Wizards in Black

WARNING: Spoilers!

If you have played several of the games in the King’s Quest Series, you may have noticed some correlation among the evil wizards that seem to create chaos in these lands. It would seem that they were part of some mysterious black cloak society bent on creating chaos and taking over the world. I will lay out the interesting clues that I found, and see if you can figure out this mysterious underlying story about the W I B.

In King’s Quest 3, Gwydion (aka Prince Alexander) is enslaved at an early age by the evil wizard Manannan, causing despair in Daventry. During the game, he alludes to the problems he sees in Llewdor and suddenly decides to take all these mysterious journeys. Where is he going?!! Of course, you can’t miss his black robe and hat, and just look at his colorless wardrobe in the bedroom closet!!

In King’s Quest 5, Crispin tells Graham the wizard Mordack is associated with a bad group of wizards, while he himself has meetings with good wizards. What society of bad wizards?! Notice that in the opening scenes, Mordack is wearing that very black cloak and Crispin is not. Mordack’s taking of the castle of Daventry seems to strongly imply the seizing of kingdoms and such, don’t you think? Of course in King’s Quest 5, you quickly find out that Mordack is Manannan’s younger brother as well … Plus, Hagatha is their sister!! Wait … there’s more!

King’s Quest 6 is where a bunch of hints are dropped out these strange connections. Vizier Abdul Alhazred may not be wearing black cloaks when Alexander first meets him, but if Alexander takes the long path and goes into the vizier’s bedroom through the closet … well, well, well … black cloaks. Is he part of the club as well? Then there are those infamous letters!! The vizier is reading a letter from some guy named Shadrack, who speaks of Mordack’s death as being a great loss. Somehow, this guy knew Mordack well because he knew that Mordack was a ninny at chess and very ill-tempered. The vizier’s letter — filled with desires to take over the Land of the Green Isles, the “accidental” murders of Cassima’s parents, and the false marriage to Cassima — all seem to fit in with all the evil deeds the other wizards were attempting to do in the past.

Now there is that Lucreto villain in King’s Quest 8 who is really messing things up for Daventry and the surrounding worlds by shattering the Mask of Eternity. From what I can tell so far, he seems bent on complete world domination. What is up with all these evil wizard-like people running a muck everywhere?

Okay, now. See if you can figure out this mess? Be Laura Bow and solve this mystery. Below are just some unanswered questions that I have:

• What exactly is this black cloak society?
• What is the history behind it?
• Are all these evil people related to each other in any way?
• Who on earth is this Shadrack fellow and will he show up again?
• Who created it and who is the leader?
• What is the future of this society?

Also, RosellaKat submitted some interesting tidbits on the women villains of King’s Quest! Witches in Black you might say! It seems that all the female villains are somehow connected to one another. Let’s break it down case by case:

Malicia and Titania are sisters. You find this out at the end of King’s Quest 7 when Titania picks up the Baby Malicia and says, “Something went terribly wrong with you, my sister.” That connection is quite obvious.

Lolotte is also a sister of Malicia and Titania. We know that Malicia and Titania are sisters by reasons already mentioned. In one point of King’s Quest 7, Edgar says that his Aunt Lolotte stole him as a child. Aha!

Lolotte and Genesta are sisters. It comes as a shocker, but apparently is true. There was supposedly an underlying plot for Lolotte to kill her sister, Genesta, and she and Malicia would rule Tamir. But Rosella killed Lolotte, and Malicia had no kingdom of her own. Therefore, Malicia decided to steal Edgar once again to get her sister out of the way as well as blow up the volcano. That way, she could destroy Eldritch and start her own kingdom to rule! Of course, Rosella intervened and stopped this.

Well, if you can come up with a good story concerning the wizards and/or witches, email Kat, and they might be included on this page for everyone to see!! It can be believable, bizarre, or even comical. You can be creative and go on a stretch to include other Sierra games into the mix (if you can). Just keep it clean and fun!!

I imagine there wasn’t much of a black cloak in King’s Quest 7. Mordack and many others (i.e. Vizier Alhazred) are dead or imprisoned. The only active member I could think of would be Hagatha. Maybe the series will end due to lack of villains. I also wondered why Alhazred was even a member. He has no magic whatsoever except for his stupid genie. Why should he be considered magic? Now that Malicia is gone (actually, she is a baby), there really is no black cloak. One member just won’t do it. Also, who is the leader of the black cloak? Possibly the guy that gave Alhazred the letter in King’s Quest 6? — Login (6-24-1999)

Malicia, who wears a black cloak (though it has a maroon inside) has her hidden little house in the woods. I think that’s where they all meet. — Juliette (6-24-1999)

I think that Shadrack guy might have been Alhazred’s friend (perhaps good or best friend?), and Sierra purposely put him there to get revenge on Alexander in a possible future King’s Quest game. Perhaps he could help Vizier Alhazred take over the Land of the Green Isles and leave Cassima to save Alexander … a funny twist that would be! — Andrew G. (7-9-1999)

The Black Cloak Society is basically a group of wizards who are out to rule the “known world” as it is called. They seem to have it out for Daventry. I only know part of the history behind this society. What I know is that the Black Cloak Society was a way for wizards to plot how to get control of the world. It is sort of like when you depend on a friend when you are in trouble. When one wizard is killed (or turned into a cat), there is another wizard who will avenge him. As for being related to one another, we find out in King’s Quest 5 that Mordack is Manannan’s younger brother. I do not believe Alhazred is in anyway related to anyone. It seems reasonable to think he is in it simply for his genie. Other than that, I know of no other connections. Shadrack has never been mentioned before in the series. From reading between the lines, you can sort of see him as being the leader of the Black Cloak Society. I would imagine that he will show up, possibly with more wizards, to avenge all the wizards who were hurt. Your guess is as good as mine about who created this society. I can guess that Shadrack is the leader. — RosellaKat (8-10-1999)

This wizard, Shadrack, got a little bored with his lonely life. Sure, he had his plans for world domination to keep him occupied, but what he really wanted was human company. So, he looked around the world for other evil magicians like himself. He quickly heard of Manannan, who had just turned Daventry upside down with the kidnap of Prince Alexander. “Ha, this is exactly the type of fellow I could get along with!” Shadrack thought. Well, it turned out that Manannan had a brother and sister as well, both of them nearly as evil as himself. “Sure, you can all come over whenever you like!” Shadrack told Manannan, overjoyed that he had now found three people to talk to. Manannan, Mordack, and Hagatha started coming over for the occasional tea party, and pretty soon they decided to start a club: The Black Cloak Society.

After a while, they decided to expand their club and opened the membership to anyone who spent their time plotting evil deeds, who also owned or was willing to purchase a black cloak. Abdul, a vizier from the Land of the Green Isles, met the requirements, and so did Malicia, a witch with bad taste in decorating. They both joined the Black Cloak Society and met once a week to discuss world domination over tea and scones. Sadly, the fun and laughter of the Black Cloak Society is now coming to an end, as all members apart from Shadrack have now resigned from the club for various reasons, such as being turned into a cat or being zapped into a baby. So, Shadrack is now back to his boring, lonely life, but who knows what evil deeds he’s plotting now? — Butterfly (8-10-1999)

It seems that quite a few people are thinking much to small. Only a few members don’t make a good … err … EVIL society. The Black Cloak Society is really a HUGE society. We have only met a few members in the King’s Quest games. Perhaps they are guys who are high on the ladder, but still only a few. The Black Cloak Society must surely have members in most towns and in almost all the countries in the world of Daventry. Not just the country ruled by Graham, but the entire world. Now, the guys (and gals) may have risen in the ranks of the Black Cloak Society, and in local government, which will one day give them the power to rule that world! However, the royal family of Daventry has either killed or imprisoned the highest ranking wizards, thus effectively throwing a monkey wrench in their plans. Also, since the Black Cloak Society has in fact NOT taken over the world, it proves the existence of a W I W, or a Wizards-In-White society.

What is the title of this club of good wizards, who want to help humanity, not enslave it? I have no idea, but I would venture a guess. Perhaps it is the “White Cloak Society”? However, it seems that some of the White Cloak Society members are aging or perhaps even dying. We have only seen one member, as opposed to the several Black Cloak Society members who appear throughout these games. Perhaps Crispin is the leader? He is certainly not high in the local government, but then he IS a good guy! smile Besides, who has time to govern while you are battling evil dudes half, or more, of your age? Surely they do not have all the knowledge, but they have youth, stamina, and drive. If they win, they get control over the world. If you win, you get nothing. Not even recognition. Bummer, eh? So, obviously, the membership of the White Cloak Society is not as high as the Black Cloak Society. Hmm … Obviously, there are some powerful members on both sides. Hopefully, if there is a game sequel, the White Cloak Society will continue to win. Perhaps we will meet some more of the Black Cloak Society and/or the White Cloak Society? Sounds like fun, eh? — ZAW (8-26-1999)

I asked Roberta […], and sorry to admit that she said she didn’t remember the Black Cloak Society. It sounds cool. Perhaps she should have taken it more seriously and featured it in other games. With respect to Hagatha [being related to Manannan and Mordack]: Roberta’s answer was, “Would you like them to be related?” Then she said, “Nope, Hagatha was her own seperate person.” – Ken Williams at SierraGamers (6-9-2003)

The “Black Cloak Society” was never an actual term that I instigated or thought up. I’m not actually sure where that came from. The closest thought that I have on that subject is that: when I was working with Jane Jensen on King’s Quest 6, and we thought up the evil vizier, we talked loosely about the possibility of putting Mannanan, Mordack, and the vizier together as group — possibly — in a future King’s Quest. There was loose reference to the possibility in King’s Quest 6, although nothing was set in stone at that time. I think that it’s possible that Jane Jensen might have mentioned the possibility (perhaps) in subsequent interviews on the subject, although, I’m not sure about that. Later on, I heard about the Black Cloak Society and kind of wondered where that phrase came from, but, I never refuted it as I thought it was kind of cool and, probably, would have gone on with the idea in future King’s Quests had I had the chance. And, one final thing: Hagatha was never part in any discussion of a Black Cloak Society. – Roberta Williams at SierraGamers (6-9-2003)

Owen says, “The name of the vizier, Alhazred, is likely a reference to the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred famed author of the Necronomicon in H.P. Lovecraft’s stories.” (6-9-2007)