The Banshee

The Banshee is the name of Princess Daphne's monstrous transformed state that may result after the wizard Mordroc enslaves her by placing the Death Ring onto her finger in Stage 7 of Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. Depending on the ending sequence triggered in particular versions of the game, she either features as the final co-boss battle of the game, together with Mordroc, or she does not appear at all.

In contrast to Daphne's playful demeanor and shapely petite appearance, the Banshee is a hideously gargantuan beast with a ferocious appetite to destroy and consume everything around her, especially Dirk the Daring.

Appearance and Abilities[]

The Banshee is comparable in size to Singe and has a dragon-like tail with a nonconjoined dorsal or lizard-like fin that grows out of her backside and tail, but she retains several visual design elements that evoke comparisons to Daphne, including a black leotard bathing suit which stretches to fit her exaggerated build and black heeled shoes with ribbons that mostly cover her feet completely in contrast to Daphne's open-toe shoes. Whereas Daphne had long golden hair, Banshee has white streaks of matted hair growing out of her scalp, in addition to white armpit hair. The Banshee's skin appears purple and covered with warts of various size.

Although Banshee initially appears to be a mindless beast, she seems to take pleasure in the act of eating Dirk in one of the game's comical death animation sequences. Pinching Dirk's feet between her thumb and clawed middle finger with her pointer and pinky fingers raised, Banshee sucks him down to the bone in only seconds, then licks her lips in pleasure as she admires the skeletal leftovers of her meal.

The Banshee's greatest strength appears to be her powerful bite which is able to break through thick rocks and metallic railings. Her body is also strong and durable, able to survive a significant amount of collapsing stones and a head-first fall onto the rock bed of Mordroc's lair with the only consequence being a possible concussion; even after apparently biting her tongue trying to devour Dirk, it sustains no visible damage. Although Dirk never attempts to attack her directly out of concern for Daphne’s wellbeing, it is possible Banshee may have been fully invulnerable while wearing the Death Ring and only gradually weakened after its removal.

Daphne's transformation into the Banshee occurs quickly but gradually, with the Death Ring affecting different parts of her body in sequence. First, her affected hand grows in size, dramatically extending the length of her fingers. As the ring’s effects spread, her corresponding arm becomes discolored and covered in boils, then her head takes on a skeleton-like appearance before her jaw expands wildly, attempting to bite Dirk with razor-like teeth. As her body rapidly grows in size, her pig-like snout and tentacle-like tongue become visible, forcing her eyes to roll back into her head as the metamorphosis nears completion. Finally, two horns burst out the sides of the head above each of her ears, completing her transformation into The Banshee. In her stabilized state as a monster, Banshee is able to focus her attention fully upon Dirk in her beastly efforts to grab and devour him. Through deft and daring, Dirk manages to slide the Death Ring off her finger in strategic intervals between Banshee’s efforts to crush him between her hands. The removal of the Death Ring has no immediate effect upon the Banshee's appearance or actions, but once Dirk throws the Ring onto Mordroc, the Banshee ceases her assault and Dirk and attempts to grab hold of solid footing as the stage crumbles. After being struck by some crumbling rubble and landing hard upon her head, the Banshee is seemingly knocked unconscious, breathing heavily before rolling over on her side. The sleeping monster incrementally reverts back to Princess Daphne, contracting in size, retracting its tail, fins, and horns before being illuminated in a flash of light which instantly changes her form back into the petite princess with her original attire fully intact and her fair complexion restored.

By comparison, Mordroc's transformation is far more violent. When Dirk launches the Death Ring onto Mordroc's finger, the wizard immediately beings to writhe in pain as his body becomes increasingly bloated like an overinflated balloon. In this transformed state, he is unable to move or defend himself, and after several seconds, his skin begins to crack and deteriorate, leaking green-smoke. Mordroc's inflated state eventually leads to his complete deterioration into a pile of dust-like remains.

Alternative Endings[]

The original design concept for Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp was to offer two scenarios for the final level with varying outcomes of the Death Ring's effect on Princess Daphne. The longer version, which ultimately became the only version seen in the arcade game, was that the Death Ring only transforms Daphne into The Banshee if Dirk fails to collect all the magical Treasures hidden throughout the game. A shorter version—which appeared in 1990 home computer versions in heavily modified form—does not feature The Banshee if Dirk collected all treasures; it simply has Daphne disappear after putting on the ring, safely to reappear in a coma-like state after Dirk secures the ring and uses it to destroy Mordroc. The shorter version was originally considered Unused content until its full restoration and incorporation in re-releases of the game as a "Director's Cut" gameplay mode. Presumably, the player's motivation for collecting all Treasures would be the protection of Daphne's wellbeing, an easier road to victory, and a higher total score. No official release of the game to date has offered the originally-intended gameplay option in which the player's progress determines Daphne's fate, although the emulated “Dragon's Lair II Enhancement” project offers a version of the experience.^[1]

Shorter Ending[]

Daphne disappears, and Dirk must recover the Death Ring!

Longer Ending[]

Daphne transforms, and Dirk must remove the Ring from her finger!

Conceptual Development[]

Mordroc’s obsession with forcing Daphne into a marriage in order to make her his queen is a repeated theme across the franchise, briefly alluded to prior to the end boss battle in Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair. Bluth’s original pitch presentation for a Dragon’s Lair feature film (tentatively titled Dragon’s Lair: The Legend and developed around the same time as Time Warp) would have reinterpreted Mordroc as an ancient evil horned-king and sorcerer who is resurrected in order to raise his own army of the dead. Mordroc would have captured Daphne with intent to force her to become his queen as he planned to rule the world through his undead army.^[2]

An early plan for Time Warp might have expanded upon the Death Ring's history and resulted in a different type of transformation for Daphne. In a 1984 interview with Computer Games, Bluth revealed: "The Wizard plans on marrying Daphne and making her the Queen of the Underworld. But to marry her, he has that famous ring called the Ring of the Nebelungen [sic] which is the big ring that Wagner wrote about. If you have this ring you have power over anything in the world, but you must forsake all love. So the Wizard has this ring. It's locked tight in a box with a timer and when it opens, he can put it on her finger and she becomes his. He has to keep her out of Dirk's hands until that box can be opened, then he can marry her."^[3] Much like the Death Ring, the Banshee's dragon-like appearance has roots in Germanic heroic legend and Norse mythology, specifically the figure of Fáfnir (or Fafner) who uses a magical object to transform into a dragon.

The Banshee's character design model and key expressions were created by artist John Celestri^[4], and John Pomeroy claimed to have animated a related death node in which she devours Dirk down to his skeletal remains.^[5]

The Banshee shares some visual design symmetry with Daphne’s bullish mother, who served as Dirk’s original adversary in the game’s opening stage. In a creative commentary for the Digital Leisure BluRay release, Don Bluth expressed regret at subjecting Daphne to such a dramatic transformation, confessed to being “grossed out” by the abundance of warts. He also recollected having referred to the designs of Banshee and Mordroc's inflated state—after putting on the Death Ring—as “tud balls,” further described by Gary Goldman as “filled with warts and blisters and swelled up like way too many carbs.”^[6]

Trivia[]

As the Banshee, Daphne is one of the few characters in the franchise to experience a moral alignment shift due to the effects of a transformation, the other being Commander Borf who shifts from evil into friendly baby due to the effects of the Infanto Ray.
As Dirk evades the Banshee’s attempts to kill him, Mordroc calls out to him before tossing him his sword, which is ultimately the tool Dirk uses to pry the Death Ring off the monster’s finger. Whether Mordroc’s intent was to harm Dirk with the sword or simply to make sport of Dirk’s moral dilemma regarding Daphne’s wellbeing and his own survival, his wickedness results in his own demise.
The Banshee bears several similarities to the Goblins, which feature as enemy creatures in the Ruby-Spears Dragon's Lair animated series episode "The Pool of Youth." Discovered by Princess Daphne, the Goblins are distinguished by blue-ish scaly skin, large jaws of sharp teeth, giant yellow eyes, pointy ears, long limbs and clawed digits, lizard-like tails, and pig-like snouts. The Goblins are able to change rapidly in size, growing into a giant monster which speaks in largely unintelligible grunts, chasing after Dirk in order to devour him.
The Banshee's mid-transformation state is featured in Cardsmiths' Dragon's Lair trading card series as card DD8 ("EATEN" in the "DEATH BY DIRK" subset), with the rhythmic description: "Dirk was determined/Eyes always on his goal/Maybe if he had looked around/He would not have been swallowed whole"^[7] Though not pictured, the Banshee's name is referenced on additional cards; Card #28 ("PUT A RING ON IT") includes the description: “Mordroc put a ring on Daphne, but it’s not just any ring. It’ll slowly turn the lovely Daphne into the Banshee if Dirk can’t get it off her finger,”^[8] and card #53 ("SIBLING DISCORD") includes the description: "Oh No! Dirk's daughter has become a banshee! Wait, no, she's just teething and keeping her brother in line."^[9]