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| “ | As for the end of the universe… I say let it come as it will, in ice, fire, or darkness. What did the universe ever do for me that I should mind its welfare? | „ |
| ~ Randall Flagg in The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower — his most famous quote. |
Walter Padick, better known as Randall Flagg or the Man in Black, is the main antagonist of the Stephen King mythos.
The most recurring and, without a doubt, most important villain of the entire mythos, with countless various acts of atrocity in his name, Randall Flagg is, following King's own words, the best villain he created, whom he had in mind since he began writing. Flagg has appeared in multiple works, always as a powerful and charismatic embodiment of evil. He is also a servant of the ultimate evil of the mythos, the Crimson King, as well as the archenemy of Roland Deschain.
In the 1994 series, he was portrayed by James Sheridan. In the 2020 miniseries, he was portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård, who also played Charlie Venner in the 2011 remake of Straw Dogs, Perry Wright in HBO's Big Little Lies, and Lukas Matsson in HBO's Succession.
Biography[]
Background[]
Within the novels, Randall Flagg was given to a mill owner and his wife to learn the ways of man by his father, Maerlyn. However, at the age of 13, he grew bored, burned down his house, and sought to find his real father. He was raped by a stranger the next year. Eventually, Flagg became something of a "quasi-immortal" demon upon learning the ways of dark magic from his father once he found him.
The Eyes of the Dragon[]
He makes his first chronological appearance, where he plans to put the medieval city of Delain into chaos. He begins such plans by murdering Queen Sasha and framing Prince Peter for poisoning his own father, King Roland, a crime that Flagg himself committed.
The Stand[]
Randall Flagg, who can also take the form of a raven, represented the concept of evilness and stood in opposition to Mother Abagail, who represented goodness. The two fought for control over the survivors of a world plagued by disease, and he was present when the Captain Trips flu, a deadly virus, began and swept across the United States and soon the entire Earth in a matter of weeks, eliminating 99.4% of the planet's human populace.
He later chose and raped his new "bride," Nadine Cross, whom he had been visiting in her nightmares. She soon turned on Randall while still having feelings for the man named Larry she met in New York. She committed suicide by jumping off the balcony of Flagg's penthouse in Las Vegas, killing not only herself but also Randall Flagg's unborn child, whom she was pregnant with. Not long after, she replied her final words to the monster, "your seed is cold".
The Dark Tower Series[]
Meeting Roland[]
In the days of the lead character Roland Deschain's youth, Flagg went under the guise of Marten Broadcloak, a sorcerer who taught Roland some magic, like a special bullet trick that could hypnotize people. During a formal gathering that Roland watched from a balcony, Flagg danced with Roland's mother, Gabrielle.
Later, Roland found both his mother and Marten together in a room, with his mother having love-bite marks on her neck. This angered Roland, and he ran out of the room and to Cort, his combat teacher, to earn the guns of a true gunslinger. Of course, this was all in the plan: Flagg baited Roland to face his test so that he would fail it and be "sent West," or rather, be exiled. However, Roland passed the test and became the youngest person ever to earn his guns. Flagg, whose plan failed, seemingly vanished.
Sometime later, Roland and his friends Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns were sent to the town of Hambry in the Barony of Meijs to count supplies, although they were actually there because Roland’s father Steven wanted to protect Roland from Flagg's wrath. Roland and his friends, or Ka-Tet, did not encounter Flagg, but he did pay a visit to Hambry. Three men known as the Big Coffin Hunters were stationed there under the orders of John Farson, a revolutionary who wanted to destroy Mid-World. Flagg, now going by Walter, visited the gang's leader, Eldred Jonas, to hold palaver about the Tet.
In the final battle that would end with Gilead’s destruction, Flagg played a small but key role. Posing as a blue-faced warrior, Flagg killed Cuthbert with an arrow to the eye.
The Gunslinger[]
Following the fall of Gilead, Roland pursues Flagg, now under the guise of Walter O'Dim and known to Roland as the Man in Black, across the Mohaine Desert. While running, Flagg enters the town of Tull and practices some of his black arts there. He brings a devil-grass-addicted man back from the dead and gives a woman named Alice a letter saying that if she says the word nineteen, the man, who is named Nort, will tell her about the afterlife. He also impregnates a religious woman named Sylvia Pitterson and convinces her that Roland is "the Interloper".
When Roland visits Tull, the effects of Flagg's enchantments take place: Alice says the word nineteen to Nort, and Sylvia pits the town against Roland, who kills everyone, including her (Alice is killed by Roland because she begged him to after hearing what Nort had to say).
Upon finding the abandoned way station, Roland meets a young boy named Jake Chambers, who says he died in our world. Jake says that, while waiting to cross the street, a priest pushed him into traffic, causing him to get run over by Enrico Balazar (later, it's revealed that this "priest" was a man named Jack Mort, who was a representative of Flagg).
In the mountains, Roland and Jake see Flagg climbing the side of a cliff. After encountering the mysterious oracle, the duo encounters Flagg hovering over a waterfall. He tells Roland that "just the two of them" will hold palaver on the other side of it, frightening Jake.
Inside the mountains, after fighting a band of slow mutants, Roland and Jake cross a trestle bridge. On the other side is Flagg, who tells Roland that he'll get answers about the tower. The bridge collapses under the duo's feet, and Jake nearly falls into the chasm below, clinging to a beam. Seeing this, Flagg gives Roland a choice: either save Jake or abandon him for answers about the tower. Roland picks answers and lets Jake fall to his death.
After Jake dies, Flagg and Roland hold a long palaver in front of a fire. Flagg tells Roland his future with tarot cards. He also gives Roland a vision of the universe in an attempt to show him how tiny he is and scare him away from his journey; Roland refuses, and Flagg puts him to sleep, but not after revealing that he was Marten. Many years later, Roland wakes up to see a skeleton left behind by Flagg to make him think he died.
The Waste Lands[]
After Roland gets a new Ka-Tet in the form of Eddie Dean, his wife Susannah Dean, and Jake (who manages to return to Mid-World thanks to Roland killing Jack Mort before he pushes him in The Drawing of the Three), he travels to the city of Lud, where he encounters the Tick-Tock Man and his minions. A few moments after they leave, Flagg appears before the Tick-Tock Man, who was injured by Jake, and takes him under his wing.
Wizard and Glass[]
After Roland tells his tale of sorrow and adventure in Hambry to his Tet, the Tet encounters Flagg in the false city of Oz. Roland tries to shoot Flagg, but the gun misfires ("Only misfires against me, old fellow"). Flagg attempts to dissuade the Tet from their course to the Tower, but they refuse. Roland shoots Flagg with a gun Jake brought from our world, and this time it doesn't misfire. Flagg flees, leaving behind a pink magic ball called Maeryln's Grapefruit, which was an important aspect of Roland's past in Mejis.
Wolves of the Calla[]
It's revealed that shortly after Jake and Roland left the station, Don Pere Callahan, a character who later meets the Tet in Calla Bryn Sturgis, encountered Flagg at the station. Flagg gave him a box containing Black Thirteen, an evil magic ball, which he hoped would destroy the Tet.
The Dark Tower[]
Flagg meets Roland's son, Mordred Deschain, in an attempt to take his leg and bring it to the Tower so he can take it over and become a god. Mordred, however, takes control of Flagg's motor functions with his mind powers and forces Flagg to dismember himself. Then he overpowers him and eats him.
Hearts in Atlantis[]
He later appears in this collection in the short story "Blind Willie" as the leader of an activist group by the name of Raymond Fiegler, showing that he is still alive.
Gwendy's Button Box[]
Flagg reappears under the name Richard Farris. As Farris, he gives a high school girl named Gwendy a box with six buttons on the top and a small dispenser on the side. Farris gives specific instructions on using the box, such as that she should never press the red button under any circumstances. Farris leaves Gwendy to decide how to use the box on her own.
Gwendy reserves the use of the box for eating chocolates dispensed each time she presses one button, which increases her luck and popularity in life, and pressing another button that dispenses her rare silver dollars. She gets curious and presses the red button while thinking of an isolated location in Guyana, which ends up leading to the Jonestown massacre. She reserves to never press it again, but her life changes when her best friend in high school commits suicide. Her boyfriend is later killed after being bludgeoned with the box by Frankie Stone, a local creep from high school who later grows up to be a murderer and serial rapist.
When he tried to rape Gwendy, she hit the red button and imagined him being sent to Hell, resulting in him being burned alive into damnation. Farris later arrives, and, despite Gwendy lambasting him for creating the box, leaving it to her, and the resulting consequences, he shrugs it off by alleging she could've relented from certain courses in her life, alleging he's not guilty of collateral damage. He takes the box, ready to pass it on to the next unsuspecting target.
Other Versions[]
The Dark Tower (2017 film)[]
- Main article: Randall Flagg (2017 film)
The Stand (2020 TV miniseries)[]
Flagg is depicted as having more crimes under his belt than in the original novel and the 1994 miniseries, as he is the creator of the Captain Trips virus and creates death matches for his people to see, allowing them to commit various acts of evil, including sex slavery, alcohol and drug abuse, and perverse orgies.
Quotes[]
| “ | You expected Charles Manson at the very least, didn't ya? | „ |
| ~ Randall Flagg in The Stand 1990 TV miniseries. |
| “ | Wait a minute, son. Wait a minute. You ain't seen nothin' yet. | „ |
| ~ Randell Flagg demonstrating his demonic magic to Lloyd Henreid. |
| “ | Flagg: Please to meet you Lloyd, hope you guessed my name. Lloyd: What? Flagg: Oh. Nothing. Just a little classical reference. Actually, my name is Flagg, Randall Flagg. |
„ |
| ~ Flagg introducing himself to Lloyd. |
| “ | Death always wins. That's the deal. | „ |
| ~ The Man in Black to Gunslinger. |
| “ | You're crawlin' your way out of the darkness. Did you ever tell the kid who walks with you dies by my hand? | „ |
| ~ The Man in Black to Gunslinger. |
| “ | You really think you can stop me, Gunslinger? | „ |
| ~ The Man in Black to Gunslinger. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Artwork[]
Comics[]
The Stand (1994 TV Miniseries)[]
The Stand (2020 TV Miniseries)[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- In The Dark Tower series, Randall appears under the guise of several figures, including the Man in Black, Walter O'Dim, Marten Broadcloak, and his actual name, Walter Padick.
- Randall Flagg is regarded as Stephen King's most popular villain (alongside It). As such, King himself regards him as the greatest villain he ever wrote.
- What's interesting is that he is portrayed in the miniseries by Alexander Skarsgård, whose brother, Bill Skarsgård, portrayed It in the 2017 film series.
- Many fans suspect that the dark form at the end of The Long Walk is somehow an incarnation of Randall Flagg.
- According to Stephen King, he created Flagg in college when he wrote a poem entitled The Dark Man. The poem follows an unnamed 'dark man' (Flagg) who has "ridden rails" and is always an outsider looking in, despising good fellowship and similar things. The man also admits to rape and says he did it as "a sign to those who creep in fixed ways".
- It is implied that another Stephen King villain, the unholy demon known as He Who Walks Behind the Rows in Children of the Corn, was an avatar for Flagg, who shares similarities with the biblical demon Legion, which The Eyes of the Dragon novel calls him as such.
- It is implied that Mrs. Carmody from The Mist was being manipulated by Flagg under the belief she was being guided by God; while praying, she uses the phrase "My life for you," a phrase commonly associated with Flagg.
External Links[]
- Randall Flagg on the Pure Evil Wiki.
- Randall Flagg on the Stephen King Wiki.
- Randall Flagg on the Dark Tower Wiki.
- Randall Flagg at Wikipedia.
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 Villains
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