SPOILERS! Is he Legion or not?

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Before I proceed, let me start by saying I really enjoy this mini-series and watch it at least once a year, along with Rose Red. They're great for a rainy Sunday. So with this aside, allow me to explain my dilemma with the story.

While the character Mike Anderson discovers 'Linoge' is an anagram for 'Legion', and then proceeds to explain the story of Legion, Linoge later informs the townsfolk gathered in the town hall that he's not a god, nor is he "one of the immortals". So, if he is indeed Legion (the collective name for a particular group of demons sometimes referred to as the Gerasene Demon, and I apologize in advance for spending five paragraphs questioning the logic of Legion), then why would he/they not be immortal? He is a demon/s, after all - since when did demons have a life span? Regardless of his powers and long life-span by human standards, at the end of the day, in this story at least, he's just another mortal. This concept just doesn't sound right in simple fictional mythology terms and what one generally expects with demons in popular literature and film.

If Linoge is Legion ("for we are many"), then how does that even work? Who are all these demons and why are they all using the same vessel (Linoge) to do their 'work' (whatever that is)? I remember the character Emily Rose in 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose', was also supposed to be possessed by Legion. Does this legion of demons - many, apparently - just agree with each others' principals so accurately that they insist on using one person to operate through? Wouldn't 'Legion' be more effective if they each possessed an individual for themselves? The concept of Legion doesn't have a lot of common sense to it. If Linoge is Legion, then when he talks, which demon is communicating at any given time? Do they all just speak as one? Why would they do that? It sounds like an incredibly boring existence. The idea of Legion just doesn't make much sense. It's a philosophical nightmare. Why would a legion of demons collectively possess one person at a time? WTF are they all doing in there? Doesn't it get cramped?

Wouldn't these demons have individual thoughts, ideas and voices unique to themselves like those depicted in The Exorcism of Emily Rose? And thus would it not be the worst case of Multiple Personality Disorder ever? Psychiatrists would have a field-day with this. To put it simply, why doesn't this legion of demons just operate individually, through multiple people, to achieve their collective goal? Surely there's no benefit in using just the one person. I'm not familiar with the finer details of the Legion story but if, for instance, these demons are imprisoned together in such a way that only allows them to channel one individual at a time, then why don't they just nominate the demon with the most public-speaking experience while the rest sit back and relax, or at least take turns?

The story of The Storm of the Century shoots itself in the foot given that Linoge wants a child to carry on his work, because WTF does this have to do with the story of Legion? Seriously, if any of you can link these two completely separate concepts together, I'd be very eager to read about it.

So, if Linoge is not Legion, why even mention it in the first place? Furthermore, while explaining the story of Legion, Mike Anderson loosely quotes from the Bible "... and Jesus cast out the demons [from the man] into a herd of pigs that ran into the ocean and drowned themselves", but I'll explain this a little better.

Basically it can be interpreted that the demons begged to be spared from being sent back to Hell. Jesus casts the demons out of the man, granting their request, and allows them to dwell in a herd of pigs. The pigs then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

Would this not then mean that the pigs essentially sent the demons back to hell by committing mass-suicide? This is amazing. A herd of pigs possessed sufficient brain power to take it upon themselves, for the sake of humans, to kill themselves. Fascinating. Or, are we to understand that after briefly possessing a herd of pigs, whereupon the pigs apparently agreed in unison to drown themselves, these demons then flew away to eventually find and possess the man who now calls himself Andre Linoge? Or is Andre Linoge the man from the Bible Anderson is referring to? In which case he's no longer Legion and thus would not have "lived for thousands of years" since Jesus already expelled them. Additionally, since these demons possessed a herd of pigs, albeit unwillingly, it means they can indeed possess more than one creature at a time. The whole notion of Legion completely contradicts the Linoge character. So again, why bother with this anagram in the first place? And why 'Andre' for that matter? If his surname is supposed to be relevant, then why not his first name as well? Which might be something like 'A Nerd Legion'. Do you see how ridiculous this all is?

In any event, the story of Legion appears to be considered, in academic circles at least, a parable of anti-Roman resistance of the time, but that's another story.

Even after all this absurdity, lets suppose Linoge is indeed Legion and these demons are strangely mortal for some reason and they're looking for a child to carry on their work because, by their standard of time, they don't have long to live. Are these demons all the same age? Is their deteriorating health identical to each other as a result of possessing the one person? Do they all have black eyes? And more importantly, where can I get me some of those dental fixtures?

There is no question that Stephen King is a truly accomplished author with an impressive body of work, and is one of the great master storytellers of our time. But there's also no question that King is a complete weirdo. Many of his stories are so convoluted and make no ultimate sense that they appear to be the writings of a lunatic - have you ever read The Tommyknockers? A giant book of nonsensical dribble. Nevertheless, King is known for his great eye for detail and for inside or off-hand references to events in previous books, but while similarities can be found between the character of Andre Linoge and that of Randall Flagg from The Stand, I see no relevance to the story of Legion whatsoever. The whole inclusion of Linoge as an anagram for Legion seems trivial and unnecessary. Hidden meanings are great when they serve a purpose, but unless I'm missing something, it's pointless in this instance. People on this board have mentioned how they wish King would elaborate on his darker characters more, while others argue it would ruin the mystery. It would seem sometimes he doesn't provide an explanation because he never had one to begin with.






"People should know when they're conquered" - Quintus