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Daventry1stEd

Daventry (KQ4 era)[1]

Daventry is the name of the continent that which the Kingdom of Daventry is located.[2] (though the continent is also known as Serenia at times). The continent has changed shape and size depending over the years often through the influence of magic. Primarily it refers to the continent during the years when the northern half of the continent along with most of Serenia had gone missing. Daventry is one of the main continents in the world of Daventry. It is also the continent mentioned to have a number of smaller kingdoms scattered across the continent, with Daventry and Serenia being the largest.

Background[]

According to Derek Karlavaegen's "crude" and heavily stylized maps, Daventry is the name of the entire eastern continent where the major nations of Serenia and Daventry are located, along with many lesser nations. However in his notes he refers to the continent as the continent of "Serenia". Though Alexander refers to the continent as "Daventry", in his interview with Derek. Derek also refers to the continent of Daventry in his earliest notes as well (these were written during a period when all or most of the kingdom of Serenia was missing).

The land of Serenia lies in the north beyond the 'great mountains' to the north and Westering Mountains. The Endless Desert lies to the northwest. While Daventry is located in the south of the continent.

Charts

(KQ3 era)

Not so many years ago, it is said the great Wizard Harlin used his powerful magic to move the Great Mountains north and east of the woods of Serenia and created a vast ocean in between and dividing the continent in two. Most of continent was missing. He surrounded the small village of Serenia he had created vast deserts (he had shifted the Endless Desert around the village itself). He put a chasm between the desert and the woods. These were created to be obstacles to prevent his enemies from reaching him. He had moved much of the continent of Serenia to a place referred to as the North. At the time what was left of kingdom of Serenia itself consisted of unnatural desert he created, and some woods to the north. What was left was a very small location on the northern edge of the continent then known as Daventry. At this time there were only four great countries of the world (as the divided Serenia was not counted amongst them).

Around this time, it is said that under Graham the kingdom of Daventry had grown to four hundred and eighty-seven heptanes-square[3], an area bounded by forests including the Old Woods. The kingdom was said to be a small spot among the many larger lands surrounding the kingdom. Graham had no authority beyond the limits of the fields, and no desire to rule more[4].

Still at least part of Serenia was still around, and was apparently a nearby land (Insects of Serenia and the Surrounding Lands, Volume III: T to Z). Priscilla and Kenneth the Huge ruled from there.[5]

Over the years, the continent saw more disasters as a Three-headed Dragon tore across the continent, and settled in Daventry and great earthquakes ripped it apart, creating the Great Tear in the kingdom of Daventry itself. Ever shrinking the size of Kingdom of Daventry down.

Some time later, Gwydion landed at the foot of the mountain range that had been exposed to the seas on the northern coast of the small continent[6], the northern half of the continent and most of Serenia was still missing (it is said the shape of the world is always changing do to magic,[7] and Harlin's magic was great). The shore he had landed on lay close to the edge of the kingdom of Daventry, which was located in a valley between two mountain ranges at the time (a river flowing through the valley).

Derek's maps sent around the time of early (KQ4 era) show that most of Serenia was still missing. His map shows the kingdom of Daventry taking up most of the entire continent (and the notes correspond as well[8]). He doesn't mention any other lesser lands or kingdoms that shared the continent, though there is evidence and references to at least a few others that existed during the period. In later revisions of his correspondence, he mentions other western or southern kingdoms around Daventry, and that these come and go as if by magic.

The charts around the time of Gwydion's escape do appear to show an entire western protuberance of land on the continent of Daventry that lies west of the beach landing site, where the prince landed at the foot of the Great mountains. he landed near the central eastern section on the northern edge of the continent at the time. The kingdom saw growth for a time after Graham saved the kingdom. However, these western lands are missing in charts made by Derek Karlavaegen a few weeks after Rosella's return from Tamir. Also in Derek's maps it appears that Kolyma has drifted to the southeast of the Daventry continent. At the time of Gwydion's escape Kolyma was located almost directly south of the continent, almost directly south of the Kingdom of Daventry.

Sometime later in the same year, as great magics were released across the continent to heal the damage created by both the earthquakes that had rent the land, as well as the land destroyed by the dragon, the northern half of the continent was restored to its original location (in time for Graham to visit the kingdom).

DaventryMOE

Daventry (KQ8 era)

The Land of Serenia disappeared again, along with most of the world, during the time of the cataclysm leaving only a small flat disk centered on the Kingdom of Daventry and the surrounding lands. During this period waters from the swamp and lava from the Barren region poured off the edge of the world. As was explained at this time, the Frozen Reaches lay to the northern edge of the world, and naught lay beyond.[9]

Interestingly enough, the fish off the coast of Llewdor distinguish between the Kingdom of Daventry and the continent of Daventry. One of the fish mentions it would be impossible to swim across the ocean to reach Daventry, and once there he'd still have to cross the mountains to get back to the kingdom.[10] Other sources also confirm he reached "Daventry" before he ever reached the main kingdom.[11] In addition the magic map version of the chart, also makes reference to the continent; "Route to Daventry".

In present times, the continent known to some as Daventry and to others as Serenia, is broken up into many kingdoms and principalities. The two names may relate to cultural perspectives of the major cultures of the land. Those from Serenia more likely to call the continent Serenia while those influences by Daventry’s cultural are more apt to call the continent Daventry. This has lead to mappers, historians and geographers using both names interchangeably.

The Island, Daventry[]

While King's Quest Companion suggests that Daventry/Serenia is a continent, The Official Book of King's Quest might suggest that the landmass is more accurately an 'island' (explaining the scale and the fact that it only took Alexander less than a few days to pass between Llewdor and cross the mountains into the Kingdom of Daventry). The book also mentions that Graham returned to the 'island' with injured Cedric to see if the hermit captain could heal the poor bird. Now this could indicate that The Coast was an island off the edge of the continent, but this seems to be denied by the information as its given in KQ5 itself, or the related maps to the game (see also King's Questions), so instead it would suggest that island is being used to describe the entire continent.

Of course based on the scale of Daventry as seen in KQ3, its possible that Tanalore, Daventry and Kolyma are technically 'micro-continents' or 'continental fragments' or at the most mega-islands rather than continents as people normally perceive them. But the scale is certainly different than what people on earth are used to.

Of course the novels seem to indicate a even different scale (the continent of Daventry being hundred to thousands of miles across depending on the direction, rather than only a few miles as it is in the games). This is in line with how the fish interpret the landmass in KQ3.

Gallery[]

Lands[]


Landmarks[]

Seas[]

Mountains and hills[]

Geography[]

Daventry's position on the continent has appeared to shifted at various times throughout Daventry's history. 

DaventrybeanstgalkKQ1SCI

The Northern Sea and Snowy Mountains.

In KQ1, Daventry suffers wrap around in four directions. The earliest manual and The Official Book of King's Quest describe this effect as if Daventry were wrapped around a world, and Graham was walking around the entire earth. Many of the surrounding visuals from north to south have rough correspondence to visuals seen in other screens but sometimes alternating scenes to indicate Graham is on a hill or in a valley between hills (the legendary 'green hills of Daventry'). In the distance Graham the horizon and sky appears to be made up of two parts. Dark Blue sky, and what may be a distant light blue ocean. Although Graham is not capable of ever reaching it due to the magical law of "containment". Likewise in the KQ1 remake from the Beanstalk one can see what appears to be the ocean on the horizon just past the edge of the continent and the mountains to the north, and beach-like/foothills (or desert?) areas to the west. This appears to roughly follow the ideas of the shape/scale of the continent seen in KQ3 and map in the King's Quest Companion 1st Edition.

In KQ3 (around or several years after the time Harlin first used his spells to rip half of Serenia to the North), Castle Daventry is roughly in the north-central part of the continent inland in a small valley (there is protuberance of land in the western half of the continent that is not visited), and from the mountains and perspective from the valley itself, inaccessible areas to the east (the town of Daventry), and north of the range Alexander crossed (other mountain ranges and valleys). Though not too far to the north, as Alexander was very close to the northern edge of the continent when he landed. Not even all of Daventry is explorable as it is blocked by several boundaries including fallen rocks, a crevasse, a stone wall, and a picket fence blocking access to the town of Daventry, and the dried up moat. But in most cases even when comparing to KQ1, there is very little in the way of figuring out the scale of the kingdom in relation to the rest of the continent (beyond a few narrative descriptions, relating to certain visuals). This is made even more confusing in that at least one screen of the mountains the narrator seems to note that a valley north of the mountains Alexander is crossing may be part of the kingdom of Daventry, though he ultimately works his way south and away from those those distant valleys.

In some of the other maps (KQC, 1st Edition), it seems at times the kingdom made up most of the continent, with many or most surrounding lands apparently missing (see map at the top of the article). Derek's early portrayals of Daventry as taking up least 90% of the continent (this map is intended to represent Daventry in the era of KQ4 with elements inspired by both KQ1 and KQ3). The whole of the kingdom is shown to lie very close to the sea, and a sandy beach to the north, and mountains to the east (not unlike the possible visual of the see as seen in KQ1AGI, and even closer to the visual of the sea seen in KQ1 remake from the beanstalk). Daventry Castle at this time was shown to be to the southwest side of the continent, although with the magical law of "containment" this may have been misleading or illusion, though this seems to be confirmed in his later second set of maps. "Containment" or magical shifting geography at least explains how the castle appears west of Door into Mountain in Derek's early map and later lies northwest of the door (directly south of Great Mountains) during Alexander's journey. There are of course scale issues to take into consideration, as most of the landmarks shown on the early map, or any later maps, are probably portrayed on the map much larger than the locations they really represent. Also of note for scale the Western Sea between Daventry and Llewdor only appears to lie a day apart from each other, and Castle Daventry lies less than a day from the central part of the continent, from the northern shore and mountains to the castle (during the events of KQ3).

Although it is unclear how long Harlin's magic had divided the continent in two, and when it first began (though Derek's early maps of the kingdom of Daventry may suggest it occured before KQ1), it is known that some lesser lands and kingdoms were still in place between the time Graham became king, and the great-three headed dragon started its rampage. At least a portion of Serenia and the Endless Desert, must have remained on the northern edge of the continent (as seen in Wizard and the Princess), though the other half was ripped to the north. Sections of Great Mountains were taken to the north, but other sections remained (which Graham had to climb to reach the Land of the Clouds, and which Alexander had to cross to get into Daventry). The Spasky Hills and Westering Mountains may have made up parts of this range. Derek's map shows Daventry taking up most of the continent, with the exception of a beach-like (or small desert-like) area on northwest shore and mountain ranges to the north and northeast (likely to represent the beach Alexander landed at, and the mountains he had to cross) years later (see also KQ1SCI beanstalk screen).

In the novels, in the period between KQ2 and KQ3, before the dragon came, Daventry itself is described as being four hundred eighty-seven heptanes square in size during this period (however that appears to be some kind of made up measuring scale, and thus not useful in understanding the actual size of the kingdom in relation to any surrounding areas). There were mentions of other smaller lands and kingdoms (Daventry itself appears to be surrounded by lesser lands on all sides), some lying to the north, and other to the south of the kingdom. The KQ4 manual even mentions the dragon traveling through some northern kingdoms on its path of destruction towards Daventry (and the KQC makes reference to some lands putting up walls between the shrinking kingdom and their own kingdoms to keep the Dragon's damage contained as best as possible, and references to Western and southern kingdoms). From the northern border crossing the shortest distance through the kingdom to the south can take 1-2 days if traveling nonstop.[14]

Some of the other lands include;

The Plains of Jed and Zakizga to the south, the plains lie about four weeks from Daventry (there is a clue that Daventry's jurisdiction apparently reaches to the south, near the sea at least in one corner of the kingdom). The Twin Pillars of the Moon lie in western part of the Kingdom of Daventry, there are references to woods where Morowyn lives to the west of Castle Daventry, and the southwestern Old Woods as well (though these appear to be roughly only a day or two away from Castle Daventry).

The Westering Mountains, Spasky Hills, Vale of Willows are said to lie about three weeks to the north, and an outcrop containing the haystack boulder is said to lie 600 miles to the north of Daventry, suggesting its located on the continent (If traveling on average about 14 miles as Graham seems to travel in KOS to 40 miles a day, that would place it about two weeks to five weeks north of Daventry, or roughly just south or just north of the Vale of Willows). However, Alexander crossed between the Great Mountains to the north of Daventry, in a day or less at the time of KQ3 (suggesting a possible different scale, or that more of the continent had vanished due to magical flux, or they lie technically to the northwest inside the later missing protuberance seen in KQ3 maps). It should be at least noted that Alexander landed in a sheltered bay on the central northside of the island, and had to travel a bit north and work his way east and back around south to enter Daventry. As he remained largely on the southern side of the cliffs he was working around, you can see that there is more land, and more mountain peaks to the north of him, and apparently stretch on to the east, that he never visits. It is unclear how much land and how many 'miles' those may take up (though the charts would probably suggest not a significant difference, to account for mileage issues between the novels and other sources).

Even the land of Serenia is hinted at during this period (although its unclear if in context its talking about the old complete pre-Harlin Serenia, or the remnants of Serenia within the desert somewhere on the northern coast), Daventry is at least in context considered a 'surrounding land'. Though it is unclear if any of the maps of the continent have enough scale to include these lands or landmarks (particularly Derek's first map used to represent the period between KQ1 and KQ4), or if they 'vanished' at times as well.

Also during this period are lands described to the east of Daventry beyond the eastern Old Woods leading up into the Glass Mountains, the Hibestian Range, and the Kingdom of Sorrow (a small valley up in the eastern Hibestian Ranges). The Hibestian Range includes the Vale of Obscurity. The eastern mountain range is described as lying, 'west of the sea'. The mountain ranges (including the Glass Mountains and Hibestian Range) and the valley where the Kingdom of Sorrow was located, lies a little over a week's travel from Daventry proper on foot. There is four miles between the castle and the eastern portion of the Old Woods. There are some clues that suggest that travel from Daventry to the Glass Mountains is less than 100 miles (on first day of his trip for example between the castle and leaving the Old Woods he travelled a little over 14 miles total, also it mentions it would take nearly a hundred miles to make a detour south from ferry crossing to find the main crossing, and make it around back to the mountains), and the sea not far beyond that. This could suggest that the Great Mountain range seen in Derek's early map, Glass Mountains, and other ranges roughly correspond to the same area.

In addition there is reference to the coast of the "Sea of Barnacles" lying three thousand miles west of the Hibestian Range and Vale of Obscurity. This would either suggest that the continent was three thousand miles across (did parts of western continent vanish during the time following KQ4, see protuberance in KQ3?), or that Ice Faeries completely left the continent and settled elsewhere in the world. However, See No Weevil does make a reference to the 'western sea' and does at least suggest that Daventry is close enough to the wind to blow in from the western sea into the kingdom of Daventry during the spring (on the one hand, it could be counting the sea to the northwest of Daventry just beyond the mountains as seen in KQ3 which is counted as part of the Western Sea, some of Derek's early maps).

As noted Derek places castle Daventry roughly southwest of the continent in his early map (opposite end from the eastern mountain range), which literally puts it close to the 'sea'. However it doesn't resemble the configuration Alexander experienced during his journey (nor the version in the novels), but inspired by the variation Graham experienced (in KQ1, but not exactly).

In all cases, the scale issue may be a problem since it is only about 11 days between the castle and the Glass Mountain/Hibestian Range (in Kingdom of Sorrow), and less than a day between the northwest ocean and the castle (in KQ3 and KQ6 novel). However, Castle Daventry's location is never all that consistent when comparing all the sources (as mentioned above).

From the northeastern trajectory in KQ3, Alexander was still considered traveling over the 'Western Sea' during his landing, rather than the Northern Sea. So technically the sea seen in Wizard and the Princess could also be the Western Sea (although its inclusion did inspire the Northern Sea as seen in KQ5).

Shortly before the time of KQ5, during the time that the Kingdom of Daventry was being restored after the destruction of the great three-headed dragon, much of the northern part of continent and the kingdom of Serenia was restored. Derek Karlavaegen's map at the time was crude and probably not to scale, shows the Castle Daventry to still lie near the southwestern edge of the continent, southwest of Daventry's many lakes (much as it had in Derek's previous map when Daventry took up most of the continent). The map was simple, and does not record most of the mountains that have existed or do exist at later times. Instead it shows a single chain traveling roughly north-south direction dividing the continent in half from east to west. With the kingdom of Serenia and the kingdom of Daventry taking up the western side of the continent. A river flowing into Daventry's lakes divides the Serenia from Daventry (perhaps inspired by the river seen in KQ5 that acts as a boarder on the southern edge country).  The eastern half of the continent beyond the mountain chain includes a large peninsula in the southeast of the continent, and a somewhat thinner beach area to the north of it, near where Ancient Mariner's hut would be located if it was shown on the map.

The mountains Alexander crossed are not shown on the KQC, 2nd Edition maps, and are suspiciously absent (be that Derek simply forgot to record the mountains, or if the mountains had somehow disappeared at that time). Though Derek does seem to note that Alexander at one point crossed into those mountains apparently traveling west to reach the western sea and defeat the pirates. In KQ5 at least there are hints of hills or mountains lying behind the valley where the castle was located (though they look to be miles away), and Graham is show to flies over some granite outcroppings and a large hill divided by a great river on his way to Serenia (with other mountains shown in the distance), though none of these look that particularly grand or notable, some of the trees near them look very large in comparison (however, by the time he reaches that point, he may already be beyond Daventry's borders, and may have already passed any larger mountain ranges). When he actually reaches Serenia, one can also see plenty of granite outcrops as well from above, likely the foot of the Great Mountains (though these are obscured from the ground by the forests).

Between this time and Derek's next map, there is mention of the land Lycathia in the TFC novel, lying somewhere near Daventry (although there is little known as to what direction or position, although its likely just beyond the Old Woods). Similar situation occurs with Sideria and Duchy Cumberford, which are both suggested to be fairly close to Daventry..

In the KQC, 3rd Edition, around the the time of KQ6, Derek updated his maps again, this time showing more mountain ranges on the continent. A river (similar in appearance to the river on his previous map) runs east-west parallel to one of the mountain ranges (was this the mountain range that Alexander crossed, and/or 'Westering Mountains'?), but now north-west of the kingdom of Daventry rather than directly north. Castle Daventry's position is shown to have shifted south east, and is shown to be located closer to the southern-eastern edge of the continent near a mountain range that boarders its eastern side (note that in two of Derek's three maps of Daventry, also seem to show part of the Great Mountains bordering Daventry's eastern side, magical law of 'containment' not withstanding). A few smaller mountains, or north-south range of mountains is shown to lie to the west of the castle and its lakes. Serenia appears to have shifted roughly northwest of the kingdom of Daventry. With Castle Daventry and most of the kingdom appearing to have shifted towards the east, or at least new land appeared west of the castle. The north-west mountains appear to have shirted to a more northwest-southeast angle (but for simplicity still roughly north-south) along the eastern edge of the continent. Most of the southeast peninsula appears to have vanished, leaving more of a thin beach-like area from north to south.

A related map seen in the King's Questions shows no geographical details, but places Daventry roughly in the same position. It also gives a general location for the landing port for Daventry.

At the time of the cataclysm in KQ8, most of the world had vanished leaving only a small disk of land centered around portions of continent of Daventry. Castle Daventry was located on top of a small mountain top, again located near the western edge of the continent near the western sea. Streams and lava flowed offs the edge of the world. The Frozen Reaches were the end of the world, there was naught beyond. The only way down is the passage back down into the Barren Regions. Based on a few direction quotes it is understood that The Swamp lies roughly northeast of the Kingdom of Daventry, the Gnome Realm lies directly north of the Swamp, the other three regions are roughly west of Gnome Realm. The final land-based area, the Paradise Lost is north of the Frozen Reaches. While Daventry town appears in the game, there are some potential geographical issues with earlier sources (but that is brought up in the town article).

At least between the various issues of scale, the term 'continent' may be used rather loosely. As quite a few of the references suggest that continents are roughly a few hundred miles across at the most. These would probably better described as 'micro-continents'.

See also[]

Behind the scenes[]

The back of the box for KQ5 for the NES, describes the locations seen in the game as 'continents' (with the potential being that Daventry and Serenia may both be considered separate continents, or that Serenia itself is divided into smaller continents.).

You'll also journey over continents laced with crystal caves, forbidden forests, bandit hideouts and treacherous seas filled with mystery.

The King's Quest 3 and King's Quest Companion 1st Edition, and Alexander's interview in all editions of the King's Quest Companion discuss a Daventry continent that seemingly only includes Daventry, and very few other lands between the era of KQ1 and KQ4.

However, Wizard and the Princess and information included in the 2nd Edition of the King's Quest Companion would suggest that at least part of Serenia existed on the north coast during the years between Wizard and the Princess and King's Quest 4. In Wizard and the Princess/Adventure in Serenia, Serenia is divided into two with an ocean in between due to Harlin's magic. The southern side of Serenia is made up of the town, desert and woods of Serenia (much different configuration than it appears in KQ5, though this is explained away to the backstory as all the geography was changed/created by Harlin's magic). The Insects of Serenia and the Surrounding Lands, Volume III: T to Z in See No Weevil would also seem to suggest that at least part of Serenia still existed at that time. In addition the King's Quest Novels set during the period between KQ1 and KQ3: Kingdom of Sorrow and See No Weevil, also seem to suggest lands to the north, south and east of Daventry, but mostly to the southeast. As Daventry is implied to also stretch to the sea to the south. There are at least half dozen countries that seem to be implied to exist within the continent around Daventry in those books. The companion gets around issues of this nature by suggesting that lands come and go as if by magic, and that the world is continually reshaping itself.

Another issue related to the games & King's Quest companion verses the novels is that Daventry is rather small continent/island which lies only about a day or less journey from Llewdor, while in the novels it might be suggested that the continent is roughly three thousand miles across, and at least six hundred miles from north to south.

The synopses of the games by Lorelei Shannon in both the KQ6 and KQ7 Hintbook, also seems to suggest that beach is either part of Daventry proper, or that Alexander landed in Daventry continent.[15][16]

References[]

  1. King's Quest Companion, 1st Edition
  2. The King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, 455
  3. SNW, pg
  4. KoS, 11
  5. KQC2E, pg
  6. KQC3E, 106-107
  7. KQC
  8. King's Quest Companion, First Edition, 4, 5
  9. KQ8
  10. Fish (KQ3):"He's really from the Kingdom of Daventry. Do you think he's trying to swim back there?", "No, that's impossible. Daventry's too far! It's way across this ocean, and once there, he'd still have to climb a huge mountain range. He'd never make it this way."
  11. After a dangerous adventure and a close encounter with some cranky pirates, Gwydion (he's really Alexander, though, remember?) jumped ship and swam to an unknown shore. What luck! He'd landed in Daventry!
  12. King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition
  13. KQC3E
  14. SNW, pg
  15. After a rather dangerous journey, Alexander found himself on an unknown shore. Little did he know he had found Daventry, his long lost home!
  16. After a dangerous adventure and a close encounter with some cranky pirates, Gwydion (he's really Alexander, though, remember?) jumped ship and swam to an unknown shore. What luck! He'd landed in Daventry!
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