Before I get into any of this, let me preface it with the fact that I am a huge King fan. I respect the man and his works very much! So, if some criticism is given in this post, the intention is (whether it comes across or not) that it is given as friendly as possible!

On then...

To err is human, as we all know. Writing seven (eight) books of such an immense story line is a great undertaking, and it would be an unreasonable expectation to think one would find them free of mistakes. Us Tower Junkies know that they are in there, and have likely found a few ourselves without someone else pointing the rest out.

I'm new to this board, and certainly have not had the time to go through every topic already here. But, my guess is that there have already been threads that discuss the various mistakes King has made in the books. So, knowing this to likely be true, this is not intended to be just another "Point out King's Mistakes" thread. Instead, hopefully this is something fresher than that. What I'm curious about is this:

Of the mistakes you are aware of in The Dark Tower Series, which are you able to reconcile and be okay with, and which have you not been able to do that with?

For me, some mistakes I've been able to explain away by giving King some lee-way. Others, for personal or logical reasons, I can't forgive (and thus, try to turn a blind eye for).

Here's a quick list of a few to start the discussion. Feel free to comment on the ones I've brought up, and/or bring up your own. The goal, I might add, is that in finding out how some of you may have reconciled some of King's mistakes, I might be able to agree and put a few of my unreconciled ones to rest!

1. King's Lack of Gun Knowledge - Status: Reconciled
Is this the most famous, well known mistake? I'm not sure, but my guess is that most Tower fans know of this one. Jake's .44 Ruger doesn't really exist (Ruger never made such a caliber), and Roland's revolvers are sometimes described as single-action (fanning) and double-action (cocking the hammer).

This one, I have reconciled, and you can too! The reconciliation happened for me in Wizard and Glass, and was further helped by Callahan's story in Wolves of the Calla.
Spoiler:
The ka-tet find themselves in Topeka, Kansas, but a clearly different one than their own world where Nozz-a-la exists and the Kansas City Monarchs play ball. Then, Callahan describes finding his hidden highways which lead him to alternate realities of our world.

With this added knowledge of other worlds, certainly the world Jake came from could have been a reality where Ruger did decide to make a .44 caliber. As for Roland's revovlers, we might be arrogant in thinking that the only way to make a revolver is single OR double action. Perhaps in Gilead a different manufacturing technology that our world has never conceived existed.

2. Henry Dean's Vietnam History - Status: Reconciled
This one was terrible for me for a while. In The Drawing Of The Three, we learn of Eddie's brother, Henry, having been a Vietnam Vet who was drafted into the war. But, if you know of the dates of the war, and when they ended the draft, it's obvious that Henry couldn't have been drafted. In addition to that, this problem is made even worse in The Wastelands when, in 1977, Henry and Eddie Dean are young, school age brothers hanging around basketball courts. By that date, Henry should either be over seas or returned wounded and well on his way to being a junkie.

The status of this one, though, is also reconciled with the "many-worlds" theory that helped me with the previous mistake mentioned. I sleep better at night thinking that in Eddie Dean's reality, the dates of Vietnam must have happened differently, and later.

3. Yes Roland, Women Wear Pants - Status: Still Bugs Me...
Roland is shocked to see the stewardess on the plane wearing pants instead of a dress in The Drawing Of The Three. Yet, pants are being worn in Mejis (riding pants are described) by Susan and others, so Roland has certainly seen them on women before. (And, weren't some ladies in Tull wearing pants? I don't remember 100%.)

This mistake, I admit, is minute (as most are, or else they would have been found and edited), but I can't just explain it away like some of the others.

4. Can't Understand The Letter "H" - Status: Befuddled
In The Drawing Of The Three, Roland tries to read a neon sign but can't make out all of it because he can't recognize the letter "H". It doesn't seem to work at first, as by that time you already know of names and words that contain phonetics that our alphabet uses "H" for, including the normal "Hax" and some consonant combinations (Cuthbert, Khef, Deschain). In fact, how ironically funny is it that the High Speech doesn't have an "H", yet the word "High" uses it twice in two different ways?

In later books, King shows actual High Speech characters which sorta helps me get this, as they are definitely NOT Roman letters. So, it becomes clear (I think) that of course Roland can't understand an "H" because the High Speech is made of completely different characters than our alphabet. This enjoyment only lasts a microsecond, though, for it creates a new problem: How does he understand the other letters, then?

So, what's going on? Does Roland recognize some letters when he's in Eddie's mind? Why not all? Are there some Roman characters in the High Speech (or in the Low Speech)? Creating a new language is a daunting task I'd never want, but, I wish King would explain these things better somewhere in the series. To my knowledge, he never does. It is, though, the unreconciled mistake I'm most forgiving about.

5. Name Changing - Status: Unforgiven
In The Drawing Of The Three, Eddie refers to his sister Selina. In The Wastelands, her name is Gloria. Likewise, in Wolves Of The Calla, Callahan clearly tells his tale involving Rowan Magruder, and later (Book VI or VII, I can't remember) Jake refers to Callahan's friend as George Magruder.

I can't use a "many-worlds" theory on this one. So what caused these mistakes? We're all human and mistakes happen, but man, shouldn't this have been caught in editing? I know if I was writing and wanted to talk again about someone's sister, I would have gone back to my original mention of the character to look up the name. Was it just laziness?

6. The Coastline Direction - Status: VERY LOOSELY Reconciled
In The Drawing Of The Three, Roland has gone west, through the mountains, then finds the Western Sea. He proceeds north. But, King states traveling north along the coastline, the ocean is on Roland's right side, which clearly means he'd be going south.

Okay, I KNOW before you say it that King has made it clear that the directions are breaking down. Still, this is a complete reversal of directions. More than that, it makes it really, really tough to try and "map out" where Roland has traveled and what his path from the Baronies to The Tower actually is. There is some reconciliation I can give it if I just bear with the idea that the directions are in that great of a flux, and maybe it was King's intention to make Roland's world truly something one can no longer map. But, was that really his intention, or just a slip of the type?

There you have it. Those are six of mine. I have more, but that's a long enough post. I am eager to hear what you think of the ones I've mentioned, and to read about yours!