The Overlook vs. The True Knot: Battle Royale

credit: Doctor Sleep

It’s amusing to be certain that in the book Doctor Sleep, the True Knot set up camp on the ruins of the Overlook hotel since, in The Shining novel, the place was leveled by fire, but in the movie, it was left as it was. No one wanted anything to do with it after that, apparently, since its appearance in Doctor Sleep made it appear as though no one had been back for years on end and that the place had been left to rot. Given that the ghosts had likely become rather hungry and were ready to consume pretty much anyone that walked through the door, it’s easy to guess that no one felt comfortable in the place, but it’s curious to wonder if the True Knot could have, as a group, taken on the spirits that were housed in the Overlook, since a group of them took out Rose the Hat with ease after Danny freed them from the mental boxes he’d kept for so many years, allowing them to feed even though he couldn’t lock them up again. But once again, this does raise the question of whether the True Knot could have survived the Overlook if they’d made their way to this location in the movie. 

credit: The Shining

It’s not likely that the ghosts would be susceptible to suggestions. 

It does need to be noted that a couple of members of the True Knot are able to use suggestion as a power and can overcome the will of others, but it’s highly doubtful that this would work on ghosts that have been roaming around the Overlook for decades in search of sustenance. It’s interesting to think that the ghosts didn’t see fit to feed upon Danny in The Shining, but then, Kubrick likely wasn’t to go quite that dark. The direction that the original movie went in was creepy enough for a lot of people since the idea that the hotel used Jack as its weapon was more than enough to make a lot of people think that the story was incredibly dark and not filled with a lot of redemptive moments. 

The ability of the ghosts to appear and disappear would no doubt confuse the True Knot members. 

While it’s easy to admit that the True Knot knows how to deal with illusions, it’s also wise to point out that they’re unable to simply disappear when they want to, at least with the same efficiency that a ghost can. If the Overlook managed to draw them in, it feels easy to think that the hotel and the spirits that inhabited it might be able to keep the True Knot on their heels by barring the doors and creating disorienting, illusory effects that would addle their senses and keep them wandering about in an effort to find a way out. The True Knot might eventually escape, provided that the Overlook didn’t send its ghosts after them sooner rather than later. 

credit: Doctor Sleep

The more powerful members of the True Knot might last for a while. 

The power levels in the True Knot do vary, and some of the members are capable of great feats that might save them initially since they could possibly keep the ghosts at bay for just long enough to escape or come up with a plan. But the fact is that none of them have shown the aptitude for creating a mental trap such as Danny was informed to use during Doctor Sleep. If the stronger members could come up with a way to utilize this type of attack, they might last for a while. If not, then they would fall eventually and in much the same fashion as Rose did. This game of cat and mouse would be kind of interesting to watch since the True Knot is great against kids and those who aren’t trained to fight, but against truly diabolical spirits, it feels as though they would eventually crumble. It’s kind of hard to fight against something that’s insubstantial until it wants to attack. 

In the end, the Overlook is more like a volcano of negative energy, while the True Knot are flesh and blood and probably couldn’t do anything against the ghosts. 

The members of the True Knot still need a physical form to exist. That much has been shown and proven in the movie since, otherwise, their essence is bound to disperse and be lost. But in a fight against the Overlook, it does bear thinking that they might find ways to bring the hotel down and dispel the spirits. That’s if they know anything about how to level a building, however, and if they can stay away from the spirits long enough, as one has to remember that Jack Torrance’s spirit is one of the more aggressive of the bunch, even though the lot of them are fully ready to consume anything that steps into their path.