Originally Posted by
Jean
ah, but even Jericho Hill is not the point! Roland behaving irrationally for the sake of something other than expedience, however, is. Let it be a different situation, but let him act there; Jericho Hill of the previous loop would then itself be just a hint, a pointer, a metaphor of what might happen on the next turn of the spiral, even if it doesn't happen on Jericho Hill per se.
I'm just spit-balling here but to me the actual events of Jericho Hill don't really count as part of the loop. Reason being that those events occur PRIOR to the loop beginning and therefore cannot be altered by Roland making a different choice. So, Roland somehow being "blessed" (?) with the horn for his 20th loop is significant in that it rewards him for personal character growth (to his soul? if you prefer) achieved on the 19th loop which is offered to us as the DT story.
Also, I just recently finished re-reading the revised gunslinger which at the end pretty much (at least IMHO) sums up the number of loops question as it finishes with Roland dream, after the meeting with TMIB, of him blowing the horn and entering the tower at the end of his quest.
Just another Tower-junkies 2 cents lol