A prominent means of descending from one Dungeon level to the next, used during Series 1-4. The first wellway appearance was in Quest 3 of Series 1, the last in Quest 8 of Series 4.

The genesis of the wellway as Watchers know it is hinted at in the first Knightmare novella (Can You Beat The Challenge?), set before Treguard's reign as Dungeon Master begins. During their own Dungeon challenge, Treguard and Folly find a wellway, and Treguard recalls that it was used for transferring water between castle levels. It is equipped with a windlass and rope, which the adventurers use to lower themselves into the chamber below. (The wellway in The Labyrinths Of Fear gamebook functions similarly.) In actuality, the idea was taken by Tim Child from the computer game Atic Atac, which used wellways to transfer the player to the next level.

The wellways seen on Knightmare are not wells in the traditional sense. Each one conformed to a standard design: two steps forming concentric rings around a cylindrical stone well-head, within which lay a shaft which dropped the traveller into the next level. In Series 1-3, chromakey seemed to dictate the colouring of the well, whereas in Series 4 it seemed we were seeing the well as a direct setpiece, so to speak.
Although many characters operated on multiple levels of the Dungeon, it was only ever dungeoneers that were seen using wellways. Presumably they were in demand by other folk though, as Fatilla appeared to have a long list of people he could allow down the well during one Series 4 quest; and Mellisandre's request for rope during the same season suggests that she may have wanted to go up a wellway. Watchers were occasionally treated to an overhead view of a dungeoneer lowering themselves into the wellway, and Series 4 depicted their descent too (complete with echoing advisors' cries in the case of Team 2 of Series 4).
Using a wellway was always more straightforward than accessing it in the first place. Sometimes it needed to be revealed by magical means such as a WELL or FLARE spell. The Lexicon entry on wellway rooms has more information on these circumstances. At other times, wellway guards were present and needed to be dealt with.

In September 2004, in an interview for knightmare.com, Mark Wickson (Team 4 of Series 2) shared the following information about wellways:

'[The scariest moment of my quest] might be trying to climb into the wells, as Tim Child had come up with the idea that the dungeoneers should zoom into them. This meant that a 'well' was constructed at an angle, then placed up high, then the dungeoneer crawled into it at an angle, and went down a slide, which when shown on the TV looks like I'm disappearing down the well. But having to wear a helmet, a sack, and not fall off the precarious ladder was something of a challenge.'

In Series 1 and 2, wellways appeared on Levels 1 and 2. In Series 3 and 4, wellways were features of Level 1 only. Wellways were not used in Series 5 and following, with Elita reporting that the Opposition had stuffed them up, and Brother Mace stating that they were both closed and passé. Yet in spite of its numerous successors - the minecart ride, flights of stairs, flights of Smirkenorff, descenders and trapdoors, the wellway upholds the 'simple yet memorable' charm common to so many aspects of Knightmare.
Additionally, wellways can be found in Mindscape's Knightmare computer game (pictured), and in France's version of Knightmare, Le Chevalier Du Labyrinthe.[Earlier versions: 2008-07-25 15:22:36, 2007-11-06 17:53:54, 2006-09-03 21:57:51, 2006-04-30 22:17:23, 2007-01-24 20:00:03, 2007-04-13 22:27:34]

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