Gabriel Knight

Overview

Protagonist to the Gabriel Knight Mysteries series of adventure games developed by Sierra Online in the 1990's. He is a New Orleans native with German ancestry, and is a novelist and rare book store owner turned witch hunter (or Shadow Hunter, as known in the series) to battle the evil supernatural forces at work in the world today. The character is portrayed by Tim Curry as the voice of Gabriel Knight in Sins of the Fathers, and Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, the first and third chapters of the series. An actor by the name of Dean Erickson portayed Gabriel Knight in the series 2nd chapter The Beast Within which he himself acted the part due to the game using full motion video in place of computer graphics.

The Ritters and the Shadow Hunters

Gabriel Knight was born to Phillip Knight, and Margaret Templeton-Knight on January 28th, 1963. Gabriel's grandfather Heinz Ritter moved to the USA from Rittersburg Germany (a fictional city) to escape the life his family line had destined for him to live, the role of Schattenjager (German for Shadow Hunter). A tradition passed down amongst the Ritter family which began from a series of events beginning in biblical times, to the blessing of the family bloodline by St. George, designating the Ritter family as the chosen who will aid the world against evil supernatural forces. The eldest heir becomes the new Schattenjager at the age of 18. However upon Heinz Ritters moving to USA in an attempt to leave that life behind him, he changes his name to Harrison, and angelized the Ritter surname to Knight. Harrison settles in New Orleans Louisiana, and meets Ester (Rebecca) Wright at a Catholic revival where they fall in love and have a son, naming him Phillip Knight (Gabriel's Father). Harrison Knight told no one of his son Phillip before dying in a car accident in 1940, Phillip was only 7 years old at the time. Harrison also never told his wife of his families dark history. During which time, Heinz Ritter's (Harrison Knight's) brother Wolfgang Ritter had taken up the role of Schattenjager after Heinz renounced his position and left it behind. Knowing nothing of his brother or Phillip, Wolfgang Ritter has a son to be the next in line for the Schattenjager title. His son dies of unknown causes at the age of two, leaving no heir to the Schattenjager legacy. In 1964, Phillip and Margaret Knight die in a car accident eerily similar to Harrison Knight, Gabriel Knight was only 1 year old at the time. No one was left to tell Gabriel of his families history, as the only family he had remaining (who knew of his existence) was his grandmother Rebecca Wright, who knew nothing of the Ritters, or the Schattenjagers. Until.. Gabriel's great uncle Wolfgang Ritter learns of Gabriel in June of 1993. This is the point at which the Sins of the Fathers storyline begins.

The majority of the information regarding the Ritter family is present from the 2nd game in the series, The Beast Within. Chronicles of past schattenjagers lie within Schloss Ritter (The family castle located in Bavaria, Germany).

The Known Schattenjager Chronicle

1208:  Martin Ritter
1421: Jurgen Ritter 
1538: An unnamed Ritter
1600: Halla Ritter
1678: Gunter Ritter
1738: Victor Von Ritter
1838: An unnamed Ritter
1856: Christian Von Ritter
1864: An unnamed Ritter
1866: Stefan Ritter
1882: Karl Ritter
1898: Wilhelm Ritter
1922: Heinz Ritter
1941: Wolfgang Ritter
1993: Gabriel Knight