The Eyes of the Dragon
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| The Eyes of the Dragon | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Stephen King |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Philtrim Press, Signet |
| Publication date | 1986 (limited edition), 1987 (trade hardback) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 384 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-451-16658-2 |
| Preceded by | It |
| Followed by | Misery |
The Eyes of the Dragon is a book by Stephen King published in 1987. At the time it was a surprising deviation from the norm for King, who is best known for his horror fiction. This book is a work of classic fantasy, with a clearly established battle between good and evil, with magic playing a lead role.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The Eyes of the Dragon takes place entirely within the realm of Delain. It is told from the perspective of an unnamed story-teller, who speaks casually and frankly to the reader, frequently adding his own commentary on character's motivations and the like.
The opening concerns itself with establishing five characters: King Roland, Queen Sasha, Prince Peter, Prince Thomas, and the wizard and royal adviser, Flagg (see Characters, below). Flagg (actually Randall Flagg, a ubiquitous King villain) has been covertly attempting to assassinate Queen Sasha (who is more intelligent than her husband, well loved by the people of Delain, and therefore more of a threat) for some time; he finally succeeds by bribing the Queen's midwife to slit an unidentified vein open while Sasha gives birth to Thomas. Outwardly, it appears that the force of giving birth to Thomas caused Sasha to bleed to death.
Peter and Thomas develop into almost entirely opposite people. Peter is intelligent, honest, handsome, and in spite of his youth, has already gained the respect and admiration of many people. Thomas is chunky, clumsy, and just intelligent enough to hate himself for his shortcomings. The narrator describes Thomas as often sad and confused, "not a bad boy". Possibly to contrast their personalities, the story-teller describes how Peter once rescued a horse with a broken leg from being killed, carefully nursed it back to health, and kept it as his personal steed. A bit later, the story-teller describes how Thomas once carved a small boat as a present for his father. Roland ignores the gift almost entirely, in favor of lecturing Thomas on how well Peter had done at archery that day. When Thomas sees how little Roland cares about the gift he hobbles out of the castle and has a fit of vomiting and weeping. He then sees a mangy, sick dog, which he stones to death in a fit of rage.
As time passed, and Peter grew older, it became more obvious to Flagg that the crown Prince was a far greater threat to his position as royal wizard than even Sasha was. It would be too dangerous to simply leave him to become King — yet Roland loved him so dearly that if Flagg tried to kill the Prince it was likely the King would find out who would be responsible for assassinating Peter. Flagg then hits upon an even more devious plan: assassinate Roland, and frame Peter for the murder.
The scheme succeeds entirely. Roland's wine is poisoned, Roland drinks it and dies in three days, Roland's youngest son watches in horror as he drinks the poison. Peter is blamed for it, and is locked up in the enormous tower, called the Needle, in the center of the city. Thomas is then crowned King, although he is only twelve years old; due to his youth and his fearful inexperience, he allows Flagg enormous amounts of power, as his chief advisor. However, Flagg has overlooked two flaws in his plans. Someone saw Flagg pass on the glass of poisoned wine to Roland. And Peter has made two requests for things he wants in his cell: his mother's dollhouse, and a napkin with every meal.
Peter takes 5 threads from each napkin and with the help of a working loom from the dollhouse weaves them into a rope. The rope breaks when Peter tries to climb down, but he is rescued by Ben (a childhood friend of Peter's), Naomi (a rebel in exile who accompanies Ben; they meet after his family is exiled) and Dennis (his butler's son). The four rush to get the bow and arrow Roland used to slay the dragon but Flagg catches up with them. The wizard is about to kill them when Thomas reveals himself and tells Flagg how he watched him poison Roland. Thomas shoots Flagg in the eye with the arrow but he still gets away.
At the end of the novel, Peter is declared to be the rightful king, Ben and Naomi are married and Dennis and Thomas set off to find Flagg.
[edit] Characters
- King Roland- The King of Delain. While renowned for slaying a dragon in his younger, more virile days, he has now become somewhat infirm and addled. He trusts Flagg, his advisor, but little does he realize that Flagg intends ill will toward Roland.
- Flagg- The Advisor to the King. Flagg is a powerful magician and has been around for centuries. In his incarnation in Eyes of the Dragon, he has served as an advisor to four successive monarchs: Roland's grandparents and parents, Roland himself, and Thomas. Though he has lived in Delain for roughly seventy years, he has only appeared to age ten. Later in the story, it is revealed that he has appeared in Delain multiple times, under multiple guises, the oldest of which that is mentioned in the book took place over five hundred years in the past. His ultimate goal is to cause Delain to overthrow the monarchy and be plunged into "a thousand years of bloody anarchy, give or take a few years."
- Peter- Roland's older son and the heir to the throne. Peter is a tall, lithe, handsome young man who inherited his mother's good looks and his father's love of the common man. He is the clear favorite among the people to be the next King, and they eagerly anticipate the day he'll step up to the throne.
- Thomas- Roland's younger son. Thomas takes after Roland in that he's on the slower side and is a heavy boy even in youth. He (rightfully) feels overshadowed by Peter and resents his brother in the knowledge that Roland clearly loves Peter more. As he gets older Flagg becomes his only friend and sole source of comfort.
- Queen Sasha- Roland's wife and the mother of Peter and Thomas. Sasha was chosen for Roland because she was an innocent girl from a lesser noble family and seemed to be the shyest of the lot that Flagg had selected for Roland. Roland chose her since she seemed the least likely to frighten him. However, she revealed herself to be a strong, independent woman, who truly loved (and was loved in return) both Roland and the kingdom. She was murdered under Flagg's orders while giving birth to Thomas
- Ben Staad- Peter's best friend. The Staad family is described as the most unlucky family within Delain, but Ben and Peter strike up a close friendship. Ben is strong, handsome and might be the only hope to turn the Staads' luck around.
- Dennis - Thomas' butler. Dennis' family has been butlers to the royals of Delain for centuries, and Dennis takes great pride in his work. He is also partially responsible for Peter being imprisoned.
- Naomi- A peasant girl who is with the exiles (a developing resistance group), her favorite dog is Frisky.
- Anders Peyna- The Kingdom's High Judge. The people are far more afraid of Peyna (though he isn't a bad man) than they are of the King. It is Peyna who condemns Peter to his sentence but later rethinks his decision and soon believes in the prince's innocence. Along with Dennis and Ben Staad, he helps Peter escape from the Needle.
- Curran- A warden in the Needle, where Prince Peter is imprisoned. Upon hearing a very ill Peter shriek "Father!" in delirium, he believes Peter is seeing his murdered father come to take him to hell; the very next day, Curran embraces his religion again, and eventually becomes a priest. The narrator states that "I may tell you of him in another story".
[edit] Other Information/Crossovers
- Flagg (Randall Flagg), the villain of this story, is directly involved with the Dark Tower series, appearing as one of Roland of Gilead's main antagonists. He is also the main antagonist in The Stand. King hinted, in the afterword to Wizard and Glass, that the "wandering youths from Eyes of the Dragon" (presumably Thomas and Dennis, who had gone on a quest to find and destroy Flagg at the end of the novel) would make an appearance in the Dark Tower series, but ultimately, they were only briefly mentioned.
- King references H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos when he mentions that Flagg's spellbook was "written on the high, distant Plains of Leng by a madman named Alhazred", is bound in human flesh, and can cause madness after too much exposure.
- In one passage, the narrator of the story discusses a witch by the name of Rhiannon. It is possible, due to the similarity of their names, that "Rhiannon" is another title for Rhea of the Coos.
- In the Dark Tower book Song of Susannah Roland says that his grandfather Alaric went to Garlen, the land next to Delain, to slay a dragon but got there too late because the last dragon in that part of the world had already been killed by another king who was later murdered.
- One of King's possible titles for the book was "The Napkins", as they play a significant role in the plot on more than one occasion.
- Delain is scathingly mentioned in another King short story, The Little Sisters of Eluria, as a country of liars.
- King wrote the book for his daughter Naomi (and great friend Ben Straub), who disliked her father's horror novels. The character Naomi is named after her.
- In a passage where the narrator is describing a profoundly hurtful, jealousy-rousing experience for Thomas, King references a Stephen Crane poem when he writes [emphasis added]:
The Crane line reads:He felt as if someone had reached into his chest and cut off a tiny piece of his heart and made him eat it.
His heart tasted very bitter to him, and he hated Peter more than ever, although part of him still loved his
handsome older brother and always would.
And although the taste had been bitter, he had liked it.
Because it was his heart.In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
[edit] Animated movie
Approximately ten years ago The Eyes of the Dragon was optioned by a French company but the option lapsed. Currently Steven E. Gordon holds that option and is developing this project for an animated feature.
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