Judge Holden

"Whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent."

- Judge Holden

"Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But the trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all. War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god."

- Judge Holden

Judge Holden is a villain from Cormac McCarthy's 1985 Western Blood Meridian.

History
Though the novel is intentionally vague about the origins of the Judge, we do get some knowledge of him. The book takes place around the Mexican-Texas border starting in 1854. The Judge is first seen entering a tent and falsely accusing a priest of being illiterate, a pedophile, and probably a zoophile as well, leading to the people in attendance of his service to kill him on the spot.

The Judge later met a group of Indian Hunters who were out of gunpowder and at risk of being overtaken by a group of Apaches. They encountered Holden sitting on an enormous boulder in the middle of the desert, as if he had been waiting for them, even though there was no way he could have known that they were coming. The Judge climbed a mountain with them, and collected coal while he was there (amongst many other scientific pursuits). The judge later lead them to a small area of volcanic activity, while Apaches were following them closely. When they arrived he collected sulfur, then mixed that with the coal, urine, and other minerals, producing functional gunpowder. The Judge than created a false surrender against the Apaches. However, when the natives approached the mercenaries, Holden and his fellow men brutally killed them all.

The Judge was involved in several more conflicts with natives, including raid that resulted in the consious and purposeful murder of multiple babies. The Judge formed a partnership with the captain of the mercenaries, a man named Glanton. Eventually the Natives caught up with the group and killed Glanton as well as most of the mercenaries, but Holden managed to survive.

The nameless main character, known as The Kid, encounters Holden decades later, although the Judge has apparently not aged at all. The Judge is last seen frenetically dancing in the nude, claiming that he will never die.

Personality
Judge Holden is extremely ruthless but lso very intelligent, often teaching and philosophizing to his fellow mercenaries. He tends to avoid personal confrontation, but is perfectly willing to murder people in the most brutal ways imaginable if they are his enemies. The Judge is perennially calm, and expresses few emotions over the course of the novel.

He was an imesnely cruel being-demonstrating his love for cruelty such as buying two puppies just so he can throw them off a bridge to their deaths. The novel also heavily implies that the Judge is a child murderer, and perhaps a pedophile-luring children into his clutches with sweets. A child goes missing in nearly every town that he visits, and he is, on several occasions, seen with a naked child in his room.

Appearance and Abilities
The Judge is described as being a massive, physically imposing man, some seven feet tall, and completely free of body hair. His skin is also extremely pale, to the point where it is described as being phosphorescent in the desert sunlight.

The Judge is extraordinarily strong and durable. He is able to hold a heavy howitzer under one arm, and walk across vast stretches of desert without ill effect.