The Greatest, Terrible Book Ever Made - The Story too Disturbing to be a Movie: Blood Meridian 

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I love how the Judge even manages to make _collecting butterflies for a fucking scrapbook_ seem extremely menacing.

"What is bro waffling about" I say as the judge crushes my head like an egg

I think the Judge is exactly who we're told he is at the start of the book, the priest that he interrupts and accuses calls the Judge the devil himself, saying that the devil stands before them, plus the fiddle being a part of his character along with the dancing, both things related to the devil

“Whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.” Is probably the most delusional and dangerous quote in all of fiction.

I like the part where the Judge says “I’ll be the judge of that” and judges all over the place

wendigoon, if you see this, i want you to know that this video specifically caused a huge spike in book sales for this!! i’m a manager of an independent bookstore and got an email about it from a rep!!! so glad to watch your content

I’m starting to suspect this judge isn’t really a judge at all 🤨

“No man can walk out on his own story.” -Rango. The ending of Blood Meridian reminds me of this quote. Those who are afraid to dance will miss the stage and what life has in store for them.

the kid having a bible that he cant read is one of my favourite metaphors in all fiction, to me it's a symbol of him striving for something higher that he cannot achieve due to the circumstances of his life and the choices he ahs made

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I think the reason the judge likes James (the idiot) so much is because James is not autonomous. The first thing that he does when he is first given freedom and liberty is he goes and almost drowns himself. Not because he wants to die but simply because he doesn't know any better. I think that the judge pulls him out because James is not free to anything, not even his mind. He only is alive because the judge has consented him to live therefore James life belongs solely to the judges which is seen throughout the rest of the book.

*Juge in the corner of the party:* "they don't know I will be the last one dancing"

I love when judge Holden says “This blood, its meridian” then proceeds to violate every child ever.

One detail that stuck with me is that the bear keeps dancing after getting shot, which implies a lot about how this bear was taught to dance if pain just makes it dance more.

Interestingly I interpreted The Kid, who later became The Man, killing that 15 year old boy towards the end of the story as The Man killing a version of himself, seeing in this kid his own violent tendencies and snuffing out the flame before it has a chance to catch again, or even perhaps sparing this boy the horrible fate he’s endured. It also reminds me of the scene early in the novel when The Kid meets The Hermit who shows him slave ears from earlier in his life. The Hermit, like The Man, regrets his violent past yet wishes to keep artifacts as proof and warnings of those violent acts. The Hermit also stands over The Kid in the middle of the night, perhaps seeing what The Man sees in the 15 year old boy he kills. This creates for me a very satisfying, yet dark, full circle moment.

I like the part where the Judge does something bad and the kid says "erm, that just happened."

“nah i dont feel like watching a movie rn thats too much” proceeds to watch a 5 hour long wendigoon video

Honestly, the scene where the kid kicks a guy in the jaw and then the guy and him both pull out knives and get in a knife fight with each other only to then both get knocked out by a third person, wake up in a hotel and then casually trade back their knives and go commit arson sounds like something from a multiplayer video game

I really liked the part when the kid says "im just a kid and life is a nightmare." And simple plan rides in on a tumbleweed

Toad Vine and the kid straight up trying to knife each other to death and then being like “ya know what, you’re alright bud” is the most cowboy thing I can imagine

It's chilling that when we first meet The Judge he accuses an innocent man of pedophilia. Then just for us to find out all along he himself was a horrific child predator and murderer

I love the part of the book where the kid goes "Give me a drink bartender" and the bartender slides him a drink that falls off the counter and shatters

The judge is supernatural in my opinion. He is seemingly everywhere at once. Also when the kid becomes the man the judge seemingly has not aged.

theres some hilarious stuff in there too..the kid gets enthusiastically recruited into that tough guy sanctimonius patriot military company and they immediately all get killed by natives in the first hint of battle.. lol

The absolute worst thing about the Judge is that scene where Glanton asks him his name and he says, It's Judge Holden, and Glanton asks, Holden what?, and the Judge simply replies, Hold'n deez nuts.

I just went to Half Price Books and asked about this book and they said that for some reason in the past couple of days Blood Meridian became one of the top three most asked about books.

Something i notice is every time the Judge does his....act, if you know you know. He is usually naked or partially naked and seems in a good mood, singing, dancing, poetry. He revels in the act

She Judged on my Blood till i Meridian

the way that a 5 hr video of this man discussing a book is trending at #16 in GAMING speaks to how much RU-vid loves us some Wendi!

So I guess the reason why the Kid never tries to kill the Judge is because he never stopped being wishy-washy with his life and desires. He never fully committed to being an immoral outlaw nor a heroic vigilante, and so died never having lived to his true potential as either.

“Damn you can talk” I say before the judge shoots me

I actually had to read this book for a college course. It was brought up as part of the lesson about shock content in media. We had to read the book and then read an edit with heavy censorship, then write a paper explaining if we felt that the censored version was able to convey the same point as the original.

"Whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." One of the most menacing lines from any villain in literature or otherwise. The Judge is honestly a legendary character. You know you're reading about an evil bastard when he buys a puppy just so he can chuck it off a bridge, and all you can think is, "Honestly I don't know what else I was expecting."

I love how David Brown goes on his own sidequest while shit goes down for the main characters

There's a part toward the end that made me think. "You're here for the dance," he said (the Judge). "I got to go." "Go?" The Judge looked aggrieved. That part, "the Judge looked aggrieved". To me, it reads like throughout this whole novel, the Judge was seeing the same thing "Fate" was seeing. That the Kid wasn't picking anything, wasn't committing to any path or lifestyle. So, when the Kid arrives, the Judge sees him and feels like the Kid has changed. Almost like he's an actual supervillain and is FINALLY going to fight an actual hero. But, in that moment, he's angry at him because he's still just being a spectator.

I like the part where The Judge says “There is only room in the stage for one beast… Mr Beast”

One thing I noticed is that when a girl goes missing in Tucson, a piece of her clothing is found bloodied at the foot of a wall "that she could only have been thrown over." This is in the same chapter in which the Judge shows off his immense strength throwing that meteor anvil around.

I feel like the killing of the 15 y/o is really just foreshadowing for the end of the book. “You were never gonna live anyway” is both a telling of The Kid’s fate and an homage to the theme of death always comes for you

My interpretation of the ending was completely different. To me the Judge was more akin to one of the four horsemen, or even all of them. He represents the endless cycle of violence throughout the history of humanity, and how dangerous it is when a man both has tremendous power and the lack of emotion to fully give himself to the cycle. The dance is more about fatalism, and choosing to dance is about submitting to the world as it is. Judge hates the kid so much because he contradicts the judge's worldview and God complex, he was in the thick of the conquest and war and famine and death, went with the flow and benefited from it, but once he made it to the same peak the Judge had lived on for years, he chose to walk away. Even decades later, the kid has become a man and has decided to live apart from that cycle, that dance, even though that dance was the only thing he was ever good at, the only way he could prosper. That's why for the first time the Judge gets worked up and upset, his calm mask slipping a little: he can't make sense of the man. The man doesn't even seem to have any lofty ideals he clings to like the expriest, he's just drifting along, but resisting the dance's pull. When the Judge killed the man, that was him (in his mind) correcting the glitch in the matrix. He had relied so much on the world validating his psychopathic ideals that when he saw something go against it so hard he couldn't take it. He's so giddy after committing the atrocity because in his eyes he is no longer an enlightened disciple of the dance, he is part of the cycle. He is God, he is even more than God because he did what fate couldn't. He says he'll never die because he has put himself in a divine role. To him it's so important, but objectively it's a lunatic drowning himself in his own insanity. The Judge is so evil not only because of what he does, but how he sees the things he does, and his actions that night shows that he was never as cold and calculating as he seemed to everyone else, or even himself. The scene in the jail is in my view a master manipulator using his quick tongue to manipulate himself into rationalizing his actions, and the murder of the man even though it has been decades shows that he's not an actual representation of the devil, or war, or death, but that's just how he sees himself. The kid said it best, he is still just a man. With the line "any dumb animal can dance" the man, without even knowing, shattered the Judge's delusions of grandeur and he couldn't handle it. The judge is the most dangerous kind of person possible, but he is still just a person, even if he pretends otherwise. I'd apologize for the essay, but this video is 5 hours long, so it comes with the territory.

I saw it mentioned on the subreddit for Cormac McCarthy that Blood Meridian has lots of references and imagery from Tarot cards. Not only do we have tarot cards being directly used in one scene, there are many other scenes that are direct references. The burning tree, the scene at the end with the child and imbecile on a leash, are apparently from specific cards from tarot decks. I didn’t get very far in interpreting from there but something to consider in understanding the book

5 hour book review is #4 trending for gaming I am so proud of Mr. Wendigoon

The fact this is a book review that was trending proves that it's wendigoon's charisma and video quality that keeps this amazing audience

“if you dance with the devil, you may never dance again”

in april 2024 the movie adaptation is confirmed Cormac McCarthy’s son, John Francis McCarthy, will serve as executive producer, while Cormac, who died in June 2023, will receive a posthumous executive producer credit.

There’s a pattern of the judge accusing others of the crimes he’s committed. He accused the preacher at the beginning of defiling and killing a little girl, something he did. And then later accused the kid of causing the massacre he orchestrated. It’s interesting

Trigger Warning: *All of them*

I read a theory (which I agree with in my own interpretation) that the ending to the story is metaphorical and not literal. That "The Man" didn't actually meet the Judge and get killed by him, but rather that he finally understood and/or embraced the Judge's philosophy/evil in the end, and that the missing girl is the one they found in the outhouse. With "The Man" finding the old woman in the desert too late as representing him being too late to do good deeds, the shooting of the teenager representing not having the chance to actually change his ways, and finally meeting the judge again as him becoming just like "The Judge".

Delaware: Please pass the egg salad. Bear: RAGGLE FRAGGLE!

You did a five hour book summary of a story that came out in 1985 for an audience saturated by viral content that usually demands no more than five minutes of their attention and your video is wildley popular. Your analytical abilities paired with your sincerity and story telling are obviously high quality and well-loved. Congratulations.

“Whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.” I don’t know about others but that was so creepy to me because it reveals that even when the Judge is partaking it what seems to be harmless hobbies, it’s still colored by sadism. Everything he does, no matter how innocuous, is colored by his sadistic worldview.

2:39:32. I think the kid was passive during the sessions of slaughter. It makes sense at the end of the story when the judge said he was disappointed in him. He was always watching him. He likely knew the kid wasn’t senselessly slaughtering like the rest of the gang. The kid was definitely killing ppl, but he wasn’t going out of his way to kill and enjoy it like the rest of the gang

Wendigoon talking about being a kid and realizing McCarthy didn't use quotations or much punctuation and realizing "You can just do that?" Is so funny to hear as a writer myself. The way I wish I had the skill McCarthy does to just say "fuck it i ain't using all that" when I'm on hour 5 of my 3rd editing session scouring through 800 punctuation errors.

Went into the local Barnes and Noble, asked for Cormac MaCarthy and she pointed to the shelf and said “Blood Meridian is over there”. She went on to explain at the register how popular it’s been lately. Cultural revival with one RU-vid video, congrats man.

i feel like The Judge being a child predator was one of the most obvious (and sinister) aspects of his character. the author had done such a good job painting him as a disgusting vile monster that even a mere mention of a child in his company, abuse immediately comes to mind. since the very very beginning of the story i knew that The Judge was a child predator. they really did nothing to hide it

i totally agree about the descriptions of the landscape the characters move across. That's the stuff that won't translate to a movie. We've all seen Westerns and we can all guess what that desert landscape looks like, but that's not what my mind 'sees' when reading the book. You say it best when you say it doesn't even feel like planet earth! No film maker alive could bring that to life the way McCarthy's writing does.

This should never be made into a movie because the horror is only made palatable by the poetic descriptions and rhythm

The Glanton gang's violence literally sounds like something you would do after quicksaving. It is so easy and excessive and unbelievable

I watch this video every year for my birthday. It came out a day after it. It’s a comfort video for some odd reason.

The meridian was the blood we spilled along the way

Me in 2021: Oh man, this Wendigoon video is an hour, that’s intense. Me in 2023: I finished reading four hundred pages continuous violence and nihilism over the course of several months. Now I can finally watch his five hour video on it!

Watching Wendigoon slowly transform into a GTA Vice City quest giver is one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

i loved when judge holden said “it’s holden time” and started holden (children in his basement) everywhere

*Toadvine* is a really interesting character in American Literature. Even though, he is an absolutely ruthless murderer and criminal, he doesn't seem as depraved as the rest of the *Glanton Gang.* He often questions the killing of innocents and there are four instances in the novel when he shows some semblance akin to morality. The first one is when he refuses Bathcat's offer to wager on which *Jackson* will kill the other. The second is when he tells *Bathcat* (who is staring down at a group of Natives) that they aren't harming anybody, so perhaps they should just leave them be. Third, is when he is the only member in the *Glanton Gang* to really stand up to *The Judge* for killing and scalping the Apache boy after *The Judge* sadistically lured him into a false sense of security. Fourth is after they attacked the village of Tiguas, he remarked: "Those people never did anything to us, so why should we kill them?"

I have to continually remind myself that book isn't that old. For some reason I always want to think of it as something written 100 years ago. The author is still alive in fact, he's old but he's still alive and kicking.

Don’t sell yourself short man. While being one of my favorites, this is an exceedingly confusing book. And you did a great job explaining everything in a digestible way!

My favorite aspect of the judge's character is despite being a genius polymath, does not use any of his many talents for contructive purposes but disregards them for senseless nihilistic violence

20 minutes in and the Judge is like: I love spreading missinformation >:)

Just imagining the universe where The Kid decided to dance instead, the Judge just sitting in that outhouse all night like "...aaaaany minute now" just fucking cracks me up

The line "He could out dance the devil" means so much more with the ending of the book.

I know this is an older video, and you probably won't see this, but man, you really outdid yourself with this one wendigoon. Just wanted to say keep doing what you're doing for as long as you have a passion for it because your videos are gold.

I love his channel for so many different reasons, but what I really love is how he can make books like this, which I’ve always wanted to read, but know are completely out of my realm of understanding, completely accessible to someone like me. I listen to him read it and I can barely understand even the words, but listening to him, describe it and explain what everything is makes it so that people who can’t understand those words can still understand the story, and I really appreciate that.

Toadvine getting angry at the Judge for killing the child actually makes total sense. A person doesn't usually become desensitized to killing _any_ humans, they become desensitized to killing particular humans through the act of dehumanization. Caring for the child breaks this illusion. Toadvine is no longer able to otherize the boy as easily.

The fact that he’s wearing a suit instead of his usual attire puts a tear on my face, he’s gotten so far

This happened to my buddy Eric

Blood Meridian is my absolute favorite piece of literature of all time. I re-read it twice a year. Once in the winter, once in the summertime. It is my favorite work of McCarthy, who is also my favorite author. God rest his soul. Furthermore, I am a proud owner of a first edition copy of “My Confession” by Samuel Chamberlain, of which the story of the real-life Glanton gang, and the characters therein, originated. I am always on the hunt for peoples own works (books, lectures, and video essays especially) on Blood Meridian. A good friend and co-worker of mine introduced me to your channel through this video because of his knowledge of my passion for this book; I have been a fan ever since. Please keep up all the good work you do.

Toadvine spat Glanton spat The kid spat The priest hissed The judge smiled noticed throughout the whole story the judge never spits

My favorite part is when The Kid says “I’m just Kidding” at the end

the judge dances dances dances but he dances alone he wanted a dance partner, someone to stand against him, but the kid did not step up he may have lived in the end, but he did not win, for he is still a lone dancer in a world that will lose what he considers holy, a world of fake dancers in a sense, the kid did win, for he destroyed the judge's dreams

Person A encounters Person B. Fight to the death ensues.

Blood Meridian is now the #1 best seller in American literature on Amazon, no joke. It’s an amazing book, this is an amazing video, and you deserve every bit of influence you have.

This book had me staring at the roof in my bedroom in middle school like “hell of a thing, killing a man”

The part near the end of the book that I think is significant when the man kills that young boy. When his friends come to collect his body there’s a quick mention about the dead boys past “his grandaddy was killed by a lunatic and buried in the woods like a dog” a callback to the judges story about the traveler.

The painting in the background around 30 minutes is from the independence of my country! :D A nicaraguan soldier finds himself without ammunition and began to throw rocks to the filibusteros soldier. That's called The Battle of San Jacinto. The best part is that later to win this fight again the american soldier they set loose the horses and began to make trotting sounds to make them believe a large army was on the way, this gave them time enough for the Matagalpa Archers, an indigenous people from the east to come and finish the war technically

The fact that I read this entire book and missed or forgot half the things you talked about really shows how difficult of a read it is.

When he said "I would have loved you like a son", my mind first went back to the story the judge had told about the traveler and the saddle maker, both of which had sons. And both the son's outcomes by different means. A son with an evil father becoming evil, and a son with no father and guidance. On a physical level it's a creep attempting to give a young man the squeeze, and on another level it's an allegory for embracing evil.

One of the best videos I've ever seen on RU-vid. Finished this through the span of one day, only stopping for various responsibilities, was itching to get back to watching. Great work, what a vid.

Only Wendigoon video I havent finished. I stopped the video about halfway through to drive to Barnes and Nobles to buy the book

Wendigoon's really pushing that 45 minute mark

I just find that bit at the end hilarious, with the fool kid and the Man talking. "He's 15" "I was first shot at 15" "I ain't been shot!" "You ain't 16 _yet_ ."

I like how I've already watched this, but due to recent events, RU-vid was like hey maybe you might want to watch this again..😅

Id say the judge keeps James around because of the suffering he sees in one with disabilities such as his and probably enjoys watching the circumstances he's forced into.

The Priest begging the Kid to shoot the judge is some heartbreaking stuff man. They all know they should but even the thought of trying to shoot the judge dead is unreal. Seeing the judge dead to the kid isn’t even a real thought. He could never and it’s the hardest part of the book to just take and not wanna rewrite.

"Anything that exists without my knowledge operates without my consent" is one of the most low-key badass lines that have ever been penned to paper.

Bruh, the judge is the kid/man. Everything the judge does is actually what the kid/man did. He couldn’t accept seeing himself as he was, and the judge is how he copes. Judge goes away for a while when the kid becomes a man and lives a good life. But in the end the judge reappears because he was always there within the man’s subconscious. Triggered by the little girl with the bear? Just been gone too long? Who knows but it’s the only way to logically understand the story. The kid/man is the judge. Similarly, in another book by the same author, Anton Chigur is an imaginary person who embodies all of the new and unknown evil in the world as seen by sheriff Ed Tom Bell.

I love how this is probably the most grimdark American novel that I have ever seen, but most people in the comment-section are just making memes out of it.

Wendigoon, your explaination of “Telling this story properly is worth embarrassing myself over” is probably one of the more casual yet all encompassing explanations of the meaning of storytelling, and you couldn’t be more correct. There is no place for ego, it’s not about the storyteller. It’s about the characters. And whatever is required to bring the characters to life is therefore required from the storyteller. Just a great nugget you left in there. Love your videos as always my dude

Cormac McCarthy died today. I literally just finished the book last night and started this video this morning. He shaped me 10 years ago with the Road and reshaped me again 10 years later as a new father on a reread. Now again with Blood Meridian i start a new journey into what it means to be human, and to better myself. Rest in peace. You've touched the lives of more people and in more ways than you could imagine.

I love the part where the judge goes down to Georgia with his fiddle and challenges some kid named Johnny to a fiddle off and looses

What i love about isiahs storytelling is that he delivers every line fron the book like a priest reading the bible. Makes the experience a whole lot more eerie