The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy Read Online Free PDF Page A

to the condition of his world, though there is little he can do about it.
    Corruption strikes close to home. Roland has been suspicious of the way Marten, the court magician and chief adviser to the gunslingers, has insinuated himself into the Deschain family. During one of the spring balls, Roland and his friends spy on the gunslingers and see Marten dancing with his mother, Gabrielle Deschain. Roland’s father knows about the affair and is either unwilling to or incapable of doing anything about it. Perhaps he thinks he has the upper hand on Marten by not revealing what he knows, or maybe he has bigger problems to deal with, not realizing that this domestic discord has larger implications for Gilead.
    Marten, who is constantly plotting the downfall of Gilead while pretending to be one of its great supporters, recognizes Roland as a future threat. He deliberately reveals to him that he is sleeping with his mother. He believes this will goad Roland into launching his challenge against Cort before he is ready.
    Roland is two years younger than his father was when he became a gunslinger. If he fails, he will be sent west into exile, never to see his family or friends again. However, Marten underestimates Roland’s cunning and his willingness to sacrifice a longtime friend—his hawk, David—in the name of his goal. It is a side of Roland that will become more obvious during his quest to reach the Dark Tower. Many friends will fall by the wayside or be left behind because he believes his goal is more important than any one person. Thisstory has particular resonance for Jake, who believes—correctly—that he will be another of these sacrifices. Another hawk to be thrown in the face of an adversary.
    After Roland defeats him, Cort counsels the new gunslinger to let the news of his victory spread instead of going after Marten straightaway. Cort knows that Roland might not win against the sorcerer, who is more devious than Roland will ever be. Though Roland doesn’t tell Jake what happened next, he does reveal that Gilead fell within five years and that Roland’s parents were both killed. Ominously, Roland says that he killed his mother, an event that—regardless of the circumstances—must weigh heavily on his conscience.
    The other revelation from Roland’s past comes from his dreams of Susan Delgado, whom he loved and lost. The details of their romance and how she ended up dying in a fire form a major part of the fourth book in the series,
Wizard and Glass
.
    All of this serves to explain to the reader some of the reasons why Roland is the way he is: determined, driven and oblivious to the rest of humanity. In his solitude, he has honed his skills as a gunslinger. When he springs the trap that the man in black left for him in Tull, he is capable of taking care of himself, even when beset by dozens of people armed with rocks and sticks. Almost every bullet he fires finds its target, and he can reload on the fly without missing a beat. He has no compunctions about slaughtering men, women and children, including a woman whose bed he recently occupied. He must succeed; hence they must die. He believes—and he may be correct in this, but there’s no concrete evidence to support it—that only he can save the Dark Tower.
    Walter, the man in black, is a man of many faces and names, whose path will cross Roland’s several more times before the quest reaches its conclusion. He taunts Roland, though his purposes are veiled. There’s no indication that he truly believes any of the traps he lays for the gunslinger will succeed. He appears to be enjoying their game of cat and mouse. The ideograms left behind in his campfire ashes could be messages, but if they are, Roland doesn’t understand them. There are also signs during their palaver that he isn’t omniscient or infallible.
    One question that arises in
The Gunslinger
is the matter of Roland’s age. He appears to be