Originally Posted by
Merlin1958
OK, first off, I have always had an issue (in my mind) with the whole "Jake/Roland Paradox". So this thread is to dissect and perhaps explain the feasibility and application of TT as Stephen King defines it in the DT series.
Now, if memory serves, Jake dies in NY in 1977 after being pushed by jack Mort and immediately appears in the Way Station in Roland's world and "when". They meet, pair up and proceed through the path under the mountain where Roland, famously, lets go of Jake and he utters arguably the second greatest line in the series. "Go then, there are other worlds than these".
Roland subsequently time travels (into Jack Mort's body in 1977 NYC and prevents Mort from pushing Jake, thereby saving his life. At that point Rolands personality is split. He remembers Jake (though technically he now has never met him in the first place) alive and dead and does not become himself again until they all "draw" Jake back into Mid-World in DTIII.
The thing that sticks in my craw the most is that even if you accept the rationality of the above, WTF got Jake to the Way Station in the first place? Isn't the whole thing a little "ass-backwards"?