History Main / KingOfTheHomeless

* They show up quite a bit in the {{Main/Wuxia}} genre as leaders of the Beggars' Sect (sometimes also known as the "Beggars' Guild" or the "Hobo Gang"). This being Wuxia, they are known for AuthorityEqualsAsskicking in that their leaders are always one of the best martial artists in the setting. Notable examples include:

** Qiao Feng is the leader in ''Literature/DemiGodsAndSemiDevils'' and is one of the youngest leaders of the Beggars' Sect in his forties. He plays a prominent role as one of the main characters, and there is quite a bit of controversy with his Khitan heritage.
** In ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes'', the Beggars' Sect are led by Hong Qigong, an old glutton who is also one of the top martial artists in the Wulin. It takes quite a few delicious dishes made by Hong Rong to teach both her and Guo Jing the special moves of the gang.

** In ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes'', the Beggars' Sect are led by Hong Qigong, an old glutton who is also one of the top martial artists in the Wulin. It takes quite a few delicious dishes made by Hong Rongyi to teach both her and Guo Jing the special moves of the gang.

** In ''Literature/TheLegendOfTheCondorHeroes'', the Beggars' Sect are led by Hong Qigong, an old glutton who is also one of the top martial artists in the Wulin.

* Cheng Pa, the leader of the Beggar's Guild in some of the ''Literature/JudgeDee'' stories. Despite his laid-back personality, he's just as capable a fighter as the judge's henchmen (one scene has him settle a dispute between two beggars by picking them both up and knocking their skulls together). He's also a civil force to be reckoned with: anybody who pisses him off can look forward to an army of filthy hoboes parked on their business' doorstep, driving customers away without any violence or effort on their part. He also has a major crush (hinted to be reciprocated) on a Mongolian wrestling champion, but can't make an official proposal due to his position, while she won't respond to anything but an official proposal.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has Queen Molly, head of the Beggar's Guild. This is PlayedForLaughs; the King or Queen of the Beggars has to be aware of their station, so in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', Molly's predecessor asks people if they could spare 300 dollars for a civic banquet, or could put him up in a sixteen-bedroom mansion for the night.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/TheMuppets'', with hoboes carrying off a tied-up Creator/JackBlack while declaring him their King. (It actually does make sense in context. Sort of.)

* Wilco from ''Parasites'', a film about a lost motorist being chased through an UrbanHellscape by a horde of homeless people that he and his friends had managed to piss off.

[[caption-width-right:275:You will address him as "Your Homelessness-ness".]]

[[caption-width-right:275:You will address him as "Your Homeless".]]

* When reviewing the [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames video game adaptation]] of ''Film/{{Total Recall|1990}}'', ''WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier'' finds out there are plenty of hobos who want to kill the main character in an "abandoned" warehouse (it is abandoned in the film, anyway). Then he hilariously elaborates on how to defeat the boss he nicknames "[[KingMook King of the Hobos]]".

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* The Beggar Sect is a faction that shows up often in many {{Wuxia}} works, and the leader is called the King of Beggars, who usually masters two distinctive styles, the 18 Dragon Subduing Palms and The Dog Beating Stick, each a legendary style of combat.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E4DaleksInManhattan "Daleks In Manhattan"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]] features a Depression-era Hooverville in New York City, where the ''de facto'' leader of the homeless is a wise man [[MeaningfulName named Solomon]].

->''"All hail the Hobo King"''

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* The ''Literature/MatthewSwift'' series has the Beggar King, a character who is the embodiment of this trope -- literally, as in-universe, [[ArchetypalCharacter Archetypal Characters]] abound if their trope is famous enough.

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* "The Doctor" from the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode ''Persuader'', a vindictive former StageMagician who led a community of homeless pickpockets living in an AbsurdlySpaciousSewer. He attracts the BAU's attention when he begins having followers who tried to leave him killed.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E4DaleksInManhattan "Daleks In Manhattan"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]] features a Depression-era Hooverville in New York City, where the ''de facto'' leader of the homeless is a wise man [[MeaningfulName named Solomon]].
* ''Series/{{Newsradio}}'': Jimmy James's nemesis Johnny Johnson, having been ruined in a previous episode, showed up later as "King of the Winos".

* Erg, leader of the Morlocks on ''Series/TheGifted''.

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* Nikos Kazantzakis portrayed UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} in this fashion in his novel ''Literature/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'', which also carried over to Creator/MartinScorsese's [[Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist film adaptation]]--[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment not without controversy of course]].

* Scotchbo from ''VideoGame/WastelandII'' [[spoiler:will be elected king of the hobos of Arizona and California if he joined the Rangers and survived the endgame.]]

* Wrecks is this in the slums of Old Gobotron on ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots.''

[[caption-width-right:275:You will address him as 'Your Homeless'.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', The Swell ''thinks'' that he's a King of the Homeless because he leads the Street Arabs gang. In reality, he's a SmugSnake who's only survived as long as he has because the larger gangs didn't see any point in killing him. [[spoiler:This changes after he tries to sell the Runaways to the leaders of the Sinners - who just happen to be Dale and Stacey Yorkes, two of the Runaways' enemies. After learning that their future selves were killed by the Runaways, the Yorkes decide to liquidate the Street Arabs, destroying The Swell's tiny "kingdom".]]

* Rafi, from James Elroy Flecker's ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3834/pg3834-images.html Hassan]]'' (1923), is probably the earliest straight example of this trope happening on a large scale: He's rich and conspiring against the Sultan - This, of course, makes this one OlderThanTelevision.

In his own words: 'A goden most capering! Hines the walkskies, chanter the powb raggedy men. Dab with viddlo, too, goden!' So there we have it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' had The Garbageman, a hideous and ruthless villain who dreams of ruling a garbage kingdom with the homeless as his slaves. After he was defeated, The Professor (so named because he used to be a university professor) became a good and wise leader to the homeless and gave a valuable Aesop on recycling.

* Steam Train Maury, who died in 2006, was for much of his life the King of the Hobos, elected by the National Hobo Convention.

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* ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' has the Topsy King, additionally a TalkativeLoon.
-->'''Who is the Topsy King?'''\\
In his own words: 'A goden most capering! Hines the walkskies, chanter the powb raggedy men. Dab with viddlo, too, goden!' So there we have it.
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* ''Film/{{Newsies}}'' has the newsboys of New York who live together and buy the newspapers to sell them to the people. When their prices are raised, Jack Kelly bands them together to go on strike, but they need every borough of New York, especially Brooklyn which is the territory of Spot Conlon. He's the key... the most respected and... famous... newsie in New York...