キング

Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.

> To my people, I'm a hero. To you? I'M THE BAD GUY!!!
>
> King
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>
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**King** is the primary antagonist and final boss of Chapter 1 in *Deltarune*. He is the father of Lancer, and one of the four kings of the Dark World.

His goal is to serve the Knight by protecting the Eastern Fountain and invading the world with darkness, thus making the Darkners the rulers of it. This goal is thwarted, at least temporarily, when Kris seals the Eastern Fountain at the end of Chapter 1.

## Profile

### Appearance

King shares multiple features with his son, such as the tear-shaped head with a black spade where his eyes should be, a mouth showing his tongue and big teeth, a broad body, and blue gloves and boots. What differentiates him from Lancer is the three-spiked crown on his head, the enormous mouth on his stomach shaped like a blue spade from where a chain comes out when used as a weapon in battle, and the black cape that flies away at the end of the battle. King's right arm can only be seen when he turns around or is carried by the crowd at the end of his battle.

### Personality

King is a cold-hearted Darkner with little compassion towards his subjects and only considers his own wishes. He appears to be power-hungry, evident by his constant wishes of gaining control of the World along with his following of Knight's plan to capture the three other Kings. King also displays signs of abuse towards his son Lancer, in which he often neglects him and even uses him as a hostage to gain the upper hand in battle. During the final fight, it is revealed that King's loyalty lies solely with the Knight, and that he'll do anything to avoid failing them; to the point of threatening to kill Lancer if Kris, Ralsei, and Susie do not surrender.

## Main Story

### History

Long ago, the Dark World was ruled by four kings. However, some time before Kris and Susie enter the Dark World, the Knight appeared. It is implied that King then started working for the Knight's schemes, and that it was the Knight who created the Eastern Fountain at Card Castle. With the Knight's appearance, the three other kings were locked away in Card Castle, and King put himself and Lancer into absolute power over the Dark World.

### Chapter 1

In the climax of Chapter 1, King makes an appearance as the main antagonist. When the Heroes reach the top of Card Castle, Lancer can be seen attempting to reason with his father. However, King decides to use Lancer as a hostage in hopes of forcing the heroes to surrender. Despite this, Lancer manages to break free from King's grasp, allowing the Heroes to fight back against him.

During the fight, King begins to rant about the Lightners, believing that they left the Darkners alone. However, he insists that the Lightners are no longer necessary for his purpose, as the Knight has already filled that gap. He explains his end goal is to create a world blanketed in darkness and ruled by Darkners.

The heroes manage to defeat King, who then surrenders and "admits" that he never wanted to have a war against the Lightners. Ralsei proceeds to heal King. His speech turns out to be a ruse as he brutally knocks out the Heroes, only for either one of two interventions to occur:

* **If any enemy in the game has been defeated by fighting (not counting Jevil):** Susie distracts King long enough to use a Pacify Spell on him, thus putting him into deep slumber.
* **Otherwise:** Lancer and several Darkners arrive in the nick of time to capture King. Lancer declares that "they'd rather have a king that accepts them" instead of the old monarch.

## In Battle

### Attacks

* **Spade Attack:** King launches a series of spades, which inflict damage upon contact, and fly from one side of the screen to the other.
* **Advanced Spade Attack:** King pulls the bullet board up and down while launching a series of spades which fly horizontally. As the fight progresses, the gaps between the spades become smaller.
* **Warned Spade Attack:** King launches a series of chains with a spade symbol on top. Their positions are warned before release with thin red lines.
* **Spiked Box Attack:** King traps the SOUL in a spiked box which moves around unpredictably. The spikes inflict damage upon contact.
* **Spiked Box Attack 2:** King traps the SOUL in a spiked box which is dragged by a chain to a fixed position marked with a heart. The spikes inflict damage upon contact.
* **Advanced Spiked Box Attack 2:** King traps the SOUL in a spiked box and summons a series of static spades that fill the whole battlefield. King then drags the spiked box with a chain around to a fixed position marked with a heart. Both the static spades and the spikes damage on contact.

### Strategy

As King cannot be reasoned with according to his flavor text, Mercy is not an option. Thus, there are only two methods to defeat King, either by fighting or surviving all of King's attacks for 14 turns, marking the end of the battle. Fighting can end the battle faster if the party's attack damage is strong enough, and does not affect the post-battle sequence.

### Quotes

* *How dare you come here, Lightners...?*
* *You, that left us in the shadows, stripped of meaning...*
* *You DARE return to torment us once again?*
* *Begone! We have found fresh purpose.*
* *For the KNIGHT has appeared.*
* *The KNIGHT that pulls the Fountains from the Earth.*
* *Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world....OUR world.*
* *Hahaha...Do you see now our NEW purpose...?*
* *Soon, this world shall be blanketed in darkness...And DARKNERS shall RULE it!*
* *Then, you may see what it is like to live in DESPAIR!*
* *Now, enough talk! Fall before the chain of justice!*
* *... ha,you're quite strong,aren't you!?*
* *If I keep fighting you like this,then...*
* *It seems...that...*
* *My KNIGHT...I shall not fail you...*
* *Silence, Lightbringer! Your very existence goes against our own... By the Knight's will, I shall shatter your heart to pieces!* **[Talk as Kris]**
* *If I perish, so be it! Show my son the monster you REALLY are!* **[Talk as Susie]**
* *Such simple-minded platitudes... A shame you will not live to realize your naivety. Now, perish with the pathetic LIGHTNERS you worship!* **[Talk as Ralsei]**

### Flavor Text

* *King blocked the way!* **[Encounter]**
* *Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred. He cannot be reasoned with, but don't give up...!* **[Check]**
* *Darkness pours from the fountain.* **[Neutral]**
* *KING's mouths gave a berserk smile.* **[Neutral]**
* *The battlefield is rumbling.* **[Neutral]**
* *KING's mouths babble indecipherably.* **[Neutral]**
* *KING's cape flutters weakly.* **[Low HP]**
* *You tried to reason with the King...Your will is changing... TALK became COURAGE!* **[Talk as Kris]**
* *Susie tried to reason with the King... Susie's will is changing... TALK became RED BUSTER!* **[Talk as Susie]**
* *Ralsei tried to reason with the King... Ralsei's will is changing... TALK became DUAL HEAL!* **[Talk as Ralsei]**

## Relationships

### Lancer

King is Lancer's father. Despite this, they do not appear to have a close relationship, as King spends little time with his son and seems to care very little about his wellbeing, often leaving Rouxls Kaard to look after and even feed Lancer. However, King does seem to care about the public treatment of Lancer, asking Darkners to take orders from Lancer despite them not liking him.

### Knight

Although not much is known about the Knight themselves, they are responsible for King becoming the ruler of all Darkners. As a result, King holds the Knight in very high esteem, and promises not to fail them at any cost.

### King's Subjects

King is the ruler of all Darkners by the time the story takes place. However, everyone seems to either fear King or loathe him, and they are all very eager to have a new ruler if the party doesn't defeat any Darkners by fighting.

## Gallery

King battle throw.gifChain ThrowKing attack spades.pngSpade AttackKing attack advanced spades.pngAdvanced Spade AttackKing attack warned spades.pngWarned Spade AttackKing attack spiked box.pngSpiked Box AttackKing attack guided spiked box.pngSpiked Box Attack 2King attack advanced guided spiked box.pngAdvanced Spiked Box Attack 2
## Trivia

* King's battle theme, Chaos King, is a remix of the Card Castle music. Both tracks contain elements of Lancer's theme.
* King's laugh is a deeper version of Lancer's.
* The King (along with Lancer, Rudinn, Hathy, Clover, Jevil and the uncredited three imprisoned kings) were designed by kanotynes.
	+ With the exception of Jevil, all of kanotynes's characters were fully designed by March 2012 - 6 years prior to the release of *Deltarune*.
		- According to kanotynes, the characters were originally created for her design class, having volunteered to draw 52 unique playing card designs.
		- The King's earliest design was first posted on Tumblr on March 27, 2012 as a character on a king of spades playing card.

## References

1. ↑ *just finished the face cards.* - kanotynes on Tumblr, March 27, 2012.
2. ↑ *The reason I made them in the first place was for my design class though.* - kanotynes on Tumblr, March 29, 2012.

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