Roland - General discussion

[jayson]

Ahh, that's right. That escaped me for some reason. Thanks Jayson. The way that Brian stated it kind of threw me off, like he was a main character or something. I remember the scene now, though I don't specifically recall the voice.

he sounded like John Cusack does pretty much all the time, which is not at all how I hear Roland

[Storyslinger]

I don't know, he would make a pretty good, "young Roland" voice. But, no way could he do Roland as an adult.

[razz]

When I think of Roland's voice, i kinda think of Jeff Goldblum mixed with the guy who plays Dr. Cox from Scrubs.

[thankeesai]

I always heard Roland's voice as low and weathered from the places he's traveled and the smoking/drinking he's done. If I had to pick an actor whose voice comes close to what I "hear"....Clint Eastwood springs to mind first. *Maybe* Jack Nicholson, but that's stretching it a bit.

I finally figured out whose voice I associate with Roland.
Viggo Mortensen.
I feel like his voice is strong but not deep, and that's how I've always thought of Roland. Kind and geniune, but can be gruff.
Check it out:

Totally OT: Wow. I've seen GI Jane a dozen times and never realized VM played Master Cheif

[obscurejude]

I think SJ might be onto something with Viggo... Roland is starting to sound like him now when I read.

[Unfound One]

I'm glad somebody might be on board for Viggo...
I've always "heard" him that way.
It's perfect.

[LadyHitchhiker]

Everytime I read this thread title I think of Roland and Gan having a romantic relationship..

[Jean]

well, metaphorically speaking -

[alinda]

metaphorically speaking we are all having a relationship with everyone,esp.
Gan, god, GOD, the source, whatever name you wish to attribute to this
entity. I hold to the thinking that higher beings capable of such grand levels
of creation, whom time & place hold absolutly no power would and in fact have no trouble at all manifesting they're energy signature in many different times & places on all levels of creation. I think it is our small minds that feel the nessesity to sort, label and separate or "name" these occurances and posses them as uniquely our own. Like our homes, and familys, communities, country's ,nations , ethnic cultures etc...like little children we snatch peices of life and selfishly hold tight screaming "mine" refusing to recognize the infinate nature of existance and the complete LACK of seperatness in the organisim we call life. Sorry back to Roland, it seems to me he has a real problem opening his eyes to his position in the relevence to the tower.
I believe like us if we'd open ourselves up the the possibity ...we're already there (here) our jouney is complete at that moment of realization.
Pick up your ______and follow me.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I love you Linda...

Your insights on life inspire me.

[Letti]

Anyway my dear native speaker friends, how do you pronounce "Gan"? Like "gun"? If so it's quite interesting.

[ManOfWesternesse]

Anyway my dear native speaker friends, how do you pronounce "Gan"? Like "gun"? If so it's quite interesting.

No, I'd pronounce it with an open 'a' - as in "fan" or "ran".

[Brainslinger]

Ok, some of my thoughts on things discussed in this thread:

Does Roland hold to a god?

Depends what you mean by 'hold'. I think he believes they exist or at least in the possibility of their existence. However he doesn't consider himself a follower of these gods. Except, of course, for the tower... and since he holds to the Tower, I suppose he does have a god of sorts.

Spoiler:

Bear in mind also, that in the last book, when Roland approaches the tower through the fields of Can-ka No Rey... (think I got that slightly wrong but the rose fields is what mean), Roland has a revelation that the Tower is the body of Gan itself. Hence, it could be argued, if he serves the Tower, then he also serves Gan who appears to be a force of creation... the closest thing to what we think of as God (not the capital G). Whether or not he knew that before then, I think, is a whole other thing. I'm not sure he even thought of it much. He was a man who lived very much in the here and now, he just wants to find the Tower, and he hopes to find out it's secrets when he get's there. There is even a scene in one of the later books where Roland thinks that Eddie would be surprised to know he hardly ever thought of the Tower. It's his obsession, sure, but as to it's nature, I think he figures he'll find that out when he reaches it anyway. In short, he allows ka to take care of itself.

That's not to say that he never thought of the Tower, or what it might contain of course, and yes he likely was afraid that the top room was empty.

Was he afraid God/Gan was dead?
In light of what I mentioned above

Spoiler:

it seems quite clear Gan is not dead. If Gan the creator = the Tower, then if he were dead, wouldn't that mean the Tower would have fallen? I suppose it could stand as an empty husk, much as a dead tree can stand for years so this might not be the case... but it feels wrong somehow, particularly taking the Beams into account.

However, Roland wouldn't necessarily know this before

Spoiler:

his revelation in the field of roses

so I think its understandable that the possibility of the non-existence or death of God/Gan was a legitimate concern of his.

Considering Roland 'calling on the gods throughout the series', actually I think he only really did that in the last book. He did seem to become a lot more religious in the last books (probably starting with Wizard and Glass but predominantly in The Dark Tower). I still don't see him really holding to any gods however (although he might believe in their existence). I do believe that since he now saw the end in sight, he felt the need to prepare himself, and I think that was part of what it was all about.

As for taking on religious affectations, crossing himself etc, I think this is as much to do with him being prepared as being religious. I.e. as a gunslinger, he is concerned with having the required weapons and defence at his disposal. He likely figured he could do with all the help he could get. Besides he is quite superstitious.

As for whether or not Gan is truly a god or force of creation with a will, or just a 'force':

Spoiler:

if Gan is the spirit of the Tower, I think it's fair to say he/it has a will. The Tower by it's very nature is all about creating and sustaining order from chaos, and surely order is defined largely by will?

. It's possible that God was a seperate entity who created the Tower, but whether it is truly the creator (which makes sense considering Gan is titled 'the maker') or a tool for creation for the creator... well it amounts to much the same in the end.

Spoiler:

It seemed clear to me in the series that the Tower had a mind of some kind though. It spoke from the Rose to Jake and the rest of the ka-tet, and it spoke to Roland when he ascended the Tower.

[alinda]

[QUOTE=Brainslinger;163858]what we think of as God (not the capital G). Whether or not he knew that before then, I think, is a whole other thing. I'm not sure he even thought of it much. He was a man who lived very much in the here and now, he just wants to find the Tower, and he hopes to find out it's secrets when he get's there. There is even a scene in one of the later books where Roland thinks that Eddie would be surprised to know he hardly ever thought of the Tower. It's his obsession, sure, but as to it's nature, I think he figures he'll find that out when he reaches it anyway. In short, he allows ka to take care of itself.[/SPOILER]


This is where I believe we are shown how Roland separates himself from
Gan, and the tower. He determines himself to be isolated from it, even when
faced with hearing its voice. Do you see?

[Brainslinger]

This is where I believe we are shown how Roland separates himself from
Gan, and the tower. He determines himself to be isolated from it, even when
faced with hearing its voice. Do you see?

I never really thought of it like that but I think I do see what you mean, yes.

I don't think he ever saw himself as part of Gan though, although he definitely sees himself connected to the Tower in the sense that he is bound there.

Spoiler:

Of course when you take the ending of the book into account he is even more bound than he thought

During his journey though, no I think you're right. (Of course the Tower might consider him part of it though. Tee hee.)

This makes me think of what King said near the end, it's the journey that matters not the destination. And in the journey that Roland has to set himself right, and he'll never completely be one with the Tower until he does just that.

[mallory]

I loved that part..
I know that Roland has a sense of humor, who doesn't right..even gunslingers..
Although Eddie always seems to be saying those one liner silly quips that tend to get him either ignored or just dismissed. Roland's humor is there, the whole time..It makes it that much better when he does indeed say a joke or cracks a smile..Roland is a reserved man i do believe.

[DettaDelgado]

Kaka.

[razz]

how many gunslingers does it take to change a lightbulb?
the answer: twelve

I bet Roland would get it

[Hannah]

For Sure.

[BillyxRansom]

So, I'm just over 100 pages in, and I read this:

























[POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD]










































































"Where you going with this, sug?" Susannah asked.
"I'm simply reminding you that I have wandered long," Roland said. "Because of changes in time--a softening of time which I know you all have felt--I've quested after the Dark Tower for over a thousand years, sometimes skipping over generations the way a sea-bird may cruise from one wave-top to the next, only wetting its feet in the foam. Never in all this time did I come across one of these doors between the worlds until I came to the ones on the beach at the edge of the Western Sea. I had no idea what they were, although I could have told you something of todash and the bends o' the rainbow."

Now, admittedly, I've accidentally happened across certain spoilers, which REALLY spoiled the series for me (but nothing can ever replace the way the books are written, so it's not as big a deal to me), but I just wanted to know, am I getting closer than ever to coming to the big turning point in the series that becomes the whole great and wonderful (and terrible) secret of the Dark Tower? Or is there something far greater, far different, that will only really start to reveal the basic concept of how things will turn out?

Also, does time sort of reset for Roland? Does he go through these same instances over and over again, and if so, does he maybe just forget that they happened, but still he ages? This is so strange to me, I never would have guessed the Roland is thousands of years old by the time these books are written!

[JQ The Gunslinger]

Just read it all. Trust me u have a long way to go until the end.

[Letti]

Remember the palaver with Walter. He lost hundreds of years just there.

[Jean]

oh, absolutely. I would also suppose there might have been other cases of time loss we don't know anything about.

[Letti]

Yes, and we mustn't forget that world has moved one. Time was like a broken clock.

[Brainslinger]

I find it interesting that he speaks of 'skipping over generations'. This suggests that people are being born and dying, while for him very little time is passing at all. Also the thousands of years are due to a kind of time dilation, so he isn't actually thousands of years old. As far as aging is concerned I mean.

I'm curious how that works. Is he protected as an agent of the Tower and/or White? Or is this just a commonplace phenomena due to localized time eddies etc? I suspect its a bit of both (in fact they might not be separate when you take ka into account.) Also other people must have experienced this too when you consider that

Spoiler:

Roland meets people from his former life.

, as it's unlikely he skipped all that time in Golgotha.