Derek Karlavaegen (unofficial)

Background

TSL universe

Derek was apparently born and raised a citizen of the Green Isles. Where he grew up wrote a popular Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles (unofficial), and became the resident Green Isles journalist extraordinaire.

In recent year not long after Alexander met Cassima and their wedding, he traveled from the islands to Llewdor (unofficial) where he bought the former house of Manannan (unofficial), where he discovered the Eye Between Worlds (unofficial).

A few weeks later he returned to Green Isles, to have an interview with Abdul Alhazred (unofficial). Two weeks later, Abdul escaped and Derek was brought before Saladin (unofficial) and was accused of helping the evil wizard escape. He assured the captain he hadn’t had any interactions with the former Vazier other than the interview. He was told to keep the crime under wraps, but Derek disagreed and decided to investigate the crime himself for clues. He was successful discovering the accomplice was a guard dog named Brant.

A few days later he interviewed King Alexander. Alexander refused to show him further evidence about escape. Derek decided to take things into his own hands. Believing the public had a right to know and expose the truth. That night broke into the castle and stole two letters addressed to from Shadrack (unofficial). He was recognized during his escape however and became a fugitive on the run.

The state declared him a wanted criminal and a traitor to his homeland and the crown. He alludes the authorities for weeks as he tried to figure his next step. He returned to his house in Llewdor the former home of Manannan. He hoped to find information about wizards ties to the Black Cloak Society (unofficial). He discovered a guard dog has been posted at the door. He sneaking around he discovers a dozen or so guard dogs were in the kitchen.

He snuck to chicken coop to dig up some magic trinkets he has hidden including the Magic map (unofficial) of the house interior. He uses it to warp into the wizard's bedroom. Derek was unable to find any clues in the house.

He fled the house, traveling to Mordack’s Island hoping to find leads there. The ship he chartered would only go half way so he had to use a rowboat to reach the island. He found the traps Graham had destroyed were still dismantled, and he discovered the drawbridge was was down and the front gate was wide open. Inside he entry hall he found three sets of foot prints in the dust and heard a crash upstairs. The castle began to rumble and sound of breaking glass could be heard. He ran upstairs to discover the witch from Serenia in the floor and Alhazred was keeping a watch over her. The wizard spotted Derek immediately, he was angry but amused by his presence and locked him in Mordack's labyrinth. Derek found the cell Graham had been locked in and found a magic door, stepping through he found himself above Alhazred and another wizard Lucreto (unofficial) who placed the witch on a makeshift bed. He eavesdropped on them and learned a few details.

He has a huge distrust of authority. He considers Alexander a tyrant.

Titles and nicknames

• Mystery Man

IA universe

Mordack travelled to Manannan's House a few months after KQ3 to rescue his brother. He took the time to burn down his brother's house.

Supposedly, Derek Karlavaegan was already living there, and his body was consumed in the fire in revenge for taking over the house. See IA timeline.

Revenge of the Black Cloak Society

In Revenge of the Black Cloak Society timeline, Derek did have Manannan's house as a residence, but work as Royal Historian of Daventry.  At the start of the story, misfortune befalls Derek, and due to injury, he is forced to return to Llewdor to recover, with Cedric the owl.

Towards the end of the events in Kolyma, Derek is soon able to return to his job as Royal Historian.  Before he can, Shadrack successfully restores Manannan, and then kills Derek.  This is after both Cedric and Derek learn that Shadrack has changed his appearance, and before either can share the information.

Behind the scenes

IA universe

Alternatively, they burned it down before Derek moved in, insuring that in the IA universe, Derek would never have moved into Manannan's House.

However, technically by that time Derek would had already have moved into the house. He had found no sign of the cat Manannan, any person or any animals. Thus if Manannan had returned to find Manannan or alternatively brought Manannan back with him to the house while he destroyed it. Chances are he would have found Derek inside giving him the chance to take revenge on Derek for squatting in his house, perhaps going as far as burning the scholar alive within the house with no chance of escape. This ironically fits worn a fear that Derek had in the book: “Karlavaegen also resides in the former home of the renegade Manannan, and has since soon after the sorcerer was turned into a cat by Prince Alexander. He feels fortunate, if not unduly lucky, that Mordack left him unscathed.”

POS universe

Derek Karlavaegen appears in TSL's The Four Winds as a young man. However, almost all details concerning him are in contradiction of official lore in both the Guidebook of the Land of the Green Isles and the material in the The King's Quest Companion.

Derek Karlavaegen is very much different characterization compared to his appearances in Guidebook and King's Quest Companion. In the companion he was a friend of Alexander, and the rest of the Royal Family. In fact he was the commissioned to write Alexander's chronicle of the events of KQ6. This included a section discussing Shadrack, and his plans for the kingdom. He was also the one who gave Alexander a copy of the Guidebook that proved useful during his time on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain. Derek was also the one who interviewed Alexander-Gwydion shortly after his return to Daventry after defeating Manannan, so their friendship was long. Derek in both of those texts knew that Alexander was a very honest and trustworthy individual, who had suffered a tragic childhood under the evil wizard. He is such a trusted friend of the family, that he is given his own quarters within the castle itself (perhaps in or near the Castle's own archives) so that he can research whatever he needs to finish his writing (this included copies of the correspondence letters between Shadrack and Abdul Alhazred, as he included them in the court chronicle). He was also very much an honored guest at the wedding.

In The Four Winds, Derek appears to hardly know Alexander. Doesn't seem to like him, seemingly to considering him a tyrant of a leader, and untrustworthy... He is said to have a huge distrust for authority (which is clearly against his personality in the official sources). Derek himself does some fairly questionable things (such as having nothing against lying or bending the truth, breaking and entering, if it leads to answers), he appears to be a bit of a thief, a treasure collector, a con artist, a rogue, etc. Stealing artifacts to sell to others for profits... whereas profits never seemed to be his motive in the Guidebook or the Companion (though he does mention making a few bits of gold or coin selling his articles and journals). He is told about Alhazred's letters during an interview with the king, but is denied access to them, told they hold state secrets (he had never heard about the letters previously). His distrust for Alexander leads him to break into the Castle of the Crown and steal the Black Cloak correspondence documents, as he was curious what was written in them (again in this backstory he had never seen them before). Upon reading them, he learns about Shadrack for the first time, and notes that he has never heard about him before. In this backstory, Alexander was never interviewed by Derek concerning his life under Manannan and his escape, nor was he at the wedding to write the court chronicles concerning the events of KQ6. Likewise, everyone including Alexander seems to have distrust for Derek Karlavaegen. As if they never knew him previously, and show great suspicion for his actions. Derek has only recently come back to Green Isles to witness Abdul Alhazred's trial, hired by Four Winds, and also to interview the former vizier. It appears it was last time he was in the Green Isles was when he wrote the Guidebook. No one appears to trust him, and consider his interview with the wizard to be suspicious... These are not the actions of people who view Derek as a close family friend of long standing... While the Eye Between the Worlds is referenced, some of the background details of when and how it was discovered are off. In the Companion its suggested it occured shortly, within months following KQ4, but before KQ5. In the companion, the house was abandoned, and he simply moved in (he encountered no people nor animals). He traveled there to explore it a few months after his interview with Alexander (this gave the explorer time to write up his articles on the Eye, and also travel to Serenia, and Mordack's Island, and Green Isles for the wedding). As seen in the KQ6 novelization (in relation to other articles by the scholar), it is shown that Derek had been living in Llewdor in Manannan's house for about three years. The Four Winds appears to imply that he 'bought' the mansion perhaps after KQ7 or even KQ8, years after Alexander moved out. Only months or mere weeks leading up to the events of The Silver Lining (and thus his studies of magic were quite recent).

Where he discovers the eye is different as well. In the Companion the eye was discovered on the bookshelves in the study, and you can actually see it in game, if you look closely. In TFW, it claims it was discovered buried under the trapdoor below the study.

Some of the descriptions of how the Eye functions are somewhat different than they were described in the Companion (example, allowing for two way communication between both worlds, instead of one way, as it was mentioned in the Companion). In the Companion, Derek is able to read the numbers, letters, and symbols on each key, which are in the Common tongue. What he wrote would make common words appear on the 'screen'. This is why he is so easily able to convert the files over to the Other World. Whereas in TSL's idea, that they were covered with symbols he had never seen before, and could not understand. In the Companion he knows it is a machine (the infamous 'technology' of metal and glass), possibly even an automaton, if you will... Where as in The Four Winds, he sees it as a shriveled Voodoo head, with dried hardened skin... This also leads to Derek to appear much younger than he was described in the Companion, and even the Guidebooks (appearing to be in his twenties or younger), and appears younger than the Ferryman, Hassan (who was young child when Derek came to the islands according to KQ6). Although both in guidebook and in the Companion, he makes note that he is 'old' some twenty years before KQ6 when the Guidebook was written. In fact in the Guidebook goes as far to describe him as old at the time he first ended up on the islands, and KQC states that his shipwreck had washed away the last vestiges of his youth. So if he was already old at the time he wrote the Guidebook, was older than Hassan (who is already old in KQ6, and much older than Alexander in the game), two decades later he would have been old indeed.

Young Derek of TSL looks too young to have been to Green Isles except in the last decade or so. He looks to be roughly same age as Alexander and Cassima if an only a few years older, however in artwork he appears younger than Alexander . This begs the question how does Guidebook even fit into the POS universe’s backstory? In the self-narrated videos released by Derek through the Eye Between Worlds (unofficial) he states he wrote the Guidebook, but when and at what time period? He looks too young to have written it before Cassima was born, or he would also be too young at the time to travel to the green isles not more than a toddler or a young child. Of course it’s possible Cassima is younger than she seems as in some lore she much younger than she seems possibly a young teen (14-15).

Although no specific age for Derek is given in official lore, at the time the Guidebook was written. There are clues that can be used to figure it out in canon. He describes himself as a 'sour old dog', which suggests he was already at least middle age (or at least experienced in life). In the Companion, he described himself as youth nearly two decades before KQ6 (suggesting not more than 20 years had passed) with little need for a razor when he began exploring the world. One year during this journey, he ended up in the Green Isles. He mentions the last of his 'youth' was washed from him in the shipwreck, suggesting his ordeals had aged him. Though its not clear how long he spent traveling the world up to the time he crashed (it had to be at least one year after the start of his journey). It would support him being middle aged when he wrote the Guidebook. Comparatively speaking Derek began his journey approximately six years after King's Quest 1 (Companion timeline). Graham was around 25 years old at that time (Derek was likely a bit older). He was probably less than 40, but would have had to reach the islands anywhere between 30-40 years old (assuming 40 is middle-aged). At the time of KQ6, two decades later, he would have been around 50 to 60 years. At that time, Graham was already old at 45 years (technically middle-aged) since before his 42nd birthday (KQ4)). Likewise as this is associated with Derek, Hassan would have most likely be in his late twenties to forties in KQ6, as he was just a boy when Derek met him (keep in mind that KQ6 indicates that the ferryman is old, though probably younger than he appears.), but certainly older than the young Alexander. Hassan is about twice Cassima's age (15-16 in KQ6), as he was already an adult when Alhazred came to the islands, and she was already new born. This would indicate that Derek Karlavaegen is probably about twice as old as Hassan. Another issue with a young Derek is that if he visited green isles while Cassima was a newborn he should be at least three times the age of adult Cassima, this making closer to middle-age during the time of KQ6.

While Alexander made a trip to specifically meet Derek in Llewdor at his former home, in The Four Winds, Alexander never returned to Llewdor again.

Derek Karlavaegen is not a citizen of the Land of the Green Isles, how can be tried for 'treason' to the state?

There was another indirect reference to Alexander visiting Derek in Llewdor shortly before KQ6, but that was edited out (replaced with the conflicting idea that Derek moved to Llewdor long after KQ6).

In the Four Winds it also states that Derek Karlavaegen recorded the events of KQ4 for the Daventry Archives, this is actually a contradiction to the King's Quest Companion, in which that archive was actually written by Queen Valanice.

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