Eponymous character in The Repairer of Reputations. He is murdered, presumably by Vance, whom he was blackmailing, at the end of the story.
Presumably draws his name from Oscar Wilde, who was linked to The Yellow Book.
Occupation[]
He earns a living by repairing reputations after they have become tainted, claiming to have 500 men in his employ, especially in the newspapers, and is also capable of finding lost objects with surprising ease, such as when he located a long-lost piece of armour for the armourer Hawberk. He also seems to know secrets about people, such as Hawberk's probable real identity.
Appearance[]
He has a yellowish face, and a flat and pointed head, and lacks ears, wearing, instead, pink artificial ears of wax. He also lacks fingers on his left hand and is only the size of a child of ten (though with very well developed muscles). His face often bears the scratches of his cat's claws.
Personality[]
He has been in an asylum before the events of the story, although Hildred Castaigne is sure he is as sane as he is. He keeps a pet cat which he teases and which often scratches him.
Death[]
Wilde dies at the end of The Repairer of Reputations. It is implied that his cat may finally have killed him, although it is far likelier that Vance was responsible for his murder. However, it is equally possible that Hildred Castaigne killed him in his madness.
The Imperial Dynasty of America[]
It is Mr. Wilde who possesses the documents that detail Hildred's claims to royal birth and which appear to be linked to The King In Yellow. Whether they are genuine documents he has located somewhere, another copy of the play or a manuscript of his own creation is unclear.