The Rat King’s Origin

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

The rat king’s twisted body and borrowed collective mind reveal cruelty made into a monster, while Dangerous Beans rejects revenge as a future for the Rats.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Hidden Rat A Hidden Rat from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Voice in the Dark An unseen intelligence Maurice encounters a presence that speaks through thought and can direct Rat-catchers without appearing before them.

A Hidden Rat from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Voice in the Dark An unseen intelligence Maurice encounters a presence that speaks through thought and can direct Rat-catchers without appearing before them.

A Voice in the Dark An unseen intelligence Maurice encounters a presence that speaks through thought and can direct Rat-catchers without appearing before them. A mystery grows Its knowledge of pain and its ability to use other minds point to something built from Rats rather than a simple predator.

A Guild’s Masterpiece A Guild’s Masterpiece from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Cruelty Made as Proof A deliberate construction The Rat-catchers explain that their guild requires an apprentice to make a rat king from living Rats.

A Guild’s Masterpiece from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Cruelty Made as Proof A deliberate construction The Rat-catchers explain that their guild requires an apprentice to make a rat king from living Rats.

Cruelty Made as Proof A deliberate construction The Rat-catchers explain that their guild requires an apprentice to make a rat king from living Rats. A human invention The knot is not an unavoidable wonder of nature but the result of people tying animals together for status and amusement.

Eight Rats, One Voice Eight Rats, One Voice from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Body of Suffering Tails bound together Spider is a knot of eight blind Rats whose bodies have been made into one immobile creature.

Eight Rats, One Voice from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Body of Suffering Tails bound together Spider is a knot of eight blind Rats whose bodies have been made into one immobile creature.

A Body of Suffering Tails bound together Spider is a knot of eight blind Rats whose bodies have been made into one immobile creature. A shared consciousness It claims to control other Rats through one mind, transforming the cruelty inflicted on it into a power it can wield.

Revenge Promised Revenge Promised from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Violence as an Answer A plan for retaliation Spider proposes that the Rats spread destruction among humans in repayment for traps, poison, and captivity.

Revenge Promised from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Violence as an Answer A plan for retaliation Spider proposes that the Rats spread destruction among humans in repayment for traps, poison, and captivity.

Violence as an Answer A plan for retaliation Spider proposes that the Rats spread destruction among humans in repayment for traps, poison, and captivity. Strength without ethics Its vision repeats the logic of the Rat-catchers: the strong survive, and weaker lives are disposable.

The Knot Is Broken The Knot Is Broken from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Ending the Controller Maurice’s last instinct After Spider strips away his conscious self, Maurice’s cat instincts attack the tangled body.

The Knot Is Broken from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Ending the Controller Maurice’s last instinct After Spider strips away his conscious self, Maurice’s cat instincts attack the tangled body.

Ending the Controller Maurice’s last instinct After Spider strips away his conscious self, Maurice’s cat instincts attack the tangled body. A choice within instinct A remaining part of Maurice guides the attack toward the knotted tails, ending Spider’s control and saving Dangerous Beans.

In the cellars after Maurice’s first encounter with Spider

After Keith and Malicia identify the hidden cellar

When Spider emerges before Dangerous Beans

During Spider’s offer to Dangerous Beans

At the climax in the burning cellar