The King

The King is the ruler of the Island on which Dead Cells takes place. He is the main antagonist of the game and the one which the player seeks to kill on their journey. After the Malaise appeared, the King decided to isolate, imprison and execute all people suspected of being infected in order to stop the epidemic.

Statues
There are a number of statues of the king scattered around the island, notably in the Promenade of the Condemned, in the Stilt Village and in the Graveyard.

There is a statue of the King in the Promenade of the Condemned. The Beheaded wonders how he can see with a helmet covering his face. Close to this statue and in other areas of the island, there can sometimes be another, desacrated statue bearing the inscription "We'll skin you alive". A cow head lies beside it, emblazoned with the King's coat of arms, which shows that some citizens were violently opposed to the King's policies. Another statue in the Stilt Village depicts the King with his Hand. The Beheaded remarks that the Hand of the King's statue is a little too big, as if it was overshadowing the King's. This might imply The Hand actually holds more power than the King himself. Later, those same statues of the King and his Hand appear vandalized with fishnets and graffitis denouncing the King's lies and demanding his death. It seems the villagers revolted after they realized what was happening to them.
 * "A statue of the King of the island. ...How could he see anything with that helmet on?"
 * "A faithful likeness of the King. 'To the glory of our illustrious ruler.' Someone added something underneath: 'We'll skin you alive!'. A brave and courageous message. Someone left a cow's head here. Whoever it was, he was a bit of an artist. He carefully traced the King's coat of arms on the animal’s forehead."
 * "Another statue of the King, accompanied by a guard...and a very big one, at that. A little too big, maybe?"
 * "THE KING IS LYING! DEATH TO THE KING! DEATH TO THE KING!"

Orders of the King
All over the island, the Beheaded finds a variety of orders written by the King. Most of these relate to the imprisonment and quarantining of criminals, infected or plain innocent people. Some of them are direct orders to high ranking public officers such as Castaing or the Alechmist.
 * In the Stilt Village orders form The King can be found; Citizens! Anyone behaving strangely or manifesting signs of illness must be reported to the local patrol promptly and without exception. Next to a urinated royal order is a vandalized banner of The King which reads, The King is kidnapping and burning our children! WAKE UP!
 * In the Ramparts and the Promenade, an order from the King reads, "If the cells are overpopulated, use the outdoor jails or the oubliettes. Leave no suspects unsupervised." This shows that the Prisoners' Quarters were becoming full due to the imprisonment of too many people.
 * A public order by the King can be found next to hanged prisoners. It orders the imprisonment and execution of all people presenting signs of abnormal behavior or physical appearance, i.e. suspected of infection by the Malaise . A bottom note in brackets adds "(if the prison doctor confirms the diagnosis of infection)", which implies that confirmation is actually not important, and that suspicion of infection is enough proof.
 * In the Ramparts, a similar order from the King addressed to his officers can be found
 * Another order by the King warns the soldiers that they would be executed if they refused to obey.
 * In Castaing's office in the Prisoners' Quarters, the Beheaded finds a direct, secret order from the King to the prison's warden. The King asks Castaing to stop controlling the entrances to the prison until further notice, which seems to imply unlawful imprisonments and prisoner transfers were taking place on orders of the King.
 * A later secret order to Castaing, along with another bribe, scolds him for making the King's orders public . He also instructs him to not let any prisoners leave, even if they have finished serving their time.