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'Riverdale' Narrowed Our Gargoyle King Suspects To 10 Killers, So Let's Go Over Them

by Dylan Kickham
CW

Riverdale has gotten super weird this season, and at the center of all that weirdness is the Gargoyle King. We've already seen this mysterious, skull-faced creature lurking in the woods and appearing in Ethel Muggs' hospital room, but who is behind that mask is still the biggest mystery of the season. But Wednesday night's new episode may have taken an important step in narrowing down the list of Gargoyle King suspects on Riverdale. Let's go over the prime suspects for who could be causing all the death in town.

Spoiler alert: This post will discuss Riverdale Season 3 Episode 4, "The Midnight Club." Before we jump into our Gargoyle King suspect list, we first need to address the question of whether the Gargoyle King is even a person at all. While the spooky demon may seem supernatural, Lili Reinhart actually confirmed recently that there are no supernatural elements at work in Season 3. I know that seems hard to believe, what with the flying babies and random seizures going around, but it confirms that there must actually be a person dressed up as the Gargoyle King.

Now we can get into one of the most important parts of this week's episode, which was nearly completely set in a flashback to when the parents of Riverdale played Gryphons and Gargoyles as teenagers.

CW

After Alice Cooper recounts her story of the Gryphons and Gargoyles game ending in the death of both Fred Andrews' father and Principal Featherhead, Betty points out the only logical conclusion: The Gargoyle King must be one of the ten members of the Midnight Club. Since the Midnight Club was the only group of people in Riverdale High the night that the Gargoyle King appeared, it stands to reason that one of them must be beneath the mask. That leaves us with ten Gargoyle King suspects, many of which are pretty surprising:

  • Fred Andrews
  • Alice Cooper
  • F.P. Jones
  • Hermione Lodge
  • Penelope Blossom
  • Sierra McCoy
  • Hiram Lodge
  • Tom Keller
  • Marty Mantle
  • Daryl Doiley

Some of these suspects are much more convincing than the others. Alice Cooper is almost definitely not the Gargoyle King since she is the only one who actually saw him, and was the only one not high on drugs that night. Then again... Alice was the one telling the story, so who knows if she changed some details around. It would also be pretty unbelievable for Fred Andrews, F.P. Jones, or Hermione Lodge to be the Gargoyle King.

Really, the two most convincing suspects are the characters that we have never heard of before now. Reggie's father Marty Mantle and Dilton's father Daryl Doiley are the only two members of the Midnight Club that we have not seen as adults yet, and know absolutely nothing about.

While both should be considered prime suspects, Daryl Doiley may be the most convincing suspect of all. After all, Daryl's son Dilton was part of the small crew that first reintroduced Gryphons and Gargoyles to Riverdale. Perhaps Dilton got the game from his father. And maybe that bunker in the woods where he played the game is also his father's hideout.

Now that Betty knows about the Midnight Club, hopefully we will see her looking into Marty Mantle and Daryl Doiley in future episodes.