How Krupp became a no good smelly rotten goblin king
I really wish I had more time to work on this au for you guys, like make more pics and snippets for y’all to look at (school and work is draining as all get out yo!) but I’m more than happy to spoil anyone that wants to know.
To answer your question on how Krupp became the goblin king I gotta tell you that there are basically five realms. Far realm for the Fae’s, the Underground, the human world and two others that are barely mentioned (mostly cus I get massive brain farts when thinking about them). Krupp, surprisingly, was a soldier/captain from the Fae realm, who happened to be a very lovable guy that took care of defending the castle and the king. He was basically a smarter version of Captain Underpants, being competent at his job and well liked, if not a little bit of a clumsy goof.
He’d spend a good amount of time entertaining the Prince (Billy) when not on duty, since the kid was usually forced to focus on his studies and only his studies for when he would one day ascend to the throne. Krupp didn’t see any point in letting the kid waste his life without some fun in it, so he’d often let the boy sneak out and cover for him until he returned.
One day the prince decided to bring back a friend (Lisa), sneaking her in so they could continue to play, but Krupp catches on to this pretty quickly and, to his horror, finds out she’s a goblin child. Goblins are not known for being good people and are down right hated by everyone. This hatred isn’t without reason, since the original goblin king and his minions were ruthless, blood thirsty, not to mention they would kidnap just about anyone they could and would twist them into another goblin monstrosity!
By all rights Krupp should’ve arrested her, but the prince begged him not to and told him he wanted to make peace with the Underground instead of being eternal enemies.
Krupp relents, since he can’t find it in his heart to hurt a child (goblin or not), and goes about helping the two hide their friendship.
But darker things are afoot here, and Lisa is not there for no reason. It’s later revealed that she was nothing but a pawn coerced into luring the prince into the Underground in exchange for her freedom, the goblin king wanting to transform Billy and use him against his father (to help take over the Fae realm). She has a change of heart, since she likes Billy and Krupp and doesn’t want the goblin king to win at his sick game… even if it means she’ll never be free from the Underground.
She manages to tell Krupp through a friendship bracelet she makes him (since she is ordered not to talk about the goblins plot), leading him and his soldiers to rescue Billy before he’s spirited away through a painting (hint hint one of the paintings that Edith and the boys find in the gallery).
Krupp manages to cut off the ring on the goblin kings hand, severing his powers and his control over the other goblins. They soon turn on their tormentor and he’s imprisoned inside a jack-in-the-box, then locked away behind a vault-like door whose key will belong to the next Underground ruler.
Lisa is imprisoned at this time, awaiting execution by the Seelie courts even though she helped to stop the goblin king from fulfilling his plan. The Fae king ain’t sympathetic in the slightest. But Krupp? Nah son, he’s not about to let this sweet girl be killed because she had no choice, because she was being used and only wanted to see her family.
He ends up offering to become the new goblin king, willing to take on the responsibility of running a hated realm for all things that should be lost and forgotten, knowing full well the moment he steps foot into the Underground the clock will start for when he begins to lose his memories and become a goblin while everyone else will forget him completely.
He makes that sacrifice so long as he can take Lisa back with him and the other four realms, along with the remaining goblins, agree to this. Billy is heartbroken he’ll be losing two friends while Lisa apologizes over and over for doing this to them. Krupp just hugs her tight and promises he’s not mad, that it’s better this way since he can take care of the lost and forgotten instead of making them suffer. He promises to help take care of her until she can beat the Underground and escape it (The three tasks that I’ve mentioned before).
Lisa also makes a promise, even though she knows they’ll both slowly forget them, that she’ll remember his name and keep it safe so he, too, can one day escape the Underground. She makes a friendship bracelet and on it has his name written.
They both walk towards a door, with a teary eyed Fae king and Billy watching them go. Twisting a skeleton key into a door, it opens to the Underground, where the other side and it’s inhabitants await them. He puts on the goblin kings ring, takes up Lisa’s hand, and they cross over into the realm of the lost.
@rigamaroo I usually add this stuff in bold if someone sends posts to me.
That explains a LOT now. Like a LOT. I was NOT expecting the mystery person who knew Krupp to be Lisa this whole time and I FINALLY get what you mean by ‘it was a character featured in your fic.’
So wait... Krupp still isn’t human and is a... fae. That’s a pretty unusual race for someone like him to be, but it’s an interesting story bit. But I think I’m picking up hints of that Pan’s Labyrinth influence you were talking about.
Though I have to admit that when you said that he was basically CU, but more competent, my mind INSTANTLY went to episode 11 from the series where the boys imagined that Krupp was nice (and apparently knew how to play the uklele).
It’s a cute, yet sad backstory. Poor guy got so corrupted, he ended up turning into a twisted version of himself. On the other hand, I could see Edith instantly falling in love with his true personality if she knew the truth. There is something sweet about a man who was so kind towards children, brave, and was willing to make and risk a huge sacrifice.
This makes me want more, but I can patiently wait for the time when you are ready.
