Which Haitian king appears in Carpentier's The Kingdom of This World?

Henri Christophe is the Haitian king who appears in Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World.

Carpentier’s 1949 historical novel follows Ti Noel through the Haitian Revolution and its aftermath. Christophe first appears as a cook and later rises to power after the overthrow of French colonial rule. In the novel’s later sections, he becomes king of northern Haiti and imposes an authoritarian regime on the formerly enslaved population.

Christophe’s portrayal is deliberately dramatic and partly fictionalized. He orders massive building projects, including the fortress of Citadelle Laferrière, and his rule is associated with forced labor, fear and political violence. The novel presents his downfall through a blend of historical events, folklore and Carpentier’s idea of “the marvelous real.”

The other options are important Haitian figures, but they do not fit this question as the king central to the novel’s later plot. Toussaint Louverture leads the revolution’s earlier phase, Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares independence and becomes emperor, and Alexandre Pétion rules the southern part of Haiti. Christophe becomes the first king of Haiti in 1811 and dies by suicide in 1820.