The Eyes of the Dragon
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The Eyes of the Dragon is a book by Stephen King published in 1984. 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 and magic playing a lead role. It tells the story of a noble prince who is framed for the murder of his father by his tragically inept younger brother and the evil sorcerer "Flagg" (the villain Randall Flagg from several of King's other works), who manipulates the weaker younger brother to displace the rightful heir to the throne.
King wrote the book for his daughter Naomi, who disliked her father's ghosts and ghoulie stories with the excessive blood and bad language. One of the characters in the story is named Naomi, who proves to be an important ally of the good prince.
Characters
- King Roland- The King of Delain. He is a rather plain, overweight man who is unsure around women but is fairly popular within the Kingdom, as his subjects see him as a man of the people. He enjoys beer and, though he wishes it wasn't so, favors his older son, Peter, over his younger son, Thomas.
- Flagg- The Advisor to the King. Flagg is a powerful magician and has been around for centuries, perhaps even for a millennium. He thrives on chaos and destruction, and his ultimate goal is to cause Delain to overthrow the monarchy and be plunged into "a thousand years of bloody anarchy".
- 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. He feels Flagg is 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. However, she revealed herself to be a strong, independent woman, and was truly loved by 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 Staad's luck around.
- Dennis - Thomas' butler. Dennis's family has been butlers to the royals of Delain for centuries, and Dennis takes great pride in his work.
- Naomi- A peasant girl who is with the exiles, her favorite dog is Frisky.
Trivia
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.King references 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.
Literary references
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the king of Rohan is under the debilitating influence of Saruman through his evil counselor. In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, the Galaxy is going into a multiple-thousand years period of chaos, but following psychomathematician Harry Seldon's plan, the chaos is expected to be reduced to a thousand years of time.Animated Movie
Eyes of the Dragon was going to be made into an animated movie but the film rights options collapsed.
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