'serene mountain lake'
The Inviting Lake is a lake in the heart of the Kingdom of Daventry.
Background[]
The lake is shown to lie to the southwest of the Door into Mountain, and south to southeast of the Goat Pen, and northwest of the boulder where Graham once found a dagger on a later map. It lays to the northwest of Castle Daventry. It also lies in an area near the wolves.[1]
There are in fact three possible lakes that may be the Inviting Lake (two of which have been described as 'inviting'). The first is the one known as the Small Alpine Lake[2], which is a mountain lake to the west of the Door into Mountain. It's water sparks like emeralds.[3] Graham lost the magic ring after he decided to swim in the inviting mountain lake. It slipped off his finger.[4]
Another lake that Graham found inviting was a lake with cattails growing around its banks to the west of the Dragon's Lair and east of the clover field. Its cool waters was an invitation he could not refuse (mirror-like lake).
Perhaps the lake that best fits the location as displayed on the artistic map is that of the 'serene mountain lake'. The lake also contains cattails, is located southeast of the goat pens, to the southwest of the Door into Mountain, northwest of the boulder and Castle Daventry.
Of course its possible that the Lake shifted from whatever location it held in the past, or some other affects of the magical Law of containment or magical flux.
Behind the scenes[]
The name of the lake comes from a map in the King's Quest Companion, 3rd Edition. Which shows the lake south to southeast of the Goat Pen, southwest of the Door into Mountain, and north of the region where the wolf is found, and northwest of the boulder where the dagger was found, and castle daventry.
More clues exist in the KQ1 novelization, which may point to which lake is the inviting lake, which might explains its location in relation to nearby landmarks. However, the novelization gives two possible 'inviting lakes' or rather described as 'inviting'.
The first possible location is hints given about the Small Alpine Lake. These facts includes that the alpine lake lays to the west of the Door into Mountain. The nameless mountain lake is said to be filled with cold alpine water. It's also mentions that the witch appears to the west of the lake, the Sorcerer appears to the north, and wolf lies to the south of the lake (as they appear near the 'small alpine lake' in KQ1 AGI).[5] Graham also describes the lake as the "nameless mountain lake"[6], although it may have gained a name by the time Derek sent his third map of Daventry to the Other World. However this lake is in the wrong position in relation to the goat pen, dagger rock, and wolf.
The second possibility, is that the book also describes a lake that has cattails growing around its banks to the west of the Dragon's Lair, as being "inviting" to Graham, and being an "invitation he could not refuse", suggesting another possible location for the Inviting Lake. This would seem to fit the description of the 'mirror-like lake' (that lies to the east of the Clover field).[7] But this one is in completely wrong position in relation to the Goat Pen, and the wolf, and the dagger rock.
The artistic drawing of the 'Inviting Lake shows the lake directly south of the Goat Pen (but extending to the southeast), the only lake directly south in the game is actually the 'clear blue lake'. The little Beautiful Lake lies southwest of the goat pen.
However, there is also a second lake with cattails the 'serene mountain lake' which lies roughly southeast of the Goat Pen (far southeast of the clover field, with the goats lying in between), and roughly southwest of the Door into the Mountain, and roughly northwest of the dagger boulder. Which roughly places it in the right spot for the artistic drawing, but not necessarily the descriptions of directions given in the story. However the area where the wolf can be found is directly north of the lake.
The differences in the maps, may just be a effects of the warping caused by the Magical Law of containment, plus the fact that the map is highly stylized and exaggerated (castle Daventry takes up a large portion of the map).
The map is not without issues however, as it does show the rivers (River Fools) flowing into Lake Maylie, where in the game the Raging River flows into the 'clear blue lake' near the Old Stone Bridge (although who knows how the kingdom may have changed at diferent times).