One more Flagg question?

[bobledrew]

When Flagg "disappears" from Vegas, (1072 in my paperback edition) "Larry looked at him... but Flagg was no longer there. He had a bare impression of something monstrous standing IN FRONT of where Flagg had been. Something slumped and hunched and almost without shape -- something with enormous yellow eyes slit by dark cat's pupils... Larry saw Flagg's clothes...standing upright with nothing in them. For a split second, they held the shape of the body that had been inside them. And then they collapsed."

Then Flagg shows up "on a beach as white as bone." We're told about outrigger canoes and macaws and mongooses and jungles and "brown, smooth-skinned folk" with spears and no recognizable language other than "Yun-nah!!!"

Someone (SK himself) at one point mentions Hawaii in talking about this part of "The Stand", but I can't imagine Hawaii being this place.

Two questions for you to ponder:

* Did Flagg disappear on his own or was he "disappeared" (perhaps by the Red King?)? Did he go todash?
* And are we sure that he's even on the same earth as the action of The Stand? Perhaps he's gone to another world.

[omm poppa mow mow]

I like the use of the word "bewildered" in that scene....paraphrased but likely word for word: he was bewildered again.

Then you read about a bewildered man in 'salem's Lot...that scene at the hospital and you have to wonder or I do. I think Flagg was disappeared and I base that belief on the use of the word bewildered. Doesn't he...his actions early on even...and certainly there in the jungle...doesn't that remind you of Roland?

And Trashy is in that cart! Heh! Wireman's beach scooter has a yellow and blue stripe as well...I think. That yellow and blue is everywhere...Deadzone there at the end the boy's snowsuit...other places.

I like too the use of the word jittering on that page 1072. I'm not sure if the hand is a kind of homage to Tolkien? I'm not clear on whether or not I read all of Tolkien's story...but The Return of the King? Anyway...the use of the word jittery echoes what is described w/Harold and his journal, pp 724-25...sometimes the act of writing things down made him feel more jittery, and those were the times he knew he had written falsely...

I'm reminded of scenes from movies where a chess player's hand is poised above a piece, he makes contact w/the opposing player's eyes, and then the hand moves to another piece. And that all goes to free will, doesn't it? And we could talk about It and so many others.

So in the end, I don't think it matters, in particular where Flagg is....sent...but it is instructive that the wheel is again in spin.

[Moderator]

Flagg has the ability to "flip" into other dimensions/worlds.

[PatInTheHat]

Flagg has the ability to "flip" into other dimensions/worlds.

Ssshhhhhhhhh!

Oh gee whiz, don't go lettin' Wall St. get wind of that concept, holy smoke, flippin' worlds, dimensions, astral and astro planes and all manner of whacky stuff, and there ain't enough "Z's ", much less, 'illions', in zillions, to cover that tab

Oh crap, here comes a pinstripe & a pair of Florsheims...just act all natural like, and I'll lead 'im the other way this orphans milk money.

[GNTLGNT]

I'm with the MS. on this one....

[Alexandrian]

If I were a bettin' man I would put all my money on Flagg having gone to another world.

[Ahhcrap]

No he stayed in The Stand's world (or one similar to it) to be confronted by Roland. Roland even states that this is his (Flagg's) world (or something close to it). Flagg turns out to be the CK's lackey if I remember correctly although I still say that this is proof of Pennywise's demise in IT because I don't think he'd allow this mucking about by Flagg and the CK.

[nahaloth]

Potential spoilers below!!!

From what I gather, Flagg is also Richard Fannin, or Walter O'Dim, or John Farson, or the Man in Black, or Marten Broadcloak, or any number of other embodiments of evil and chaos throughout the greater majority of King's works. He appears in so many worlds that one can only conclude that he can and often does travel freely between them. He is an agent of the Crimson King, and ostensibly assists him in his quest to destroy the Dark Tower, though he secretly wants to claim it as his own.

As for where he appeared after the Vegas explosion, I think Mr. King wants us to draw our own conclusions. As the deleted user in post #2 said, the beach scene was meant to show the reader that the great wheel of Ka is still turning, and RF is still out there, doing what he does best.