History Main / TheStand

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* ''Literature/TheStand'', an apocalyptic fiction by Creator/StephenKing.
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* ''Series/TheStand'', a 1994 four-part MiniSeries version of Stephen King's book ''Literature/TheStand''.

[[redirect:Literature/TheStand]]

[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_stand_cover1_3754.jpg]]
->''Graffiti written on the front of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta in red spray paint:''\\
''"Dear Jesus. I will see you soon. Your friend, America. PS. I hope you will still have some vacancies by the end of the week."''

One of Creator/StephenKing's most well regarded [[DoorStopper (and thickest)]] books, ''TheStand'' is a classic work of modern apocalyptic fiction. It is the book which introduces (and primarily describes, on Earth at least) King's most famous villain and "[[TheAntichrist antichrist]]" figure, Randall Flagg.

King set out to write "An American LordOfTheRings", although he later demurred as to whether he was successful. Still, it is often rated his most popular book, and, along with ''{{IT}}'', one of the most important works of King's early period.

The story concerns the travels and travails of well [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters over a dozen characters]] following intersecting story arcs across the [[{{Eagleland}} United States]] during and after an [[ThePlague apocalyptic Super-Flu]] (nicknamed ''Captain Trips'') [[ApocalypseHow kills 99.4 percent of humanity.]] The survivors are drawn into two camps on either side of the Rocky Mountains: One headed by the 108-year old, Moses-like Mother Abagail, is based in [[HiddenElfVillage Boulder, CO]]; the other based in [[{{Mordor}} Las Vegas]] is headed by the demonic Flagg.

First published in 1978, the novel was reissued in 1990 in a "[[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition complete and uncut edition]]" containing about 400 additional pages of material from King's original manuscript.

A eight hour made-for-tv miniseries based on the novel aired for four nights on ABC in 1994. As of late 2011, a theatrical adaptation is being attempted for the second time-the first attempt was made during the 1980s and failed because of the difficulty adapting such a long novel for a big screen release, and the novel's dependence on narration to tell the story.

Not to be confused with [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure the manifestations of one's inner powers]].
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!!This classic work contains examples of:

* AbandonedHospital: The Stovington hospital.
* ActorAllusion: In the miniseries. [[TheBradyBunch Mike Lookinland]], who was a cameraman, also has a cameo part as one of the Boulder residents. Stu addresses him as "Bobby" at one point.
* AdaptationDistillation: The Marvel Comics adaptation. Helps that it features a lot of the darker stuff that was cut from the network TV mini-series adaptation due to content issues, as well as exploring the psyches of several characters like Harold Lauder, who were given the short shift in the tv mini-series.
* AfterTheEnd: The world of The Stand goes through an apocalypse and then focuses on the struggles of the survivors against the Dark Man of the west.
* AlasPoorVillain: In-universe, this is Stu's response to [[spoiler: Harold E Lauder]]'s death in both the book and miniseries. %% In-work reference, not YMMV
* AllStarCast: Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Laura San Giacomo, Jamey Sheridan, Miguel Ferrer, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Corin Nemec, Matt Frewer, Adam Storke and Ray Walston.
* AnyoneCanDie
* ApocalypseHow: Class 1, verging on Class 2.
* ApocalypticLog: The whole sub-plot with Cmdr. Starkey. Also, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fran's diary]].
* {{Arcadia}}: New England, Boulder.
* ArcWords:
** ''"My life for you!"''
** [[CatchPhrase "M.O.O.N. That spells _____."]]
** A minor one, but: ''No great loss.''
* AudienceSurrogate: Frannie, Stu, Nick, and Larry, for the most part.
* AuthorOnBoard: Glen Bateman is somewhere between TheObiWan, TheProfessor and MrExposition.
* BallsOfFire: Flagg releases an EnergyBall in the final book.
* BabiesEverAfter: Played with. The first baby to be born after the plague [[spoiler: is only partially immune, due to having only one immune parent, and quickly dies. The first main character's baby is likewise partially immune, but survives]].
* BecauseDestinySaysSo
* BeneathTheEarth: The Lincoln Tunnel. Also, the Eisenhower Tunnel between Boulder and Flagg's realm.
* BigDamnVillains: [[spoiler: When Flagg saves Trashy from The Kid.]] Granted, it was just to advance Flagg's plans, but it was pretty sweet when [[spoiler:Trashy walked away from the car with his new wolf friends, giving The Kid the finger]] and screaming many of the things The Kid said to him. [[spoiler: Of course, he was sexually assaulted with a handgun before he got there.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Arguably downgraded to DownerEnding with the addition of the coda in the expanded edition.
** Debatably still BittersweetEnding; [[spoiler: Russell Faraday is in an alternate Earth, which implies that the Earth he was in is more or less "spared" from HIS further torment. King has always used Flagg as an immortal harbringer of evil]], so this is more of a HereWeGoAgain. [[spoiler: He's on another level of ''TheDarkTower''.]]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Look at that cover illustration.
* BringNewsBack: Doubles as TheUntwist.
* BOOMHeadshot: Flagg sends two {{Mook}}s to capture the Judge and bring back his head with the face undamaged. When one gets trigger-happy, he accidentally catches the Judge in the head, leading to the YouHaveFailedMe moment.
* [[BringHimToMe Bring Her To Me]]: Dayna Jurgens
* ButThouMust: Frannie doesn't buy it.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive
* {{Cameo}}: Several in the miniseries, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (as the "monster shouter"), Joe Bob Briggs, SamRaimi, and JohnLandis.
** Also look for uncredited appearances by Ed Harris and KathyBates. And [[CreatorCameo Stephen King himself]], naturally.
* CanonImmigrant / EnsembleDarkHorse: Flagg became a recurring villain. In ''Eyes of the Dragon'' he's an EvilChancellor and hinted to have been an executioner from the kingdom's dark past. In ''TheDarkTower'', he was [[RetCanon revealed]] to be [[TheGunslinger Roland's]] primary nemesis. We learn he can reincarnate.
* CanonWelding: ''The Stand'' became part of ''TheDarkTower'' continuity (as did most of King's work).
* CaptainErsatz: The symbol of Flagg is a red Eye, which he uses to mentally scan the countryside. He's also a shapeshifter. [[TheLordOfTheRings Hmmmmm...]]
** It's also hinted he's [[Creator/HPLovecraft Nyarlathotep]] [[CanonWelding as well]].
* CatchPhrase - Somewhat, more in the miniseries than the book. Larry's hit song "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" is often sung by characters (ex. Trash and Glen in the movie, Joe and others in the book).
** You come see me, ___. You and all your friends.
* ChandlersLaw: According to King, [[spoiler:Harold's bomb]] was caused by him having writer's block, and feeling the heroes were getting complacent in Boulder.
* CharacterDevelopment: Larry starts off as a [[AllTakeAndNoGive selfish]], arrogant {{Jerkass}}, but gradually grows enough to [[spoiler: become the de facto leader of the heroes after Stu gets injured en route to Las Vegas.]]
* [[ChasteHero Chaste Character]]: Nadine, for unfortunate reasons.
* ChekhovsGun: The [[spoiler:nuclear weapons]] out in the desert.
* CityOfGold: Cibola! [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Cities_of_Gold_%28myth%29 Seven-in-One]]! LasVegas appears this way to Trash in a mirage.
* ClosestThingWeGot: Since they are trying to rebuild society from scratch there is a lot of this going on.
** Stu Redman is forced to perform an appendectomy. Later on, the Free Zone is forced to rely on a veterinarian until a doctor arrives.
* CompositeCharacter: Nadine + Rita (miniseries).
** The miniseries also gave some of Nadine's sub-plots to Lucy.
* CosyCatastrophe: Doesn't start out that way, but becomes one by novel's end.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The scene on the cover doesn't happen in the novel.
* CreatorProvincialism: Subverted, since the action ranges across the country, not just in Maine.
** On the other hand, King was living in Boulder at the time, and half the story is set on various carefully identified locales in that small town.
** King has said he regretted not mentioning what happens to the rest of the world... beyond speculation that there may be ''rival Flaggs'' popping up all over the globe in an [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup apparent violation]] of the [[EvilOverlordList villain playbook]].
** The book does make clear that the people running Project Blue deliberately spread it around the world once it's clear that there's no hope of saving America from annihilation.
*** Which would make some very prime [[FanficFuel fodder]] for ElsewhereFic, to put things mildly.
* DarkIsEvil: The Dark Man, Randall Flagg.
* DeadExMachina: [[spoiler: The spirit of Nick Andros leads Tom Cullen to save Stu's life]].
* DeadlyGame: During the outbreak a "junta" of defected black soldiers hold a large number of regulars hostage in a game show studio, drawing their names at random from a drum and killing them one by one on camera.
** Leading to WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties after another squadron of regulars force their way in and start a firefight with the hostage-takers, increasing the carnage exponentially.
* DearDiary: Guess who reads Fran's SecretDiary?
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: Harold]] spends at least two chapters writing and recording a Take That speech to be played by his bomb before it explodes. [[spoiler: Nick, the only deaf character,]] is the only person in the house when it detonates.
* DepopulationBomb
* DeusExMachina
** Literally, [[spoiler:DeusExNukina]]. But it works!
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Glen [[spoiler: before he dies.]]
* DisasterDemocracy: Instituted (albeit in a modified form) in Boulder.
* {{Doorstopper}}: Many editions, especially foreign language ones, go so far as to split it up into multiple books (incidentally, this actually becomes a plot point in ''TwentiethCenturyBoys'', which is basically the Japanese version of ''TheStand'').
** It's longer than ''WarAndPeace'', ''MobyDick'' and some editions of Literature/TheBible.
** The audibook on CD is over 70 discs long.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Rita]], whom Larry survived [[spoiler:the Lincoln Tunnel with]], commits suicide in his sleeping bag. Also Starkey and several others who were involved in Project Blue.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: Trash blows up the airfield.]]
* DoomedExpedition: Most of the trips west to Las Vegas. The surviving protagonists discover they must [[WalkIntoMordor walk there]] with no food or packs. When they protest and suggest stocking up on canned food and a snowmobile, Glen Bateman says "That was the old world, and the old way was a death trip."
* DramaBomb: Literal in this case.
* DueToTheDead: Frannie Goldsmith burying her father in his garden, told in painful and realistic detail.
** The leaders in Boulder say that this is why they created the Burial Committee which buries the victims of the Superflu. Actually, they did it for health reasons, they just don't tell it to the people becuse they don't want to cause panic.
* DyingTown: Arnette, Texas, where the novel opens, is one of these even before the Captain Trips outbreak. Of course, ''every'' city and town becomes one of these as the virus spreads.
* DystopiaIsHard: As Flagg finds out to his everlasting annoyance.
* TheEpic: National/"Biblical" variety.
* EmergencyPresidentialAddress
* EmpathyDollShot: In the opening credits of the miniseries.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Lampshaded. The characters speculate on what will happen to all those corpses, how life will never be the same, etc.
** In the MadeForTVMovie, [[TheLancer Larry Underwood]] actually plays guitar and ''sings'' Barry Mcguire's "Eve of Destruction," a song about the End Of The World, on the outskirts of Des Moines. Which was [[IncendiaryExponent on fire]].
* EnsembleCast
* EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace / SurvivalHorror: Stovington Hospital.
* EscortMission: Larry and Rita leaving New York.
* EverybodysDeadDave
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The MGM Grand Hotel in [[{{Mordor}} Las Vegas]].
* EvilWillFail: Randall Flagg's half of civilization begins to deteriorate when the presence of so many volatile personalities mix in one society, fear stops being as effective for control, and every minor failure makes the Big Bad himself go into fits of rage and lose his focus, causing errors in judgement.
* ExactWords / TheUntwist: Mother Abagail's final prophecy.
* EyeScream: Ray Booth grinds his thumbs into Nick's eyes while fighting him in the Shoyo jail. Nick subsequently loses sight in one eye and spends much of the rest of the book wearing a [[EyepatchOfPower patch]] over it.
** Also [[spoiler: Dayna's [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled suicide]]]].
* FailsafeFailure
* FieldPromotion: Several characters get one, most notably Nick.
* FilkSong: [[HeavyMithril "Among The Living"]] by the band Music/{{Anthrax}} is a rock anthem about "The Walkin' Dude".
* ForTheEvulz
* GenderFlip: Fran's child, Peter, is Abagail in the miniseries.
** Also the one-scene character of Ray Flowers becomes Raye Flowers.
* GhibliHills: America [[AfterTheEnd after the plague]].
* GoneHorriblyWrong
* GoodHurtsEvil: Characters drawn to Flagg are afraid of Mother Abagail in her dreams.
* GovernmentConspiracy: The creation of the virus, and the attempt to suppress news of its outbreak, culminating in Stu's [[spoiler:[[AbandonedHospital abandonment and near-death]]]], is dwelt on. Various military misadventures occur offscreen; see ParanoiaFuel.
* GreenAesop: Nearly everyone on the planet dies. The planet got better, however.
* HeyItsThatGuy: The TV miniseries has a staggering amount of recognizable actors.
* HiddenElfVillage: The Boulder Free Zone. [-Has nothing to do with [[RocksFallEveryoneDies falling rocks]].-]
* HighFantasy
** UrbanFantasy
* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: Randall Flagg tells the date as "this thirtieth day of September, the year nineteen hundred and ninety, now known as The Year One, year of the plague."
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Several times, most notably Bobby Terry.
* IWantThemAlive: "Flagg wants them taken alive."
* [[IllGirl Ill Guy]]: ...everyone, really; but especially Fran's dad in the miniseries.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Played totally, totally straight. If a character coughs or sneezes, chances are they're a goner.
** So straight that when Stu fakes a coughing fit to spite his caregiver-captors in Stovington, it sends them into a complete panic until he reveals the joke.
* IncrediblyLamePun: A truly epic one; "You might say he never ''[[spoiler:flagged]]'' in his devotion."
* InfantImmortality: Averted, since the flu doesn't spare the children.
* TheInfiltration: The Boulder leadership sends Judge Farris, Dayna Jurgens and Tom Cullen to Las Vegas to join (and spy on) Flagg's operation.
* ItGotWorse: First a plague wipes out most of humanity. ''Then'' a demonic drifter tries to conquer what's left. Finally, the ending reveals that [[spoiler:[[TheEndOrIsIt he survived a freaking nuclear weapon, and is scheming anew]]]]. Then again, after 99.7% of humanity has been destroyed, the entire Randall Flagg situation seems rather tame in comparison. Also, Flagg's empire [[spoiler:[[DystopiaIsHard seems well on its way of falling apart on its own]] without any action by the hero characters]] in typical Stephen King style.
* KickTheDog: Flagg runs into an [[Disney/{{Bambi}} innocent fawn]]. [-"Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub!"-]
* KillEmAll (99.4% pure example of this trope)
** Even among the main characters, the death rate is pretty high.
* KirkSummation: Whitney Horgan's [[SedgwickSpeech speech]] is [[IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream cut short]].
* LargeHam: A few in the miniseries, notably Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man and Laura San Giacomo as Nadine.
* TheLastDJ: Ray Flowers. ''Literally.''
* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: The 1100 page "complete and uncut" edition
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Ten or twenty ''main'' characters following separate arcs in disparate locales. [[Characters/TheStand See here]].
* LookBehindYou: Stu Redman tells the "doctor" who's been sent to terminate him at the Stovington hospital that there's a huge rat behind him, then hits him over the head with a chair.
* LostInTranslation: The Italian title of the book is "L'Ombra dello Scorpione" ("The Shadow of the Scorpion"). There are NO SCORPIONS in the book (of any relevance to the plot, anyway), either literal or metaphorical. None at all. Anywhere. Seriously, WTF?!?
** Its mentioned by Flagg and other characters that he (Flagg) can possess scorpions.
* LovecraftCountry: uncharacteristically averted. New England ends up being the {{Arcadia}} that [[spoiler:the two surviving heroes return to.]] Just avoid the hospitals in New England, as always.
* MagicalNegro
* MagicalRealism: It's a story about the conflict between humanity and itself. And Old Scratch.
* MauveShirt: Many characters.
* MayDecemberRomance: Larry and Rita.
* MonochromeCasting: In both the book and the mini series, the only two non-caucasian characters are Abagail and the Judge. Other than that, ''every single'' character stated to be black (book version) is either dead or joined up with Flagg. In many cases in the novel, the character's race is not mentioned.
** Leo is Chinese. We know this because Stephen King feels the need to describe his "queer, dark Chinese eyes" every time he looks at Larry.
* {{Mordor}}: Las Vegas. TruthInTelevision no less!
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: In the TV Miniseries adaptation, Trash Can Man's arson incidents in Gary, Indiana and Des Moines, Iowa, are both shown with rugged mountains in the background, because they were filmed in New Mexico.
* NewEden: Discussed by Glen Bateman, who suggests LuddWasRight.
* NextSundayAD: Originally set in 1980, updated to 1990 in the expanded version. The inspiration for Flagg was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbionese_Liberation_Army Donald DeFreeze]], the Patty Hearst kidnapper. (Another inspiration was then-current cult leader [[DrinkingTheKoolAid Jim Jones]].)
** The LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition (book) was updated with references to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (comic only.)
*** In the original edition, Bobby Terry is reading a ''Comicbook/HowardTheDuck'' comic shortly before the Judge comes driving by. The "remix" changes this to a TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles comic, King presumably worrying that his 90s readers wouldn't be so familiar with Howard.
** ''TheDarkTower'' books explained this by saying the plague happened in different times in [[TheMultiverse alternate realities]]; we just live in one where it hasn't hit yet.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Barry Dorgan insults Trash at the airfield, causing him to revert to his old ways.
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: see Passing The Torch.
* NonIndicativeName: Captain Trips.
** Possibly a justified name- it's military in origin, and causes hallucinations and delusions. Though, clearly, it has more to do with Jerry Garcia.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: Abagail remembers appearing on a talent show back in 1902. Before her, a woman performed a "racy French dance", showing her ankles.
* ParanoiaFuel: [[DiscussedTrope Extensively talked about]] by the characters themselves. One of the original "Evil US Government quarantines innocent civilians at gunpoint and leaves them to die" plots, it seemed uncharacteristically cynical (even for King) until, say 2005 (as if!) Not to mention Capt. Trips itself. %% This trope is referenced in-work, so it is not YMMV insofar as it applies to the characters themselves.
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:to Larry.]] In their [[WalkIntoMordor final journey]], Abagail prophesies that "one will fall by the wayside". [[spoiler:Stu]] breaks a leg and convinces the others to go on without him BecauseDestinySaysSo. They never see him again. [[spoiler:This is because all the others die, in the end, he is fated to BringNewsBack]].
* PinballProtagonist: For all the emphasis put on Stu, Glen, Larry, and Ralph journeying to Vegas to confront Flagg, they don't accomplish much of anything tangible. Of course, this depends on various interpretations of the ending:
** Without their [[WeNeedADistraction distraction]], [[spoiler:Trashcan Man]] would have been intercepted.
** [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve A sacrifice was needed]] to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo fulfill the prophecy]].
** The heroes are {{Decoy Protagonist}}s, traveling into enemy territory to BringNewsBack.
** They actually did do something. [[spoiler:If they hadn't been captured and prepared for execution, Whitney Horgan would never have made his speech, and Flagg would never have killed him with the fireball that later sets off the nuke.]]
* APirate400YearsTooLate: The Rat-Man
* ThePlague: Captain Trips, in its early stages, is indistinguishable from a common cold or a flu except by a doctor who knows what to look for.
* PokeInTheThirdEye: [[spoiler:Tom]] does this to Flagg, who does it to Mother Abagail.
* ThePowerOfRock: In the series at least, Larry takes his guitar (and nothing else) to Las Vegas. A [[BonJovi loaded six-string]] may not help with the forces of darkness...
-->'''Rat-Man:''' ''(smashes guitar)'' [[DeaderThanDisco Disco is]] ''dead!!''
* PragmaticAdaptation: The ABC tv mini-series. In order to get the mini-series greenlighted, King had to cull the darker aspects of the novel for network TV, which in turn led to some decent revisions of the story: removing the "female zoo" sequence and expanding upon Nadine and Larry's relationship as far as the two hooking up in the city rather than once Larry's former companion died.
** I wouldn't say Nadine and Larry's relationship was expanded; they meet earlier in the movie, but they were still given more development in the book.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: In the mini series when the Judge is shot. You can see the bullet holes, but it's nothing like the book description where there was ''nothing left of his face''. Considering the whole reason Flagg was angry at his men was that he wanted the face to be recognizable, this made the scene make a lot less sense.
* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: of course.
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Barry Dorgan's men.
* RavensAndCrows: Uh oh. There's a corvid perched on a fencepost [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/solitary-crow-on-fence-post-portending-doom-analys,2777/ portending ill omens!]]
* RealMenEatMeat: In the [=TV=] miniseries version, when Larry asks Nadine how she wants her steak cooked, she says "just run it through a warm room" in a tomboyish moment.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Several characters refuse to acknowledge the dreams.
* SceneryGorn
* SendInTheSearchTeam: [[RefusalOfTheCall Ignoring the dreams]], Harold insists that help will be found at the [[AbandonedHospital Stovington Hospital]] where Stu was imprisoned and left to die.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: A chapter is devoted to vignettes of plague survivors who succumbed to gruesome accidents because they were reckless and/or lacked the interpersonal support they could have expected from normal pre-plague society. One plague survivor is literally StuffedIntoTheFridge and dies of suffocation.
* ShoutOut: "Captain Trips" was originally a nickname of [[TheGratefulDead Jerry Garcia]]. King had first used it much earlier, for ''another'' Superflu, in his ''NightShift'' story "Night Surf".
** One of the initial Trips carriers is a police detective from Creator/EdMcBain's Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct.
** When Flagg introduces himself to Lloyd, he says "[[RollingStones Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.]]"
** Fran imagined her father's garden was part of [[TheLordOfTheRings Middle-Earth]], and compares the [[GhibliHills empty countryside]] to Middle-Earth at another point. Flagg's ''sigil'' is a black stone with a red eye, among other [[LawyerFriendlyCameo similarities]].
** Stu Redman name-checks ''WatershipDown'' when describing how terrified he felt in the hospital: it made him go ''tharn''.
** Allusion to an [[Music/{{ACDC}} AC/DC]] song (which had appeared in King's ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'' movie) in the 1990 revised and expanded edition of the novel, where a survivor of the flu pandemic changes the lyrics to "Flu made who."
** Lest we forget, the book name-checks the works of Creator/HPLovecraft...just like [[OncePerEpisode pretty much every other King work]].
* {{Squick}}: In-universe: [[http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/stand-joint.jpg The dead body Larry finds in the lavatory]] with a swollen neck the size of a tire. Larry says it had this effect on him despite everything else he'd seen.
%% In-work reference to the trope. the other examples of Squick are YMMV.
* TalkingInYourDreams
* TakeThat: Several towards RonaldReagan (in the 1990 edition). For instance, paraphrased: "[[hottip:The Judge:who's under consideration for a member of the committee]] is over seventy." "RonaldReagan was serving at older than that." "That's not exactly a great recommendation..."
* TakingYouWithMe: Once America's leadership realizes they're doomed, they deliberately infect other countries (and more importantly, continents) with Captain Trips.
* [[ScienceIsBad Technology Is Evil]]: Played straight. This book was written in the '70s and "back to the land" themes are prominent.
** Not to mention Captain Trips is a ''scientifically engineered'' Holocaust.
** Flagg is described as "the last magician of rational thought." Also, Glen speculates that Flagg is drawing all the "rationalist, engineer types" who want to quickly get the old society back up and running, military and all, while Mother Abagail attracts those seeking a HiddenElfVillage or {{Utopia}} and struggles to turn on the lights. It's not suggested that {{Straw Atheist}}s are attracted to Flagg, however; merely people looking for quick solutions.
** Interestingly, the book inverts the typical "MagicVersusScience" trope: supernatural forces merely take advantage of the sudden, artificially engineered holocaust to initiate the [[ApocalypseHow Apocalypse]] more or less.
* TemptingFate: ''[[ClifftopCaterwauling "Piece of cake!"]].'' In the miniseries, he [[GenreBlind says it three times]] while climbing the washout.
* TheStinger: Added to the Uncut edition, to strengthen the tie with ''TheDarkTower'': [[spoiler: Randall Flagg wakes up after the nuclear blast in another universe, and begins to take over a society once again. ''Ka'' is referenced.]]
* ThrowAwayCountry: [[spoiler:A divine wind]] ensures that Los Angeles gets the short end of a [[spoiler:nuclear fallout incident]] entirely offscreen, thereby sparing the good guys. Don't even ask what happened to other countries.
* TitleDrop: Abagail, during her [[spoiler: FinalSpeech]]. [-"And with God's help, you will '''Stand'''..."-]
* TooDumbToLive: During the chapter where King describes all the people killed in the aftermath of the outbreak, a heroin addict injects some of the drug into his system. The highest purity he ever hit was 12%, and that put him into a comatose sleep. The stash he comes across is a fresh delivery to a dealer, and he doesn't consider that the dealer hadn't had a chance to "cut" the purity before succumbing to the super-flu, so he unwittingly injects himself with 96% pure heroin. No great loss.
* TotallyRadical: Teenage characters unironically calling cops 'pigs', which even in 1980 was a rather dated insult and had become all the more so when the setting had been updated to 1990.
* TrainsRunOnTime: Las Vegas gets the utilities running in their city much more quickly than Boulder, and discipline is harshly enforced, with crucifixion being a common punishment for crimes as petty as recreational drug use.
* TrueCompanions: Stu, Larry, Glen and Ralph. There's also:
** Stu, Frannie, Harold, and Glen.
** Larry, Nadine, Joe, and Lucy, along with Rita.
** Nick, Tom, Ralph, and Mother Abagail.
* TyphoidMary: Campion; the second he and his family made it off the base and encountered other people, it was already entirely too late to contain Trips.
* TheUnFavourite: Frannie seems to have been this to her mother.
** Harold was also one of these, apparently.
* VaguenessIsComing: In the miniseries version of ''The Stand'', Mother [[MagicalNegro Abagail]] helpfully informs the heroes: ''"The Beast is loose in the fields of Bethlehem. The rats are in the corn!"'' She also says:
** AStormIsComing. ...'''''[[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed His]]''''' storm!" And "the rats are his."
* WalkIntoMordor: The third act of the book centers on one. See above.
* WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain: [[spoiler:Stu and Fran]]'s reason for leaving Boulder.
* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"After all, why else could he suddenly do magic?"]]
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife
* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: The escape of Campion, the security guard at the research facility who spreads Captain Trips beyond hope of containment, is explained thusly:
-->"He drove through the main gate just four minutes before the sirens started going off and we sealed off the whole base. And no one started looking for him until nearly an hour later because there are no monitors in the security posts--somewhere along the line you have to stop guarding the guardians or everyone in the world would be a goddamn turnkey...."
* WidowWoman: Rita Blakemoor.
* WildChild: Joe/Leo.
* AWorldHalfFull: figuratively speaking!
** Certainly at some point not too far into the story, [[FridgeHorror literally speaking]]!
* YankTheDogsChain: Barry Dorgan teases and insults Trash, making him realize that Flagg's underlings are just like the people who used to humiliate him, who Flagg promised to protect him from.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Poor Bobby Terry.
** "There were worse things than crucifixion. There were teeth."
----

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The book mentions flyers being posted at the University of Kentucky Louisville Campus. No such campus has ever existed (though there ''is'', incidentally, a University of Louisville...).
** Chocolate still doesn't give you pimples. The chocolate Payday bars are often assumed to be this, but there *were* chocolate Paydays released several times (known as Payday Avalanche).
** A particularly large medical DNDTR appears in the movie, in which researchers at the isolation center in Vermont watch as a character suddenly wakes up, rips the [=IVs=] out of his arm, rips out his endotracheal tube, and suffocates to death. Not only would a patient who'd been intubated be restrained at the wrists, sedated heavily, and possibly kept chemically paralyzed, but according to descriptions of the disease itself any victim in need of a ventilator would be already be too weak to move.
** In the book, Glen Bateman goes on a monologue about how every century seems to close with a plague. In the speech, he mentions that influenza is only a hundred years old. Stephen King may have been referring specifically to the Spanish Influenza of the late 19th Century; however, Influenza as a general category of respiratory diseases has been known since at least 412 BCE, when Hippocrates (the "Father of Medicine", originator of the Hippocratic Oath) wrote about it in his medical works.

** One of the initial Trips carriers is a police detective from Ed [=McBain=]'s [[EightySeventhPrecinct 87th Precinct]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: The ABC tv mini-series. In order to get the mini-series greenlighted, King had to cull the darker aspects of the novel for network TV, which in turn led to some decent revisions of the story: removing the "female zoo" sequence and expanding upon Nadine and Larry's relationship as far as the two hooking up in the city rather than once Larry's former companion died. Also, while some of the casting decisions (Frannie, Harold and Randall Flagg in particular) were widely reviled, the makers of the series did shockingly well when casting the rest of the cast: Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd Henried, Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man, pre-Hollywood A-List Gary Sinise as Stu Redman, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros and Bill Faggerbakke as Tom Cullen.

* ArcWords: ''"My life for you!"'' [[CatchPhrase "M.O.O.N. That spells _____."]]
** CrowningMomentOfFunny, which is rare for King: Eventually, "M.O.O.N. and that spells [[spoiler:moon]]."

* Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: YMMV, but for this Troper, the scene in the book when Bateman's adopted dog Kojak appears, malnourished and wounded, on the porch of his home in Boulder, after having been left behind by Bateman's group 2,000 miles away. To quote Stu, the East Texan, "That there is a good dog."

One of StephenKing's most well regarded [[DoorStopper (and thickest)]] books, ''TheStand'' is a classic work of modern apocalyptic fiction. It is the book which introduces (and primarily describes, on Earth at least) King's most famous villain and "[[TheAntichrist antichrist]]" figure, Randall Flagg.

** It's also hinted he's [[HPLovecraft Nyarlathotep]] [[CanonWelding as well]].

** Lest we forget, the book name-checks the works of HPLovecraft...just like [[OncePerEpisode pretty much every other King work]].

One of {{Stephen King}}'s most well regarded [[DoorStopper (and thickest)]] books, ''TheStand'' is a classic work of modern apocalyptic fiction. It is the book which introduces (and primarily describes, on Earth at least) King's most famous villain and "[[TheAntichrist antichrist]]" figure, Randall Flagg.

King set out to write "An American {{Lord of the Rings}}", although he later demurred as to whether he was successful. Still, it is often rated his most popular book, and, along with ''{{IT}}'', one of the most important works of King's early period.

* BabiesEverAfter: Played with. The first baby to be born after the plague [[spoiler: is only partially immune, due to having only one immune parent, and quickly dies. The first main character's baby is likewise partially immune, but survives]].

* CanonImmigrant / EnsembleDarkhorse: Flagg became a recurring villain. In ''Eyes of the Dragon'' he's an EvilChancellor and hinted to have been an executioner from the kingdom's dark past. In ''TheDarkTower'', he was [[RetCanon revealed]] to be [[TheGunslinger Roland's]] primary nemesis. We learn he can reincarnate.

* CaptainErsatz: The symbol of Flagg is a red Eye, which he uses to mentally scan the countryside. He's also a shapeshifter. [[TheLordOfTheRings Hmmmmm...]]

** You come see me, ___. You and all your friends.

* CharacterDevelopment: Larry starts off as a [[AllTakeAndNoGive selfish]], arrogant {{Jerkass}}, but gradually grows enough to [[spoiler: become the de facto leader of the heroes after Stu gets injured en route to Las Vegas.]]

** Stu Redman is forced to perform an appendectomy. Later on, the Free Zone is forced to rely on a veterinarian until a doctor arrives.

* CosyCatastrophe: Doesn't start out that way, but becomes one by novel's end.

* DeadlyGame: During the outbreak a "junta" of defected black soldiers hold a large number of regulars hostage in a game show studio, drawing their names at random from a drum and killing them one by one on camera.

** It's longer than ''WarAndPeace'', ''MobyDick'' and some editions of TheBible.

** The leaders in Boulder say that this is why they created the Burial Committee which buries the victims of the Superflu. Actually, they did it for health reasons, they just don't tell it to the people becuse they don't want to cause panic.

* HighFantasy

* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: Randall Flagg tells the date as "this thirtieth day of September, the year nineteen hundred and ninety, now known as The Year One, year of the plague."

** So straight that when Stu fakes a coughing fit to spite his caregiver-captors in Stovington, it sends them into a complete panic until he reveals the joke.

** The LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition (book) was updated with references to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (comic only.)

* PinballProtagonist: For all the emphasis put on Stu, Glen, Larry, and Ralph journeying to Vegas to confront Flagg, they don't accomplish much of anything tangible. Of course, this depends on various interpretations of the ending:

** [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve A sacrifice was needed]] to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo fulfill the prophecy]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: The ABC tv mini-series. In order to get the mini-series greenlighted, King had to cull the darker aspects of the novel for network TV, which in turn led to some decent revisions of the story: removing the "female zoo" sequence and expanding upon Nadine and Larry's relationship as far as the two hooking up in the city rather than once Larry's former companion died. Also, while some of the casting decisions (Frannie, Harold and Randall Flagg in particular) were widely reviled, the makers of the series did shockingly well when casting the rest of the cast: Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd Henried, Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man, pre-Hollywood A-List Gary Sinise as Stu Redman, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros and Bill Faggerbakke as Tom Cullen.

** Allusion to an [[{{ACDC}} AC/DC]] song (which had appeared in King's ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'' movie) in the 1990 revised and expanded edition of the novel, where a survivor of the flu pandemic changes the lyrics to "Flu made who."

* TitleDrop: Abagail, during her [[spoiler: {{final speech}}]]. [-"And with God's help, you will '''Stand'''..."-]

* VaguenessIsComing: In the miniseries version of ''The Stand'', Mother [[MagicalNegro Abagail]] helpfully informs the heroes: ''"The Beast is loose in the fields of Bethlehem. The rats are in the corn!"'' She also says:

* WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain: [[spoiler:Stu and Fran's]] reason for leaving Boulder.

* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: The escape of Campion, the security guard at the research facility who spreads Captain Trips beyond hope of containment, is explained thusly:

** YourMileageMayVary, since civilization ended outside Boulder and [[WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain people started leaving]] when they started arming the [[{{Utopia}} Free Zone]] officials. The miniseries gives off this vibe at the end, though.

** [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve A sacrifice was needed]] to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo fulfill the prophecy]]. Alternatively, they are TheIshmael.

Not to be confused with [[JojosBizarreAdventure the manifestations of one's inner powers]].

** You come see me now. You and all your friends.

* Catch Phrase - Somewhat, more in the miniseries than the book. Larry's hit song "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" is often sung by characters (ex. Trash and Glen in the movie, Joe and others in the book).

** You come see me now. You and all your free-ends.

* Catch Phrase - Somewhat, more in the miniseries than the book. Larry's hit song "Baby Can You Dig Your Man" is often sung by characters (ex. Trash and Glen in the movie, Joe and others in the book).

* AfterTheEnd: One of the best post-apocalyptic works King has ever done.

* AfterTheEnd