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| “ | You ain’t nothing. Even a dumb animal can dance. | „ |
| ~ The Kid rejecting Judge Holden's speech. |
The Kid, later known as the Man, is the main protagonist of Cormac McCarthy's 1985 anti-Western epic novel Blood Meridian.
Biography[]
The Kid is first seen at the start of Blood Meridian running away from his home and eventually ending up in a revival where he first meets the Judge, who falsely accuses a priest of many crimes to have them killed. The Kid runs away again after witnessing this, but would later run into the Judge again after re-uniting with Toadvine and joining Glanton's Gang.
The Kid now starts to work alongside Glanton, the leader of the Gang, as they attack, burn, and scalp nearby tribes.
As Glanton's Gang starts to lose its soldiers as more start to die in battle, the Kid is forced to work harder to stay alive. After Glanton himself dies, the numbers are near zero, leaving just himself, Toadvine, Tobin, Brown, the Judge, and the Idiot alive.
Through conversation with Tobin later, the Kid is manipulated into thinking that the Judge killed Toadvine and Brown and attempts to kill him in a field, using a revolver with only a few remaining shots in it while the Judge has two rifles. The Kid is unable to kill the Judge, and must resort to running away. The Kid is eventually thrown in jail, where the Judge approaches him and reveals how his manipulation and the Kid's negligence led to the Gang's destruction while still denying that Toadvine and Brown are dead. The Judge then leaves again, and the Kid is eventually let out of jail to live his life. The Kid began to work odd jobs in order to survive; he helps people travel safely across the desert and starts carrying a bible, which he despises for not being able to read. He also tries to find some sort of peace and distance himself from all the atrocities he participated in by trying to save an old woman left in the desert, only to realise she has been dead for a long time.
Decades later, the Kid is now called the Man, and is much more bitter, rude, and ruthless. He wears a necklace of ears that he bought, and he appears to be much more skilled now. Still, after entering a bar, the Man once again runs into the Judge, who still looks the same, implying he has not aged at all. The Judge holds a conversation with the Man, where the Man rejects the Judge’s philosophy and dismisses him. Later, the Man enters an outhouse only to find the Judge waiting for him naked.
The Man's fate is not explicitly stated, but there are three main possibilities that happened: either the Judge killed him, sexually assaulted him, or both. However, as what happens is never explicitly stated, there is also the possibility that the Judge did nothing to the man, and that these actions were instead done onto the missing organ grinder girl that people start looking for a few minutes later, implying that the Judge did something to them. It is also possible that the Judge killed both the girl and the Man. The true fate of the Man is undetermined.
Trivia[]
- While the Kid is the main protagonist of the novel, he is also villainous. He contributes to the Glanton Gang on multiple occasions and possibly participates in their hunting and scalping.
- He was most likely based on Samuel Chamberlain, a real member of the Glanton gang whose memoirs partially inspired the book. Both of them ran away from home as teenagers and joined the Glanton gang after volunteering to fight in a conflict in Mexico.
External Link[]
- The Kid on the Blood Meridian Wiki
- The Kid on the Heroes Wiki