Rose the Hat

Rose The Hat is a fictional psychic vampire and a central antagonist in The Shining multimedia franchise. She appeared in the 2013 novel Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. She also appeared in the 2019 version of Doctor Sleep by director Mike Flanagan. She was played by actress Rebecca Ferguson in the film.

Film version
Known only as Rose the Hat, this mysterious woman was the leader of a caravan of psychic beings known as the True Knot. They were people who fed off the psychic energy of the living, in particular, those who possessed strong psychic energies of their own. This psychic energy has been referred to as Shining by some, but the members of the True Knot referred to it as Steam. The True Knot could psychically track people with Steam whereupon they would murder them, and absorb the Steam exiting from their bodies. If enough Steam was present, they would contain it within metal vials to be consumed at a later date. Breathing in the Steam of another being allowed Rose and the others to maintain youth and vitality, and they aged very slowly.

It is unclear exactly how old Rose was, though it could be assumed that she was more than a century old. She was not the oldest member of the group however. It was implied that Grandpa Flick was several centuries old, perhaps even millennia. As leader of the True Knot, Rose had the ability to share her own steam with other psychics, effectively recruiting them into her coven.

In 1980, Rose the Hat met a young girl named Violet near a lake. She lured her over to him and kept Violet's attention rooted long enough so that the other members of the True Knot could contain her. Rose drew the Steam from Violet's body, effectively killing her. She kept it contained in one of her metal vials and fed off it continuously over the next several decades.

In 2011, Rose found a girl named Andi who had mind control abilities. She witnessed her in a movie theater using her powers on a child predator that she had lured there. This was a pattern with Andi, who would track down internet stalkers and scar their faces with her nails, which resembled a snake bite. Rose introduced herself and inducted the fifteen-year-old girl into the True Knot, giving her nickname "Snakebite Andi".

By 2019, there was much less available Steam in the world, and their stockpile was dwindling. They finished off the last of Violet's steam, and now risked starvation. Without Steam, the members of the True Knot would begin to age at an advanced rate.

Rose's tracker, Crow Daddy, found a young boy named Bradley Trevor, who possessed the Shining. They abducted him after watching him play in a little league baseball game. Rose murdered Bradley and collected his Steam. They buried him in a shallow grave.

It was around this time that Rose became aware of Abra Stone - a young girl gifted with the Shining, and one of the most powerful sources of Steam she had ever perceived. Using her own mental gifts, Rose attempted to track Abra down. Abra recognized the threat that Rose posed and used her abilities to find an ally - Dan Torrance, who had been working as an orderly in a hospice in New Hampshire. Dan was a powerful psychic and a survivor of a harrowing ordeal that took place at the haunted Overlook Hotel in 1980 when he was still a child.

Abra contacted Dan and the two investigated the murder of Bradley Trevor. Dan and his friend Billy Freeman found the place where the True Knot had buried the boy's body, and disinterred him. They later engaged in a fire-fight with members of the True Knot, which resulted in the deaths of everyone in the group except for Rose and Crow Daddy.

Crow Daddy managed to kidnap Abra and was bringing her back to Rose. Dan used his power to take possession of Abra and forced the van off the road, killing Crow Daddy. Dan then physically caught up with Abra and they now had to engage in a new plan to stop Rose. The only way to stop the psychic vampire was with something even hungrier than she - the Overlook Hotel.

Dan drove Abra to the Overlook knowing that Rose would pursue them. Rose entered the hotel and Abra used her power to put Rose into a mindscape facsimile of the topiary maze outside the hotel. Rose managed to break free of this trick and attacked them inside the Colorado Lounge. Dan told Abra to run for safety so he could deal with Rose. Rose hacked him in the leg with an axe, piercing his femoral artery. Dan then awakened the starving spirits residing in the Overlook. Seeing Rose as the greatest form of psychic energy, they overwhelmed her, tearing her apart.

Abilities

 * Psychokinesis
 * Astral projection
 * Possession
 * Psionic projection
 * Telepathy


 * Prolonged lifespan

Notes & Trivia



 * Final fate (novel): Pushed off an observation platform by Dan Torrance. Breaks her neck upon impact with the ground.


 * Final fate (film): Consumed by the hungry ghosts of the Overlook Hotel including Delbert Grady, Mrs. Grady, the Grady daughters, Horace Derwent, and Lorraine Massey.


 * In the novel, Rose the Hat is identified as Rose O'Hara, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland. She is several hundred years old by the events of the novel.


 * In the novel, whenever Rose needed to consume Steam from a victim, her mouth would become unnaturally distended, and a large, single walrus tooth would emerge.

Appearances

 * Doctor Sleep
 * Doctor Sleep (novel)