Danny Torrance

Danny Torrance is the tritagonist turn true main protagonist of Stephen King's novel, The Shining, its 1980 film, and the 1997 miniseries (which is ignored by Doctor Sleep) and the main protagonist of its 2013 novel and 2019 movie sequel Doctor Sleep.

The Shining
Danny is described as a curious, innocent typical five year old boy who loves both of his parents. Before going to the Overlook, he is given frightening visions by his spirit guard Tony. When arriving at the Overlook, Danny is overwhelmed by the business of the hotel and sits with his parents, Wendy and Jack, on one of the sofas, watching the guests and some of the staff leave. Wendy, Jack and Danny are given a tour of the Overlook's kitchen by Hallorann. Hallorann possesses the same gift as Danny and before Hallorann leaves the hotel, he tells Danny about it and gives him strategies to cope with the hotel and also warns him not to go in Room 217. He is later given a tour, along with his parents, around the Overlook Hotel by Mr Stuart Ullman, the hotel's manager. He has a terrifying vision in The Presidential Suite, which his parents and Ullman can't see. The remaining guests and staff eventually leave, leaving Danny and his parents alone in the hotel. Danny's visions become terrifying and Wendy suggests that she takes Danny away from the hotel and leaves Jack in the hotel to finish the caretaking job. Danny refuses to leave and they stay. When the snow falls, Danny enjoys playing in the snowy front and back yard of the hotel. One afternoon, he enters Room 217 and is strangled by the dead woman inside. Wendy, thinking that Jack strangled Danny, whisks Danny to their quarters and locks Jack out. Danny later confesses to his parents that a woman strangled him. Wendy suggests they leave, but Jack has broken the CB radio and the snow cat engine, therefore stranding them. After Danny has an extremely terrifying vision, he telepathically calls Hallorann, who comes to rescue them. While waiting, Wendy notices that Jack is not sane anymore and locks herself and Danny in their quarters, while Jack gets drunk in The Colorado Lounge with a roomful of ghosts and is told by the caretaker to kill his family. Wendy is brutally assaulted by Jack, which Danny witnesses and is able to knock out Jack. They lock him in the pantry and lock themselves in their suite. After Wendy goes down to the lobby to cook their food and is assaulted by Jack again, Danny escapes his quarters and runs down the corridors of the hotel, seeing ghosts jump out of the hotel rooms. He eventually faces his father in a corridor and Danny remembers the boiler hasn't been checked. When Jack goes to check it, Danny, Hallorann and Wendy evacuate the hotel just as the boiler explodes, destroying the hotel and killing Jack. A few months later, Danny and Wendy are staying in a lakeside cabin. Danny is left traumatized by the events and suffers nightmares.

Doctor Sleep
Danny and Wendy eventually move into a small apartment. One night, Danny goes to the bathroom and sees the ghost of Room 217 sitting in his bathtub. He pees in the kitchen sink, then warns Wendy not to enter the bathroom and goes into a deep silence. Wendy calls Hallorann and Hallorann takes Danny for a walk. He gives him a strategy that allows Danny to lock the ghosts in his mind. In 2013, Danny has taken on his fathers traits and is an alcoholic, sleeping with numerous women and is also working at a hospice which allows him to help dying patients go to the other side. He eventually discovers that Jack had an affair on Wendy and slept with another woman and that he has a half sister. He meets his half niece, who also possesses the shining and discovers that there is an evil group of vampires called The True Knot that hunts down children with the shining and kills them, feasting on their power. When his niece is kidnapped, Danny goes to the site of the Overlook, which is now the home of The True Knot, disguised as a campground. Danny is able to rescue his niece and kill The True Knot, ending the terror that was on the site. Before leaving, he sees the ghost of his father and finds peace with his father. In the aftermath, he stops drinking alcohol and grows closer to his half sister and her family and at last is at peace.

Biography


Like in the book, Danny is the son of Wendy and the main villain Jack Torrance. He has the ability to read minds. He is portrayed by Danny Lloyd in the 1980 film and by Courtland Mead in the TV series The Shining.

Danny appears in the sequel Doctor Sleep as a nearing middle-aged man. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, who also played Valiant, Mark Renton, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rodney Copperbottom and Christopher Robin.