Eric is a main character in the 1983 Marvel Productions Ltd., D&D Enterprises and TSR nonlinear animated series, Dungeons & Dragons. Eric is voice acted by Don Most (Ralph Malph on Happy Days).
Eric is one of a group of youngsters swept through a portal in an amusement park into an alternate Dungeons & Dragons universe called the Realm. Upon arrival the children are changed by a fiendish gnome called Dungeon Master into a variety of D&D classes. Eric gets the most exotic class - a Cavalier.
Eric's confidant black-haired visage conceals a tormented soul. Born to rich parents and having obviously lived most of his life in the lap of luxury, Eric has the hardest time adapting to the conditions, rural at best, to be found in the Realm. While the others will grit their teeth and bear on, Eric often laments loudly, like an Israelite just out of Egypt, on how good things were and how bad things are.
Eric's greatest fear, as we learn in Quest of the Skeleton Warrior, is of being laughed at by others. Perhaps to in some way protect him from the world, Dungeon Master gives Eric a shield that can stop any attack and dresses him in full plate armor; while some of the other children are hardly attired at all.
While the series features little character development as is typical in nonlinear Western series, Eric does advance somewhat and by the last episode is even prepared to destroy a portal leading home of his own volition - something that would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the series. Later on Eric also takes a more protective role not only of members of the group but also of strangers they encounter, thinking little of jumping to cover them with his magic shield lest harm befall them.
Eric would have been a perfect leader for the group were his sentence not predetermined as the hapless comic relief. Whatever Eric does becomes rubble and ruin for such is his accursed luck. When Eric falls in love with Queen Zinn in The Prison Without Walls, he thinks he may finally have found happiness, only to have his bride turn into a hideous monster just as they are getting married.
Eric's incisive personality also makes him his only friend after they enter the Realm - Lorn, in the episode Oddessy of the 12th Talisman. Lorn is as cynical as he is, and as the two tear away at eachother they begin to understand that they have found true friendship they might never have discovered otherwise. It's a shame that Lorn is lost after just that one episode. Had he joined the group for two or three parts Eric's personality might have flourished.
While the group mostly ridicules Eric during his frequent incidents of bad luck, one member is usually by his side - Presto. Both Presto and Eric suffer from a lack of confidence and a sensitivity to the opinions of others, and it seems natural that they should stick together. When the children are attacked by monsters Eric and Presto usually work as a team, with Presto casting offensive spells from under the protection of Eric's shield.
Eric spends most of his time arguing with Bobby, since he realizes his chances against the popular ranger Hank are not as good. This is also ironic, because Eric with his shield and Bobby with his club represent the two extremes of defensiveness and aggressivity. Generally Eric appologizes to Bobby in the end before their arguments turn into outright chaos. The only time they do actually fight is in Venger's Maze of Darkness, in the episode The Girl Who Dreamed Tommorrow - and even here no harm is actually done.
Eric worries constantly about getting home and complains miserably on that point more than any of the others. He has a natural distrust for the diminutive Dungeon Master, and resents the half clues and general messing with people's heads that Dungeon Master is so good at. Eric is skeptical they will ever get home, especially with Dungeon Master and Hank at the helm.
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