Mythology
Much of King's Quest was inspired by fairy tales, which designer Roberta Williams loved reading. Many creatures, characters and situations from mythology, fairy tales, and folklore are encountered within the world of King's Quest. A Minotaur, Pegasus, Pan, Pandora, Charon, Cupid, Ceres, Druids, Harpies, Oracles, Poseidon, Medusa, Fates, Djinn, Azrael, Goliath, and the Graeae appear in various games in the series. In general, the mythology and cultures of the King's Quest world is derived from that of the Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Egyptian, Arabic, Biblical, Mesopotamian, and Celts.
Many of the puzzle solutions are inspired by various tales (so a player with knowledge of the stories beforehand would have an advantage).
Magic plays a large role in the King's Quest series. Wizards, witches, enchanters, sorcerers, and genies appear throughout. In some of the games (most prominently in KQIII), the main character must use magic spells or items to achieve a goal.
The concept of the King's Quest series was derived from ideas first established in Wizard and the Princess (Adventure in Serenia) which was an early forerunner of the series. The game versions followed the exploits of unnamed hero known only as the "wanderer", in later versions said to be a time traveler from the future. The game's connection to the King's Quest series led to its inclusion as one of the King's Quest trivia questions. The fifth King's Quest game marked a return to Serenia, the land first seen during the game. The game's backstory was further tied into the King's Quest history through The King's Quest Companion. According to the Companion, in various periods of history people from the real world withdrew to Daventry, which explains how historical and mythical elements exist there.
In most of the series, it is said that the games take place, 'a long time ago', in a time when mermaids and unicorns existed.
Well, yeah, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know it's Daventry. But it's somewhere on Earth. —Roberta Williams, Mask of Eternity TalkSpot Interview, Part 1, December 9, 1998 (1:20:40 to 1:59:58)In The King's Quest Companion, the series takes place in a parallel universe.
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Famous quotes containing the word mythology:
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past.... Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“Love, love, love—all the wretched cant of it, masking egotism, lust, masochism, fantasy under a mythology of sentimental postures, a welter of self-induced miseries and joys, blinding and masking the essential personalities in the frozen gestures of courtship, in the kissing and the dating and the desire, the compliments and the quarrels which vivify its barrenness.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)