From TES issue 20 (March 2003)

Series 6.
Quest: The Crown.
Dungeoneer: Sofia.
Advisors: Claire, Kim and Emma.
Home town: Bournemouth.
Team score: 9 out of 10.

A very high-quality quest from series 6, this one, which can still generate tension and excitement to this day.

Level One: Hordriss appears on the quest screen before the adventure begins to warn Treguard that Lord Fear has secreted a dragon caller somewhere on level one so that he can entice his red dragon - Red Death - to go there. The team's task, therefore, is to locate the dragon caller and find some way of getting it out of Fear's reach. After Sofia has stepped on the Crown - which Ben II has redeemed only minutes earlier, by the way - in the Hall of Choice she enters a clue room where she picks up a purse of silver and a mysterious ring. Through the spyglass, the team see Lord Fear talking to Julius Scaramonger in his pool about the dragon caller. It is revealed that Scaramonger has the device, and that Fear is keen for him to use it as soon as possible. Sofia next walks up some stairs and into a deserted room, where Treguard encourages them to experiment with the [Ring of Power]. The team discover that it causes Sofia to grow larger when she wears it on the third finger of her left hand and rotates it. In the next room Elita is sorting through a chest. Sofia tells her about the dragon caller and Elita is keen to help her get rid of it. Elita tells Sofia to call her if she finds the dragon caller, and gives her the combination for the causeway. Some very dark dwarf tunnels follow, leading to the causeway. Sofia is guided very well by Claire across the right numbers and reaches the door. Sofia then finds herself in Wolfenden, where Julius Scaramonger is setting up his stall with the help of his servant, [Young Grimwold]. Scaramonger clams up when Sofia asks him about the dragon caller, but the team notice that he is trying to hide an object that looks like a trumpet with a red cloth on it. By growing larger with the ring, Sofia scares Scaramonger and Grimwold away. She returns to the right size and takes the dragon caller, and in doing so is forced to abandon the silver on Scaramonger's stall. Sofia calls Elita, who takes the dragon caller and tells them that she will get rid of it in the Caverns of Gore. Elita gives Sofia a dragon mint and tells her that the password is the name of Scaramonger's servant. She also insults Sofia, who insults her back, which proves to be important later on. In the next chamber, Dreadnort guards the large door to level two. The team have fortunately remembered that the name of the servant is Grimwold, so they are able to pass Dreadnort. Through the door Smirkenorff is waiting. He agrees to fly Sofia to level two in exchange for the dragon mint. They land in the ruins of a castle.

Level Two: The first task is to avoid a stormgeist in the dwarf tunnels, and then comes the clue room. Through the spyglass the team see Lord Fear and Skarkill. It is revealed that Fear has told Hordriss that Ridolfo has been trying to, shall we say, corrupt Sidriss. Hordriss has apparently "taken care" of Ridolfo, who incidentally knows the password for level two. When Fear and Skarkill have finished badmouthing Hordriss and Ridolfo, Skarkill limps off to feed the dragon and the spyglass sequence ends. Sofia takes Ridolfo's [lute] and yet another mysterious ring from the clue table before a stormgeist arrives and chases her out of the room. Sofia next arrives at a riverbank, where Ridolfo is loading a rowing boat with fishing equipment. Sofia gives him his guitar and he rows her across the [Dunswater], where he tells her that Hordriss has transformed him into a fisherman from a musician, which for some reason means that he is unable to tell her the password. On the other side of the river is Witch Haven, where Sofia has to dodge Peggatty's fireballs, and then meets Hordriss in disguise as a witch. ("Root and fen, Master, if that's a witch then I'm a goblin!" - Pickle.) Hordriss eventually agrees to remove the enchantment from Ridolfo in exchange for the [Ring of Phobia], which he uses to reveal the causeway combination on the wall. The causeway follows, where the team speedily direct Sofia over the correct numbers. In the next room there is the door to the Descender, but Dreadnort appears in front of it and demands the password. Ridolfo rushes in and provides the word - territory. Dreadnort is satisfied and clanks off. Ridolfo thanks Sofia for getting Hordriss to turn him back into a musician and kisses her hand before he leaves. The team then direct Sofia into the Descender, where there is another stormgeist to avoid. The lift stops and Sofia walks through a door into level three.

Level Three: Sofia picks up a gauntlet and a bar of gold from a clue table before facing Hordriss's entrance exam for aspiring sorcerer's apprentices. There are several applicants - including Tiny the hobgoblin - but there are only three questions to go around. Sofia and another person each answer one of Hordriss's questions correctly, but the team do not know the answer to the third question. It is provided by the other applicant, who receives a scroll from Hordriss. He gives Sofia a spyglass as a consolation prize, through which the team see Lord Fear talking to Greystagg in his pool. They are discussing the terms of their fateful proposed alliance. During the discussion, Fear reveals that the gauntlet Sofia has is actually something called the Hand of Atrab, and is very powerful. Next Sofia meets Elita, who is still cross about being talked back to earlier. To make matters worse, Skarkill and two goblins arrive to take Sofia to Mount Fear. Sofia has to apologise liberally to Elita in order to get her to help. When she is satisfied that Sofia has apologised enough, Elita enchants Skarkill by playing a set of panpipes, whose music causes the goblin master to go dancing out of the room. Elita points Sofia in the right direction. She walks through a tunnel and reaches the Great Causeway, but the team do not know the combination because they didn't earn a diploma from Hordriss. The life force symbol appears and the skeleton goes green and collapses as the hexagon Sofia is standing on drags her down to her doom. This was the second and last time that the end of a quest coincided with the end of an episode of Knightmare, which added to the feeling of great loss at a quest being cruelly ended so close to victory. Classic.

Summary: An excellent performance that probably deserved a win, but, as with many other teams, the lack of one right answer was enough to doom an otherwise high-quality quest.

[Previous team: Team 5 of Series 6
Next team: Team 7 of Series 6]

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Knightmare team between Team 5 of Series 6 and Team 7 of Series 6.
Dungeoneer: Sophia (no surname given).
Advisors (left-right): Claire Finnegan,
Kim Hockings, Emma Whitney. Spellings are conjectural.
From: Bournemouth
Length of quest: 46 minutes
Episodes: 11, 12, 13
Originally broadcast (CITV): 20th November, 27th November, 4th December 1992
First repeated on Challenge: 26th, 27th, 28th April 2004

Interestingly, all the even-numbered teams in Series 6 are all-female. (This happens again in Series 7.) To surpass their predecessors in Team 2 of Series 6 and Team 4 of Series 6, this quartet needs to get past the first two levels. To equal their immediate predecessors, nothing short of winning. Pretend you've no idea how they did, and read on to find out.

Pre-Quest [Watch clip on YouTube (CITV Old Skool channel)]
Just after Sophia enters, Hordriss, who has not long left the antechamber, appears in its magic mirror. His backdrop (from Hedingham Castle) matches the Level 3 room where Team 3 of Series 5 encountered Elita. He is reaching out to Treguard using "transportation": is there political satire in Treguard's comment about traditional mages preferring conservative methods? In what is major evidence of the deepening of Knightmare's dramatic/storytelling element, Hordriss warns that thanks to a dragon caller smuggled into the first level, Lord Fear may soon be able to summon a red dwarf and lay waste to Holmgarth, Wolfenden and- red dwarf? I meant red dragon. Can you imagine? Hordriss is unable to describe the appearance of the dragon caller before communication is lost, making the scene akin to a spyglass interlude without the spyglass, but the new dungeoneer's initial questing objective is clear enough. Sophia is now free to summon her advisors, after nearly two minutes in the antechamber without them, which is surely a record.

Level One

1. Hall of Choice.
Isn't there a John Farnham song where the chorus goes, "Hall of Choice, not for hun or bandit"? I'll research it later. In contrast to Team 4 of Series 4, this quest starts with a dungeoneer sidestepping left. Treguard auspiciously notes that a "classic quest" lies ahead. The team chooses to quest for the Crown. The Crown? But it was just won. Like, ten minutes ago. Quick, get them to choose ag- too late. Perhaps this goes to show that, uncomfortable admission though it may be, the object of a quest is often irrelevant. Or, in production terms, that magic need not equal perfection.

2. Clue room I. (Bodiam Castle.)

2a. Through the spyglass. [Watch clip on YouTube]
The spyglass reveals Lord Fear in conversation via his Pool of Veracity with Julius Scaramonger about a ravenous, large and malodorous guest of Fear's and a "device" in the possession of Scaramonger. Lord Fear harks back to Series 3 by mentioning the Grimwold family: a mere hors d'oeuvre for the continuity banquet that is to come. The off-screen growling in Mount Fear harks back to Festus too, and the technomancer's reference to the growler as "Red Death" would seem to tie into Hordriss' red dragon warning. It's not clear how the spyglass sequence ends: Fear neither blacks out communications nor catches Sophia spying.

There is a scroll, and it's just as well Sophia doesn't tear it up, because it gives instructions about the ring on the clue table. At 19 words, is it the most verbose scroll ever? The team also takes a bag of silver, leaving behind a mallet, a lit lantern and the large pooka that descends to hurry Sophia on.
3. Eyeshield sequence.
Taking Sophia up the stairs. Pickle confesses to a touch of vertigo.4. Another courtyard. (Bodiam Castle.)
Sophia picks up some life force-boosting grapes to reclothe the size zero model disrobing in the top right corner. Treguard and Pickle hint that it's a good location for experimenting with the ring. It turns out to be a "ring of power" that makes Sophia big, but not irreversibly (unless overused). Sophia is bewildered enough to ask where she is, and the advisors confused enough to take Pickle's use of mild elvish expletive "elf boots" as something to do with the ring, prompting some delightful face pulling from David Learner.

5. A cramped chamber.
Elita is tossing items out of a chest (in search of treats to appease Smirkenorff, we later discover) and tells Sophia to bog off - just before time out.

Episode 12

A flattering reintroduction for the team by Treguard and Pickle, backed by some agreeable incidental music. They are referred to as one of the season's youngest teams, which may explain why Pickle sticks close to them during the quest.

5. [Watch clip on YouTube] Sophia et al handle the encounter with great confidence, giving the right answers and asking the right questions. Elita reports how unsettled Smirky has been by the red dragon's arrival "in the Dungeon" (isn't it stuck on Mount Fear for now? Does the Dungeon formally encompass Lord Fear's lair?) and gives them the causeway combination plus her calling name. It doesn't feel right when she's as chipper as she is in this scene, though she doesn't omit to call the dungeoneer a faceache.

6. Dwarf tunnel.
The team struggles a little in the darkness and Treguard notes that they should have taken the lantern from the clue room; but nonetheless, they survive. This is arguably the most explicit clue object let-off since Mildread accepted a potion from Neil (Team 7 of Series 2) when she really wanted an animal bone. Compare Knightmare's first ever team (Team 1 of Series 1), who also didn't pick up a lamp on Level 1 but perished for it. Then again, Matt and Ben both got through their Level 1s in Series 6 with only one clue object. Pickle's witticism about non-corporeal entities is drowned out by the advisors.

7. Causeway. (Castle Acre Priory.)
No frightknight timer. Claire holds her nerve as she guides her friend safely across, but her face shows the strain and does more to raise the tension than the copious music.
8. Julius Scaramonger's stall. (Outside Bayleaf at Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.)
Helping Julius set up for the Autumn Fayre is the compelling retcon "young Grimwold", one of this quest's various nuggets of continuity gold. The merchant prince is impatient with the ogre: "As gold is my witness, you just cannot get the staff."
Scaramonger has the dragon caller, but won't part with it, so Sophia uses the ring to make herself huge. "Give me the horn or else." Intimidated by this unfortunate innuendo, Scaramonger makes a bizarre telephone pun and flees, allowing Sophia to pass the dragon caller onto Elita (whom she duly summons) and postpone a dragon attack; and Young Grimwold exits with his club and his boss, so an ogre battle is also averted. Nice close-up/change of camera angle here. Elita mentions the Rocks of Bruin and Caverns of Gore, which were seen earlier in Series 6. The cavern elf is still in a disconcertingly cheerful mood, giving Sophia the means and information to overcome yet another of the level's potentially fatal obstacles.

"Got that have you, faceache?"
"Yeah. You're a faceache too."
"Well. I've never in all my life. I was going to wish you good luck but now I'm just going to go. See you later!"
- Elita and Sophia

A lot of fans have liked this faceache update. Should we congratulate Sophia for keeping the cast on their toes and bringing mirth to the antechamber, or condemn her retort as ungrateful and unbecoming of a would-be knight? If this comeback comes back to haunt the team, they may ask themselves, "was it all worth it?"

9. Eyeshield sequence II.
Taking Sophia into Bayleaf (a.k.a. Wealden House).

10. End-of-level gate.
Sophia finds a pear and a lozenge-deprived Dreadnort waiting. It is potentially death on two legs, (dedicated to) stopping any dungeoneer who lacks the word it seeks; but on this occasion, thanks to the clue from Elita, it is given the correct password: Grimwold. It occurs to me that if Lord Fear were to discover the cavernwights, he could get them to do his bidding by using technomagic to enslave them and turn them into machines (or back to humans). So maybe that's where his Dreadnorts and frightknights came from. Anyway, off the creature goes (with a quite superfluous "out of my way") to find some Strepsils. Failing that, it could make do with some of these:

Drassils. For smoother talking.

Meanwhile, the metal shutter rises and Sophia can advance onto...

11. Smirkenorff.
We have now heard all of Clifford Norgate's Series 6 characters within a single quest level. He accepts the dragon mint Elita gave Sophia as being a fair... fare. Nothing says "spread your wings and fly" like a dragon mint - or, as I like to call them, wyrming tablets. Kim gasps as Sophia climbs into the saddle: did she think Sophia was going to take a tumble? Smirky's flight takes the team to a fort (Carreg Cennen Castle) and into...

Level Two
12. Dwarf tunnel II.
A pointless and misleading sequence in which Sophia finds a clue scroll advising 'NO RIGHT TURN', even though her only way to proceed through the tunnels is to turn right! (We know thanks to Simon of Team 7 of Series 7 that the dwarf tunnel set was an H shape with an additional tunnel across the top. Sophia's entrance point had been the bottom of the left-hand vertical tunnel.) Perhaps she meant to avoid the first turning on the right, which she did; though once she had turned right, the shot changed anyway.
12a. Sophia, upon being asked about an item on the tunnel floor, replies: "It's a stick." With delivery like that, she wouldn't be out of place talking about handbags in Oscar Wilde plays. A stormgeist arrives and discourages the team from sticking around.
13. Clue area II. (Fountains Abbey.)

13a. Through the spyglass II. [Watch clip on YouTube]
The spyglass (which we don't see on the clue table) shows Lord Fear and Skarkill discussing how Hordriss has 'taken care of' a minstrel, while Lord Fear tries to mend his Pool of Veracity. Again, the scene ends for no clear reason.
On the strength of that information, from the clue table the team takes a "guitar". After some hints from Treguard and Pickle that are heavier than Brother Mace after Christmas, they also take "one of the Rings of Phobia". (Phobia is almost an anagram of the dungeoneer's name.) It looks identical to the ring found earlier this series on Level 2 by January, where it is referred as a "Ring of Power". The ring Sophia found on Level 1, which looks different, was called a "Ring of Power" by Treguard. How confusing. The team has left a bar of gold behind, and while they did use sound reasoning to back up their two clue object choices, they had been given significant guidance with both. The production team, for better of worse, put the story element above the challenge.
14. Eyeshield sequence III.
Driven onwards by the return of the stormgeist, the team is taken via eyeshield sequence - the Lexicon entry on passive paths can tell you more about this aspect of Knightmare, by the way - through the undercroft to a portal.

15. Water's edge.
Sophia has a seaside rendezvous (that is to say, a lakeside meeting) with Ridolfo, and although he is magically stuck with a fisherman's persona (thanks to the hex set by Hordriss), she gives him his favourite weekly listing publication: Lute. As a goblin horn blasts, they begin a boat ride, but are not long away from the shore then Treguard gets his favourite weekly listing publication: Time Out. During his end-of-episode farewell, one might well smirk to hear him say "For play".

And so a week later, Sophia (or is it Sofia? We just don't know), Claire (or is it Clare? We just don't know) Emma and Kim from Bournemouth enter...

Episode 13

Their third episode. If the number one piece of advice that any dungeoneer should be following is 'keep yourself alive', then this dungeoneer is certainly doing all right. And I'd be quite a liar if I said that her dear friends were little more than a hapless procession of fat bottomed girls with more brains in their pencils. But as they journey deeper into the Dungeon, towards the difficulties of Level 3, the team will be under pressure. So what will happen in terms of action this day? Can the team's staying power be maintained? Will Sophia be the loser in the end, or will her team be singing "we are the champions"? The answer is coming soon.

"At time out," Treguard tells us, "we were forced to abandon our dungeoneer in a boat halfway across the Dunswater." Not only does the lake bear no resemblance to the Dunswater as seen in S4, but it's appeared throughout Series 5 and 6 without being referred to by any name. In any case, this is the last time we see it: boating transfers to the Sewers of Goth in the next series.

16. Eyeshield sequence IV:
Taking Sophia from the jetty to a portal.

17. Entrance to Witch Haven. (Fountains Abbey.)
Peggatty flies in for her zapping routine. For me, her cackling and relentlessness make her one of Series 6's most unnerving elements. She scores a direct hit and causes Sophia Life Force damage, according to Treguard. A less forgiving production team might have called that game over. Perhaps the Ring of Phobia cushioned the blow, so to speak.
18. Witch Haven courtyard. (Fountains Abbey.) [Watch clip on YouTube]
Sophia encounters Hordriss 'hotdesking' in yet another of his disguises (witch). It's ironic that she is the only member of the team to have seen his face, but the advisors know it's him; so in terms of concealing himself, Hordriss is not exactly giving the Invisible Man a run for his money. (Then again, we know from the ending of Series 5 that Hordriss isn't the best at a headlong run.) The Ring of Phobia contains a kind of magic that Hordriss is most interested in, so in exchange for it he reveals a causeway code and agrees to restore Ridolfo's identity. We hear an interesting sound effect when Hordriss leaves but don't get to witness it. (If we are still to believe that Lord Lord Fear never discards his Rings of Phobia accidentally, what will come of Hordriss wielding the ring?) Nice to see several possible exits, which is unusual with these photographic backdrops.

19. Eyeshield sequence V.
Taking Sophia through the far right archway.
20. Causeway II.
Treguard feels compelled to warn the team about the frightknight timer (which doesn't function initially anyway), but they are already well into the task at hand and either carry on undaunted or do not hear him - which may be significant. The causeway is no match for their efficient guiding. It does help, though, that the last few rows can be crossed by Sophia walking more-or-less in a straight line.
21. End-of-level gate II. (Gainsborough Old Hall.) [Watch clip on YouTube]
A second Dreadnort encounter: something experienced by no other team. This time it fades into view. When all seems lost, Ridolfo arrives with the password in a non-literal flash. Ah, the miracle of good timing. He's indeed been restored to his minstrel status and is keen to return to some musical and good old-fashioned lover boy pursuits, no doubt including a romantic scandal or two (either sung of or participated in). Ridolfo is not seen on Knightmare again. Nor is the Dreadnort. The gate rises and Sophia proceeds into...

22. The descender.
Presumably it will start and stop by itself, so the team can relax for a mome- no, a stormgeist hitches a ride! It gets quite tense as the 'geist floats towards the dungeoneer, but she is guided safely out. It's a hard life; but life the team still has, continuing their quest into...

Level 3
23. Clue area III.
Kim comes briefly to the fore as she guides Sophia to the clue objects. Pineapple, gauntlet, gold bar, scarf. The clue scroll's mentions of extremity (Sophia struggles with this word) and handling direct the team to take the gauntlet. Kim, who is either keen to take accessorise to the max or worried about meeting a vampire, suggests taking the scarf too; but when a menacing giant pooka curtails debate, Sophia gets her preference and takes the gold. If the team dies because of not taking a scarf, the annals of farce will get a new chapter. Then again, we've seen teams complete Level 3 with one clue object unused (including a very recent team), so maybe it matters not a jot.
24. Eyeshield sequence VI.
Through a doorway in the ruins.25. Examination room: Hordriss' Level 3 Entrance Examination For Aspiring Sorcerers' Apprentices. (Castle Acre Priory.) [Watch clip on YouTube]The Hordriss classroom idea would be used again in Series 7; and is that an early appearance of Raptor's costume on the man sitting closest to the camera? The team are well co-ordinated in this unusual challenge - three questions, competing answerers, raise hand to answer - considering they're given no time to prepare when they arrive; but like so many before them, the failure to meet just one general knowledge requirement in a L3 question spells disaster. (It's worth noting that there was an earlier team, Team 4 of Series 2, who got asked a question about alchemy. They answered it correctly - and went on to become Knightmare's first winners.) The team wanted to offer an alternative answer to Question 2 - if only Hordriss had allowed them to. Then again, it was Question 3 they were 'supposed' to get, and they simply didn't know it. During this scene, Merlin gets mentioned; though for KM continuity fans, even better is on the way.
The team has not won a diploma, but do get a spyglass as a "consolation prize". Let's see whose house it is.
25a. Through the spyglass III. [Watch clip on YouTube]
It's Lord Fear's again. We hear the technomancer mention the Mines of Malapith, which is yet more continuity gold. He also mentions "catch it" a couple of times. What's feline poo got to do with it? Was it Bethsemane's? Delilah's? Did someone tread in it... wearing elf boots? Anyway, it turns out that Lord Fear is talking to Greystagg: no killer queen, she seems increasingly subjugated by Lord Fear, and this is explored further in the next quest. A lot of things are sounding great: Great Snake Pit, Great Treaty, Great Coven (actually, that one might be Grey Coven). In fairness, it is a great quest. The team learns that the Hand of Atrab mentioned earlier by Hordriss and the glove Sophia picked up in the last clue area are one and the same. What could this "thing of power" be intended to do? Lord Fear mentions gripping, but also suggests that it could be used against multiple targets. An idea put forward on the Knightmare.com Forum by Gizensha, that it is 'an enchanted gauntlet which could catch and reflect one of Lord Fear's fireballs if worn for the Level 3 end-of-quest encounter', sounds plausible to me.
26. That circular saw passageway. [Watch clip on YouTube]
Pickle: "The Corridor of [inaudible]." Assuming he says "Blades", that might well make it the first time that the Corridor of Blades, first seen in Series 4, is named on Knightmare. It's a shame that the team isn't neatly (!) killed off here, since their ultimate fate has proved confusing and controversial to many fans. Instead, Claire shines again with her guidance. In Series 5, the CoB was only ever used when teams were seemingly in losing status. Does this suggest something about this team's status? Talking of status...
27. Round room. (Orford Castle.) [Watch clip on YouTube]
The team looks set to update its faceache status, here encountering Elita for the third time. She is performing a floor ritual in L3, as she was when Team 3 of Series 5 encountered her. While continuity between Levels 1 and 3 is something we might tend associate with Series 4, there's a prime example here: the cavern elf is still smarting from the back chat Sophia gave her two levels ago. It's then compounded by another comeback from Sophia, prompting incredulous amusement from her teammates and leading Elita to opt not to play the game of insults any further. Elita is neither a sweet lady nor good company; but when Skarkill turns up, the team needs her help and Sophia must profusely apologise to her. Then Elita uses panpipes - Pan's originals, so she says - to turn Skarkill from a man on the prowl to a dancer, and off he goes into an off-screen pit. (If he's lucky, a mosh pit.) Skarkill had dismissed Grippa and Rhark so we don't get to see if they are affected, which is ironic given that at least some of the goblins were played by "Norwich based girl dancers", according to Tim Child. Imagine if Skarkill had offered to help the team, like the dancing McGrew with Team 2 of Series 3! And what if Sophia had tried to use one of her clue objects? Elita sends Sophia on her way, having referred to her as a faceache a further four times, which covers the whole team I suppose.

28. Eyeshield sequence VI.
Familiar from Series 4; taking Sophia towards the window then into a portal. Then comes, for the second time on Knightmare...
29. The Great Causeway: Part I. (Poole's Cavern.) I told you things were great in this quest. Sophia goes for a number 2 and stops for the food item there - then plummets to her doom when the tile falls just as her Life Force runs out. We don't get to see exactly what happens because we cut back to the antechamber while Sophia is refuelling. It's almost as if she and her advisors stop and wait for the hammer to fall - or the frightknight's sword, to be precise, and alarmingly fast it is too. [Watch clip on YouTube] The Dungeon Master says in his post-mortem:

"If only you'd won your diploma, team. Then you would have known the sequence to the causeway."

But I interpret the following subtext:

"In theory, you could have guessed your way across the Great Causeway without the code. But we can't have a team fluking their way to victory in what should be the hardest part of the quest. You were supposed to get that alchemy question but didn't, so we put you in losing status. When the Corridor of Blades didn't finish you off, we put food on the causeway in the hope that you would stop for it and pause long enough to fall foul of the timer. And you did. Another one bites the dust."

Even after Sophia has stowed the food in her knapsack, the Life Force sprite continues its acute leprosy, then collapses just as she falls. We know that Life Force indicators were added in post-production and not seen by the advisors; so was this the production team emphasising that the team's losing status had caught up with them? If so, was such emphasis really necessary? Also, I'm troubled by the fact that the team may not have heard Treguard explaining the frightknight timer on the Level 2 causeway. Did that play a role in their demise?

If the team were in losing status for not getting a question right, like other fantastic teams before them, perhaps none of the above matters. It's like the song Bohemian Rhapsody: some people want to have some idea what it's all about, while others are content to experience it as it is.
There goes a good team and a good quest, in my opinion. So near and yet Sophia. Ah well, the show must go on. Actually, no, in fact it ends there. No new quest until the next episode. This allows for quite a touching end-of-episode scene with Treguard and Pickle, for which the departing team's wave-and-walk is uniquely withheld until the end credits. But it's the Opposition that gets the last word this time, with Lord Fear intoning, "Now that's what I call 'lovely', Skarkill" over the Broadsword logo animation.


Thank you for scrolling through my two groats' worth. What have other Knightmare fans said about this quest?

'that has to eb one of the most unfortunate and most undeserving death ever in knightamare- they so should have won they were 1 of the best ever girls teams that KM had had' - morgaineofevil (Knightmare Dave), YouTube

'This team deserved to win so much more than the team that actually did win before them :(' - falks941, YouTube

'It was unfair that they suddenly got riddles thrown at them when previous teams hadn't had any.' - EuroMX2, YouTube

'Goodness, they were soooooooooooooooooooooo close! Shame! They did very well!' - topperville, YouTube

'This team though never had the savvy to win...just standing still on the great causeway?
Nasty..' - vicavox, YouTube

'Oh man.. That ending was intense...' - MetalGearRider, YouTube

'Coming hot on the heels of a winning team, Sofia's team was never likely to be let off if they made a mistake, and they paid for it in the end.' - Eyeshield (Jake Collins), Knightmare.com Forum

'They were a solid team, and were just unlucky that they re-introduced Riddles!' - Lowebo, Knightmare.com Forum

'Sofia's team weren't one of the last teams in the series, so the production team felt they needed to kill her off. ;D' - Pooka, Knightmare.com Forum

'I think the food on the causeway itself just provided an obstrcution and time delay, whilst they were busy picking up the food it enabled the Frightknight timer to complete its round and successfully knock some blocks into the abyss, one of which Sophia was standing on.' - James Aukett, Knightmare.com Forum

'Sofia's team were unfortunate. It would have been interesting if they had blown it in the chamber with Elita and Skarkill - but as was fairly typical throughout the years, if someone did not fulfill their synopsis criteria, so to speak, there was little mercy, especially in level 3. When the timer activated wasn't really going to be a factor - they did not have a way to go. The adversity of the graphic - them collecting food and the skeleton collapsing, worked so well. Blimey, Knightmare is such a science, is it not?' - KaM, Knightmare.com Forum

'I think it was rather unfair to give them both of the dungeon's toughest obstacles (the Corridor of Blades and the Great Causeway). A good team that deserved to win, and would of course have done so but for their failure to remember alchemy (I don't think they were meant to answer the second question - it was a "two out of two or it just won't do" affair).' - Thanatos, Knightmare.com Forum

'Sophia was no nonsense and I love the way she said to Elita 'Your a faceache' too!! Just a shame she didn't win and that was the only bad note of series 6.' - pjmlfc05, Knightmare.com Forum

'Also Is it me, or did this team actually die on the causeway and were given another chance possibly??????, there was one point where she went to to the right, and when she seemed to go further than she liked, One of the advisors paniced a bit, told her to quickly stop, and then the camera quickly went back to a shot of the advisors.
I'm not complety sure about it, but it was a dam close call???' - Porsmond, Knightmare.com Forum

'They were very unlucky, more deserving than the winning team i think. But then Sophia didnt make it easy, but i think shes the best dungeoneer from the series all the same... All in all they guided well, make good decisions, but didnt have the knowledge to pass that last stage..' - WhiteDevil, Knightmare.com Forum

'Now the question is did they die from starvation or falling off the causeway? I think it's a case of both at the same time! If they'd gotten across the causeway, would they've still been able to win since they were rude back to Elita? As Elita said she was going to help Sophia, but since Sophia was rude to her more than once she didn't. She would've probably given a spell or something.' - Moana Liza, Knightmare.com Forum

'I thought they were going to be winners. Then again, Elita might have given them the causeway code if Sophia hadn't insulted her for a second time!

Finally, we saw the Corridor of Blades again! I noticed at least two instances of a blade getting very close to Sophia, only for the camera to 'cut' back to the advisors (geddit?) and then back to the blades, as if they were let off. Coincidence? Who knows.' - Billy, Knightmare.com Forum

'i don't she put the food into the bag fast enough... very hard to tell, but you can see the life force falling before the red dot is hit... i'm guessing they were meant to be killed off anyway and this was a way of doing it.' - Mephistopheles, Knightmare.com Forum

'look how fast the frightknight timer moves it goes suspiciously quick hits the dot - bong. It was rigged they were dying end of story no diploma = no chance of being allowed to win.' - SRWilson3S, Knightmare.com Forum

' Very intelligent. I like the way they move with such coordination. Clare is especially bright. I think they are one of the more memorable teams from series 6.' - clairefear, Knightmare.com Forum

'Sophia's team should have won, having got as far as they did. Plus they should have scored brownie points on being one of the few teams to 'play the game' and interact with the characters in the dungeon. Her back chat to Elita was spot on!' - Debz_g, Knightmare.com Forum

'very bright (considering their age too), but just fell short at that last hurdle. otherwise, they could have won too.' - frieza, Knightmare.com Forum

'The diploma would have given part of the Causeway Code needed to cross it. They should have just gambled on which stone to step on. After all they have a 50/50 chance each time of picking the right one. And their chance of survival would go to 100% if they worked out the combination.' - PunmeisterWhiteley, Knightmare.com Forum

'This team were good weren't they? The dungeoneer spoke often for herself, the team were on the ball and the navigation was very good (made some previous teams look very ordinary in that respect). I think it was unfortunate for them that their quest followed a winning quest, and equally that they got the question style pass or fail trademark of earlier series. Great effort though, and they joined the list of unsung knightmare contestants who got so close but didn't quite make it.' - 123Pooka, Knightmare.com Forum

By the way, this Lexicon article contains 44 titles (that's over '39) of songs by a popular band whose name has a connection to the team's quest object. To find out which song titles, please check the Series 6 Episode 13 thread on the Knightmare.com forum, where this quest review was posted in its original form.

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