Gabriel Knight is the title character in a series of adventure games produced by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s. Three games were released in the series: Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. Gabriel Knight, usually referred to simply as Gabe on his shows, is an English radio DJ and online media personality. ... This is an article about the computer and video game genre. ... Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ...

The Gabriel Knight characters and games were created by writer Jane Jensen, who also worked on King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow with game designer Roberta Williams. All three games in the series focus on the adventures of Gabriel Knight, a New Orleans author and bookstore owner who finds that his destiny is to become a Schattenjäger, or "Shadow Hunter". Gabriel's assistant, sidekick, and sometime romantic interest Grace Nakimura is a major supporting character in Sins of the Father. In The Beast Within and Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, she shares the role of protagonist with Gabriel. The player alternates between Gabriel and Grace for different portions of each game. Jane Jensen (b. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Roberta Heuer Williams (born February 16, 1953) is a retired computer game designer. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Authorship redirects here. ... A bookstore. ...

The first episode of the series was released in 1993, and was one of many of Sierra's games at the time to feature a nonlinear format. The first game used a system of "days", each of which had a required set of actions to be performed before proceeding to the next. As a result, linear dependencies of actions in the game are guaranteed to be resolved: a puzzle on a given "day" must be completed in order to reach the next "day". This format was used throughout the series, replacing "days" with "chapters" and "time blocks" respectively. Each game also awards a number of "points" both for completing game required actions and for completing various optional puzzles along the way. Notable events of 1993 in computer and video games. ... To do: 20th century mathematics chaos theory, fractals Lyapunov stability and non-linear control systems non-linear video editing See also: Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov Dynamical system External links http://www. ...

With a balanced mix of historical facts and fictional elements, as well as an emphasis on character development (e.g. the relationship between Gabriel and Grace is an important subplot throughout the series), the Gabriel Knight games have been praised as outstanding achievements in storytelling. The music in the series, composed by Robert Holmes (Jensen's husband), contributes significantly to the atmosphere. Robert Holmes is a composer, living in the United States of America. ...

The games

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993)

Main article: Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Gabriel Knight and Detective Mosely.

The first game in the series follows Gabriel as he follows the police investigation into a spate of killings which apparently have voodoo overtones. Gabriel is hoping to use the investigation as the basis of a new novel, but as the days of the case progress, he is drawn much deeper into a mystery which links the murder spree to the underworld of voodoo myth and practice, and towards a beautiful and mysterious New Orleans socialite. He also draws links between the case and an horrific recurring nightmare which has plagued him all of his life. Gabriel comes into contact with a lost relative in Germany who informs him of his family's heritage. Gabriel finds he has inherited the mantle of Schattenjäger, a sort of modern day Inquisitor, and that only by embracing his calling can he overcome the curse which has almost wiped out the Schattenjäger line and is the cause of both his nightmares and the Voodoo Murders. Gabriel travels to Germany and Africa, before returning to New Orleans for the denouement and has to choose between love and forgiveness or fulfilling his duty (the game offers two endings which differ as a result of Gabriel's actions) Image File history File links Gabriel_Knight_I_screen. ... Image File history File links Gabriel_Knight_I_screen. ... Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally uten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. ... Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally uten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally uten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ...

The CD-ROM version featured voice talents of such well-known actors as Tim Curry as Gabriel, Mark Hamill as his friend Detective Mosely, Leah Remini as Grace and Michael Dorn as Dr. John, a proprietor of a voodoo museum in central New Orleans. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and voice actor. ... Leah Remini (born June 15, 1970 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress. ... Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor known for his role as the Klingon Worf in multiple Star Trek shows and movies. ...

The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995)

Main article: The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery

The second game (also known as Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within) follows Gabriel on his second Schattenjäger case. A year after the events of Sins of the Fathers, he has moved to his ancestral home in Bavaria, Germany to write his new novel. The population of Rittersberg, the seat of the Schattenjägers, are well aware of his family's reputation and when word reaches them of what is reported to be a werewolf attack in Munich, they compel Gabriel to go and investigate. Gabriel is joined in Germany by Grace, once she learns that he has begun a new case and hasn't asked her to join him. Whilst Gabriel follows a trail from missing zoo wolves to a mysterious men's hunting club in Munich, Grace conducts research back in Rittersberg and around Bavaria. Her investigations lead her to the history of King Ludwig II, the composer Richard Wagner and a shadowy figure known as the Black Wolf. Eventually the links between the cases become clear, and Grace discovers that the person in the greatest danger has become Gabriel himself. For other uses, see Bavaria (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Werewolf (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Munich (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Munich (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bavaria (disambiguation). ... King Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig (Louis) II, King of Bavaria, Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm; sometimes known in English as Mad King Ludwig and as the Märchenkönig (Fairy-tale King) in German. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as they were later called). ...

The game was created using techniques developed in Phantasmagoria, with the characters and many objects captured in real-time video against blue screen backgrounds and appearing on "virtual sets" consisting largely of photographic backgrounds. Although this technique has come in for much criticism from games makers and players alike, The Beast Within was generally well received with the quality of the script and some of the performances coming in for particular praise. Dean Erickson plays Gabriel Knight and Joanne Takahashi plays Grace Nakamura. The soundtrack by Robert Holmes, who even composed an original opera for the story, titled "Der Fluch Des Engelhart" ("The Curse of Engelhart"), was later released on a soundtrack CD included in the Gabriel Knight Mysteries compilation. BBFC: 18 Phantasmagoria is a CD-ROM horror-themed computer game series created by Sierra On-line for the DOS and Windows platforms. ... Dean Erickson (born December 5, 1958 in Maine) is an American actor. ... Robert Holmes is a composer, living in the United States of America. ...

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999)

Main article: Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

A year after the events of the second game, Gabriel and Grace are asked by the exiled Prince of Albany to protect his newborn son from a centuries old family threat which appears to be a group of vampires. Shortly afterwards, the boy is kidnapped and Gabriel follows the kidnappers to the mysterious French village of Rennes-le-Château. Gabriel's arrival coincides with that of a tour group; supposedly all in town hunting for a legendary local treasure linked to the Knights Templar, the Cathars and supposedly connected to the Holy Grail. Amongst the international tour group is Gabriel's old friend, Detective Mosely, from New Orleans. Gabriel's search leads him to investigate the members of the group and search the town. Grace arrives shortly afterwards and delves into the history of the area to try and find the connection between the kidnapping and the area's rich history. Together they uncover the truth behind an incredible mystery, stretching back to the birth of Jesus Christ. Further reading Christopher Frayling - Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula 1992. ... Rennes-le-Château (Rènnas del Castèl in occitan) is a small medieval castle village and a commune in the Aude département, in the Languedoc area in southern France. ... The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple, were among the most famous of the Christian military orders. ... Cathars being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209. ... For historical artifacts associated with the cup of the Last Supper, see Holy Chalice. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

A custom designed 3D engine, the G-Engine, was created to drive the game which allowed the player control of a free roaming camera to explore environments and to watch non-interactive sequences from any distance or angle. The creation of such an ambitious engine came at a price, however, and the game which was originally due for release in Summer 1998 didn't ship until Fall 1999 after changes in the design team and the decision to undertake a major rearchitecture of the engine halfway through production.^[1] The detailed story was inspired in part by The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail book. Tim Curry also returned to voice Gabriel Knight. Book cover of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail 2005 illustrated hardcover edition. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned received mixed reviews with the general gaming press being less enthusiastic about the game's merits than dedicated adventure gaming publications. As with the other games in the series, though, most reviews of the game cited Jane Jensen's story as a subject for praise. The game received the dubious honor of being named "the last title of note in the adventure game genre" in an article on Old Man Murray in which the author uses a puzzle from the game to lambast the absurd puzzles of adventure games as a whole. It is the last adventure game to be published to date by Sierra Entertainment. Old Man Murray (aka OMM) was a popular computer game news and review site, well-known for its highly irreverent commentary and administered by Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw. ... This is an article about the computer and video game genre. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The books

The stories of Sins of the Fathers (ISBN 0-451-45607-6) and The Beast Within (ISBN 0-451-45621-1) were adapted into novels by Jane Jensen. The first is a straightforward adaptation of the events of the game. An approach which Jane Jensen decided, in retrospect, was not the most successful way of introducing Gabriel Knight to a literary audience. For the second novel she "threw the whole idea of the game away and started again from scratch."^[2] Both books are currently out of print. Jane Jensen (b. ...

The future of Gabriel Knight

After the release of Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, Jane Jensen stated that she had started planning a possible story and setting for a fourth game in the series (see "Trivia"), but as of yet no Gabriel Knight 4 has been announced. In August 2006 it was confirmed that Jane Jensen's next adventure game project would not be a new Gabriel Knight but the revival of Gray Matter^[3], a game which had been postponed in May 2004.

Principle Characters

Gabriel Knight is the central protagonist of the series. Aside from his double duties as a novelist and supernatural investigator, Gabriel is also the proprietor of St. George's Rare Books in his hometown of New Orleans. Charismatic, sardonic, and intuitive, he has a way with women that has at times proven to impede with his cases. When the series starts, Gabriel is a down on his luck author whose instinctive drive to solve a killing spree ultimately leads him to assume his role as Schattenjäger. Upon moving to Bavaria to reluctantly take up his birthright, Gabriel gives up his rakish ways in favor of a more subdued, almost monastic lifestyle. His reckless nature often leads him to commit petty crimes or even put his life at stake in order to obtain information, once resulting in his transformation into a werewolf (as chronicled in The Beast Within). For his third case, Gabriel appears to have returned to form, taking a more sarcastic and morally gray approach to solving his case. He is voiced by Tim Curry in the first and third games, and played by Dean Erickson in the second. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dean Erickson (born December 5, 1958 in Maine) is an American actor. ...

Grace Nakimura is Gabriel's causticly witty assistant. At the start of the series, she has taken a hiatus from her Ivy-league doctorate ambitions and moved to New Orleans on a whim; partly to seek adventure, and partly to escape the oppressive tradition her Japanese parents try to push on her. Optimistic and intelligent, Grace has strong sense of danger, a willingness to believe in the supernatural, and a talent for research. When not book-keeping and researching for her employer, she practices Tai Chi and oil painting, two talents which prove useful in Gabriel's first case. The second entry in the series sees Grace taking a more proactive role, becoming a playable character who takes up the research and historical context aspect of the game, much to Gabriel's chagrin. She at times displays a hostility toward people who are unwilling to aid her in her research, in particular Gerde, the housekeeper of Schloss Ritter. Her perseverence proves vital to Gabriel's investigation and his life, leading him to re-examine his over-protective attitude toward her. The third game sees Grace sharing investigative responsibilities with her counterpart. While she often regards Gabriel with dismay and sarcasm, it is apparent that they do indeed care for each other, perhaps beyond the realm of platonics. She is voiced by Leah Remini in the first game, played by Joanne Takahashi in the second, and voiced by Charity James in the third.

Franklin Mosely is Gabriel's best friend since childhood. He works as a detective for the New Orleans Police Department at the beginning of the series. Mosely has romantic ambitions of being renowned crime solver and central hero of Gabriel's tentative novel, despite his balding, overweight appearance and general ineptitude and gullibility. He dismisses the supernatural aspects of the Voodoo Murders investigation that Gabriel pursues, and when the opposite becomes apparent, he proves surprisingly helpful in solving the case. While he is only briefly mentioned in the second game, he plays a pivotal role in the third game, where he "coincidentally" is touring the same area in the Languedoc of France that Gabriel is investigating a kidnapping. He displays a suspicious interest in Gabriel's case and a reluctance to reveal his actual intentions. As the plot moves on, it is revealed the Mosely is not a tourist, but rather a CIA agent sent to investigate the area's mystery. He and Gabriel have a playfully antagonistic relationship, and their banter frequently ends with Mosely as the butt of the joke. He harbors a secret crush for Grace, and takes offense at Gabriel's demeaning treatment and overall attitude toward her. He appears nervous in her presence, but has never worked up the courage to tell her how he feels. He is voiced by Mark Hammill in the first game and by David Thomas in the third. Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and voice actor. ...

Gerde Hull is the maid of Schloss Ritter. Her overwhelming concern and eagerness to help Gabriel find his great uncle Wolfgang is indicative of her love for him. She appears as an anxious, young, and misguidedly optimistic German hausfrau when Gabriel first meets her at the castle. Despite the death of her employer and the objective of her affections, she agrees to stay on to help Gabriel out of loyalty to Wolfgang's memory. Still grieving, she presents a marked sadness in the second game, yet a rebellious resilience to Grace's hostile attempts to supplant her as Gabriel's research assistance. After eventually caving to Grace's will, the two women ally in the nick of time to save Gabriel's life. As Gerde maintains her position as the caretaker of the castle, she does not appear in the third game, which takes place entirely in France.

Trivia

• In Sins of the Fathers, when he uncovers the Schattenjäger library in Schloss Ritter, Gabriel can examine the bookshelves to browse their contents. Among the books he finds are reference material alluding to werewolves and vampires — which would turn out to be the supernatural antagonists in his next two games.

• A search of the SIDNEY computer interface for "gk4" in Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned brings up an entry on ghosts, which Jane Jensen has remarked would have been the antagonists in her outline for a fourth entry to the series.^[4]

• The second game, The Beast Within, was originally going to be much longer. Its original design indicated eight chapters rather than the published six, including one that required the player to act as Ludwig II and hide the Lost Opera in his castles. However, according to game designer Jane Jensen, the game ran over budget (its original budget was estimated at 3 million dollars and ended up going over budget by almost a million) and the required material could therefore not be filmed. It would also have taken up too much space as the game already had enough data to fill six CD-ROMs and would have required as many as nine to incorporate all the additional story. This helps explain why the transition from chapter five to chapter six is so jumpy and why chapter six itself is so vastly larger than the other chapters.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Gabriel Knight

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

Notes

1. ^ Technical Lead Scott Bilas' take on the troubled GK3 production.
2. ^ Jane Jensen interview at Adventure Classic Gaming.
3. ^ Announcement of Gray Matter's revival at Adventure Gamers.
4. ^ Jane Jensen inteview at GameSpy.

GameSpy, also known as GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game Web sites and provides online video game-related services and software. ...

External links

• Gabriel Knight series at MobyGames
• Official Gabriel Knight community forum
• Gabriel Knight Fanpage
• The Gabriel Knight 4 Campaign – a website promoting awareness of the GK series and campaigning for GK4 to be made.
• Dean Erickson interview at Adventure Classic Gaming. Erickson is the actor who plays the lead role of Gabriel Knight in The Beast Within.
• Gabriel Knight 2000 – a website with patches for the first and second game, allowing them to run correctly in Windows XP.
• Quest Studios – music from many of Sierra's games, including the Gabriel Knight series.
• Schloss Ritter: Ancestral Residence of the Schattenjagers – a detailed fansite.