Line #38 Literature/TheKingInYellow


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6	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingyellow.jpg]]
7
8	->''"Songs that the Hyades shall sing,\
9	Where flap the tatters of the King,\
10	Must die unheard in\
11	Dim Carcosa."''
12	-->--From Cassilda's Song in ''The King in Yellow'', Act i, Scene 2
13
14	''[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow]]'' is a rather surreal collection of short stories by Creator/RobertWChambers published in 1895. The stories are scattered all over the map between horror and romance, but all generally have ties to France as a setting, the later ones moving more and more into romance and increasingly starring artists. A common thread is a fictional play also called ''The King in Yellow'', the reading of which either drives people mad or leads them to a dark fate.
15
16	Due to the publishing date, it's in the public domain in most countries and readable online.
17
18	Creator/HPLovecraft cited this book as an influence, and it's the direct source of Hastur's name[[note]]Chambers himself got it from a short story by Creator/AmbroseBierce, "Haïta the Shepherd", in which it's just a shepherd's god[[/note]]. According to Lovecraft's friend and fellow writer Creator/AugustDerleth, the actual performance of ''The King in Yellow'' is a summoning ritual for an EldritchAbomination.
19
20	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'' TabletopRPG by Creator/RobinLaws.
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22	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. Also don't confuse with Creator/YulBrynner, Theatre/{{the King\|AndI}} in {{Yellowface}}--though the real UsefulNotes/{{Thai\|land}} monarchy, including Brynner's HistoricalDomainCharacter King Mongkut, ''is'' [[ColorCodedPatrician associated with the color yellow]].
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24	----
25	!!This work provides examples of:
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder:Overall]]
30	* AlienSky: Carcosa—black stars, twin suns, you name it.
31	* AllFirstPersonNarratorsWriteLikeNovelists: Taken to a rather odd extreme when [[spoiler:it turns out that the narrator of ''The Yellow Sign'' has been fatally wounded and is writing his account as he is dying]].
32	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The Yellow King may personify decadence itself. That's what the colour yellow means (see the yellow book in Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray).
33	* ArtifactOfDoom: Any copy of the play ''The King in Yellow''. The subject matter of the play isn't entirely revealed, other than that it's set in [[EldritchLocation "the lost city of Carcosa"]], perceived to be very artistically written, though the first act is tame and the second act drops hard. Reading the play will either lead to madness or a dark fate. The King in Yellow ''himself'' is never seen, nor shown whether or not he actually exists, though he appears to be a HumanoidAbomination that embodies decadence.
34	* BilingualBonus: There's a lot of untranslated French.
35	%%* BrightIsNotGood: Hastur.
36	* BrownNote: The eponymous fictional play. [[SchmuckBait Don't read it!]] Also the Yellow Sign, which seems to leave the viewer susceptible to some kind of mind control if they've already read ''The King in Yellow''.
37	* DeadlyBook: The eponymous play, supposedly published in 1889, drove the author to suicide, and all who read it to suffer a tragic fate, or go mad from irresistible revelations.
38	* DrivenToSuicide:
39	** "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask" and "The Yellow Sign".
40	** The original author of the play also killed himself according to Louis in "The Repairer of Reputations".
41	%%* DuringTheWar: "The Street of the First Shell".
42	* EldritchLocation: The lost city of Carcosa, "where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali..."
43	* FictionalDocument: While referenced and quoted, the entire text of ''The King in Yellow'' is never set out.
44	* GenreBlindness:
45	** [[OncePerEpisode In many of the stories]], 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...
46	** The main character of "The Yellow Sign", however, is both [[OhCrap shocked]] and bewildered to see his girlfriend pull out the book out of his shelves; while he desperately and repeatedly tells her to put it down and not to open it, he's also wondering how the hell the book managed to end up in his apartment in the first place, as he is well aware how dangerous it is.
47	* HumanoidAbomination: This is one of the texts Lovecraft was inspired by, after all. Notably, the King In Yellow himself is (seemingly) absent from the actual book, but he is the one that made the [[BrownNote play named after him]]. Book covers (and many depictions, before and after the internet arrived) generally depict him as a humanish being wearing [[LightIsNotGood bright yellow]] robes.
48	%%** Implied with the Stranger in the play itself.
49	%%* KindheartedCatLover:
50	%%** Severn.
51	%%** Averted by Mr. Wilde.
52	* MadGod: The King in Yellow him/her/itself, or as an inversion by making everyone crazy via the play.
53	* MasqueradeBall: "The Mask": Implied to occur in the play. ''"I wear no mask."''
54	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Is all the strange things just the result of people being either mad or careless, or is there really something magical going on? This is a question the book never answers.
55	* MetafictionalTitle: ''The King in Yellow'', the book, is named after ''The King in Yellow'', the play.
56	* MindScrew: "In the Court of the Dragon"; "The Prophets' Paradise"; "The Repairer of Reputations"; even the opening poem. Let's just say that of all the authors whose work is regarded as belonging to the "weird tales" genre, most aren't ''half'' as weird as Chambers.
57	* NoodleIncident:
58	** Mr. Scott's love affair with Sylvia ended with him concealing an unnamed secret within the forests of Brittany.
59	** Most portions of the play itself.
60	* NotAMask: Played straight.
61	-->'''Camilla:''' You, sir, should unmask.\
62	'''Stranger:''' Indeed?\
63	'''Cassilda:''' Indeed, it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.\
64	'''Stranger:''' I wear no mask. \
65	'''Camilla:''' ''(Terrified, aside to Cassilda.)'' No mask? No mask!
66	* SchmuckBait: People keep reading ''The King in Yellow'' even if they've been informed doing so is a bad idea. There's a subtle implication that [[ArtifactOfDoom the play]] exerts some sort of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings One Ring]]-style influence on people to get itself read.
67	* SeriesContinuityError: Chambers would freely change major details between stories.
68	** Hastur is variously a city, a planet, a person, or a god.
69	** In-universe, several editions of the play exist, and it's implied that no two performances are the same.
70	* ShoutOut: Chambers took the enigmatic names Hastur and Carcosa from two of Creator/AmbroseBierce's short stories.
71	* SurrealHorror: Nothing about the horrific weirdness is explained. Ever.
72	%%* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Anyone who reads the play.
73	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
74	** Although [[spoiler:the evil cat is killed (and that's not even a sure thing, given that Hildred's an UnreliableNarrator putting it mildly)]], animal lovers will be pleased to note that [[spoiler:the bunny and the goldfish in "The Mask" are restored to life and the fish are immediately re-homed]].
75	** The exact fates of most people in the play are unrevealed, though [[NothingIsScarier heavily implied to be awful.]]
76	** [[spoiler: Hildred apparently sent a blackmailed client to kill Hawberk and Constance. We don't know what happened there, but both seem to be alive at the end. Of course, Hildred being [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness not exactly in touch with reality]] we can't even be sure he actually sent the guy.]]
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:The Repairer of Reputations]]
80	->''"Ne raillons pas les fous; leur folie dure plus longtemps que la nôtre.... Voilà toute la différence."'' [[note]]Do not mock the insane; their madness lasts longer than ours… that is the only difference.[[/note]]
81	----
82	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Chambers' "[[CrapsaccharineWorld utopian]]", reformed United States in the far-off year of our Lord... ''1920''.
83	* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: The Repairer has a cat he constantly taunts and mistreats to laugh at when it lashes out at him violently.
84	* CatsAreMean: The title character not only almost lives in fear of his, but also seems to enjoy it. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation It may have just realized]] [[EvilDetectingDog its owner was a psychopath.]]
85	%%* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: The apparent role of Constance to Hawberk the Armorer.
86	* 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 the narrator considers equally positive.
87	* 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.
88	* OnlySaneMan: Two characters, Louis Castaigne and Constance, seem to be wholly normal and free of the sinister power of [[ArtifactOfDoom ''The King In Yellow'']].
89	* 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. (Or, in his own view, he was a shiftless layabout before his accident led to him gaining his newfound focus.)
90	* SpannerInTheWorks: The evil scheme is foiled by [[spoiler:the title character getting his throat torn out by his own RightHandCat.]] Then again, [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness since most people involved were insane]], the plan might not have worked anyway.
91	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: The narrator is definitely ''not'' stable.
92	* UnreliableNarrator:
93	** [[spoiler:We don't even know if the CrapsaccharineWorld is real or not; the tales featuring the King in Yellow play are interconnected, but this is the only one which explicitly depicts such a world.]]
94	** 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 biscuit tin]].
95	* 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 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.
96	* VillainousBreakdown: When Louis refuses Hildred's demand to jilt Constance and go into exile, Hildred decides to murder ''both'' of them.
97	* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: "Government Lethal Chambers" are introduced so that any citizen who desires it can end their lives. [[UnreliableNarrator Or at least so we're told.]]
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:The Mask]]
101	->CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.\
102	STRANGER: Indeed?\
103	CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.\
104	STRANGER: [[NotAMask I wear no mask.]]\
105	CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!\
106	\
107	The King in Yellow, Act I, Scene 2.
108	----
109	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:With Genevieve's revival at the end of the story, Boris's suicide seems to be this, as she and Alec are free to be together]]. The real question is, can they get past their shared trauma and guilt?
110	* DrivenToSuicide: When [[spoiler:Boris]] find that [[spoiler:Genevieve has been turned to stone, he shoots himself.]]
111	* LoveTriangle: Boris and Alec both love Genevieve. She confessed she loved Boris more and married him, [[spoiler:though she reveals during her fever that she has realized she loves Alec more and wishes she had chosen him]].
112	* TakenForGranite: Boris's compound turns any living entity immersed in it into marble. He is starting to experiment with animals...[[spoiler:and then his wife falls into the pool of solution. By the end we find out that, while it takes years, it eventually wears off]].
113	* {{Unobtainium}}: "The Mask": A newly discovered element tentatively placed in the Incredibly Awesome group.
114	* WaxMuseumMorgue: It begins innocently enough with turning flowers into marble... and then goldfish... and then a rabbit... and then, quite by accident, [[spoiler:a woman]].
115	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Animal lovers will be pleased to note that [[spoiler:the bunny and the goldfish are restored to life and the fish are immediately re-homed]].
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:In the Court of the Dragon]]
119	->''"Oh, thou who burn'st in heart for those who burn\
120	In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn;\
121	How long be crying--'Mercy on them.' God!\
122	Why, who art thou to teach and He to learn?"''
123	----
124	* AllJustADream: After his harrowing flight from the organist, the narrator [[spoiler:wakes up back in the church pew, with his neighbors glaring at him for dozing off during the sermon]].
125	* AsTheGoodBookSays: The story ends with a quote from Hebrews 10:31: "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
126	* OminousPipeOrgan: The narrator notes that the church organ that plays during the sermon sounds off in some way, evil and hateful as it is described while none of the other people in the church seem to notice.
127	* OrWasItADream: [[spoiler:While most of the story is implied to be a dream, the ending casts doubt on whether the narrator is still dreaming or if he really has ended up in Carcosa before the Yellow King]].
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:The Yellow Sign]]
131	->''"Let the red dawn surmise\
132	What we shall do,\
133	When this blue starlight dies\
134	And all is through."''
135	----
136	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Tessie confesses her love for the narrator in such a fashion.
137	* DeadAllAlong: The hearse-driver is revealed to have died months prior.
138	* KillTheCutie: Tessie, who is the nicest and most innocent character in the tale, is the first to die.
139	* MoodWhiplash: Most of the story is a rather innocent and sweet love story about the growing affection between Scott and Tessie, with sinister going-ons in the background. And then it switches to full-blown CosmicHorror.
140	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Tessie Reardon is a nude model, but despite that virginal, and rather obviously saving herself for Mr. Scott.
141	* OhCrap: When Tessie gets hold of the copy of the play, Scott panics and pleads with her to put it down. Unfortunately, she's having a fit of pique, and this just goads her into playing keep-away and opening it.
142	* 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. [[spoiler:And then an avatar of the King in Yellow kills Tessie and leaves Scott dying]].
143	* UncannyValley: {{Invoked}}. The pale hearse-driver in "The Yellow Sign" is constantly described in eerie terms as seeming unnaturally soft and puffy, and people often reacts to his presence with revulsion or fear. For good reason.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:The Demoiselle d'Ys]]
147	->''"Mais je croy que je\
148	Suis descendu on puiz\
149	Ténébreux onquel disoit\
150	Heraclytus estre Vereté cachée."\
151	\
152	"There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:\
153	"The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid."''
154	----
155	* DeathByDespair: [[spoiler:Jeanne's]] grave notes that she died in longing for her lost love.
156	* RescueRomance: Philip falls madly in love with Jeanne after she rescues him lost on the moors.
157	* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:At the end, the narrator finds out that the castle he stayed in was a ruin and the girl had been dead for five hundred years.]]
158	* TogetherInDeath: At the end, [[spoiler:Philip feels his foot numbed, suggesting that he has been fatally bitten. He will be reunited with his beloved Jeanne very soon]].
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	%%[[folder:The Prophets' Paradise]]
162	%%->''"If but the Vine and Love Abjuring Band\
163	%%Are in the Prophets' Paradise to stand,\
164	%%Alack, I doubt the Prophets' Paradise,\
165	%%Were empty as the hollow of one's hand."''
166	%%----
167	%%* ManipulativeBastard: In ''The Throng'', Pierrot convinces the narrator that the mirror was stolen rather than their purse.
168	%%[[/folder]]
169	%%
170	%%[[folder:The Street of the Four Winds]]
171	%%->''"Ferme tes yeux à demi,\
172	%%Croise tes bras sur ton sein,\
173	%%Et de ton cœur endormi\
174	%%Chasse à jamais tout dessein."\
175	%%\
176	%%"Je chante la nature,\
177	%%Les étoiles du soir, les larmes du matin,\
178	%%Les couchers de soleil à l'horizon lointain,\
179	%%Le ciel qui parle au cœur d'existence future!"''
180	%%----
181	%%* KindheartedCatLover: Severn
182	%%[[/folder]]
183	%%
184	%%[[folder:The Street of the First Shell]]
185	%%->''"Be of Good Cheer, the Sullen Month will die,\
186	%%And a young Moon requite us by and by:\
187	%%Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan\
188	%%With age and Fast, is fainting from the sky."''
189	%%----
190	%%[[/folder]]
191	%%
192	%%[[folder:The Street of Our Lady of the Fields]]
193	%%->''"Et tout les jours passés dans la tristesse\
194	%%Nous sont comptés comme des jours heureux!"''
195	%%----
196	%%[[/folder]]
197	%%
198	%%[[folder:Rue Barrée]]
199	%%->''"For let Philosopher and Doctor preach\
200	%%Of what they will and what they will not,--each\
201	%%Is but one link in an eternal chain\
202	%%That none can slip nor break nor over-reach."\
203	%%\
204	%%"Crimson nor yellow roses nor\
205	%%The savour of the mounting sea\
206	%%Are worth the perfume I adore\
207	%%That clings to thee.\
208	%%The languid-headed lilies tire,\
209	%%The changeless waters weary me;\
210	%%I ache with passionate desire\
211	%%Of thine and thee.\
212	%%There are but these things in the world--\
213	%%Thy mouth of fire,\
214	%%Thy breasts, thy hands, thy hair upcurled\
215	%%And my desire."''
216	%%----
217	%%[[/folder]]
218

Context Literature / TheKingInYellow