Stephen King universe isn’t just full of terrifying monsters.
It is also home to many great fictional heroes…
In the Kingverse, there are monsters aplenty, but what of the heroes?
Both the novel and the movies show how the Losers must persevere when faced with insurmountable odds.
These are all of Kings greatest champions:
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10.
When readers first meet Bill, he could be considered a failure.
He failed to find the driver of a fateful Mercedes that left eight people dead and fifteen wounded.
When Hodges retires, he is lost, depressed, and on the verge of suicide.
So heres to you, Bill.
You may not have had strange powers like many of Kings heroes, but you had courage and will.
Sometimes, thats enough.
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9.
Rose Daniels
Rose Madder (1995)
Rose Daniels, the brave heroine ofRose Madder, faces many challenges.
At heart, she is not strong or skilled, but she was so much more than that.
Rose goes to pawn her wedding ring, which she discovers is worthless.
This indignity does not deter Rose.
Instead, she buys a painting at that pawn shop.
In this world of monsters and madness, she saves an infant from a one-eyed bull named Erinyes.
Rose doesnt flinch from saving the baby.
She sees a task that needs doing and she does it.
Roses real courage is in her desire to change her life for the better.
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8.
Nick never loses faith in humanity, even though he was attacked and left for dead.
He even frees one of the thugs from prison so the man doesnt die in jail.
He becomes like family to the other survivors but is killed by an agent of Randall Flagg.
Andros loss is one of the most profoundly painful moments of the long novel.
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7.
Therefore, he is not the jot down of man that would thrive in prison.
He has an indomitable will and a spirit that does not allow him to give into despair.
When he was put in the Hole for weeks, he does not give up.
He even becomes a vital member of the prison staff, as he works on all of their taxes.
A shocking escape that has left book and film fans breathless for decades.
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6.
How about a boy risking everything to save his dying mother in two worlds?
Jacks bravery is universal, and like all the great heroes of old, he endures.
For his mother, he endures.
And for that, Jack is rewarded.
Jacks adventures continue inBlack House.
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5.
Bill had a severe stutter and lost his brother, Georgie, under very mysterious circumstances.
Bev was abused by her father.
Bill and his friends did not cower from the darkness.
They confronted It, kicking off a journey through the darkest corners of reality.
Years later, as adults, the Losers Club is called back to Derry to once again face It.
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4.
When he wakes up, Smith finds that he can tell peoples future just by touching them.
The publicity garnered by this act of mercy causes Smith to lose his job as a teacher.
To prevent this, Smith knows he must assassinate Stillson, but is loathe to murder anyone.
He is a gentleman, a man who understands the old adage of power and responsibility.
Smith tries to shoot Stillson at a political rally but misses.
But Stillson grabs a young bystander and hides behind the kid during the attempted assassination.
Smith is killed, but mission accomplished.
A hero has stepped from the darkness and exposed a corrupt soul.
Smith is a tragic hero.
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3.
Right as readers meet Stu, he is already performing heroic deeds.
But Flagg is defeated and Redman survives and is rewarded with a family and a purpose.
Redman is the everyman ofThe Stand.
Before the world fell, Stu was not extraordinary or gifted.
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2.
But there is an undercurrent of tragedy.
Daniel takes a job as a hospital orderly and holds the hands of others who are about to die.
He sees what they see, feel what they feel, as they die.
He is their angel, their personal guide to the next world, a true Earth angel of mercy.
No one had a darker childhood that Danny Torrance, but no one shines brighter when it counts.
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1.
Along the way, this group of stalwart heroes relies on each other for life and love.
Eddie was once a drug addict who had to free himself from his addictions to become Rolands greatest gunslinger.
Oh, and she is missing both of her legs.
Finally, there is Jake, a boy whos like a son to Roland.
The boy has to endure the fact that Roland once sacrificed Jakes life to complete his quest.
They quest and they protect.
Roland is the ultimate hero.
A version of this article ran on June 5, 2016.
