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I was just curious to get everyone's opinion concerning the significance of Roland having the Horn of Eld when he begins his journey again? Is it possible that SK may consider adding more to Roland's tale in the years to come? I loved the ending of the series and was left feeling hungry to know more about the characters I felt so connected to.
For me it meant that while Ka is a wheel, it is not a perfect wheel and humans can change their destiny.
In so, the ending was hopeful to me. Same journey, but not exactly the same, and Roland isn't the same so maybe this time it will be a better.
But hey -that's just me :laugh:.
That was the feeling I got as well. Of course you can't help but wonder what it was that changed and how his journey will be different this time around.
The horn symbolizes his final journey in the loop. The final Stanza of "Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower Came" has the protaganist blowing a horn upon hearing the voices from his past.
i dunno, but if he's going to play in texas, he better have a fiddle in the band.
I feel the significance is huge. Three is a very significant number throughout the series. I feel he needs all three pieces to the puzzle to successfully ascend the tower and defeat the Crimson King. He needs the horn of Eld and both sandalwood guns of the Eld line. I'm assuming, by the ending of the final book, that if SK were to write a continuance on the ending part of the journey, it would involve Jake, Eddie, and Susannah finding the gun that Susannah threw away upon entering that new when. I feel as if each time Roland has ascended the tower he has missed a step along the way, for instance in this version of ascension he only ascended the tower with one gun and no horn; thus, causing the ka wheel to keep on turning and he must keep on journeying until he has acquired all the pieces. I am also assuming this based on the emphasis on the horn being dropped in the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, as well as the repetition by the Crimson King talking about the infamous sandalwood grips of the gunslinger . Based on this I am assuming the last time he ascended, when Cuthbert and Alain were in his ka-tet, he had both guns but was short the horn because it was dropped on the plains of the Meji's and that is why he had to continue is pursuit of the Dark Man across the desert once more with the ka-Tet of Suze, Jake, and Eddie. And as a side note: I feel the reason Suze, Jake and Eddie managed to refind each other during a different when was because Roland found the appropriate ka-tet finally but was just short the pieces of Eld. In my heart as a C.R. I imagine that Roland will redraw those three and they will journey with him once again but this time successfully.
Roland never reached the Tower with Cuthbert and Alain. Every time he repeats the journey, he starts in the Mohaine desert, after Gilead has fallen. Gilead was the first sacrifice he made in his quest for the Tower, and is the only one he can't take back. The quest itself is Roland's chance to redeem himself.
As for the Horn of Eld, it's significance has nothing to do with breaching the Tower, but everything to do with Roland's salvation. Cuthbert's last request was that Roland would pick up the Horn if it fell. Roland disregarded this request in favor of living to reach the Tower. It is this willingness to sacrifice others that damns him to repeat the quest until he learns otherwise.
In the repetition the book series concerns, Roland displays, probably for the first time, remorse at the death of his ka-tet. The Tower rewards him by allowing him another chance to retrieve the Horn and honor his best friend's dying wish. The fact that he took it leads the reader to believe that he has learned from his mistakes, that this trip may end with his salvation, and that this time, when he reaches the Tower, he won't be alone.
The first time we see Roland sacrifice another being to his own ambitions is when he's being tried to qualify for Gunslinger status, and he trains his hawk to make a suicide attack on his tester. Picking up the Horn Of Eld was a step in the right direction, but I think he has a lot of bad decisions still to unlearn or atone for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam_Murdock
We all float down here.
Since things, once done in Roland's world, like the head or tail keystone world of the rose, who is Roland chasing now? Randall Flagg is irretrievably dead at the mandibles of Mordred. If its a twinner, how did he get into the desert from his own world, and why?
give joe's book a read, heart-shaped box, perhaps there's an answer there.