Origins

The people he rules are a vast multitude. He says he is responsible for millions of lives, and he has said, too, that none of these idiots knows what that is like.

“None of these idiots know what it's like to be responsible for millions of lives, but I do. And all I gotta do to make it better for my people is eradicate some of theirs”

“这些笨蛋没一个知道肩负数百万条性命是什么滋味，可我知道。我要做的，只是为了让我的子民过得更好，清除他们当中的一部分。”TL

In his mouth the rats are no grey blur but living creatures, each with a name. When he calls on them, he calls for Frankie, Lou, Two-shoe Greg and Bitin’ Mike, and for the Pantegana boys, the Scarlito sisters, the Pendleton family and the Silver Bullet Crew. Some come alone; others are whole families and gangs.

“The Pantegana boys say hello”

“潘特加纳家的小子们向你问好。”TL

He counts the Sewers of New York as his own turf. When Seven came barging in, what he shouted was “Get outta my sewers!”, and he added that Seven should have paid tribute.

“Get outta my sewers!”

“滚出我的下水道！”TL

He holds a special hatred for Fairfax Industries. As he explained to Viscous, the so-called EPA is nothing but the company’s shell corporation masquerading as government oversight.

“A Fairfax Industries shell corporation masquerading as government oversight.”

“菲尔法克斯实业的空壳公司，假装是政府监管机构。”TL

Old Friends and Foes

Seven: A Deal of Unknown Terms

Seven holds that the Rat King’s designs for Long Island are completely untenable: the American government won’t simply cede an island to a domestic enemy. The Rat King’s answer was that he ain’t domesticated, and if the government wants to do anything about it, they have to go through him, the Patron, and three million of his friends.

There is a deal between the two of them. When Seven thanked his majesty for his assistance, the Rat King told him not to thank him, just to live up to his end of the deal; when Seven promised that his word was good, he answered: it better be. What the deal holds, neither of them has ever said aloud.

“Don't thank me, just live up to your end of the deal.”

“别谢我，履行你那份约定就行。”TL

When it came to blows, Seven called him “the king of nothing” and contemptible vermin, said he had had to live among filth like him for too long, and declared: “And so our arrangement has come to an end.”

“And so our arrangement has come to an end”

“我们的协议就此终止。”TL

Haze: The One Who Told Him to Find a New Dream

Haze advised him to find a new dream: his reign will end the moment the US government wants it to, and if he really goes through with executing everyone on Long Island, that end will come all the quicker.

“Listen, my advice is to find a new dream. I'm telling you your reign will end the moment the US government wants it to, and if you go through with executing everyone on Long Island, that's gonna happen pretty quick.”

“听着，我的建议是换个梦想。我告诉你，只要美国政府想让你的统治结束，它立刻就会结束，而你要是真处决了长岛上所有人，那会来得很快。”TL

Ivy: A Rat with Wings

He does not hold it against Ivy that she has saved a lot of humans. You’re a rat with wings, he told her, and that means you’re one of mine. Yet when it came to blows, his tone changed: “Gave your loyalty to the wrong family.”

“Ya know what Ivy, you may have saved a lot of humans, but I'm not gonna hold it against you… you're a rat with wings, and that means you're one of mine.”

“知道吗青藤，你也许救过不少人类，但我不会跟你计较……你是长翅膀的老鼠，那就是我的人。”TL

“Gave your loyalty to the wrong family, Ivy.”

“你把忠诚献给了错误的家族，青藤。”TL

Billy: Visits Only, No Real Estate

Billy asked whether, once they had won, he would let him live on Long Island. The Rat King weighed it at length: on one hand a goat head, on the other the rest of him human. Is nine-tenths human too much human? His gut told him yes. The final answer was that he could visit, but he couldn’t own real estate. Billy said: I’ll take it.

“Tell ya what, you can visit but you can't own real estate.”

“这样吧，你可以来玩，但不能买地产。”TL

Billy also put in a word for a few people he knew on the island, and the Rat King told him to give their names and promised they would be actually taken care of: “I’m not a monster here.”

Solomon: The King Who Wanted to Learn Chess

When Solomon asked whether he knew how to play chess, he said he didn’t care about chess, then thought better of it and asked: can you teach me? As long as you’re not afraid to lose, said Solomon; he answered that he wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Can you teach me?”

“你能教我吗？”TL

Solomon calls him “my king” and is polite to a fault, and so his suspicions rose: “But you got an angle.” Solomon answered frankly that everyone has an angle; his is just benign.

“Everyone has an angle… mine is just benign.”

“人人都有所图谋……我的只是无害罢了。”TL

Baba: At Least a New Yorker

He told Baba that she may be a human, but at least she’s a New Yorker. When she asked how his Highness was doing, he suspected she was making fun of him; when she said that setting his sights on Long Island instead of Manhattan was quite magnanimous, he took pride in ruling tough but fair.

“You may be a human, but at least you're a new yorker.”

“你也许是人类，但好歹是个纽约人。”TL

“I pride myself on ruling tough but fair.”

“我自豪的是，我治国铁腕但公正。”TL

Viscous: The One Who Reminds Him of His Subjects

Viscous remarked innocently that he hadn’t known rats were so cuddly. At first the Rat King threatened to kill him dead if he got that goo on his fur. But the moment he heard the goo heals, he changed his tune at once: now it had to be rubbed all over his fur, or else.

“You don't rub that goo all over my fur I'm killing you dead.”

“你要是不把那黏液涂满我的毛，我弄死你。”TL

Victor: A Family Matter Named Valerie

He cursed Victor as a cadaver potluck, then warmly suggested he get hopped up on rabies. Victor declined. Yet in the next breath he asked this stitched-together man a favor: after the ritual, to spare a little dignity for one of his people, a girl named Valerie. She’s a good gal, she’s just got a wandering heart, gets it from her mother; so would he be a gentleman and let her down easy.

“Exactly. So you're gonna be a gentleman, and you're gonna let her down easy, yeah?”

“没错。所以你要当个绅士，好好把她哄住，别让她太难受，懂吗？”TL

Abrams: The Detective He Never Liked

He had once barred Abrams from showing his face in the sewers again, and the moment they met he said: I knew I didn’t like you.

“I thought I said you weren't supposed to show your face in the sewers again.”

“我不是说过你不准再出现在下水道里吗？”

Vindicta: The One He Hoped to Hate Humanity With

When Vindicta fell before him, he sighed that he had been hoping they could hate humanity together.

“I was hoping we could hate humanity together, Vindicta”

“我本来希望我们能一起恨人类，薇妲。”TL

Kelvin and Celeste: Testing the Kinship

Facing Kelvin, he puzzled over whether he should like him because he’s a dead human, or hate him because he’s a human that’s refusing to die. The answer: yeah, I hate you.

“Yeah I hate you.”

“嗯，我恨你。”TL

He called Celeste a traitor who passes as one of the humans. Celeste answered that outcasts like them should be sticking together.

“Don't talk to me about being a freak Celeste, you pass as one of them.”

“别跟我提什么怪胎，赛凌，你不也混在他们中间冒充正常人吗。”TL

“Hey, us outcasts should be sticking together.”

“嘿，我们这些被排挤的人就该互相扶持。”TL

Rem: A Silly King

After striking him down, Rem called him a silly king.

“He's a silly king.”

“他是个傻乎乎的国王。”TL

Deadman Danny: Vermicide on the Ledger

The moment Deadman Danny appeared, he got out a single word: “You.” Thirty-one of his people died screaming, and he holds that the debt belongs to this man who peddled Vermicide for Fairfax Industries. When Danny protested that he had only presented it, he would not listen, called him complicit, and threatened that he and the boys were going to chew his face off. Danny, unruffled, said that given his condition this might prove rather hard to do, and suggested he threaten with more accuracy. The Rat King told him not to get smart, then promptly took the tip.

“I'll remember the tip when I'm gnawing on your bones”

“等我啃你骨头的时候，我会记着这个建议。”TL

Danny had other business to discuss as well: should holding Long Island prove difficult, the company has artillery solutions ready. The Rat King turned him down flat, saying he didn’t need help from someone like him; Danny pressed his card on him all the same.

Violet: The Brush and the Rats

He spotted Violet’s brush at a glance, and opened with a jab, asking whether she meant to paint them to death. When she answered that she just didn’t want to die, he called her a crumbum. Another time he laid his cards on the table: he wanted a portrait for his throne room. She named only one condition, that he keep her from getting killed, and he answered without hesitation: done.

“What are you gonna do with that brush, paint 'em to death?”

“你拿那支笔刷想干嘛，把他们画死？”TL

When she mentioned that she had pet rats as a kid, he heard only a slaver bragging, and brushed off her protests: he’d heard it all before. When it truly came to blows, he told her “You ain’t cut out for this,” and afterward said only that he had killed the art student.

Nurse Harrow: The Reek of the Umbral

The moment Nurse Harrow appeared, he frowned: you’re unclean. That’s rich coming from you, she shot back. But he said he wasn’t talking about grime: she reeks of the umbral. And he sang the praises of ratkind: you ever see a rat get possessed? No. Because we’re smart. She asked whether he could really smell it, then poured cold water on him: his “subjects” will fall victim to bent wire and a hunk of cheese, and he is instinctual at best.

Another time he grumbled that he didn’t want help from a topsider, and she answered flatly that she didn’t particularly care what he wanted; it was her job to keep him alive. Yet another time she declared that he must be teeming with disease; he sneered that she thought she knew him because she went to medical school, but she could see at a glance that one of his little rodents was foaming at the mouth. He swore at Rabies Ronnie, who was peeking out from under the cape, then apologized for him: he’s a good guy, though the rabies is a helluva thing.

When they truly fought, he told her as she fell, “You can’t do squat,” and demanded to know where her vaccine for that was; afterward he said only that he had killed the creepy nurse.

Anecdotes

Catchphrases. “Crumbum” is all but his standard name for an enemy; “baby” he saves for moments of excitement and triumph. When he roars “Who’s the king of the rats, baby!”, he is about to go all out.

“WHO'S THE KING OF THE RATS BABY!”

“谁是老鼠之王，宝贝！”TL

Enzo’s Pizzeria. He told Solomon that watching the pinkies eat at the dumpster behind Enzo’s Pizzeria is to him what watching the crowds in Central Park is to Solomon.

“I get it. That's how I feel watching the pinkies eat at the dumpster behind Enzo's Pizzaria.”

“我懂。我看小崽子们在恩佐披萨店后面的垃圾箱边吃东西，也是这种感觉。”TL

Rabies Ronnie. Rabies Ronnie is one of the named members of the swarm he calls up. When he sends him in, he says: got a gift for ya. Surprise, it’s rabies.

“Rabies Ronnie has a gift for ya. Surprise, it's rabies”

“狂犬病罗尼给你们送了份礼物。惊喜，是狂犬病。”TL

Bats. Long Island is his kingdom, and his kingdom has its rules. To Mina he said: you’ll never be one of them, you’re a rat; everyone knows it, but you.

“You'll never be one of them Mina… you're a rat. Everyone knows it, but you.”

“你永远成不了他们中的一员，米娜……你是只老鼠。大家都知道，就你自己不知道。”TL

Open Questions