When did Jake become a gunslinger?

[cupofcoffee]

A pretty straightforward question, but it's something I can't really figure out. In Lud, Jake apparently made Tick-Tock the first person he ever shot. A month or two later, when the ka-tet arrives in the Callas, Jake is somehow already a deadly gunslinger.

I was thinking Wind Through the Keyhole would make touch on this or at least acknowledge that Roland was training Jake while they made their way toward End-World, but nope. I guess I can accept that he trained along the way, the way Eddie and Susannah were taught to shoot between the end of Drawing of the Three and the beginning of Waste Lands (or the way Yoda trained Luke to be a Jedi in like ten seconds flat), but it still seems like something's missing.

Was this ever explained in any of the books?

[Shannon]

I think in this case there was less "train him to be a Gunslinger" and more "unlocking his inner Gunslinger".

[cupofcoffee]

Ah, yeah, I wouldn't argue with that. Especially since they mention how naturally Jake took to the Orizas and how Eddie brings up that he felt at home on horseback eerily fast, as if they'd all ridden before in another life.

[pathoftheturtle]

+ this awesome quote from DT7 --
The fact of his own almost unearthly speed of hand never occurred to Jake Chambers. All he knew was that when he staggered out of the Devar-Toi and back into America, his shirt -- bellied out into a pregnant curve by Oy's weight -- was pulling out of his jeans. The bumbler, who'd never had much luck when it came to passing between the worlds (he'd nearly been squashed by a taxicab the last time), tumbled free. Almost anyone else in the world would have been unable to prevent that fall (and in fact it very likely wouldn't have hurt Oy at all), but Jake wasn't almost anyone. Ka had wanted him so badly that it had even found its way around death to put him at Roland's side. Now his hands shot out with a speed so great that they momentarily blurred away to nothing. When they reappeared, one was curled into the thick shag at the nape of Oy's neck and the other into the shorter fur at the rump end of his long back. Jake set his friend down on the pavement.

[rockthecasbah]

Jake is referred to as an 'apprentice' in V by some town folken.

[Bev Vincent]

I would say that the moment he took his father's gun, he became a gunslinger -- or his inner gunslinger started to emerge.

[jhanic]

I think Jake was ALWAYS a gunslinger. It was just when he got his father's gun that it was realized.

John

[Ben Staad]

Agreed. Look at his home life. He was trained from birth. You don't always need a gun to be an official gunslinger.


I think Jake was ALWAYS a gunslinger. It was just when he got his father's gun that it was realized.

John