... A perfect ending (for me at least, a perfect ending)
by Letti
Spoiler:
They all were there and they couldn't believe it. Death was always behind them it was sitting on their back laughing and they could feel its disturbing breath on their necks so many times. Still, they were all there.
Eddie was holding Susannah's hand but they couldn't look at each other. Their eyes got hooked on the Dark Tower and they felt they could stand there hand in hand forever.
Roland felt that he was trembling inside so hard he could hardly notice anything else but the Tower but then somehow he felt Jake thoughts... "I don't want to lose him. I don't want to lose my father... Gan... I should try not to cry."
Roland turned back and he looked at Jake. The boy who was old and so young at the same time was standing there with tears in his eyes. He couldn't hide them.
"You know" - started Roland with a big sigh - "I always felt I would get here alone. It was such a strong feeling that right now..."
"You don't know what to do." - finished Susannah.
"Exactly."
"But you must go, mustn't you?" - asked Jake with a really cold voice. With a real gunslinger voice. His hot tears were burning his eyes still his heart got cold. Jake hated the Tower with every cell of his true heart.
It hurt Roland.
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
He was sure Eddie would say something really funny soon but his ka-brother was just standing there like a perfect statue watching him with curious and sad eyes.
"You know..." - started Roland after a long hesitation - "It looks all right, doesn't it? I mean... It looks absolutely healthy..." but he couldn't finish his sentence because Jake ran there and hugged him so hard that he could hardly breathe.
Now Jake was crying.
They hugged each other for long minutes and Eddie and Susannah let them be alone a little bit.
Jake didn't want to ease his hand because he was afraid if he ever let Roland get out of his hands he would change his mind immediately. Roland knew it and felt it and he let the boy hug him as long as he needed it.
First time after thousands of years Roland didn't know where to go.
What to do.
Still, he felt incredibly free. He felt his heart could blow up anytime. But wouldn't it be a beautiful death?
It would.
It would indeed.
Yeah...
I am a dreamer.
It's a nice dream. But... who rules Mid-World? What will become of the people?
R_of_G: The question of "Why did *I* survive, when others died?" is a common one. God only knows. In this case, God might be Stephen King... or not. Anyway, having different fates for no apparent reason is at least not unrealistic.
The question of "Why did *I* survive, when others died?" is a common one. God only knows. In this case, God might be Stephen King... or not. Anyway, having different fates for no apparent reason is at least not unrealistic.
True. King himself dedicated an entire story to that theme in Just After Sunset (which happened to be my least favorite story in the book). You're right, it's not unrealistic (even relatively speaking given the suspension of reality needed to enjoy the series itself). It is interesting to read people's different versions of what Susannah's exit signifies as well as the different interpretations of who exactly the Eddie and Jake are that she meets in NY in the Coda.
Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle
Perhaps it was because Susannah purchased Toren stock.
After all, a new reality was just exactly what she invested in.
Now wouldn't that be typical? Everything goes to the rich.
I'm going in a different direction as to my dislike of how Susannah's character was developed.
Susannah is my least favorite character in the book due to Sai King's forcing her into the novel as a political statement. She was his way of assuaging his white guilt as if to prove he was progressive enough to put a black heroine into his novels. It got laid on too syrupy thick with her being a rich heiress that was volunteering in the same county that the three civil rights workers died during Freedom Summer and herself having been tortured by the white sheriff; but she still fell in love with a younger white ex-junkie. Add the fact that she was a bilateral amputee(i.e. Handicapped) by a white man which required her to be carried as the symbolic “white man's burden'. Then to have Odetta Holmes symbolically spit in Roland's face by being the personality that drove through the Unfound door. Susannah threw the revolver away as a nod to Sai King's stated opposition to firearms(Oh, you don't need those nasty things in a real world/life.)
There were a lot of great possibilities that were thrown away with her character in favor of a running political commentary. This with his rush to complete the series, apparently to silence what he regarded as the barking of his readers, keeps it from reaching the greatness levels of JRR Tolkein's LOTR books.
I'm going in a different direction as to my dislike of how Susannah's character was developed.
Susannah is my least favorite character in the book due to Sai King's forcing her into the novel as a political statement. She was his way of assuaging his white guilt as if to prove he was progressive enough to put a black heroine into his novels. It got laid on too syrupy thick with her being a rich heiress that was volunteering in the same county that the three civil rights workers died during Freedom Summer and herself having been tortured by the white sheriff; but she still fell in love with a younger white ex-junkie. Add the fact that she was a bilateral amputee(i.e. Handicapped) by a white man which required her to be carried as the symbolic “white man's burden'. Then to have Odetta Holmes symbolically spit in Roland's face by being the personality that drove through the Unfound door. Susannah threw the revolver away as a nod to Sai King's stated opposition to firearms(Oh, you don't need those nasty things in a real world/life.)
There were a lot of great possibilities that were thrown away with her character in favor of a running political commentary. This with his rush to complete the series, apparently to silence what he regarded as the barking of his readers, keeps it from reaching the greatness levels of JRR Tolkein's LOTR books.
I actually thought the portrayal of Susannah overall was mostly positive in the racial sense. Sure Detta is very much a caricature, (and to some extent Susannah too, when's she's getting lippy) but it's made clear that it's meant to be a caricature. Someone not born in the real way but out of the fragmented mind of somebody who started off the opposite in many ways, although both personalities suffered from the racism of the period.
As for her disability it wasn't the burden it might have been.* She didn't let her disability get her down for long and was probably a lot stronger than man able bodied people as a result. The crippled Susannah Dean was a far stronger person than the able bodied Odetta Holmes (before the second Mort incident), that's for sure.
Even though she was a burden to some extent (albeit a loved and accepted one) in the sense that she had to rely on the others to push and carry her, it had nothing to do with race. Eddie was a burden to the others too of a different kind. All of them brought strengths and weaknesses to their Ka-tet. The latter they largely overcame helping each other along the way and grew as people as a result.
I can speculate, of course, on why King exempted Susannah from the deaths that took the rest of the ka-tet. I admit to wondering about why he wrote it the way he did; especially since he mentions (offhandedly, in his writers post-accident part in DT7) that originally it was Jake that was supposed to go with Roland all the way to the end.
Of course, you could say that's just the way King wrote it; he's been often quoted as arguing that writing is like uncovering a fossil, and evidently this story fossil said "Off Eddie and Jake and let Susannah leave."
My best guess is simply that King wanted to have a member of the ka-tet leave voluntarily, not through death, and that Susannah was the only character who would have left Roland voluntarily. If Eddie had been the last survivor, I don't think he could have called off even if Susannah was dead; his desire to see the Tower was too strong. Jake doesn't get much desire to see the Tower till Book 7, but I think he would have stayed with Roland anyway. Susannah was the only one of the core ka-tet that could "walk" away.
Still, I would have loved to have seen the version where its Roland and Jake who reach the Tower; it would have really brought back their trek across the desert in The Gunslinger.
I agree with Delah on wanting Jake to be with Roland when he reached the rose field to see the Dark Tower. Sai King did Susannah(we the readers really) a disservice in her character development. Her leaving for a 'when' to be with Eddie and eschewing the rewards of ever seeing the Dark Tower could have been a much more powerful moment. What I keep seeing and drawing parallels to the scene from the Lord of the Rings movie where Aragorn and Arwen are in the garden and Arwen foregoes life eternal alone for just the chance of love with Aragorn. Here is the YouTube for the scene that I believe is the best love scene ever filmed. Arsen & Aragorn in the garden at Rivendell. We could have had Susannah telling Roland that she loved him as din(as she previously done before the battle of the Devar-Toi) but her love for her husband was far stronger; and that her love for Eddie meant more than whatever reward lay at the top of the Dark Tower.
But what we got was Odetta PMS'sing and trying to take the rest of the ka-tet with her to leave Roland alone to go to the Dark Tower. If Jake was still there, he could have refrained to her, "Go then, there are other worlds than these." She would have tossed the revolver to Jake and said, "Then this is your world. Watch over and love your father Roland as I will my husband Eddie." She guns the scooter through the door, the door slammed, the scene shifts to where she is now walking in the new snow fall towards Eddie, and the fate of Susannah could have been left open ended for the reader.
Being that Jake is one of my favorite characters, I too would have liked to see him reach the Tower.
However, I do believe King when he talks about these stories writing themselves. anyone who writes knows that sometimes, the story has a mind of its own. Sure there are certain things you must do to keep consistency, but many times the really large plot twists write themselves. and then even if you try to take it back, try to write around say Jake's death on the side of the road, you can't. the story seems wrong. So in the end, i believe that King himself did not actually know who was going to make it to the Tower any more than we did while reading it (with the exception that he alone would be the one to enter it).
Oh yeah!! I thought it was just me. I felt jaded by Susannah's reaction. How could she leave Roland after they had come so far together? Why should everyone abandon him? Poor Oy even abandoned him in a sense. He only defended Roland because he knew it would please Jake (my interpretation).
Being that Jake is one of my favorite characters, I too would have liked to see him reach the Tower.
But just imagine how horribly sad it would have been if they both had reached the Tower and Roland would have asked Jake to stay out and wait for him. Because I am sure Roland would have wanted to step into the Dark Tower alone. And Jake could have waited for him forever.. because he would have never returned.
Being that Jake is one of my favorite characters, I too would have liked to see him reach the Tower.
But just imagine how horribly sad it would have been if they both had reached the Tower and Roland would have asked Jake to stay out and wait for him. Because I am sure Roland would have wanted to step into the Dark Tower alone. And Jake could have waited for him forever.. because he would have never returned.
Letti I never thought about this before but I believe you are right........how sad that would have been, and what a terrible ending!!
"Head Clear. Mouth shut. See Much. Say little." Roland Deschain
"Go your way, I'll take the long way 'round. Ill find my own way down, as I should." Ben Howard
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
Being that Jake is one of my favorite characters, I too would have liked to see him reach the Tower.
But just imagine how horribly sad it would have been if they both had reached the Tower and Roland would have asked Jake to stay out and wait for him. Because I am sure Roland would have wanted to step into the Dark Tower alone. And Jake could have waited for him forever.. because he would have never returned.
Letti I never thought about this before but I believe you are right........how sad that would have been, and what a terrible ending!!
It came to my mind as I was reading this thread and I saw how many people wished to see Jake to be with Roland at the Tower.
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
As long as Roland can't give up the Tower every ending is depressing. IMHO
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
As long as Roland can't give up the Tower every ending is depressing. IMHO
Do you think he ever will?
"Head Clear. Mouth shut. See Much. Say little." Roland Deschain
"Go your way, I'll take the long way 'round. Ill find my own way down, as I should." Ben Howard
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
As long as Roland can't give up the Tower every ending is depressing. IMHO
Do you think he ever will?
I am totally sure he will. One day he will. I believe in him with all my heart.
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
As long as Roland can't give up the Tower every ending is depressing. IMHO
Do you think he ever will?
I am totally sure he will. One day he will. I believe in him with all my heart.
Me too!!
"Head Clear. Mouth shut. See Much. Say little." Roland Deschain
"Go your way, I'll take the long way 'round. Ill find my own way down, as I should." Ben Howard
Good point, Letti. And see, its pure speculation at this point. Jake going with Roland to the Tower opens up a bunch of different scenarios of what might/could/would have happened.
I personally dont think Jake would have ever entered the Tower. My best guess would be that Jake gets killed (again!) by Mordred right after the confrontation with the Crimson King. Roland would still have to make a choice between Jake's life and the Tower but he would have to do it with the Tower right before him. Roland would make his choice but both Jake and Mordred and Oy die. Roland enters the Tower with nothing left to live for and ... well, we all know what happens next. That's just my "what if" scenario, but I like yours too, even if they're both very depressing.
As long as Roland can't give up the Tower every ending is depressing. IMHO
Do you think he ever will?
I am totally sure he will. One day he will. I believe in him with all my heart.