"The Repairer of Reputations" is the opening short story of Robert W. Chambers's 1895 weird fiction collection, The King in Yellow.

Setting: The story takes place in an alternate, futuristic 1920s New York City characterized by totalitarian shifts, military parades, and the opening of public, government-run "Lethal Chambers" for legal suicide.

Protagonist & Catalyst: The narrative is told from the first-person perspective of Hildred Castaigne, an unreliable narrator who suffered a severe head injury from a horse fall and was previously institutionalized in an asylum by Dr. Archer. Hildred's descent into madness is triggered after reading The King in Yellow a cursed, forbidden play whose second act infects the reader's mind with horrific visions of Carcosa, Hastur, the Lake of Hali, and the Pallid Mask.

The Plot & Characters: Hildred becomes obsessively convinced that he is the heir to the "Imperial Dynasty of America". He collaborates with Mr. Wilde, a physically deformed, sinister eccentric who runs a corrupt blackmail business titled "Repairer of Reputations" and claims to control a vast, covert network across the country.

Conflict: Together, Hildred and Mr. Wilde plot to force Hildred's cousin Louis to renounce his claim to the throne and prevent Louis's marriage to Constance Hawberk

Climax & Resolution: Wearing a gold diadem and silk robes bearing the Yellow Sign, Hildred attempts to enforce his authority, culminating in murder and chaos. The story ends with an editor's note revealing that Hildred was captured and died in the Asylum for Criminal Insane.