Randall Flagg

"Hope you guessed my name. Oh. Nothing. Just a little classical reference. Actually, my name is Flagg, Randall Flagg."

- Randall Flagg "Wait a minute, son. Wait a minute. You ain't seen nothin' yet."

- Randall Flagg "You expected Charles Manson at the very least, didn't ya?"

- Randall Flagg's famous catchphrase.

The most recurring and without a doubt, the most important villain of the entire Stephen King's mythos, Randall Flagg is following King's own words, the best villain he created, whom he had in mind since he began writing. Randall Flagg goes by many aliases including Walter O'Dim, and Marten Broadcloak, but his real name is Walter Padick.

Randall Flagg is a demonic being that has appeared in multiple works, always as a powerful and charismatic embodiment of Evil. It was also implied that many of Stephen King's other villains such as the demon He who Walks Behind the Rows in Children of Corn, or Leland Gaunt in Needful Things were a representation of avatars of some sort of Flagg, who shares similarities with the biblical demon Legion. Flagg was first introduced in The Stand, where he represented the concept of evil and stood in opposition to Mother Abagail, who represented good: the two fought for control over the survivors of a world plagued by disease.

Flagg's main purpose seems to be the bring about the end of civilizations by spreading destruction and sowing conflict and he has many supernatural powers by which to achieve his goals: such as necromancy, prophecy and the ability to look into the predatory nature of man and beast.

Appearances in other media
Randall Flagg appears as the the main antagonist of the 1994 TV miniseries The Stand based on a Stephen King novel of the same name while his enemy Mother Abagail also appeared. He was portrayed by Jamey Sheridan.

Randall Flagg who also can take form of a raven, was present when the Captain Trips flu, a deadly virus began and swept across the United States and soon the entire Earth in a matter of weeks, eliminating 99.4% of the planet's human population.

Trivia

 * Randall Flagg is regarded as Stephen King's most popular villain.
 * It is implied that He Who Walks Behind the Rows might be another demonic form of Flagg.
 * Randall Flagg's own name is an alias of one of the Outer Gods known as Nyarlathotep from the works of author H.P. Lovecraft.