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According to the Dark Tower comics, the Crimson King was the bastard offspring of Arthur Eld, a legendary gunslinger, and the Crimson Queen, a demonic creature of the Prim – the chaotic primordial void from which the Dark Tower, and all universes, arose.

With the aid of the wizard Maerlyn, the Crimson Queen took on human form and deceived Arther Eld to achieve this union.

The main protagonist of the series, Roland Deschain, is himself a distant descendant of Eld ; this makes the Crimson King a half-uncle of Roland, albeit through many generations.

This is the key through which Roland can defeat the King, as stated in a prophecy laid out during the course of the series.

In the one-shot comic The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer, Randall Flagg and the Pink Grapefruit ( one of the thirteen Bends o ' the Rainbow ) refer to the Crimson King as their cousin.