Blood Meridian tells the story of a kid named only, "the kid," who leaves home at 14 years old with a taste for senseless violence
The kids first taste of violence is in Nacogdoches where he enters a tent revival, and witnesses the murder of the preacher after a new character, the judge, tells horrible lies about him to the congregation
Later the kid attacks a man while walking on a narrow path to avoid stepping in mud, then the two are knocked out, wake up, become friends, kill a man, and burn down the hotel he was staying in together all within a very short span of time
After this incident the kid goes through several smaller incidents both witnessing violence and perpetuating it
Eventually, the kid is bathing in a river when he is recruited to join a group of American filibusters with the promise of money, a horse, gun and clothes
The kid travels with the filibusters for about a week before they are brutally attacked with only few surviving
The kid runs into a man named Sproule who travels with him for a little bit before he dies of tuberculosis
The kid and Sproule hijacked a family of travelers and are arrested when they reach town
The kid stays in this jail but is soon transferred to the Chihuahua City Jail where he finds his friend Toadvine
Toadvine, the kid and a new man called the veteran stay there until the Glanton gang rides into town and Toadvine secures their freedom by getting them membership in the gang
They travel for a while having brief and tense encounter in a village when Glanton shoots random animals to "test" a gun he is going to buy
The judge solves the tension with his sweet talking and, in this interaction, it is revealed just how cunning the judge is
We are introduced to a man named Bathcat and told that he will die by hanging in an intense moment of foreshadowing
The Glanton gang takes a family's money in exchange for letting them ride with the gang through the desert, as that will be safer for them
The family are traveling performers and, around the campfire, tell the fortunes of the group. Glanton's fortune is not read as his card disappears before it can be read, yet the mother of the performer-group still chants out in response
It is here that Tobin the ex-priest and member of the Glanton gang is first mentioned
The next day as they are traveling they come across an old woman hiding in an abandoned village and kill her for her scalp
The gang enters a bar and buys a drink. In the bar there is a man in the corner crying out in pain
As they are leaving the bar Bathcat says, "That was his son," the kid asks if he was cut and Bathcat confirms
The kid questions more asking why the man doesn't leave and Bathcat says, "He had a question for me. Said where would he go to?"
It is implied that the Veteran deserts the group and is later, implied to have been killed by the two Delaware Indians of the group for doing so
Later, at a night-time campfire, White Jackson tells Black Jackson that he can't sit with him and the other white men, and to sit with the other "undesirables" and Black Jackson says, "is that your final say," looks to Glanton, and then slices White Jackson's head off
The reactions by the gang are minimal with only Tobin the ex-priest jerking away at the moment of impact
The next day the gang face their first battle, taking the scalps off those killed to sell them to the Mexican government
Later as they are traveling over a lake of gypsum several of their horses die of snow-blindness
As they continue traveling the gang come across the abandoned site of an attack
Shortly after this the gang come across a, "large triangular building of adobe with round towers at the corners."
In this building they find the surviving members of the prospecting group they had seen the wreckage of previously
The prospectors are in bad shape
The group stays with the prospectors for the night but not without incident
There is a young boy there, the Judge asks if anyone knows who it is; no one does and in the morning the boy is dead
Also, during the middle of the night, the Judge is seen naked on top of the building in the middle of a thunderstorm
The group continues on and passes a group of "ciboleros down from the north" on their way to Mesilla
This interaction goes on without incident
Tobin and the kid grow closer and Tobin becomes almost a father figure to the kid
The ex-priest warns the kid against interacting with the Judge and tells the story of how the group met the man
The gang was down on their luck; out of ammo and running away from a group of Indian soldiers
Then they saw the Judge sitting on a rock in the middle of a flat desert
The Judge joins the group and leads them on to a volcano and, eventually, gathers the material to construct his own gunpowder so that the gang can kill the men chasing them, saving the group's lives
The kid at the end of this huge fantastical story simply asks Tobin, " What's he a judge of?"
The ex-priest only shushes him saying, "Hush now. The man will hear ye."
As they continue riding, at this point, through the woods, a bear takes and kills one of the Delaware
Later, one night at a campfire the Judge is drawing things around them and cataloging them in his journal feeling a need to control
One of the men, Marcus, tells the Judge not to draw him in his book, the two go back and forth lightly with the Judge eventually saying, " Whether in my book or not, every man is tabernacled in every other and he in exchange and so on in an endless complexity of being and witness to the uttermost edge of the world."
This interaction sparks the Judge to tell a story
There once was a harness maker who lived in the middle of nowhere who posed as an Indian to sell his wares in their markets
A traveler recognized him for who he was and shamed him
The harness-maker was so impressed with the man's character that he invited him to his home for dinner
The man tells stories and attempts to put morality into the harness-maker and his family
When the man leaves the man leaves the harness maker follows him, kills him, and pretends that they were robbed and murdered by some other men
The harness maker keeps this truth to himself until his death bed where his confession crushes his son who then becomes a killer
The Judge then throws in a twist revealing that the son of the traveler is also doomed because he will never know that his dad was not perfect either
After this story the group discusses the best way to raise a kid and the Judge says, "they should be put in a pit with wild dogs. They should be set to puzzle out from their proper clues the one of three doors that does not harbor wild lions. They should be made to run naked in the desert until...."
Then Tobin interrupts saying, "If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of man would he not have done so by now?
Later as they continued on walking Glanton takes a wild dog as his own
The gang comes across a massacre that was perpetrated by white men who prayed on travelers
After this the group is rode up on by a group of Indian troops while massacring a village but scare them off but killing their leader
That night at a campfire David Brown is asking for someone to help him remove an arrow in his leg
None of the men are volunteering so the kid does
After he helps David, Tobin warns the kid that if he had messed up and harmed David, he would have killed him
It is revealed that the Judge took a young boy from the native village they attacked and the boy stays with the group for about a day before the Judge kills him
At learning this Toadvine puts his gun to the Judge's head and the Judge says, "You either shoot or take that away. Do it now."
Toadvine takes the gun away and the Judge smiles
They fight another village
The group then rides into Chihuahua city to sell their scalps
When in Chihuahua city they; bathe, go to merchants, sell the scalps, get their money at a banquet with the governor and attend a ball
The gang stay in the city and spend their earnings immorally, disturbing the people of the city until they are urged out of town
They travel for a week after leaving and then go to the village of Coyame and are given gifts of food and treated as heroes
They travel to another town and Glanton stays outside of the town because he is subject to arrest there
They cross the border
The gang massacres another native village
At the end of this Glanton looses his dog and doesn't care for the people he killed but is worried for his dog
The gang stopped at a cantina in Nacori
The dog quickly caught up with them
A gang member named Grimely is stabbed after some of the men of Nacori started a fight in the cantina
An entire bar fight erupted and the gang kills all those involved and the witnesses, taking their scalps to pass them off as Indian and sell
The gang runs parallel to a group of Mexican police on their way to Chihuahua city, hoping to beat them to the city and sell the Mexican scalps they had just taken
Just before they reached the city they kill the police, scalp them, and hide their bodies
They sell the scalps and within a week of them leaving town there was a 8 thousand pesos price on Glanton's head
They travel through mountains and storms
They come into a town and Glanton gets sick and delirious
The Judge buys two dogs from a little kid for more than their worth and then throws them off a bridge
The Judge ties Glanton down to treat him but he gets out and ties a Mexican flag to a mule dragging it through the mud starting a fight
An entire fight ensues and the gang flees the town
While traveling away from the town they encounter a group of men leading mules carrying mercury from a mine
The Glanton gang run them off the edge of a cliff after a short dispute
The gang tries to secure a new contract in the town of Sonora but are unsuccessful as they have learned of the gangs crimes
This entry into town leaves some of the men injured and the kid is left behind to kill Dick Shelby, an injured man, to prevent him from being captured by the Mexicans
The kid shows kindness and leaves Dick Shelby at the man's request
In catching up with the group the kid runs into another gang member, Tate, that had also stayed behind to put down the injured and stays by his side as his horse is injured
The two are trying to catch up with the group when they spend the night huddled up sleeping on a mountain
They are woken by Mexicans shooting at them and the kid is forced to leave Tate and it is implied that he dies at the hands of the Mexicans
Still trying to catch up with the gang the kid is not walking through a desert as he comes across a burning bush that helps to warm his frostbitten hands and save him from death
The kid finally catches up with the rest of the gang and finds that they are in bad shape
The group rides into Santa Cruz
There are bad weather conditions
A man welcomes the group into his house and out of the weather
The group travels on in the morning through a valley
Later on they send out some scouts and they never return
They continue to travel on and at one point trade with some natives, but have difficulty with it because Glanton's horse instinctively bites the ear off of the Indian leader's horse
the gang rides into another town and are looking for people to join the group as they are low on membership
Two men, later revealed to be brothers join the gang, with one of them being treated by the other as a circus attraction and being named only, the idiot
The gang goes to a bar and the bartender says that he cannot serve Jackson in the same area as the others and the gang essentially just ignores the man
The gang once again act an absolute fool in this town and are avoided like the plague
Eventually the men leave Tuscon
At one point the group is around a fire discussing astronomy and the Judge says, "The arc of circling bodies is determined by the length of their tether," "Moons, coins, men." and throws a coin and then catches it like it went in a circle
They are at another campfire and the topic turns to war
Jackson says, "The good book says that he that lives by the sword shall perish by the sword," The Judge says in response, "What right man would have it any other way?"
The Judge continues on saying, "it makes no difference what men think of war," "War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. 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."
The Judge and a man named David Brown begin to talk about his trade with the Judge impling Brown's trade is war
Brown saying its not his trade and the Judge replying, " All other trades are contained in that of war." Brown asks, "Is that why war endures?"
The Judge says, "No. it endures because young men love it and old men love it in them. Those that fought, those that did not." "Men are born for games."... "The enhancement of the game to its ultimate state admits no argument concerning the notion of fate."... "Seen so, war is the truest form of divination." "War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is God."
They continue talking and the Judge is looking for someone to argue with him. He looks to Tobin the ex-priest. "But what says the priest?"
Tobin says, "The priest does not say."
The judge responds with, "But the priest has said. For the priest has put by the robes of his craft and taken up the higher calling which all men honor. The priest also would be no godserver but a god himself." "What could I ask of you that you've not already given?"
The next day the gang continues to travel on and eventually reaches the Colorado river
They visit a Yuma camp, soon after leaving
A women stops the group as they are leaving and berate the idiots brother for treating him how he does
The gang mostly ignores her
They are at an encampment on the river
Late at night the Judge carries the idiot to the river and performs, " a baptism or some ritual" in which he almost lets the idiot drown but then rescues him
The both of them are also naked for this 🤢
He brings the idiot back to the camp after this and nothing is said of it
Glanton tells a doctor who owns a ferry on the river to secure his position because the nearby Yumas are going to attack
He tells the doctor to allow the gang to secure it and the doctor does
Two days later the Yumas attack but it is a short skrimage
The gang takes charge of the ferry increasing the tariff to let people pass
Eventually, even though they are making good money they decide it's not enough and they start just robbing people
David Brown, Long Webster and Toadvine leave to go to a town and trade
David Brown plays a "fun prank" and burns a man alive
Brown is put in jail but very quickly escapes
Long Webster and Toadvine return to the ferry without David Brown and Glanton heads out to go bail him out/free him
Glanton tortures and kidnaps the alcalde, the man in-charge of the jail, and his wife only to find out that David Brown had already escaped
When Glanton returned to the ferry station he found it in a horrible condition
Having left the Judge in charge was, clearly, a large mistake
The Judge had turned it into a house of all of his favorite evils
The doctor came to Glanton and grabbed at him and said, "That man,"... "That man."
Later on Black Jackson steps outside and is peeing in the river when he bends down to pick up a coin and is shot in the back
The Yumas invade the gangs encampment killing all but Toadvine, the kid, the idiot, Tobin, and the Judge
Tobin, the kid and Toadvine barely make it. The kid's leg is injured in the battle
They come across the Judge and the idiot, who seem to almost have known of the attack before it happened
There's a moment when the three men seem to realize this as the judge is urging them to come down to the water where he is floating on his boat
It says, " Come down, he said. Come down and share this meat. They didn't move."
The Judge learns that the kid has a gun and tries to buy it off of him. He also successfully buys Toadvine's hat
The Judge asks if any of the men would like to come with him and only Toadvine accepts it because Tobin and the kid are going to California and he is subject to arrest there
David Brown comes up on the encampment and asks id they've fallen out with Glanton and the group informs him that he is dead and of the events that have just taken place
David Brown decides to go with the Judge, the idiot and Toadvine
They go their separate ways and the next day the kid and Tobin find the Judge on a horse wearing the clothes of Toadvine and David Brown
The Judge and the other two men meet face-to-face and Tobin yells at the kid, "Shoot him,"
The kid doesn't and the Judge keeps chasing them
The judge is trying to manipulate the kid and tell him Tobin is bad and Tobin tells the kid not to listen so he doesn't
The two men get away from the Judge temporarily and Tobin demands that the kid to save himself, the kid responds, "He aint nothin. You told me so yourself. Men are made of the dust of the earth. You said it was no pair... pair..."
The two continue on
Tobin and the kid hide until some Natives find them, saving their lives
After the two heal up they continue traveling
Tobin takes off to find a doctor
The kid is arrested and not told what for
He sleeps and when he wakes who does he see but the Judge in his cell
The kid asks about Tobin and is told the Judge lied and said he was a scholar and that he was safe
The kid asks about David Brown and Toadvine and the Judge says, "In the desert where you left them. A cruel thing. Your companions in arms."
The kid asks what the Judge told the people who arrested him
The Judge says, "Told them the truth. That you were the person responsible."
The kid and the Judge talk back and forth with the Judge telling the kid to come to him, that, "Don't you know I would have loved you like a son?"
The Judge reaches through the bars saying, "Come here"... "Let me touch you."
The kid says after a back and forth that, "It was you," "You were the one."
The kid tells the corporal of the horrors of the Judge and is released two days later
The kid has surgery with the Judge still eerily lurking over his every move
He leaves town and discovers Toadvine and David Brown hanged
He spends his last bit of money and buys the necklace of ears that Brown had always worn
He takes several random jobs and grows up
He starts carrying a bible with him even though he cannot read
At 28 he sets out across the desert to escort a group through the dangerous territory
He attempts to rescue a woman only to realize she is already dead, but it is clear he has matured much since we were last with him
The kid, now called the man is talking with a 15yr old he is escorting through the desert and the teen reminds him of himself
That night after talking with the teen the man wakes up to the teen standing above him pointing a gun at ahim and is forced to kill him, a younger version of himself
The man says, "You wouldn'tve lived anyway," a sad statement about his old self
The man takes his group into a bar and who does he see but the judge, watching him
In the bar a performance is taking place
A bear is dancing while a little girl cranked an organ handle
One of the men in the bar shoots and kills the bear
The judge and the man begin to talk
The Judge talking to the kid about dancing saying, " You're here for the dance," and "What man would not be a dancer if he could?"
The Judge talks with the kid about why he's there
The Judge saying the kid is there to be with him, the kid argues that," Everybody don't have to have a reason to be someplace."
The Judge says that everyone is there for a reason, for an event and that, if even one man knew his role in the event he would not participate
He says that, "each man's destiny is as large as the world he inhabits"
The Judge says, " I tell you this. As war becomes dishonored and its nobility called into question those honorable men who recognize the sanctity of blood will become excluded from the dance, which is the warrior's right, and thereby will the dance become a false dance and the dancers false dancers. And yet there will be one there who always is a true dancer and can you guess who that might be?
The man replies, "You aint nothin."
The Judge says, "You speak truer than you know. But I will tell you. Only that man who has offered up himself entire to the blood of war, who has been to the floor of the pit and seen horror in the round and learned at last that it speaks to his inmost heart, only that man can dance."
The man replies, "Even a dumb animal can dance."
The Judge says, "there is room on the stage form one beast and one alone. All others are destined for a night that is eternal and without name. One by one they will step down into the darkness before the footlamps. Bears that dance, bears that don't."
The kid hires a female companion
She leaves him and soon after the man leaves as well and takes up a position at the edge of the dancefloor and makes the decision not to dance
The man finds the Judge in the jakes and it is said, "The judge was seated upon the closet. He was naked and he rose up smiling and gathered him in his arms against his immense and terrible flesh and shot the wooden barlatch home behind him."
Shortly after a man finds the scene in the out-house and simply says, "Good God almighty."
The book ends as the Judge dances, naked, playing the fiddle, in the bar
"He says that he will never die. He dances un light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die."