| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an event that occurs later in the game. |
There is a single Timeline across all Shovel Knight games, as revealed through the events unfolding in each stories.
Before the Enchantress[]
The Hexcavators steal Shovel Knight's bag and his Stone of Fate to use it to unearth and claim the Amulet, sealed deep within the Well. Shovel Knight and Shield Knight team up to stop them, but the Amulet is unsealed and the Enchantress it hold prisoner now awoken. They cannot prevent the Tower of Fate from rising back up to surface along with the accursed artifact.
Shovel Knight and Shield Knight then travel back to the Tower of Fate to prevent the Amulet from falling into the wrong hands. Donovan and Luan climb up the tower to claim the artifact for themselves, but are stopped by Shield Knight. After a battle that left Luan dead and Donovan dying, Shield Knight gets possessed by the Enchantress. She turns Donovan into Specter Knight and promises to bring him back to life once he has recruited 8 knights to her cause.
Grief-stricken by Shield Knight's seemingly death, Shovel Knight retires to a farming life.
The Rise of the Order of No Quarter[]
- King of Cards
- Specter of Torment
- Shovel Knight Showdown
The Enchantress spreads Joustus and orchestrates a tournament across the Valley in order to lure together its kings, nominated as Joustus Judges. King Knight goes on a quest to win the Joustus Crown for himself and obtains a deck of card from the Enchantress's henchman, Specter Knight. The gilded goon does not follow the competition's rules, but still brings the three kings to the Enchantress and buy her enough time for her plans of forming the Order of No Quarter. He defeats her, but eventually swear fealty to her as she offers him to rule Pridemoor Kingdom as its new king.
Specter Knight goes on to recruit 7 more knights for the Enchantress's Order, with the help of her Mirror of Fate set to the location of powerful warriors. As he comes close to completing his quest and regaining his humanity and freedom, his master uses Reize (whom she turned into Dark Reize) to trick him into giving up on his humanity and freedom to save the boy's life. When the knight realizes that the Enchantress is in fact Shield Knight, he rebels against her, with the support of other revolting servants of the evil master.
As Specter Knight goes on to confront his oppressor, his allies also tinker with the Mirror of Fate in order to trap her. This backfires as the magic mirror traps the Enchantress along with the Valley's knights and other mighty warriors, and forces them to fight each other in the mirror's world. They eventually break free from the evil artifact, but Specter Knight still ends up in eternal servitude to the Enchantress in exchange for saving Reize's life.
The Order of No Quarter is finally formed and starts occupying the Valley. A retired Shovel Knight learns from his entrapment in the mirror world of Shield Knight's true fate. He then starts traveling back to the Tower of Fate to free her from the Enchantress. On the other hand, Plague Knight and Mona learn from a captured Liquid Samurai how to harvest essence and so set their plans to craft their magnum opus.
The Fall of the Enchantress[]
Shovel Knight goes on a quest to defeat the Order of No Quarter and the Enchantress. He aims to free Shield Knight from the Tower of Fate. Plague Knight follows a similar quest against his fellow Order members and master. However, the felon knight plans instead to steal their essence to brew the Serum Supernus, the Ultimate Potion.
At some point during their respective quests, Prism Knight starts trapping powerful knights in the Pocket Dungeon so that at least one may be able to solve it. The knights form a temporary truce in order to escape their entrapment and eventually free everyone, including Puzzle Knight.
By the end of the adventures of Shovel Knight and Plague Knight, the Enchantress is defeated, her Amulet shattered, Shield Knight is freed and the Tower of Fate collapsed.