Re:Something fun for character development junkies

[KatieHal]

I didn't play out KQ: MoE, so I can't comment.

But I say let's rip into Valanice, the oh-so-demure and perfect Queen of whom little is truly known. What's her deal?  

[koko_99_2001]

It would be interesting to find out if there's a history to her that's explored in KQ9.  Don't know if ya'll've addressed it yet, as I haven't read this thread!

Cat

[Questing Character]

But here's the biggest question about Valanice: Why didn't Hagatha just kill her instead of locking her up in a tower?  I mean seriously, wouldn't it have been less of a strain on Hagatha's resources to just be done with it quickly?

[racx_00]

dont confuse me Storm , not appreciated

[KatieHal]

dont confuse me Storm , not appreciated

Umm...but we ARE having fun, racx...  what's so confusing about it?

As for why Valanice wasn't killed, beats me...in the original KQ2, Hagatha didn't kill anyone personally, did she? I think she got Graham into a pot and killed him that way, maybe she lacked the power to kill directly. Or maybe she had some witchy plan to steal Valanice's beauty. Or just enjoyed seeing her suffer alone in a big ol' tower, which is a very villain-like thing to do. Valanice herself wasn't a threat in KQ2, she was just the pretty face. In KQ2+ is when she took a more active role in her own release.

But again, not knowing what Valanice's backstory is does make it rather ambiguous, doesn't it?    Ahem! What do you think her tale is?

[racx_00]

i was only joking

[Questing Character]

Maybe there's some kind of CRAZY time warp going on.  Valance will grow old and BECOME Hagatha!  Then, she goes insane, blames Graham, goes back in time and locks herself in a tower so as to prevent Graham from rescuing her, but doesn't kill herself so that she can still be alive.
What do all of you think?

[Storm]

But if she was Hagatha, she'd already know locking her young self in the tower wouldn't help

[KatieHal]

Now where would get an idea like THAT?  

[Moodyblues]

Ooo!  Ooo!  Hagatha doesn't kill her because she is... HER MOTHER!  *cue soap-opera organ music*

[Yonkey]

(To Valanice) "Yo' momma's so ugly, she makes Lolotte look secsay."  

[Jeysie]

If that were true, Valanice must take after her father in looks. And temperament, for that matter.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Moodyblues]

(To Valanice) "Yo' momma's so ugly, she makes Lolotte look secsay."  

Ooooh!  Now you just be hatin', boo.

Didn't Hagatha used to be beautiful?  If memory serves me right, the King's Quest II remake seemed to suggest that.

[Storm]

Not just suggested... though for some reason I didn't find the young Hagatha dialogue portrait all that beautiful

[Jeysie]

I got the feeling that while Hagatha was less hideous when she was young, she was never really beautiful... she just deluded herself into thinking so. And her ex-suitor didn't seem too... well... all-there mentally, either. (In the KQ2+ version, anyway.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Yonkey]

Not just suggested... though for some reason I didn't find the young Hagatha dialogue portrait all that beautiful

Same here.  

Also, I don't think Hagatha used to be beautiful or even human in the original KQ2.  

[Petter Holmberg]

I find it interesting that, while being rather shallow, character-wise, the KQ series has a lot to offer for anyone who wants to dig deeper and speculate about the characters.

This is how I see things.

Graham is the perfect king. Benevolent, fair and loving. He has a strong feeling of duty (he was a soldier, remember?) and is quite fearless. When he sets his mind on something he never gives up. And, above all, he loves his family very strongly.

Valanice, who's past is veiled in mystery, is much more royal than her husband. She's always by Graham's side, and has a special bond to her daughter, the one twin she got to raise.

Alexander has really lived a traumatic life. From an upbringing of enslavement it's a wonder that he has turned out so good in the first place! He went through great ordeals and mortal danger to save his twin sister's life, and only just met his parents before his father had a heart attack (or something). He fell in instant love with Cassima, and stubborn as his father, he fought his way to her and got to be husband and king for it. Alexander displays a similar personality to Graham's.

Rosella really showed two different sides in the two games she played a main part in. First she displayed incredible courage and resourcefulness, saving her father and the land of Tamir. It's very noteworthy that she was offered the hand of Edgar, yet thanked no for the moment, contrary to fairy-tale cliché. Not two years later, she acts a lot more childish, claiming she wants to have fun rather than think about marriage and responsibility. Is it her true feelings or did she just miss Edgar and the life of adventure surrounding the situation when they met? In any case, she meets him again and this time shows her feelings for him.

Connor, the peasant who had to save the world, is also brave and determined not to give up. He appears to be of a little less wit and has to use violence a lot more, but then again he is in the most dangerous situations of any main character in the KQ series.

[mark_the_merry]

this thread sounds like dr phil wrote it  

[Elessar]

Nice summary there, Petter.

I think that Valanice, as she isn't in many of the adventures as main charactors (only one actually), she has the most room to speculate about, so while she isn't one of the charactors you play in KQ9, we will learn more about her than about anyone else.

[Cez]

Which is why Valanice's past is what I sinked my teeth deepers in terms of "re-creating". I basically heard one theory from the past project director that I loved, and I went from there. It turned out to be a really huge past that ties in some of the things that happen during King's Quest I, II and III.

In regards of the other characters, the info was there. All I had to do was apply them in the way it would affect "real" human beings. As I mentioned it before, and like Petter said, it's a wonder Alexander turned out to be so good. Well, during KQ9, these demons come to haunt him back, in a mix of the personality that Eoberta created for him for both KQ3 and KQ6, and my own personal view of what he should have grown up to be, which makes him the most complex character in the game.

as for Rosella and Graham, the characters are still mostly the same, but, again, they have to face deamons. For every action, there's a consequence, and they will meet such consequences in their journeys.