Blood meridian

...

whoops, clicked enter too early
anyway i just finished this and was wondering on Veeky Forums's interpretation of the ending.
Is Holden the devil?
what happened to the kid?

meme/10

Blood Meridian

I'm a relatively new reader and this was my take on the ending:
The judge seems to have fashioned himself as a figurative Satan. He seeks to obtain souls via spreading violence and corruption, those he cannot corrupt he simply kills.
When "The Kid" enters the toilets and is "embraced" by the judge, i believed this to be a figurative embracement of the true evil in his soul. the judge had finally corrupted the kid into embracing his own depravity. thus the kid stumbles upon the young girl who had lost the bear alone in the toilets, he proceeds to rape and mutilate her. Throughout the story several girls are having mentioned to have gone missing.

Holden claims that the kid refuses to be 'true to his heart' and that he was the 'false one' among them, for he alone withheld an aspect of his violence from the others

"The third Man" taking a piss i believed to be the kid. the book ends with Holden dancing claiming that he "will never die".
Holden in truth knows he will die but what he stands for will not, he is in ecstasy at having spread his own work and coerced the kid into reveling in violence and accepting that he, like the judge enjoys it for itself

Yes he is the devil. He was playing the fiddle, which is something the devil usually does.

I'm guessing the kid was raped, in order For Holden to dominate him.

i understand that this is much more likely and regarded as the true answer, i still find mine more satisfying ;^)

I was always torn between rape or an extremely violent death. Not sure which still.