History Literature / TheKingInYellow

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** A ShoutOut in the other direction occurs in Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's Literature/{{Darkover}} series, which uses ''lots'' of the names from the book -- mostly for Darkovan mythical/historical characters, occasionally for places.

[[folder: Overall]]

[[folder: The Street of the Four Winds]]

*** The Pallid Mask is associated with the Stranger in the original materials, but frequently the King in Yellow is shown wearing it.

* DependingOnTheWriter: And even then, Chambers himself would freely change major details between stories.
** Hastur is variously a city, a planet, a person, or a god.
** Carcosa is a city on a distant planet, or in one of several regions on Earth. It is also either where the play takes place, or ominously nearby.
** The identities of the Stranger, the Phantom of Truth, the King in Yellow, and Hastur (as a god) are frequently conflated. Sometimes the Stranger and the Phantom are the same person, or are two different, minor antagonists in opposition to the King in Yellow. Sometimes, the Stranger, the Phantom, and the King are all the same entity, and often the King in Yellow is an avatar of Hastur.
*** The Pallid Mask is associated with the Stranger in the original materials, but frequently the King in Yellow is shown wearing it.
** The Yellow Sign is never described in detail in the original stories, and each depiction is usually trademarked, forcing new versions in new visual media.
** In-universe, several editions of the play exist, and it's implied that no two performances are the same.

** The unreliability of Hildred is first touched upon when his cousin Louis outs his diadem in a safe for what it truly is: [[spoiler:a brass costume crown in a cardboard box]].

* VillainProtagonist: Hildred Castaigne is, essentially, a mad wannabe supervillain, whose EvilPlan is to spark a Second American Civil War which will end with him as Emperor of the United States -- his ultimate goal being to TakeOverTheWorld as a minion of [[BiggerBad The King In Yellow]]. In-story he kills at least one man, drives another to suicide, and tries to kill two other people, before the police capture him.

* PreInsanityReveal: Hildred Castaigne was a fairly normal, cheerful gentleman-about-town before a fall from a horse caused some sort of brain damage, resulting in his madness.

* HypocriticalHumor: In the USA of 1920 "bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves and kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together" ... but only ''after'' "the exclusion of foreign-born Jews as a measure of national self-preservation, [and] the settlement of the new independent negro state of Suanee", which are portrayed as equally positive.

* HypocriticalHumor: In the USA of 1920 "bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves and kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together" ... but only ''after''' "the exclusion of foreign-born Jews as a measure of national self-preservation, [and] the settlement of the new independent negro state of Suanee", which are portrayed as equally positive.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Hildred's clearly an UnreliableNarrator at best, but seems to accurately describe what others say, at least... making Mr. Wilde's collaboration with Hildred either a cruel manipulation from the Repairer of Reputations, or a shared madness that might have some truth to it.

Several authors have crafted facsimiles of the "real" text of Chambers' fictional play, including [[Theatre/TheKingInYellow playwright Thom Ryng's 1999 version]], which premiered at the Capitol Theater in Olympia WA and has seen two printings from Armitage press. A particularly notable version was written by James Blish for the story "More Light". In addition, the stories are the basis for ''TabletopGame/TheYellowKing'' TabletopRoleplaying game by Creator/RobinLaws.

Several authors have crafted facsimiles of the "real" text of Chambers' fictional play, including [[Theatre/TheKingInYellow playwright Thom Ryng's 1999 version]], which premiered at the Capitol Theater in Olympia WA and has seen two printings from Armitage press. A particularly notable version was written by James Blish for the story "More Light".

You might be looking for the Creator/RaymondChandler short story of the same name (in which the lead ''refers'' to this book), or for the Music/DeadMilkmen album of the same name.

* MadGod: The King in Yellow him/her/itself or as an inversion by making everyone crazy via the play.

** The unreliability of Hildred is first touched upon when his cousin Louis out his diadem in a safe for what it is: [[spoiler:a brass costume crown in a cardboard box.]]

You might be looking for the Creator/RaymondChandler short story of the same name (in which the lead ''refers'' to this book).

* TogetherInDeath: Well, madness, but it works out to the same thing. Once Tessie goes insane from reading the play, the narrator despairingly picks it up and reads it too.

* GenreBlindness: [[OncePerEpisode Almost every story]], somebody picks up a copy of ''The King In Yellow'' and reads it, even though they should know, both from the genre and from ''in-universe sources'', that the book is horrific and should never be read, no matter how artistic it is. Despite this, everyone keeps a copy on their shelf where anybody can read it and go insane. One character even mentions seeing it in bookstores...

** Within the play, Cassilda is bored with the petty politics of her city, and finds the arrival of the Stranger a novel distraction. Her curiosity dooms everyone, even the play's audience.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Cassilda welcomes the arrival of the Stranger as a way to make her life more interesting.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Anyone who reads the play. In the play, Cassilda's fascination with the Stranger leads to the downfall of everyone else.

* Hypocrite: In the opening description of recent United States history, Hildred praises the immigration lockdown against "foreign-born Jews" and others, and the establishment of a state called Suanee to be exclusively populated by Black people. In the next paragraph, he praises the coming-together of various religious denominations as an example of freedom from bigotry.

->''"Ne raillons pas les fous; leur folie dure plus longtemps que la nôtre.... Voila toute la différence."'' [[note]]Do not mock the insane; their madness lasts longer than ours… that is the only difference.[[/note]]

[[folder:The Demoiselle D'ys]]

Suis descendu on ouiz\\

* RescueRomance: Phillip falls madly in love with Jeanne after she rescues him lost on the moors.

Et de ton coeur endormi\\

Le ciel qui parle au coeur d'existence future!"''

* DrivenToSuicide: "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask" and "The Yellow Sign"

* BerserkButton: The narrator becomes particularly agitated when people mention his time in an asylum or refer to him as crazy.
* CatsAreMean: The title character not only almost lives in fear of his, but also seems to enjoy it.

** The unreliability of the narrator is first touched upon when his cousin calls out his diadem in a safe for what it is: [[spoiler:a brass costume crown in a cardboard box.]]

''"Mais je croy que je\\
->Suis descendu on ouiz\\