About the Gargoyle King:
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The Gargoyle King is a former anonymous character and one of the main antagonists of the third season of The CW's Riverdale who is responsible for a number of suicides (sacrifices). There have been four people to don the identity of the King, each using his mythos to spread a different kind of message.
Tall Boy:
Tall Boy was the first to be unmasked during the events of "Chapter Forty-Five: The Stranger". It is revealed that Tall Boy, once previously thought dead, had been in hiding using the identity of the Gargoyle King to help Hiram Lodge with his drug trade. Jughead and FP Jones interrupted a gargoyle gang meeting and were shocked to find Tall Boy under the mask. Hiram Lodge was using the Gargoyle King legend to turn Riverdale into his drug kingdom. Even going so far as to having a town quarantine by tricking everyone into thinking that the town was infected with mass seizures, later proved to be from the water supply having fizzle rock drain off in it. Tall Boy was the first Gargoyle King but not the last.
Marcus Mason:
The Gargoyle King later returned in "Chapter Forty-Seven: Bizarrodale" seemingly targeting the midnight club. It turned out though that this was all a decoy to get Kevin Keller and Moose Mason alone. They are taken hostage and nearly drink from the chalices before FP Jones shows up and stops the King and his gang. Marcus Mason is under the mask this time, and when questioned by FP reveals that he had hoped to use the Gargoyle King to scare Moose straight. He did this because he had been put in the Sisters of Quiet Mercy when he was Moose's age for trying to kiss Tom Keller and the Sisters scared him straight with the Gargoyle King mythos.
Chic Cooper and Penelope Blossom:
Jughead is informed by Ethel Muggs that Jason Blossom is the true Gargoyle King responsible for the many suicides throughout the year. Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead are all invited to a gathering at Thornhill's Nature Preserve revealed to be hosted by Penelope Blossom. The Black Hood, Hal Cooper and the Gargoyle King are also in attendance. Jughead deduces that the Gargoyle King has to have a connection to both Hal and Penelope, but it’s not Jason Blossom because he’s dead, even though his corpse is missing. The one corpse that hasn’t been accounted for, who was last seen by the Black Hood, is Chic. The Gargoyle King takes off his mask and it is indeed Chic Cooper, now with red hair. This is why Ethel thought that the King was Jason because Penelope believed that Chic was Jason and referred to him as so. Hal explains to Betty that he spared Chic as he saw a kinship in him. Chic had been working with Hal on his mission ever since. But the real mastermind of the mission was Penelope who had been working with Hal throughout the events of season 2 and who had killed Principal Featherhead back at ascension night. She used the mythos of the Gargoyle King to get revenge on the town that had ignored her when she was groomed into the Blossom family and again when she lost Jason. The Red Dahlia and the Gargoyle King, the true terror of Riverdale.
Where are they now?:
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Tall Boy: Dead, shot by Fangs Fogarty.
Hiram Lodge: Incarcerated for illegal fighting and illegal practices at La Bonne Nuit.
Marcus Mason: Arrested, unknown if he is in prison.
Chic Cooper: Incarcerated.
Penelope Blossom: On the run.
Hal Cooper: Dead, shot by Penelope Blossom.
Dark Facts:
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The Gargoyle King mythos was started by the Sisters of Quiet Mercy as a tactic to scare the patients into submitting to therapy. They created the game of Gryphons and Gargoyles to keep the patients occupied and to help deter them from acting out of line, they put a gargoyle statue in the throne room to scare the patients making sure that they would never misbehave again. It is presumed that Penelope Blossom got the idea for her revenge from her time at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Chic Cooper may also have some sort of interaction with the game.
Victims:
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Felix Featherhead - Cyanide Poisoning
Dilton Doiley - Cyanide Poisoning
Ben Button - Suicide, jumping out of a window
Ethel Muggs - Suffered seizures and attempted suicide but is still alive
Warden Norton - Cyanide poisoning
Joaquin DeSantos - Cyanide poisoning
Betty Cooper - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Josie McCoy - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Penelope Blossom - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Veronica Lodge - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Toni Topaz - Suffered a seizure but still alive
River Vixens - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Numerous unnamed Riverdale High School students - Suffered a seizure but still alive
Seven nuns - Cyanide poisoning
Baby Teeth - Cyanide Poisoning
Kurtz - Dead, shot by the Gargoyle King
Appearances:
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"Chapter Thirty-Six: Labor Day" (mentioned)
"Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fortune and Men's Eyes"
"Chapter Thirty-Eight: As Above, So Below"
"Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Midnight Club"
"Chapter Forty: The Great Escape"
"Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter"
"Chapter Forty-Two: The Man in Black"
"Chapter Forty-Three: Outbreak"
"Chapter Forty-Four: No Exit" (mentioned)
"Chapter Forty-Five: The Stranger"
"Chapter Forty-Seven: Bizarrodale"
"Chapter Forty-Eight: Requiem for a Welterweight" (mentioned)
"Chapter Forty-Nine: Fire Walk With Me" (drawing)
"Chapter Fifty: American Dreams" (mentioned)
"Chapter Fifty-Three: Jawbreaker"
"Chapter Fifty-Four: Fear The Reaper"
"Chapter Fifty-Five: Prom Night"
"Chapter Fifty-Six: The Dark Secret of Harvest House" (mentioned)
"Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive The Night"
Physical Appearance:
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The Gargoyle King is a huge, imposing creature. His head is made of wood and resembles that of a deer skull. He has two antlers and a crown made of twigs atop his head. Blood covers his mask. He wears a long black, tattered cloak with a chain of string around his neck that has bits of wood strewn across it. Blood is caked onto the cloak aswell. He has wings made of branches and hands made of sticks.
Most Memorable Quote:
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"Who doesn't wanna be king? Who doesn't want blood sacrifices made in their name?"
- CHIC TO JUGHEAD
Gallery:
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