You're here for the dance.

That's just like, your opinion, man- the kid

Rest in peace Cormac. Your words will live on forever. "He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die."

Richard Poe’s reading of this book is as incredible as the book itself.

The fact that he squeezed in another missing child between this sermon and the end is just wild

"The freedom of birds is an insult to me..." That fucking line is so insanely good. I go back to it in my mind randomly and without any real desire, it's just always there, waiting to hit me again.

“Do you believe it’s all over son ?” The most terrifying words I have ever read

“The past that was differs little from the path that was not.” Jeez what a line

"Bears that dance and bears that don't" - One of my favorite lines from the novel :)

'He looked about him in a puzzled and artful way, and he was a passable thespian.' Amazing subtleties throughout the book alluding to the dance.

The Judge is saying that to embrace meaninglessness is to renounce one's own agency. So, if one has no agency, then one is a possession of someone else. Who is he, who possesses, then? But if you insist on having agency, then for what purpose do you exist? What purpose is there to exist in a meaningless world full of evil that goes unpunished and the innocent put to death? That's why he is the Judge. He judges everyone and the only real crime is innocence, in a world built on cruelty. He embraces the world as it is and expertly maneuvers its mazes like a minotaur, while the rest of us struggle to make sense of it and keep trying to put right things that just refuse to be right. And deep inside, we know this to be true. The Judge keeps winning because the universe is on his side, and against the man. Holden is a walking monument to the truth of things. Even after his eventual death whether it be due to someone finally getting lucky with a shot at him, or old age, he will keep walking in some form, laughing at us and fiddling and dancing the dance.

This audiobook is a goddamned masterpiece

The way the Judge carefully explains to the Man why he’s about to do with him what he’s about to do with him, is absolutely horrifying.

my interpretation in the ending is not that the judge is right but that he isnt wrong. and that whatever you want to do or believe you should do. you must. the greatest crime is inaction even in the face of the unexpected. so even when things dont go as you planned, you still have to dance. and dance fierce and dance hard because if you dont, that only leaves people like the judge to dance, and he will never sleep, he will never die, but we certainly cant outlive him. maybe, you can outdance him.

I feel like I need a dictionary next to me at all times to enjoy this book, but I admit I love the story.

Before man was, WAR waited for him! The ultimate trade... awaiting its ultimate practitioner.

"Drink up. This night thy soul may be required of thee."

"You ain't nothin'!" -The kid "You speak truer than you know." -The judge Yeesh.

Harold Bloom said something to the affect of he had read the ending a dozen times and still hadn't gotten to the end of it or the bottom of it. When the kid is in the jail cell, that also feels like the ending as does the shootout at the river crossing before and of course the epilogue at the very end which is almost like a sermon or scientific conclusion. The book feels like it ends several times but actually doesn't: "Do you think it's over?"

To summarize it, the Judge is basically saying "Drink up! Tonight, you die."

"And some are not yet born who shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's soul" One of my favorite lines in the book. It's a reference to Shakespeare's Henry V play. The Judge misquotes it the original being: "And some are yet ungotten and unborn that shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn." And the play of Henry V is very much rooted in war. Even when quoting literature, war is still the topic. The Dauphin being the Prince of France.

its uncanny that Poe's narration is done in the same tone I heard in my mind when I first read BM (i've actually read it five times). Greatest novel ever printed

2:31 “the judge smiled and gestured with the bottle. He took up the glass, and drank. The judge watched him.”

"and he didnt move" Why did he not move? Jesus chris this is by far the best novel ive ever read. Beautiful violence and not many can do that. Amazing.

"The straight and the winding way are one and now that you are here what do the years count since last we two met together? I believe the judge is telling the kid his intentions here. He's saying it is now as if he never escaped him in the desert.

Man I think I just got a new audible token today. I've read this book a few times, but I wouldn't mind listening to this man read it to me again. Amazing audiobook performance. Whenever I read McCarthy now I kind of do it in his cadence in my head.

2:19 Drink up! he said. Drink up! This night thy soul may be required of thee.

I know it doesn’t make sense, but whenever I revisit this scene I can’t help but picture them drinking from the bottle containing the captain’s pickled head.

Major props to the voice actor, Richard Poe. He really nailed the essence of this entire story.

4:38 "Of course I know him it's me"

I keep coming back to this book like a great machine timed with escapement and pallet.

Such a beautiful, horrifying, amazing book and story

"You're not entirely wrong, Holden. You just didn't have to be such an asshole about it."

I agree with this statement.! I can’t stop listening to it..

RIP Cormac McCarthy. The minute I heard the news, I came right to this.

great post, thank you!

Could the last sequence of events where he met the Judge again be a nightmare? The way the events were described seemed surreal. And it's known the Judge comes to him in his dreams.

"I know him well" God that's brilliant

Thanks for the upload

I love that the narrator (Poe) was smart enough to change the Kid's voice into an older more mature one in this scene that takes place years later in the story.

So I 100% believe the Judge was not really here in this ending. It's the last vestiges of the Man's soul arguing with his inner demon he embodies as the Judge. The final scene is The Man embracing evil and becoming the newest version of the Judge. An apathetic monster who can only feel anything by causing harm onto others. What was in the outhouse was the little girl who went missing from the saloon after the Man had raped and killed her, just as the Judge had done so many times before. The Judge grabbing the man at the end wasn't literal, it's was a metaphorical subsuming of The Judge and what he represents

"I know him well" such a creepy line. The Judge seems to be suggesting he knows God, Fate or Destiny itself.

I'm still dancing to this day.

The staright and the winding ways are one . Its terrifying... Yet a simple line...

I have no idea what is going on but I love it all the same

“Bears that dance, bears that don’t”

Damn that poor bear I cry everytime😢

Carnival....the wheels fly and the colours spin-through alcohol Red wine that punctures the skin-Face to face in a dry and waterless place...The Devil's Rain(Reign)....

This whole book is something of a rebuttal to the notion a lot of people have that the modern world is depraved and sordid. Things were actually way more fucked up in the past. In the end, the Judge admits that war is being dishonored, and its nobility called into question - and that's absolutely a good thing. Society is evolving, as (I think) alluded to by the epilogue. Violence is no longer a thing of honor, and armed conflict is being supplanted by economic dealings, (which the Judge loathes, as demonstrated by the scene where he pays an outrageous price for some puppies, and then promptly kills them). Although the ending is undeniably bleak, there's still a glimmer of hope. The Man says that, "Even a dumb animal can dance." Meaning that to settle for bestial behavior is ignoble and regressive. People are capable of better, and, while the Judge may never die, we can at least condemn him.

'Know what woke you up? You just had your throat cut.'

Do you believe it’s all over, son?

If yall like Richard Poe's narration check out his reading of East of Eden.

Your here for the dance!

POV: you are magic spoon once

I need a Blood Meridian audiobook narrated by Sam Elliott

Im glad I decided to listen to the book after I finished reading it, Richard Poes narration was so good.

Makes me wanna act up

One thing I am uncertain about: I've seen some interpret that the man takes an active role in the ritual, which is a reading I think has merit. However, people justify it by stating that the man could not be sexually gratified by the whore before he walks out of the Beehive. I did not pick up on this. The audiobook, which is an absolute triumph btw, doesn't pause to suggest a passage of time when he enters the room with the whore, nor does the dialogue suggest that he failed to perform. Has anyone actually read the book? Does reading it off of a page make that interpretation more valid? Thanks

Last of true me and thee, but previously he'd told the kid otherwise

Reminds me of something from Charles Bowden, but more polite.

The last of the true, the last of the true. I’d say they’re all gone under now, saving me and thee, would you not?

A polemic against a materialist mindset.

I truly believe that The Judge is Grandpa Flick

The most terrifying thing about Judge Holden... Is that he's correct.

I want to sound like Holden when I run my mouth

You think he gave the kid some kind of laxative it’ll explain why he watched him drink it down and would know to expect him in the out house, it’ll also mark something else easier

In hindsight, The Man could've had a chance to end everything here and now. Violence starts and ends the same way it begins. The way out is further in. The dance only starts and ends just the same. But could a man dance when his feet is tired and soul broken?

I think a good interpretation of this speech is that destiny exists in life, but not meaning, if that makes sense

Evil sophistry.

The Judge is one of the scariest characters in literature but I think people mistakenly view him as infallible. He is a known and admitted liar so who can say if he really has traveled the world like he says or if his scientific lectures are based in fact or made up gibberish to impress his ignorant companions? He fails to track down the kid and Tobin even though the kid is relatively inexperienced and Tobin is dying from a neck wound. The only way he escapes the attack at the ferry is by using a child as hostage. Before the ferry when things are getting desperate he starts to rant more and more and it’s implied he starts repeating sermons as only the new recruits listen to him. Even when he makes the gunpowder (his “highest” moment I think) he sheds his cool demeanor and puts down his notes to see if the cloud will cover the sun with the rest of the gang. Fully at the whims of God and nature. The main accounts we hear of how accomplished The Judge is, is from Tobin who is fully enthralled by the man so we can’t really trust his account either. Hell he even misquotes Shakespeare in this final sermon. The Judge is evil, diabolical even. But he is a man and men are made of the dust of the Earth….and that ain’t no parable.

"Was it always your idea that if you did not speak, you would not be recognized?" Damn, i guess that plans out the window. I really did think that was pretty damn good idea. Sidenote: the kid responding with "you see me" and the judge not acknowledging it goes so fuckin hard. Too bad he didnt just grab his hat and take off.

Sounds like something from Metal Gear Solid

A lot of people describe the Judge as a nihilist, or as an atheist, but I disagree. It seems readily evident to not only me, but to any other man who reads McCarthy that the judge is not an atheist, or a nihilist, but is, rather, a misotheist. The question of whether or not God does exist in McCarthy's world is almost irrelevant, because the answer is as obvious as the question. Yes, he does. But that doesn't mean the characters accept it either, rather, they hate God, or the afterlife, or purpose, or some combination thereof.

W fr

The judge relishes in his intellectual superiority over others

Ok so I've only listened to the YT audiobook version, but i kept getting the feeling things were cut from the actual original book and i hadnt gotten everything that happened. Can anyone quickly answer with zero spoilers or telling of what i may have missed. Did what i think happened in the end to the Kid by the Judge actually happen and was just removed from that YT version i listened to? I bought the book and am about to start reading it, but i cant let it go......did the Judge do what i think he did to the kid in that outhouse? Just a yes or no please if you could.

Nobody talks about the image of him slipping into the bath up to his eyes, cigar burning behind one ear… or maybe that’s all they talk about. They’re just scared. Fair enough

There is no judge the judges dialog and actions are that of one of the gang members, the kid, or another character. The visualization is that of an impotent hairless sexless eunuch because we don't give distinct characteristics to our inner voice. The "judge" becomes materialized because he is the universal thread that runs through all humans hence he will never die. The universal thread that we are glorified animals no matter how sophisticated we become as a species we will always be driven by animalistic tendencies and they will have the same affect no matter how we dress the actions up. In the end the kid, now the man, kills himself after raping and killing the girl in the outhouse...

4:19 idle hands

Suspect is hatless -- repeat, hatless!

11:32 How does the judge even know this? He wasn’t with the kid when this happened.

I dont understand why the Kid never shot Judge Holden in this scene.

12:05 Just leaving this timestamp for myself

I was randomly recommended this video. What is this?

Nietchian mixed with Solipsism

11:00

OUR LADY OF MERCY The Blessed Virgin Mary

Most evilest craziest person ever

What a ending. I personally believe that the judge actually did NOT kill the Kid but instead made love to him to finalise his dominance, then they both killed the little girl together in a display of their love of violence. And it was not the judge who killed the kids throughout the book but the Kid. Remember when the Kid was in prison and the judge came to visit him, he said he always loved him and tells him to come closer to him so he can touch the kid but the Kid refused. When the Kid finally arrives at the bar with the dancing bear, this is perhaps the judge confirming to himself that the Kid truly does love him by returning to him. The judge did not kill the Kid because the judge simply loves him but in a real sinister way.

E G G

A.I. will be our Judge.The good,The bad, and The ugly, makes no difference.In the beginning was the light and so the light in the end of the mushroom cloud that envelopes all things past present and future.

You ain’t nothin’

Why shoot the bear?

Ya'd already maxed out your card, Kid... Whether you 'did' or you 'didn't' was of no real baring at that point. Your game could end poorly then or end poorly later. But it surely was going to end poorly.

Just a different generation's incarnation of it but the same archetype none the less. The not accurate in reality but completely accurate in emotions of the "This is literally me" character While the Chad The Kid thinks he is so cool Judge Holden shows up like "actually I'm a sigmamale while you danced at balls I studied the desert flora and fauna. While you visited a brothel I got butt nekkid in the outhouse I knew you were going to visit. So know that you are here finally gonna get some of this monster loving you tell me I ain't nothing? Oh we finna dance I can tell you that" the judge showed up with the Natty Ice and the Game Cube and the super smash Brothers and the jack Johnson CD and the Giant dildo with axe body spray and he disrobbed "I hope you don't find it too queer the manner in which I play smash and chill with the bros there can be no greater engagement with the devices of recreation than that when utilized in the primal of conditions when the perspiration reflects the unavoidable struggle when one seeks to survive as a rationale actor independent in this chaotic celestial pageant we know as life. We know no other way than what it is to be the way we are we narry I thought to the gigantic throbbing joystick of the next fellow playing smash bros." The judge pulled free a natty ice from the plastic loops of the 6er and handed me one "drink up for tonight we will play Hyrule Temple"

The beauty of the prose is at such odds with the evil of the reality being described. I just wish the author could have applied his talent to a more hopeful world. But of course that was not to be, nor should it have been for him, to be whom he was. Horrible and repulsive... but such was his view of mankind in the end. Dressed in marvelous prose. "Blood Meridian" is a literary "masterpiece," I suppose - if you weigh and sift the words and the turns of phrase. But in its totality it is a nightmare of nihilism and evil triumphant, a book I would never recommend to anyone. Hard to understand its allure, because the world view is simply nauseating, to me at least.

All through the book I was hoping someone would knock off the judge, such a long-winded and pretentious character. But it never happened.

I just imagine Thanos in a cowboy hat