This 'Riverdale' Fan Theory Claims This Unsuspecting Character Could Be The Gargoyle King

Every Riverdale fan is mulling over the exact same question right now: Who is the Gargoyle King? The mysterious figure covered in bones and branches has been terrorizing the town all season, and it still feels like we are no closer to figuring out who is under that mask than when the season began. But that is not stopping fans from coming up with some pretty convincing theories. A new theory that has popped up points to Penny Peabody as a suspect, and it actually makes sense. So, is Penny Peabody the Gargoyle King on Riverdale? Let's get into it.

Penny Peabody has been a source of danger for our Riverdale characters for a while now. She was introduced as the Snake Charmer in Season 2, a Southside Serpent with a legal background adept at helping her fellow Serpents weasel their way out of legal issues. However, Penny demanded favors instead of money for her services, and blackmailed Jughead into becoming her drug mule. Tired of being under her thumb, Jughead attacked Penny and cut off her Serpent tattoo, exiling her. This only made Penny even more ferocious, as she teamed up with the Serpents' rival gang the Ghoulies and swore her revenge. In the season finale, we discover that Penny is in league with Hiram Lodge to take over the town, with her interests being in becoming the drug queenpin of Riverdale.

We've only seen a bit of Penny in Season 3, but she did revisit her love of blackmail when Veronica Lodge opened her speakeasy under Pop's. Penny demanded Veronica pay her for protection, and when Veronica refused, she planted crates of Jingle Jangle in the speakeasy and had Sheriff Minetta search the place shortly after. However, Veronica and Reggie were able to hide the stash in time.

Clearly, Penny Peabody is willing to go to extreme lengths to ruin the lives of Jughead and his friends, and that might just be motive enough for her to be the Gargoyle King.

A new theory on Reddit imagines how Penny Peabody's past may have led her to become the Gargoyle King. From "The Midnight Club" episode, we know that all the parents in Riverdale first discovered the game Gryphons and Gargoyles back when they were in high school, but all of them claimed to not know who had set up an "ascension party" that summoned the Gargoyle King. So who else do we know that may have been around at that time?

The theory guesses that Penny Peabody was an outcast at Riverdale High in the '90s, and created the game Gryphons and Gargoyles as an escape from her sad life. When she found out that a group of her classmates who had always excluded her discovered and played her game, she became so angry that she decided to pose as the Gargoyle King herself and torture them. Sure, it seems extreme, but Penny has been shown to be probably the most cutthroat and conniving characters on Riverdale — who better to be the Gargoyle King?

We will have to see if Riverdale drops any more clues that could link Penny Peabody and the Gargoyle King as Season 3 continues.