The King in Yellow

Support

**The King in Yellow** is a Support Card that appears in the *Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game* Arkham Edition.

## Artwork

AE-147 uses an illustration[?] by John Goodenough.

## Mythos

*The King in Yellow* first appeared in the story *The Yellow Sign* (Robert W. Chambers, 1895).

*The King in Yellow* is a play formerly thought to have been written in the late 19th century by an unknown playwright (possibly named Castaigne) who later attempted suicide. New evidence suggests that the first two scenes were the work of Christopher Marlowe, the author of Doctor Faustus. "Castaigne" rediscovered it in 1891 and completed the play, possibly while staying at the Broadalbin Hotel in New York.

Some details of the play remain unclear, such as whether it was originally in French (as *Le Roi en Jaune*) or English, or whether the first publication was in 1890 or in 1895. After its appearance, the government and churches denounced it, and the city of Paris banned the play. Since then, other editions have been published secretly. Publications, some in the original tongue and others translated, have appeared in London, Edinburgh, Chicago, Zagreb, Budapest, Berlin, Warsaw, Prague, Belgrade, Sofia, Bucharest, and Sarajevo.

Though it contains much contradiction and allegory, *The King in Yellow* is a dangerous work which leads the imaginative and unstable to madness. The first act is relatively bland, but this only allows the second, more horrible act to have a greater impact.

Two versions of the plot of the play are known, though which one is truly correct is unknown; evidence from one performance suggests that *The King in Yellow* is different for every reader or member of the audience.

### First Version

The two act play begins on another world in the city of Yhtill, under the stars of Aldebaran and the Hyades. The majority of the play concerns the intrigue in the royal court between the claimants to the throne of Yhtill — the Queen, Thale, Uoht, Cassilda, Aldones, and Camilla.

The royal family hears of a mysterious stranger who wears a Pallid Mask and the horrid Yellow Sign who comes to Yhtill at about the same time as a strange ghostly city appears across the Lake of Hali. The royal family questions this
figure, but they learn nothing. At a masked ball, the figure reveals that he wears no mask and has come to announce the end of the dynasty. Camilla goes mad, and the queen tortures the Stranger to death. At the same time, she orders the death of the prisoners, inadvertently killing her son Uoht who is imprisoned with them.

Madness sweeps the land, and the sounds of invasion are heard. The dreaded King in Yellow appears in Yhtill as the mysterious city on the lake's far side disappears. The King states that Yhtill has passed away and now only the city of Carcosa lies on the shore of the lake. He slays both Aldones and Thale, proclaiming the death of both rationality and irrationality and his own eternal rule.

### Second Version

The setting is the city of Hastur, which has been at war with its neighbor Alar for countless years. The children of the ruling queen, Uoht, Thale, and Camilla, pester their mother, Cassilda for the crown so that the dynasty might continue, but she puts off giving it away. Cassilda then learns that a figure wearing a Pallid Mask and bearing the Yellow Sign has been seen in Hastur. Counseled by the high priest Naotalba, she calls this stranger into the palace. The stranger, named Yhtill, offers the queen a chance to break free from the domination of the King in Yellow, who dwells in Carcosa across the Lake of Hali and rarely interferes in the works of humans. By wearing the Pallid Mask, all those in the city may throw off the dread of the Yellow Sign as he has.

Believing what the stranger has told her, the queen holds a masquerade at which each person wears the Pallid Mask. When the time comes to unmask, Yhtill reveals that he wears no mask, and has come from Alar to wreak vengeance upon Hastur's people. This outrage does not go unnoticed by the King in Yellow, who comes to bear away Yhtill. The King promises Cassilda that he will allow the victor of the war between Hastur and Alar to rule the world, but on one condition: that the people of Hastur and their descendants wear their Pallid Masks for all time. As the play ends, the King in Yellow departs, leaving the courtiers in despair.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Harms, Daniel, "The King in Yellow'", *Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia*.