Alain Johns is a fictional character in Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

's Dark Tower

The Dark Tower (series)

The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...

series.

Alain was a member of Roland Deschain

Roland Deschain

Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society...

's original ka-tet along with Cuthbert Allgood

Cuthbert Allgood

Cuthbert Allgood is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is Roland Deschain's childhood friend and a member of his original ka-tet. Cuthbert, often called Bert, is first featured in The Gunslinger, but he does not play a major role in the series until Wizard and...

 and Jamie De Curry

Jamie De Curry

Jamie DeCurry is a fictional character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is a primary member of Roland Deschain's ka-tet in his younger years, and is a friend of Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood. Wolves of the Calla reveals that his preferred weapon is the bow.- Gilead :Issue #1 of the...

. In the original version of The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger is a novel by American author Stephen King, and is the first volume in the Dark Tower series, which King considers to be his magnum opus. It was first published in 1982. The story centers upon Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger who has been chasing after his adversary, "the man in...

, Alain was not mentioned, although Roland recalls having a friend named 'Allen'. In the revised version of the novel, this reference is changed to 'Alain.' The first mention of Alain by his full name occurs in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. Alain is the most sensitive member of Roland's original ka-tet, possessing a psychic ability known as 'The Touch.' In these ways he is closely paralleled by Jake Chambers

Jake Chambers

John "Jake" Chambers is a fictional character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. He first appeared in the short story "The Way Station" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1980, which was later compiled as one of the chapters of the first Dark Tower book, The...

 in Roland's later travels. His 'Touch' and temperament are also mentioned in relation to Susannah who like Alain has a patient temperament and keen intuition. Like Cuthbert, Alain's family can trace its origin back to the days of Arthur Eld.

Childhood

Alain was part of Gilead

Gilead

In the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...

's last class of gunslingers, along with Roland, Cuthbert, Jamie and Thomas. Alain had blonde hair, blue eyes and a round, open face. This combination of features led some people to believe he was slow, but he was in fact quite clever. Alain's father is the gunslinger Christopher Johns who in his youth was nicknamed 'Burning Chris' because of his savage youth.

After Roland's early manhood challenge, Alain was chosen to travel to Hambry with Roland and Cuthbert under the guise of counting assets for the Affiliation. Alain's cool head and sensitivity caused him to act as a mediator between Roland and Cuthbert when their relations became strained due to Roland's budding relationship with Susan Delgado. While in Hambry, Alain went by the alias

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 'Richard Stockworth' and rode a horse named 'Buckskin.' Alain acquitted himself well in his first battle at the end of their time in Hambry, and spent much of the journey back to Gilead attempting to 'touch' Roland after he fell under the spell of Maerlyn's grapefruit.

Death

Alain did not travel with Roland to the Dark Tower. On the eve of the battle at Jericho Hill, Alain was riding back to inform Roland and Cuthbert of enemy movement when they opened fire in the dark, not knowing it was their friend approaching.

Comics

Alain appears in every issue of The Dark Tower comic books, closely following the events already established in Wizard and Glass. He has blond hair, and a stocky build.