Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) is the main antagonist of the 2019 movie Doctor Sleep, based on Stephen King's 2013 novel of the same name. She is the semi-immortal leader of a nomadic tribe of quasi-demonic murderers known as the "True Knot" (which includes Snakebite Andi) and Danny Torrance's arch-nemesis. Rose and her followers are known to seek out children with telepathic abilities and torture them to death, feeding off their psychic essence, which they call "Steam". By feeding off of this, they are able to functionally live forever.
Biography[]
Little is known about Rose's past. Her exact age is unknown, but she has been a member of the True Knot since at least the mid-19th century.
She acts as the leader of the group as she has the most powerful telepathic abilities. These enable her to locate children with psychic abilities, referred to by the collective clairvoyant term the "Shining", in order to feed off of their "Steam", or psychic energy. In particular, she is attracted by the Shining of a young girl named Abra Stone who has extremely powerful abilities. She orders the True Knot to kidnap her, unaware that Abra is being protected by an adult Danny Torrance, who is still recovering from the traumatic events of the Overlook Hotel that doomed his late father's soul.
After two kidnapping attempts, which Abra and Dan successfully foil, Abra convinces Rose to meet her at the location of the former Overlook Hotel for a final battle. Dan arrives at the location, while Abra assists him via psychic projection. After a long struggle she eventually dies from being attacked by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel.
Personality[]
Rose is extremely cold, calculating, and uncaring. She has nothing but contempt for humans. She is a cold-hearted killer who demonstrates no remorse when she tortures several young children to death. She is also highly intelligent, able to conceive and execute complex plans with ease. Her powerful telepathic abilities make it easy for her to track her prey's next move, and thus to capture them more easily. Rose is shown to be extremely obsessive, becoming irrationally fixated on finding and killing Abra Stone when she realizes how powerful Abra is; this obsession turns from fascination to rage once Abra continues to defy her.
Rose had a relationship with Crow Daddy, her second-in command.
She constantly wears a battered silk top-hat, which is the source of her nickname. The origins of the hat are never explained. She has a very strong connection to it.
Trivia[]
- Rose the Hat is one of Stephen King's few leading women antagonists.
- Rose the Hat is best described as one of Stephen King's most evil villains.
- Rebecca Ferguson appeared as Morgana in the 2019 fantasy film, The Kid Who Would Be King.
- Rebecca Ferguson appeared as Riza Stavros in the 2019 film, Men In Black: International.
- Her death is changed from the book. In the novel she falls to the ground and snaps her neck while in the movie she is attacked and killed by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel.
