Hello everyone, I just finished reading IT and I'm almost done with The Stand. I love King's writing style and, while The Shining was excellent, IT and The Stand have given me a hankering for King's "big cosmic stuff, tiny little setting." That sounds kinda like what happens in Insomnia and I was thinking of reading that next. That or Eyes of the Dragon. (want more Flagg)
Anyway, I found this article when looking up what to read next
A Reading Guide to the Stephen King Universe
It made me very curious about something.
Are the evil forces, the really evil and powerful forces like IT or Randall Flagg, truly responsible for what they are? I dunno if you know of the site called TVTropes but there they have a trope called Complete Monster. In short, a CM is a character who is beyond heinous and vicious and most of all, is completely responsible for what they do.
IT, Bob Gray, The Spider, Pennywise, seems to be a creature born of evil and malevolence. While IT apparently thought IT was alone in the multiverse apart from the Turtle and IT had no interest in big cosmic matters, these two have apparently been said to be perfect examples of Purpose vs. Random. (Turtle = Purpose, IT = Random) So wouldn't IT count as a fundamental part of existence? IT was made to be that way and didn't have much choice in the matter.
Flagg is more confusing to me. I understand he actually gets a backstory in other books but in The Stand he's very....confused. A lot of the time he doesn't know what he's doing or why. As Mother Abagail called him he was only "the Devil's imp" and was just a tool. That's why I thought he was another of these pawns of evil who doesn't have much say in any of the vile acts he commits.
In IT, the "Other" forces the Losers to do all sorts of things so why can't it be the same for teh bad guys?
Anyway, I found this article when looking up what to read next
A Reading Guide to the Stephen King Universe
It made me very curious about something.
Are the evil forces, the really evil and powerful forces like IT or Randall Flagg, truly responsible for what they are? I dunno if you know of the site called TVTropes but there they have a trope called Complete Monster. In short, a CM is a character who is beyond heinous and vicious and most of all, is completely responsible for what they do.
IT, Bob Gray, The Spider, Pennywise, seems to be a creature born of evil and malevolence. While IT apparently thought IT was alone in the multiverse apart from the Turtle and IT had no interest in big cosmic matters, these two have apparently been said to be perfect examples of Purpose vs. Random. (Turtle = Purpose, IT = Random) So wouldn't IT count as a fundamental part of existence? IT was made to be that way and didn't have much choice in the matter.
Flagg is more confusing to me. I understand he actually gets a backstory in other books but in The Stand he's very....confused. A lot of the time he doesn't know what he's doing or why. As Mother Abagail called him he was only "the Devil's imp" and was just a tool. That's why I thought he was another of these pawns of evil who doesn't have much say in any of the vile acts he commits.
In IT, the "Other" forces the Losers to do all sorts of things so why can't it be the same for teh bad guys?