the long walk

[pepino]

I think his mind snaps from the strain of The Long Walk.

Definately, he wins, but loses his sanity.

[tycho]

I figured that it was him finally losing his grasp on sanity, or it was the last thing he imagined he saw before he finally died.

[tillyn]

Hi,

Wouldn't be at all surprised if that's how the movie will end.

Long days and pleasant nights

I don't know about that , Darbont is making that film and remember what happened in the Mist's ending, nothing happy there.

[tycho]

If he makes it the way he would like to make it

He plans to make it low-budget, "weird, existential, and very self contained".

I can see it retaining the original ending. After all, the very concept of the story is enough to tick most people off, why try to placate them with a happy ending?

[Richard_B]

I always thought the figure was death, coming to claim him, and the question was at what point during the walk he'd actually died.. before or after Stebbins?

[~Ally~]

Hi guys, at the end of the story i believed that Garrety died from exhaustion, both physical and mental. So while he may have been the last one standing in the end there were no winners. I believe the dark figure is death eventually catching up with him.

[jackson992]

I can't imagine him dying in the end. I see nothing that would indicate that in the book.

[tycho]

I can't imagine him dying in the end. I see nothing that would indicate that in the book.

Not even the dark figure (possibly Death) beckoning him at the very end? It's certainly up to interpretation, but I can't see how you can rule out that he actually died.

[jackson992]

Assuming the figure was real, how would he have died?

[Kim L.]

Assuming the figure was real, how would he have died?

Dehydration leading to electrolyte imbalance leading to heart arrythymia leading to cardiac arrest is one possibility; renal failure is another. There are many possibilities. The human body cannot take the strain of constant motion and no rest.