What Does The Opening Quote In True Detective: Night Country Episode 1 Mean?

Contains spoilers for "True Detective: Night Country" Episode 1

Season 4 of "True Detective" takes the action further north than it's ever been. The relative peace of Ennis, Alaska is thoroughly shattered when the scientists staffing the Tsalal research station disappear, and police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and State Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) find themselves in the middle of a mystery for the ages.

Before "True Detective: Night Country" gets to all of that, however, the show presents its first hint of things to come in the shape of an ominous quote. "For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake," the text that opens the show reads. The quote is attributed to Hildred Castaigne and provides a massive clue about the nature of things to come. Castaigne, as it happens, is the unreliable narrator of a short story called "The Repairer of Reputations," which is a pivotal part of Robert W. Chambers' book "The King in Yellow." 

This reference to the King in Yellow — or the Yellow King, as "True Detective" likes to call Chambers' entity — is a strong indication that "Night Country" is a return to "True Detective's" oldest roots. After all, the King in Yellow and the strange place called Carcosa that's associated with it are recurring motifs on "True Detective" Season 1. As such, "Night Country" basically announces its mission statement from the very first moment: Hold on to your hats, because the show is back in the same spooky subject matter everyone loved in the first season.

The ending of "True Detective" Season 1 doesn't go all in with the supernatural, instead providing a rational — though horrifying — explanation to its central mystery. However, it doesn't skimp on horror, as Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) find out when they uncover the true killer: Errol Childress (Glenn Fleshler). He's a thoroughly disturbed, gigantic man involved in the Tuttle cult and living on a dilapidated compound that he's shaped into his own, twisted Carcosa ... complete with its own skull-adorned scarecrow Yellow King. However, other elements of the show, such as Cohle's enigmatic vision in Carcosa, leave the door just open enough for a mystery element that, much like Chambers' King in Yellow, can't be comprehended by mortal minds. 

This combination of crime drama, horror elements, and the possibility of eldrich terror lurking beyond the veil is part of the allure of "True Detective" Season 1, though the following two seasons largely do away with the supernatural component. It looks like "True Detective: Night Country" is not only ready to embrace the paranormal once more — its opening quote lets the viewers in on the decision before the action even begins. Seeing as the grim fate of the scientists is heavily hinted to be the work of a mysterious female entity and Rose Aguineau (Fiona Shaw) seems to actually interact with a dead spirit, "Night Country" Episode 1 already lays a strong claim for the title of the show's strangest season.