Rat King

The **Rat King** is the name of a large cluster of rats, first seen in "Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit". They only appear directly in the animated series, but are mentioned in other Hilda media.

## Appearance

The dozens of rats that make the Rat King are tied together with their tails. All of these rats are capable of human speech, and have human-level intelligence. They share a single consciousness and always speak in perfect union, but still still refer to themselves in the plural ("we"). They have glowing, red eyes and move around by rolling around the ground in a large ball.

## Origin

According to *Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits*, the Rat King came to be when at some point in Trolbergs history, dozens of the rats racing around in the sewers became hopelessly tangled together with their tails. Over time, they came to speak, think and act as one.

## Behaviour

The Rat King is the keeper of all secrets of the people in Trolberg. They get most of these secrets from the rats that overheard them, or by trading them with others. The Rat King is an ally of the Marra, and they frequently exchange secrets, but the king is not afraid to reveal secrets about them if they can get something for it in return.

When Hilda, David and Frida visited the Rat King in the sewers, they revealed to Hilda that a Marra was responsible for David's nightmares in return for Hilda telling them her secret; that she's afraid of riding a bike and doesn't want her friends to find out. The Rat King later gave this secret to the Marra, who used it against Hilda to give the girl a nightmare.

In "The Draugen", Hilda seeks out the Rat King again to learn any secrets about Erik Ahlberg. The Rat King first wants a fried cod sandwich from the Salty Maiden; one that has aged in the dumpster outside. Hilda is eventually able to get them this sandwich, but it turns out the Rat King was unable to dig up any dirt on Erik Ahlberg.

In the movie, the Rat King is briefly seen panicking when Trundle attacks the city and Amma begins to awaken thus as the whole sewer system crumbles down above them. Their fate is left ambiguous, until the end of "Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle" where they make a cameo, proving they survived.

## Appearances

* The Nightmare Spirit
* The Draugen
* Hilda and the Mountain King (cameo)
* Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle (cameo)

## In other media

* In the graphic novel *Hilda and the Bird Parade*, when Hilda and The Great Raven are wandering around the harbor, they see a shadow of what appears to be the Rat King, and flee. But it turns out to be just 3 white mice. This scene was not included in the animated adaptation. The real Rat King does not appear in any of the graphic novels, leaving it unclear if the creature actually exists in this continuity.
* In the Hilda Tie-In Series, the Rat King is briefly mentioned in "Hilda and the Nowhere Space" in one of the scary campfire songs from the Sparrow Scouts, and again at the start of "Hilda and the Laughing Merman" when Hilda recalls she met him after moving to Trolberg.
* The Rat King has an article about him in "Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits".
* The Rat King is mentioned in "Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond", which contains a list of his seven juiciest secrets:
	+ The chef at The Salty Maiden secretly uses his toenail clippings as an ingredient for the dish of the day.
	+ Victoria Van Gale was once struck by lightning and has not been the same since.
	+ Enid Hallgrim is secretly writing a romance novel.
	+ Abigail is secretly terrified of Salt-Lions.
	+ Erik Ahlberg practices writing his autograph and posing for photographs every morning.
	+ Bartell Bragga likes to experiment with new hairstyles.
	+ Trevor is terrified of monsters under his bed, and puts his teddy bear on guard duty every night.

Rat King as seen in *Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits*.
## Trivia

* The Rat King is based on a rare real-life phenomenon named "rat king", where a group of rats become intertwined by their tails.
* Luke Pearson originally did plan for the Rat King to be in one of the graphic novels, but considered the idea too gross and scary for the book, so he boiled it down to the joke with the 3 white mice.

## References

1. ↑ LUKE PEARSON: LIFE WITHOUT HILDA, interview on Pictoplasma.