Within the logic of Blood Meridian , particularly that of the judge, all markets are merely derivative of war. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. War is the marketplace in Blood Meridian .
Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all.
Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all. Glanton s gang literally harvests scalps to sell on a market. They do not sell their labor, as a capitalist economy necessitates, but neither do they involve themselves in barter or gift exchange. And in fact, Glanton s relationship to the Mexican market of genocide falls apart with a warrant for his own head.