same for The Pied Piper of Hamelin and The Princess and the Goblin; Chapter 3 is such a version of Rapunzel; and Chapter 4 is this for Han Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.
  • In a sense, if the original King's Quest are seen as 'fairy tales' of this universe, then the real stories are the "Fractured Fairy Tales", the 'true events'.
• Framing Device: The main parts of each chapter are ostensibly formed as Graham tells his stories to Gwendolyn. However, the story that unfolds involving old Graham and Gwendolyn is just as important as the flashbacks.
• Frying Pan of Doom: What appears to be a sword embedded in the stone turns out to be a frying pan strapped to a broken sword hilt. Amaya considers it to be a suitable weapon.
• Fun with Acronyms: The astute will notice that the initials of Whisper's Overly Long Name actually spells out "whisper".
• Generation Xerox: Many of Gwen's interactions with Achaka's granddaughter mirror those of Graham and Achaka.
• Ghost Reunion Ending: Achaka's ghost is watching over Graham during the finale.
• Got Volunteered: The knights all take a step back to volunteer Graham if Achaka was not followed in the first half of Chapter 1.
• Grand Finale: The pitch of the game is to provide a sort of "great last adventure" to Graham's journeys.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy:
  • At one point, Graham can talk with guards who are protecting the town from intruders. The guards naturally don't realize that since Graham is behind them while speaking to them, he's intruding.
  • The insanity of the guards gets driven home further at the start of Chapter 2, when they trick Graham into instituting Opposite Day, then bombarding him with decisions in rapid succession.

H-N

• Hammerspace: The pockets in Graham's cape somehow manages to store items that are twice as big as Graham himself. In Chapter 2, he even manages to fit a whole person in one of the pockets!
• Hates Wearing Dresses: This incarnation of Rosella is a bit more of a tomboy, to juxtapose with Alexander being more of a wizard and less like his adventurous dad. She spends all of Chapter 4 in regal trousers. She's wearing one in her later years though, having mellowed out.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Chapter 5, Mordack turns on Manny when the latter begins torturing Graham, remembering how Graham saved him when he was being bullied by goblins.
• The Hero Dies: After hinting at it in Chapters 3 and 4, Graham finally passes away in Chapter 5 due to his declining health.
• Heroic Sacrifice: According to Chapter 5, King Graham's fading health and faculties are due to a potion that slowly destroys a person. It was that or let Manny pour it over the castle and let it destroy it via Sympathetic Magic.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Achaka, Acorn, Manny, and Whisper all have more layers to them than their stereotypical aspects would imply. Acorn acts like a big dumb jerk, but would rather be working on his knitting and caring for Princess Madeline; Achaka can't communicate very well to convey his sentiment, and though he is actually rather straightforward in wanting to help others, he just can't explain to Graham very well what he means; Whisper is an arrogant blowhard but only because he's very fearful of everything in life, and is so good at running away; and Manny, as the intelligent, friendly one, turns out to be the biggest jerk out of the five initial knight hopefuls, actively using Graham as muscle to rid himself of the competition, manipulating his emotions, and then poisoning him for their final match.
  • Hagatha was a traditional fairy tale villain in the original King's Quest II. In Chapter 3, she is given sympathetic motivations for kidnapping princesses and even gets redeemed herself after Graham learns of her horrible backstory. She was the princess for whom the tower was originally built, trapped because her parents feared her magical powers.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Manny is actually Manannan, the antagonist of King's Quest III. He even manages to hijack Chapter 4, at a point one would expect him to have been defeated.
• Horse of a Different Color: Instead of horses, people in the setting ride giant gerbil or snutes, which seem to be horse shaped dogs.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Not literally, but when Alexander gets his left hand injured (the hand he's been using for his spells the entirety of Chapter 4) he says "It's a good thing I'm ambidextrous" and proceeds to use his right as well.
• In Medias Res: The game opens with Graham reclaiming the Magic Mirror for King Edward from a one-eyed dragon. Graham eventually tells Gwendolyn how the dragon lost its eye later on in the story, and says a story is sometimes best told out of order in response to her questions.
  • Each individual chapter sort of starts in medias res, with a mini-puzzle Graham has to solve before we see present day Daventry and set up the story for the chapter.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • No matter which path you take, Achaka will fall to the dragon.
  • Gwendolyn's scenes change based on your decisions, as she tries to emulate her grandfather. However, the scene where she confronts Mr. Springbottom will always result in Valanice's vase getting broken.
  • No matter which princess is chosen during Chapter 3, the other will fall prey to the freezing curse.
• Informing the Fourth Wall: It's an adventure games, so this goes hand-in-hand with the genre. A twist in that it is Gwendolyn and old Graham that comments, not young Graham.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Hagatha, in Chapter 3, calls Graham "Princess Graham." Toward the end of the chapter, however, it's revealed that she knew all along that he was a king and not a princess.
  • The Sphinx in Chapter 4 calls Graham "Mr. Majesty." They later call Alexander Gwydion
• Interface Screw: When Graham's memory starts going off in the In Medias Res Chapter 5: A Good Knight, and he mentions not remembering where to go, the controls get inverted for a bit, so that you end up in a big blank void, and current Graham narrating mentioning he didn't go this way.
• Ironic Nickname: Whisper tends to shout.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gart initially comes off as the bratty older sibling (cousin) to Gwendolyn, and looks like he's going to be absolutely insufferable as the heir to the Daventry throne. When he finds out that Graham is trying to push through an amendment to the rules that would allow him to name Gwendolyn as his heir, Gart is much more upset about the fact that Graham is dying than he is about losing the throne.
• Justified Extra Lives: Being a Sierra game (kinda), there are plenty of ways to die, but every time it cuts back to a silhouette of old King Graham and Gwendolyn, usually with Graham saying something like, "Of course, if I did that, I wouldn't be telling you this story!" or Gwendolyn complaining, "Grandpa, you're telling the story wrong!" followed by a cut back to right before the death. Later episodes usually just have old Graham (and later Gwendolyn herself in the final act of Chapter 5) saying a terrible pun in response to the death.
• Karma Meter: The game tracks your karma along three axes: compassion, wisdom, and bravery. Your score in these traits affects Gwendolyn's behavior. Graham's expression in the picture at the end of Chapter 1 also changes based on your decisions.
  • Chapter 3 mostly foregoes this meter in favor of Relationship Values, though the two are tied together: romancing Vee falls along the wits route, and Neese is on the compassion route.
  • Completely done away with starting in the fourth chapter. By this point, Graham has defined himself and his preferred personality, and there are no further karma choices to make (though the previous choices still impact the story).
• Killer Rabbit: As Graham himself says, in a game over where he's hogtied and carried off by vengeful squirrels, the squirrels in Daventry are a little nutty.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Chapter 3, Muriel comments on Vee's "perfectly textured elbows".
• Leet Speak: Chapter 4 has an addendum for staring contests. It's number P33P4R5.
• Left the Background Music On: When you first enter the tower, the Girl in the tower, as mentioned in Leitmotif, starts playing when Graham meets Vee. A few seconds in it turns into a improv solo played by Nees on her lute.
• Leitmotif: Fans will recognize the song "Girl in the Tower" while courting the princess in "Once Upon a Climb". It plays a couple times in the chapter and even receives a tense action scene variation.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: The key driving point of Chapter 4. After Graham is reunited with Alexander, he expects that his son will like all the things that Graham likes - puzzles, puns, archery and adventure - and tries to connect with Alexander by doing those things. But Alexander thinks of himself as Gwydion, since that's how he was brought up, and instead has an aptitude for brute forcing his way through problems with magic, both of which Graham dislikes (and Graham absolutely hates and fears magic). It's not until the end of the chapter, when Graham is forced to use magic himself to save Alexander, that they start to reconcile and properly connect. The present day segments show that Alexander is still is own person, but has definitely inherited his father's love of adventure, and has nurtured it in his daughter Gwendolyn.
• Literally Shattered Lives: In Chapter 4, this is the ultimate fate for Icabella/Vee/Nees
• Loophole Abuse: The entry requirement for the knight challenge is the eye of a hideous beast. The eye doesn't have to be separate from the beast. Acorn takes advantage of this by simply bringing a live wedzel wolf. Graham can do this as well, depending on the path chosen, by having Olfie the bridge troll approach and present his eye.
• Magic Mirror: Rescued in the prologue of the game. Once again, it predicts Graham becoming King. You can look at it in later chapters, but it just shows his reflection unless the plot demands it. It also serves to display Graham's story as he recounts it to Gwendolyn. At the beginning of Chapter 3, it shows Graham that his love is at the top of a tower in Kolyma. There is a particularly heartwrenching scene where Graham begs the mirror to show him one more adventure before he passes on, cementing the lore that the mirror does show (and sometimes send) Graham where he needs to be.
• The Many Deaths of You: As tradition in the series, Graham can die in a plethora of ways. Since the framing device is Graham regaling his granddaughter with the adventures of his youth, there's usually a funny comment following each death lampshading how what he said obviously isn't true.
  • Downplayed in Chapter 2. There's really only three ways to die, and easily avoidable, too (death by rat, death by falling off stalagmite pillars, and death by food poisoning). There were other planned deaths but were cut; material exists in game's transcripts.
• Mind Screw: Did these stories happen as told or did Graham embellish them? The Framing Device is that Graham's stories visually play out in the magic mirror as he tells them to Gwendolyn, and for the first four chapters they seem mostly true (with maybe a few facts left out or altered, see the Alternative Character Interpretation entry), but Chapter 5 clearly couldn't have literally happened, as Graham's failing memories turn the story into a meta-heavy incoherent plot that breaks the rules of reality. Some puzzles are solved by old Graham remembering something (for example, a sandbox with a bucket in it) the (slightly) younger Graham getting an item as a result, and then old Graham saying he remembered wrong and it was actually something else (a fountain instead of the sandbox) which younger Graham then uses to fill up the bucket with water. Also, the end of the story (Graham and Manny's final showdown) is told by Gwendolyn, who (it is implied) had no prior knowledge of this particular story, though her version of events does get Graham's approval (the cause of his impending death via Manny's poison is implied to be true, even though Gwendolyn told that part of the story). Though the game never outright states whether or not the events of this chapter actually occurred, it's heavily hinted that they did in some form, but how much was true, how much was Graham's failing memory, and how much was Graham/Gwendolyn making stuff up is never addressed.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Graham's Big "NO!" in Chapter 4 has him on his knees and raising his fists.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Chapter 3 introduces a magic canvas that changes into a painting showing a younger version of whatever is shown in it. It comes up a few times in the game, showing Hagatha as the beautiful princess she used to be, Chapter 3 showing Manny as a young goblin knight and in Chapter 4 revealing that the Sphinx is really Manny/Manannan.
• Moon Logic Puzzle:
  • Subverted in Chapter 3. At a certain point, Graham start sinking in quicksand. You can grab an umbrella, a bucket and a wheel, then make the skeleton next to you hold the umbrella and use the wheel and the bucket to make some sort of watermill to drain the sand. Graham looks proudly at his invention for a few seconds, and then Vee just throws him a vine while commenting that such logic would never actually work.
  • Called out by name by Gwendolyn in the epilogue, when using an item in a nonsensical location.
    Gwendolyn: Moon, meet Logic.
• Motivational Lie: After Achaka dies, a disheartened Graham goes into a 10-Minute Retirement. Manny brings him out of it by telling Graham that he can help the cause that Achaka was serving. Manny gets caught out on his lie later on when he forgets the name of the village in question.
• Multiple-Choice Past: As a result of a combination of the Framing Device and a "choices matter" style of gameplay, the stories acquire this trait. Choices made by the player affect how the story turns out, which includes things seen in the "present" after the choices are made. The most significant of these is in Chapter 3, the end of which determines which of two princesses is Valanice, Graham's eventual wife.
• Mythology Gag: In Chapter 1, Muriel can be heard humming "Greensleeves", which was the theme song for King's Quest I: Quest For The Crown.
  • The Leitmotif of Daventry's guards is the "Coming to Help King Graham" song from King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!.
  • Early in Chapter 4, Valanice tries to solve a musical puzzle by playing the King's Quest main theme and "Girl in the Tower" on xylophone.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In chapter 1, Manny made sure Graham made it to the final, thinking he would be the easiest to defeat. But Graham is more clever than he appears. Manny would have had an easier time in the Duel of Wits with Acorn or Whisper, and neither of them would have had the support of Kyle and Larry.
• No Full Name Given: Played with. Graham has a last name, and repeatedly tries to give it in Chapter 1, but can never get past "Cr-".
• No Indoor Voice: W H I S P E R. In Chapter 3 he tries to actually whisper and Graham notes it's louder than his regular voice. Helps he's voiced by the same guy who did Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
• Nostalgia Level: Chapter 5, A Knight to remember, features a gas induced dream where Graham remembers the castle, but the graphics are (aside from the moat monster) 100% in the style of the original 1984 King's Quest. The scene transitions into a King's Quest VI artstyle and scenario(even though that featured his son Alexander, and Graham's sprite is custom and stands out like a sore thumb). For bonus points, the audio used in the latter is compressed and has awful clipping of the S sound just like games used to have in the 90's.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Manny forges an alliance with Graham because Graham reminds him of himself, and how they both rely on their brains.
  • Mannanan says this ad verbatim in Chapter 5 as well.

O-Z

• Only One Name:
  • Subverted with Whisper, whose name is an acronym for his much longer full name.
  • Acorn is an alias, not even his 'real name', neither was 'Cumference'. Some fans think he might be the Hobblepots' missing son; others think it's Mordon/Manny (via a baby swap).
  • Played straight (as far as we can tell) with the other knight hopefuls in that chapter.
• Overly Long Name: See also; Only One Name. WHISPER is actually Walter Harris Ignatius Sally Percival Eduardo Ramon Jr. the Third of Modesto.
• Passing the Torch: In-universe, Graham is passing his adventuring hat (literally) to his chosen successor, Gwendolyn. Out-of-universe, the franchise is putting forward this person as the protagonist of new adventures from now on.
• Pensieve Flashback: It's implied that the Magic Mirror shows Graham's adventures as he describes them. This explains why Gwendolyn occasionally comments on the imagery. The white void areas that appear periodically in the last chapter implies the Mirror's images are tied to Graham's memory.
• Perspective Flip: In particular, Chapter 3, where the original King's Quest II is hinted to be a simplified retelling - a 'fairy tale' - while Chapter 3 is the real story. In a sense, this also happens to Hagatha, who goes from being an evil character to a sympathetic one.
• Playable Epilogue: There is an optional Playable Epilogue in The Complete Collection edition.
• The Power of Love: What allows people to escape from Hagatha's tower. Doesn't have to be romantic love, either.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: The game falls into this with the way Graham treats his two grandchildren. Graham is the hero, so anything he does is more or less indicated to be okay - including the fact that he clearly favors his granddaughter Gwen over his grandson Gart, to the point that he names her his heir, making her Queen of Daventry when he dies. This is despite Gart being the older grandchild, and the one who actually lives in Daventry with his grandfather. Gart himself is given a few minor character flaws, while Gwen isn't shown to have any. She becomes the player character in the epilogue of the game, meaning that she has apparently also inherited Graham's Protagonist Centered Morality.
• Pun: A Running Gag in the series is that everyone in the setting makes these. King Graham himself is the worst in this regard, and his granddaughter's reaction is predictable. Princess Vee can match Graham pun-for-pun.
  • Alexander does one accidentally in one of optional dialogues early in Chapter 4. Graham later tries to encourage him, even after he said that he doesn't really like puns, but his joke is more an example of Anti-Humor^note "What do you call koalas at the North Pole? Lost. Very, very lost.". Graham even notes that:
    Graham: That was really more of a punchline than a pun!
  • Wente really loves making these too. When at one point he's chastised by his wife because he's wasting time, he stops making them. Then Graham exits the scene and she tells him "You have 30 seconds" and he unleashes a Hurricane of Puns because of his pent up compulsion.
• Pungeon Master: Nearly everyone in Daventry seems to like to use puns in their conversations and greetings.
  • Graham is this, much to Gwendolyn's annoyance, although she gradually warms up to it.
  • Princess Vee seems to be especially bad, making it one of her defining character traits.
  • Averted by Alexander, who seems to find puns more confusing than anything. He finally makes one, to his father's delight, near the end of Chapter 4. He's later shown to be a master in his old age.
  • Wente the baker as well, and he's usually, especially as he ages, in a Hurricane of Puns style. Unless Bramble bridles him.
• Puzzle Boss:
  • In Chapter 1, the Duels of Speed, Strength, and Wits all fall under this.
  • Making it to the Goblin King in Chapter 2 is a dumbed-down Puzzle Boss.
• Press X to Not Die: Chapter 1 is interspersed with occasional quick time events. The second climb up the tower in Chapter 3 comes close.
• Retraux: King Graham's hallucinations in Chapter 5 are based on the original Sierra games, starting with an AGI rendition of the castle similar to King's Quest I. The score bar and text parser are lovingly recreated and the only thing you can hear is the hum of an old computer.
  • He later finds himself at the gates of the Land of the Dead from King's Quest VI. The dialogue in this sequence is represented with portraits and the audio is intentionally bitcrushed to recreate how the voices sounded back then.
• Rewatch Bonus: Chapter 1 is full of these.
  • After learning a few more words of Achaka's language, replaying the game and overhearing Manny and Achaka's conversation during the Test of Chivalry, it's heavily implied that Manny sends Achaka after the dragon under the well in order to get rid of his strongest competition. The biggest clue is Achaka saying "Shrekee" during the conversation, which Graham later learns is his language's word for "dragon."
  • Even worse: During the conversation with Achaka, Manny keeps saying "Hornswoggle." In Chapter 3, we find out that Hornswoggle is the name of the dragon.
  • Replaying also makes it much easier to see that Manny is manipulating things the entire time to make sure that Graham is his final opponent - not because of their alliance, but because he thinks Graham is the weakest link.
• Riddling Sphinx: Chapter 4 features the Sphinx, who aside from residing in the Ice Palace which is filled with block puzzles and death traps, is fond of riddles.
• Rise to the Challenge: In "Once Upon a Climb," Graham must scale the outside of the tower. Twice. The second time he's being chased by ice.
• Rule of Three: A theme to the game is deciding to show compassion, think your way around a problem, or go for the direct route. As such, many puzzles have three results. The end game screen shows you the decisions you made, and with two exceptions, all of them have three possibilities. Later episodes remove these choices, as Graham has defined his character already, and would be used to making the same kind of choices.
  • The Knight Tournament is split into the tests of might, speed, and wits.
  • There are three princesses trapped in Kolyma's moving tower. The third one is "Princess" Graham or Princess Hagatha, depending on how you want to interpret it.
• Rules Lawyer: All of the guards in Daventry are obsessed with the kingdom's rules and have seemingly memorized every addendum of the country's laws. The amount of Loophole Abuse that goes on is actually astounding, and without it, it would have been impossible for Graham to win the competition.
  • Graham himself becomes one in the later episodes, as well, able to quote rules and regulations with ease. He uses these abilities to try to push through an addendum to the existing laws.
• Running Gag: Chapter 3 has characters from previous chapters putting in appearances, and every single one mentions how buff Graham's arms have become.
  • Every chapter has a reference to Graham liking or eating choco-chip pancakes. It's even a clue to one of the riddles in Chapter 4.
  • References to the "leg day" meme. In Chapter 1's race, Whisper admonishes Graham for skipping leg day, and in the battle of strength Acorn says he shouldn't have skipped belly day. When Whisper shows up in Chapter 3, he remarks on Graham's newly buff physique by remarking that it looks like Graham's been on an arm decade. The Merchant of Miracles comments on Graham's pot belly, saying that he missed belly day (first mentioned by Acorn in Chapter 1).
• Sadistic Choice: Both Bramble and Mr. Fancycakes are sick in Chapter 2, but there is only one bottle of remedy to be found. No matter who you choose to save, Old Graham will make you feel guilty for it. Giving the medicine to Mr. Fancycakes unlocks an achievement, and the Merchant will be so happy he gives you a hatchet. The hatchet is needed to cut down a mushroom, in order to get the third 'story' page ("Page of Wisdom") for another achievement, and the page is needed to get Gwendolyn's Bravery ending (yet another achievement).
• Savage Wolves: The wedzel wolves, which will raid the town if the rear entrance is left open. Amaya gives you a patch if you don't let the wolves into town.
  • Played with in Chapter 3. After falling down a hill, Princess Neese and Graham meet a snarling wolf. Graham draws his bow but Neese asks him to hold his fire. Subverted as the wolf was simply frightened by an arrow that had previously pierced its tail.
  • Graham and Alexander have to run from some wedzel wolves in Chapter 4. After getting cornered, Alexander feeds them a cat cookie he had left over from his escape plan.
• Save the Princess: The plot of Chapter 3. The thing is that (unlike in the original) there's two of them. Three if you count Hagatha, and four if you count Graham himself (It Makes Sense in Context).
  • Averted in Chapter 4. Despite the bulk of the game taking place after the events of KQ3, Alexander enters the castle without having saved Rosella. Even when Rosella and Valanice get separated from Graham and Alexander and are said to have been escorted to the tall tower, they just casually show up after the guys discover that the Sphinx is really Manny. They're not idle, they have adventuring credit to their name!
• Scenery Porn: The bottom of the well has some spectacular scenery. Above ground is pretty, too, but not quite on the same scale.
  • The entire game's textures are made from hand painted oil paintings.
• Secret Test of Character: If you steal the shield from Amaya without paying, you have the option of fessing up or hiding the truth. Near the end of the game, she'll reveal that she knew it was you all along, but wanted to see if you'd come clean.
• Self-Deprecation: While it has been many years, and it's not quite the same staff, Chapter 3's intro gives a short cameo to Cedric the owl from KQ5. If you repeatedly try to ignore him being kidnapped and just try to walk on by, King Graham will go on a rant about how he was glad the annoying owl was dead. Keep going one more time and the infamous "Watch out! A poisonous snake!/A Poisonous Snake!" (sic) line returns from Gwendolyn, and Graham corrects her that snakes are venomous, not poisonous. The achievement/trophy image is based on the closeup talk box of the snake in KQ5.
  • Many of the comments from Alexander in Chapter 4 seem to reflect typical adventure game tropes, or complaints from fans about the gameplay.
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: When Mannaman finally bites the dust, he cycles through all of his forms he's taken in reverse order from human to cat, to sphinx, to cat, to human, and finally to goblin.
• Shared Family Quirks: Gwendolyn, like her grandfather, likes to narrate her adventures, starts off as a terrible archer but masters it very quickly, and does the same excited rambling he did when something that really thrills her happens.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Chapter 4 is the last episode any of the guards appear, and then only at the beginning. 5 has the castle halls empty, and the only silly character to return in that chapter is Olfie, and even he is wistful and weary compared to his younger self. The chapter is not necessarily Darker and Edgier than previous ones, but a whole lot more less whimsical.
• Single Tear: When Gart is bawling his eyes out at the end of Chapter 4 learning about Graham making a law change because of his impending death, in less than thirty days, he holds onto Gwendolyn, who then sheds a single tear.
• Smart People Play Chess:
  • The final challenge in Chapter 1, the Duel of Wits, is a chess-like board game between the two finalists.
  • Gart and Gwendolyn are seen playing the same game during the first break of Chapter 3. Gart manages to kill his avatar with his own arrow.
  • A very similar puzzle is used in Chapter 4, except Valanice is your archer character (and can die). And she isn't terribly enthused about the possibility!
• Squee: Gwendolyn literally does this in Chapter 1 when Graham and Achaka discover the dragon can breathe fire. Old Graham remarks, "We didn't * share your excitement."
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character: Vee and Nees, who can be courted by Graham in chapter 3, share some lines in which they respond in the same way depending on who's Relationship Values is the highest. The one you don't end up marrying will turn out to be the Snow Queen.
  • Similarly, it doesn't really matter who you choose to aid you in the climax of chapter 1, who you spring to help you in chapter 2.
• Strong Family Resemblance: A subtle and rather clever example. In Chapter 3, Graham meets the two princesses who may become his future queen. The devs have designed the girls so that no matter which one the player selects, this trope is in play - Vee has facial features very much like Graham's grandson Gart, and Neese has facial features very much like his granddaughter Gwendolyn.
• Subliminal Seduction: The ice people in Chapter 4 have backmasked speech, including the obligatory "Wow, I can't believe you actually reversed this clip."
• Super Drowning Skills: Graham can't swim, at least in the first chapter. This is actually relevant to solving one of the puzzles. His swimming ability (or lack thereof) isn't a factor in later chapters.
• Take That!: If you save the merchant from the goblins, he'll thank you and run off. Gwendolyn asks if the merchant will remember that, and Graham responds, "He immediately forgot about it." This might be a shot at Telltale's "X will remember that" system. However, in Chapter 2 he actually does remember, and will be happy to see you if you saved him, or angry if you didn't and threaten to charge extra.
  • Chapter 4 is about Graham not connecting with Alexander. This translates into Graham acting like a paperthin Boomer and Alexander like a paperthin Millennial, talking about participation trophies, selfies, and (b)logging things and how entitled the younger generation supposedly is.
• Those Two Guys: Two pairs. There's Royal Guard #1 and Royal Guard #2 (No names given) who are nearly always seen together, and often bicker. Then there's Kyle and Larry, who are practicing their cavalry on their off days, which because of steed budget cuts, means Larry is riding on top of Kyle. Though the latter border on The Dividual.
• Troll Bridge: The bridges of Daventry are actually attached to and controlled by massive trolls, who are part of a union in an agreement with the kingdom. In Chapter 1 they're on strike because of the discomfort of the guards' pointy shoes. To prevent them chowing down on the land's goats, all goats have horns strapped to their heads and are persistently referred to as "majestic unicorns."
• Unreliable Narrator: It's unsure whether this is a full on Continuity Reboot or if Graham is embellishing on certain facts and stories. Definitely gets called out when he does things that Gwendolyn doesn't remember, most especially dying.
  • Graham ends Chapter 2 saying he's outright altered parts of the tale and omitted some bits of it (his context applies to the chapter's story itself, but may still have a double meaning).
  • Chapter 3 has a number of moments where Gwendolyn calls out Graham on either trying to 'alter' her grandmother's 'origin story', mixing up his stories, or flat out making stuff up.
  • The press release for Chapter 3 subverts this, stating that we as fans may think we know the story of Graham's first meeting of Valanice, and his adventure at Hagatha's tower; however, that is only the 'fairy tale' and the real story his far more complicated. This suggests that Graham's stories to his granddaughter are the more reliable true stories. Chapter 2 suggests that fairy tales may only be 'untrue', and superstition, and that the world is a lot more serious than that (but also that dreams do rarely come true in the way they do in the myths).
  • Used in-universe as a Player Punch in Chapter 5. Graham's memory is quickly going and Gwendolyn has to correct him with the bridge trolls several times, and at several points he has problems remembering what was in certain locations. There's also a subtle implication that Graham made up the whole story of the final confrontation with Manny, to give Gwendolyn a more heroic reason for his impending death than just "old age".
• Video Game Caring Potential: When looking for a wheel, you can pay for whatever item you take (or choose to steal it, or donate money to another store). This doesn't affect how much gold you have later, but it does affect how the townspeople react to you.
  • In Chapter 3, during Princess Neese's "project", one of the items that can be retrieved is a rose. You can then give this to her, which will trigger different reactions depending on whether she's romantically interested or not.
• Weird Trade Union: The Daventry Bridge Troll Guild is, as it says, a guild for trolls with bridges growing on them, that allow humans to walk across their backs. In "A Knight to Remember," they're on strike due to, among other things, humans not crossing them gently.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Graham literally says this line, (in the same way as from the Zelda cartoon), if he lets Neese fall through thorn bushes and she complains at the end.
• Xenafication: Rosella was a reluctant hero in the first series, a damsel for the dragon, and then only going on adventures for love (of her father or her prince). In this version, she's an adventurous spitfire, who has to be told she can't bring all of her axes on a family vacation.
• You Bastard!: In Chapter 3, if you keep getting baby Cedric the Owl eaten, Old King Graham will make puns about how you're enjoying this. If you try to defy the But Thou Must! bit at the end to leave Cedric to get eaten, Old King Graham goes on a long and bitter rant about how great it felt to watch the owl get eaten and goes so far as to claim he chased the badger off so he could do it himself. Then he asks, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: In the first chapter, if you use the path Manny takes to cross the river and enter the tournament (which you would only know about if you've played the game before), old Graham will halt the story and say he's forgotten how it's supposed to go. The game then deposits you back on the far shore to retry the puzzle as normal. There is an achievement for doing this.

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