The Yellow King: My Theory
True Detective. We can all agree that it was pretty great but what actually went down in the final episode, and what does this tell us about the show's most mysterious entity, the Yellow King?
For me, there was always an air of the supernatural surrounding the Yellow King: The way characters would speak of him. The green-eared drawing on Rust's pyramid of information. And the African lady who, when asked about the wooden sculptures, went wide eyed and said 'You know Carcosa?'
If we accept that the Yellow King was simply Errol Childress, the redneck with ties to the Tuttle family, I think we're missing something.
Before I go on, It's worth saying that 'The Yellow King' is book of short stories by Robert Chambers. Dealing with the supernatural, 'The King in Yellow' is about a play that turns anyone who reads it insane. Cool concept. I'm already pretty insane so I haven't read it, my theory derives from the show alone.
So, the bodies, the sculptures, the murals. I just don't accept that Childress could be responsible for all of these. Remember the VHS that Rust finds, where multiple masked figures gather to perform an unspeakably dark act? My point is, there has to be more than one. Rust knows it too. That's why he wants the whole Tuttle family.
Errol's prisoner, 'dad' he calls him. Why torture your own blood? If they're in this cult together, what happened to the old man that made his undeniably evil son turn against him?
What's really going on becomes clear when we reach the King's lair. That booming voice that leads Rust through the maze, it's not natural. And why does it call him 'little priest'? Why associate Rust with some sort of holy crusade?
Because it is a holy crusade. I believe that the Yellow King is a demonic entity that posses members of the Tuttle family, driving them to fulfil its horrific bidding.
This would explain the supernatural element of the show. The ritualistic deaths, the murals, the Carcosa. It would also explain the sheer amount of bodies. If the Yellow King can pass between vessels or control several people at once, this would give us the cult we're looking for.
Errol's prisoner. Perhaps the Yellow King was done with this old and useless vessel and so abandoned it and moved into Errol? That's why he's now held captive. That's why the liar is so intricate and decorated. There was someone crafting it long before Errol.
That leads us to the climax. Where the monster lures out our priest. Where we see a swirling vortex come funnelling down and almost don't question it. It's another one of Rust's hallucinations, right? But the last time Rust had a vision it was fruitful; the birds signalled his next big lead. This vision is fruitful too, it signals that he has reached the end of this quest.
See, if Errol is a demon then Rust is certainly imbued with some god-like properties. It explains why he is so disturbed, why he can't sleep, why he obsesses over cases, why he's so good at solving them and why his daughter was taken from him. Because he was put on earth for a reason, to fight evil.
When the two forces finally meet eye-to-eye, Childress stares at Rust and says 'TAKE OFF YOUR MASK'. It's because the Yellow King sees beneath Rust's callousness and cynicism. He's sees Rust for what he really is, an angel.
Thanks, J.
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