King’s Quest 5 Walkthrough

If you would like hints instead of a complete walkthrough for King’s Quest 5, you can utilize the UHS hint file if you have a UHS Reader. See the downloadable files section of the Game Goodies page for more information.

Desert Map :: Mordack’s Maze Map :: KQ5 Point List

If you have the floppy disk version of the game, you may be prompted to decipher some iconographic symbols using your game manual at the small tent in the bandits’ camp, at the witch’s house, when climbing the rope, and/or at the boat. This is Sierra’s copyright protection. If you lost your manual, you need to obtain one from Sierra’s Customer Service. Because this game is old, it is highly recommended that you contact Sierra first to see if they have manuals to send to you. Sierra Planet cannot legally give out this information publically.

SAVE OFTEN!! There is a lot of chances for dead ends in this game, so it is wise to have many saved games just in case you forgot to do something and have to go back. There is a point list and a map of the desert and Mordack’s maze at the end of this walkthrough if you need it. With all that said, let us begin:

Watch the opening sequence and Graham will eventually be standing in front of the Crispin’s house. Go south to a forest path with a snake. Ignore the snake for now and head west to see a crying prince. Talk to him to learn that he is looking for his fiancée. You cannot do anything with the bird and the bird bath, so return east. Head south and into the town. There are several people walking around, but they are not important. However, there is a man trying to fix his wagon. Talk to him. Poor man! Hope he can fix it by himself! Just to the left of the man is a barrel. Look inside it to see a rotting fish. Take the rotting fish. Yuck! Now enter the store nearest the wagon. It is the tailor shop. Look around, especially at that blue cloak. Touch it to see how much the tailor wants for it. Well, you do not have any money at this moment, so leave the tailor shop. The wagon man left his wagon behind. Guess he just gave up fixing it. There should be a little glint on the ground where he once was. Look at the glint to find out that it is a silver coin. Take it. Explore the remaining two shops. There is a nice little red sled in the toy shop, but you cannot buy it with just a silver coin. The poor couple in the shoe store have nothing to sell. Perhaps you can help them out later. For now, exit the town by going west. Back outside the town, follow the path west.

Do not go into the inn right now, or you will most likely get tied up for good! Continue west to the bakery house. SAVE GAME. Enter the bakery. Quickly talk to the lady and her son. Mmm. Custard pies! And they are only one silver coin each. Since you have a silver coin, buy a custard pie from the baker. Do not eat it, alright? Leave the bakery house and continue west to meet a bear terrorizing a bee colony. It seems very hungry. So hungry, in fact, that it might like that smelly old fish you are carrying around. Throw the fish at the bear. Good! The bear took that disgusting fish away! Queen Beetrice will greet you and let you have one of her honeycombs. Reach inside the hole in tree with the HAND icon to take the honeycomb. Take the stick lying on the ground. Now go north to meet a dog digging at the poor anthill. Perhaps you can distract the dog by playing “fetch” with him. Throw the stick you just got at that dog to make it go away. King Antony will talk to you and offer his help in your quest. You will need his help later on. For now, continue north to the gypsy wagon. If you get too near the wagon, the man will stand up and demand one gold coin. Since you do not have any gold coins, you will have to wait later for a meeting with Madame Mushka.

It is now time to enter the desert that lies west of Serenia. The desert is a maze of endless sand, and you can easily get lost. Plus, since it is a hot and blazing desert, Graham needs to drink often. He cannot survive more than seven screens without finding some kind of water source to drink from. You will be warned of thirst during the fifth screen. He will die in the eighth screen without water. At the gypsy camp, SAVE GAME. Now head out straight west along the cliffs for eight screens to an opening in the cliffs that leads to a temple. Thankfully, this eighth screen has a little water hole. Drink from it by using the HAND icon. SAVE GAME. Right next the water hole are some rock formations that are almost as tall as Graham. Stand behind them and wait. In a few moments, the bandits will ride in, open the temple with a staff, and later leave. Once they are gone, go to the temple door and try to open it. Graham has the “Open Sesame” part done, but he is missing something. He is missing that staff. Go back to the little water hole and drink again. SAVE GAME. Go west two screens and south three screens to an oasis. Drink and SAVE GAME. Go south three screens and west one screen to the bandits’ camp. Drink at the vase and SAVE GAME. Forget the fallen drunk man and do not enter the large tent. Enter the small tent where a bandit is snoring like nuts. Stay as far away from him as possible and take the staff. Leave quickly. Outside, drink at the vase and SAVE GAME. Go east four screens and north one screen to another oasis. Drink and SAVE GAME. Go north two screens to a skeleton. Take the abandoned boot. Go east two screens and north one screen to the third oasis. Drink and SAVE GAME. Continue north two screens to the cliff. Go west three screens to the temple and water hole. Drink and SAVE GAME. Now use the staff on the temple door. Once you are inside, take the large brass bottle and gold coin next to the entrance and leave quickly. Do not touch the other treasures, or you will be trapped inside forever. Outside, drink at the water hole and SAVE GAME. Do not open the brass bottle! If you are just too curious, make sure you saved your game before opening it. You are forewarned! Go straight east for eight screens to be back at the gypsy wagon. SAVE GAME.

Give the man your gold coin and have a meeting with Madame Mushka. This is terrible! Mordack wants to feed Graham’s family to Manannan the cat! Go east one screen to the weeping willow. Talk to the weeping willow to learn that she has lost her heart. If you have the multimedia CD version of the game and want to hear the weeping willow sing, talk to Cedric. Continue east to the warning sign into the dark forest. You will now enter the dark forest. Wear the amulet you got from Madame Mushka and enter the forest. SAVE GAME. Follow the northwest path to the witch’s house. If you meet the witch before reaching her house, your amulet will protect you from her spell. Talk to her. My goodness, is she a wicked little hag! Give her the brass bottle to trap her for a long, long time! Continue on the path until you see her house if you are not there yet. SAVE GAME. Carefully walk onto the strange bridge into her house. Open the trunk and look inside to see a spinning wheel. Take it. Look at the tree trunk table and open the drawer to see a bag. Take the bag and open it in your inventory window to see some emeralds. There is a little incense burner hanging in the room. It kind of looks like a dangling mask. Look at it to see a little key. Take the key and leave the house. Continue east along the path. It will wrap down and head south. You will come to a tree with a little door in it. Unlock the door with the little key from the witch’s house. Look inside to see a little golden heart. It is the weeping willow’s heart! Take it and continue south and follow the path. You cannot exit the forest by going the way you came. You will continue to circle around and around unless you find a way out. Continue west along the path until you reach the screen with little eyes peering at you in the background. Those are elves’ eyes. Maybe you can persuade them to come out. Drop an emerald on the ground. Look! The elf came out and took it! Perhaps you can catch him the next time. Drop another emerald. Nope! He runs too quickly. You have to trap him somehow. Click the honeycomb on the ground to squeeze the sticky honey out. Now drop the third emerald onto the honey. Gotcha, you little elf! Follow the elf out. He will take Graham underground and give him a pair of really nice shoes. Follow the elf’s directions and leave the underground and back to where Cedric is. SAVE GAME.

Go one west one screen and give the golden heart from the dark forest to the weeping willow. She will transform back into a princess and leave with her prince. Take perfectly nice harp that she mindlessly threw behind. Go south one screen to the gnome and his grandson. Look at the toy his grandson is playing. It is an exquisite marionette! Talk to the gnome about the marionette. Hmm. Perhaps if you give the gnome something in trade for that marionette http://www.sierraplanet.net/. The little spinning wheel seems to be the gnome’s size. After all, Graham cannot use it! Give the gnome the spinning wheel to get the marionette. Spin straw into gold? Is he a relative of Rumplestiltskin? Oh well http://www.sierraplanet.net/. go south one screen to the inn house. Do not enter it yet. Go dig around in the haystack. Why, look! The ants have arrived to help Graham, and look at what they found! A needle in a haystack. Go figure! Take the needle and SAVE GAME. Set the game speed to slow and head east to the bakery house. At any moment, you should see a cat chasing a rat in front of the bakery house. The moment you see this scene, throw the boot (that you got from desert near that skeleton) at the cat to save the rat. You have to be quick. If you missed, restore your game and try again. This cat and rat scene will happen after you get the desert boot, but it happens only once. You only have one chance to get it right! You cannot finish the game without saving the rat. Once you save the rat, it will be grateful and offer to help you. SAVE GAME.

Continue east into the town again. Go into the tailor shop and give the tailor the golden needle because he seems to be the most likely owner of it. He will be thankful and give you the cloak for the needle. Take it and leave. Enter the toy shop and show the man the marionette you got from the gnomes. He will be astonished by its workmanship and let you have the red sled. Take it. Go to the shoe shop, and offer the couple the nice pair of boots since you cannot wear them. Perhaps they can sell it. The couple eagerly take the shoes and give you the hammer. Take it. Leave the town and go west two screens to the inn house. SAVE GAME. Now it is time to enter the inn. Go inside and talk to the rough guys there. You will get tied up and thrown in the cellar. If you saved the rat from the cat, the rat will come in and chew the ropes to get you loose. Take the rope. Using the hammer you got from the shoemaker, unlock the door and exit. You are in a little storage room. Open up the cupboard and take the leg of lamb. Leave by going out the left door. That was terrible service! You decide to never recommend that inn to anyone! SAVE GAME. Go west one screen and north two screens to where the gypsy wagon was. It is gone, but there is a tambourine left behind on the ground. Take it. Go south one screen and east three screens to the forest path with the snake. Finally, it is time to deal with the snake. Scare it with the tambourine. Once it is gone, SAVE GAME.

You are now ready to enter the snowy mountains. Make sure you have the following items: tambourine, rope, hammer, custard pie, leg of lamb, cloak, harp, beeswax, and sled. Go east on the path to the mountains. Wear the cloak to protect yourself against the cold. If Graham gets hungry, give him the leg of lamb — not the custard pie! He will eat half of the leg. Continue east to a cliff. Using the rope, throw it onto the pointed rock ledge just to the right of the branch. Do not throw the rope onto the branch. The branch is too weak to support Graham’s weight. Climb the rope. At the top, SAVE GAME. You have to get over to where Cedric is. There are a bunch of little rock bumps in the back. Graham will have to climb onto them using the HAND icon. Click on the leftmost rock. Click on the back rock just east of this rock. Click on the next back rock. Click on the rightmost rock. Click the HAND icon on the east cliff edge. Never try to step on the front two rocks. They will most likely collapse. Now walk onto the log, and Graham will arrive where Cedric is. SAVE GAME. Continue east. What on earth?! Cedric just got dragged off by wolves! You have to chase after them! The path down seems a bit unstable, so whip out the sled and put it on the slope to slide down. Have fun! Too bad it was only a one-time fun experience because the sled is broken now, but forget that! Cedric is in trouble! (At this point, you cannot return to Serenia.) Continue east to meet an eagle. Talk to it to learn that it is starving. Aw! Poor bird! Give it the rest of your leg of lamb. You still have a custard pie. It will thank Graham and fly away. SAVE GAME.

Continue north to get captured by wolves. Graham will be greeted by Queen Icebella who will tell the wolves to take him away. The moment the wolves start advancing towards Graham, play the harp to melt the queen’s heart a bit. Very nice tune! Queen Icebella will tell Graham to get rid of the yeti. SAVE GAME. Follow the path north to the yeti’s cave. The moment you see the yeti, throw the custard pie at it. It will get all confused and fall off the cliff. What a dope that yeti was! Wonder why Queen Icebella couldn’t have gotten rid of it herself?! Now enter the cave to see all the magnificent crystal formations. You feel greedy and decide to chisel out a brilliant crystal inside the central rock formation with your hammer. Click around the center until you can chisel one out. Take the crystal, SAVE GAME, and return to the wolf and talk to it. Queen Icebella will let you and Cedric free. From the wolf, walk south. You should now be seeing an overhead shot of the snowy path. A bit southwest of Cedric is a round, ridged rock hollow. Graham needs to get to that hollow and climb up inside it.

Oh, no! He just got carried away by a large Roc bird! Cedric, why didn’t you warn him sooner?! Argh! The Roc bird will drop Graham inside a large nest with an egg that is http://www.sierraplanet.net/. yikes! http://www.sierraplanet.net/ in the process of hatching. You should see the crown icon on the screen. You have limited time to pick up the little shiny locket located next to Graham in the nest. Unless you helped the starving eagle and fed it your leg of lamb, you are going to be bird feed. The eagle will soon arrive, rescue you, and drop you on a trail leading to the beach shore. Walk down the beach and take the iron bar on the ground. As you head south, you will come to a vertical ship that is half-buried in the sand. There is a little bell near the door. Ring the bell, and an old hermit will answer you. Unfortunately, he is too deaf to hear a word you are saying and enters his strange house again. You will need to find a way to enable him to hear you later.

For now, head back up north along the beach until you reach a boat. Perhaps you can sail out to the sea and find someone who can actually hear you. If you push the boat out now, you will discover that it has a hole in it and will leak, causing you to sink into the sea. That is not good, so before pushing the boat, insert the piece of wax leftover from the honeycomb into the hull of the boat to fill the hole. SAVE GAME. Now push the boat and set sail! You are in a little sea maze. There are many screens where you may find a sea serpent. If you encounter the sea serpent, it will eat you, making it necessary to restore your game. You cannot get rid of the sea serpent. Ignore the faraway islands to the north. That is not where you are going to sail. You are going to sail on certain screens that do not have the sea serpent. Go south one screen and east three screens to the Harpies’ island.

The moment Graham and Cedric arrive at the Harpies’ island, they both get carried off by the flying Harpies. Graham will encounter small group of Harpies who argue over who will have him. The Harpies will eventually say, “I am not! You are, too!” This is your cue to do something. They will say this statement twice before finally eating Graham. They are greedy and easily distracted, so play a life-saving tune on the harp. One of the harpies will snatch the harp, and the others will chase her, leaving you alone to explore the little island. Phew! Look at the glint on the ground. It is a fish hook. Take it. Go west. Oh no! Cedric!! He’s lying on the ground, limp and moaning. As annoying as he sometimes is, you cannot bear to leave him here, so take poor Cedric with you and continue west to the beach. On the beach is a little conch shell. Take it. If you forgot to take the fishhook, do it now! If you return later to try to get the fishhook, the Harpies will most likely be waiting for you. Enter the boat. Set sail again. Go straight west to the hermit’s house. (If Graham arrives at the beach in a screen that is not the hermit’s house, you will not get Cedric out of the boat.) Exit the boat and ring the bell again. Give the hermit the conch shell from the Harpies’ island to enable him to hear you. Graham will talk to the hermit, and the hermit will cure Cedric.They will set sail to Mordack’s island with a mermaid as their guide.

After crashing onto the beach on Mordack’s island, take the dead fish on the ground. What is Graham’s deal with smelly, old, rotting fish?! smile SAVE GAME. Walk up the path to Mordack’s castle. Graham will encounter two serpent statues. Now, if Graham continues to walk in between these two statues, their eyes will emit a ray of lighting and zap Graham to death. He must reflect this ray of light. The crystal from the yeti’s cave might do the trick. Click the crystal on either of the serpents’ eyes or directly between their heads. Graham should be able to pass them now. Be careful not to fall! Look at the door. Graham cannot enter there, so go around the left side to a little grate on the ground. Cedric! Quit whining! Look at the grate. Graham cannot pry open the grate with his bare hands, so use the iron bar to pry it open. SAVE GAME. Click the hand icon on the grate to climb down into it. (If Graham does not have the iron bar from the beach, Mordack’s monster will come and imprison him in the dungeon cell for good!)

Graham is now in Mordack’s underground maze. SAVE GAME NOW! Actually, save a new game called “Mordack’s Maze” or something because it is extremely easy to get lost in here! The maze is on a 8×8 grid and is seen from Graham’s perspective, meaning he can view a certain room from four different directions, depending from which direction he entered the room. Therefore, he can be in the exact same place, but see it from a maximum of four different perspectives. Quite confusing! If you click the EYE icon in the black area outside the maze screen, you will get a little directional compass to guide you. If you have a map or will make a map, you have to keep turning the map around and around to correspond to which direction Graham is facing. It is kind of like needing to turn a road map around to a certain direction depending on which way your car just turned on the road. There are four Dink creatures located in various parts of the maze. You need to find just one. This walkthrough will locate the Dink closest to the exit of the maze (which is in the northwest area).

The following directions are written so that you can follow them straight-forward without having to worry too much about perspective. For example, when it says “go up” — literally go up! — even though it may not “technically” be North on the map. Okay? From the starting screen, go down one screen, left one screen, up one screen, left one screen, right one screen, left one screen, right one screen, left one screen, up one screen, right one screen, and left one more screen to a big Dink creature. Got all that?! grin Play the tambourine to get the pin from its head. Take the hairpin. Go down one screen, right one screen, up two screens, and right one screen to the door. SAVE GAME. It is locked, but it can be picked with the hairpin from the Dink creature. Use the pin on the door to unlock and open it. Finally! Enter Mordack’s castle.

Graham is now in the pantry and supply room. Look around, especially at the left cupboard. Open it and take the bag of peas. Exit the room at the top of the screen. There is a little servant girl in the kitchen. Talk to her. She is too scared to talk to you. The locket from the Roc bird’s nest belongs to this servant girl, so give it to her. She will gratefully accept it and finally talk to you. Talk to her some more. You have made a friend with Cassima here in the castle. SAVE GAME. You will now start entering the rest of Mordack’s castle and explore around. Go for it! Just do not play the organ or go upstairs yet. If you encounter Manannan the black cat, restore your game. If Manannan sees you, it will tell Mordack, and Mordack will inevitably show up in a short while to kill you. You must avoid Manannan at all costs for now until you are able to get rid of him. If you encounter Mordack’s blue monster, let it capture you and throw you in the dungeon once (and only once!). The monster only hangs around downstairs. Just walk around and around until it shows up and captures you. In the dungeon cell, look at where the little mouse enters in the wall. Look in the hole. There is a little piece of cheese in there! Using the fishhook, fish out the piece of cheese. If you did not give the servant girl (Cassima) the locket, then you are dead! Cassima should soon arrive by pushing in a side rock. She will summon you to follow her. Follow her exactly, or you will get lost again! Once back inside the castle, SAVE GAME. Cassima will not help you again if you get trapped in the dungeon a second time.

Now you still want to avoid Manannan the cat, but you want to find that blue monster again. The moment it shows up, trip it by clicking the bag of peas at it. Graham will throw the peas on the floor and trip it. The monster is unconscious, but only temporarily. Now you want to find that Manannan cat. The moment you see it, distract it with that smelly fish you got from the beach on Mordack’s island. Once it starts messing with the fish, bag it with the empty bag of peas. Now you are rid of Manannan! Go upstairs and head west into the bedroom. Go south into Mordack’s library. Look at the strange surroundings. Take a good look at the spells in the large magic book. SAVE GAME. Now Graham has to wait for a REALLY long time (possibly a good five minutes) in the library until Mordack finally shows up to take a nap. He will not see Graham in the library. (You have two minutes from the time Mordack falls asleep to when he discovers you in the laboratory.) Go into the bedroom and take his wand on the table. SAVE GAME. Exit the bedroom and go east into the laboratory. Look at the bottle on the table with the castle in it. It’s Daventry Castle with Valanice, Alexander, and Rosella! You have to save them — and fast! Go upstairs to the strange machine. This is the Mordack’s wand machine. By now, you should have discovered that the wand Crispin gave you is out of energy. You need to transfer the energy from Mordack’s wand to your own. Put the wands on the two balance plates on either side of the machine. Now to activate the machine http://www.sierraplanet.net/. don’t ask why! http://www.sierraplanet.net/. but you need to put in the piece of cheese (from the dungeon) into the lower part of the machine. (If you get a HEAP SPACE error message, see the game technical problems page for suggestions). The machine will start doing strange actions. Once Crispin’s wand is activated, take it. Within seconds, Mordack will appear for the final battle http://www.sierraplanet.net/.

Cedric will appear and save Graham from the initial blast. Of course, if Graham left Cedric at Harpies’ island, then he will lose quickly in the battle! Once Mordack flies up to Graham and transforms into a “Sting” insect, quickly select Crispin’s wand from your inventory. You will see a list of icons from Mordack’s magic book. Select the Tiger. Mordack will now transform into a dragon. Select the wand and choose the Rabbit. Next, Mordack will transform into a cobra. Become a Mongoose. Finally, Mordack will become a ring of fire. Cast some rain on him. Once the rain spell extinguishes the fire, destroying Mordack, Graham has succeeded. Watch the closing animation. Congratulations! You have just finished King’s Quest 5: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder.