Ed Deepneau was the central antagonist in Stephen King's novel, Insomnia. His actions were highly influenced by The Crimson King, and it was the King's plan to have Deepneau crash a plane into The Derry Civic Center where Susan Day was going to make a speech.
Insomnia[]
In Insomnia, Ralph Roberts was a friend of Ed Deepneau and started to notice that something was terribly wrong with Ed. Ed started having delusions that people were driving barrels of dead babies to "The Red King". When he heard Susan Day, an abortion supporter, was coming to Derry, Ed personally took it upon himself to lead the pro-life party.
His attacks on the pro-abortion side eventually lead to him being influenced by the Crimson King to blow up the the Derry Civic Center where Susan Day was going to give her speech. Ed and The Crimson King were stopped by Ralph.
Role in The Dark Tower Series[]
At first Ralph and Lois thought that Ed and the Crimson King just wanted to kill Susan Day and as many people as they could. However, it wasn't in The Crimson King's plan to kill Susan Day at all. His main goal was to kill Patrick Danville- a boy who prophesied and drew about Roland, The Dark Tower, and the Crimson King. The Crimson King tried to use Ed as his tool to accomplish this, but it failed. Patrick Danville would eventually be the one to end the Crimson King.
Nancy Deepneau tells Roland that she had an Uncle Ed, but it is not the same one that Stephen King wrote about in Insomnia. Roland believes that King named the antagonist, Ed Deepneau, to get their attention.
Also, the Little Bald Doctors tell Ralph much about the Tower and Ka.
By the Crimson King controlling Ed, it shows the extent of the Crimson King's power, such as the influence he had on Bryan Smith when he sent him out to hit Stephen King.