Editing Duncan I of Scotland (section)

== Depictions in fiction ==
[[File:Donnchad_mac_Crinain,_King_of_Scotland.jpg|thumb|An oil painting by Jacob Jacobsz de Wet II]]

Duncan is depicted as an elderly king in the play ''[[Macbeth]]'' (1606) by [[William Shakespeare]]. He is killed in his sleep by the protagonist, Macbeth.

In the historical novel ''[[Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set before 1286|Macbeth the King]]'' (1978) by [[Nigel Tranter]], Duncan is portrayed as a schemer who is fearful of Macbeth as a possible rival for the throne. He tries to assassinate Macbeth by poisoning and then when this fails, attacks his home with an army. In self-defence Macbeth meets him in battle and wounds him, and he dies of bleeding, for he is bad-blooded, or [[Haemophilia C]].

In the animated television series ''[[Gargoyles (TV series)|Gargoyles]]'' he is depicted as a weak and conniving king who assassinates those who he believes threaten his rule.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/archives.php?lid=531&qid=17989&ppp=1 |last=Bishansky |first=Greg |title=Station Eight: Gargoyles: Ask Greg Archive: Duncan |publisher=S8.org |date=13 March 2013 |access-date=18 April 2017 |quote=Duncan: This guy was a jerk. I mean, really. A paranoid tyrant who thought the world was out to get him. Well, not the world so much as his cousin, Macbeth. I suppose I can understand seeing Macbeth as a threat to the throne, but he just seemed to go out of his way to make Macbeth miserable. He reveled in it. When he died, we were all happy to see him bite it.}}</ref> He even tries to assassinate Macbeth, forcing [[Demona]] to ally with the Moray nobleman, with Duncan's resulting death coming from attempting to strike an enchanted orb of energy that one of [[List of Gargoyles characters#The Weird Sisters|the Weird Sisters]] gave to Macbeth to take Duncan down.