The Eyes of the Dragon is a book by Stephen King published in 1987. At the time it was a surprising deviation from the norm for King, who is best known for his horror fiction. This book is a work of classic fantasy, with a clearly established battle between good and evil, with magic playing a lead role.

The Eyes of the Dragon takes place entirely within the realm of Delain.It is told from the perspective of an unnamed story-teller,who speaks casually and frankly to the reader,frequently adding his own commentary on character's motivations and the like.

The opening concerns itself with establishing five characters: King Roland,Queen Sasha,Prince Peter,Prince Thomas,and the wizard and royal adviser,Flagg (see Characters,below).Flagg (actually Randall Flagg,a ubiquitous King villain) has been covertly attempting to assassinate Queen Sasha (who is more intelligent than her husband,well loved by the people of Delain,and therefore more of a threat) for some time;he finally succeeds by bribing the Queen's midwife to slit an unidentified vein open while Sasha gives birth to Thomas.Outwardly,it appears that the force of giving birth to Thomas caused Sasha to bleed to death.

Peter and Thomas develop into almost entirely opposite people.Peter is intelligent,honest,handsome,and in spite of his youth,has already gained the respect and admiration of many people.Thomas is chunky,clumsy,and just intelligent enough to hate himself for his shortcomings.The narrator describes Thomas as often sad and confused,"not a bad boy".Possibly to contrast their personalities,the story-teller describes how Peter once rescued a horse with a broken leg from being killed,carefully nursed it back to health,and kept it as his personal steed.A bit later,the story-teller describes how Thomas once carved a small boat as a present for his father.Roland ignores the gift almost entirely,in favor of lecturing Thomas on how well Peter had done at archery that day.When Thomas sees how little Roland cares about the gift he hobbles out of the castle and has a fit of vomiting and weeping.He then sees a mangy,sick dog,which he stones to death in a fit of rage...