Magic Chest was a treasure Graham found during a quest sometime before Chapter 2.
Background[]
Graham collected many treasures over the years both as a Knight and later as a King. The Magic Chest has provided the Kingdom with many riches.[1]
Graham is said to have stolen the Magic Chest from a sleeping giant[2] after answering an impossible riddle from a strange spinner[3], given a magic bean[4], climbing a giant beanstock created from the bean, during a quest earlier in his years as a knight or early as king.
Following his adventure Graham banned spinning wheels in the kingdom as it reminded him too much of the impossible riddles he had to solve.
It is possible that at least by the time Graham's entered the tournament that it hadn't yet been stolen (or that it never was stolen, and he stole it from someone else). There is no direct indication it was ever stolen from the kingdom, as Graham's mission was only to find the Magic Mirror, which had clearly been stolen.
During his thirties Graham kept the magic chest and magic shield in the royal bedroom, and the mirror was kept in the throne room (as was the case when Alexander was kidnapped).
Graham would later keep the magic chest (along with the Shield and other treasures of Daventry) out in the open exposed to the elements in King's Glen for all to see, to show to family and citizens alike.
Later Graham saved the magic chest (the magic shield and other treasures) from a mysterious fire that was burning around King's Glen to rescue his legacy.
Graham also mentions in Chapter 5 that he would like to go on another quest to find another 'lost treasure' this is also a reference to the lost treasures, and indicates that there maybe more of them than just the three, and that they were likely each separate quests at different points in history.
Behind the scenes[]
In Chapter 3 there is a reference to giant Beanstalk in Olfie's references, and he talks about 'number of years' Graham recovered treasures.
Valanice makes a reference to a "Magical Bean/Magic bean" in Chapter 4, this is a reference the KQ1 item Magic Beans.
In Chapter 4 Graham also makes a direct reference about the Chest as well, and how it apparently helped save the kingdom from its financial issues. But also mentions that it was a treasure he found over a number of years.
In Chapter 5 there are two references to the treasure chest in the game's script, although these lines appear to have been cut.
- [VO_BurnTreasChest01_GG SoundNodeWave] Subtitles[0]=(Text="I rescued the magic chest but it wasn't enough. I went back into the flames to save more of my treasures.")
- [VO_BurnTreasChest02_GG SoundNodeWave] Subtitles[0]=(Text="I was relieved my quest to steal that chest back from a sleeping giant would not soon be forgotten.")
Notes[]
In the first chapter, there is very little information on the whereabouts of the magic chest at the time of Graham's tournament. It's not confirmed to have been stolen, its not even confirmed if Edward even owned at all. Its not even indicated to have been a target of Graham's quest to find the "Magic Mirror". It does exist however, as it can be seen in Graham's bedroom late in his life.
Maya Blackstone implies that Daventry was running out of money, and can't afford her... But others suggest that Edward is only spending money on keeping up the army (hence the frivolous yearly Knight's Tournament), isn't bothering to help with the upkeep of the kingdom. It is not clear where this money is coming from.
It seems at least in part that the town is not getting money or paid because the bridges are out (on strike). In fact Graham even mentions that after he became a knight that business started picking up again in Daventry (people could start affording supplies to the shop again because the bridges were no longer on strike). Which indicates that money again began to flow in Daventry. Again the question being where did the bulk of this money come from?[3] We do know that at least two bridges had to be crossed from the castle to the to the crossroads leading to town. Plus a dangerous dark forest in between. All of these may have had been restricting money from the Castle.
If this was stolen from Edward, based on comments in Chapter 2, if it was stolen, it was stolen some point after the tournament and before the Chapter 1 prologue, and was recovered before the magic mirror. But even still there is no indication or wanted poster related to it in Chapter 3, when it shows the royal bulletin board (which only shows the notice for the missing mirror). Olfie does confirm more than mirror was stolen, but doesn't specify what the stolen treasures were (or who they were stolen from, or even who stole them). They could be just a reference to a number of other treasures recovered during the adventure (diamonds, scepter, magic bowl, etc)
We do know at least from chapter 2 that magic mirror was likely found before chapter 2 due to the reference to the impossible riddle.
However, Chapter 4 may suggest it was never stolen, and it was just a treasure Graham found on one of his many adventures while he was a young king (or while he was a knight). Presumably there are three points it could have been recovered while he was a knight but before he was given the quest to recover the Mirror, during his quest to find the mirror, after the quest for the Mirror just after Edward died (but before Chapter 2).
Bankruptcy[]
In chapter 1, 2 and 3 there are no direct reference to the chest, however there is reference to kingdoms budgets and budgeting problems, and the treasury. This creates an interesting conundrum (one also created in the novel See No Weevil, see Chest of Gold) as to why Daventry would need to budget if it has unlimited amounts of gold (Companion and Hoyle I nods to this same question). Perhaps the manual of KQ1 also nods to finding needing to come from more than the magic chest, as it states he needs to find other treasures to rebuild the kingdom.
In Ch2. Graham refers to the budget problems ('budget cuts') when looking at a bucket used to collect water leaking from the roof. Another is a discussion of the budget problems, is in relation to the plan to make socks for the royal steeds, and the limits of the castle to subsidize only half of the ice cream for the year. In Ch 3 Graham mentions how they had only recently restored funding for riding mounts for Larry.
Bankruptcy and budgeting problems would at first seem unlikely with an unlimited Chest of Gold. There are a couple of possibilities. At least with the case for See No Weevil the story was set during the period between KQ2 and KQ3.. Perhaps the magic of the chest was suppressed much as was the case with the Magic Mirror (and possibly the Magic Shield as well) by an outside force of a evil wizard, in which case the coffers would be limited to what is kept in the castle treasury alone. Secondly, using too much gold to pay off outsiders might lead to a case of hyperinflation in the kingdom where Gold loses its value in great quantity. Either situation could lead to potential bankruptcy situation.
In See No Weevil, the Seneschal Oswold worries about bankrupting the kingdom if Rosella spends too much on private businesses rather the castle's own staff. The castle's gold appeared to be either limited or used sparingly suggesting that the magic chest wasn't working properly during that time. This may be the case as the Magic mirror was blocked from working at the time as well. ...or that Daventry does not like to misuse the magic chest (and potentially hyperinflate, and devalue the worth of gold).
Likewise, similar worries are made concerning budget cuts and budget problems in Daventry throughout the first three chapters of the new King's Quest.
There was to be additional information in Chapter 5 that appears in the script but the line was cut in the actual game.