Almost half a century after Randall Flagg, King's embodiment of evil in a post-apocalyptic America.

When the group of travelers from Mother Abigail's domain of Boulder on the side of good travel to Las Vegas to confront Flagg, it's with the expectation that they will fight and defeat the demonic sorcerer or die trying in a final showdown. Instead, they never get a chance to, as Trashcan Man shows up at that moment, hauling an unstable nuclear bomb behind him. A giant, glowing hand described as the hand of God then comes down and detonates the bomb, obliterating the evil center of Las Vegas and Flagg's reign.

The Stand's Ending Is Criticized For Being Too Sudden & Dissatisfying

It's A Literal Deus Ex Machina

The Stand is one of Stephen King's bona fide epics, sweeping and sprawling, and it's exactly that epic nature that makes the ending so disappointing for so many. The problem is that even a literal nuclear explosion is not a strong enough finale for the layered chess match of good vs. evil King set up in the previous 1,000 pages. Throughout The Stand, Flagg had been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the survivors in Boulder, taunting them to face him head-on, all leading up to the final last stand - hence the title of the book and its most quoted line: "The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there... and still on your feet."

The irony, then, is that The Stand does not have a stand in the end, instead relying on a literal deus ex machina - or "god from the machine" - to conveniently boardwipe the threat. It feels like a cheat, cutting off the story without a final showdown against Flagg, and not even in a way that involves one of the main characters, but a ing character off on a side quest. The resolution stripped the story of any opportunity to explore the deeper themes of good vs. evil, human nature, and bravery in the face of impossible odds. Every bit of complexity and depth that The Stand's ending deserved to incorporate is obliterated in a single nuclear flash.

The Stand Is Part Of A Larger Stephen King Ending Trend

His Endings Are Often Meandering Instead Of Purposeful

Sadly, even longtime Constant Readers will it that Stephen King often struggles with bad book endings. Even if they're not necessarily bad, they're just underwhelming, wandering off the page instead of finishing strong. Perhaps that's a testament to how good he is as a writer that he can layer his stories with so much human drama and philosophical musing that it's almost impossible to end his stories in ways that are worthy of the rest of the book. King's novels are in-depth explorations of human nature as much as they are horror stories, and, as the ever-changing landscape of human nature never has an end, it's hard to find an ending that feels fitting.

King's novels are in-depth explorations of human nature as much as they are horror stories, and, as the ever-changing landscape of human nature never has an end, it's hard to find an ending that feels fitting.

To that end, it's worth pointing out that most of King's strongest conclusions have come in his short stories and novellas, which almost always wrap up their stories neatly while still packing a punch. The longer a Stephen King novel goes, the more meandering it tends to become, which makes it harder to end the main plot on a high note. King has long been open about the fact he doesn't do hard plotting or outline his novels, but just takes the story and allows it to go where it will go. Clearly, that method has worked for him, but it does mean he doesn't always have a clear idea of where it's going or where it will stop. While some of Stephen King's book endings have been great, others have definitely struggled with this lack of focus.

2025's The Stand Anthology Could Address Some Of The Biggest Issues With The Book

It Can Patch Up Some Holes

This year may offer the perfect vehicle to fix the missed opportunity with The Stand's ending, however. anthology can fix the biggest problem with The Stand's ending by tying off threads that King's book originally failed to, or even providing different perspectives on the ending itself. Even if it's not Stephen King writing the stories himself, with his stamp of approval, the anthology could help fill in those gaps he never did.