The King

The King is an Elvis impersonator living in Freeside in Fallout: New Vegas. He leads a gang of Freeside residents, the Kings, out of The King's School of Impersonation in southern Freeside.

Background
The King was a member of one of the original tribes of New Vegas before they were united and brought to power by Mr. House. He and his gang took up residence in an old Elvis impersonation school. They believed it to be a place of worship due to the posters and Holodisks all of one man, whose real name couldn't be found, but was only known as "The King". In the upper levels of the school they found outfits that the original king would wear and vast amounts of hair gel. The King watched old Holodisks of the man, learned to speak like him, and started to teach others to do so. Unlike other gangs in the Mojave Wasteland, the Kings are built on respect and don't go looking for their next fight.

Relationships
The King's right hand man is Pacer, a childhood friend who sometimes tends to undermine his peaceful intentions. He has a cyberdog named Rex, which the player can obtain as a companion.

Quests

 * G.I. Blues: The King asks the Courier to do various tasks to help his organization and Freeside, like dealing with Orris and problems with the NCR.
 * Nothin' But a Hound Dog: After finding out that Rex can be helped with his brain difficulties, the King asks you if you want to take Rex with you to Jacobstown to see Dr. Henry.
 * Kings' Gambit: Ambassador Crocker wants the King to cease hostilities with the New California Republic. The King can be bargained with to achieve this.

Other interactions

 * The King's favor can be used to complete the Kings' Gambit quest easily.
 * The King is one of the characters that the Courier must eat in order to earn the Meat of Champions perk.

Effects of that player's actions

 * Killing Pacer, the King's close friend, results in only one option of dialogue for the courier: "I was hoping to get some work.." and only one answer from the King: "I had some.. But my close friend was whacked...". After that players can't get any quests but can get Rex as a companion. (To get to King's quests type in the console:, click Pacer's body with console opened ).
 * Killing The King results in Mr. New Vegas attributing your actions to the NCR, and you will hear NCR troopers commenting on defeating The Kings in Freeside.

Appearances
The King appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Elvis Presley references

 * The King is quoted by Mr. New Vegas as calling NCR refugees "the devil in disguise" and that he doesn't want to see NCR "in the ghetto," and calling for a mass "return to sender", all of which are songs by Elvis Presley.
 * A brief voice clip of the King on Radio New Vegas can be heard if the Courier convinces the King to side with the NCR after the conclusion of G.I. Blues. The voice clip is as follows: "I feel so bad, I think it's time we reconsidered, baby". Both "I Feel So Bad" and "Reconsider Baby" are songs by Elvis Presley.
 * If you talk to the King after G.I. Blues he'll say that things have been better since you helped out with those "soldier boys." A reference to the Elvis song, "Soldier Boy."
 * His outfit itself is also a reference to another of Elvis' songs, "Viva Las Vegas", as is the picture of him on the Collector's Edition playing cards similar to the promotional picture for the film with the same name, also starring Elvis Presley.
 * At the end of G.I. Blues, when talking to the King, he says "Thank you, thank you very much" in response to helping Pacer with the NCR. Elvis Presley was often quoted as saying the same thing after finishing a concert or other performance.
 * When The King introduces Rex to the Courier, he says that he is "All shook up" about Rex's condition. "All Shook Up" is yet another Elvis Presley song.

Cut content

 * The King originally had a bodyguard who would screen entrance to him, and stop the player from going in to the stage area at certain times. The dialogue for this is still present in topics starting with VFSKingBodyguard (e.g. "VFSKingBodyguardKingOccupied01"). Only the topic names are present, no actual dialogue lines exist for either the player or the bodyguard character. This character would almost certainly be placed exactly where Pacer is in the final game. I'd speculate the bodyguard would be the one to tell the player to go upstairs when the King is "entertaining" his ladies, before that part was abandoned. At some stage this character was cut, and Pacer took over some of his functionality, with repercussions outlined below.
 * Once the player had exposed Orris, it was originally intended for the player to somehow be contacted by the King (presumably by a messenger, or more likely, the cut bodyguard) and told to come and see him up in his room to begin the second half of G. I. Blues. This would lead to a rather risqué scene where the King is laying on his bed with his two groupies, and on the player entering the room he would make a comment about his "little friend" having "just come". The dialogue triggers and scripts for this sequence are all in the game, but not placed on the map so it never plays. Instead he is just found downstairs in the stage area as normal.

Bugs

 * If you killed The King without any of The King's Gang members noticing and have built up a good reputation in Freeside, you may still receive items from The King's gang members who say that The King told them to give you something for your good deeds.
 * If you speak to The King about joining the King's Gang before the completion of his quest Nothin' But a Hound Dog, he might decline. Returning later after completing it, the option will not be reopened, (unless The King owes you a favour which is earned in another mission) and it will be thereafter impossible to join the King's Gang. It is uncertain if this is a bug or intentional.
 * The King may have a suit of grimy pre-War businesswear equipped instead of his personal Viva Las Vegas outfit.