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King Rat

 King Rat
type
TVTItem
 King Rat
label
King Rat
 King Rat
page
KingRat
 King Rat
comment
King Rat is a 1998 British Urban Fantasy novel by China Miéville – think Anansi Boys on more crack and a lot of downers.King Rat is about Saul, an average guy who has had a bad few days. First his dad dies. Then he's arrested for killing him. And then he's broken out of a holding cell by a ratlike man who can climb up walls and squeeze between the cell bars, and things get a little strange...Features The Pied Piper of Hamelin as told from a rat's perspective, and plenty of Blue-and-Orange Morality.
 King Rat
fetched
2023-06-24T15:44:38Z
 King Rat
parsed
2023-06-24T15:44:38Z
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isPartOf
DBTropes
 King Rat / int_1235f055
type
Dirty Coward
 King Rat / int_1235f055
comment
Dirty Coward: All of the animals and Kings have a little of this at heart as they have a strong urge for self preservation. Saul falsely paints King Rat as one of these when telling the rats of the battle with the Piper to strip King Rat of any chance of regaining his power.
 King Rat / int_1235f055
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King Rat / int_1235f055
 King Rat / int_1e584efa
type
Cruel and Unusual Death
 King Rat / int_1e584efa
comment
Cruel and Unusual Death: Tied in the middle of a train tunnel and left there . . .
 King Rat / int_1e584efa
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 King Rat / int_1e584efa
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King Rat / int_1e584efa
 King Rat / int_2854b56d
type
Uncertain Doom
 King Rat / int_2854b56d
comment
Uncertain Doom: The Piper manages to escape back to his home realm, but in a state so badly damaged he may well be fatally wounded. He's gone before we can find out.
 King Rat / int_2854b56d
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 King Rat / int_2854b56d
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King Rat / int_2854b56d
 King Rat / int_3d699462
type
Curb-Stomp Battle
 King Rat / int_3d699462
comment
Curb-Stomp Battle: All of the various Kings' fights with the Piper in the past as they literally are unable to fight him once he starts a tune happens literally to Anansai in the final fight, the Piper makes him lie down then stomps on his skull
 King Rat / int_3d699462
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 King Rat / int_3d699462
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King Rat / int_3d699462
 King Rat / int_40cc0c7e
type
Bittersweet Ending
 King Rat / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: Anansi and Kay are dead, Loplop's deaf and insane, King Rat is a pathetic recluse who's out for his son's blood, and it's not entirely clear whether or not the Piper is dead or just wounded. Saul and his friends, however, are still alive and the cops are likely going to fall off of Saul's tail. Saul ends the story rejecting the title of King Rat and instead giving the rats freedom to do as they will to prove they earned it — because dead or not, the Piper isn't coming back and it's because of Saul and the rats.
 King Rat / int_40cc0c7e
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King Rat / int_40cc0c7e
 King Rat / int_4782e60f
type
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
 King Rat / int_4782e60f
comment
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: King Rat is batshit insane and a murderer, but he does genuinely seem to care for his son Saul within the boundaries of his own Blue-and-Orange Morality, enough to want to make him his successor as King Rat. The legacy is all King Rat cares about, and when Saul learns the circumstances of his conception, he turns against his father, leaving King Rat as the snarling, remorseless scumbag he really is.
 King Rat / int_4782e60f
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King Rat / int_4782e60f
 King Rat / int_588d766f
type
BlackAndGreyMorality
 King Rat / int_588d766f
comment
Black-and-Grey Morality: The Piper is a lunatic who thinks people and animals exist only to dance to his tune. King Rat is, well, a rat—with all the Blue-and-Orange Morality you would expect from an actual rat.
 King Rat / int_588d766f
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King Rat / int_588d766f
 King Rat / int_6d5ab39e
type
Fractured Fairy Tale
 King Rat / int_6d5ab39e
comment
Fractured Fairy Tale: The Pier Piper is fucking scary for a rat. As if it wasn't bad enough already!
 King Rat / int_6d5ab39e
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King Rat / int_6d5ab39e
 King Rat / int_7bf14666
type
And Now for Someone Completely Different
 King Rat / int_7bf14666
comment
And Now for Someone Completely Different: A small segment from near the end of the story is from the perspective of one of the rats Saul dispatches as scouts. Described as one of the strongest and bravest of the Rat nation he follows his mission long after all the others had given up or forgotten. He even succeeds in finding the Piper and the kidnapped Natasha and Fabian... and then is promptly and unceremoniously squished by the Piper.
 King Rat / int_7bf14666
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King Rat / int_7bf14666
 King Rat / int_8a817c2a
type
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
 King Rat / int_8a817c2a
comment
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Played with. Saul thinks so, and it's why he won't give King Rat his throne back. King Rat, being essentially a smart rat in human shape, is bewildered and enraged by this.
 King Rat / int_8a817c2a
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King Rat / int_8a817c2a
 King Rat / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 King Rat / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: It's mentioned that Saul's father was an ardent leftist and went to protests all the time, and was disappointed Saul wasn't more political. At the end of the story, Saul foreswears his royal claim, dissolves the monarchy, and declares that he is plain Citizen Rat.
 King Rat / int_9d12bbc1
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King Rat / int_9d12bbc1
 King Rat / int_a6e6d5ac
type
Past Victim Showcase
 King Rat / int_a6e6d5ac
comment
Past Victim Showcase: A variation; the victims showcase themselves.
 King Rat / int_a6e6d5ac
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 King Rat
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King Rat / int_a6e6d5ac
 King Rat / int_a8c6a317
type
Super-Strength
 King Rat / int_a8c6a317
comment
Super Strength: Saul gains this after tapping into his rat side, King Rat, Anansai and Loplop possess it to a greater degree. And the Piper is stronger even than them.
 King Rat / int_a8c6a317
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King Rat / int_a8c6a317
 King Rat / int_c2fc1ae
type
Neck Snap
 King Rat / int_c2fc1ae
comment
Neck Snap: The Piper snaps the neck of a police officer around 180 degrees.
 King Rat / int_c2fc1ae
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King Rat / int_c2fc1ae
 King Rat / int_c928d01d
type
Magic Music
 King Rat / int_c928d01d
comment
Magic Music: The main type of magic, aside from the animals' magic—which is just being what they really are.
 King Rat / int_c928d01d
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King Rat / int_c928d01d
 King Rat / int_caa28b82
type
Cloudcuckoolander
 King Rat / int_caa28b82
comment
Cloudcuckoolander: Loplop was driven insane by the Piper in the past and isn't wholly recovered. he reverts after Saul has to burst his eardrums to save him from the Piper's control - he spends the rest of the book screeching and screaming, unable to even rally his birds for the final battle
 King Rat / int_caa28b82
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King Rat / int_caa28b82
 King Rat / int_d6b5863
type
Driven to Madness
 King Rat / int_d6b5863
comment
Driven to Madness: The Piper did this to Loplop in the past.
 King Rat / int_d6b5863
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 King Rat
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King Rat / int_d6b5863
 King Rat / int_e8e56799
type
Blue-and-Orange Morality
 King Rat / int_e8e56799
comment
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Saul and Anansi have a conversation about it, in fact, where Anansi admits that he will never understand basic human concepts and visa versa.
 King Rat / int_e8e56799
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King Rat / int_e8e56799
 King Rat / int_ee4bf6e5
type
Building Swing
 King Rat / int_ee4bf6e5
comment
Building Swing: Anansi travels across the city this way, which is absolutely terrifying for saul when he's Bound and Gagged and hauled along for the journey.
 King Rat / int_ee4bf6e5
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 King Rat / int_f178203a
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Inspector Javert
 King Rat / int_f178203a
comment
Inspector Javert: DI Crowley
 King Rat / int_f178203a
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King Rat / int_f178203a
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King Rat

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 King Rat
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Bewildering Punishment / int_b7e47a61
 King Rat
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Condensation Clue / int_b7e47a61
 King Rat
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English Literature / int_b7e47a61
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God's Hands Are Tied / int_b7e47a61
 King Rat
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Magic Music / int_b7e47a61
 King Rat
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Post-Modern Magik / int_b7e47a61