Question about Walter *spoilers*

[Randal Flagg]

In part 2 (telling tales) there is a scene where Roland is in the doorway cave, and he says to himself that Walter is Flagg and Flagg is Marten. Now, I know in Wizard and Glass when we meet Flagg, Roland calls him Marten, and that of course Marten is just one of Flagg's aliases, but where does he make the connection that Walter and Flagg are the same person? In one ofthe arguments, King even says that Walter and Flagg are different people (he says something to the effect that Walter was John Farson's advisor/wizard, but that he wasn't as a good of a wizard as Marten. Did I miss something (some revalation on Roland's part) or do we just haveto take his word for it?

Oh, by the way, if the answer lies in book 6 or 7, I'll get there eventually so no need to spoil it.

[sarah]

Hi Randal Flagg :)

All the answers will make themselves clear by the time you finish the series.

Welcome to the site. Let us know when you're done but stay out of the book threads or you'll be spoiled.

[CyberGhostface]

Have you read the Revised Gunslinger? That changes a couple of things. Books 2-4 still correspond to the original's continuity, and 5-7 correspond to the Revised's.

[Randal Flagg]

I did read the revised Gunslinger, but all I really got out of that was that Roland suspects that Walter is not really dead but is still out there somewhere. I mean, its completely reasonable that they could be the same person, Walter is described as looking different each time you look at him, and Marten and Flagg, who we know to be the same person, are described as having different features as well. I'm just not quite sure where Roland made the connection. I've got about 150 pages left of Wolves, and I have Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower already, so I can just jump right into those when I finish. So I'm sure I'll understand soon enough.

[Brainslinger]

Roland made the connection that Marten and Walter were the same in the revised Gunslinger. (Not in the original though. They're clearly separate there.) He made the connection that Marten and Flagg were the same in WaG. Therefore if we're following the new continuity we can assume the connection between Walter and Flagg is made there (although of course, since the revised wasn't written then, he still thinks of them as separate characters earlier in the book. You could get round that by arguing he was thinking of the separate personas or just ignore it.)

Somewhere between Wizard and Wolves of the Calla, King must have decided Walter and Marten were the same (although I think it might have been an idea all along) and so he wrote them as such, then wrote the revised Gunslinger to keep with that. I think the revised Gunslinger was written after the last three books, although it was published before.

[Wuducynn]

I think the revised Gunslinger was written after the last three books, although it was published before.

This is quite a confusing statement Brain. How is it possible that it was written after the last three books and yet published before them?

[MonteGss]

Time travel...duh!

[Wuducynn]

Sorry. Should have known. Nevermind.

[MonteGss]

Don't let it happen again.

[Jean]

logically, it is possible. You write books A, B, C, and D, in that order; then you publish book D; then you publish the rest. I don't know the chronology well enough to say if it was feasible in this particular case.

[Brainslinger]

Exactly that's what I meant Jean.

The last 3 books were written. The Gunslinger was revised, then published. After that the final three books were published, (although it's possible they were edited and altered in the meantime but the bulk was done.)

I might be wrong about that but I'm sure that I read that was how it was done in one of King's pre or after words, in the Revised Gunslinger. He revised it to fit with the ending that was written. If that makes sense.