thank you Path, for pointing me here...great discussion...

Quote Originally Posted by Candice Dionysus View Post
I'm going to have to say I agree very much with SynysterSaint's theory.

If I may, Dagavidiab... If Gan wants Roland to save the Tower in the first place, this shows that Gan is somewhat of a loving deity. If we can assume this is so, it may be that in saving the Tower, Gan came to love Roland more than before he did so, and so the loop is less a punishment for losing his humanity, and more an act of pity on Gan's part. And an act of love. And through this act of love and pity, Gan presents to Roland multiple opportunities to save the Tower and his own humanity in the bargain. If I were Gan, I feel I may have done so in the same manner; each time Roland is able to salvage a small part of his humanity, Gan presents him with another gift to allow for him to save more of his own humanity, and thus, after X amount of loops, Roland will finally be able to continue on with "life as normal," for lack of a better term. The loops are determined to continue until Roland can reach the Tower with his full humanity intact, and thus are dependant to continue as long as necessary, as determined by Rolands own actions. So the loops only continue as long as Roland "needs" them to, and as soon as he achieves what Gan has presented the opportunity for, the loops, or the spiral, as Letti likes to think of it, and which I like to think of it as well, will finally reach an end, and Roland will be allowed to continue loop/spiral free on his own continuing Ka.
sometimes i become very conflicted about the meaning of the loop when thinking about this "theory-arc" (if you please, say thankya).

it is the Tower, the voice of the Tower, that tells Roland "Death. But not for you Gunslinger, Never for you. You darkle. You tinct. May I be brutally frank? You go on." This is as Roland is reaching the top and is about to be pushed through to the desert. My focus is on the "Never for you." if Gan's intention was to give Roland more chances at saving himself, it would seem to contradict this statement since Gan would know whether it was possible for Roland to redeem himself or not. So to say "never" and then send him on his quest anyway seems rather cruel. In the end, Gan seems to have no hand in whether Roland repeats his quest or not. so, in this theory, the Tower and Gan cannot be one and the same. No one has outright said they are, however sometimes the will of the Tower and that of Gan are used interchangeably in these discussions (even King himself does this in the books, even though he presents varying degrees of contradictory evidence)

that being said, it would be logical to conclude that the Tower wants something else from Roland. Perhaps the Tower wants Roland to be satisfied with the completion of his quest. The Tower, clearly aware on some level, knows Roland would only be disappointed with what he finds inside, when compared to the friendships, knowledge, wisdom, and growth he has found on the journey there. His "redemption" is letting go. Much as King himself emplores us to do at the end of OUR quest, when we have finally reached the Tower.

again, much of this is predicated upon the theory arc in question. still an interesting thought though.


Quote Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle View Post
Do we all get such opportunities for redemption? If so, why should it be that Roland is to be saved by a different process? Do ours come to us through similar means, perhaps?

like Roland, would we even know that we were on our own "salvation quest"....?