User:Cukie Gherkin/Prince of Cannock

The Prince of Cannock is a character in the 1987 video game Dragon Quest II, serving as one of the game's three main characters.

Appearances
The Hero of Dragon Quest II is on an adventure at the same time as the Prince of Cannock, and must find him.

The Super Famicom version of Dragon Quest II introduces a new quest where the Prince of Cannock gets sick and is forced to leave the party. The player is able to either find a cure for his illness or leave him behind.

The Prince of Cannock appears in Dragon Quest Tact, given the name Tonnura, one of multiple names he can have in Dragon Quest II in Japanese.

Concept and creation
The Prince of Cannock is given a name selected from a preselected pool of names, determined by the name given to the Hero. He is weak, but is the first character who can use magic. His character is well-rounded, being worse than the Hero at physical offense and worse than the Princess at magic. The ending of Dragon Quest II was originally intended to have the Prince of Cannock sacrifice himself to defeat Hargon. After returning, the Prince's sister would stab the Hero, killing them. This was deemed too sad, leading them to cut out this part of the ending.

Reception
Game designer Takashi Tokita recounted Dragon Quest II as one of his most influential games, citing how exhausting the search for him was and how frustrating it was to ultimately find the Prince at the Hero's camp. The fact that he was useful as a healer in combat helped him see how much a story in a role-playing game. A writer for Futabanet discussed how the Prince of Cannock's randomized name was a hot topic among his classmates, expressing disappointment in their friends getting a cool name while his was uncool. He felt that the Prince was weak, but came to become attached to him as he grew, growing attached to the name he was given.