Eldred Jonas is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 from the novel Wizard and Glass, created by 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...

. He also appears in the comic based on it, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born.

History

Jonas is a failed gunslinger

Gunslinger

Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...

 and walks with a limp after his leg was broken by Cort's father in his failed test of manhood. His failure is largely attributed to a lack of focus on studies and an extreme change in demeanor after being pierced in the foot by a shard of Maerlyn's Mirror. He was subsequently sent West to live in shame and exile. During the intermediate years between his exile and his appearance in Wizard and Glass, Jonas is suggested to have traveled through portal doors to other worlds much like 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...

 has.
Eldred Jonas is also featured inside Roland's mind when he enters the evil pink crystal ball in the first issue of the popular graphic novel series, The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home is a monthly five-issue comic book mini-series, a spin-off of Stephen King's sci-fi western novel series of the same name. The first issue was published on March 5, 2008...

.

Physical Characteristics

Beyond the aforementioned limp, Jonas's most striking physical quality is his shoulder-length white hair, often described as being soft and wavy like a woman's hair. He has a reedy voice that quavers like a boy going through puberty. He wears a scraggly mustache that hangs down to his chin, a "sham gunslinger's" mustache. He is deeply tanned except on his neck which is sunburnt and wattled. He has sad-looking, red-rimmed, watery eyes. He wears a black revolver hung low on his hip, gunslinger style.

Big Coffin Hunters

Jonas is the leader of the "Big Coffin Hunters," a gang consisting of himself, Roy Depape, and Clay Reynolds. They all have identical blue coffins tattooed on the webbing between thumb and index finger. It is suggested in the text that the Big Coffin Hunters might actually be a much larger criminal group, and mentions of new incarnations of the Hunters are made in The Dark Tower. They also inadvertently spawn a copycat group in Mejis, consisting entirely of juveniles, who call themselves the "Big Coffin Hunters" also. Roland and his ka-tet are referred to as the "Little Coffin Hunters" by some of the citizens of Hambry.

Mejis

In Wizard and Glass they are stationed in Mejis by John Farson

John Farson

John Farson is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. Known as "The Good Man", Farson is the leader of a revolution in In-World who appeals to the common people, wanting to end the training of Gunslingers and re-distribute power. His stated...

 to assure the shipment of several tankers of oil for Farson's fighting machines, and also with looking after a Wizard's Glass, left with Rhea of the Cöos

Rhea of the Cöos

Rhea Dubativo of the Cöos is a fictional character who appears in several novels by Stephen King, most notably his Dark Tower series, as well as the comic book spinoffs of that series. Rhea is a very stereotypical fairy tale witch in appearance, personality and abilities; she is old, ugly, rides a...

 for safe keeping. Their operations are covert in nature, with the most powerful men in Mejis aware of their true purpose. The ranchers, landholders, dignitaries and law enforcers of Mejis work in collusion with Jonas' men (and ultimately John Farson) in exchange for peace with Farson after his inevitable (in the opinion of the leaders of Mejis) victory over the Affiliation and the Inner Baronies.

Steven Deschain has, though, sent his son Roland (under the alias "Will Dearborn") to hide out in Mejis for safety reasons (being such a young and prominent gunslinger, it is feared that Marten Broadcloak

Randall Flagg

Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by Stephen King. Flagg has appeared in seven novels by King, sometimes as the main antagonist and others in a brief cameo. He often appears under different names; most are abbreviated by the initials R.F. There are exceptions to this rule; in The Dark...

 has taken a particular interest in destroying Roland). Roland and his ka-tet of Alain Johns

Alain Johns

Alain Johns is a fictional character in Stephen King's Dark Tower series.Alain was a member of Roland Deschain's original ka-tet along with Cuthbert Allgood and Jamie De Curry. In the original version of The Gunslinger, Alain was not mentioned, although Roland recalls having a friend named 'Allen'...

 and 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...

 (also using aliases) use a cover-story that they are in Mejis on an accounting mission for the Inner Baronies. This cover is quickly seen through by Jonas, and is confirmed as such during an altercation in the local tavern of Mejis, the Traveller's Rest. The nature of the altercation involved Sheemie Ruiz

Sheemie Ruiz

Stanley "Sheemie" Ruiz is a character in the Stephen King series The Dark Tower. He is a boy who works in a bar in Hambry. He is gifted with "the touch", or telepathic powers. He has the ability to teleport and create locations that exist out of time and space...

, the tavern's servant-boy, spilling the contents of a slop bucket on Roy Depape's boots, and Roy's immediate threatening of Sheemie's life at gunpoint. Coincidence has it that Cuthbert and Alain were passing by the tavern just at that moment, and soon a Mexican standoff

Mexican standoff

A Mexican standoff is a slang term defined as a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can foreseeably win. The term is most often used in lieu of "stalemate" when the confrontational situation is exceptionally dangerous for all parties involved.In popular culture, the Mexican...

of sorts quickly forms. Jonas, and finally Roland, arrive on the scene, and during the showdown Jonas witnesses the prowess of the three young men of Roland's party and surmises they are indeed princes of the Inner Baronies and gunslingers-in-training (that Roland is already a gunslinger is a fact Jonas won't allow himself to concede).

Death

After the incidence in the Traveller's Rest, the rivalry between Jonas's and Roland's men escalates, with both parties setting traps and attempting to dig up information on their opponents. In the end, though, Roland is ultimately victorious, and Jonas was killed by Roland's gun. When Roland was trapped inside the Pink Glass Ball, an image of Jonas taunts him.