God I hate Holden so much. But it's a hatred that you'd want for your villain. Like Joffrey from GOT. These are vile people who you really, really, really want to see their "Just Dues."
@@viderevero1338 It's weird, Holden is one of the most evil characters in any fiction I've ever encountered, but when reading the book I could never hate him for some reason. He's just such a fascinating character despite not having a single redeeming quality. It's kinda strange because I've hated characters who I don't find nearly as evil as Holden.
Sympathetic villains can be the best, and sometimes pure evil ones are the best. All about how well the execution is. Holden is my favorite villain ever but most of my other favorites are more sympathetic and even greyish morally.
I think the Judge is so terrifying for not only the fact that he is irredeemably evil, it's his almost infinite amount of knowledge about an almost infinite amount of subjects. He's so knowledgable it is almost as if he is clairvoyant, and combined with his intuition, he is nearly omnipotent. Wrath and rage is scary, but evil that is cold and calculated, is something so utterly terrifying and yet so completely human.
Oh and he just so happens to have top-percentile physical strength too. He seems to be both a proto-bodybuilder _and_ capable of hysterical strength at-will (calmly cracking a guy's skull by the ears, handling a big block of iron ore) He's one in a billion, won the genetic lottery, such as it is.
There's at least one point though where he is surprised/perplexed using misinformed knowledge. Somewhere I read suggested that his knowledge is limited to humanity's level of knowledge at that point in time. Hence why he is impressive in knowledge yet also believes things we now know are false (phrenology, etc.). To me, that points to him being more like a representative manifestation of current humanity's evil rather than an omnipotent being. Ya feel? If he were close to omnipotence, he would know humans misunderstandings as false yet he does not.
@owenwhite8053 you are closer to the truth than most, because whatever the Judge literally is, I think is frankly irrelevant, what he represents however is very relevant
The most compelling piece of evidence for Judge Holden's true identity comes from his introduction, wherein he accuses a preacher of bestiality and pedophilia. The preacher says this: "This is him, cried the reverend, sobbing. This is him. The devil. Here he stands." After the preacher is presumably killed, the Kid runs into the Judge at a local bar and asks how he knew the preacher was capable of such heinous acts. The Judge reveals that he had never seen the man before in his life. Someone nearby laughs and buys Holden a drink. EDIT: I stand corrected. The preacher was not killed but run out of town. However, the townsfolk are gathering a posse together to hunt him down when the scene described takes place.
Eh, I can't really feel bad for the death of a tent revival Evangelist preacher. The Great Awakening was an unmitigated disaster for American culture and is a large part of why Christianity has become so backwards in the American south.
@@IapitusMcHeimer Judge Holden in the fiction novel is based on a real and probably paedophile person who took part in a psychopath-mercenary group's raiding against indigenous communities in Mexico and southern USA (see the Chamberlain gang, where it seems like others have been a source of inspiration also for many fiction stories) . It seems like H Lecter in TSotL is largely based on the real "Judge". Ironically we have this old wacko in Norway called Holden (his surname) today who openly supports Putin's war in Ukraine, talks warmly of ex-Soviet spies in Norway from the KGB, and generally throws out more or less insane things.
@@jung9399 He is a manifestation of it. Its incarnation. He is not necessarily aware of what he is. He is specifically a representation of modern war, as I see it.
I think one critical point you left out is the story of when the man and his imbecile brother are introduced. When the Judge sees the imbecile, he reaches out and starts inspecting his brother’s head, trying to find any fault in the shape of his skull. He was genuinely perplexed that one perfectly normal man could have a brother like that, and he still held true to phenology at a time when many scientists already questioned it. Yes, he’s obviously supernatural, but there are limits to his omniscience, and he only knows as much as can be learned in his time
@@Noahthelasercop Fair take. IMO, the Judge would happily make camp with anyone who was engaging in his preferred craft, so I don't think he's representative of any civilization in particular. I think he's in Western North America because it was such a chaotic, violent, brutish place at the time. If he were alive today, I almost feel like he'd be roaming around Syria. He seems too complex to just be an allegory for racism. Just my take.
@@evanmoore3114 Not to be mean, but I found it funny how you likened the judge representing Western Civilization to the Judge being an allegory for racism. That says more than it should.
@@Noahthelasercop I felt the Judge was just a sort of Jinn, a kind of personification of the savagery of human nature and the revelry of violence of all kinds including sexual. The cumulative abilities and knowledge of mankind but with all of the narcissism and belief in dominance over all things. He's like an energy made manifest by the collective evil of the Glanton Gang and represents the further decent into depravity. His private conversations with Glanton, mirror those he later has with the man who he is successful in persuading to embrace his vile nature. I also saw the priest as a kind of fading conscience constantly at war with the Judge until he finally vanished as if he'd never existed.
@@Noahthelasercop My OP was specifically in reference to the seen regarding phenology, which was a blatantly racist “science”, so when you followed that up with “the Judge is supposed to represent Western Civilization”, henceforth why his belief in phenology makes sense, my natural conclusion was that you were equating the West and racism, and by extension making the Judge a symbol of racism. It seems I misunderstood what you meant by him representing Western Civilization, feel free to elaborate because I don’t know what else you could have meant by that.
One thing that lends credence to the idea of the Judge being Satan is his mention of fatherless sons. He says that a son must learn from his father's mistakes and death and that it is impossible to become a true man without this. God is the father of all angels, and being a perfect, immortal being, Lucifer can't become a 'true man" because he can't learn from his father's mistakes or death. Holden is also referred to many times as childlike, which accentuates the notion he could have been talking about himself.
@@metoo3342 thats an interesting take, would you care to elaborate? Its quite refreshing to hear the judge atrributed to the opposite of what he's usually associated with.
@@SuperOrangebird Im not overly religious myself and having just read the book I’m consuming videos like this much like many of y’all . One thing I find is common is the idea that God is everything, if god is everything then would the judge himself not be an extension of God himself? A mirror image of the wrath and horrible defilement of the earth that we have done with the knowledge we have been given. I find it oddly fitting that in the sorry of how the gang met the Judge he knew if a natural way to create gunpowder, something they could use to kill their fellow man. I am of the understanding that a religious text has themes similar to his , the book of Enoch, but it is not widely accepted as part of bible “canon” or however that is worded.
@@SuperOrangebirdI know this comment is like a month old, but there are some interesting ideas that suggest the Judge is a messiah of sorts. There is even a whole section about it on the wikipedia page for the book under interpretations.
It's very telling to me that the kid is the only person who Holden can never truly put a spell on. The Judge is shown to be able to have this way with everyone else in the novel, from the first moments where he lies about the preacher just for a laugh. Even with a gun to his head he simply compels Toadvine to be decisive one way or another without hesistation. Glanton relies on him as both a diplomat and an enforcer, he posseses an encyclopedic knowledge of things and people, and can speak multiple languages with ease. His feat of improvised gunpowder that saves the gang after they first come across him, as well as his survival of the massacre toward the end of the novel, show that he is not only determined to live, but utterly convinced that above all others, he deserves to endure. But just like the kid, I've never bought into his game. He believes himself all knowing, all powerful, but he's subjected to the same limitations of the gang, the same trials, the same hardships, and is above all merely a king of ignorant fools and a master of depraved lowlifes. He doesn't use his arsenal to amass wealth or power or influence, he just positions himself as the greatest of degenerates, where he feels most comfortable, and he justifies it as the most natural means to live. That's why I believe he kills the man at the end, because he was the only person, right up until the end, who saw through his twisted charm. To the kid, Holden was just another man who like all else will one day be reclaimed by the Earth and the greater universe. He may be supernatural, but he exists on the periphery of civilization, and thrives only among the worst humanity has to offer. The kid wasn't a hero by any means, but he is Holden's true foil. Even Tobin the expriest is shook to his core, but the kid is a nonbeliever and that's what I love most about him. Fear is only real if you buy into it, and the kid/man is the one person who Holden can't compel to bow to the terror that surrounds him. I think the part of his character that's most interesting is how he takes on a pet and I wish more people would focus on that. It's the part of the novel that seems most symbolic and mysterious.
No the kid actually turns out to be under the power of the judge. For example the kid is later persuaded to rape and kill a young lady at the end. This is symbolically expressed by being absorbed by the judge. He also raped and killed many other children. This is hinted with the missing and dead children wich is a motive throughout the novel.
@@hubudubebububububeubub sorry but it never states in the novel the kid did any of those things. The novel describes the gang and certain members in the gang committing those acts but the kid is never mentioned until after the acts were committed. Alluding to the idea that the kid didn’t take part it in and was just there watching them do it. And the kid never graped a woman he only shot and killed a child as an adult.
The Judge didn’t exactly escape the massacre, he probably orchestrated the whole thing. And don’t even mention what was going on in that room right before the escape
Idk if the "best among degenerates" is necessarily true. To the judge, it would probably be "the best among the best". He probably doesn't value wealth or positions of power for their own sake if he doesn't find a way to enjoy them, he rather prefers to excell and enjoy things in a matter in which his will is made manifest. Take away the horrific things he subjects being that definetly dont deserve it (such as the dogs, or the numerous children he is implied to have molested and murdered), but if you see into the essence of what Judge Holden says, a lot of it is full of wisdom.
@@slb2219 It is true that at the time anyone of the gang could have done it but at the end it's revealed that the kid was the one of the gang that most likely did the killings and killed the bear girl. First of all at the end the entire gang was either killed or missing. The only two members present at Fort Griffin is the judge and the kid and yet still their was another young girl (the bear girl) has gone missing. And it was the man. Firstly after the conversation with the judge the man goes to have sex with a dark dwarf prostitute wich looks the most like the Mexican girls that have gone missing. He can't get aroused and he leaves and then afterwards the bear girl is reported to be missing obviously this isn't a coincidence. The man realised he needs the violence to get aroused and he is probably also weathered down by the manipulative talk of the judge. He then commits the act of raping and killing the bear girl wich he does in the toilet this is the place were he fully let go of his morals and is symbolically absorbed or won over by the judge. Afterwards before the men open the door they are warned by a pissing stranger who says " I wouldn't go in there if I was you " the man is nonchalant while the men that open the door are horrified. Only people that have already seen or done horrible things could be so calm about the sight. The statement is also very blunt the judge is shown to be much more well spoken. So it could have only been the man. The ones that commit the evil acts are most of the time not the judge himself but the people around him the real humans Glanton for example did way worse things than the judge. This is what the judge likes the most he wants people around him commiting evil acts wich is also why he is present at Fort Griffin the most sinful town. Because of this he is so happy at the end, he has converted a man back to evil.
I could imagine that the judge is some kind of alter ego by the kid/man or even the entire gang. A shadow following them if you will, a manifestation of the dark side of the collective unconcious. "You are nothing." "You speak truer than you know." He will never die because he is a part of all humanity and keeps getting reincarnated, hence why he looks like a big infant, is fluent in every language etc. He is ancient and a baby at the same time.
He’s based on a real person mentioned to be part of the gang He was said to be 7ft tall and to speak all manor of languages While yes he can appear supernatural and his character is based on satan from paradise lost He was written in the story because he was said to be part of the gang from the journals & legends of the gang this story was based on
@@iiii4024 Sure, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have symbolic representation in the story. The final passage and all of the little hints make it clear. How everyone claims to have had an encounter with the judge. How he always seems to be around at pivotal points in the kid's life and seems to be almost all knowing. His whole philosophical conversation with the kid about the fact that no one knows how things will turn out, you just get to choose if you dance or don't dance. At that point in the story, the kid is somewhat trying to turn his life around. Trying to be useful, trying to help people. But he also makes questionable choices such as facing down a mirror image of himself when he was younger and saying, "you wouldn't have lived anyhow," as well as trying to bury his fear with a prostitute, with meaningless pleasure seeking when the judge shows back up. Even back in the days with the gang, the kid has kind of a half assed moralism. It doesn't ever say how much he participates in the gang's brutality, but it's implied that it's not much. He often shows spots of compassion and forgiveness, but he stays with nihilistic hedonistic killers to have a place to belong. Fate kept trying to push him to leave over and over but he always chose to stay. Likewise the Judge accuses him of betraying and poisoning the gang with his lack of commitment to it. The kid tried to stay neutral and purposeless. He always chose not to dance. "He wafts his hat and the lunar dome of his skull passes palely under the lamps and he swings about and takes possession of one of the fiddles and he pirouettes and makes a pass, two passes, dancing and fiddling at once. His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die" The Judge may have been based on a real person certainly, but in the story he's clearly represented as something more. War, the devil, human evil, whatever he is. He's a great favorite. He never sleeps. He says he will never die. And he will always choose to dance. What I get from that is that evil will always be there, and will always participate, pushing for horrible suffering regardless if you chose to participate in the dance or not. The dance will happen with or without you. All you get to choose is whether you will participate, and if you do how you will try to step.
The kid says "you ain't nothing," to which the Judge replies "You speak truer than you know", You ain't nothing being a double negative may only be what that the judge refers to
Judge Holden is probably my favorite fictional character of all time. He is a historian, linguist, biologist, philospoher, artist, dancer, chemist, literally everything you can imagine. He is such a terrifying being. Cudos to McCarthy for creating such an amazing character.
Yeah that's why I feel a bit weird on whether I should genuinely like his character or not, but like because of everything else about himnhow could I not like his character? And it's not like he's a real person so it isn't hurting anybody.
@@kilargo4588 Judge Holden is actually based on a real man who from a scalping gang from the 1940’s Cormac McCarthy fictionalized most parts of Judge Holden’s character and the Glastonbury gang itself.
I was thinking this week: "I'm 114 pages into Blood Meridian. You know who'd be perfect to do a video on The Judge? The Vile Eye." Talk about perfect timing.
because in no country for old men, despite all the death he caused, at the very least, Anton is shown to not be a true incarnate of chaos in the end when he gets hit by the car, he is human like you and me, and his philosophy is a flawed one, he is still a slave to fate. The same cannot be said for the Judge. Not once in the book is he ever even hurt, not once is his way of thinking/philosophy regarding war ever disproven, he might as well be the devil himself.
@@vin8754No Country slams a punishment down on Anton, letting both him and the reader know that despite everything, he's still a pathetic human being who is capable to fault. Meanwhile Blood Meridian just makes the reader watch in horror as the Judge dances to everything, knowing that true evil can never be killed.
I think Holden is the Second Horseman, the Horseman War. He doesnt really corrupt the other characters in the book, he just perpetuates strife and violence in every way his weirdly well educated shark brain can imagine
They were all ready damned... but Holden does seem to encourage them to be slightly worse and worse if only to get more strife he flicks one domino, just a small one... and watches what happens.
@@honestkyn718His constant NCOing for Glanton, even tending to his injuries, feels more like he's feeding and rubbing down a draft horse. Glanton gets him where he needs to go.
It honestly feels like he is simply feeding people into their worst appetites to corrupt them. I can certainly see the Second Horseman with the destruction his group brought everywhere, but I feel like that was more because of how Glanton operated. Though I will say Holden had no small part in helping him keep going. I will also say it's odd how fixated he is on keeping everyone in his posse from deserting or making sure they took deals from him. Especially (the black) Jackson. I felt it was rather strange how fixated Holden was on making sure they found him. It made me wonder if his goal was getting people to truly give in to every corruption or as much corruption possible before finally letting their follies play out. I think Jackson's corruption was complete when he came out of the fortress they had built wearing the same style of clothing as the Judge. Showing he finally was taken in by him. I think that was part of why the expriest was so hellbent on making sure the kid accepted nothing from him near the end and wanted him to just shoot him in the well and be done with it.
He seems to revel in killing "innocents" while corrupting "sinners". Probably the reason why he finish the Kid in the end, he saw Kid no longer carry the urge. edit: not just innocent, but those who may stop corruption, symbol of peace. The reverend, children, puppies, etc
Blood Meridian is probably my favorite novel of all time, and I loved the fact that Cormac McCarthy included untranslated Spanish in the novel, it added to the immersion level as a Spanish speaker. The judge is terrifying and I remember feeling like he would pop out of nowhere while reading, had me shook for a long time after finishing the book.
Fiction and even horror never really bother me, and I've consumed A LOT, but I actually had a similar feeling when listening to and researching this book. I remember going outside to smoke at night and just feeling like this big, pale monster of a man was going to come stepping out of the shadows on the other side of my backyard fence. I was genuinely glancing back and forth around the yard every time I went out at night for like three days, like when someone in a ghost story feels like a ghost is watching them from a doorway or something and they keep looking at the spot they get the feeling from. Never had a piece of fiction effect me like that before or since. Cormac McCarthy is the freaking man
The character is based off a real person in Samuel Chamberlain's autobiography titled My Confession about his time with the Glanton gang. Which a great deal of Blood Meridian is based off of. While sure, you can look at the Judge as a metaphor for the devil. I think it's a lot more insidious to know that Judge Holden existed in real life. And he was almost exactly as horrific as he's depicted in Blood Meridian. Physically too. Chamberlain describes him as the best educated man in northern Mexico, who was skilled, knowledgeable and talented with musical instruments. And simultaneously a child-rapist and murderer.
Yeah, plenty of people in real life are just as terrifying as Judge Holden and even worse, possessing a mix of inconceivable power and limitless depravity. You heard of Luis Garavito? He raped and murdered like 300+ little boys in Columbia. He's still alive. And you know the worst part? Because of Columbia's pathetic commie government, he'll be getting out in the next few years because the country has no life sentences, he could only be sentenced to thirty years. He'll surely go right back to his old ways, you can't cure pure evil.
There’s something about the way he tethers himself to men (Glanton, the imbecile), as if he cannot exist or find a conduit for his evil without them. Such as when they found him sitting on the rock waiting for Glanton and his men, it’s not until after he has spoken with Glanton at length, garnered his confidence or offered him something in exchange for his partnership (sold his soul you might say) that we see what he is capable of. When the kid refuses to sell him his pistol for an amount of money that would set most people at the time for life, the judge “possesses” the imbecile as his last resort, the last man who could carry him out of that desert, and sets out to destroy the only one who has opposed him and lived. But as the imbecile lacks his own agency, though he is a man, the judge’s power is much reduced from the havoc he was able to wreak on the world at the right hand of a man so possessed of horrible purpose as Glanton. Where nothing and no one could stop him before, though he is still a formidable and frightening enemy, he fails to find and kill the kid or the expriest.
That's what he meant when he said to the expriest "there's nothing you can do for me that you haven't already done" when they are talking about war and the bible. He's implying he sold his soul by committing to a life of violence.
I always kind of wondered if he was in some manner possessing people around him rather than actually acting himself, and is simply described or perceived as a separate autonomous creature in the story.
@@HILAL19564 Then I'd suggest you read Blood Meridian. Some call it a dark Western, but in truth it's a horror story wearing a western's skin. Watching said skin be shed is nothing short of gruesome.
@@snakesmcgee7640 Well said. It technically does have a Western setting but it doesn't feel like a western. It hardly feels like a period piece either, though it technically is, because it's philosophical, meta-physical and theological underpinnings feel timeless.
You asked "did I miss anything". If there's one thing you could've brought up to further make your case that The Judge is the devil, it's the part where after he falsely accuses a reverend of being a fraud and a criminal and before an angry mob kills the said reverend, he points at the judge as says "It's him, the devil himself!". It's later revealed, during drinks with The Judge, that he made it all up and everyone laughs it off with him. Your analysis is great, regardless.
The identity of the Judge is given out almost immediately. Any man who could go into a church, accuse the preacher of a grievous sin, get the parishioners riled up enough to hunt the preacher down and then laugh about how he made up a blatantly false accusation against a man of God is the Devil himself.
@@jmchezabsolutely! And another point to add I think would be that the Judge accused the Reverend of things that we can assume he himself had done (assaulting a young girl), projecting his own evil deeds onto an innocent man. The Judge's first scene tells us everything we need to know about his character, and the part at the end of that chapter when the kid leaves town and the Judge sees him and smiles at him gave me absolute chills when I reread it recently.
Towards the end when the kid tells the Judge " You aint nothing" he answered "You speak truer then you know"...tells me the Judge is something other then human... maybe the devil maybe something else...like violence personified.
@@RecordedMercury everyone in the glanton gang also met him before they joined it which definitely means there’s some supernatural element he also only shows up again after the Man kills someone I think he’s the devil or the personification of death
Imagine if Stanley Kubrick made a film adaptation of Blood Meridian. We never did see him do a western. Given the ending scene in the outhouse, it would fit perfectly into his motif with catalyzing plot points taking place in bathrooms (look into it, if you don’t know what I’m talking about).
The Judge not _quite_ being correct about that is pretty much the only thing that gets him out of his lololol rape and pillage mindset and _angry._ The collective lie-agreement that is society, the delusion that we can coexist, driven by instincts the Judge doesn't have, drives him up the wall. To him, *empathy is madness.* I mean, first thing he does in the book is stir up _antipathy_ in a place of cooperation.
This is what the scene in the beginning means when the kid stays at the hermits house. He differentiates between mind and heart. And all through out the books there are tons of references to measurement.
@@danielrobinson8628 the debate was settled centuries ago, not our fault Kant decided to throw out all of our philosophy due to its incompatibility with his humanist conjecture. And then not even the modern philosophers could keep up and now have a purely nonsensical theory akin to Pyrrho’s skepticism.
Something else to note is that, when the Glanton Gang meets Holden, he leads them up an active volcano (which is extremely rare) likened to Dante’s Inferno. His formation of makeshift gunpowder is a direct reference to the Satan’s role in Paradise Lost, where, during the War in Heaven, Satan and his legions dig up gunpowder and create primitive artillery to attack God’s angels
AM and Judge Holden probably scare me the most out of all fictional villains. Though my nostalgia says Darth Vader or the Joker, AM is scary as hell honestly.
IHNMAAMS is easily the gold standard against which all other sci-fi horror is to be judged. If it wasn't for "Threads" it would be a contender for the most frightening and nihilistic single piece of speculative fiction ever produced, but "Threads" doesn't really have a villain so it can't be covered on this channel.
Now here's a villain. This character is intense to say the least. In school I wanted to do a version of the book as a stage play. I'm 6 foot 8 so I would've liked to try and played this ghastly individual.
@@EpicMinecraftFail honestly it's not all that. My backs been ruined for years. And my feet hang off every bed as long as I can remember lol. Not to mention hitting door jams and ceiling fans. But Im happy enough so there's that.
“Whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent” if that quote isn’t the epitome of narcissism or only caring about the self idk what is
What’s scariest about this character was he was based of a real guy who was a scalp hunter in Mexico a soldier named Samuel Chamberlain mentioned him in his book and said. The second in command, now left in charge of the camp, was a man of gigantic size called "Judge" Holden of Texas. Who or what he was no one knew but a cooler blooded villain never went unhung; he stood six feet six in his moccasins, had a large fleshy frame, a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression. His desires was blood and women, and terrible stories were circulated in camp of horrid crimes committed by him when bearing another name, in the Cherokee nation and Texas; and before we left Fronteras a little girl of ten years was found in the chapperal, foully violated and murdered. The mark of a huge hand on her little throat pointed him out as the ravisher as no other man had such a hand, but though all suspected, no one charged him with the crime. Holden was by far the best educated man in northern Mexico; he conversed with all in their own language, spoke in several Indian lingos, at a fandango would take the Harp or the Guitar from the hands of the musicians and charm all with his wonderful performance and out-waltz any poblana of the ball. He was “plum center” with a rifle or revolver, a daring horseman, acquainted with the nature of all the strange plants and their botanical names, great in geology and mineralogy, in short another Admirable Crichton, and with all an arrant coward. Not but that he possessed enough courage to fight Indians and Mexicans or anyone else where he had the advantage in strength, skill, and weapons. But where the combat would be equal, he would avoid it if possible. I hated him at first sight and he knew it, yet nothing could be more gentle and kind than his deportment towards me: He would often seek conversation with me and speak of Massachusetts and to my astonishment I found he knew more about Boston than I did
@@dubdelay I'd say that the road isn't a dark novel, not in setting but in meaning. In meaning it might strangely be his most uplifting novel. "He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke" “Then they set out along the blacktop in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world entire.” It's a story about how the relationship between people may not be able to conquer all or always keep the bad at bay but it can give you the reason to live and it leaves a mark on the world.
@@thomaswalmsley8959 I see what you mean. I think there are one or two images in The Road that shock you, Blood Meridian is more of relentless assault on what one thinks it is to be human. Will have to give them both another read! Cheers.
The most frightening villain in fiction. Even after all these years I still think about the strangeness of this character relative to everyone else in Blood Meridian.
He was real which is the scary part his features in the boot are exaggerated he was tall around 6,6 and was only pale and had hair but he was still as intelligent as in the book
@@PolishGod1234the judge was way more frightening when you realise what he might be doing now in the book he probably has been doing since centuries, going with the theory he is satan. The ultimate paragon of evil. Evil exists since the beginning.
I’ve always found depictions of the Judge surprising; he’s Hakonnen-esque - grotesque and muscular. I always imagined him more alike to the Giant from Twin Peaks - lanky, soft-featured yet wizened, savagely elegant. Child-like - as almost a camouflage for the monster within. Or better yet: a lure. I think many people take inspiration from the more devilish aspects of the Judge. I always focused more on his extraterrestrial qualities; he’s like a further evolved iteration of humanity from a dystopian future. He’s like an ET wandering with primates. He’s a higher life form. Not to a testament of human greatness, but rather a testament to the endurance and ingenuity of human wickedness across time.
@@lokevoice And is there ever a point in the book where he even hints that perhaps that's the case? Like I could say the reason why he doesn't age is actually because he's a vampire but that doesn't mean there is any evidence to support that claim. Whilst there is a ton of evidence to support the idea of him being evil personified.
McCarthy's writing is incomparable, hypnotic: "The floor of the playa lay smooth and unbroken by any track and the mountains in their blue islands stood footless in the void like floating temples." Perfect. Edit: Cormac, you were without equal in your life. We'll never see a writer of your kind again. R.I.P.
The evil written in that book represents us. You’re 100 percent right. Also most of the men in the book act just like the judge. The judge however is something else. I think he was based off a real person too, outside of the devil/pure evil inspiration. The monster of monsters.
@@spencerfoote6977 the gang was real a actual member of the gang wrote a book saying what happened and some members of the gang one was Judge Holden of Texas in real life he wasn’t albino or hairless but he was clean shaven but besides that he was just as intelligent and knowledgeable as his fictional counterpart
Blood meridian is both one of the darkest and most incredible novels ever written. One of the few that I would honestly consider the great American novel. And definitely McCarthys best work. And judge Holden is possibly the greatest villain ever put to page by an American author.
One of my favorite villains in all of fiction. He is an enigma, a universal monstrosity that seems an absurdity of existence until you read My Confessions, and see that even a beast like Holden and his Gang were very real, and very much cruel. An archon, a God of War, a broken Prometheus, Death incarnate, a Jungian monstrosity, the Idea of Evil, and the lone Demiurge: so many things, and so utterly terrifying. I love him and his character, truly one of the grandest in all of fiction, and another proof to McCarthy’s genius! Great vid, Evil Eye. I must admit, I am more of the opinion Holden is something else from your own conclusion-a common one, not an invalid one-specifically I lean more towards either the archon theory presented by Petra Mundik or Ares/mad Prometheus, or an alchemical entity from the primordial void. There is a lot of Greek allusions called in this book, and Holden shares a lot of similarities to Ares in terms of myth, right down to being nimble and light on his feet; for Prometheus, there is a lot of allusions to the Titan, from the clay allusions, the Medusa allegory, the constant focus on fire and knowledge. A lot of interesting interpretations to sift through. Quick detail here that adds to Holden being “omniscient”: in the opening of the video, in that sermon you chose, Holden names the Anasazi here. While certainly this could be an error on McCarthy’s end, but the Anasazi themselves were not historically known or named around this time period until 1888-1889. Considering the amount of research McCarthy did, and how recent the discovery of them was while he was writing his book, I assume this is intentional to add to that mysticism of him. Also just how much he knows about the kid that he shouldn’t.
True, but as I mentioned in another, recent comment, it is implied that he subscribes to the science of phenology, so there are limits to his knowledge and omniscience.
@@evanmoore3114 That is certainly an interpretation to be found, there in, and the dynamic with Holden and the imbecile is a very intriguing one to analyze. He saves him, yet torments him; he’s fascinated by him, yet seems almost indifferent to his fate. Hence some belief o him being an archon, entities who seek to steal the light of men, and cloud them in ignorance-though I tend to subscribe towards an alchemical interpretation. Seen some rumors of Spengler like entities from certain sectors, but I’m still doing research on that interpretation.
in paradise lost, satan too leads the fallen angels to the top of a mountain where he makes gunpowder to fight heavens army. so yeah, judge holden is definitely the devil
I always took The Judge as a manifestation of Death as his one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His affinity for violence and death, and his physical description is mainly my basis for this. The pale rider so to speak.
I was very excited to see this villain. Another great video! Aside from the Bible, two other texts that are helpful in understanding _Blood Meridian_ and the Judge are _Moby-Dick_ and _Paradise Lost._ McCarthy himself has stated _Moby-Dick_ as his favorite novel, and he takes inspiration directly from scenes in _Paradise Lost._ Captain Ahab and Satan are also key inspirations for the Judge. Another great literary character ripe for analysis is Raskolnikov from _Crime and Punishment._
Wow I never would have thought to see a comment like yours... I've never played those mods bc I'm a console player, but I am familiar with them because of AlChestBreach, the fallout mod youtuber.
SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't read the book- at the very end, when the Judge catches the Kid in the privvy and ends him, I think this symbolises the spiritual end of the Kid. Kid manages to hold on to some sense of kindness and innocence throughout the book. He is forced to both witness and partake in horrible acts for his entire life, to try and survive, but we still see him developing friendships with other characters and showing empathy. After all, kids (children) symbolise innocence and goodness. Judge is always looming over him, threatening to destroy him, but Kid resists. Until the very end, where Kid is clearly suffering from a deep depression after trying, as an adult, to live a better and more wholesome life where he can help people. He feels like he's failing at that, and that's when Judge pops up again. Judge basically tells him that he has two choices; dance or don't dance. We could interpret that to mean live, or don't live. Kid decides he doesn't want to dance/live. He leaves the bar, goes to the privvy, and ends. Maybe Judge literally ended him, but maybe Kid ended himself in despair; maybe the trauma of witnessing Judge's cruelty was too much for him to live with. His innocence destroyed by the evil of the world, his spirit too badly damaged to ever heal.
So glad you covered this character. Blood meridian is my favorite novel of all time, and the judge is one of the scariest creatures of literature. However, one critique because you were reading so much from the book without a film or television scene as background reference coupled with the almost run on the sentence style of cadence of your videos, it was difficult to know when the quote ended and your analysis began. When doing future villains from literature it might be useful to verbalize the end of the quote or insert a significant pause to break the quote from the analysis. Love the content
almost impossible to make it work outside the book. The amount of atroicities and vile acts at parts cant be put on a feature or series. Maybe in the future but not now.
I think this generation is too woke to appreciate the grand novel that is Blood Meridian. Judge Holden, if done right should be the most terrifying villain is movie or TV history, he makes Darth Vader or the joker look like weak willed creatures. The judge is a creature of pure Will.
Hearing the story and The Judge's ideology, I believe The Judge is the embodiment of War and what War can do to a man and turn a man into. Which foreshadows the man's fate at the end of the book. Life is War and how you deal with it and manipulate it will make your fate. Will you end up The Man or The Judge and who does this reality favor? "Hear me, man, he said. There is room on the stage for one beast and one alone. All others are destined for a night that is eternal and without name. One by one they will step down into the darkness before the footlamps. Bears that dance, bears that don't." The Devil himself, not bound by morality but the power of his own will. Do What Thou Wlit.
I'm very glad you're doing Literature villains, I think it's nice change and pace from what you normally do. My dad loves this book, he says he find Judge Holden to be one of the creepiest characters ever created. I think you should analyze William Shakespeare's Villains, I recommend doing The Macbeths, Edmund from King Lear, and obviously Iago from Othello. I think Shakespeare Villains, be worth analyzing too since he has a whole list of Villains rogue gallery.
I’m glad that the eye is branching out into villains from books that were not adapted to movies. Also, I would love a movie on Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls.
I think the Judge is the spirit of the world trying to understand itself. That's why he knows so much about it and why he always makes notes on what he observes. He appears out of nowhere and never sleeps. As if he always existed and is always present. His nature perfectly fits the world that McCarthy has created for this novel
I can’t remember the last time I clicked on a video so quickly. This character scared the HELL out of me when I first read Blood Meridian. It was like this unholy presence that I carried with me for days after finishing the book. I’m so excited to see you discussing him today.
To me what makes Judge such a fascinating character and such an outstandingly amazing villain is just how purely yet also simplistically evil he is. He's a man with absolutely no redeeming qualities nor any form of doubt in his acting or thinking. When I try to write evil characters I always end up giving them some form of redeeming quality such as a code of honor or a backstory to reason out how they ended up the way he did. In hindsight I think this is something plenty of writers tend to lean towards not because we can't envision a character as evil as Judge but because we struggle to accept it. We all know, whether consciously or subconsciously, that there have been humans like Judge througout history and even in today's world. And what makes him truly so terrifying is that while most other villains or anti-heroes either fall into their current state of being or are pushed into it by circumstances of life, Judge is the complete opposite. He had no need to become what he was given the ridiculous amount of skills and learning he possesed, all of which could have given him a life away from violence and the fact he could nourish all of them proved he most likely had a wealthy upbringing or at least one that lacked the struggles most poor people went through and would push them into the lives most of the gang members had. Overall, that's what makes Judge such an efficient and terrifying villain. He's not just someone that became evil, he's someone that CHOSE to be evil and embraces it to the absolute fullest, even trying to push others into choosing evil as well. Judge is the representation of just how malice and destruction humans are capable of, the potential evil we all hold within us and can unleash if we were to choose it.
He does have redeeming qualities. He is incredibly charming and articulate. He's talented at everything he sets his hand to, and he is a great warrior.
This might be getting into the weeds but I don't see his aptitudes guaranteeing them anything special. I've known two people over the 47 years of life that possessed a level of intelligent and natural gifted ability that if it could be quantified would have had them in the single digit percentile. One died violently and the other who's done absolutely nothing of note. Admittedly those people are likely to be successful, maybe to a degree that renders the two I'm speaking of as anomalies. However if I know two then there has to be a whole hell of a lot more out there.
@@timwhite5562the smartest man I ever met was a farmer. He could speak multiple languages, was a polymath, could play several musical instruments, was incredibly charming etc. He simply did not care about wealth and chose to live his life on a farm. Some people just don’t care about the “rat race” even if they could be extremely successful
I absolutely love Blood Meridian, it’s probably my favorite fictional work ever of any medium. The judge to me always represented the way of the fallen world and overtly draws on Satanic imagery as an accuser and scapegoater, as well as the Miltonian references like making gunpowder with the Glanton gang. He’s also a prophet of war who speaks every language and knows all history, and as the spiritual leader of the group I got the sense he was both tempting them into ruination and using them for his own ends of wreaking destruction and taking advantage of the defenseless for its own sake; he is the way of the world, merciless, remorseless, rationally irrational, divine in his abject horror and overtly powerful and delights in conquest and overpowering the weak. He is the way of cyclical violence, of natural instinct and the natural order of biology
This is one of my favorite books. You have no idea how stoked I am that you just dropped this out of nowhere! I wrote a uni paper on him being a demon 20 years ago.
Ambiguity is what makes the best art what it is: the shining, blood Meridian and Mulholland Drive. I strongly feel this novel could be made into a film. It would require subtlety and skill yet it’s certainly possible.
@@simonkoeman3310 I think it's because when you adapt it to the screen you find out that it is a very ugly movie to watch. Probably a nightmare just trying to agree with your team what a scene is even trying to tell the audience, since everyone has a different interpretation. I almost feel like it would be just a big, ugly, bloodbath like a really hard watch. I think it would end up being a really bad film and leave everyone feeling kind of grossed out for having watched it in the first place.
@@simonkoeman3310 I acknowledge the challenges, no doubts. Yet ‘one flew over the cuckoos nest’ was a novel that differed so, so much from the film, but, proved a masterpiece and a classic film in its own right that still conveyed the books message
Always though he was an evil djinn. “The judge like a great ponderous djinn stepped through the fire & the flames delivered him up as if he were in some way native to their element” - Blood Meridian
@@definitelynotanAIchatbot not in this context because he specifically talks about boys liking to play games and then they grow up into men and play at war.
Suggestion, you should do David Harris from the Stepfather. His charisma and his wittiness is what makes him such a frightening character, the fact that behind his smile is a facade of death
Thank you so much for this video and for accepting my request , it is one of the most scary and vil character in literature history his concept of war could break any pacifist hell even Naruto talk no jutsu.
It wouldn't break anyone with a brain, especially since Holden doesn't commit war but just victimizes people who can't fight back or as well as he can. He's a monster and a bully.
Holden is by far the most intriguing, terrifying, and evil character in fiction. Thanks for covering him blood meridian is my favorite book. You should cover Rambo in the original first blood novel next
I'd say Allied Mastercomputer is slightly more evil for the Simple fact that he makes sure his victims live eternally in agony using all kinds of physical and mental torture
This video inspired me to buy the book and start reading it, I'm 30 pages in and absolutely hooked, it is written with such a beautiful darkness and bleakness
Funniest thing when talking about wagers and war, the judge has nothing to wager. By his own admission, he cannot die. So, ultimately, he is rigging his own game at the cost of bloody suffering
I'd love to see you do more videos about literary characters! I'd be really interested in seeing your takes on Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Jack Merridew from Lord of the Flies, Richard III from Richard III, and Humbert Humbert from Lolita
This is surprisingly interesting. I need to look into this myself to see the book's events unfold. It goes without saying that the villains you discuss are in a league of their own. The writers knew what they were doing when they made these characters.
While it might not have been the best book i have ever read. The blood meridian had that staying power that very few pieces of fiction can have. Cormac made the violence of the work into pure poetry. It wasnt just about violence either for me it was just as much about the descriptive way he build the areas around the american-mexican border that made it so strong.
The judge is the one character that terrifies me so much throughout any book. By his mad intelligence, and how he caused random acts of violence outside of the Glanton Gang scalpings, like in the makeshift church in the beginning. Also learning more about Holden being a serial murderous child predator makes parts in the book so uncomfortable. Like the part in the jail later in the book when he talks to the kid in the shadows, or the child he kept after the massacre, or the girl in the tent. I appreciate the concept of the judge as a character, McCarthy making him seem as a supernatural figure, a figure or pure evil. Blood Meridian is my favorite book ever made, reading it twice a year
I usually put judge in the same category as Dracula and Ishmael. He's everything. When I read the book I did picture him as the bad guy from No country for Old Men without hair.
This is one of the few novels that I had to put down because of how terrified I became listening. Not reading, listening. It's still one of my favorites, and I avoid it, until I cannot. The terror you come back to worry, like an infected tooth.
You're here for the dance! Judge Holden is my favorite villain ever and Blood Meridian is a fantastic novel. The fact that the Glanton gang was real is terrifying. Look up Samuel Chamberlain's book My Confession about his time with the Glanton gang... a man named Holden is mentioned there. What you people think happend in the outhouse at the end?
The part that really sold it for me that The Judge was either Satan or the representation of him was when he creates gunpowder on the mountain the fight the natives and "save his gang" which mirrors Paradise Lost where Satan essentially creates gunpowder to use to fight the angels before he is cast to hell.
I wonder if they'll ever make am adaptation of this, I remember them calling it unfilmable, but I think if bone tomahawk can be a thing, then a tasteful adaptation of blood meridian is definitely possible
I have heard of this novel and even tho I never read it. But from what people, who have read it told me about it seems like the main point/theme of Blood Meriden is the human affinity for violence and that the Cormac McCarthy uses violent characters, particularly Judge Holden, to show that humans have always been drawn to violence and that violence is a natural characteristic of human nature. This was a good choice and here are a few suggestions for your next video VE: -NFFA from the Purge Franchise. -Handsome Jack from Borderland VG series. -Obadiah Hakeswill from Sharpe.
An interesting analysis. I definitely agree that Judge Holden is the devil, however, I take issue with equating childbirth and farming to war. Pretty big stretch and you could say that it's somewhat contradicted even by the Judge's own equations of war to games of chance and skill. Not all struggle is war. Also, the thing you mentioned about the blood pact is interesting. I'm not sure about that, but it I do know for certain that it's a direct reference to Paradise Lost, when the devil makes gunpowder for his war against Heaven.
An unexpected choice, but that's why the best of these things are introducing me to not just my favorite villains but ones we've never heard of before too.
