Do you think Marten... *spoilers*

[CyberGhostface]

...was trying to protect Gabrielle in his own way when he warned her not to come back lest Roland kill her? Given that he later said he wanted Roland dead for killing her, it's probably something he didn't want to happen.

[jhanic]

I think that's attributing some "honorable" motives to Martin. I don't see it happening. He's an agent of discord.

John

[CyberGhostface]

Well you could say he has selfish motives in doing so if it comes out of a desire to 'possess' her.

The one good thing Robin Furth introduced in her Sorcerer comic was that he wanted Roland to shoot his father and was devastated when it was Gabrielle instead.

[Jean]

I dearly hope we won't be told in the very end that Roland is, in fact, half-son of Marten and thus, by a number of proxies, of the Crimson King

[candy]

I dearly hope we won't be told in the very end that Roland is, in fact, half-son of Marten and thus, by a number of proxies, of the Crimson King

Oh god I hope not.

In regards to the question (good one by the way) - I firmly believe that Marten did not want to save Gabrielle, but enjoyed playing with her mind. It would have been years until the night Roland killed her, and she would have to live with that knowledge day in day out never knowing if today was the day. That would be enough to send anyone bonkers and goes someway to explain her detached behaviour.

As an aside, i still dont like the fact that she forgave him prior to the act as this was never touched on in W&G

[CyberGhostface]

I firmly believe that Marten did not want to save Gabrielle, but enjoyed playing with her mind. It would have been years until the night Roland killed her, and she would have to live with that knowledge day in day out never knowing if today was the day. That would be enough to send anyone bonkers and goes someway to explain her detached behaviour.

Perhaps but I think if Marten were to mess with someone it would be like Allie and the Land of Nineteen -- "Knowing will drive you crazy, but so will not knowing." Here he was trying to scare her to keep her from returning.

I will say that Roland and Marten's views on Gabrielle and how they blame each other for what happened to her is just one of many examples of wasted potential that their conflict had.

[Letti]

I dearly hope we won't be told in the very end that Roland is, in fact, half-son of Marten and thus, by a number of proxies, of the Crimson King
No way. Roland and his dad are like two eggs. And if he wasn't the son of Steven Deschain it would mean that he isn't from the bloodline of the Eld. Everything would fall apart.


In regards to the question (good one by the way) - I firmly believe that Marten did not want to save Gabrielle, but enjoyed playing with her mind. It would have been years until the night Roland killed her, and she would have to live with that knowledge day in day out never knowing if today was the day. That would be enough to send anyone bonkers and goes someway to explain her detached behaviour.

I couldn't agree more. I think Marten did it to rush her sanity loss and he knew very well that she would want to see Roland again no matter what. I can't see the slightest good motive in his actions (however I tried many times).


As an aside, i still dont like the fact that she forgave him prior to the act as this was never touched on in W&G

I see your point and it's a good one but I think he didn't talk about it because at that time he himself hadn't forgiven her yet and he didn't want to say it out loudly. (Moreover, I say if he had ever forgiven her, he had seen the trap of the witch and he would have never killed her.)
At the end when Eddie asked Roland if he had forgiven... I felt Roland made up his mind at that very moment and first time in his life he felt he might have really forgiven her.

[Wuducynn]

Jean, you have nothing to worry about.

[Asharak]

If this hadn’t happened in the same book as all those scenes of Marten torturing Tim psychologically for fun, I could have had doubts about his intensions towards Gabrielle. But TWTTK made it pretty clear to me that this is RF/MBs hobby, something he loves to do, for shits and giggles. I think King would have framed it differently if he wanted us to see it in another way, though as a reader I of course hope it hurt Marten deeply.

[Hbgunslinger]

I agree that he did that just to tear her apart mentally. And I agree that he loves the act of torturing people and thrives on it.