Yes, they are absolutely the same people.
No, they aren't. Their bodies (genes) and names are the same but no more.
It doesn't make any difference.. so what?
I can't vote because...
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
Agreed, and I can see where yours is a viable answer to the metaphysical question of "who" these similar folken are on different levels of the Tower. I still prefer to think of all of them as unique entities, but since King never says specifically one way or another, yours makes an interesting alternative theory.
I think the are both, unique and the same.
But the same in almost every way that matters.
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
Yep, and I can see that. I totally understand what you mean too.
Obviously a Dora that did not grow up an only child, did not have a father who drove trucks for a living who died young in her arms, did not have an overbearing Mother who told her she was ugly...she would have been a different person.
Loving that person would take work, her loving me may not be possible. But I believe we were meant to be on all levels of the Tower, one way or another.
Susannah may have felt that way about Eddie, and it could be the Tower wanted that too.
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just my own thoughts, but doesn't that kind of cheapen it? It seems to make the individual lives led by the individual Eddie's somewhat meaningless if they are all just extensions of one "essence." No trouble that Susannah lost her Eddie, she can just go to another level of the Tower and get a new one. Again, just my thoughts, but I think it takes away from the uniqueness of the individual.
Now you do sound like a ka-guy, Jean.
Usually I see your points guys but now... it's too away from me.
How could they be the same?
We are not Gods we are what life or fate or I don't know what shaped us to be. Of course genes are important too but that's just a slice from the big cake.
Sometimes it's just luck that saves us from jail or nervous breakdown or from the madhouse. Because life is hard (even if it's beautiful) and there are strong ones and weak ones and there is luck... if you meet the right person (like me) your life can be saved from one day to the other.
With good help (not just shitty advice) from the right person people can reborn and without help they can become the shadows of themselves.
How can they be the same?
Roland would have understood.
I think it all boils down to how you feel about "soul" Letti. I believe part of what people are is more than their experiences.
That would be the same imo
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
Okay.
So we just live and the soul we have and ka do everything? Or how does it work?
If I am the same everywhere it doesn't matter or make any difference if I am an alcoholic or if I am a nun... what's life about?
Roland would have understood.
That's up to the individual Letti. My life is about me regardless of all of that.
Its just my screwed up belief system, I suspect I am the only one that subscribes to it.
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
In general terms I'd agree completely with RofG. But in this instance I think I'd be inclined to say it is the same Eddie and Jake.
I think that because of Jake's previous deaths and how they affected him. He was on the verge of madness because he'd become divided and the new Eddie and Jake appear to have been suffering in the same way. Eddie has been hearing voices, and both he and Jake have been dreaming of Suze for months (which presumably concurs with their deaths.)
Suze's memories start fading as soon as she enters this world, and something about the way the chapter is written, implied to me that the same thing had happened to Jake and Eddie.
For the record, I always imagined that Roland, Eddie, Jake and Suze were without twinners in any of the other worlds.
Interesting R of G- everything. I'm going to think it over some more before I comment on the nature of the soul and such. Very good.
For the record, I always imagined that Roland, Eddie, Jake and Suze were without twinners in any of the other worlds.[/QUOTE]
Me too Darkthoughts. That totally threw me for some reason the first time I read it.
I actually do tend to think they are the same Eddie & Jake and that they have not lived their entire lives to date on that level of the Tower, they may just think they have. That was the reason I started the "Why Different for Susannah?" thread because I feel that she was given the same "reward" for her service to the Tower that Eddie & Jake were despite, imo, not givng the same level of service. My thoughts in this thread have mostly been accepting the hypothetical that they are different and exploring the ramifications, but for the record, I believe that it is the same Eddie & Jake.
Searching (whether through science or faith) maybe? Exploring the great big world and trying to be a better you? Who knows? Nobody! Whatever the truth is I doubt we'll ever really know. Does it matter how you are? Of course it does...at least subjectively...and to those around you...which manifests itself subjectively on you. If there's a god or not you don't behave any differently I don't think. Your reward (possibly your only one) is how you are defines who you are. Is experience a factor? Of course it is, but say another you in some alternate universe had some infinitesmal piece of who you started out as...if they had similar experiences might they not be similar to you? Not the same, just similar. Would they actually be you? No, but they might just be close enough for someone who missed and longed for you. Maybe, that's why Susannah chose to go after this Jake and Eddie. Or maybe they were the same. I don't know.
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
Ah, I figured my Dark Tower reference was too obscure
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
ZN was the symbol on the 'Riza that Mrs. Eisenhardt showed Roland. It means "Eternity, Then and Now".
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah