The Eyes of the Dragon was originally self-published by Stephen King in 1984 with Philtrum Press. The first edition, illustrated by Kenneth R. Linkhauser, had a limited run, and the books were mostly given as gifts by the author. Three years later, Viking published a mass-market version with new illustrations by David Palladini.

The novel was a departure for King, who had earned a reputation as a master of horror novels by the 1980s. Instead of his familiar mix of American and gothic terror, The Eyes of the Dragon is a fantasy epic with fairy tale conventions more typical of young adult novels. The story is set in the fictional Kingdom of Delain, where old magicians, young princes, and unlikely heroes battle for the fate of the land in the name of good or evil. King combines fairy tale conventions and a high fantasy setting with elements of realism and occasional metacommentary from the novel’s omniscient narrator.

This guide uses the Gallery Books trade paperback released in 2018, which matches the revisions made for the 1987 edition.

Content Warning: The Eyes of the Dragon depicts addiction, sexual violence, and animal cruelty.

Plot Summary

The Eyes of the Dragon takes place entirely in Delain, a fictional medieval kingdom reminiscent of Arthurian tales. The story follows the evil magician Flagg’s attempts to destroy Delain by seeding discontent among the people. Flagg also serves as an adviser to King Roland, ruler of Delain, who is unaware of Flagg’s true nature.

The novel focuses on the different upbringings of King Roland’s sons Peter and Thomas and how each prince responds to Flagg’s machinations. The story begins with the circumstances of their births. Roland, who has never been interested in women, marries Sasha, a young girl of lesser nobility, with the goal to produce an heir. Roland is only able to perform his marital duties with the help of Flagg’s potions, with one exception. One day, Roland slays the dragon Niner, and that night Peter is conceived without the use of Flagg’s magic. In contrast, five years later, Thomas is conceived after Roland drinks a double dose of Flagg’s potion and becomes violent. Sasha then dies during Thomas’s birth, murdered by a midwife doing Flagg’s bidding because Flagg is threatened by Sasha’s goodness and benevolent influence on Roland.

Until the age of five, Peter is raised by Sasha. She teaches him to be good and to always use his napkin when eating. As a wedding present, Roland gives Sasha a magnificent dollhouse, and Peter grows up playing with it, even after she dies. He inherits his mother’s goodness and confidence, and everyone agrees that he will become a great King one day. Meanwhile, Thomas grows up in Peter’s shadow and without his mother’s influence. Thanks in part to Flagg’s manipulation, he becomes bitter with jealousy. He inherits his father’s weak will and tendency to drink too much. Flagg, recognizing that Thomas will be easier to manipulate as King, plots to murder Roland and frame Peter.

Peter, because he is a good son, brings his father a glass of wine every night. One such night, Flagg visits Roland after Peter leaves and gives him a glass of wine too. This second glass of wine is poisoned with Dragon Sand, which burns people from the inside. Flagg plants evidence of the poison in Peter’s room for the butler’s son Dennis to discover. Dennis brings the evidence to his father Brandon and then to the Judge-General Anders Peyna, who convinces Peter to agree to a trial before taking the throne. Due to Flagg’s manipulation and the fickle nature of the people, Peter is convicted of murdering his father and sentenced to life at the top of the Needle, a prison tower within the castle.

Unbeknownst to Flagg, Thomas witnesses the murder of his father. Flagg had previously shown Thomas a secret passageway where he can spy on his father through the eyes of Niner, the dragon, which is mounted on the wall of Roland’s sitting room. Thomas watches as Flagg brings Roland the second, poisoned glass of wine. Sensing something is wrong, Thomas falls into a fever for multiple days. He wakes to find himself King, and he is so terrified that he begs for Flagg to help him run the Kingdom. For five years, Thomas has bad dreams. He suffers from the guilt of knowing that Flagg is guilty while he is dependent on the magician and likes being King. While Thomas develops an addiction to wine and sleeping powders, Flagg becomes a tyrant of Delain, seeding discontent.

Once he recovers from the shock of his imprisonment, Peter hatches a plan to escape the Needle and reclaim the Kingdom. He bends the jailor Beson to his will by beating him up and offering a bribe. He asks the Judge-General Peyna to pay Beson an annual sum in exchange for two requests: his mother’s dollhouse and that he be given a napkin with every meal. Peyna, who is no longer sure Peter is guilty and owes him a favor, arranges for both. He asks Peter’s childhood best friend, a farmer’s son named Ben Staad, to coordinate the requests with the butler’s son Dennis.

Peter plans to take a few threads from every napkin and use the dollhouse’s tiny but working loom to secretly weave a rope strong enough and long enough to climb down the side of the 300-foot tower. It takes him five years. In the meantime, he discovers a locket hidden in his prison cell that once belonged to Leven Valera, a member of the Delain royal family who lived over 400 years ago. Leven also hid a letter in which he insists that it was the magician Flagg who murdered his wife. Leven claims that Flagg then framed him for the murder, so that Leven would not become King. The letter confirms Peter’s suspicions regarding his own situation. Because Leven lived centuries ago, Peter realizes that Flagg is an ancient evil that has repeatedly plagued Delain.

During the five years that Peter is imprisoned, Flagg’s terrible policies lead to the execution or exile of Delain nobles, and unreasonably high taxes cause many farmers to abandon their farms. In the forests north of the castle, some of these exiles start a rebellion. Ben Staad is among them. Meanwhile, Dennis takes over as the King’s butler after his father passes. One night, he follows a sleepwalking Thomas to the passageway behind the eyes of the dragon. Thomas talks in his sleep, leading Dennis to realize it was Flagg who murdered Roland. Dennis finds Peyna, who resigned his position as Judge-General, and tells him what he saw. Peyna, wanting to atone for his role in Flagg’s plan, sends Dennis to figure out Peter’s escape plan, joins the rebels, and then sends Ben to help Peter escape.

Dennis sneaks back into the castle and smuggles a note to Peter in napkins. Ben and Naomi, a young woman who cares for sled-pulling huskies, race to Delain to help. They meet up with Dennis, who is hiding in the storeroom full of napkins, and hatch a plan to help Peter escape. Meanwhile, when a terrible blizzard hits Delain and knocks over a church, the sound wakes Flagg. The magician has a feeling that something is wrong and consults his crystal. He sees Peter’s escape attempt, grabs his battle axe, and runs for the Needle. He becomes irrational with laughter, shouting his approach and murdering an innocent guard. At the same time, Thomas, who had slept walk back behind the eyes of the dragon, wakes up and suddenly feels nostalgia for his father’s sitting room. He goes inside, lights a fire, and takes down Roland’s bow and arrow from the wall. The arrow, called Foe-Hammer, is the same one that killed Niner.

As Flagg marches up the stairs to Peter’s cell, Peter begins descending the tower with his rope of napkin threads. He makes it about two-thirds of the way down before Flagg reaches the top. The rope breaks and Peter falls, but his fall is cushioned by a pile of napkins that were placed there by Ben, Naomi, and Dennis. They run to Roland’s sitting room while Flagg, now out of control with anger, chases them. Guards stop them, but Peter convinces them to stand aside by seeming to be their true King. They reach Roland’s sitting room and lock the door, but Flagg bursts through and confronts Peter triumphantly.

Peter shows Flagg Leven’s locket and accuses him of murdering not only Roland but many others over the centuries. Flagg laughs and claims that nobody saw him do the deed. Then, Thomas, who nobody had yet noticed, announces that he saw. Flagg, enraged, charges at Thomas, but Thomas shoots Flagg in the eye with Foe-Hammer. Flagg disappears. Peter is made King, and Thomas and Dennis decide to go on a quest to hunt down Flagg once and for all.