From TES issue 31 (January 2005)

Series 1/2/3. Level 3.
MERLIN'S CHAMBER AND THE WALL OF JERICHO

Reaching Merlin’s vast one-doored chamber in level three was an important part of the quest in the early years. The fact that the quest had got so far was marked as an achievement for any team lucky or skilful enough to earn themselves a second meeting with Merlin, as they had congratulations pored upon them by the Dungeon’s main wizard, and were rewarded for their progress with magic.

The sheer size of Merlin’s enormous grey-blocked chamber underlined the significance of the team’s achievement, as did the appearance of Merlin himself as a larger-than-life – and sometimes transparent – image. Of course, dungeoneers Mark, Julian, Leo and Martin II were lucky – all they had to do was enter the chamber, touch a letter M, and then sit back and be rewarded. For the first two teams to enter this room, however, there was a more difficult and deadly challenge involved – the Wall of Jericho.

At the very end of series 1, Richard’s quest brought him to Merlin’s level three chamber. The obstacle before him was a large grey-bricked wall with the words Jericho 6 written on it. All that was required was a blast on Joshua’s horn and the wall would have fallen, leaving the way clear for Richard to summon Merlin and, I believe, win the quest, thus bringing a thrilling end to the series. Of course, Richard’s silly team hadn’t taken the horn, but had taken a dagger instead – the first team to fall foul of unwanted weaponry: ”Why are you carrying a weapon of so little use to one who’s blindfold? Where is the horn to bring down the Walls of Jericho?” – Treguard.

In series 2, the Wall of Jericho was back, for the production team weren’t going to waste their disintegration sequence, which doubtless took weeks to design and make. The third dungeoneer of the series, Chris, had become the second dungeoneer to reach the third level, and his team had, fortunately, taken the horn from the clue room. In Merlin’s room, we were treated to a brick-by-brick dissolution of the wall before Chris progressed and Merlin appeared. Of course, the team were a bit slow-witted, and Treguard had to keep telling Chris to blow the horn until the entire wall had disappeared to the sound of stony grating: ”And again, blow the horn again!” – Treguard.

By the way, it’s worth remembering that, despite their success with the horn, Chris’s team had made just as silly a blunder as Richard’s before them by taking a gem instead of the magic shield, but that’s another story.

Difficulty: 3 A simple horn-blow and letter-touch; not even any riddles!
Killer Instinct: 5 A solid victim in Richard I.
Gore Factor: 2 Just a life force drain, like many deaths in series 1 and 2.
Fairness: 9 Perfectly reasonable for level three.

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Just as the biblical town of Jericho inspired the wall-based obstacle on Knightmare and in Can You Beat The Challenge?, so did the KM location inspire a Knightmare Discussion Forum member in his choice of screen name. Jericho 6 has made 74 posts since joining the forum in February 2003, though he took a break from posting between June 2003 and May 2005. In one post, Jericho 6 declared that 'surely the ideal [Knightmare celebrity] team would have to be Pat Sharpe, Neil Buchanan, Fred Dinenage and Tommy Boyd ;D'.

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