The Lizard King is a secondary antagonist in the original Dragon's Lair video game. He is an accomplice to Singe the Dragon and roams around the latter's castle, keeping Dirk away from Princess Daphne.
Appearance and abilities[]
Being a humanoid lizard, the Lizard King has green scaly skin, large bumpy warts and large yellow eyes. He wears a golden crown, a purple robe with a golden belt as well as wields a large golden scepter.
While only appearing in a scene, the Lizard King has shown to hold his own against Dirk the Daring and his sword. In two death scenes, it is shown that he can incapacitate Dirk with a swing of his scepter as well as effortlessly pulling his weight.
Dragon's Lair[]
As Dirk advances deeper into the castle, he runs into a magic cauldron filled with golden coins that magnetizes his sword to itself. The Lizard King notices Dirk then quickly swings at Dirk only to miss him, as the hero chases down the flying cauldron. After several action moves which involve Dirk chasing down the gold and evading the king, the latter finally catches up to Dirk and the two scuffle with the cauldron circling around them.
With one deciding blow, the Lizard King is defeated by Dirk who then proceeds to take a portion of the gold as spoils.
Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair[]
Princess Daphne tells Dirk through the Amulet that he needs to retrieve the Dragon's key that is guarded by the Lizard King. As Dirk searches for him, the Lizard King attacks him from behind and escapes into the treasure room, locking himself inside. Dirk eventually retrieves the key and unlocks the door only for the pot of gold to take his sword, with the Lizard King swinging his scepter at him. This scenario is nearly identical to the one in the original Dragon's Lair, with differences such as avoiding falling rubble and clearing through certain gaps. The pot stops and releases Dirk's sword and the two duel, which leads to the Lizard King's demise.
Following his defeat, Hollow reveals Lizard King became the holder of one of the six Dragon's Essences scattered across the world following the banishment of Mordroc into another dimension. However, when Dirk faces him in combat, the Lizard King possesses only the Dragon's Key on his person, seemingly leaving the Dragon's Eye essence under the watchful eye of the Cyclops Worm King.
Other appearances[]
Dragon's Lair animated series[]
The Lizard King appears as an villainous antagonist in the Ruby-Spears animated series, who makes his lair in a cave rather than a castle. He is revealed to posses a magic pot that is powered by gold; he claims that with enough gold, the pot would allow him to control all the kings’ armies. In the episode, “Sir Timothy’s Quest”, he dispatches two lizard-men minions to steal the map to the Royal Gold Mine from King Ethelred’s castle, and they later take Timothy and Sir Hubert Blunt prisoner. Dirk and his allies are able to trap all the lizards in a pit and seal it with a drawbridge.
Dragon's Lair Part II: Escape from Singe's Castle[]
The game’s manual provides the following original backstory: “After rescuing Princess Daphne, Dirk decides to return to Singe’s lair in order to claim the gold of the Lizard King.” Thus, the Lizard King can be considered the game’s primary boss, despite not being the final obstacle to completion of the game, and is featured in the title screen.
Dungeons of the Lizard King
The "Pot of Gold" level is adapted as the maze-like "Dungeons of the Lizard King". Dirk must follow some door that teleport him to other parts of the maze, avoiding the Lizard King, and aiming for the Pot which has his sword. After taking it, he can defeat the Lizard King.
Dragon's Lair (NES)[]
The Lizard King appears in the NES version of Dragon's Lair. Much like in his original appearance, his role is that of an antagonist that tries to prevent Dirk from progressing. In this game, however, he appears in most levels, floating through them rather than chasing Dirk down and fighting him directly. If the Lizard King contacts Dirk during the regular stages, he robs him of his accumulated gold. Dirk is able to recover the gold if he enters the Lizard King's throne during the Elevator Shaft stage selection screen, although contact with the Lizard King will prove fatal if encountered in this optional stage.
Dragon's Lair comics[]
In the comic book adaptation of the original game, Dirk encounters the Lizard King at the latter's own lair, long before he reaches the castle where Princess Daphne is held captive. The Lizard King talks with a long sssss'es, and calls Dirk as "Dork". Dialogue suggests that they had an earlier encounter, but Dirk had let him go because he believed his lies.
In the comic, Dirk and Bertram traverse the Grim, Dingy Swamps of the Dark Kingdom, and they reach a swamp with crocodiles, when he sees a blonde figure in a swampy castle, shouting for help. Inside, tentacles catch Dirk as it turns out it is the Lizard King's castle, who used a skull attached to its spine with blond hair to fool him. It is revealed that he wants to keep Dirk away from Singe. A blobby creature holds him with its tentacles, and the King is taunting Dirk until he gives the King a headbutt, and is able to cut himself free. The King sends the creature and other critters and bugs against him, but Dirk kills everything, and the King starts fighting him with his sceptre. The fight leads them to a stair where the King is retreating upwards, until they reach a high place from which Dirk kicks the King into the swamp; the crocodiles (his "boys") eat him, and one regurgitates his crown.
Trivia[]
- In Dragon's Lair 3D, there is a glitch where, if the player leads Dirk into a certain corner of the room where he faces off with the Lizard King, he will run into the opposite direction as well as the pot of gold being unable to attack Dirk.
- In 2002, AnJon Toys released a wave of four action figures as a tie-in with the game: Dirk the Daring, Princess Daphne, Mordroc, and Singe. A second wave of figures was planned but the company's financial losses prevented the retail release of additional figures and resulted in the closure of the company. The Lizard King was a candidate for inclusion in the second wave of action figures.[1]
- “THE LIZARD KING” is featured as the #12 card in Cardsmiths' Dragon's Lair trading card series, with the description: "Gold-durn it! Dirk was just looking for a little extra gold and winds up breaking on through and dueling with the Lizard King. People really are strange."[2] Lizard King also features on card #CS04 (Culture Shokz™ "KING LIZARD").
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.toymania.com/toyshows/tf2002/anjon1.shtml
- ↑ "THE LIZARD KING" #12, Cardsmiths Dragons Lair Trading Cards Series 1