A book, more fully titled as 'Knightmare 3: Fortress of Assassins', marking it out as the third Knightmare book.

The first half of the book is a story, set in the Thirteenth Century. Treguard learns from a dying knight that Richard the Lionheart had a child during the Crusades who is still alive in the Holy Land, and sets off to find the heir, in the hope that England's corrupt King John can be usurped. His travelling companions are a teenage knight named Dugald, a troublesome dwarf called Elshander, and a merchant named Abraham. The quest takes them into a citadel filled with assassins, hence the title.

The second half of the book, 'The Knightmare Challenge', is an adventure gamebook, in which the player is tasked with retrieving a crystal key from the Dungeon. Familiar characters within the adventure include Pickle (whose character differs slightly from that seen on screen), Mellisandre, Hordriss (spelt Hordris), Granitas, Motley and Malice. There are original characters such as Sister Lucienne. Various encounters are inspired by Norse mythology, with Odin, Thor (see: quiche) and Tyr present as characters. In a departure from KM episodes' ogres, the ogres in the gamebook (including the gloriously named Scumbore) speak. There is a particularly wide range of ordinary yet useful clue objects available, such as salt, a chisel, a mousetrap and a crucifix, and some less standard choices like winged sandals and waters from the 'fountains of the World Tree'. Spells include SHIELD and RUST (see spells from the books for a full list). Overall, Fortress of Assassins is one of the most satisfying of the gamebooks, for although it has plenty of options leading to success, it manages not to be boring, with characters old and new, riddles and varied dangers. There's even something for Keith Richards fans.

Dave Morris has credited Oliver Johnson as a co-writer of Fortress of Assassins' novella section. He has also revealed that 'When my dad saw the cover [by Knightmare illustrator David Rowe], he turned it upside down and said, "See how much more threatening it looks?" He was right; try it for yourself and see. (Dad was an electrical engineer, incidentally, not an artist.)'
The final chapter of Esperata's 2008 fanfic There Is No Turning Back appears to plagiarise large amounts of text from the Fortress of Assassins' gamebook section.

Fortress of Assassins was promoted immediately after various episodes of Knightmare Series 4 on Children's ITV.


The 23/02/1991 issue of Look-in magazine included a Fortress of Assassins and Knightmare sweatshirt give-away.


Previous: The Labyrinths of Fear
Next: The Sorcerer’s Isle

[Earlier version: 2006-08-20 17:04:34

Look-in magazine cutting courtesy of Jamie Hall]

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