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Fictional character by Stephen King

The Crimson King, known to some as Los' or Ram Abbalah, is a fictional character created by Stephen King and the main antagonist of King's eight volume Dark Tower series, as well as the novels Insomnia (1994) and Black House (2001). Described as "Gan's crazy side", the Crimson King is the ultimate ruler of the Red (also called the Random and the Outer Dark), and the archetypal embodiment of evil in Stephen King's fictional multiverse. His goal is to topple the Dark Tower which serves as the linchpin of time and space, destroying the multitude of universes which revolve around it so that he can rule in the primordial chaos which follows.

Writer Robin Furth wrote a new backstory for the Crimson King in the Dark Tower comics. Here, 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 Arthur Eld to achieve this union. Roland Deschain is himself a distant descendant of Eld; this makes the Crimson King Roland's half uncle, 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 13 Bends o' the Rainbow) refer to the Crimson King as their cousin.

The Crimson King has taken many forms throughout the series. In The Dark Tower VI, Susannah Dean explains that, in her world, people see the Crimson King as a horned, red skinned monster called Satan. He is also hinted at in The Stand by Mother Abagail. As she describes main antagonist Randall Flagg, she mentions that, "He ain't Satan, but he and Satan know of each other and have kept their councils together of old."