Blood Meridian: my take on the ending

I believe that there is a case to be made for the Judge not killing the kid at the end of Blood Meridian, but rather tempting him to molest and/or rape and kill the missing girl and hence proving himself right.

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• The ending conversation between Judge and Kid is very strange, but in general it can be seen as a final discourse on the theme of the whole book. The Judge is arguing for violence and war, the kid is against it. Remember, that up to this point the kid had managed to redeem himself, to show kindness for the abuelita in the wild.
• The judge is arguing for violence and war, and calls he and the kid the ‘last of the true’. He is appealing to the kid’s violent tendencies.
• With that in mind, notice how hesitant the kid is in his position. At one point he says ‘I gots to go’ and reaches for his hat, but doesn’t put it on or leave. The taste for mindless violence within him mentioned at the beginning of the book is yearning to him.
• The girl who was crying over the bear going missing is just too deliberate by the author. There are many points elsewhere in the book where the Judge takes children, and it is heavily implied that he rapes and/or abuses them, as well as a confirmed killing of one.
• The kid tries to be with a prostitute who chooses him herself, and it doesn’t seem to go very well. This is too intentional a choice by the author for it not to mean something; I think it means he couldn’t perform without it being a violent act.
• When the kid enters the restroom, the judge embraces him and there is no mention of the kid resisting this. This is more just symbolic of the kid giving in to the judge’s argument and his inner violence.
• The man who says ‘I wouldn’t go in there if I was you’ talks exactly as the kid does for most of the book.

An ending where the kid gives in to his violent ways after almost managing to redeem himself completes his character arc quite neatly. The judge to me is heavily implied to have supernatural qualities, and his naked dancing at the end is him celebrating his victory over the kid.

Some further thoughts and notes:

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• Killing the bear seems too odd and out of place, and too deliberate to not be significant somehow. I think there must be some symbolism here but I can’t decide what it is. The judge talks about rituals requiring blood sacrifices, so perhaps this is alluding to that? I wondered if sacrificing bears was somehow significant but again, nothing.
• ‘And yet there will be one there always who is a true dancer and can you guess who that might be? You ain’t nothin. You speak truer than you know.’ This to me is heavily implying the judge is a supernatural entity or at least partially one.
• Book is basically an argument for man as a savage who loves violence, vs man as a noble and moral creature. Kid’s character arc is basically an attempt at the latter but resulting in the former.
• After we leave the jakes in the book; there is a scene where the patrons and whores are all dancing. Something about how he describes the whores wearing trophies from their previous patrons reminded me of the Comanche attack on the troops earlier in the book, who were also wearing pieces of clothing from their previous victims. A parallel between violence and dancing.