Harold Lauder

Harold Lauder is one of the antagonists in The Stand. He was unpopular in his town and his parents always favored his sister Amy more. Harold is in love with Francine Goldsmith, his sister's friend, and sees the apocalypse as a chance to win her heart by being her hero. However Fran remains as repulsed by Harold as she has always been. Harold is intelligent and uses his inventiveness to create various signs for other people during their journey to Stovington, Vermont. This earns him the respect of Larry Underwood. Stu Redman eventually joins their party and Fran falls for him, enraging Harold. Harold teeters on the brink of good and evil, but eventually proves to be a weak character and is easily used by the Dark Man. After an affair with Nadine, he and her attempt to kill everyone on theBoulder Free Zone Committee with a makeshift bomb placed in a shoe box. Nick Andros gets the box long enough to hear Harold state his name and that he was committing the crime of his own volition. He and Nadine run for it and make their way to Nevada. Harold hits an oil slick on their way and spills down an embankment, breaking his leg. Nadine tells him that this was arranged by the Dark Man and that he was useless now. Harold attempts to shoot Nadine but fails. As he lays dying he writes a note apologizing for and accepting responsibility for his actions in Boulder. He signs the letter using the name given to him in the Free Zone, “Hawk”, then commits suicide with his gun.