History Characters / TheStand

* MagicalGuide: Briefly, at the end of the series. During the final confrontation in Vegas, when the Hand of God appears, Abigail's voice is heard telling [[spoiler:Nick and Ralph]] that they fulfilled their roles and telling them to "come on home," [[spoiler:just before the nuke detonates]].

** [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted by the very hero-worship outlined above. Her duty's just getting everyone together and pointing the way, but she enjoys the attention so much that she inadvertently indulges in Pride and leads the committee astray from their real duty of dealing with Flagg]].

* SoleSurvivor: He was the only person exposed to [[PatientZero Charles Campion]] who never developed symptoms, and therefore almost certainly the only one to survive. [[spoiler: He's also the only one to return from the quest to defeat Flagg]].

* DecoyProtagonist: Possibly the most protagonistic of the series, [[spoiler: until it's subverted due to his death three-quarters of the way through the novel. Then again, he does act as a SpiritAdvisor for Tom, so maybe not so subverted]]...

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After first meeting Tom, Nick considers leaving him behind, as it's difficult enough just to survive himself with his disabilities, and due to Tom's illiteracy, even communicating with him is an ordeal. Then he sees Tom playing with a few toy cars by the side of the road like an overgrown kid, and Nick accepts he can't leave him to fend for himself, it'd be the same as killing him. [[spoiler: This ends up saving his life, as Tom spots the signs of an incoming tornado which Nick would have ridden straight into otherwise]].

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Dies in the nuclear blast at the climax.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: Kojak's [[spoiler: journey across the United States to Boulder]], told from the dog's perspective.

* ActualPacifist: Is terrified at the first sign of violence, and even under hypnosis visibly starts at the suggestion he hurt someone else. [[spoiler: It never becomes an issue.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: Generally serves as little more than comic relief and an obstacle for Nick Andros (albeit an amusing and endearing one) during his journey to Boulder. He's virtually forgotten by the third act, until [[spoiler: he comes out of nowhere to save Stu's life, making it possible for the other members of the Free Zone to learn of what transpired in Las Vegas]].

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: His last moments are very pitiful]].

* BestServedCold: [[spoiler: Plants a bomb in Boulder to get back at the world for mistreating him]].

* EvilNerd: He starts out as unhygienic, lustful, unpopular and full of resentment and contempt for all the people around him that he thinks despise him for his intelligence, and he ends up [[spoiler: joining the BigBad. In between the two, he actually flirts with subverting the trope as life after the apocalypse makes him more appealing and more appreciated for his intelligence - but in the end, his baggage gets the better of him and he ends up playing the trope straight.]]

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: His bomb ends up killing Nick.]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler: His refusal to let go of whatever injustices he's suffered in the past, despite every person who's ever actually wronged him being, you know, dead, leads to him betraying the Free Zone and joining Flagg's side. He doesn't even have anyone specific to revenge himself on, aside from Stu and Frannie, and just seems to want to lash out against the world in general.]]

* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler: Harold becomes one when he reads Frannie's diary]]. When he starts up the practice, many characters start to comment on how cheery he's become. It doesn't fool everybody, however; Nick refuses to give him a place on the committee in Boulder because he thinks there's something unsettling and fake in his constant grinning and glad-handing. Mother Abagail doesn't like him, either.

* WildCard: Harold refers to himself as this, and seems to embody the trope. [[spoiler: This proves bad for the people of Boulder]] and is also hinted [[spoiler:to be the reason why Flagg takes him down after he does his job]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Once he's done his job in Boulder and then escorted Nadine through the mountains, Flagg leaves a convenient oilslick in the road for him]].

* OrphansOrdeal: After his family's death he nearly died of infection, and was so traumatized he stopped talking and carried a knife all the time. Nadine becames his ParentalSubstitute [[spoiler: but it doesn't end well]]. In the end, he's adopted by Larry and Lucy.
* PsychicPowers: He seems to have a little telepathy, and he instantly knows [[spoiler: there's something wrong with Harold]].

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Dayna kills herself to prevent Flagg from torturing her for information. That he could not stop or predict this ''really'' rattles him]].

* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler: She's found out as a spy and kills herself to avoid torture]].

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: Flagg thrives on conflict and hatred, and has spent decades working alongside every terrorist group and militia you could name, having been a Klansman, a Black Power nationalist, an eco-terrorist, and even a member of the Symbionese Liberation army, helping them kidnap and brainwash Patty Hearst. According to WordOfGod, there may actually be ''rival Flaggs'', not direct copies but similar individuals, arising among other survivor communities across the world, though this never happens in-story since only the U.S is featured. [[spoiler: Sure enough, even after the destruction of Vegas, Flagg is revealed to still be alive, awakening on a small tropical island where he begins to enslave the natives.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: Almost literally Satan (Mother Abigail is rather clear with the fact that he isn't Satan himself, but essentially the next best thing). His mere presence can bring calamities to those around him and he radiates an aura of fear.

* ObviouslyEvil: It's interesting that half of the remaining population would want to live with Flagg. It helped that he [[FauxAffablyEvil could pass for an affable figure]] before he starts to decompose. According to Mother Abigail, it's because he's an expert at tempting the lost and the desperate, and knows to strike at exactly the right moment, making his followers ignore everything else.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler: Wakes up on an unknown island after taking a nuke to the face, and begins presenting himself as a god to the locals]].

* AntiVillain: While he commits some very bad crimes, he's really nothing more than a child in a man's body. He follows Flagg only because the guy saves him from starvation, and even then [[spoiler: he begins to doubt him when his plans start to crumble]].

* LastStand: [[spoiler: The discovery of his body reveals that he not only shot several of the wolves surrounding him, but managed to strangle the one that killed him]].

* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: Flagg thrives on conflict and hatred, and has spent decades working alongside every terrorist group and militia you could name, having been a Klansman, a Black Power nationalist, an eco-terrorist, and even a member of the Symbionese Liberation army, helping them kidnap and brainwash Patty Hearst.

* HumanoidAbomination: Almost literally Satan. His mere presence can bring calamities to those around him and he radiates an aura of fear.

* ObviouslyEvil: It's interesting that half of the remaining population would want to live with Flagg. It helped that he [[FauxAffablyEvil could pass for an affable figure]] before he starts to decompose.

* StraightEdgeEvil: Drug use is punished by ''crucifixion'' under his rule.

** Played with. Abagail most certainly has supernatural insight and ends up being the emotional and moral center of the BFZ, so much so that the Boulder Free Zone committee - which is all white - make sure to give her absolute veto power over any of their decisions, lest it look like they were trying to wrest power from her.

!! '''Frances “Frannie” Goldsmith'''

* EntertaininglyWrong: When he, Nadine and Joe pass through Oqonquit and find the directions Harold painted on the barn before he and Francine left, Larry begins imagining what Harold is like in person, especially after seeing other hints of his presence in the town, such as the Payday bar wrappers, and the jury-rigged siphon for the gasoline tank. Larry manages to piece together a mental image that is almost exactly the opposite of what the real Harold is like; Practical, mid-30's, slightly BookDumb, tanned, tall, etc...

-->''“Are you so afraid of him you don’t dare speak his ''name''? Very well, I’ll say it for you. His name is Randall Flagg, also known as the dark man, also known as the tall man, also known as the Walkin Dude. Don’t some of you call him that? ... Call him [[{{Satan}} Beelzebub]], because that’s his name, too. Call him [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]] and [[Literature/TheBible Ahaz and Astaroth]]. Call him R’yelah and [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Seti and Anubis]]. His name is legion and he’s an apostate of hell and you men kiss his ass.”''

* MysteriousPast: Flagg remembers little about his own past beyond the 1960's, and might not even have one at all considering his inhuman origin, though one of the few memories he does have is being a high school classmate of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather Charles Starkweather]]. He also vaguely remembers having been "reborn" once before.

* EntertaininglyWrong: When he, Nadine and Joe pass through Oqonquit and find the directions Harold painted on the barn before he and Francine left, Larry begins imagining what Harold is like in person, especially after seeing other hints of his presence in the town, such as the Paydar bar wrappers, and the jury-rigged siphon for the gasoline tank. Larry manages to piece together a mental image that is almost exactly the opposite of what the real Harold is like; Practical, mid-30's, slightly BookDumb, tanned, tall, etc...

* TheSociopath: Flagg is a perfect example of sociopathy. He [[LackOfEmpathy has no concern for the wellbeing of others]], [[ItsAllAboutMe cares only about amassing more power for himself]], [[FauxAffablyEvil is able to feign politeness towards others]], [[ConsumnateLiar sounds completely sincere when he's lying through his teeth]], and [[ManipulativeBastard effortlessly manipulates others into doing his bidding]].

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Subverted. When Dayna is sent to meet him, he looks like a pleasant looking man about her age. Then she notices [[UncannyValley his hands have no wrinkles or ridges]].

* {{Determinator}}: He manages to drive across four states after leaving his post. Considering he was infected with the flu, ''[[{{Understatement}} this is a very bad thing.]]''

* TheFaceless: At least how people see him in dreams, and expect him to look in person. Thus, one of his nicknames is The Man with No Face. He doesn't ''seem'' to literally be one, but considering he's a HumanoidAbomination, who knows?

* ADateWithRosiePalms: At one point in the book he "masturbates bitterly" after reading Fran's diary and finding out about her affair with Stu.

* TyphoidMary: Campion barely manages to escape his guard tower before it locks down, gathers up his wife and daughter... and proceeds on a trip through four states, getting sicker and sicker on the way. By the time he gets to Arnette, he further infects the crew at Hap's Auto Shop before dying.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Proves to be the ultimate instrument of destruction after he [[GollumMadeMeDoIt finally snaps]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Flagg feels sorry for him]] and wants him painlessly executed...[[invoked]] %% In-work reference, this trope is only marginally YMMV

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the darkest villains ever created by Stephen King, with only [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] being even worse.

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the darkest villains ever created by Stephen King, rivalled only by [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]].

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the darkest villains ever created by Stephen King, with only [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] being worse.

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the most darkest villains ever created by Stephen King, with only [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] being worse.

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the most dangerous and utterly evil characters ever created by Stephen King, rivaled only by [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] himself.

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the most dangerous and utterly evil characters ever created by Creator/Stephen King, rivaled only by [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]] himself.

* KnightOfCerebus: A demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. He's one of the most dangerous and utterly evil characters ever created by Creator/Stephen King, rivaled only by [[Literature/It Pennywise]] himself.

* KnightOfCerebus: a demonic, quasi-immortal being who frequently appears throughout King's works as an embodiment of evil. Appearing in different forms in different worlds, the one constant about Flagg is that he is always working to sow the seeds of chaos and despair wherever he goes. Worse, every time he's part of a violent experience it ultimately serves to empower the evil within him.

* JailBait: It isn't made clear if she is legal but she is described as having acne and poorly thought-out aspirations, much like a BrattyTeenageDaughter.

An all-American maniac from Shreveport, Louisiana who picks up Trashcan Man on the road to Vegas.