Randall Flagg (The Stand) v. Randall Flagg/The Man in Black (DT Series)

[TPG555]

THAR BE DARK TOWER AND THE STAND SPOILERS BELOW: READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!

I recently completed a re-read of The Stand and thought about the differences between that Flagg and his incarnation in the DT series. There are significant differences between the two and they lead me to believe that these are really two altogether different entities being called by the same name(s).

The Flagg in The Stand kind of appears with no memory of his prior "lives" whereas Flagg in DT appears to know about the DT and the Gunslinger's eternal quest. At the beginning of The Stand, Flagg appears walking down the road and cannot directly place his past, he just knows he has been in many events under many different names. Then at the end, he appears to some natives and cannot recall his last incarnation. In contrast, if you look at the palaver between Roland and Flagg at the end of The Gunslinger, Flagg clearly knows Roland has been down this road many times before and will be many times in the future. Also, when the ka-tet meet up with him in the alternate Kansas after the super-flu, he seems to know all about what happened and the interplay between the many worlds in the SK universe.

Alternatively, perhaps DT Flagg can possess demons (like the one that impregnated Mia) and that is how he became Flagg in The Stand. Thoughts?

[bobledrew]

I would suggest that Flagg in The Stand is deeply disoriented due to his "travelling" between universes. Weren't Callahan and Jake similarly disoriented when they found themselves in Roland's world?

I think you're onto something with the possession idea. Remember that Flagg wears the eye pendant and has his minions do so as well. It could be that the RF we meet in The Stand is a tool of the Crimson King, in the same way as Harold is a tool of Flagg. (Hey -- RF -- do you think Ralph Furley was the Man in Black?)

[hossenpepper]

Since the Tower is in Roland's world, I kind of see it (his world) as where the source copy of things are. So the original source copy of Flagg is in that world and other copies of him pop up in other worlds. The embodiments of Flagg don't seem to know about the others, except the one in Roland's world.

I always thought of the tower as the place where all the rest of Steve's stories came from. The "things" that bled (no pun intended) over into our world and others are the evils he writes about. This would be true for Flagg as well.

[GNTLGNT]

To use a Star Trekkish term-Roland's universe is "World Prime"-where as Hoss said, the original Flagg exists, and the replicants or "twinners" are in the parallel worlds-only "Prime" Flagg has knowledge of his look-alike minions-but they ALL serve the Crimson King whether they have knowledge of one another or not...