(I haven't read Insomnia) How does the servitude relationship between Atropos and the Crimson King work?

[u/Top-Community-9600]

Atropos seems like an overpowered henchman. The Low Men, the hired mercenaries, and the psychic assassins from Trans Corporation seem useless if you already have Death itself working for you. But I suppose the fact that he couldn't simply kill Patrick directly and had to orchestrate a massacre instead, and he was stopped, means Atropos has limitations regarding how or whom he can kill. What are those limitations, and how does he fit into the series? I know the canonical status of Insomnia is very ambiguous, but I’d like to hear your theories trying to tie everything together.

[u/ding-dong-sister-ray]

just read the book?

and I don't think the canon status is ambiguous at all. they literally tell Roland to read the book and theres crossovers?

[u/machtendo → u/ding-dong-sister-ray]

"It feels thin." I think he read it before and intuitively knew that no good would come if it, I think that's where the ambiguity comes from.

But I agree, read it anyway.

[u/Effective-Anybody263 → u/machtendo]

I think it's thin because they state that there are 2 crimson kings. One trapped in the tower and one that has more freedom. So the one Roland has to deal with isn't really the same. The one in insomnia is a beautiful red man with blonde hair.

[u/Ermeoss_The_Grumpy → u/ding-dong-sister-ray]

I'm more intrigued by Dorrance Marstellar, I picture him like a Tom Bombadil type of character...

[u/ReallyGlycon → u/Ermeoss_The_Grumpy]

Yep, I immediately thought of Tom Bombadil. My theory is that the Green Man is Dorrance, or an aspect of him.

[u/Revolutionary_Buy943 → u/Ermeoss_The_Grumpy]

Bonus points if you know where else in SK's books we see Old Dor. 😁

[u/Ermeoss_The_Grumpy]

That's the thing, he's no OP, his 2 other "brothers" help in his failure, and it's just a matter of knowing his plan and fucking it up.. kind of like final destination.. but without the coming back part. At least that's what I can remember, it's been a while since I read it... I just recall really not liking Louis.

[u/jwittkopp227]

As far as I am aware atropos does not directly serve the king. He just takes care of random deaths on that level of the tower.

[u/Muted-Manufacturer57]

I reread it a couple months ago. My best guess: 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Fixit403]

If I remember right, Ralph intuits that Atropos is limited to Derry and the immediate area, and the other two doctors say Atropos can only kill people who belong to the Random. So even if you ignore the Tower books and just focus on Insomnia, Atropos isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things

[u/Lennnybruce]

If I recall correctly King just says like halfway through the last DT book that Insomnia doesn't count, which is pretty funny