The Suicide King
Modern playing cards are filled with layers of meaning and symbology that can be traced back centuries. The four kings, for example, are based off of real rulers: the king of diamonds represents the wealthy Julius Caesar, the king of clubs is the brutal Alexander the Great, Spades represents the strong but kind David of Israel and Hearts represents the… emotionally disturbed, shall we say, Charles VII of France. It is this king that we will be dealing with today. It should also be noted that Charles was the only one of the four who was actually there to see the day that his face was printed on a playing card, which may rationalize why he acted apart from the others.
Charles’ visage was put on the king of hearts at the very beginning of his rule, but he never really got a chance to come into contact with playing cards until many years later when he became very ill with a fever and was informed that he would be bedridden for the rest of his life. It was during this period that Charles began learning card games to pass the time, such as an early version of black jack, “vingt-et-un” (twenty one).
Charles lay in his bed for two years, constantly fiddling with the cards and always getting weaker. As time continued to pass, there were reports that Charles had begun obsessing over the idea that the king being the thirteenth card in a suit was causing him bad luck. He talked about how he was starting to see the number pop up everywhere and that he was close to figuring out its secret. Of course, his ramblings were blamed on the fever, and by the end of the second year, he had been declared insane, and his son Louis XII took over the thrown.
One day, several months after the end of his reign, one of Charles’ physicians went to his chamber to find the frail old man standing in the middle of the room wielding a large sword. Before the doctor could react, the king said, “Ils m’ont montré la vérité de treize, et il n’est pas signifié pour les yeux mortels.” which roughly translates to, “They have shown me the truth of thirteen, and it is not meant for mortal eyes.” Without hesitation the king proceeded to ram the blade in through the left side of his head (between the ear and temple) until it came out the other side. He wavered a moment, before collapsing to the floor dead.
After the incident was announced and it was made public that the king had gone mad, the image of Charles on the king of hearts was altered to show himself offing himself. Although the picture is now shown significant-ly less graphically, the image of Charles thrusting the sword into his skull can still be found on modern day playing cards. Perhaps the strangest part of the whole story, however, is the day that Charles chose to kill himself: 7/6/1462. Whether or not it was intentional of the king, the facts that 6+7=13 and 1+4+6+2=13 can only be explained as coincidences.
//
Credited to John ♠.
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Incredibly boring.
Actually, this was the first of many pastas that i thought was delicious. It’s well written enough, and even though it’s a fictionalized version of history, I have no problem with fiction in my fiction. Plus, the idea IS a bit creepy, if you imagine a frail old man ramming a sword through his head.
you get 0 out of 5 turds, good sir.
wow just wow. can i rate? i rate 7. why? because this was interesting and im just to nice
When I say this sounds like a Dan Brown novel, that’s not meant as a compliment. :P
Not badly written, but contrived number games just aren’t that scary…
This isn’t historically accurate all that much.
The King of Hearts is based on Charlemagne, albeit, an ancestor of King Charles VII, but not quite him. Also, King Charles VII died of an infection on 7/22/61. He had been going mad, but didn’t kill himself.
‘Throne’ was spelled incorrectly in the 3rd paragraph, and if I didn’t already research into the subject I would of found it more entertaining.
1/5
This was a really great \"urban legend\"-type pasta.
Good stuff.
The main problem with this is that the earlier decks had four face cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King), so the decks would have had 56 cards with 14 per suite, making the king #14, not #13. On top of that, the profiles on the cards varied by the location they were printed at, and the modern King of Hearts is a poorly copied version of the ones printed in Rouen, which were not actually based on anyone. Other than that, it’s a pretty solid story.
No Not really. In poker
there is only J then Queen and then king.
I object to this non-creepy dreck even bearing my name.
It wasn\’t necessary \"creepy\" but it was in it\’s own way. I liked it. It was short and to the point. The title was chosen perfectly. I enjoyed this pasta. (:
This one was interesting, to say the least.
It was well told, and is the kind of pasta that hints at some intangble knowledge not meant for mortal eyes, and I can respect any storyteller that tries to capture that.
It was a bit weak on the delivery, but overall a decent pasta
7/10
Got to “symbology,” and stopped reading to point out that the word you are looking for is fucking SYMBOLISM god dammit.
The only tiny nitpick I have is that \"Ils m\’ont montré\" translates to \"they showed me\" not \"they have shown me\".
But this was a very refreshing pasta, to say the least.
I liked this, ngl. I really liked the history element and everything. Kinda creepy, really. Better than the usual.
I liked how it was short and blunt.
I actually had to pull out a deck of cards and check that there was indeed, Charles VII offering himself. Yes, it\’s true. For two different decks.
Also, I thought the king of hearts was Charlemagne not Charles VII. Or are they the same person? I really don\’t remember much about the French kings.
Not scary at all…but I liked the history….
I thought this one was great – close enough to historical events to be interesting, and intriguing because nobody really knows for certain where the iconic “suicide king” image comes from.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k140/Katlynn_Hanks/Cards/king-hearts.png
Wow, he really is stabbing himself in the head on the card.
Symbology? Now that Duffy has relinquished his \"King Bonehead\" crown, I see we have an heir to the throne! I\’m sure the word you were looking for was \"symbolism.\" What is the ssss-himbolism there?
3.5* out of 10
* + .5 because it made me laugh.
I know this is from 6 years ago (I’m relatively new to the site) I just had to comment on your comment… Boondock Saints FTW!!! My favorite movies
@ Leffy: Thank you. In my original story, I actually had it so that the king died of starvation/ dehydration as a result of attempting to decapitate himself with an ax but accidently slicing his mouth. This version was definately more accurate, espicially since it is also a fact that the K♥’s sword was originally an ax. Maybe I should have posted that version since people reading it online have access to wikipedia and whatnot, but as a campfire story this version really freaks people out.
Uhm… inb4 THIS PASTA SUCKED!
Because I know it wasn’t all that great… and grammar Nazis will be ALL over this. I didn’t like it, but thats my personal opinion.
Of course, all comments are purely opinion…
Nevermind.
It was more accurate then most of this type. He did go mad with fever at the end of his reign but he actually died of starvation and dehydration…. Which did make it better that, like all of the scariest legends and myths, there was that grain of truth. I love it. Definately will think of it every time I pick up a deck of cards.
I did try to include some historically accurate elements. The K♥ really is based on Charles VII, and he really did get sick for the last 2 years of his life and eventually go mad, although playing cards had nothing to do with that. To save you people the time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VII_of_France
You know, a lot of kings who actually did kill themselves. I know you were going with the “Charles” thing for the heart of cards, but really.
Also, minor nitpick beyond any minor nitpick, you want Louis XI instead of the XII
You’re not the only one with a nitpick. A simple google search will determine that he killed himself on July 22, 1461, not on July 6, 1462.
Not bad, even for the awkward French.
Not bad, not bad at all.
I am a horrible president btw.
…You have made me smile sir.
I hate obama to
I bet your a republican.
Well it was cute.
Second!
inb4 lots of bawwwing in the comments about the fact that this fictional story posted on a site dedicated to creepy fiction isn’t 100% historically accurate after people wiki Charles VII to make themselves feel smart ;)