Is there anyone in the Ka-Tet you don't like? :spoilers:

[haunted.lunchbox]

Is there any member of the Ka-Tet you dislike?

[Letti]

I love them all.

[Jean]

I love them all... especially Susannah (my personal favorite), Roland and Oy. Have never been crazy about Jake, and Eddie annoys me at times - I find his sense of humor a little too close to his brother's, and most of his jokes don't seem funny to me, but I respect him a lot, and by no means can say I don't like him.

[RainInSpain]

I am not fond of Susannah at all.
I can't help but think of certain people I met in RL, of whom she reminds me, and clashes of personalities I had with those (admittedly, very few) people.

[Seneschal]

I am not fond of Susannah at all.
I can't help but think of certain people I met in RL, of whom she reminds me, and clashes of personalities I had with those (admittedly, very few) people.

i agree with this.

[turtlex]

Though Eddie is absolutely my favorite, Susannah might be the person I would be most interested in meeting "In Real Life". Even without the DTverse she was drawn into, just think of the amazing life(ves) she's led and experienced. Add to that the fact that she's the next best Gunslinger after Roland, and I just find her so fascinating.

[haunted.lunchbox]

Tenant and TurtleX- I have to say I'm surprised you like Susannah so much. She has been through a lot of experiences, but out of all of them, she is the one I dislike the most. Maybe it's because I never got over how she was before the merge... she just acted so nutty and hostile.

[pathoftheturtle]

... Eddie annoys me at times - I find his sense of humor a little too close to his brother's, and most of his jokes don't seem funny to me, but I respect him a lot, and by no means can say I don't like him.Oh, I totally agree with this.

I have always been crazy about Jake, though. I totally get that kid.

Susannah, Detta/Odetta was the character I had the hardest time accepting, not in disliking her as a person, but in disbelieving her as a person. Once you buy the character, she's still rather intimidating (not only Detta, but her later nuttiness as well). Still, this is par for the course, I reckon. Every one of these gunslingers really are scary, scary individuals, when you get right down to it. If any of you decided at some point that Eddie is someone with whom you could let your guard down, I really think that you would get a rude awakening.

[turtlex]

Tenant and TurtleX- I have to say I'm surprised you like Susannah so much. She has been through a lot of experiences, but out of all of them, she is the one I dislike the most. Maybe it's because I never got over how she was before the merge... she just acted so nutty and hostile.

Um, I'm pretty sure you were supposed to feel threatened by her and "nutty and hostile" is pretty threatening! :lol:

I do see your point, but it was all her struggle and over-coming her issues, that I find so engaging. Add to that the multiple "roles" she plays within the Tet and I just really like her.

( by roles I mean : Eddie's wife, Jake's pseudo-mom, roland's fellow gunslinger ... )



... Eddie annoys me at times - I find his sense of humor a little too close to his brother's, and most of his jokes don't seem funny to me, but I respect him a lot, and by no means can say I don't like him.Oh, I totally agree with this.

I have always been crazy about Jake, though. I totally get that kid.

Susannah, Detta/Odetta was the character I had the hardest time accepting, not in disliking her as a person, but in disbelieving her as a person. Once you buy the character, she's still rather intimidating, (not only Detta, but her later nuttiness as well.) Still, this is par for the course, I reckon. Every one of these gunslingers really are scary, scary individuals, when you get right down to it. If any of you decided at some point that Eddie is someone with whom you could let your guard down, I really think that you would get a rude awakening.

I don't mind intimidating women. :blush: Especially if they're smart, funny and awesome gunslingers.

[Doe]

I voted I love them all, Suzanna was hard to accept at first, the double personality thing I hated, If I were Roland I would have been tempted to feed her to the Lobstrocities.

Though later, esepcially in DT6 and DT7 i fell in love with her, I thought she was amazing, and I think in the end she was the BEST gunslinger, Indeed she may not have been as fast or as 'strong' as Roland, but she had the heart..

[haunted.lunchbox]

I voted I love them all, Suzanna was hard to accept at first, the double personality thing I hated, If I were Roland I would have been tempted to feed her to the Lobstrocities.

I really love that you said this, it made my day.

One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

[Doe]

One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

Totally agree with you there, I dont like the way she treated Roland or discarded such a piece of history, Imagne how any of her ka-tet would have felt if they whitnessed that.

However I dont have sympathy for Roland either, To the Extent that he ofcourse did drag her from her (somewhat) happy life, Showed her love and then loss, and after all of that, pretty much be willing to walk her to her death.

So..Im just happy the story ended happy for her. But, Needless to say if it were up to me, she would have been lobster food long before she was able to redeem herself in my eyes

[haunted.lunchbox]

One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

Totally agree with you there, I dont like the way she treated Roland or discarded such a piece of history, Imagne how any of her ka-tet would have felt if they whitnessed that.

However I dont have sympathy for Roland either, To the Extent that he ofcourse did drag her from her (somewhat) happy life, Showed her love and then loss, and after all of that, pretty much be willing to walk her to her death.

So..Im just happy the story ended happy for her. But, Needless to say if it were up to me, she would have been lobster food long before she was able to redeem herself in my eyes

I think the ends justified the means in Roland's case. He doesn't like these people close to him dying, but they have to if he is going to triumph. He felt if he didn't triumph all would be lost, Susannah being ripped from her reality is a small price.

[Doe]

Indeed and I agree, Just saying from Suzannas perspective, I dont blame her for doing what she did to Roland in the end. Not that I agree with it.

[pathoftheturtle]

Oh, there was a large portion of one of our longer threads debating that. Click an arrow in this quote to see more --

AND.....she threw Roland's gun away. :cry:

I always hated Susannah, and I could never figure out why; I realized my reasons as soon as she threw away Roland's gun.

[haunted.lunchbox]

Oh, there was a large portion of one of our longer threads debating that. Click an arrow in this quote to see more --

AND.....she threw Roland's gun away. :cry:

I always hated Susannah, and I could never figure out why; I realized my reasons as soon as she threw away Roland's gun.

Reading this affirms that I dislike Susannah.

I've toyed with the idea that my dislike may stem from her being the only female in the group. Women are always harder on each other than men are, maybe I just see myself doing different things being put in her position, and disliking her for reason. It is possible that a male character could have had the same story line and I would have liked him, because I wouldn't have held him to the standard that I hold other women. But I'm not sure if this is true.

[Letti]

One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

Totally agree with you there, I dont like the way she treated Roland or discarded such a piece of history, Imagne how any of her ka-tet would have felt if they whitnessed that.

I couldn't stand what she did but I think if her ka-tet had seen it... they would have understood her perfectly. And they could have forgiven her. (For my part I couldn't.)

My feelings are very complex about Susannah. There are many things I can hardly tolerate in her. BUT I respect her way too much and this respect gives the soil of my love for her.

[Jean]

dear friends,

if you are going to have an in-depth Susannah discussion, please let's do it here (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?t=584). Both Susannah's admirers and haters might find something interesting there.

There are also other Susannah-related threads; I hope those of us who are new here won't disregard them, either.

[pathoftheturtle]

Okay, I'll watch for that, but can I just mention, before we get back on-topic here, how much it pains me each time I hear how many people subscribe to that bizarre theory about that gun? I just never took it that way at all, and I think you're all crazy.

I love Susannah and I love them all!

[Letti]

I think you're all crazy.

That's the compliment of the year. :)


Jean: you are totally right but let's face it. If people start talking about their least favourite characters it's hard to avoid talking about Susannah much.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I put Jake as my least favorite, though I was disappointed Father callahan wasn't in this poll. Now working in my new job I have a lot more respect for who Susannah is and who she became and how she still held true after all she'd gone through. She was my least favorite for years, but she's grown on me.

[haunted.lunchbox]

I put Jake as my least favorite, though I was disappointed Father callahan wasn't in this poll. Now working in my new job I have a lot more respect for who Susannah is and who she became and how she still held true after all she'd gone through. She was my least favorite for years, but she's grown on me.

Father Callahan is actually a favorite of mine... but I didn't feel he wasn't in as many of the books and although he was an ally, I just didn't see him as part of the ka-tet, even though he probably was.

[Delah]

Roland.

I find him fascinating, intriuging, contradictory, dynamic .... but I don't like him. There are moments in the series where I can like or appreciate certain actions or thoughts of his, but overall he does not strike me as a likable person. He's certainly not the sort of person I would want to get to know in real life.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I put Jake as my least favorite, though I was disappointed Father callahan wasn't in this poll. Now working in my new job I have a lot more respect for who Susannah is and who she became and how she still held true after all she'd gone through. She was my least favorite for years, but she's grown on me.

Father Callahan is actually a favorite of mine... but I didn't feel he wasn't in as many of the books and although he was an ally, I just didn't see him as part of the ka-tet, even though he probably was.

He wasn't my favorite, wasn't my least favorite, but they mention in the books that he's part of the ka-tet so I thought he should be in the poll.

[alkanto]

I voted I love them all, Suzanna was hard to accept at first, the double personality thing I hated, If I were Roland I would have been tempted to feed her to the Lobstrocities.

I really love that you said this, it made my day.

One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

I was just going to post this. It sums up my feeling on Susannah rather astutely.
It's not that I hate her...I just, don't like her nearly enough as the rest of the Ka-Tet. It just irked me in particular that she was the one who got to nearly finish the journey with Roland. Why couldn't have Jake or Eddie been there?
And, if they had, would they have just left Roland, so near the end?

[pathoftheturtle]

Roland.

I find him fascinating, intriuging, contradictory, dynamic .... but I don't like him. There are moments in the series where I can like or appreciate certain actions or thoughts of his, but overall he does not strike me as a likable person. He's certainly not the sort of person I would want to get to know in real life.Yes, but as I've been saying, the same goes for all of them to some degree. If this is how you choose to define "liking" the character, then I'm surprised that you like any of his friends, either.
...
... Once you buy the character, she's still rather intimidating, (not only Detta, but her later nuttiness as well.) Still, this is par for the course, I reckon. Every one of these gunslingers really are scary, scary individuals, when you get right down to it. If any of you decided at some point that Eddie is someone with whom you could let your guard down, I really think that you would get a rude awakening.

I don't mind intimidating women. :blush: Especially if they're smart, funny and awesome gunslingers.To be more honest, if you didn't get it, by "intimidating" what I kind of meant was "psycho."

[LadyHitchhiker]

I think now rethinking it, I really do love them all. Just some I like more than others. There's not one I completely dislike.

[Delah]

Actually, Puck, I belive liking means something different for everyone. For me, as I hinted, liking means appreciating someones good qualities and believing they out number or outweigh their bad ones, and its a very personal interpretation; qualities you may particularly like or dislike will cause you to particularly like or dislike a character.

Roland has some great moments in the series, but overall, to me, he is an unlikable character. The rest of the characters have good and bad moments in the series, as you said, but their good qualities (especially Eddie's and Jake's) outweigh their bad ones in my eyes, and therefore I find them likable.

I can't imagine reading the whole series and not liking anyone in it; if I'd reached that point, I would have just given up on the whole thing.

I think one of the strong arguments for Roland not being particularly likable is simply that King doesn't like him very much; there's certainly an undertone of that in their conversation in SOS. That's not why I don't like Roland (I didn't like him long before SOS; in fact, I didn't like him in The Gunslinger) but it is there. For me, Roland's ruthlessness, his coldness, his violence, his arrogance (which he refers to) and his obsession outweigh his positive qualities of bravery, determination and devotion. I hope that clarified my thoughts on "liking" for you. It is a pretty subjective term.

[candy]

I voted i love them all, they each had their faults but in the end thats what made me love them more. That made them all the more real to me, even Susannah - i understand the dislike i just don't share it.


One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

I thought along the lines of 'maybe this is the way to get to the tower'
maybe if roland discards his guns and accepts himself he would finally be able to attain his tower?

and in the end don't you think that Roland himself was callous to each and everyone of his Ka-tet and this is the reason she was able to be so callous back to him?

which brings me back to my first sentence, that they all had their faults and really, you can't say you dislike one thing in one person without it then impacting onto someone else faults?

just my humble opinion.

[haunted.lunchbox]

I voted i love them all, they each had their faults but in the end thats what made me love them more. That made them all the more real to me, even Susannah - i understand the dislike i just don't share it.


One thing that makes it hard for me to like her is how she treated Roland at the end... and then just callously discarded his gun.

I thought along the lines of 'maybe this is the way to get to the tower'
maybe if roland discards his guns and accepts himself he would finally be able to attain his tower?

and in the end don't you think that Roland himself was callous to each and everyone of his Ka-tet and this is the reason she was able to be so callous back to him?

which brings me back to my first sentence, that they all had their faults and really, you can't say you dislike one thing in one person without it then impacting onto someone else faults?

just my humble opinion.

I take your opinion and I raise it my opinion, that doesn't flow like I had intended...
I am doing my first reread so maybe I will like her more this time around, but I don't think I will. I am always more forgiving with men than women. If I don't like a female character it's usually because I would have done something vastly different being in their situation.

[Girlystevedave]

As I've said before: I respect Susannah, I just don't like her much. :)