Fans of great literature and movies alike were mourning this past Tuesday with the passing of one of America’s great authors,Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy was perhaps most well known for his breakout novelAll the Pretty Horsesand the Coen Brothers' helmed movie adaptation of his neo WesternNo Country for Old Men(2007). McCarthy even wrote a screenplay for a feature himself inThe Counselorto a mix of reviews. It’s easy to take the position that Anton Chigurh, played byJavier BardeminNo Country for Old Menmay be one of the greatest villains to grace the screen. Yet, there is a Cormac McCarthy villain audiences have yet to see brought to film that may just dethrone Chigurh from that title.
The character of Judge Holden, or simply, The Judge, comes from another western Cormac McCarthy wrote in 1985 calledBlood Meridian.There have been attempts to adapt the movie several times but none have come to fruition, mainly due to struggles with the screenplay and adapting such a violent, and brutal novel. Recently, it was announced that New Regency acquired the rights to adapt the novel into a film, so there is still hope for those that just love when a great villain comes to life on the big screen.
RELATED:Cormac McCarthy, Author of ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘The Road,’ Dead at 89
What is ‘Blood Meridian’ About?
Blood Meridianis a Western novel that takes place in the 1850s. The story follows a protagonist, simply referred to as “The Kid” as he wanders the American Southwest mostly with a group of Apache hunting degenerates. The book has an almost cosmic scale to it and has many allusions to the Bible, solidifying its placeamong the most brutaland epic westerns in all of American literature. Part of this gang of brutal men is Judge Holden, who seems at first an interesting side character but slowly becomes a singular focus for The Kid and the reader.
Who Is The Judge?
From the first instance readers are introduced toJudge Holden, to the very last pages, the man’s motivations, behaviors, and origins are shrouded in mystery. The Kid first encounters him in a tent where a pastor is giving a sermon and Judge incites violence against a man from the crowd before leaving. This intro is the start of an insatiable appetite for violence and war that carries through the entire novel. Some background is given on the Judge in the form of anecdotes from others within the group, but nothing definitive is revealed on where he came from or who he is. The Judge is incredibly intelligent and besides the violence, which comes easily and with no remorse, he is somewhat of a scholar, documenting everything that the group comes across in little notepads he keeps on his person.
What readers do get is aphysical description of the Judgeand this is important as it helps characterize the Judge himself. He is described as a massive individual, something close to 7 feet in height and a build to match. The Judge is also hairless from head to toe and somewhat pale. This gives the idea that he is serpent-like, which some readers have used to explain his comparison with the devil from the Old Testament being a snake. As often as the group stops to set up camp throughout the novel, the Judge is naked or nearly naked, preferring to be that way even through vicious thunderstorms. His appearance is meant to be imposing and grand, with an almost mythical nature that carries over into some of the things he accomplishes throughout the novel and the heinous acts he divulges in.
What Makes the Judge So Evil?
The Judge does many things throughoutBlood Meridianthat are deplorable. To understand a character like the Judge, and why he would work so well onscreen, it is best to use a quote from one of the several “sermons” he gives to the gang he’s traveling with to understand his view on violence and more specifically war. The Judge says, “Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner…War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god.” If it already wasn’t clear by the time a reader gets to this part of the novel, the Judge doesn’t just participate in the violence at hand, he relishes in it. War is his religion, his temple, and the way he chooses to live is by war. This provides somewhat of an explanation, but nothing to dampen the shock, of some of the acts the Judge commits throughout the book.
First and foremost, the Judgekills callously and indiscriminately. Whether it was the Apaches or even more peaceful non-warring Native American tribes, to the Judge, a scalp is a scalp, and that means money. Although not explicitly his motivation, any and all spoils of war come along with what the Judge wants. Eventually, this turns into robbing and killing travelers of all different backgrounds who merely want to cross a river that the group takes over for a time, and even the most heinous of acts, killing children. In one scene, the Judge watches over a Native American child that was recently orphaned (by the gang themselves) and in a random moment kills the child and drops his body to the ground, continuing to ride with the group. It is also heavily alluded to that the Judge sexually assaults his child victims as well, something that is hotly debated regarding the books final moments.
Besides the obvious evils stated above, Judge Holden is also a master manipulator. His high degree of intelligence and ability to articulate his reasoning well give him an advantage, especially among the types of men in the gang, many of whom come from uneducated or military backgrounds. The Judge is often seen conversing with the leader of the gang, Glanton, and the government officials in many of the towns they visit. He delivers sermons, as described above, and lengthy stories on several occasions that point to a malignant philosophy. It creates a fascinating if not dreadful image of a villain that is seemingly incapable of being challenged, certainly not by any of the company he keeps throughout the book.
The Judge Has Mystical Qualities
Just exactly who or what Judge Holden is, or represents, has been argued since the book came out. There is no denying that there are instances where the Judge presents almost magical or otherwise unexplainable acts. He is seen to walk through fire, seemingly never observed sleeping, communicating with The Kid in dreams or visions, and never aging. The protagonist meets the Judge years after the gang is over with, and he is explained to have been unchanged by time. His absolute command over those that are intellectually his inferior seem to add to this persona. This gives him an other-worldly dimension to the character which have led some to believe that he is supposed to represent evil itself or perhaps the devil incarnate.
This article has truly only scratched the surface of the type of character that Judge Holden is and the huge potential the character has as being one of theworst villains to ever grace a movie screen. ReadingBlood Meridianwill give a way better look at how the Judge functions in a western and why the potential for him onscreen is so big. If done well, we could be hearing his name added next to movie villains such as Heath Ledger’s Joker, or evenAnton Chigurh fromNo Country for Old Men.In a time when many movie villains feel stale, this may be just what is needed to set a new standard for evil.
