At the end of the book Randal Flagg comes back with a new name. Dont get me wrong. I love the book. I have read it over and over again. I just have one question. What was the point of Glenn, Ralph, and Larry dying if their deaths didnt stop Flagg?
I SMELL TOOOOOOAAAAAAST!!!!! Grandpa Simpson in The Simpsons Hit and Run
Flagg was a demonic creature, and they cannot be destroyed by physical means. While it is true that Flagg himself was not destroyed, his followers were, and his followers were the means by which the destruction of the Boulder Free Zone was to happen. Witness the fact that his followers were training for war, with the aircraft for example. Trashy, when he did what he did at Indian Springs, hurt Flagg's plans very badly.
At the end of the book Randal Flagg comes back with a new name. Dont get me wrong. I love the book. I have read it over and over again. I just have one question. What was the point of Glenn, Ralph, and Larry dying if their deaths didnt stop Flagg?
gary_overmanHere's a tip... don't read the last 3 books in The Dark Tower series. share
Flagg was a demonic creature, and they cannot be destroyed by physical means.
Here's a tip... don't read the last 3 books in The Dark Tower series.I must confess that this response has me somewhat mystified.
gary_overman
Here's a tip... don't read the last 3 books in The Dark Tower series.
I must confess that this response has me somewhat mystified. []
Don't read this if you don't want spoilers!!! Flagg gets eaten by a spider
"Is that your IQ or the number of dipwads your mother had?" - Car Pool Man
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Flagg was eaten by a giant spider.
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All your base are belong to us.
Then SK is not being consistent. However, it must be kept in mind that there is, in SK's vivid imagination at least, another universe in which demons can be destroyed by physical means. Always assuming that the spider is entirely physical.
The spider could also be like the Turtle mentioned in his novel, IT.
Dark Tower series spoilers: In book 3, we find out the character of Susannah is pregnant. Presumably it is Eddie's, but at the beginning of 5, we discover that she is possessed by a demon named Mia. When Mia manifests, Susannah has legs whereas otherwise she is in a wheel chair. It is in this same book we find out the demon who Roland had sex with in the first book took his semen and used it to impregnate Susannah by having sex with her in book 3. Thus the child is both the demon's and Roland's. At the beginning of book 7, Susannah gives birth to Mordred, who can turn into a spider. Said spider then eats Flagg without so much as a struggle. I left out any spoilers that did not directly relate to the topic at hand so if you read it, there is still plenty to enjoy and hate about the series (the hate, for me at least, begins with book 5).
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All your base are belong to us.
On my next trip to Wichita, I'm going to have to see about starting on the Dark Tower series. And I'm also going to look into getting the comics for The Stand.
shareGot The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three. Looked for the next one, but the bookstore did not seem to have it in stock. Also looked for the graphic novel of The Stand, but the store was apparently out of business. I'll go back up Saturday and see if I can't find another store.
shareThe comics of The Stand are faithful to a fault. There is no updating of information. Presumably, they are set in the 21st century so receiving a dollar to babysit isn't even worth the time.
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All your base are belong to us.
I was very impressed with the comics. The illustrations of the characters worked out to be fairly close to what I imagined. Joshua is right... even though some things needed condensed, the comics really stayed faithful to the book.
shareThe illustrations are terrific, but I would rather The Talisman have been finished.
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All your base are belong to us.
I was sad when Flagg was killed, but Roland couldn't kill him with his bullets, wasn't mordred also the son of the crimson king, it's been a while since I read them though....but I absolutely loved the ending :-)
shareSo yes, the death of Larry, Glen and Ralph did serve their purpose of stopping Randall as far as the U.S. goes.Quite so; they were key to the destruction of what Flagg had built up in Las Vegas and even though they did not destroy Flagg himself, they did destroy his plans. share
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But that is assuming he was even in Africa, or that he was in the same universe as the one of the Stand. He has turned up in the world of the Dark Tower, and the medieval inspired world of Eyes of the Dragon.
Jack "Things could be worse"
Hurley "...HOW?!"
The impression that I had was that it was some South Seas island, and not Africa.
PS I am now in Wizard and Glass of the Dark Tower series. The first three were pretty good, but W&G is really dragging for some reason.
Eyes of the Dragon is set about 10 years before the events of the gunslinger if my memory serves me correctly, Roland talks about meeting two of the characters while they were still hunting Flagg while he was still early in his quest for the dark tower.
shareWe don't know when or where Flagg came back to, really. And if I interpreted his background correctly (meaning the background King gave on him in The Stand, apart from what we learn in the DT series), he may not even fully remember all that transpired in Vegas. (What happens in Vegas... ?)
For all we know, where he landed could have been 300 years earlier. Or 300 years later. Or another plane of existence. Either way, it wasn't North America, so Larry, Ralph and Glen pretty much did accomplish what they set out to do: save the Free Zone. I was still sad though. My three favorite characters in the book (although I liked many and disliked few) were Nick (I cried when he died), Larry and Ralph, and none of em made it.
Saying "I apologize" is the same as saying "I'm sorry." Except at a funeral.
We don't know when or where Flagg came back to, really. And if I interpreted his background correctly (meaning the background King gave on him in The Stand, apart from what we learn in the DT series), he may not even fully remember all that transpired in Vegas. (What happens in Vegas... ?)Quite so. It seems to me from the book that Flagg had numerous 'incarnations' if I can use that term, and that he very often can't remember what he did in past lives. I recall that he was in the Marines once and that he and his buddies 'did something' to a fellow recruit in Parris Island, but that he didn't quite remember what it was. There also were vague memories from Nebraska in the late 1950's about a red-headed kid named Charles Starkweather, There were also periods of him having been a Black militant and he was even in the KKK.
For all we know, where he landed could have been 300 years earlier. Or 300 years later. Or another plane of existence. Either way, it wasn't North America, so Larry, Ralph and Glen pretty much did accomplish what they set out to do: save the Free Zone. I was still sad though. My three favorite characters in the book (although I liked many and disliked few) were Nick (I cried when he died), Larry and Ralph, and none of em made it.
Gets around, then.
shareI'd rather say that the ending is kind of BAD.
Seriously, i thought that It's was painfully stupid, as Cell's, but The Stand makes me want to drive a corkscrew through my brain. The "hand of god"? Really? All that great buildup and character development for that bullcrap?
He really should stick to short stories, that's definitively his forte.
Yeah, that was stupid. But King is known for his lackluster endings.
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If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!
I'd rather say that the ending is kind of BAD.
Seriously, i thought that It's was painfully stupid, as Cell's, but The Stand makes me want to drive a corkscrew through my brain. The "hand of god"? Really? All that great buildup and character development for that bullcrap?
Yeah, that was stupid. But King is known for his lackluster endings.Just curious: how would either of you have ended the story? share
Well, i'm no writer, but i think almost anything would have been better than this crappy deus ex machina. The only way it'd been worst is if the last line had been "... and it was all a dream, lol :P".
- Maybe they could actually have the epic confrontation that was coming, and have the good guys blow the bomb as a desperate maneuver, killing the bad guys instantly but dooming the Free Zone with the fallout, so its survivors would die slowly from radiation poisoning.
- The Gunslinger materializes out of thin air and single handledly, Yojimbo-style, kills every person in Vegas, including Flagg.
- Every person who died from the plague comes back as a zombie, so both areas have to team up and kill them all.
All joking aside, i never bought another SK book after this trainwreck. I lapsed with Cell because it seemed kind of cool and i'm no cellphone fan, and boy how i regreted it. I never even finished the Dark Tower series (the fact that i found "Wizard and Glass" to be awful as well contributed to that, i must say...).
Instead of the nuclear bomb/Hand of G-d, I would have made it an actual stand. Good vs. Evil, a true battle. Certainly it would have had more of an impact if we lost more than just three. Put Fran, Tom, Joe, and all of the rest in danger. The deaths of so many people we have followed and loved would have had more impact.
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If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!
That would have been a better ending. The giant hand was just so hokey.
Also what was the point of this free zone forming if they all weren't involved in taking a stand against Flagg. Instead only a few sacrificial lambs were sent to die for the cause.
The ones sent to Vegas were ultimately just bait to gather all of Flagg's people together so they could be blown up and they really didn't do anything to take down Flagg. Trash Can Man did more.
Then we had to sit through Stu meeting up with the Moon Man and getting sick after never getting sick from the flu before. I honestly could have cared less about Stu and Frannie getting their happy ending. Frannie in the mini-series was the most irritating and annoying little twit. It's too bad when Flagg was flying away from the explosion he couldn't have made a pit stop at the free zone to drop a bird turd on little Frannie's head.
It's terrible, but the ones who survived I'd rather have died than the ones who actually died. But then if Stu and Frannie bit the big one, no one would probably have cared.
Interesting responses to my question. I thank you all.
Just for the record, I actually liked the ending. But I do think that King could have dispensed with about three fourths of Stu's and Tom's journey home.
I quite like the Tom and Stu parts, it's the endless middle section of the book where they repeatedly discuss who's going to govern what, why and with who else that puts me to sleep.
shareI honestly could have cared less about Stu and Frannie getting their happy ending. Frannie in the mini-series was the most irritating and annoying little twit. It's too bad when Flagg was flying away from the explosion he couldn't have made a pit stop at the free zone to drop a bird turd on little Frannie's head.
It's terrible, but the ones who survived I'd rather have died than the ones who actually died. But then if Stu and Frannie bit the big one, no one would probably have cared.
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The ending seemed like a big cop-out to me. The novel is called "The Stand" - yet there was really no stand. Of course I'm one of those who thought the story took a steep downturn right around the time everything focused on the Free Zone.
That epilogue was not in the original novel, but was added to the extended version. You're right that it seems to retcon the great sacrifice that got rid of him. King wanted to resurrect Flagg to put him in the Dark Tower series.
A lot of fans balked at the new epilogue.
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Boopee doopee doop boop SEX
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I agree. Him returning defeated purpose.Not really. A demon, which was what Flagg was, can't be destroyed by physical means and the ending (that is, the destruction of Las Vegas) did save the Free Zone.
Not really. A demon, which was what Flagg was, can't be destroyed by physical means and the ending did save the Free Zone.It seems to have some type of adware. I let a computer techie from my ISP (about nine miles north of me) install a good (and also free) anti-spy and adware program, and I just did a scan and it seems to have taken care of the problem. I am a happy camper once more. share
PS Off-topic, but these damned pop-ups in IMDb are getting very annoying. It is getting to the point where I am seriously considering either not coming back or limiting my participation in these discussions. That would hurt me a lot because I really enjoy these boards.
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