Roland Deschain
Encyclopedia
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 "gunslinger
s", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society. His image and personality are largely inspired by the "Man with No Name
" portrayed by Clint Eastwood
in several of Sergio Leone
's westerns, though his quest and many of his personal, internal conflicts are drawn from Robert Browning
's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
. His surname echoes Shane
, the archetypal Western loner hero.
. Marten has an affair with Roland's mother and makes sure Roland finds out about it, prompting Roland to request his trial in order to gain his guns and exact revenge on Marten. In the trial, Roland must defeat his teacher, Cort, using a weapon of his choosing. He chooses a hawk named David and defeats Cort. Despite Roland's victory, Cort and Roland's father convince Roland to bide his time before seeking retribution.
Not long after, Roland's father sends him on a mission to the town of Hambry in the Outer Barony of Mejis with his friends Alain Johns
and Cuthbert Allgood
, who will form the basis of his first ka-tet. While there, he comes into the possession of a pink crystal ball, one of 13 magical artifacts referred to as "Maerlyn's Rainbow." It was while looking into this artifact that Roland first discovered his destiny to quest for the Dark Tower.
Roland is a 30th-generation descendant of his world's version of King Arthur
, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. In Wizard and Glass, during a flashback
to Roland's time in the Barony of Mejis, a letter from his father identifies Steven Deschain as a 29th-generation descendant of Arthur Eld from a side lineage (that is to say, from one of Arthur's many "gillies," or concubines). Even his guns were originally made of the melted-down metal from the legendary Excalibur
sword. It is hinted that one must possess this sword, or another sign of the Eld (the line of Arthur Eld) in order to open the door at the foot of the Tower. According to a supplemental prose story by Robin Furth
included in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (issues #7 & #2, respectively), Roland's ancestry traces back to Arthur Eld and Emmanuelle Deschain, the daughter of his seneschal
, Kay Deschain
, while the Crimson King's ancestry traces back to an affair between Arthur and the Crimson Queen.
Roland is alone at the beginning of the series, following the way of ka
, a variant of destiny
that is similar in concept to other karmic
ideologies. The term ka-tet is used for a group of people who are deeply bonded to one another through ka. The seven-book series is about Roland's acquisition of a new ka-tet and the completion of his quest. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger and is possessed (or, as he describes it himself, "addicted") by a quest to reach The Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds
rotate. (Eddie Dean, an ex-heroin addict and member of Roland's ka-tet, calls Roland a "Tower junkie.") The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King
, Lord of Discordia, a Satan
ic figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.
In the first novel, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Roland's original desire is simply to climb to the Dark Tower's top to question whatever god dwells there, but ka has greater plans for him. The ka-tet he acquires during the series bears many resemblances to his childhood ka-tet, who were all killed trying to help Roland on his quest. How he treats his new ka-tet when faced with decisions between their lives and his quest is a key component of the novels. Ultimately, his ka-tet represents a chance for redemption and a means by which he can ultimately change his own ka.
At the end of the seventh novel, it is revealed that he is trapped in a repetitive reincarnation
, his "damnation" for his crimes and killings (similar to Stephen King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
", in which he expresses that his idea of hell is repetition.) However, it is also suggested that this eternal repetition is not quite eternal; after his rebirth at the end of the novel, it is revealed that in this particular reiteration of his journey, he possesses the Horn of Eld which in his previous pilgrimages he had lost in the final stand at Jericho Hill, the one major element which was discrepant from his approach to the tower and Childe Roland's approach in Robert Browning
's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
("Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set...") In this way, it is suggested that Roland might yet find salvation from his personal hell.
, a villain who appears in many of King's works. Flagg's character appears in many different incarnations throughout the series. He is a minion of the Crimson King himself, though he is ultimately hoping to overthrow him. He is often at the heart of most conflicts with Roland throughout the Gunslinger's lifetime.
His relationships with his ka-tet change greatly over the course of the story. When he first 'draws' Eddie from the human world, Roland dislikes him for being a drug addict and constantly complaining about his plight. After Eddie beats his addiction, however, he starts to care for him more and more and eventually Roland regards him as something between a son and a brother. His relationship with Susannah follows the same pattern: though he is initially wary of her second personality, Detta, after her personalities 'merge' into Susannah he gets to know her better and grows to care deeply for her. His relationship with Jake is perhaps the deepest, initially seeing the boy as a trustworthy and strong companion, but eventually regarding him as his true son. Roland, already scarred by the deaths of all his childhood friends — who all died helping him to get closer to the tower — he is shown to be emotionally devastated by Eddie's and especially Jake's death, weeping openly (something Eddie mentioned before did not happen often, if at all).
Roland cries out all their names — both his first and second Ka-Tet's — when he reaches the door of the Dark Tower, along with other characters whom he cared for in some way or another: Susan Delgado, Roland's first (and only true) love, who was killed while he was in Mejis; Father Callahan, who was also a member of Roland's second Ka-Tet, albeit for a much shorter time; Hax the cook, whom Roland betrayed to the gunslingers because he was a traitor, something that deeply affected Roland; his teachers Cort and Vannay; his parents' names; the name of David the Hawk, whom Roland used in the trial for his revolvers; and the name of Aunt Talitha of River Crossing, whose cross he lays at the base of the tower. He also cries the names of Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw, two 'Breakers' who helped him and his friends greatly; the name of Sheemie Ruiz, one of Roland's longest-surviving friends; and that of Oy, the billy-bumbler, a ka-tet member who died saving Roland's life from Mordred Deschain
.
In the last novel, it is implied that the gunslinger's mostly cold, ruthless nature is alleviated slightly every time he reaches the Dark Tower and begins his journey again-- Whilst his memories are erased, his personality changes in reflection of the experiences of each quest. This is symbolised by his re-acquisition of the Horn of Eld after the version covered in the Dark Tower series, implying that he has learned some of the true values of family and love; he has clearly taken the horn from Cuthbert Allgood's body as he wished rather than leaving it there as he did before.
In The Waste Lands, Susannah compares Roland first to Marshal Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke
, but later comes to believe he is more like John F. Kennedy
. While she acknowledges that Roland lacks the president's imagination, both men have similar levels of charisma, cunning, and romance. King often notes Roland's strong sense of romance in his narrations, but describes this aspect of the gunslinger's character as being usually hidden by his more dominant sense of pragmatism.
Roland is also shown to care a great deal for his Ka-Tet, or "Companions in fate", and often puts himself at risk to save or assist them - though when confronted with the choice between saving one of them or getting one step closer to the Tower, he would almost certainly choose the Tower. Roland's silent desperation for the Tower is the driving rhythm of the series; it can be felt most powerfully in "The Gunslinger", wherein Roland's sole desire is the Tower and nothing below it.
Roland's revolvers (sometimes referred to as "the big guns" by other characters) are described as long and heavy, with blued steel (originally from his world's Excalibur) and sandalwood
grips. These guns are a major sigil, as they are recognized throughout Mid-World and are used as an identifier of Roland. During the search for more ammunition in New York City
in The Drawing of the Three, the guns are revealed to be chambered close enough to .45
or the .45 Long Colt
to use manufactured ammo. In The Gunslinger Roland can reload both revolvers at the same time with blinding speed using a "finger trick." He lost this ability when he lost two of his fingers at the start of The Drawing of the Three. Even after being crippled he possesses almost superhuman accuracy and he can draw his guns faster than any other character. Roland is noted as being able to shoot equally well with both hands.
In addition to being a master gunslinger, Roland is an experienced traveler, able to hunt, make his own clothes from the skins of animals, and navigate via the stars. Roland can speak five languages, including the High Speech and the Low Speech. He also possess a great deal of knowledge about ka
the nature of the world. Roland is also a skilled leader, diplomat, and teacher.
King physically compares Roland to a pair of living people: Clint Eastwood
as the Man with No Name
in the Sergio Leone movies and, to a greater extent, Stephen King himself. There is a moment in the earlier books where Roland's apprentice, Jake, sees Clint Eastwood on a movie poster and remarks how similar his eyes are to the gunslinger's. There is a point during the second book at which Roland psychically bonds himself with a murderer named Jack Mort; the combination of the two personages is said to resemble the mannerisms of Arnold Schwarzenegger
as he appeared in The Terminator
. Eddie Dean sees Stephen King as a young man and recognizes that he and Roland share many of the same physical features, saying that Roland could be King's father. Physical appearance aside, King has often remarked that Roland is one of the few characters with whom he could never really identify. In King's own words, Roland "scared" him.
At the start of the story, Roland is in his 40s, but is physically in his 50s at the end of The Gunslinger when his age is arrested as he slumbers for ten years. Most of his hair is gray or white, but some remains black. His facial features are described as rough (although Susannah once compared them to that of a tired poet), and he has light blue eyes, often referred to by characters and Stephen King as "bombardier's eyes." Roland lost his right big toe and his right index and middle fingers, which is problematic as he is right-handed in everything other than shooting. He is a strong and disciplined man, capable of working through injuries and illnesses that would have killed or incapacitated another man. Roland is also unusually tall; at 14, he stood taller than the 16-year-old Susan, and, as an adult, his height exceeds that of his father.
It was announced in September 2010 that Universal
had acquired the rights to produce three movies and a TV series based on the seven novels, as well as the short stories and graphic novels. Ron Howard
will be directing the first movie as well as the first season of the TV series, with the script being written by Akiva Goldsman
. Actor Javier Bardem
will portray Roland.
In Frank Darabont
's 2007 film adaptation of King's novella The Mist
, the main character, David Drayton, can be seen painting a movie poster with Roland in the center, standing in front of a trans-dimensional Ironwood door, with a rose and the dark tower to each side.
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 The 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. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "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...
s", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society. His image and personality are largely inspired by the "Man with No Name
Man with No Name
The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...
" portrayed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in several of Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's westerns, though his quest and many of his personal, internal conflicts are drawn from Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a poem by English author Robert Browning, written in 1855 and first published that same year in the collection entitled Men and Women. The title, which forms the last words of the poem, is a line from William Shakespeare's play King Lear...
. His surname echoes Shane
Shane (novel)
Shane is a 1949 western book by Jack Schaefer. It is often considered his greatest novel.-Plot:Note: This description is a combination of the movie and the book, and is not representative of the novel itself....
, the archetypal Western loner hero.
Background
Roland becomes a gunslinger at the unheard-of age of 14 after being manipulated into taking the "trial of manhood" by Marten Broadcloak, his father's adviser and an incarnation of Randall FlaggRandall 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...
. Marten has an affair with Roland's mother and makes sure Roland finds out about it, prompting Roland to request his trial in order to gain his guns and exact revenge on Marten. In the trial, Roland must defeat his teacher, Cort, using a weapon of his choosing. He chooses a hawk named David and defeats Cort. Despite Roland's victory, Cort and Roland's father convince Roland to bide his time before seeking retribution.
Not long after, Roland's father sends him on a mission to the town of Hambry in the Outer Barony of Mejis with his friends 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...
, who will form the basis of his first ka-tet. While there, he comes into the possession of a pink crystal ball, one of 13 magical artifacts referred to as "Maerlyn's Rainbow." It was while looking into this artifact that Roland first discovered his destiny to quest for the Dark Tower.
Roland is a 30th-generation descendant of his world's version of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. In Wizard and Glass, during a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to Roland's time in the Barony of Mejis, a letter from his father identifies Steven Deschain as a 29th-generation descendant of Arthur Eld from a side lineage (that is to say, from one of Arthur's many "gillies," or concubines). Even his guns were originally made of the melted-down metal from the legendary Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
sword. It is hinted that one must possess this sword, or another sign of the Eld (the line of Arthur Eld) in order to open the door at the foot of the Tower. According to a supplemental prose story by Robin Furth
Robin Furth
Robin Furth is the personal research assistant to Stephen King and the author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance, which was published by Scribner on December 5, 2006...
included in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (issues #7 & #2, respectively), Roland's ancestry traces back to Arthur Eld and Emmanuelle Deschain, the daughter of his seneschal
Seneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
, Kay Deschain
Sir Kay
In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier...
, while the Crimson King's ancestry traces back to an affair between Arthur and the Crimson Queen.
Quest for the Dark Tower
Ka (Dark Tower)
Ka is a plot element in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It is a word of the fictional language High Speech.-Overview:In the books, it is a mysterious force that leads all living creatures. It is the will of Gan, the approximate equivalent of destiny or fate, in King's fictional language of High...
, a variant of destiny
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
that is similar in concept to other karmic
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
ideologies. The term ka-tet is used for a group of people who are deeply bonded to one another through ka. The seven-book series is about Roland's acquisition of a new ka-tet and the completion of his quest. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger and is possessed (or, as he describes it himself, "addicted") by a quest to reach The Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
rotate. (Eddie Dean, an ex-heroin addict and member of Roland's ka-tet, calls Roland a "Tower junkie.") The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King
Crimson King
The Crimson King, also commonly known as Los', is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the antagonist in the novel Insomnia the main villain due to a plot twist in Black House and one of the main villains in the latter half of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.-Fictional...
, Lord of Discordia, a Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
ic figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.
In the first novel, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Roland's original desire is simply to climb to the Dark Tower's top to question whatever god dwells there, but ka has greater plans for him. The ka-tet he acquires during the series bears many resemblances to his childhood ka-tet, who were all killed trying to help Roland on his quest. How he treats his new ka-tet when faced with decisions between their lives and his quest is a key component of the novels. Ultimately, his ka-tet represents a chance for redemption and a means by which he can ultimately change his own ka.
At the end of the seventh novel, it is revealed that he is trapped in a repetitive reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, his "damnation" for his crimes and killings (similar to Stephen King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French is a short story by Stephen King. It was originally published in the June 22, 1998 issue of The New Yorker magazine. In 2002, it was collected in King's collection Everything's Eventual...
", in which he expresses that his idea of hell is repetition.) However, it is also suggested that this eternal repetition is not quite eternal; after his rebirth at the end of the novel, it is revealed that in this particular reiteration of his journey, he possesses the Horn of Eld which in his previous pilgrimages he had lost in the final stand at Jericho Hill, the one major element which was discrepant from his approach to the tower and Childe Roland's approach in Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a poem by English author Robert Browning, written in 1855 and first published that same year in the collection entitled Men and Women. The title, which forms the last words of the poem, is a line from William Shakespeare's play King Lear...
("Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set...") In this way, it is suggested that Roland might yet find salvation from his personal hell.
Relations with other characters
Roland's chief enemy is Randall FlaggRandall 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...
, a villain who appears in many of King's works. Flagg's character appears in many different incarnations throughout the series. He is a minion of the Crimson King himself, though he is ultimately hoping to overthrow him. He is often at the heart of most conflicts with Roland throughout the Gunslinger's lifetime.
His relationships with his ka-tet change greatly over the course of the story. When he first 'draws' Eddie from the human world, Roland dislikes him for being a drug addict and constantly complaining about his plight. After Eddie beats his addiction, however, he starts to care for him more and more and eventually Roland regards him as something between a son and a brother. His relationship with Susannah follows the same pattern: though he is initially wary of her second personality, Detta, after her personalities 'merge' into Susannah he gets to know her better and grows to care deeply for her. His relationship with Jake is perhaps the deepest, initially seeing the boy as a trustworthy and strong companion, but eventually regarding him as his true son. Roland, already scarred by the deaths of all his childhood friends — who all died helping him to get closer to the tower — he is shown to be emotionally devastated by Eddie's and especially Jake's death, weeping openly (something Eddie mentioned before did not happen often, if at all).
Roland cries out all their names — both his first and second Ka-Tet's — when he reaches the door of the Dark Tower, along with other characters whom he cared for in some way or another: Susan Delgado, Roland's first (and only true) love, who was killed while he was in Mejis; Father Callahan, who was also a member of Roland's second Ka-Tet, albeit for a much shorter time; Hax the cook, whom Roland betrayed to the gunslingers because he was a traitor, something that deeply affected Roland; his teachers Cort and Vannay; his parents' names; the name of David the Hawk, whom Roland used in the trial for his revolvers; and the name of Aunt Talitha of River Crossing, whose cross he lays at the base of the tower. He also cries the names of Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw, two 'Breakers' who helped him and his friends greatly; the name of Sheemie Ruiz, one of Roland's longest-surviving friends; and that of Oy, the billy-bumbler, a ka-tet member who died saving Roland's life from Mordred Deschain
Mordred Deschain
Mordred Deschain of Discordia is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. He is one of the major antagonists of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, seeking to destroy his father Roland and his ka-tet...
.
Characteristics
Emotionally, Roland at times appears detached or unsympathetic, often reacting uncaring or angry at signs of cowardice or self-pity, yet he possess a strong sense of heroism, often attempting to help those in need. He is shown to be mentally scarred from the deaths of all his friends and family, often thinking about their words and actions, and he is said (on more than one occasion by himself) that he greatly lacks imagination. He also describes himself as "not very good in thinking around corners", meaning he has a very practical character, never really seeking other meanings or intentions behind what he sees, although he is very perceptive and intelligent. Cuthbert, Roland's best friend in his childhood, once said the gears in Roland's head turn slow, but grind extremely well. Roland is not very patient, especially when he is under stress, and often makes a rotating gesture with his hand, which means 'go on, hurry, move on' in conversations. Similarly, he prefers not to over-plan his actions, trusting greatly in his instinct and skill at improvising according to the situation. He is also shown not to have a great sense of humor: though he knows a lot of riddles he rarely jokes and is visibly irritated at times when Eddie (and in the past, Cuthbert) joke around. Roland is not one for small talk.In the last novel, it is implied that the gunslinger's mostly cold, ruthless nature is alleviated slightly every time he reaches the Dark Tower and begins his journey again-- Whilst his memories are erased, his personality changes in reflection of the experiences of each quest. This is symbolised by his re-acquisition of the Horn of Eld after the version covered in the Dark Tower series, implying that he has learned some of the true values of family and love; he has clearly taken the horn from Cuthbert Allgood's body as he wished rather than leaving it there as he did before.
In The Waste Lands, Susannah compares Roland first to Marshal Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, but later comes to believe he is more like John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. While she acknowledges that Roland lacks the president's imagination, both men have similar levels of charisma, cunning, and romance. King often notes Roland's strong sense of romance in his narrations, but describes this aspect of the gunslinger's character as being usually hidden by his more dominant sense of pragmatism.
Roland is also shown to care a great deal for his Ka-Tet, or "Companions in fate", and often puts himself at risk to save or assist them - though when confronted with the choice between saving one of them or getting one step closer to the Tower, he would almost certainly choose the Tower. Roland's silent desperation for the Tower is the driving rhythm of the series; it can be felt most powerfully in "The Gunslinger", wherein Roland's sole desire is the Tower and nothing below it.
Roland's revolvers (sometimes referred to as "the big guns" by other characters) are described as long and heavy, with blued steel (originally from his world's Excalibur) and sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
grips. These guns are a major sigil, as they are recognized throughout Mid-World and are used as an identifier of Roland. During the search for more ammunition in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in The Drawing of the Three, the guns are revealed to be chambered close enough to .45
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
or the .45 Long Colt
.45 Colt
The .45 Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It began as a black powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver, but is offered as a magnum level handgun hunting round in modern usage. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1873 and served as the...
to use manufactured ammo. In The Gunslinger Roland can reload both revolvers at the same time with blinding speed using a "finger trick." He lost this ability when he lost two of his fingers at the start of The Drawing of the Three. Even after being crippled he possesses almost superhuman accuracy and he can draw his guns faster than any other character. Roland is noted as being able to shoot equally well with both hands.
In addition to being a master gunslinger, Roland is an experienced traveler, able to hunt, make his own clothes from the skins of animals, and navigate via the stars. Roland can speak five languages, including the High Speech and the Low Speech. He also possess a great deal of knowledge about ka
Ka (Dark Tower)
Ka is a plot element in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It is a word of the fictional language High Speech.-Overview:In the books, it is a mysterious force that leads all living creatures. It is the will of Gan, the approximate equivalent of destiny or fate, in King's fictional language of High...
the nature of the world. Roland is also a skilled leader, diplomat, and teacher.
King physically compares Roland to a pair of living people: Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
as the Man with No Name
Man with No Name
The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...
in the Sergio Leone movies and, to a greater extent, Stephen King himself. There is a moment in the earlier books where Roland's apprentice, Jake, sees Clint Eastwood on a movie poster and remarks how similar his eyes are to the gunslinger's. There is a point during the second book at which Roland psychically bonds himself with a murderer named Jack Mort; the combination of the two personages is said to resemble the mannerisms of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
as he appeared in The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
. Eddie Dean sees Stephen King as a young man and recognizes that he and Roland share many of the same physical features, saying that Roland could be King's father. Physical appearance aside, King has often remarked that Roland is one of the few characters with whom he could never really identify. In King's own words, Roland "scared" him.
At the start of the story, Roland is in his 40s, but is physically in his 50s at the end of The Gunslinger when his age is arrested as he slumbers for ten years. Most of his hair is gray or white, but some remains black. His facial features are described as rough (although Susannah once compared them to that of a tired poet), and he has light blue eyes, often referred to by characters and Stephen King as "bombardier's eyes." Roland lost his right big toe and his right index and middle fingers, which is problematic as he is right-handed in everything other than shooting. He is a strong and disciplined man, capable of working through injuries and illnesses that would have killed or incapacitated another man. Roland is also unusually tall; at 14, he stood taller than the 16-year-old Susan, and, as an adult, his height exceeds that of his father.
Adaptations
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
had acquired the rights to produce three movies and a TV series based on the seven novels, as well as the short stories and graphic novels. Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
will be directing the first movie as well as the first season of the TV series, with the script being written by Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
. Actor Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...
will portray Roland.
In Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
's 2007 film adaptation of King's novella The Mist
The Mist (film)
The Mist is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King. The film is written and directed by Frank Darabont, who had previously adapted Stephen King's works The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile...
, the main character, David Drayton, can be seen painting a movie poster with Roland in the center, standing in front of a trans-dimensional Ironwood door, with a rose and the dark tower to each side.