Kinbote himself is like that of a mad hatter. He says he will be the exiled king of Zembla, a "far northern land", from which he fled only to be pursued by an assassin, named Jacques Gradus. He also believes himself to be a close associate of John Shade, the poem's author, and the true target of the gunman who ultimately violates the nirvana of Central American academia, though even all of this may prove misleading. Not to be forgotten, Kinbote steals the poem's manuscript and flees