King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!

In the introduction to the game, a view of Castle Daventry is shown, when suddenly, a mysterious cloaked figure appears. He enchants the castle, causing a whirlwind to appear, which soon engulfs the castle and lifts it out of sight. Because he is out walking when this happens, King Graham is the only member of the royal family to be left behind. He returns to the castle to find that it has disappeared, and soon meets a talking owl named Cedric.

Cedric witnessed the cloaked figure's attack, and tells Graham that it was a powerful, evil wizard named Mordack who stole the castle. Cedric then brings Graham to the land of Serenia, where his master Crispin resides. Crispin is a good wizard, who gives Graham some advice, his old wand, and a piece of white snake which allows Graham to speak with animals. Graham then starts on his journey.

Later, Graham learns that Mordack is the brother of the wizard Manannan, who Graham's son, Prince Alexander, turned into a cat in King's Quest III . Mordack has imprisoned the castle and royal family of Daventry out of revenge, and threatens to feed the royal family to Manannan unless Prince Alexander agrees to restore him to his true form as the spell's nature means that only Prince Alexander as the caster can reverse it. King Graham travels through the land of Serenia, gathering helpful items and information, and eventually makes his way to Mordack's island, and to his castle lair, to save his family from their impending doom. The owl Cedric accompanies the protagonist King Graham through the entire game to provide commentary and advice.

He has to be rescued from danger at several points. Cedric inadvertently saves Graham's life from a spell near the end of the game. At the end of the game, with the help of another of Mordack's prisoners, Princess Cassima, Graham is able to confront Mordack in a magical duel, using spells he learns from Mordack's own spell book against him. After Mordack transforms himself into a ring of fire, Graham slays the evil wizard by conjuring a rain storm to put the fire out.

The good wizard Crispin arrives soon after and transforms the castle and the royal family back to normal. At Graham's request, Crispin teleports Cassima back to her home in the Land of the Green Isles and sends the royal family back to Daventry. Connections to other King's Quest games Though still largely standalone, King's Quest V is one of the few where the elements of the plot itself are directly connected to events or individuals in both previous and future games. The location the game is set in, Serenia, was first visited in the earlier game Wizard and the Princess .

During the game, King Graham discovers the skeleton of a man in the Serenia desert which is identified as the body of the Wanderer, the protagonist from Wizard and the Princess in the King's Quest Companion. The transformation of Manannan into a cat is a necessary task to completing King's Quest III , and serves as Mordack's motivation. The game's ending ties into its sequel, King's Quest VI . Cassima is introduced as a slave to the wizard Mordack.

Before she is sent home at the end, Alexander mentions wanting to visit her in the Land of the Green Isles, which happens at the beginning of KQVI . Cassima mentions her Vizier, who first introduced Mordack to her. In KQVI , the Vizier is part of an organization known as the Society of the Black Cloak, and presumably Mordack was either a member or known to the organization as well. The music for Cassima in Mordack's castle is later remixed and used for the love theme for Alexander and Cassima in KQVI .