The Man in Yellow Theories Explained

One of television’s hottest shows is MGM+’s FROM, a supernatural horror drama that follows a group of people trapped in a strange town cut off from the rest of the world and hunted at night by monsters who look like humans. The mystery of the town and what forces are keeping them imprisoned there has been the driving force behind the show for the last three seasons. Yet the season 3 finale answered some of these questions and, in the process, opened up so many more mysteries to be solved. The most glaring question of all is who the man in yellow is.

The Man in Yellow, making his debut in the last few minutes of the show, proved to be a powerful villain who was able to walk in the daylight and yet possessed the strength and violent behavior of the monsters that have plagued the survivors of this town for the last several seasons. While this indicates he is likely one of, if not the series’ main villain, the identity of this mystery man in yellow will be on everyone’s minds until Season 4 debuts. Fans are already in the process of speculating, and many theories have come forward about how these theories play into the framework of the series.

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The Man in Yellow Theories, EXPLAINED

The two most prominent theories being driven into the FROM fandom relate to two separate stories about the King in Yellow. The first was based on a collection of stories by author Robert W. Chambers, in which the titular King in Yellow was mentioned as a potential supernatural entity, a location, and so much more. Interestingly enough, in those stories, another area is mentioned, Carcosa, which, according to lore, is a place of madness that tends to absorb and take control of other towns and their people, with only a few locations remaining to become ruins in Carcosa. This sounds strangely like the town of FROM that the people survive in, with mysterious ruins and buildings scattered throughout the town’s woods.

The second theory ties into one of horror’s greatest and most developed mythologies, those of H.P. Lovecraft. More specifically, Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones, from which Lovecraft developed the King in Yellow, or Hastur, into being Cthulhu’s half-brother after being inspired by Robert Chambers and his work years earlier. Hastur is an enemy of the Outer Ones and later develops into a Great Old One. Of Hastur’s two avatars, one is a flying monstrosity that has tentacled razors that enter a victim’s base of their skull and consume their brains, perhaps symbolizing the madness often inflicted upon humanity whenever they get too close to Cthulhu and the Great Old One’s loss of sanity.

The other avatar is the King in Yellow, who has a profound influence on artists and playwrights. Both avatars are said to represent the sanity of those caught in its impact and have even inspired cults that worship and follow Hastur. Other theories still include the Man in Yellow being a dark fae or dark fairie and the creatures of the town, the lesser-known dark fae he controls, as if out of some dark fairy tale.

The Man in Yellow in FROM

It will be some time before fans know the truth behind the identity of the Man in Yellow. However, these theories represent some major progress in understanding the lore and mythos that the show’s creators have used to tell their story. The idea of madness being the price that others pay for gaining knowledge is not only one revisited in several faiths and cultures around the world, but is something fans saw come to life on the screen of season 3’s finale, namely with the fate of Jim.

SPOILER WARNING For the Season 3 Finale of FROM

After being instrumental in solving the mystery of the numbers found in the bottle tree, the song Jade played, as a result, not only drew in the ghostly children both he and Tabitha see but revealed the shocking realization that Jade and Tabitha are reincarnated forms of both Miranda and Christopher and the two original townspeople who tried to stop their fellow townspeople from sacrificing their children to gain immortality. After this revelation, the man in yellow appears, confirming he has been the voice on the other end of the radio Jim spoke with in the season 1 finale and telling Jim that knowledge has consequences, ending Jim’s life in front of his time-traveling daughter.

Not only was this a shocking way to end the season, but it cemented the idea of madness being the price of knowledge. Hastur, or The King in Yellow, is Cthulhu’s half-brother and a Great Old One in the Cthulhu mythos. Interestingly enough, in season 1’s exploration of the tunnels, fans were gifted with a cave painting depicting Jade and Tabitha standing alone against the evil forces rising, the children’s sacrifice, and a haunting red monster hovering above them all. This could reference Red Cthulhu, depicted in the mythos as part of a cycle of life and death, otherwise known as reincarnation.

While none of this is confirmed, the fact that showrunners have mentioned in past social media interactions that anyone who figures out the identity of the monsters will figure out the entire story goes to show that it may not have been all the monsters that the creators were referencing. Instead, it could be that the identity of the leader of the monsters, or the King in Yellow, is the one that will unlock this show’s core mystery. Perhaps FROM is a Lovecraftian tale from which the townspeople must escape.

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