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Alefgard is the name of the geographical setting of the original Dragon Quest. It also appears in II and III, as well as Dragon Quest Builders, along with a cameo appearance in Caravan Heart. It is a series of closely located continents connected by bridges and underground passages, making it easily traversable on foot.

History[]

Alefgard is the original "overworld" in Dragon Quest, a set of two landmasses. The first and biggest of the two, has somewhat a serpentine, swirling shape, almost encircling the second landmass, creating a central, circular body of water with its eastern shores. Due to its shape the first landmass has various points in which only a narrow stretch of land connects two areas, necessitating the use of additional bridges in order to cross small reaches of water, or to ease travel between regions. The second landmass, located south-east, is separated from the first by a short but tempestuos span of sea, making it resemble a very large island, and it can be reached by foot only via an underground passage better known as the Swamp Cave. This second landmass is also correlated to two smaller islands of somewhat opposite nature; the first, the biggest of the two is located to the southern end, connected to the land with a bridge and it is home to the holy shrine known as the Sanctum. The second, smaller one is located to the north-west of the second landmass, rougly placing this smaller island at the center of the cirlce of water created by the first landmass and so by extention, at the center of Alefgard. The only structure present on this island was a fortress that for a very long time was home to the forces of evil. While originally, due to these dark entities, the island was only reachable thanks to the use of the mystical Rainbow Drop, eventually a bridge was built once the evil was purged once for all by the castle. Rather than identifying areas by geographical location, it is easiest to identify regions by the names of towns/villages in the vicinity (i.e. the Kol region). The capital of the land of Alefgard is the kingdom of Tantegel.

It was later revealed in Dragon Quest II that Alefgard itself is in truth just a smaller part of the much larger world of Torland. It was also later revealed in Dragon Quest III, that both Alefgard and Torland combined used to be known in the past as the "Underworld", as they were first populated when settlers from a different world, only known as the "Overworld", crossed though a massive crevasse known as the Pit of Giaga, the only known gate between the two worlds, albeit it being allegedly one way through for anyone who lacks the means to return to the "Overworld".

Both realities are under the protection of the Goddess Rubiss, credited to have shaped both worlds, and as such both worlds have her as a central religious figure.

However at some point the dread demon Zoma, would also enter the Underworld from some unknown reality by carving a path for himself, creating in the process the cave known as the Nail Mark (later known as Erdrick's cave). Imprisoning Rubiss, Zoma would then conquer the Underworld, separating Alefgard from the larger whole with a barrier while also shrouding it in a never ending night. Setting his sights to conquer the "Overworld" next, Zoma would then send across the portal between the two worlds one of his most powerful servants, the Archfiend Baramos, to wreack havock. However one hero, who would later be bestowed with the title of "Erdrick" for their accomplishments, would not only defeat Baramos, thus bringing peace to the "Overworld", but would also cross the way between the two worlds themself, free Rubiss from her prison, create the Rainbow Drop necessary to reach his dark citadel and challenge Zoma himself. Thanks to a powerful artifact brought from the "Overworld", the Sphere of Light, Erdrick and their party were able to vanquish Zoma, however his demise also sealed the Pit of Giaga, closing forever the way between the two worlds.

While the presence of Rubiss would later still be felt in both Alefgard and Torland during the events of Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II, it is unknown if she also ended up cutted off from the "Overworld".

The land of Alefgard would then some time later come under the threat of the Dragonlord, who stole the Sphere of Light and began attacking the settlements of the kingdom with his loyal monsters, even managing to kidnap Tantegel's pricess and destroying one of it cities, until a hero directly descendant from Erdrick would appear to face him. He began his quest to prove his descendancy, needing to find the means to create a Rainbow Drop, even managing along the way to save Princess Gwaelin from her captors. Even when the sly Dragonlord tried to tempt the Hero with the promise of dominion over half of the world, he remained steadfast and managed to slay the force of evil.

Taking the princess of Tantegel as his wife, the hero would then set out to the larger world of Torland, founding three offshoot kingdoms named Midenhall, Cannock and Moonbrooke. The heirs of these three kingdoms, the Scions of Erdrick, would a century later make themselves a passing visit to the land of Alefgard during their own quest to stop the evil of the foul High Priest Hargon, even surprisingly meeting the reformed descendant of the Dragonlord himself.

Game appearances[]

Dragon Quest[]

Alefgard serves as the only geographical setting. Starting from its capital Tantegel, it must be fully explored in order to find the means to reach the Dragonlord's Castle and to defeat the Dragonlord luriking within it. The settlements of Alefgard include the quiet town of Galenholm, founded by a bard, the village of Kol and its baths, the desert city of Damdara, now destroyed and roamed by monsters, the city of Rimuldar nested at the center of a lake and the fortress city of Cantlin, rotected by a Golem.

Dragon Quest II[]

Alefgard has been severely minimized in favor of the larger world map of Torland in II. As such it only possible for the Scions of Erdrick to do a passing visit to Alefgard during the quest to defeat Hargon, with most of its locations removed from the map and therefore impossible to stop by, with the exception of Tantegel, the Dragonlord's Castle, and the Southern Shrine.

Dragon Quest III[]

Alefgard is known as the 'Underworld' or 'dark world' and is reached late in the game. This game features yet again a full Alefgard, with a few differences due to it being at an earlier stage of its history, such as locations having different looks and/or names and a few topological differences. At the end of III, Alefgard is sealed off from the "overworld".

Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart[]

Alefgard here has the same format as in Dragon Quest II, being an area Kiefer can travel through.

Dragon Quest Builders[]

Alefgard Dragon Quest Builders

Visual rappresentation of the state in which Alefgard was reduced by the Dragonlord in Dragon Quest Builders

Dragon Quest Builders takes place in an alternate version of Alefgard, where a divergent series of events has shaped it's history differently. In this reality the Hero agreed to the Dragonlord's offer to rule half of the world, with dreadful consequences.

Due to the Dragonlord the very land of Alefgard was split and fragmented, almost all known cities were destroyed and basically any traces of civilization were erased. The surviving remnants of mankind, save some lucky few, were left in abject misery, literally stripped away by the Dragonlord of the very power to create new things, forced to live in the wilderness scrounging the ruins as their only ever-depleting source of usable objects, while at the mercy of the constant attacks of the Dragonlord's monsters.

In their suffering the only one thing bringing them hope, was the prophecy that one day, all-mighty Rubiss would send them a Legendary Builder, destined to rebuild the world and deliver them of their pain. Such individual would eventually appear, managing to not only rebuild most of the Alefgard's major cities, but also defeat the Dragonlord.

Dragon Quest Builders 2[]

In this reality, we are shown what would had happened if the events of Dragon Quest II had just one seemingly minor difference compared to the original ones, the fate of the illusion Hargon had casted on his hall, resulting in some major consequences showing themselves in the long run. Alefgard itself does not make a physical appearance in this title, but several of its locales where mentioned by name, Cantlin in particular being noted for being the hometown of the Builder.

In this continuity there are also several mentions and hints that the events Dragon Quest Builders have somehow also happened alongside the ones of Dragon Quest II, but since the former have some major differences from the backstory of the latter (the Dragon Quest' Hero's fate being the focal and decisive point of debate), it is currently unclear how the two sets of events could possibly fit together.

Music[]

Alefgard has its own specific world music which is used consistently in the first three Dragon Quest games. This musical theme is arguably the most well known in the series.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Interestingly, to convince the Hero who would later best him into siding with the forces of evil, the Dragonlord made the hollow promise to gift him "half of the world". Should one consider the kingdom of Alefgard as part of the Hero's legacy, as its royal family bloodline is now related to him at least through marriage if not more, then the combined landmasses of the kingdoms of Alefgard, Midenhall, Cannock and Moonbroke, the Hero descendants and family, approximately ammount to half of Torland's total landmass, or half of the world you could say.
  • In most of the later Dragon Quest games, the concept of giving a specific given name to the overall world map would be dropped, Alefgard/Torland and Erdrea being the only few examples of such a thing.

Other languages[]

Other languages
French Unknown
German Alefgard
Spanish Alefgrado
Italian Alefgard
Dutch Unknown
Norwegian Unknown
Greek Unknown
Portuguese Alefgrado
Russian Unknown
Chinese Unknown
Korean Unknown


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