Roger is gradually built up as an ominous figure. Initially, throwing stones "to miss" at the littluns, Roger has the potential for violence, but his hand stops. It "was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins". Those stones, of course, become the stone which kills Piggy, and Golding builds up, stone by stone:
Silence and pause; but in the silence a curious air-noise, close by Ralph’s head. He gave it half his attention—and there it was again; a faint “Zup!” Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them, his one hand still on the lever.
Then, there is, a further build up to the moment where Roger, pointed up by Golding as enjoying it, leans on the lever which tips the massive rock down onto Piggy:
The storm of sound beat at them, an incantation of hatred. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.
Public stoning, in the Bible, was a punishment meted out to adulterers and people in social disgrace. Roger has become the public executioner of all that stands against Jack's cause: "See!" Jack shouts "That's what you'll get".
Yet Jack recognises that Roger's deed, killing Piggy, has given him an ominous untold power. When he comes down from the rock...
The chief spoke to him angrily.
“Why aren’t you on watch?”
Roger looked at him gravely.
“I just came down—”The hangman’s horror clung round him. The chief said no more to him...
No-one can speak to him. He is a murderer: he is more ominous, more powerful, even than Jack. And it is Roger, at the end of the chapter, whose presence becomes the frightening one when Samneric do not want to join Jack's tribe:
Roger edged past the chief, only just avoiding pushing him with his shoulder. The yelling ceased, and Samneric lay looking up in quiet terror. Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.
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