The characters / Recurring character

The Crimson King

The Crimson King is recorded in 8 distinct storys.

The repeated antagonist is identified through the Dark Tower, the Beams, his Breakers and servants. Insomnia directly depicts him; The Dark Tower both recounts his Insomnia plot against Patrick Danville and depicts him at the Tower. The other accepted passages explicitly report this same Tower-related enemy or his forces.

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Stories and supporting passages

Black House

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

“Eye of the King,” she repeats, and now it starts with the hands: kneading and twisting and squeezing and digging. “Abbalah! Foxes down foxholes! Abbalah-doon, the Crimson King! Rats in their ratholes! Abbalah Munshun! The King is in his Tower, eating bread and honey! The Breakers in the basement, making all the money!”

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

Black House ↗By Stephen King and Peter Straub

Gwendy's Final Task

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

“Only one thing can destroy it, now that the Crimson King is dead.” “The button box,” Gwendy says, but Bobby smiles and shakes his head. He makes a come-on gesture with hands that sometimes blur into paws with sharp claws at the ends. The gesture says you can do better.

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

Gwendy's Final Task ↗By Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

Insomnia

Appears in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

And then the tail was gone, the Queenfish was gone, and it was the Crimson King sitting there, his handsome face twisted into a snarl of pain and amazement. One of his eyes glared as red as the eye of a lynx in firelight; the other was filled with the fierce, splintered glow of diamonds.

Reviewed narrative excerpt depicts this character in the story.

Insomnia ↗By Stephen King

Low Men in Yellow Coats

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

It holds everything together. There are Beams that protect it somehow. There is a Crimson King, and Breakers working to destroy the Beams . . . not because the Breakers want to but because it wants them to. The Crimson King. Was Ted back among the rest of the Breakers yet?

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

Low Men in Yellow Coats ↗By Stephen KingCollected in Hearts in Atlantis

The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

Upon each pennant the symbol of the open eye had been traced in yellow. It’s the mark of the Crimson King, Jake thought. It’s really his sigul, not John Farson’s. He didn’t know how he knew this (how could he, when Alabama’s Crimson Tide was the only Crimson anything he knew?), but he did.

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

“Let the man talk, Eddie.” “What they are-what they really are-is soldiers of the Crimson King,” Callahan said. And he crossed himself. TWELVE Eddie started. Susannah’s hand went back to her belly and began to rub. Roland found himself remembering their walk through Gage Park after they had finally escaped Blaine.

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah

Mentioned in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

In some worlds, great plagues have decimated whole populations.” Susannah nodded. “We saw one of those,” she said quietly. “They called it the superflu.” “The Crimson King’s Breakers are only hurrying along a process that’s already in train. The machines are going mad. You’ve seen this for yourself.

Reviewed narrative excerpt refers to this character; this evidence establishes a mention.

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

Appears in the story

Read the passage Spoilers · Story context

And it’s carried by the roses. “GUNSLINGER!” screamed the Crimson King. “NOW YOU DIE!” There was a whistling sound, thin at first and then growing, cutting through the combined song of the Tower and the roses like the keenest blade ever ground on a wheel dusted with diamonds.

Reviewed narrative excerpt depicts this character in the story.