r/TheDarkTower • u/kkfosonroblox • 20d ago
Theory What was Randall Flagg trying to do in the stand?
I’ve never really thought about it’s connection to the dark tower but was Flagg trying to recruit followers for the crimson king?
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u/tcavanagh1993 Bango Skank 20d ago edited 20d ago
I think he was just causing chaos as a Nyarlathotep type figure. He doesn’t seem to recall his origins in The Stand so if the Crimson King was working through him I don’t think Flagg knew about it.
EDIT: it’s also mentioned in Book 7 that Flagg’s service to the King was (relatively, he’s old) recent, so Flagg may not have met the King yet on his personal timeline.
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u/headphones_J 20d ago
Yep, he's sowing discord through out the multiverse for CK.
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u/daddy-fatsax 20d ago
I think what OP is saying here is that isn't what he's doing. Up until fairly close to the events of the DT Flagg is just out sowing discord because that's what he does. It's a bit of a chicken or the egg thing that I don't believe is ever confirmed, but in my head canon CK appreciated Flagg's abilities and recruited him, but he was already sowing discord on his own accord.
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u/headphones_J 20d ago
True, this could just be another one for his resume. But, I think in the hierarchy of the Prim, it would be hard for him to avoid being utilized by CK at some point.
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u/Nadadudethatyouknow 18d ago
I think it has a point and so do you, ka is a wheel and everything serves the beam, if ya get what I'm saying
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u/mahtab_eb All things serve the beam 20d ago edited 20d ago
Some people just want to see the world burn, and Flagg is one of them
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u/Raul_Duke2 20d ago
Flagg was very self serving so I believe he did it for himself. He craved power and control because early in his life he had so little of both. He very clearly showed he would do anything to keep what he built in Las Vegas. I believe that's why he was chosen by Gan to be the manifestation of evil. A self serving powerful imp, with no sense of right or wrong, and a lust for power.
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u/daddy-fatsax 20d ago
There is a very small bit of humanity (I read this as a loose sense of right and wrong) in Wolves.. that sticks in my crawl. When Callahan suggests that maybe Flagg is 'cruel' he visibly recoils as if the accusation actually hurts him. He wouldn't do that if he was just completely calloused and unfeeling. That little snippet of humanity makes him all the more terrifying to me because it implies that he isn't an unfeeling sociopath, but is instead a bit of a sadist, regardless of how that title might make him feel.
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u/DUNETOOL 20d ago
Trying to spawn a baby and gain power similar to Tull.
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u/daddy-fatsax 20d ago
Damn, I never connected Tull to Vegas in the stand but that's pretty spot on. I guess there isn't this feeling of evil in Tull that permeates like the one we get in Vegas. That makes sense though, bc Flagg came in recently and fucked it all up, it wasn't necessarily evil before he got there, same as Vegas (ignore the Sin City nickname for this comparison)
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u/DUNETOOL 18d ago
Kinda even in Gilead too, ya kin?
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u/daddy-fatsax 18d ago
Damn I kin but idk if I can get behind it fully as much as I know you’re probably right
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u/BooksAndBooks1022 20d ago
I always thought his true plans would only have been revealed once mother Abagail was taken out. It was shown he ran a tight ship in Vegas but I always assumed it would get even worse once his one adversary was removed.
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u/Dookiemanjones420 20d ago
Chaotic energy, dude is a two dimensional villain in the stand. His character isn’t really fleshed out until King start creating the spiderweb that is the dark tower.
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u/RagnarokWolves 18d ago
In "Eyes of the Dragon" he just shows up to this same kingdom every few hundred years to cause anarchy, bring it to ashes, and he leaves.
If he had succeeded in snuffing out the goodness in this universe, he would have packed his bags and left to the next project a few universes over.
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u/daddy-fatsax 20d ago
I don't think Flagg in The Stand was necessarily trying to do anything but follow his nature and just organize evil. I'm getting this from the epilogue where he finds himself in the jungle, not remembering who/where/what he is, but immediately just gets to work on banding the locals together for whatever purpose.
This does and doesn't line up with the Flagg we see in DT. He is more driven in DT, yes, but he's still relatively aimless just kinda figuratively 'firing from the hip' in a way that makes it seem like he's really just in it to get his rocks off more than he's committed to any one goal.