History Main / RatKing

* In ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'', the sewer rats are ruled by a rat king, a bunch of rats joined by the tails.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Hilda}}'' (the Creator/{{Netflix}} adaptation at least) the Rat King is a swarm of rats that move in a hulking mass and speak in unison. They know all secrets overheard by the rats of Trollberg and will happily [[KnowledgeBroker trade them for more]].

* In ''[[Creator/MaryGentle Rats and Gargoyles]]'', the titular [[RatMan Rats]] are ruled by groups of nine of their number with [[BodyHorror their tails deliberately fused together]].

* A somewhat literal take on the trope, in ''{{Neverwhere}}'', the nations of London Below include a highly regarded class of humans called Rat Speakers, who carry out the orders of the rats, who themselves are ruled with absolute authority by an entity described only as "The Golden".

* In Nancy Collins's UrbanFantasy novel ''Left Hand Magic'', a supernatural [[SwarmOfRats conglomeration of twelve New York street rats]] tries to eat the heroine's puppy. [[spoiler:Luckily, her [[WitchSpecies witchy]] boyfriend's {{familiar}} instead ends up eating the rat king.]]

Because rats are social, have long tails, and happily live in their own filth, it occasionally happens that they get stuck together. In particular, their tails can become tangled, and once this occurs they lack the wits to separate themselves. Humans, long-time unwilling companions of ratkind, have noticed these unfortunate entities and ascribed them with special properties. Details vary by region, but generally they're held to be omens of plague and other rat-based calamities.

* The Rat King in the ''WesternAnimation/Adventure Time'' episode "Recap/AdventureTimeS6E11LittleBrother" is, of course, the king of all rats, being a normal sized rat with a crown and a cape hiding a legion of rats making him look taller.

-> ''"Through your eyes, brothers, I finally see the world for what it really is. This city is infested. Eight million [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters parasites, scrambling around in their pointless lives, spreading disease, forcing us to live in the shadows, like vermin]]. No more. They are the true plague. Together, we shall [[KillAllHumans rid this city of humanity]], and reclaim it for ourselves. And no one, not even those vile turtles, shall stand in our way."''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}} has emperor rats, also known as "rat-hydras." They come to be when multiple giant rats are [[BodyHorror fused into one creature]] by [[WildMagic Wyld energies]].

* In ''{{Neverwhere}}'', the nations of London Below include a highly regarded class of humans called Rat Speakers, who carry out the orders of the rats, who themselves are ruled with absolute authority by an entity described only as "The Golden".

* In ''[[Neverwhere]]'', the nations of London Below include a highly regarded class of humans called Rat Speakers, who carry out the orders of the rats, who themselves are ruled with absolute authority by an entity described only as "The Golden".

* In Nancy Collins's UrbanFantasy novel ''Left Hand Magic'', a supernatural [[SwarmOfRats conglomeration of twelve New York street rats]] tries to eat the heroine's puppy. [[spoiler:Luckily, her witchy boyfriend's {{familiar}} instead ends up eating the rat king.]]

* In Nancy Collins's UrbanFantasy novel ''Left Hand Magic'', a supernatural conglomeration of twelve New York street rats tries to eat the heroine's puppy. [[spoiler:Luckily, her witchy boyfriend's {{familiar}} instead ends up eating the rat king.]]

[[AC: Comic Books]]
* Creator/AlanMoore's serial for ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'', ''ComicBook/TheBalladOfHaloJones'', had the heroine sign up in the Army to fight a deadly war on an alien planet. She discovers the heart of the supercomputer directing Earth's war effort is a malevolent and superintelligent Rat King plugged into the network as its CPU.

[[AC: Literature]]
* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' has one as its ultimate villain. Spider, so-called because it's made from eight young rats (eight being a number of great occult significance on the Discworld), has psychic powers so potent it can not only control rats and see anything they can see, but also influence human behavior. It can even strip away the magical awareness given to the protagonist rats and cat, making them ordinary creatures. Horribly, making a Rat King is part of the qualification for mastery in the Ratcatchers Guild, suggesting that there are many of these things across the Disc.

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC: Webcomics]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has Patrick Poundstone aka [[http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Ratboy Ratboy]] from the episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E9Rats Rats]]", who can control the giant rats that live below Gotham. He is a StalkerWithACrush to Dana Tan, Terry's LoveInterest and kidnaps her. When she rebuffs him, he orders his rats [[IfICantHaveYou to kill her]] but Batman manages to save her. [[spoiler: Other people were not so lucky.]]

* The Mouse King from ''Literature/TheNutcracker'' has seven heads, which suggests that it might have been inspired by stories of Rat Kings. He's changed to the Rat King in many adaptations to make him seem more villainous.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has Patrick Poundstone aka [[http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Ratboy Ratboy]] from the episode, "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E9Rats Rats]]", who can control the giant rats that live below Gotham He is a StalkerWithACrush to Dana Tan, Terry's LoveInterest and kidnaps her. When she rebuffs him, he orders his rats [[IfICantHaveYou to kill her]] but Batman manages to save her. [[spoiler: Other people were not so lucky.]]

In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''Firestar's Quest'', [=SkyClan=] is threatened to be wiped out by a swarm of rats. Firestar realizes that the rats have a leader, which is more intelligent than the others: it is able to speak Cat, and give commands to all the other rats. [[spoiler:Once he kills the leader, the rest of [[KeystoneArmy the rats have nothing to command them, and they scatter.]]]]