Dick Hallorann
Dick Hallorann is the Overlook Hotel's head cook, a tall black man in his late fifties with a soft Southern accent and a modest afro that is beginning to powder white. He is first encountered by the Torrance family on closing day, when he gives Wendy a tour of the immense, spotless kitchen and jokes with Danny, picking him up easily and setting him in the crook of his elbow. Hallorann's easy laugh and warm manner contrast sharply with the officiousness of Stuart Ullman, and he immediately establishes a rapport with the five-year-old boy, calling him "doc" and offering to take him to Florida to learn to cook shrimp creole. He is a man who has found contentment in his work, but he also carries a deep, unspoken awareness of the hotel's malevolent nature.
Psychic Ability and the Shining
Hallorann possesses a powerful psychic gift he calls "shining," a term he learned from his grandmother, who also had the ability. He explains to Danny that many people have a little shine without knowing it, but that Danny shines harder than anyone he has ever met. In a private conversation in his car, Hallorann demonstrates the connection by asking Danny to think at him; the boy's concentrated thought hits him like a fastball, drawing blood from his lip and giving him a headache. Hallorann uses his shine to probe the Torrances, finding that Wendy jumps slightly—as all mothers do, he believes—but that Jack Torrance is a strange, closed-off presence, as if hiding something deeply submerged. Hallorann's own shining has given him precognitive visions, most notably when he smelled oranges and foresaw his brother Carl's death in a train crash in Georgia in 1955. He also uses his ability at the racetrack, though he admits he does not always win. Crucially, he tells Danny that such visions do not always come true, offering the example of a flight he changed out of fear that it would crash, only for the plane to land safely.
Knowledge of the Overlook's Dangers
Hallorann has worked at the Overlook for two seasons and has experienced its supernatural horrors firsthand. He tells Danny that he has had bad dreams and has thought he has seen things—nasty things—including something connected to the hedge animals and an incident involving a maid named Delores Vickery. Vickery was fired after claiming she saw something in Room 217, and Hallorann, using the passkey, went to investigate. He found the corpse of Mrs. Massey in the bathtub, and when the dead woman opened her eyes and grinned at him, he fled in terror. He warns Danny to stay away from Room 217, explaining that the hotel seems to hold "little pieces" of all the bad things that have ever happened there, like fingernail clippings or boogers wiped under a chair. He insists that these things are like scary pictures in a book and cannot hurt the boy, but his own fear is evident, and he admits he is not entirely sure. He also senses that the hotel is a bad place for people who shine, and his final thought as he drives away from the Overlook is that the boy looks so small, and that the hotel has swallowed them.
The Call and the Journey
Months later, while working at a resort in Florida, Hallorann is struck by a powerful psychic summons from Danny. The boy's desperate cry—"OH DICK OH PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COME!!!"—hits him with the force of a physical blow, causing him to nearly crash his car. He immediately understands that the boy is in mortal danger. He fabricates a story about his son being shot by a white truck driver to get time off from his manager, Queems, and then rushes to the airport. His journey is fraught with obstacles: a missed flight, a traffic ticket that delays him, and a harrowing plane landing in a blizzard at Stapleton International Airport in Denver. Undeterred, he rents a car and drives into the mountains, where he is helped by a snowplow driver named Howard Cottrell, who gives him mittens and directs him to Larry Durkin in Sidewinder for a snowmobile. Hallorann's determination is fueled by a growing sense of dread and a premonition of his own possible death, which he confronts with a grim resolve.
Confrontation with the Hotel
Riding the snowmobile up the mountain road, Hallorann is attacked by one of the hedge lions, which has come to life. The creature batters him, tearing his parka and injuring his face and leg. In a desperate act of survival, Hallorann uses his Zippo lighter to ignite a gas can, setting the hedge lion on fire and burning it to ash. He then reaches the Overlook, where he finds the lobby splashed with blood. As he searches for Danny, the possessed Jack Torrance ambushes him from the elevator, striking him twice with the roque mallet, shattering his cheekbone and jaw and knocking him unconscious. Hallorann is later revived by Wendy, who has stabbed Jack and locked him in the pantry. Despite his injuries, Hallorann helps Wendy and Danny escape, carrying them both down the stairs and out of the hotel just as the boiler explodes, destroying the Overlook in a cataclysm of fire and debris.
Aftermath and Role as Mentor
After the rescue, Hallorann recovers and takes a job as a cook at the Red Arrow Lodge in western Maine. He maintains a close bond with Danny and Wendy, who visit him during the summer. He is a source of comfort and wisdom for the traumatized boy, telling him that he will get over his grief and that the worst is over. Hallorann acknowledges that Danny's shining is a permanent part of him, but he promises to always be there for him, even from a distance. In the novel's final scene, he sits with Danny on a dock, helping him reel in a fish, and offers a simple, profound philosophy: the world is a hard place that does not love or hate, but that Danny's job is to keep his love alive and to get on with his life. Hallorann thus serves as a surrogate father figure and a guide, helping Danny navigate the trauma of the Overlook and the burden of his extraordinary gift.
