Blood Meridian (McCarthy)
Short summary
The American Southwest and Mexico borderlands, mid-1800s. A young runaway known as the kid fled poverty in Tennessee. Traversing violence from New Orleans to Texas, he joined a doomed mercenary expedition bound for Mexican territory. After surviving brutal attacks by Comanches, he endured harsh wilderness, imprisonment, and captivity.
After his release, he joined a terrifying scalp-hunting gang led by the vicious Glanton. In the group was the enigmatic Judge Holden.
Glanton's gang committed horrific massacres, collecting scalps to sell in Chihuahua. Despite the lucrative rewards, their bloody path spiraled into increasingly extreme violence, savagery, and madness. Alongside the Kid, Judge Holden demonstrated both refined intellect and a monstrous brutality, fascinated by war and destruction. As their group inflicted terror, internal conflicts arose, causing members' brutal betrayals and deaths. Eventually, the gang seized a ferry crossing at the Colorado River, where they were attacked by Yuma Indians, who killed Glanton and most of the men.
The kid narrowly survived, pursued mercilessly through the desert by the malevolent Judge, who appeared ever-watchful and near-supernatural. Years passed as the kid wandered across the frontier and California, haunted by his relentless past. Decades later, in a Texas town, he encountered the Judge once more. The Judge ominously suggested their violent destinies were inseparable, emphasizing his philosophy that war defined existence itself:
War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way. All other trades are contained in that of war.
After this final encounter, the Kid discovered the Judge naked in an outhouse, and was presumably murdered by him. Inside the lively dance hall nearby, the Judge danced wildly, embodying chaos and eternal violence across the grim frontier.
Detailed summary
The original novel is divided into 23 numbered chapters, plus an introduction and epilogue. For this summary, these chapters have been grouped into seven thematic sections.
The kid's beginnings and early wanderings
A young boy fled his impoverished Tennessee home at the age of fourteen. Born during a meteor shower, he was illiterate and violent despite his innocent face. After traveling to New Orleans, he became a fighter and was shot in a conflict. Upon recovery, he journeyed to Texas, where his path of violence continued.
In Nacogdoches, the kid witnessed a chaotic scene when a bald man called the judge exposed a preacher as a fraud, causing gunfire to erupt. The kid and a teamster escaped to a bar where, surprisingly, the judge was already holding court. Later, the kid fought with a man named Toadvine, and together they assaulted another man named Sidney and set his room on fire. As they fled the burning hotel, the kid departed town on his mule, observed by the enigmatic judge.
Captain White's doomed expedition
After encountering a hermit and joining a cattle drive, the kid arrived in Bexar where he violently assaulted a barman who refused him a drink. He later woke in a ruined church, discovered his mule missing, and found it downstream after asking some black men washing a carriage. A recruiter approached the kid and convinced him to meet Captain White, promising land and riches if he joined the company to fight in Mexico.
Captain White delivered a speech about American destiny and Mexican degeneracy. The kid joined White's company and was outfitted for the expedition. With two other recruits, he traded his mule for riding equipment and some money, which they planned to spend on drinks. At a cantina, a Mennonite warned them against crossing into Sonora, but they ignored his warning. A fight broke out, and in the morning, one recruit was found dead.
The filibusters journeyed through a desolate landscape, facing death, disease, and wagon breakdowns. They encountered a deserted homestead and a mysterious old man before being ambushed by a horde of Comanches. The attack was horrific and overwhelming.
A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners...
The kid and another survivor named Sproule navigated the desert, encountering horrors like dead babies and a ruined village. Mexican riders mocked them and denied them water. A bat attacked Sproule, whose arm was rotting from a wound. Eventually, they found water and were taken to a town in a carreta. Sproule died there, while the kid was arrested and paraded before villagers to see Captain White's severed head preserved in a jar of mescal.
Imprisonment and joining Glanton's scalp hunters
The kid and other survivors were imprisoned and transported to Chihuahua City, enduring harsh conditions and public humiliation. In a stone cellar prison, the kid encountered Toadvine, a familiar face from Nacogdoches. The prisoners were forced to clean the streets under the supervision of a cruel guard nicknamed "Old Brassteeth." During their labor, they were made to remove their hats when a coach carrying the host passed by.
The kid settled into prison life, listening to a veteran's war stories and tales of Comanche cruelty. While imprisoned, they observed various figures in Chihuahua City, including the judge leading a barbaric group. Toadvine revealed that a man named Glanton had a contract for Apache scalps and planned their escape to join him. They successfully escaped and rode out with Glanton, blessed by the governor.
Tension simmered between two men both named Jackson in Glanton's company as they received new Colt revolvers. Glanton tested the weapons with a violent display. Judge Holden charmed a Mexican sergeant, defusing a potential conflict and delivering a bizarre speech about race. The company continued its journey, encountering a man named Bathcat who tried to wager with Toadvine about the Jacksons.
The reign of blood: Glanton's company's campaigns
Glanton's company passed through various landscapes and stayed at a hacienda before arriving in Corralitos, where they were joined by a family of magicians. They passed a massacre site and encountered jugglers whose fortune-telling unsettled the group. The black Jackson and the kid had their fortunes read, and Glanton mysteriously made a card vanish, leading to a chaotic scene. The company arrived at Janos, a decaying town, where Glanton shot an old woman in the square and had her scalped.
The company visited a cantina where they encountered an old man who spoke of Texas, bloodshed, and a mysterious caballero. They learned that a man moaning in the corner was the old man's son, injured in a card game. As they rode through Janos and the site of an Apache massacre, Chambers and two Delawares disappeared. White Jackson threatened Black Jackson, who then decapitated him. The company rode on, soon to be ambushed by Apaches.
After surviving the Apache ambush, Glanton's company encountered squatters at an abandoned mine. They found a dead boy, and the judge lectured on geology. Later, the company hunted deer and attracted wolves. They encountered ciboleros, buffalo hunters, on the mesa at night. The groups exchanged words but did not trade before parting ways.
A man called Tobin, an expriest in the company, recounted the judge's diverse skills and his role in saving the company by creating gunpowder from bat guano, which enabled their slaughter of Apaches at a volcano. The kid questioned the judge's authority, prompting a warning from Tobin.
The company journeyed through mountains, losing a Delaware to a bear. They reached ruins where the judge sketched artifacts, told a story about a harnessmaker, and discussed the nature of man and civilization. His philosophical musings revealed his view of existence as an endless contest of wills.
The man who believes that the secrets of the world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down... But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will... dictate the terms of his own fate.
Glanton's company found an abandoned Apache village where Glanton tamed a vicious dog with jerky. They continued through treacherous terrain, eventually seeing distant fires. The company rode through harsh landscapes, encountered a massacre, and slaughtered a Gilenos village. The judge carried a child, and the kid removed an arrow from Brown's leg after others refused to help.
The company fled from pursuing Apaches, fighting for days. The judge killed and scalped an Apache boy, enraging Toadvine. They reached a hacienda, then rode into Chihuahua City as heroes, displaying the heads of their enemies. Glanton's company received a hero's welcome and payment for scalps. They bathed, observed by citizens, and acquired new clothes as merchants set up shop to serve them. Scalps and heads were displayed as trophies.
They rode like men invested with a purpose whose origins were antecedent to them, like blood legatees of an order both imperative and remote... in that communal soul were wastes hardly reckonable more than those whited regions on old maps where monsters do live.
The Yuma ferry and its aftermath
Their drunken revelry quickly descended into chaos, terrorizing Chihuahua City. They eventually departed, leaving behind a trail of destruction and fear. The company left Coyame, contemplated Texas, and massacred a Tigua village. The judge studied and destroyed ancient art. They traveled through harsh landscapes, leaving destruction and fear in their wake. In Nacori, a fight erupted in a cantina, resulting in another massacre. The company scalped the dead and rode away.
After battling Mexican lancers, they returned to Chihuahua City, where they were paid but soon found a bounty on Glanton's head, leading them to ride west. They arrived in Jesus Maria after a difficult journey, terrorized the town, and escaped after a shootout. They then slaughtered a conducta of muleteers for their quicksilver and retrieved the missing black Jackson.
The company traveled to Ures, Sonora, encountering an old man and a passing caravan. The judge expounded his philosophy of control through knowledge. After departing Ures, they clashed with Sonoran cavalry, suffering losses. A lottery determined who would be left behind. The kid left the wounded Shelby to face the approaching army. The kid and Tate struggled through worsening weather with a lame horse, debating their options. They were discovered by Sonoran scouts; the kid shot one and fled, escaping into the mountains alone.
The kid eventually found Glanton's battered company and rejoined them in Santa Cruz. They traveled north, encountering wild bulls, ruins, and hermits. They found their missing scouts murdered by Apaches. Near Tucson, they negotiated with Chiricahuas led by Mangas Colorado, promising whiskey in exchange for gold. In Tucson, the company clashed with locals, recruited new members, and engaged in violence and revelry. The judge manipulated legal proceedings, and the company left a trail of chaos and destruction.
Glanton's company reached the Colorado River and encountered a cholera-stricken wagon train and Yuma Indians. Glanton met Dr. Lincoln, a ferryman, and later visited the Yuma camp. The company conspired to seize the ferry. Meanwhile, women at the crossing found a mentally disabled man they called the idiot and confronted his keeper, Cloyce Bell, about his neglect. The women bathed the idiot in the river and gave him clothes. He later wandered into the river and drowned, but the judge found him and returned him to the camp, naked once more.
Pursuit through the desert
Glanton's company fortified the ferry, attacked the Yumas, and exploited travelers. Brown, Webster, and Toadvine traveled to San Diego for supplies, where Brown was arrested after a dispute with a farrier. Brown killed a soldier and was jailed. He bribed another soldier, Petit, to help him escape, then murdered Petit and stole his belongings before fleeing. Glanton retrieved stolen goods from San Diego, but his men deserted. He returned to Yuma, where the Yumas attacked, killing Glanton and others. The judge escaped with the idiot, leaving chaos behind.
Toadvine and the kid fled the Yumas and found Tobin at Alamo Mucho. They defended the well until the judge arrived naked, offering money for Toadvine's hat. Brown appeared, learning of Glanton's death and the judge's presence. The kid and Tobin fled the judge, facing harsh terrain and dwindling resources. They encountered the judge and the idiot again. Tobin was shot. The kid killed the horses to hinder the judge, and they escaped into the desert, still pursued.
The kid and Tobin continued their flight across the desert, facing exhaustion and dwindling resources. They hid near animal carcasses, but the judge passed by, seemingly aware of their presence. He returned and taunted them before disappearing again. Eventually, they were rescued by Diegueno Indians, who provided them with food and shelter. They continued their journey west, eventually reaching San Diego, where the kid contemplated the sea.
This country is give much blood. This Mexico. This is a thirsty country. The blood of a thousand Christs. Nothing. He made a gesture toward the world beyond where all the land lay under darkness and all a great stained altarstone.
Final encounters and epilogue
In San Diego, the kid was arrested and visited by the judge, who informed him of his impending execution. However, the kid was released, got drunk, and underwent surgery to remove an arrow. In his delirium, he dreamed of the judge and a metalworker. After recovering, the kid witnessed Toadvine and Brown's hanging, then drifted through California. He guided pilgrims across the desert, only to find them massacred and an old woman dead among the corpses.
Years later, in 1878, the now-grown kid encountered an old buffalo hunter on the north Texas plains who recounted the mass slaughter of buffalo, lamenting their complete disappearance. The kid, now called "the man," also met bonepickers, one of whom, Elrod, provoked him and was shot dead. In a Texas town, the man encountered the judge in a saloon where a bear was shot during a performance. The judge spoke cryptically about destiny, war, and a dance, suggesting the man was part of a larger plan.
The judge smiled. Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work... But 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.
The man entered a dance hall, had a brief encounter with a prostitute, and then found the judge naked in the outhouse. The scene shifted between the dance hall's chaotic revelry and the judge's unsettling presence. The novel ends with the judge dancing wildly, declaring that he will never die.
He never sleeps, he says. He says he'll never die. He bows to the fiddlers and sashays backwards and throws back his head and laughs deep in his throat and he is a great favorite, the judge. He says he'll never die.