Roland's Salvation **SPOILERS**

[matthayward]

I understand that there are hundreds of posts on the ending of DT VII, and hundreds of questions of will this be his final journey, but what I want to know is when it is Roland's penultimate journey, and he reaches The Tower for the final time, what do you think his salvation will be?
- Maybe it's King's own ka and damnation to never stop writing about it :P I can only hope!

[GNTLGNT]

....being totally serious here....his penultimate reward will be.....no more ring around the collar.....

[Loodle]

I personally think he has many visits to come... Lord, it's a killer trip. Trouble is, it's haunting me, looping my life. I'm doomed to read, re read and read again. I'm also as doomed on my own path, in spite of reminders and recriminations. I'm no more likely to find the answer than poor long suffering Roland. That line: Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it...

[Chris1974100]

Its up to Mr. King to write on what is the salvation of Roland

[Sundrop]

All I know for sure is that KA is a wheel.........

[Vose]

To rest, perhaps? To cease his journey? To wander hand in hand with Susan forever upon the Drop? Part of me worries very seriously that there never will be a last trip, though. Ka is a wheel, they say.

[unclelouie]

I believe (and I am probably totally wrong here, but only Sai King may know for sure) that Roland's journey will end once he is able to get it right. And by "get it right" I've not much of a clue what I even mean. And how will Roland eventually get it right? Does he even know he's on a looping journey?

Ah, mayhap he has a a foggy idea that he is? Remember that epsiode of Star Trek the Next Generation where the Enterprise hit some sort of temporal anomaly and ended up in a time loop? I think the ep was called "Cause and Effect". Anyhow, the crew slowly began to realize (almost subconciously) that they were on a time loop.. although they only had a vague sense of it. And eventually they did what it was they needed to do in order to get out of the loop.

Maybe on his subsequent journeys the same thing will happen to Roland. Maybe, he can make changes and do what it is he needs to do to find salvation. Exactly what changes need to be made? I dunno... maybe start putting the universe and existence above his own need to enter the Tower? Who knows.

[Chuggs]

I believe (and I am probably totally wrong here, but only Sai King may know for sure) that Roland's journey will end once he is able to get it right. And by "get it right" I've not much of a clue what I even mean. And how will Roland eventually get it right? Does he even know he's on a looping journey?


I agree with you. He needs to "get it right" to stop his circle.

[TowerSeeker1980]

Perhaps that killer intuition is deja vu? Perhaps we aren't reading his first trip around or even hundreth? Maybe each time he gets it a little closer to perfect? I like to think each time the loop starts over it creates a whole new reality. I think the impression given is that he is doomed to keep repeating it untill he gets it ALL right. Susan lives, Cuthbert and Alain live, Eddie nor Henry ever started heroin(Jake could have prevented this), his mother never kills his father,he never kills his mother, and they arrive at the Tower together WITH the horn of Eld. In other words, I think long tall and ugly has a ways to walk yet.

[mjs9153]

I don't think he needs salvation,he just is what he is,not asking for sympathy,or forgiveness,or anything other than to continue his quest..to me Roland is each of us,and none of us,on our endless searches for truth,love,friendship,sustenance,heck even a place to shelter from the starkblasts of life,real and interior..for the Roland,and us,the road goes ever on and on,I'm a thinkin..thankee Sai..:)

[unclelouie]

The one thing I wonder is this... on each subsequent journey does he meet a new/alternate version of Eddie, Jake, and Suze? Or does he end up drawing 3 totally different people from Earth(s)? I imagine each journey Roland makes creates a new/alternate timeline, which branches off from the prime timeline.

And as we all know (ala the butterfly effect), even the smallest change can cause a tremendous shift in a timeline (if you were to go back in history and change something). So maybe with the Horn of the Eld, Roland's subsequent journey took him on a totally different path. Heck, maybe Roland ended up drawing George Denbrough or Bobby Garfield this time instead of Jake.. maybe he will draw Carrie instead of Suze (that's an odd thought)... perhaps.. he may draw Charlie Decker instead of Eddie. I'd say Bobby, Carrie, and Decker are as troubled as any 3 people you could draw! haha

[not_nadine]

Maybe this thread should say "spoiler" ?

[Vose]

Is it just me that thinks that the ending, much like the ending of the first book, wasn't meant to portray an eventual "good" ending? My impression was that he'll repeat the journey forever. Beyond scary in my opinion, but that was I took from it. The thought of Roland reaching the Tower in its untainted splendor is a pleasant one, however. But then what?

[Chuggs]

Is it just me that thinks that the ending, much like the ending of the first book, wasn't meant to portray an eventual "good" ending? My impression was that he'll repeat the journey forever. Beyond scary in my opinion, but that was I took from it. The thought of Roland reaching the Tower in its untainted splendor is a pleasant one, however. But then what?
Then what? Who knows...

Perhaps you've hit on something there with him having to repeat the journey forever. Perhaps that is Roland's hell...

[Loodle]

I'm sure I read somewhere Stephen King said something along the lines of 'It's not the destination but the journey that counts; the actual story rather than the ending'. Roland has an arduous journey ahead of him, but, would he choose to change his life and goals? Would he consciously have it any other way? Would he not fight to retain his lifestyle if it were threatened? We might think our own lives are boring, unfulfilling, unhappy, uncomfortable, etc. But, if something were to remove our current lives and habits, we would wish nothing but to have it back. Perhaps it is not hell but heaven.
*Apologies for the terrible paraphrasing*

[Drumbum]

I'd like to think his salvation is his friends. Jake, Eddie, Suzy, and OY!

[goingtodash]

I believe Roland has done only what he partially needs to do to stop returning to the tower. He opened his heart to friends and the formation and love of another ka-tet. What he hasn't done is open his heart up to romantic love. Repeatedly we are told that Roland is a romantic at heart, but after the death of Susan, he has closed that part of himself. In reality it is the death of Susan and Roland blaming the Crimson King ultimately for her demise and the fall of gilead that started this quest. When he looked into the pink wizards glass, he saw everything including his journey to the dark tower. I believe he learned the true nature of the forces at work to destroy the world as he knew it. With that said, I think in his last journey one of his ka-tet should be the reincarnation of Susan. I think that since the quest began almost because of her, that it should end with her. I also think it would be cool to have Roland have a biological son. HE slept with a woman on his trip to the keystone Earth, I believe that woman should have gotten pregnant with his son, and raised a natural born gunslinger. In this way Roland will gain his family, a life he swore off once he accepted the quest of the Tower. I believe these things will help him end his cycle. Btw I also think his ka-tet are always reincarnations of his original group. I think he pulls different people but they are all gunslingers at heart, and they are all Cuthbert, Alain, Susan, Jaime etc.

[mjs9153]

The journey is our own tower,and the reason for keepin on..there is no end payoff,the journey,our friends,family,everything in our lives is our gift..:smile2:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OMD8hBsA-RI

[Slark]

Perhaps redemption for Roland will take form in not seeking the Dark Tower anymore. Maybe the cruel joke is that he's doomed to repeat his journey for as long as the tower is the most important thing to him.

[Bev Vincent]

King talks a bit about what he thinks it will take to save Roland -- although he's a bit coy about it -- in my interview with him for The Dark Tower Companion.

[bluesology]

Personally, I think Roland's journey acts as a great metaphor in two different ways. First of all as a representation of the wheel of Ka, in that ultimately we are neither punished or rewarded for whatever we may have done or failed to do - the path that lays ahead of us already exists and all we can do is walk until we are lucky enough to find that clearing at the end of the path.

Second, I see Roland as a metaphor for us, the readers in that so many of us go back again and again, re-reading and going through Roland's difficult journey, knowing full well the heartbreak that waits for him at the end.