How a Fan's Rat Became Deadlock's King

In September 2025 a fan posted a drawing of a giant crowned rat with a day job on Wall Street, and for the next year Deadlock players wouldn't stop asking for him. Some were sure a mousetrap in the Hideout was Valve's hint. Then Valve revealed a Rat King of its own. Here's how the fan's rat got there, and whether the artist ever got any credit for it. CHAPTERS 0:00 Did a fan make the Rat King? 0:38 The post 2:23 A mousetrap in the Hideout 3:55 Valve's Rat King 5:23 Broken by the weekend 5:53 Who gets the credit SOURCES Every fact on screen, with its outlet, author, date and link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ro-Ppn_QwvCP9WiWx26HRxmx4q8R1iLJ CLIPS Used under fair use, for commentary and criticism. Only the seconds the story needs, each credited on screen. Lumpyish, The Deadlock Devs Tried Hiding Him... (Hidden Character): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KK2aDsTxxY Lumpyish, Deadlock's Next Update Just Leaked...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orekSNCG-Yw Gart, Deadlock Is Slowly Revealing It: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c_1sIXzeLA Juiceten, Teaser for the Rat King in deadlock?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4RDo7reAC8 Pirate, New Hero: Rat King - Abilities Showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_I6U2kPGT0 Dead Air, Rat King can squeeze into the Tunnels!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cazriiG0lyE Dead Air, Rem: Deadlock Hero Spotlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q3b3rArJqw Enkindle, All New REM Interactions (CITY NEVER SLEEPS UPDATE) (Rem's voice line): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcrohtyasW0 FullSelfGaming, Deadlock - New Character Select Screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dq5iYw0TWQ FullSelfGaming, Deadlock August 2025 Update - Hideout Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpUHLp-80C8 Matt Little, New York City rat taking pizza home on the subway (Pizza Rat): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXUG8q4jKU movieztube1, Nick and Judy Meet Mr. Big | Zootopia (2016) | Disney | Movie Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyU8olAvh3I Pixar, Remy & His Father | Ratatouille | Official Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_etmPC2y-Tc Family Couch, Remy Discovers He Can Control Linguini! | Ratatouille (2007) | Disney Movie Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbPt0j7h8ng FOOTAGE AND IMAGES For commentary and criticism: Valve's Deadlock posts and patch notes on Steam, the City Never Sleeps page, Valve's Rat King and Rem art and the Deadlock key art. City Never Sleeps footage recorded in the game (Deadlock, Valve). The fan concept, sketches and Blender head by liornogard (@DragonRoIlZ on X, u/CycloneScones on Reddit, DragonRoIlZ on the Deadlock forums), shown with credit as the subject of the video: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadlockTheGame/comments/1n728sl/the_rat_king/ Posts on X by @DragonRoIlZ, Dead Air (@DeadlockAir) and @BunnyWhole_. Posts on Valve's Deadlock forums by DragonRoIlZ, GameQnQ, gobbe5700, Wolnomi and Edward250. The Reddit post via the Wayback Machine. bizzlegewt, The LORE Behind The Infamous 'Rat King' In Deadlock.. (YouTube Short), and two YouTube searches captured 11 Oct 2026. The rat king definition: Lucas Reilly, Mental Floss, 24 Oct 2017. Biggie Cheese, the meme, from Barnyard (Nickelodeon Movies, 2006). Valve logo, Wikimedia Commons, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valve_logo.svg MUSIC "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ #deadlock #valve #ratking