The Eyes of the Dragon

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The Eyes of the Dragon
Eyesofthedragon.jpg
First edition cover
Author Stephen King
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fantasy
Publisher Viking
Publication date
Fall 1984
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages326
ISBN 978-0-670-81458-9

The Eyes of the Dragon is a fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King, first published as a limited edition slipcased hardcover by Philtrum Press in 1984, illustrated by Kenneth R. Linkhauser. The novel would later be published for the mass market by Viking in 1987, with illustrations by David Palladini. This trade edition was slightly revised for publication. The 1995 French edition did not reproduce the American illustrations; it included brand new illustrations by Christian Heinrich, and a 2016 new French version also included brand new illustrations, by Nicolas Duffaut. [1]

Contents

Background

At the time of publication, this type of novel was a deviation from the norm for King, who was best known for his horror fiction. His daughter Naomi didn't read her father's books because she didn't like horror. When she was a teenager, he asked her what she did like, and she told him she liked dragons. So he wrote a fantasy novel, and dedicated it to her. [2] The book is a work of epic fantasy in a quasi-medieval setting, with a clearly established battle between good and evil, and magic playing a lead role. The Eyes of the Dragon was originally titled The Napkins. [3]

Plot

Title page from the original 1984 Philtrum Press edition (book issued without cover) Eyesdragontitle.jpg
Title page from the original 1984 Philtrum Press edition (book issued without cover)

The Eyes of the Dragon takes place entirely within the realm of Delain (which itself is located within In-World from The Dark Tower series, as established in "The Little Sisters of Eluria"). It is told from the perspective of an unnamed storyteller/narrator, who speaks casually and frankly to the reader, frequently adding his own commentary on characters' motivations and the like.

King Roland's magician, Flagg, seeking to destroy the Kingdom of Delain, sees his plans being ruined by the good-hearted Queen Sasha. After Sasha gives birth to Peter, a noble and worthy future king, Flagg realizes that his position, his plans, and his life may be in danger because of Peter. While Sasha is pregnant with a second son, Flagg seizes the opportunity. He forces the Queen's midwife to ensure that Sasha bleeds to death while giving birth to her second son, Thomas. Sasha dies and Flagg begins plotting to remove Peter.

As both boys grow into adolescence, Peter becomes established as his father's favourite, and Thomas becomes increasingly jealous of him. Flagg sees this and befriends Thomas, showing him the secrets of the castle. He teaches him how to spy on his father from a secret hiding-place behind a mounted dragon head in Roland's study. Peter begins the custom of bringing a glass of wine to his father before bed each night. Flagg decides to use this as a means of framing Peter. He dissolves a poison called Dragon Sand in a glass of wine and delivers it to the king. Unbeknownst to Flagg, Thomas watches this through the glass eyes of the dragon. Roland dies in terrible agony, and Flagg plants evidence incriminating Peter.

After a brief trial, Peter is declared guilty, and is locked up in a high 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. At the start of his long stay in the Needle, Peter manages to send a note to the judge who convicted him, Anders Peyna, with the seemingly innocuous requests to have his mother's old dollhouse with him, and also to have napkins brought with his meals. Peyna is puzzled by the requests, but, seeing no harm in them, grants them. Five years later, Peter escapes from the Needle, having used the toy loom in the dollhouse and threads from the napkins to make a rope. After the escape, he and his allies try to find King Roland's bow and arrow, which is now in Thomas' possession. Flagg, now revealed as a demonic being, is about to kill them when Thomas arrives and reveals how he watched Flagg poison Roland. Thomas shoots Flagg in the eye, but Flagg uses magic to disappear and escape. At the end of the novel, Peter is declared to be the rightful king. Thomas, who has become deeply hated in Delain, sets off alongside his butler, Dennis, to find Flagg. They find him and confront him, but the narrator does not reveal the outcome.

Characters

Flagg (pictured right) with King Peter from The Eyes of the Dragon. Art by David Palladini EyesoftheDragonFlagg.jpg
Flagg (pictured right) with King Peter from The Eyes of the Dragon. Art by David Palladini

House Delain

House Reechul

House Staad

Other characters

Reception

The Eyes of the Dragon was warmly received by professional critics. Barbara Tritel of The New York Times described The Eyes of the Dragon as drawing clear influence from European fairy tales and wrote that the novel was "more elegant than any other novel Mr. King has written so far." [5] Some of King's established fans rejected the novel, considering it a children's book – King originally wrote the novel for his children.[ citation needed ] Another reason for fan rejection of The Eyes of the Dragon was that it was epic fantasy, with little to no elements of the horror that typified King's most successful work of this era. [6] Negative fan reaction to The Eyes of the Dragon was an inspiration for King's subsequent novel Misery . The protagonist of Misery was a successful romance novelist who killed off his most popular character to allow himself to write in other styles of fiction, only to be imprisoned by an angry, deranged fan; King saw Misery as a metaphor for being chained to writing horror fiction. [6]

Relationship with other works

Adaptations

Film

Initially The Eyes of the Dragon was to be created as an animated film produced through the French company WAMC Entertainment. [7] The film would have a budget of $45 million and was expected to release in late 2001 or early 2002. [7] [8] However the film did not progress into active production and the rights lapsed in 2000. [9]

Television adaptation

In 2012 Syfy announced that it was developing several projects for potential television adaptations, one of which was The Eyes of the Dragon. [10] If successfully developed, the book would be made into either a movie or miniseries. [11] Michael Taylor and Jeff Vintar were confirmed to be penning the script and Taylor and Bill Haber would act as executive producers. [12]

In 2019 news broke that Hulu was adapting the book as a television series. [13] In September 2020, Seth Grahame-Smith, a producer and screenwriter for the Hulu adaptation, appeared on The Kingcast podcast with news that Hulu decided to cancel the project due to budgetary concerns and changes to the Hulu's executive team. [14]

References

  1. The Eyes of the Dragon, on the Club Stephen King
  2. Stephen King’s Family Business
  3. Beahm, George (1992). The Stephen King Story (2nd ed.). Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p.  114. ISBN   0-8362-8004-0.
  4. Stickler, Alissa (2002). Swan, Jesse; Utz, Richard (eds.). "The (Mid)Evil Nightmare of Yesterday and Tomorrow: Flagg as the Immortal Monster in Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon and The Stand". The Year's Work of Medievalism (15). Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Boydel & Brewster.
  5. Tritel, Barbara (February 22, 1987). "What the Wicked Magician Did". The New York Times . New York City. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Beahm, George (1992). The Stephen King Story (2nd ed.). Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp.  136–137, 242. ISBN   0-8362-8004-0.
  7. 1 2 Spignesi, Stephen J. (2003). The Essential Stephen King. Career Press. p. 78. ISBN   156414710X.
  8. Meaux Saint Marc, Francoise. "WAMC set to animate Stephen King's Dragon". Screen Daily. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  9. Williams, Owen (August 1, 2011). "a WINTER'S TALE". Empire (subscription required). Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  10. Willmore, Alison (April 25, 2012). "Stephen King's 'The Eyes of the Dragon' Being Developed as a Syfy Series". IndieWire . Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  11. Hibberd, James (April 24, 2012). "Stephen King's 'Eyes of the Dragon' in development at Syfy". Entertainment Weekly . New York City: Meredith Corporation . Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  12. O'Neal, Sean (May 11, 2012). "Syfy is going to do something to Stephen King's The Eyes Of The Dragon". AV Club. Chicago, Illinois: Onion, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  13. Barnett, Brian (September 5, 2018). "Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon Aims to be Hulu's Answer to Game of Thrones". IGN . San Francisco, California: j2 Global.
  14. "The Eyes of the Dragon with Seth Grahame-Smith". Audioboom. Retrieved November 17, 2020.