THIS STORY WILL RUIN YOUR MIND (The King in Yellow)

Summary

This video delves into the enigmatic 'The King in Yellow,' a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers, which revolves around a banned play of the same name. The play's influence is profound, causing characters to undergo psychological transformations and leading to tragic outcomes. The video explores the stories' themes of obsession, power, and the corrupting nature of art, questioning the responsibility of creators in the spread of their work. It also discusses the book's impact on modern cosmic horror and its unique position in the genre.

Takeaways

• 🎭 The King in Yellow is not a monster but a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers, with a fictional play of the same name connecting them.
• 📜 The play within the book is known to have a profound and uncanny influence on its readers, often leading to their ruin.
• 👑 The first story, 'The Repairer of Reputations', involves a man who believes he is the heir to the King in Yellow's throne and plots to overthrow the US government.
• 🎨 In 'The Mask', a character's internal struggle is symbolized by a 'mask' that becomes a part of him, reflecting the play's theme of hidden identities.
• 🐉 'The Court of the Dragon' is the only story that directly encounters the King in Yellow as a symbol of death and the afterlife.
• 🟡 'The Yellow Sign' explores the idea that the play's influence is irresistible and can affect even those who have not read it.
• 📚 The stories are not traditional horror but evoke a sense of disorientation and repulsion, questioning the power of words and art.
• 💡 The King in Yellow serves as a demonstration of the power of language to influence and potentially corrupt those who consume it.
• ✍️ The script emphasizes the responsibility of writers to choose their words carefully, as they can have unintended consequences.
• 🌌 The video also discusses the creator's process and the challenges of creating educational content on platforms like YouTube, suggesting alternative platforms like Nebula for more in-depth content.

Q & A

What is the main theme of 'The King in Yellow' according to the video script?

The main theme of 'The King in Yellow' revolves around the power of words and literature to influence and corrupt those who read or hear it, often leading to tragic consequences for the characters involved.

How does the video script describe the influence of the play within 'The King in Yellow'?

The video script describes the play as having a remarkable and often harmful influence on its readers, spreading like an infectious disease and causing characters to undergo significant changes in their behavior and mental state.

What is the significance of the poem in the book's dedication?

The poem in the book's dedication sets a tone of disorientation and foreboding, depicting a world that is strange and difficult to grasp, which is a key element in the overall unsettling nature of 'The King in Yellow'.

How does the video script characterize the stories in 'The King in Yellow'?

The video script characterizes the stories as 'weird' rather than scary or existential, with a dissonant quality that leaves readers feeling repulsed or unsettled without a clear understanding of why.

What is the plot of 'The Repairer of Reputations', the first story in the video script?

In 'The Repairer of Reputations', the protagonist Hildred Castaign becomes involved in a cultish plot to overthrow the US government after reading the play 'The King in Yellow', believing he is the rightful heir to the throne of the King in Yellow.

What is the significance of the 'mask' in the story 'The Mask'?

In 'The Mask', the 'mask' represents the facade that the protagonist Alec maintains to hide his true feelings, especially his love for Genevieve, which is a central theme in the story and is also reminiscent of the 'pallid mask' mentioned in the play within 'The King in Yellow'.

How does the video script interpret the entity of the King in Yellow?

The video script interprets the King in Yellow as more of a symbol than a literal entity, often representing the corrupting influence of the play rather than a distinct being.

What is the role of the King in Yellow in the story 'The Court of the Dragon'?

In 'The Court of the Dragon', the King in Yellow appears as a symbolic figure who leads the protagonist to the ruined land of Carcosa, representing the culmination of the protagonist's obsession with the play and its consequences.

Why does the video script suggest that the play 'The King in Yellow' is like a virus?

The video script suggests that the play is like a virus because it infects the minds of its readers, spreading its influence and causing them to act in ways that they might not otherwise, often leading to their ruin.

What is the message the video script conveys about the responsibility of writers?

The video script conveys that writers have a responsibility to choose their words carefully, as they have the power to influence and potentially corrupt their audience, and they should strive to avoid making their work a vector for falsehood, evil, or hatred.

Outlines

00:00

🎭 The King in Yellow: Beyond the Monster Myth

The paragraph introduces the video's focus on 'The King in Yellow,' a subject initially perceived as a monster for Halloween but revealed to be a complex narrative. The speaker clarifies misconceptions, noting that 'The King in Yellow' is actually a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers, not a traditional monster tale. The stories are linked by a banned play of the same name, which is rumored to have a profound and mysterious influence on its readers. The speaker shares their personal experience of the book, describing the stories as 'weird' and dissonant, evoking a sense of repulsion without traditional horror elements. A poem from the book's dedication, 'Cassilda's Song,' is highlighted for its enigmatic and foreboding tone, setting the stage for the video's deeper exploration of the text.

05:03

🖌️ The Repairer of Reputations: Delusion and Downfall

This section delves into the first story of 'The King in Yellow,' titled 'The Repairer of Reputations,' which centers on Hildred Castaign. After reading the titular play, Hildred becomes entangled in a plot to overthrow the US government, believing himself to be the heir to the 'King in Yellow.' His descent into madness is catalyzed by a professional blackmailer who exploits Hildred's delusions to construct an 'Imperial Dynasty of America.' The story concludes tragically as Hildred's mental state deteriorates, leading to his arrest and commitment to an asylum, where he experiences a moment of clarity, recognizing the curse of the 'King in Yellow' crown.

10:06

🎨 The Mask: Art, Love, and Transformation

The second story, 'The Mask,' is explored as a tale of longing, change, and destiny. It follows Alec, an artist who endures unrequited love for his friend Genevieve, who is involved with the wealthy Boris. Alec's internal struggle is likened to wearing a 'mask,' a theme echoed in an excerpt from the play. The narrative takes a dramatic turn when Genevieve sacrifices herself using Boris's statue-creating liquid, and Boris commits suicide, leaving his estate to Alec. The story concludes with Genevieve's resurrection and Alec's acceptance of his role as the interloper from the play, suggesting a transformation into the 'King in Yellow' figure, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.

15:11

🐉 The Court of the Dragon: A Haunting Encounter

The third story, 'The Court of the Dragon,' is discussed as a simpler narrative that directly engages with the entity of the 'King in Yellow.' A man seeking solace in a church is instead confronted by a disturbing sermon and the malevolent organist, who he believes to be death incarnate. The organist, or the 'King in Yellow,' abducts the protagonist to the desolate realm of Carcosa, where the story culminates in an encounter with the 'King in Yellow' himself, leaving the protagonist with a sense of dread and the realization of the play's corrupting influence.

📜 The Yellow Sign: Unwanted Knowledge and Madness

The fourth story, 'The Yellow Sign,' contrasts with the others as it features a protagonist, Mr. Scott, who has not read the play and actively avoids it. Despite his efforts, he is tormented by a grotesque figure and plagued by prophetic dreams. When his lover inadvertently brings a brooch bearing the 'Yellow Sign' into their lives, the 'King in Yellow' makes a direct appearance, leading to a series of catastrophic events. The story ends with Scott in a psychiatric facility, his fate uncertain, highlighting the play's invasive and destructive nature.

🌌 The Play's Impact: The Power of Words

The final section reflects on the overarching theme of the play's influence as a demonstration of language's power to affect its audience. The speaker ponders the philosophical implications of the play's message and its role as a vector for spreading influence. The narrative concludes with a call for responsibility in the use of language, urging creators to consider the potential consequences of their work and to wield the power of words with care and intention.

🌟 Extended Content and Community Invitation

The video concludes with an invitation to explore extended content on Nebula, a creator-owned streaming platform, and to join the Tale Foundry community on Discord and Twitch. The speaker emphasizes the freedom and authenticity of these platforms, which allow for deeper and more honest engagement with educational content without the constraints of algorithms and monetization concerns.

Keywords

💡The King in Yellow

The King in Yellow refers to a fictional play within the short story collection of the same name by Robert W. Chambers. The play is central to the video's theme as it is depicted as having a profound and mysterious influence on its readers, often leading to their downfall or madness. In the video, the play is described as being banned and censored due to its powerful effects, which are not explained but are suggested to be transformative and potentially dangerous.

💡Cthulhu

Cthulhu is a cosmic entity created by H.P. Lovecraft, often associated with otherworldly horror. The video contrasts Cthulhu with The King in Yellow, suggesting that while Cthulhu represents an external, monstrous threat, The King in Yellow is more insidious, affecting people internally through its literary influence.

💡Carcosa

Carcosa is a fictional, otherworldly city mentioned in the video and is integral to the lore surrounding The King in Yellow. It is depicted as a place of strangeness and disorientation, where the natural order is subverted, as indicated by the poem in the script. The city serves as a backdrop for the unsettling and transformative experiences of the characters who encounter the play.

💡Hildred Castaign

Hildred Castaign is a character from the first story in the collection, 'The Repairer of Reputations.' He is used in the video to illustrate the corrupting influence of The King in Yellow. After reading the play, Castaign becomes convinced of his own royal lineage and plots to overthrow the US government, demonstrating how the play can drive individuals to delusion and destruction.

💡Mask

The concept of a 'mask' is used metaphorically in the video to represent the facade or pretense that characters maintain to hide their true feelings or intentions. It is exemplified in the story 'The Mask,' where Alec hides his pain behind a 'mask' of support for his friends' relationship. The video suggests that the play can strip away these masks, forcing characters to confront their inner selves.

💡Language as a Vector

The video discusses language as a vector for spreading ideas and influence, particularly in the context of The King in Yellow. It suggests that the power of words can be both a creative tool and a potential danger, as they can inspire, corrupt, or even drive people to madness, as seen in the various stories where characters are affected by the play.

💡Unintended Consequences

Unintended consequences are highlighted in the video as a key theme, especially in relation to the power of literature. The video suggests that creators must be mindful of the potential effects of their work, as the play in The King in Yellow has far-reaching and often destructive impacts that its author may not have foreseen.

💡Cosmic Horror

Cosmic horror is a genre of fiction that deals with the fear of the unknown and the insignificance of humanity in the universe. The video initially sets up The King in Yellow as a part of this genre but then diverges to explore its unique characteristics, focusing on psychological horror and the corrupting influence of a mysterious play rather than traditional cosmic entities.

💡The Yellow Sign

The Yellow Sign is a symbol from the collection that is both mysterious and ominous. In the video, it is depicted as a harbinger of doom and a gateway to the influence of The King in Yellow. The sign is used to represent the inescapable pull of the play and the inevitable consequences of engaging with it.

💡Nebula

Nebula is mentioned in the video as a creator-owned streaming platform. It is presented as an alternative to traditional platforms like YouTube, where creators can share content without the constraints of algorithms or the risk of demonetization. The video suggests that Nebula allows for a more authentic and unrestricted exploration of themes and ideas.

Highlights

The King in Yellow is not a monster but a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers.

The stories are connected by a fictional play that has a profound and mysterious influence on its readers.

The play is banned not for immorality but for its inexplicable power to alter those who experience it.

The stories are described as weird rather than scary, with a dissonant quality that induces a sense of repulsion.

The book opens with a poem that sets a tone of disorientation and foreboding, depicting an unreal world.

The first story, 'The Repairer of Reputations,' involves a man drawn into a cultish plot after reading the play.

The protagonist of 'The Repairer of Reputations' believes he is the heir to the King in Yellow's throne.

The second story, 'The Mask,' is a tragic tale of love and the power of masks to hide one's true feelings.

In 'The Mask,' a chemical turns living things into statues, reflecting the play's theme of transformation.

The third story, 'The Court of the Dragon,' embraces the entity of the King in Yellow as a symbol of death.

The final story discussed, 'The Yellow Sign,' features a character who has not read the play but is still affected by it.

The play is portrayed as a virus that spreads through the will of those it touches, influencing them against their wishes.

The video concludes with a reflection on the power of language and the responsibility of writers to choose their words carefully.

An extended version of the video and additional content can be found on Nebula, a creator-owned streaming platform.

The video also mentions the importance of community and invites viewers to join the creator's Discord server and Twitch writing groups.

Transcripts

You know, I really thought this video was going to be about a monster?

That’s why I planned it for Halloween.

I’ve been hearing about The King in Yellow for ages, and despite all the games and books

and references it’s cropped up in, I feel like I’ve never really understood what it…

is?

It somehow feels wrong beside Cthulhu and HP Lovecraft’s other space octopus gods?

But until now, I haven’t known why…

Well, I finally went and read the book itself.

Turns out The King in Yellow isn’t really much of a monster at all.

Really, it sort of says that we are.

We writers.

In case you didn’t know, until the end of the month we’re giving away free taleoid

keychains to everyone who joins our patreon at the $10 tier!

There are only a few days left, . And if you’d rather just get one directly, they’re also

available for just $15 in our merch store!

To everyone who already decided to buy one and to all of our current patrons, thank you

so much.

You really help us to keep making these videos.

We love you.

If you have no idea what any of this is, don’t worry.

You’re probably not alone.

Most people know the King in Yellow as a tentacled elder-god invented back during the pulp sci-fi

boom.

To them, it’s a distinct entity.

I guess it’s kind of become that?

But the true version of The King in Yellow… is a book of short stories, written by the

author Robert W. Chambers around the turn of the 20th century.

All the tales in the book are connected by a fictional play also called The King in Yellow,

which, in the world of the book, is known for its remarkable influence.

In the stories, the play has been censored, condemned, and banned by almost every public

organization, not because it contains anything immoral, but because it has the power to change

its readers in ways that are hard to fathom.

It has spread through the world, quote, “like an infectious disease”, to the point where

almost anyone interested in the arts has at least heard of it, if not read bits and pieces.

I wouldn’t really describe the stories in this book as scary, or even existential like

a lot of HPLovecraft’s work.

They’re just… weird.

It’s hard to say how exactly, but there’s this dissonant quality to them.

Watching how the play affects the characters and their lives somehow gives me this sense

of… repulsion?

Like my mind is trying to reject something before I even know what that something is…

And it all begins with a poem in the book’s dedication:

Along the shore the cloud waves break, // The twin suns sink behind the lake, // The shadows

lengthen // In Carcosa.

// Strange is the night where black stars rise,

// And strange moons circle through the skies // But stranger still is //Lost Carcosa.

// Songs that the Hyades shall sing, // Where

flap the tatters of the King, // Must die unheard in // Dim Carcosa.

// Song of my soul, my voice is dead; // Die

thou, unsung, as tears unshed // Shall dry and die in // Lost Carcosa.

// Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act

i, Scene 2/ I know that must sound like a lot of beautiful

gibberish now—it certainly did to me when I first read it—but that’s part of the

intrigue.

It sets a tone of disorientation and foreboding, depicts a world we can’t quite grasp, where

suns sink behind lakes, where souls have songs which the deadened voice can no longer sing.

The impression is deep, but you can hardly articulate where it comes from.

And that confusion is important.

After this one fleeting glimpse the play, the strangeness of it marinating our minds,

the first actual story in the book begins.

It’s called The Repairer of Reputations, and it’s where people seem to draw most

of their inspiration for The King in Yellow from.

It’s about a man named Hildred Castaign, who, after reading the play for the first

time, becomes embroiled in a cultish plot to overthrow the US government.

He’s convinced by a professional blackmailer who keeps a massive network of debtors that

he is the rightful heir to the thrown of the King in Yellow.

Together, they plan to erect an “Imperial Dynasty of America” built after the fashion

of the lost “Imperial Dynasty of Carcosa” from the play.

They believe that as the influence of the play has spread, the nation has become ready

for an uprising, and that in the end, they will welcome Hildred as their new king.

As this delusion takes hold, he becomes ever more sensitive about his mental health, lashing

out at anyone who expresses worry for him.

Before long he’s turned against everyone he loves.

He’s even willing to have his own cousin killed because he believes the man to be before

him in the line of succession, and thus the one thing blocking the way to his promised

kingdom.

Of course, all of this ends in tragedy for our deluded hero.

The sad coup, engineered by minds fractured and perverted through study of the play, inevitably

unravels at the seams.

As the authorities take him away to the asylum, he experiences a final moment of tragic clarity

and shouts to his baffled cousin: “Ah!

I see it now!

You have seized the throne and the empire.

Woe!

Woe to you who are crowned with the crown of the King in Yellow!”

A bit of an about-face there, to go from wanting to be the king to crying out the Woe of anyone

who is crowned king.

But this theme of ruination in the promised paradise is one we’re going to see play

out over the course of the book.

Speaking of which, the second story—and my personal favorite—is called The Mask.

It’s… shockingly romantic for something so grim, but before it starts, it also gives

us one of the only other excerpts from the play itself that we ever get:

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.

Stranger: Indeed?

Cassilda: Indeed it's time.

We all have laid aside disguise but you.

Stranger: I wear no mask.

Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.)

No mask?

No mask!

The King in Yellow, Act I, Scene 2.

Hold onto that.

You really need it to understand this one.

The story is one of longing, and change, and destiny.

Alec is an artist with a circle of friends that he treasures above all else.

One of them, Boris, is incredibly wealthy, living on a grand estate and funding novel

experiments in the fields of art and chemistry.

He even finds a new element that, in its liquid form, can turn living things to beautiful

rose marble statues almost instantly.

Another of Alec’s dear friends, Genevieve, is the love of his life—but she is also

Boris’s lover.

For all of their sakes, Alec does his best to be supportive of them in their relationship,

pretending that it doesn’t pain him.

He calls this effort his “mask”, and it reminds of the “pallid mask” from the

play.

Just like in the excerpt, he feels that the mask has stopped being a mask and become a

part of him.

Over the course of the story, as it becomes clear that his friends have also read the

play, fate seems to re-shuffle its hand for him.

Genevieve throws herself into a pool of Boris’s statue-creating liquid because of the agony

of her repressed love for Alec.

Boris takes his own life and leaves his entire estate to Alec.

Another friend travels abroad and becomes possessed with the idea that Alec is someone

of terrible importance, rushing back to see him.

And finally, it’s revealed that the effects of the statue chemical do not last forever.

Genevieve returns to life, and with no obstacles between them, she and Alec at last find their

love.

The impression is one of a prince coming into his inheritance.

As Alec dons the mask and at last becomes one with it, he takes the role of the interloper

in the play—the one we would assume to be the King in Yellow.

And leaving behind it a trail of madness and death, his world seems to rush the crown onto

his head.

The third story is quite a bit simpler than the first two, but It’s also very important.

It’s the only one that really seems to embrace the entity of the King in Yellow rather than

just the influence of the play.

But even then, the king himself seems to be more of a symbol than anything.

The story is called The Court of the Dragon, and it follows a man who, having read the

play, seeks the comfort of a familiar church house.

But something is wrong.

While the pastor gives a decidedly strange sermon on how nothing can harm the soul, the

organ music becomes dissonant, disturbing, almost nausea-inducing.

When the man looks at the organist to see who would play such a tune, he finds himself

met with the most hateful gaze he’s ever experienced.

He hurries out of the place, but the strange, pale organist follows him into the night,

stalking him all the way home.

He’s gripped by the notion that somehow, this man is death itself, and that there is

no escape.

When he’s finally captured, he is not killed, but spirited away to another world: the ruined

land of Carcosa, where the towers rise behind the moon and the cloud-waves break—the “awful

abode of lost souls”.

And for the first and only time, we encounter the King in Yellow himself, who wraps the

protagonist in radiance as he approaches, saying: “It is a fearful thing to fall into

the hands of the living God!”

I suppose that once the truth of the play has you, there is no God left to turn to,

no comfort left to find.

You are as good as lost.

And finally, our fourth story, after which the play is hardly—if ever—mentioned again

in the book: The Yellow Sign.

Again, if you’re a fan of the Cthulhu mythos, this should be ringing some bells.

And I’ll admit, this one is pretty pulpy compared to the others.

But it’s also different in another important way: the main character, Mr. Scott, has not

read the play.

In fact, he’s sworn it off entirely, knowing how it’s influenced people like the late

Hildred Castaign, who was his friend.

But the play is insistent.

Throughout the story, Scott is haunted by a strange, bloated, pale, corpse-like man

whose very presence makes it impossible for him to paint.

At the same time, he and his lover are both plagued by dreams of his death.

One night, not knowing what she’s done, she brings him a brooch she’s found in the

street.

It bears a strange yellow symbol, which belongs to no known language of man.

And as if this were an invitation, The King in Yellow suddenly appears in Scott’s library.

As they both succumb to its lure, reading it and discuss it in a daze, the corpse-like

man comes upon them like the reaper.

He rots the door’s lock at a touch, kills the girl, and then collapses into a pile of

fetid flesh, finally at rest.

When the authorities arrive, they say the man must have been dead for some time already.

The story ends with Scott in psychiatric care, praying for death.

But the prayers are cut short, and we never find out why.

So, it looks like the play is more than just a weird piece of literature that drives you

mad.

It really does seem like a virus, working through the will of the ones it touches to

make itself known, even to those who wish not to know it.

I wonder if its author even really had a choice…

After this story, the rest spiral off into what feels like pretty aimless romanticism.

Art nouveau culture in Paris, wartime ruminations on the nature of love, prophetic vignettes,

time traveling lovers, but hardly anything else about The King in Yellow.

It’s hard to know why these are in the collection at all, but there they are.

And still, even just in those first four stories, my goodness, there is a lot to find.

On its face, this all probably seems a lot less cosmic-horror-y than you might have expected.

I could go on for a very long time about my personal thoughts and interpretations.

The philosophical implications of all afterlives vanishing, a usurper god slipping in to take

their place, the journey of the soul becoming terminal rather than something transcendent…

but I really don’t think that’s the point of the play in these stories.

I think the play is actually something far more concrete, and surprisingly relatable.

To me, it serves as a demonstration.

Not just a powerful piece of literature unto itself, but a show of what words can truly

do.

An example of the pinnacle of language’s power to influence the ones who read or hear

it.

In the version of the book I read there’s a foreword by the writer Nic Pizzolatto, who

explains this so beautifully: “The idea of ‘magic words’ has always felt misunderstood

to me.

The magic is not the words themselves, or any particular word, because they are, after

all, empty vessels.

The magic is only ever using the right words the exact right way.

The secret knowledge lies in arranging, say, the twenty-six symbols of our English alphabet

into a configuration which reliably produces an intended effect upon the audience, perhaps

and even especially against that audience’s wishes—configurations most commonly categorized

as a story, poem, lyric, or play.

Then there’s no end to the capabilities of the language and its power over human beings,

its ability to engender the most overwhelming emotional states.

Put words to music and the entire world can move.”

We writers know this.

We’re almost obsessive about it, always searching for the right words, trying to create

the perfect effect.

It’s our way of working true magic.

And we can be so wrapped up in it, we don’t stop to consider the unintended consequences.

Think of the play.

Think of its dark, corrupting message.

As readers, we don’t know what that message actually is, only that it wants to spread.

I don’t think that’s particularly unique.

After a fashion, I’d say that all information wants to spread.

And language is its primary vector.

Be careful what you release into the world.

You aren’t responsible for what people take from your work, but you are responsible for

what you give.

Love your art enough not to make it a vector for falsehood, evil, hatred.

Love your words enough to choose them well.

And… that would be where the video ends… except...

I have more to say.

There’s a whole section of this video about my interpretation of the play itself.

I discuss the original short story that inspired it, as well as some references to mythology

to figure out what it may actually be about.

It’s a little beside the point and very speculative, so we ultimately had to trim

it out for time.

But…

I couldn’t quite let it all go.

I had to keep a full version of the video out there somewhere.

It seemed right.

Thankfully, there is a place where we can share that stuff.

Where we don’t have to worry about streamlining our content so that it’s a perfect fit for

attention spans and algorithms.

You can watch it over on our creator-owned streaming platform, Nebula.

Youtube is a weird place for educational content.

It’s hard to be as honest and open as you want to be while trying to satisfy the algorithm

and trying to dodge some kind of terrible fate like channel-wide demonetization.

So, a bunch of us educational creators got together and made our own platform where we

don’t have to worry about all of that.

You can find all our videos there ad-free, and full of additional content we normally

have to cut out for Youtube.

Including the extended version of this video.

And we’re not the only ones.

The same is true for so… many… other… amazing creators.

There’s usually a few weeks between uploads, so if you want more Tale foundry in the mean-time,

come join our community!

We have a discord server that’s basically like a big family of creatives—a lot of

love, there.

We also run writing groups on Twitch every week, if you want to get some practice in!

You can find links to all of it in the description.

Hope to see you there!

Until then, thanks for watching, and keep making stuff up!

I’ll see you…

next time.

Bye!