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One answer, the metatextual one, is “no, the dragon only exists as a mechanical obstacle in the game.” But in worldbuilding terms, is the Dragon Trapped? The dragon room does lead to the stream winding through the opening area, which presumably empties into the Frigid River at some point, though he would presumably need to walk.

The lava tube lies beyond the reflective wall of ice, which means that it is not a possibility mechanically, even if it makes the most sense logistically.

This spawns other questions, like “why is the dragon there at all?” And I know, video games, but it’s fun to think about. Map attached.

zork2-zugmap.pdf (2.0 MB)

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Given what we see with the genie/demon, I feel like the Wizard wouldn’t rely on physical obstacles to keep a dragon trapped. He would simply FORBID it to leave.

(As for why it’s there at all, I suspect it’s a status symbol, like the captive princess and the baby sea serpent. Not just any wizard can keep a full-grown dragon in their secret hideaway!)

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That makes sense! But what about the Princess, then? The Wizard is protective of the Princess, but the Dragon is holding the Princess hostage. I’ve always imagined the dragon as having a bit of autonomy for this reason.

I suppose that’s a moot point, though, since the Princess would leave if left unguarded.

There’s no explanation needed for getting the demon in and out, as he is summoned magcially. Perhaps the dragon was brought in as a juvenile.

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That’s part of why I suspect that the dragon could physically fit through the tunnels, it’s just magically forbidden from doing so—we know that the magic to summon a physical being is ZIFMIA, which doesn’t start with F!

As for the princess, I think the Wizard is very obsessed with the aesthetics of being a wizard. The doctorate in his workshop comes from a diploma mill, even though he’s obviously a very powerful sorcerer who could easily have studied at GUE Tech—because he cares more about the appearance of a doctorate than actually getting one. Dragons kidnap princesses, therefore he must find a princess for the dragon to imprison. But she can’t actually be harmed, because then he wouldn’t have a princess any more! Only imprisoned, and in a magical sleep so that he doesn’t have to worry about all the concerns that come with actual humans living in your home.

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So the sorcerous equivalent of “keeping up with the Joneses” (keeping up with the Flatheads?) then? One can further extend this into imagining equivalents of The Good Life, &c.

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I think, and I’ll say little in case someone else has ideas–that the ruined state of the complex feels significant to me. The wizard has really let the place go, unless it was already in bad shape when he got there. Walls are crumbling in places, cobwebs, etc. This is all in keeping with the geographical states of Zorks I and III.

So I think there are a few questions here really, how did it start->empire fell-> how it’s going now

The princess is hard to account for in this post-empire world. The Wizard is supposedly already struggling mentally when he gets exiled to the complex, which he probably did not build. He wouldn’t need his own bank, it doesn’t seem. At least, not a whole “Bank of Zork.” Other places, like the “Alice” region, feel more “his.”

Some of this stuff isn’t meant to make sense, as the game is one big ad lib really, but given the amount of ink and time people have invested in chronologies and whatnot, I hope it doesn’t seem too silly to daydream a bit about this stuff.

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