For those who know their SK books (The Stand in particular) in and out...
I'm attempting to boost Randall Flagg's wikipedia article up to either a Good or Featured status and I've been working pretty hard on it lately. One of its main problems is a lack of sources in some areas. The following are some passages which need citation.
Flagg goes by many names, ranging from the mythical, such as Nyarlathotep (an H. P. Lovecraft character) to the common. Many, but not all, of the names he goes by make use of the initials "R.F." Examples include Richard Fannin, who is involved in the storyline of The Waste Lands, and Rudin Filaro, who appears via flashbacks in The Dark Tower. He also draws on the archetype of the "plague-bearer", particularly in The Stand, and of Ahasuerus, the legendary Wandering Jew. He carries pamphlets for the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground and other such groups, presumably to stir up trouble where none exists.
Flagg's appearance is not described in the novels as threatening; he is said to be an average-looking man, taking on the physical appearance of whatever the local people tend to look like. His attire frequently fits into the Americana style: blue jeans, a hooded jacket or a faded denim jacket, and cowboy boots with worn-down heels. He collects and attaches buttons to his clothing over the course of his appearances. Among these are a peace symbol, a smiley face with a bullet hole in the head , and a "CK" button. In The Stand he wears a button with a yellow smiley-face, one with a dead pig wearing a police cap asking "How's your pork?", and a button with an eye on it. In that novel, he is sometimes referred to as "The Walkin Dude", "The Dark Man", or simply as Flagg. However, he often takes on different appearances to adapt to different surroundings on occasions. For example, as Walter o'Dim, he takes on the guise of a hooded monk.
Throughout most of King's novels, Flagg's origins and true nature are left to the reader's imagination. In The Stand, it is suggested that Flagg cannot remember his life before each "era" of his history, and just at some point "became". He has vague memories of having been a Marine, a Klansman, and of being involved in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. He is shown to be able to detect and find extremists as well as rally them together for malevolent causes. In The Stand, a hypnotized Tom Cullen, who claims to be "God's Tom", tells that Flagg was once cast into a herd of pigs by Jesus, referring to Legion, a demon of many personalities.
So if any Stand fanatics know the pages, if they could drop a line and provide me with some of the bibliographic information (edition and page numbers) so I can add it to the wikipedia article, that'd be great.
Originally Posted by Sai Joshua
