Shaharazad?

[Unknown,Unknown]

Hello,

I’ve been having a KQ-related problem for some time, and I was hoping that the people here could put it to rest somehow.

The King’s Quest Omnipedia states that the dead knight in KQ6 is named Shaharazad because of the writing on his gauntlet (“Flesh may go where Death had trod/And challenge like Shaharazad”). I’ve always thought that the Shaharazad line was an allusion to the woman in the Arabian Nights who detained her own death by telling stories for 1001 nights (the only Shaharazad I’ve heard of). Everyone I’ve spoken to on this matter seems to agree with this, but the person who wrote the Omni entry thinks otherwise.

When I edited the entry to say that Shaharazad wasn’t the name of the knight, the original author changed it back with a comment saying, “may be true of the original legend, but KQ6 names the night by that name, as does companion.” I honestly can’t recall the “night” being called by the name Shaharazad in KQ6, and when I checked the KQ Companion (4th edition), the name wasn’t even mentioned in the novelization or the walkthrough!

So, is the knight really named Shaharazad, or is the person that claims he is mistaken?

[Unknown,Unknown]

If that’s the case, then the gauntlet was made for the knight ONLY for himself, knowing of his quest. That would make him the only owner of the gauntlet. Do we know any history of it?

Maybe Ken can pass this question on to Roberta or Jane. 🙂

Edit. If that’s the case, then the author shouldn’t put that info there unless it’s proven true. Or at least add that it’s only a speculation.

[Unknown,Unknown]

Akril, you are right. The verse on the gauntlet reads:

Flesh may cross the portal and seek its Master, Death,
Flesh may go where Death has trod, and challenge, like Shahrazad,
He who reigns beneath the sod,  to spare a mortal’s breath

The “Knight of the Night” never reached Death to challenge him. It is a very obvious reference to Shahrazad of “A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Shahrazad challenged death by telling her stories nightly to stay alive. KQ6 has a Arabian motif to it. It is absurd to think that someone as literate and well read as Jane would make such a mistake in a game that she probably did a lot of research on.

[Unknown,Unknown]

I think you are right. I couldn’t check the King’s Quest Companion, as I haven’t the 4th edition. But that is fictionalised, so I doubt it may be considered as a source.

It isn’t true in any case that KQ6 names the dead knight by that name, though. I just checked, and no name is mentioned.

The writing on the gauntlet suggest indeed that your interpretation is right (“LIKE Sheherazade”).

“Flesh may cross the portal,

and seek its master Death.

Flesh may go where Death has trod,

and challenge, like Sheherazade,

He Who Reins Beneath The Sod,

to spare a mortal’s breath.”

Another clue might be that official hint book by Lorelei Shannon, which lists the characters with their names or description for each environment (like The Undead or King Caliphim and Queen Allaria), doesn’t even mention the dead knight in the list of characters (p. 54), and speaks elsewhere only about the “dead knight” (p.56).

[Unknown,Unknown]

Thanks, everyone. The situation seems to have finally been resolved. The person who wrote the entry couldn’t tell me just where in the companion he saw the knight being referred to by that name, but since we’ve come to an agreement of sorts, I can’t complain (anymore).

[Unknown,Unknown]

So your opponent doesn’t think any more that the dead knight was female? Would be nice to know what the agreement is. Do you have a link?

[Unknown,Unknown]

Baggins (the person who created the Shaharazad page in the first place) never thought that the knight was female (the game clearly states that he is a man), he just thought that his name was Shaharazad because of the appearance of the name on the gauntlet, though the name seems to be used as merely a reference to the character, not to the knight himself.

I’m not quite sure what sort of agreement we reached. Baggins has restructured the Shaharazad page to be a description of the “real world” character (mentioning that her name is engraved on the dead knight’s gauntlet) and the dead knight now has a page of his own with no mention of the name that Baggins thinks he has. I asked Baggins where he saw the knight being referred to as Shaharazad in the KQ Companion, and all that he said in response was “To be honest not that big enough of a topic to argue about. I think its a bit better to seperate ‘dead knight’ and Sheherezade into seperate articles, in order to make things cleaner.”

Hey, it’s the fans’ job to point out piffling things! There wouldn’t be anything to talk about in this fandom otherwise.Why the heck was the moon a crescent in the KQ6 intro, yet completely full scarcely a day later in the Realm of the Dead??

[Unknown,Unknown]

I was pointing out of course that it was weird that your opponent named the dead knight ‘Shaharazad.’ Both possibilities are unlikely (a female knight or a male knight with a Persian female name).

Thanks for posting the links. It’s correct now, like you wanted. About your final remark: nothing wrong with correcting these things. The reply you got by this Baggins (not that big a topic to argue about) was not very polite and in fact a bit dumb. You pointed out a possible mistake in his info, which is relevant, and a sensible person would check the facts and arguments and say “thanks”.

[Unknown,Unknown]

Oh well…you can’t get a polite response from everyone, I guess.

[Unknown,Unknown]

Let’s say the knight was a man and he had Shaharazad put on his glove for his lost love.  How romantic. : P

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