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King Graham's mustache

Started by ATMachine, March 15, 2012, 05:46:22 PM

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ATMachine

Back in the low-res days of KQ1 and KQ2,  the art in game manuals and on the box covers provided a better look at video game characters than anything the actual games could include. So naturally, Sierra's earliest KQ manuals were illustrated...


A vision of Graham appears in the Magic Mirror, KQ1 manual


Graham sees Valanice in the Mirror, KQ2 manual

...and according to their pictures, King Graham had a mustache. Wow.

However, believe it or not, Graham's upper lip hair actually seems to be drawn from fairy-tale illustrations--and one particular source.

Namely, that venerable Victorian fairy tale collection, Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book. (Out of which Roberta fished, among other things, the names Lolotte, Genesta, Rosella, and Valanice, the three-headed dragon that feeds on tasty princesses, and the magical white snake which when eaten allows speech with animals.)

The original editions of Lang's Fairy Books (he wrote 12 in all, each with a different color in the title) were illustrated by Henry Justice Ford. Ford's illustrations in the early volumes (including the Green Fairy Book) are quite notable for the magnificent mustaches sported by the heroes in these stories.

Examples of this mustached-hero tradition from the Green Fairy Book:


King Kojata


Prince Vivien and Princess Placida


The Little Soldier


Prince Narcissus and Princess Potentilla

Other examples of heroic mustaches from HJ Ford's illustrations for Andrew Lang fairy tale books:


Bushy Bride, Red Fairy Book


Graciosa and Percinet, Red Fairy Book


The Master-Maid, Blue Fairy Book


The Gold-Spinners, Blue Fairy Book


The Iron Stove, Yellow Fairy Book


The hero of The Princess in the Chest, Pink Fairy Book

So what should we make of this? Quite possibly Roberta liked the vintage Victorian HJ Ford illustrations in Lang's books and asked artists at Sierra to copy their style for the KQ manual drawings. And it seems this extended to Graham having facial hair.

Of course, the KQ1 re-release box cover turned Graham into Prince Valiant with a mullet. But that's another story.


Deloria

I'm almost certain we've had a thread very, very similar to this before.
 
Holy Roman Empress
Queen of *all* Albion
Précieuse and salonnière! :D
"In cases of doubt about language, it is ordinarily best to consult women."-Vaugelas
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Rosella

I think we might have, but it certainly wasn't this in-depth. XD I didn't know about the source material for so many of the aspects in KQ. :)
I'm a princess even if my kingdom is pixelated.

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Lambonius


MusicallyInspired

I dislike 'staches. Don't know why.

Blackthorne

Odd, Lambonius.  Boners give me a mustache....

And Graham with the stache?  70's porno all the way.

"I'm a king.  And I'm here to rescue you from this tower.  But first, you need to be punished for being a bad princess."

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Bt
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you know it's going to get harder and harder as you
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Deloria

 
Holy Roman Empress
Queen of *all* Albion
Précieuse and salonnière! :D
"In cases of doubt about language, it is ordinarily best to consult women."-Vaugelas
Space! :D Extraterrestrium! :D Espace! :D

drusain

That last picture looks eerily close to the art used when Graham kneels down to receive the shoes from the leprechaun in KQ5.

Brian Zabell
Quality Assurance/Technical Editor
I write for Andrew Greyson on The Four Winds

Fallout 3 Graham is Best Graham