# Tessie Reardon — The King in Yellow character guide

> Tessie Reardon in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Tessie, Tess

**First appearance:** 0013-the-yellow-sign

## Who they are

A model whose laughter and curiosity pull her toward the forbidden Yellow Sign, binding her fate to a painter already marked by the King in Yellow.

## In the story

### [The Yellow Sign](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/chapters/the-yellow-sign)

The narrator's model and love interest; she has read 'The King in Yellow' and is marked by the Yellow Sign.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/chapters/i)

The model who poses for the narrator; she recounts a recurring nightmare of a hearse and identifies the man in the churchyard as the driver.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/chapters/ii)

Confesses her love to the narrator; is frightened by his dream; hesitates to pose nude; receives a gold chain.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/chapters/iii)

Tessie retrieves and reads The King in Yellow against the narrator's wishes, becomes dazed, and later dies when the entity takes the Yellow Sign.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/characters/tessie
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_king_in_yellow_se/characters