Both a series of PC
point-and-click Adventure Game titles, created by Jane Jensen (who had worked on
Kings Quest VI) and published by
Sierra, as well as the name of their primary hero.
The first game was
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Gabriel Knight is an author and owner of a bookstore in New Orleans, as well as an investigator who uses his work as the basis for his novels. However, afflicted with
freaky dreams nightly, he comes to learn that he shares a family history with a local Voodoo sect within the city, one that hinges upon being able to free his bloodline from a curse that befell them years earlier. With the help of his assistant, Grace Nakimura, and local police Detective Franklin Mosely, Gabriel discovers his roots, learning that he is
descended from a German family, the Ritters, whose men were all
Schattenjägers, tasked with taking out the supernatural
Big Bads of the world, which he accomplishes in this game by healing the
bad blood between his bloodline and that of Malia Gedde, a N'Awlins resident who hides a
dark secret.
Next came
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, a
Full Motion Video entry which managed to buck the
well-known trend of FMV games. This time, Gabriel has returned to his family home, Schloß Ritter, to
assist the local citizens with what they believe to be a
werewolf attack. Grace, feeling snubbed back in New Orleans, books a flight out to join him, and the pair take their respective lines of research, resulting in the revelation that the werewolf in question has a history with King Ludwig II of Bavaria, one which nearly
takes Gabriel's very soul.
Finally comes
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, which
may or may not be canon,
depending on whom you ask. Gabe and Grace are asked to protect a prince's son from
a new supernatural threat, and while they pursue the kidnappers, links to the
Knights Templar and even
more incredible things are discovered the deeper they delve.
This series demonstrates examples of:
- Affably Evil: Von Glower.
- Ancient Conspiracy: All over the place in GK3.
- At The Opera Tonight: A rare example of the opera in question — "Der Fluch Des Engelhart", written exclusively for the game — being important to the plot. Doubles as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
- Badass Bookworm: Grace. She studied tai chi, too.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Mild exception in SOTF, where Dr. John clocks Grace a good one, prompting Mosely to gun him down.
- Black Magic: Voodoo in SOTF
- But Not Too Black: Malia Gedde has a bronze skin color, especially compared to Dr. John.
- Cat Fight: Grace and Gerde, albeit verbally. RAWRRRR, HISSSSSS!
- Concert Climax: In The Beast Within.
- Cowboy Cop: Arguably Mosely, who does things for Gabriel he probably shouldn't.
- Crowning Soundtrack of Awesome: Among Sierra's best, including an entire libretto written for The Beast Within.
- Curse Escape Clause: Killing the very source of a werewolf's infection will end his curse. This becomes very important after Gabriel is infected and he must find and kill the head of the Bavarian werewolves to become human again.
- Dream Sequence: Gabriel experiences a dream during his first visit to Schloß Ritter, which proves to be a metaphysical means for him to take up the title of Schattenjäger.
- There's another in The Beast Within in which Ludwig shows Gabriel the last actions of his life, which helps Gabriel solve the case, and free himself from the werewolf curse.
- Early Bird Cameo: If the player has Gabriel investigate the Schattenjäger library in SOTF, he comes upon books relating to werewolves and vampires, the antagonists in the next two games.
- Family Unfriendly Death: Wolfgang, Dr. John.
- Foe Yay: Gabriel and Von Glower — very intentionally too.
- Gypsy Curse: The source of all the werewolf activity in The Beast Within.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Wolfgang, and in a big way. He literally rips his own heart out in order to let Gabriel retrieve the Schattenjäger talisman.
- Hey Its That Voice: Tim Curry as Gabriel in the first and third installments. Also Michael Dorn as Dr. John, and Mark Hamill as Mosely! Iconic, veteran voice actors Jeff Bennett and Jim Cummings also had minor roles.
- Human Sacrifice
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Gabriel.
- Magnificent Bastard: Von Glower.
- May December Romance: Gerde and Wolfgang.
- Meaningful Name: Gabriel Knight, harkening to the angel and the job, of course; furthermore, the name "Ritter" is a German title meaning roughly "knight".
- Novelization: The first two games were adapted into books by Jane Jensen.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Tetelo.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The Night Visitors.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The Black Wolf who turns out to be Von Glower, plus all of his subordinates.
- Polygon Ceiling: Part of the problem most people have with GK3.
- Prophetic Names: Gabriel's bookstore is named "St. George's Rare Books"; St. Georg, the mythical dragonslayer, is the patron saint of the Schattenjägers.
- Put On A Bus: Grace leaves Gabriel to travel to India at the end of GK3.
- Recurring Riff: "When the Saints Go Marching In" appears in all three games.
- Shown Their Work: Say what you will about the writing. The plots and settings interweave various truths and mythologies extremely well.
- Not to mention the detail of many locales in New Orleans in the first game. (someone went as far as taking photographs for comparison purposes).
- Sins Of Our Fathers: the title of the first game says it all.
- This theme continues into the second game considering Von Glower inherited the werewolf curse from his father (who gained it through a Gypsy Curse after raping a young girl).
- Speaking Simlish: Gabriel's cringe-worthy botching of German in The Beast Within definitely qualifies.
- Substitute Teacher: Kriminal Kommissar Leber fills the Mosely role in The Beast Within.
- The Other Darrin: Dean Erickson replaces Tim Curry as Gabriel in The Beast Within. Luckily (Your Mileage May Vary) Curry returned for the 3rd game.
- When A Jerk Loves A Tsundere: The relationship between Gabriel and Grace borders on this.
- Will They Or Wont They: It's obvious from the start that Gabriel and Grace care for each other, but they don't start to show this until towards the end of Beast Within. Their first actual consummation in Gabriel Knight 3 is followed by very awkward periods between the two, as well as with those around them.
- Yuppie Couple: Mr. & Mrs. Smith in Beast Within; Mrs. Smith is a big fan of tarot cards, to boot.
