King Edward the
Benevolent
Character Description
| Status |
Previous
King of Daventry |
| Appears in |
KQ 1 |
Biography
King Edward
was the ruler of Daventry before King
Graham. He had a lovely wife and ruled a prosperous and happy kingdom.
He was loved by his people, so they called him King Edward the Benevolent.
Unfortunanely, there was no one to inherit the throne as the King and Queen
were childless. This troubled them much. One day, a powerful sorcerer came
to them and promised that he would cast a spell that would bring them a
child. In return he wanted their magic mirror. This was a high price to
ask for, as the magic mirror he wanted could foretell the future and had
always helped the kings and queens of Daventry to rule the country. But
when they consulted the mirror, they saw a young princely figure in it
and thought that they were seeing their future son. So they decided to
give the mirror away to the wizard in return for the spell. But after a
few months, they realized that they had been fooled by the wizard. Daventry
lost the harvest for the first time in four hundred years because the King
and Queen couldn't foretell the weather anymore. Famine came to Daventry,
and with it came the dreaded Plague. The Queen was stricken and was soon
near death.
On the fourth
day of her illness, a dwarf came to the castle with a powerful root that
he claimed would cure any plague. With just a touch of it to the lips of
the Queen, she instantly got better. But for the whole root, the dwarf
wanted nothing less than the magical shield that the King owned. The shield
made its bearer invincible and his army always victorious. Reluctantly,
the King gave away the shield. But the dwarf had also fooled him, and the
Queen did not recover. Instead, she worsened and died. News of the loss
of the shield spread, and soon Daventry was attacked by hostile armies.
After many
unhappy years, while out riding with his courtiers, Edward came upon a
pack of wolves tearing at the lower limbs of a big tree. Perched in the
tree was a beautiful young woman. The wolves fled as the group appeared
and the woman was free. She presented herself as the Princess Dahlia
of Cumberland, and told King Edward that her bodyguard had fled in
terror of the beasts and left alone. The King fell in love with her and
soon asked her to marry him, as he had lost his beloved Queen years ago
and there was no heir to take over the crown after his death. She accepted.
But the night before the wedding, when Princess Dahlia bid King Edward
good night, her hand sneaked up to his belt and stole the ring of keys
hanging there. The royal treasurer then discovered her inside the treasury,
holding the King's small chest of gold, the third and final magical treasure
of the land. No matter how much was taken from it, it was always full of
golden coins. Then he witnessed how the beautiful woman transformed into
an ugly witch and swooped out through an open window on her broom, taking
the Chest of Gold with her. Now, King Edward could not buy any food, nor
pay his soldiers anymore.
Daventry grew
poor and weak over the years, and the King grew old and feeble. When he
felt that his death was near, he decided to call for his favorite knight,
Sir Graham, to send him on a quest to recover the three stolen treasures
and thus save Daventry from total disorder. As a reward, he would become
King upon Edward's death.
Through Sir
Graham's bravery and wit, the Three Treasures of Daventry were found and
returned to King Edward. But as the King stood up and congratulated the
brave knight, he felt a terrible pain in his chest, and fell to the ground,
dead. And thus, Sir Graham became the new King of Daventry.
Just one year
after this, when King Graham looked into the Magic Mirror, he beheld the
face of King Edward. He spoke, and congratulated King Graham for the recovery
of Daventry. But he also urged King Graham to find a maiden to marry. For
without an heir to the throne, the Kingdom would soon fall into the same
state of despair as it once had been during King Edward's own time.
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