Towerpedia:Crimson King




THE CRIMSON KING




The Crimson King is a fictional character in author Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower comic series and connected books Black House and Insomnia.

A shape changing god of discordia or chaos, his name is Los. His universally recognized symbol is that of the Crimson Eye. Seen here -

His titles are variously - The Crimson King, The Red King, Lord of Discordia, Lord of Spiders, Los the Red, and Ram Aballah or The Aballah or The King. His actual form is a were-spider. His height and weight in his man form is 6'1 and 280 lbs and in his spider form 8'3 575 lbs. The man form is described, when we meet him in DT7, as an old man with crimson eyes and a single tusk inside red lips, long white beard and deep creases in his face. His eyes are described by Roland to be like a "dragon in human form". He is seen wearing a red and white robe with cabalistic symbols on it. He is also known to wear a golden crown.

His spider self is described as gigantic and black. He also apparantly shifts in and out of view if watched. As described by Patrick Danville, he darkles and tincts.

His home was in a tall castle so dark red that from a distance it looks black. The castle is called Le Casse Roi Russe or Castle of the Red King. His servants include (but are surely not limited to) the Can Toi (or Low Men), vampires, other demons, taheen and humans working through various companies in what is, most likely, all the worlds that are part of the Dark Tower. These companies include Sombra Corp, Trans Corp, LaMerk Foundry and North Central Positronics. Walter O'Dim aka Flagg is his Prime Minister.

The Crimson King's throne is made of skulls. At some point he went mad and killed all but three of his court by forcing them to eat rat poison. He "killed" himself by swallowing a sharpened spoon and made himself (or a part of himself) undead to keep from possibly being killed by Roland's bullets. After this he rode to the Dark Tower on his grey horse Nis wrapped in a storm. Also at some point he blackened the land that is now called Thunderclap although it is not known when this happened. He is known to eat humans and sometimes, when he talks, a child will die somewhere.

He made, or had made for him, a giant machine called An Tak or the Big Combination ran by children who failed as possible Breakers. An Tak's purpose was to spread discordia through the multiverse. An Tak is most likely the same as The King's Forge mentioned in Song of Susannah and DT7.

Los is the son of both Arthur Eld and The Crimson Queen, the greatest of the folk of the Prim, through a deceptive sexual encounter on The Crimson Queen's part in order to trap Arthur Eld and his court and eat them and to sow discord within his court.

Los has a son, named by one of his two mothers (Mia) after the name from Arthurian myth in his other mother's (Susannah's) mind, Mordred. Mordred was prophecied to be the destroyer of the last of the line of Warriors of Eld, born of a mixing of the sperm from the Red King and Roland Deschain and born of both Susannah and Mia.



Original artwork by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove

Original artwork by boehmke

Original artwork by Michael Whelan

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References

David, Peter, & Furth, Robin. The Gunslinger Born #2. Marvel Comics, May 2007.

Flamini, Anthony. The Dark Tower: Gunslinger's Guidebook. Marvel Publishing, Inc., August 2007.

King, Stephen. The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book I, Revised). Viking Adult, 2003. ISBN 0670032549

King, Stephen. The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book II). Viking Adult, 2003. ISBN 0670032557

King, Stephen. The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book III). Viking Adult, 2003. ISBN 0670032565

King, Stephen. Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book IV). Viking Adult, 2003. ISBN 0670032573

King, Stephen. Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book V). Donald M. Grant/Scribner, 2003. ISBN 1880418568

King, Stephen. Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book VI). Donald M. Grant/Scribner, 2004. ISBN 1880418592

King, Stephen. The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book VII). Donald M. Grant/Scribner, 2004. ISBN 1880418622

King, Stephen. Insomnia. Singet, 1995. ISBN 0451184963

King, Stephen, & Straub, Peter. Black House. Ballantine Books, 2003. ISBN 034547063X

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