He Who Walks Behind... - Children of the Corn (2009) Discussion

[–] TaeBelle 15 years ago

Not a god, but a daemon that convinces the children that it is God.

It isn't fully explained in the short story, but I believe we are supposed to get the idea that there was some sort of "religious" uprising by the children who lived in the town and it was kick started by something that called itself "He Who Walks Behind the Rows." It made the kids believe it was God so that it could control them. It's apparent that there really is supposed to be some kind of supernatural entity involved because it "spoke" through different children who acted as its prophet.

It was an actual thing and not just Burt freaking out.

reply

[–] penguinfaery 15 years ago

He's a reoccurring Stephen King character usually called Randal Flagg (Mainly known as the big bad guy in The Stand) who just sorta...evil incarnate.

reply

[–] kenburke0627 14 years ago

I thought it was a big demonic gopher!

reply

[–] pacificboy 14 years ago

He's a reoccurring Stephen King character usually called Randal Flagg (Mainly known as the big bad guy in The Stand) who just sorta...evil incarnate.

Um, no.

"My brain rebelled, and insisted on applying logic where it was not welcome."

reply

[–] jared_can_do_basic_math 14 years ago

Um, yes. King implies in The Stand that Flagg is He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me then a frontal lobotomy.

reply

[–] DarthHonus 11 years ago

I've read in many many places that there is indeed good reason to believe Flagg is also He Who Walks Behind the Rows. I believe I even read it on the Dark Tower official website.

The series of movies may have deviated from that possibility but there are a good number of things that sort of suggest it in the books. It's a pretty popular opinion among most Dark Tower fans I've talked too.

King has yet to shoot the theory down and he generally addresses most questions concerning connections. For example he's directly stated that Pennywise and Dandelo are not one in the same, but only of the same species.

So I'm going to have to say jared is correct. pacific is wrong.

reply

[–] tribalmaggot 14 years ago

i think he was only called that in the stand, his real name was walter. and why would you think he was he who walks behind the rows? theres nothing to indicate that, or that he even could become a noncorporeal supernatural deity.

reply

[–] Caractacus23 14 years ago

"i think he was only called that in the stand, his real name was walter. and why would you think he was he who walks behind the rows? theres nothing to indicate that, or that he even could become a noncorporeal supernatural deity."

The Walter O'Dim character refers to Gatlin, Nebraska at some point in one of the Dark Tower novels. Its sort of vaguely alluded to that he was involved in that whole deal, but never outright stated. It does seem a bit of an over-simplification to say that O'Dim/"Flagg" = He Who Walks Behind the Rows, however. Its possible he may have simply passed through that town, and planted the seeds of a demonic cult with the local children. That was the sort of thing he tended to do, after all.

Been making IMDB board posts since the 90s, yet can't bring up any from before December of 2004.

reply

[–] unknown_soul278 11 years ago

He had many names but I don't think he had a real one anymore. And The Stand is not the only time he used that name; he was Flagg in The Eyes of the Dragon. I have read The Stand many times, it is one of my favorites, but I never walked away with the notion that Flagg was He Who Walks Behind the Rows. He appeared in the corn at or in connection to Mother Abigail's home.

reply

[–] Guardia 14 years ago

According to the story, he/it's a demonic version of Jesus called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows". Whatever that means...

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

reply

[–] COTCgirl 14 years ago

He Who Walks Behind the Rows is the evil corn deity that all of the chidren worship in the entire Children of the Corn franchise. This deity has the ability to move the clouds and the ground as we can see in the first COTC film and the ability to possess on of the children to lead all of the other children which happens in all of the COTC films except the original 1984 version. He also helps the corn grow with the blood of the outlanders and the children that sacrifice themselves to him on their 19th birtdays.

I don't really know what sort of religion you'd say that are. Honestly they remind me a lot of Mayan culture. I took a Western Civilization class in college and we learned that the Mayans use to give a blood sacrifice to their gods for a good harvest. They would cut their mouths and hang ropes through their tongues and let the blood spill onto the ground hoping it would please the deities and they would grant them a prosperous harvest.

I have no clue if this has been helpful or not. I hope so. :)

My Bedroom Tour.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg6NrLYW0Vs

reply

[–] adrian_royals 13 years ago

in the short story he's a huge green thing with football-like red eyes - but that's as far as King goes description wise

i'm probably getting it confused with someone else in king's stuff but i remember HWWBTR being an evil god who was there long before people. (king's #1 inspiration being HP Lovecraft)

admittedly i haven't read The Stand in nearly 10 years, on 1 hand i remember Flagg being in the corn fields in people's dreams but on the other he is always described as a 9-10 foot black man (as in darkness NOT negro)
so i don't know if they are 1 in the same but imo, no

reply