Alan Pangborn is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 created by Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

. He is the Sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

 of the fictional town of Castle Rock

Castle Rock (Stephen King)

Castle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King’s fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, assisted by deputies Norris Ridgewick, John LaPointe, Andy Clutterbuck, and Seaton Thomas.

Background

Pangborn originally appears in The Dark Half

The Dark Half

The Dark Half is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1993.Stephen King wrote several books under a...

. He is elected sheriff following the death of the previous sheriff, George Bannerman, at the hands of the rabid dog, Cujo

Cujo

Cujo is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983....

. Pangborn is one of the long-time residents of Castle Rock and reappears in the novel Needful Things

Needful Things

Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. According to the cover, it is "The Last Castle Rock Story." However, the town later served as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You," published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes which, according to...

.

Following the traumatic events of The Dark Half, Pangborn is subject to constant nightmares. He informs the reader of Thad Beaumont's eventual divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

, alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 and suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

. Pangborn also suffers the loss of his wife and son to a car crash (she had an undiagnosed brain tumor that caused a seizure while she was driving; she lost control of her car and killed them both). Pangborn is a skilled illusionist

Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...

 who uses his tricks in a climactic battle

Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...

 against the demonic creature Leland Gaunt, proprietor of the shop Needful Things. Pangborn is also involved in a romantic relationship with Patricia "Polly" Chalmers, another long-time resident of Castle Rock.

In Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones is a 1998 novel by Stephen King. It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife...

, Norris Ridgwick mentions that Alan and Polly have settled together in New Hampshire. The official Stephen King website further states that the two have married.

Media portrayals

Pangborn was portrayed by Michael Rooker

Michael Rooker

Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...

 in the film adaption of The Dark Half

The Dark Half (film)

The Dark Half is a 1993 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film was directed by George A. Romero and stars Timothy Hutton as Thad Beaumont and George Stark, Amy Madigan as Liz Beaumont, Michael Rooker as Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Royal Dano in his final...

by Ed Harris

Ed Harris

Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...

 in Needful Things.