Dragon Queen

From Dragon Quest Wiki
Dragon Queen
Dragon Quest III
Japanese name 竜の女王
Romaji Ryu no Juou
Race Dragon

The Dragon Queen is a character who first appeared in Dragon Quest III. She plays a small but crucial role in the game's story, and her status as one of the first friendly monsters in the entire series has given her a lasting impression among fans.

Appearances

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

The Dragon Queen is a bipedal dragon with green scales and blue wings, and she wears a golden amulet on her neck. She is the monarch of an isolated land far east of the village of Khoryv, nestled in a ring of tall mountains. The Queen's court consists of Faeries, Dwarfs, and talking animals, all of whom greatly revere her. Unlike the Queen of Faeries, the Dragon Queen seemingly holds no ill prejudice against humanity. The Queen is soft-spoken but well informed, seemingly being aware of the existence of Zoma through her act of giving the Hero the Sphere of Light.

Unfortunately, the Queen's life is nearing its end when the player encounters her. Her final act is to lay a single egg before fading away, which the player can then examine to feel the faint warmth of new life stirring within.

In the CD theater adaptation of the game, she is portrayed by voice actress Megumi Terase.

Dragon Quest of the Stars

The Queen serves the same role she did in the original game, but her appearance has been radically altered to that of a human woman wearing an ornate headdress and gown. A set of equipment based on her new likeness is available to the player as well, along with several weapons bearing her name.

Dragon Quest Live Spectacle Tour

The Queen is played by actress Yoko Takahashi, and by necessity is once again depicted as a human woman.

Theories

Since the release of DQ III in 1988, there has been much speculation to the nature of the Queen and her place in the Erdrick trilogy.

Relation to the Dragonlord

The act of the Queen laying her egg before her passing has stuck out to many players as possible foreshadowing to the events of the first game, with many concluding that the egg contains the Dragonlord. This speculation is based on the following points:

  • ROM capacity for the original NES version meant that every last bit of data had to used efficiently, with literally no room left to spare for unnecessary events. The staff of Chunsoft would have been fully aware of this during the game's development, as would Yuji Horii, and therefor it can be presumed within reason that the scene is meant to allude to something greater than just a mother continuing her family line before her passing.
  • The Emblem of Roto manga fully embraces the notion that the Queen is indeed the Dragonlord's mother, stating that the child would succumb to darkness without the guidance of his mother during his formative years.
  • The Enix-published gamebook based on Dragon Quest II was released after the development of DQ III and corroborates the connection by having the Dragonlord's great, great grandson openly mention the Queen, regarding her fondly as "Hihibaa-san" (ひいひいばあさん).

Relation to Yggdragon

During the ending of DQ XI, the Hero speaks to Yggdragon in a lengthy cutscene. During the conversation, the dragon explains the balance of light and darkness and alludes to the possibility of even herself succumbing to evil--this dialogue, along with the ambiguous connections between the game and the Erdrick trilogy, has lead to several plays believing that Yggdragon is the ancestor of the Queen of Dragons.

  • This belief is further supported in the Japanese script of DQ III, which states that the Queen is the daughter of an unnamed dragon god. This line is present in the original NES version and was not altered for the 16-bit remake, though some fans took it as implying that the Queen is related to Xenlon.

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