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in answer to sheemie you also need to look at dinky earnhart and ted brautigan. how long were they at blue heaven? personally i think time warps much slower that close to the tower.
Re: How Old is Roland?
in answer to sheemie you also need to look at dinky earnhart and ted brautigan. how long were they at blue heaven? personally i think time warps much slower that close to the tower.
Re: How Old is Roland?
Well, Dinky Earnshaw and Ted could have ben taken at another time in their world, while In Roland's world it was also a differnt time. In Wolves of the Calla, the world were the rose is is seven minutes or something like that faster than Mid-world, and Dinky and Ted could have been from another world that has time going at a faster rate than Roland's or the one with the rose. Keystone Earth I belive it's called.
Re: How Old is Roland?
You're right about the thousand years thing in a way. Roland himself says he has travelled over thousands of years sometimes skipping entire generations. So he was sort of jumping through time. That is not his age however, because he didn't live in everyday of every year he skipped over. And doesn't Sheemie live in Algul Siento? I think he does so that is pretty glose to th Tower.Originally Posted by sam peebles
Re: How Old is Roland?
Along the "sub-thread" of the perception of time in Roland's world I have a small thing to interject that is the subtext for my view of this topic.
Think about this: you have slept and been awakened by an alarm clock. You notice the alarm clock says 7:00AM. You hit snooze, doze back off, and slip into a wondeful dream of having dinner with Ms Mod and Steve, complete with REAL Maine lobster. Soon you notice a cruel buzz crashing through this blissful world of drawn butter, great conversation and interesting people. It grows louder and louder. Dammit, will somebody make that stop, we are trying to have dinner here! Two whole hours of peaceful dining bliss, only to be ruined by this incessant, infernal claptrap of noise!! Then you realize... it's the snooze alarm. You awaken once again to note a time of 7:09 AM. It seemd like hours in there; Ms Mod telling you how clever you are and Steve saying "Yes, I will use that in my next book!" and "No I never thought of ending it THAT way", yet it has only been 9 minutes! How can it so easily seem to be hours, days or months to you, yet in the "real" world it has been only 9 minutes. Well, I think we all know this is the concept of perception.
In the novels it always says "ka is a wheel" and thus, TIME is a wheel. This means that among the ability to visit any point on the wheel, the wheel can be slowed or sped up. In terms of Roland's world and the erosion and destruction of the underlying beam structure made the "gear" upon which that world's wheel was turning the "wrong size". A good analogy of this is an electric meter... if you put a larger post in it, it turns less time per minute. Since it was made clear that time was "slower" in Roland's world, we can assume the effect of the beam damage was to make the "gear" "larger". I would also postulate that since we are talking about time and space (or spacetime for you physicists out there) that the effects would be unusual and not always on a definitive metric (sometimes the slowness is to a greater or lesser degree). However, as with my dream example, the perception of these people would be that it seemed longer somehow or maybe "undefined", but not the straight analgous translation of "a thousand years" as measured when the "world [hadn't] moved on" yet.
That is my theory behind my reasoning of the answer to this question. Sorry to be so verbose-- I just drank a Red Bull.
Re: How Old is Roland?
How did you get from Ka is a wheel, to Time is a wheel? It isn't so much time that makes Roland , but his Ka. You are right about your dream time vs. real time theory, but Roland doesn't have a second thing like real time has dream time, he only has the time in Keystone Earth, and the time in Mid-world. What I'm trying to say is that Roland isn't aging differently in those two worlds. He is aging the same as a whole no matter if he is fifty in Mid-world and forty-five in Keystone world, he is still the same age as a whole. Like if you are going from point A to point B, you can't stop and take a breack at point C. That last sentence may be a bit confusing, tell me if I have explain further on that.Along the "sub-thread" of the perception of time in Roland's world I have a small thing to interject that is the subtext for my view of this topic.
Think about this: you have slept and been awakened by an alarm clock. You notice the alarm clock says 7:00AM. You hit snooze, doze back off, and slip into a wondeful dream of having dinner with Ms Mod and Steve, complete with REAL Maine lobster. Soon you notice a cruel buzz crashing through this blissful world of drawn butter, great conversation and interesting people. It grows louder and louder. Dammit, will somebody make that stop, we are trying to have dinner here! Two whole hours of peaceful dining bliss, only to be ruined by this incessant, infernal claptrap of noise!! Then you realize... it's the snooze alarm. You awaken once again to note a time of 7:09 AM. It seemd like hours in there; Ms Mod telling you how clever you are and Steve saying "Yes, I will use that in my next book!" and "No I never thought of ending it THAT way", yet it has only been 9 minutes! How can it so easily seem to be hours, days or months to you, yet in the "real" world it has been only 9 minutes. Well, I think we all know this is the concept of perception.
In the novels it always says "ka is a wheel" and thus, TIME is a wheel. This means that among the ability to visit any point on the wheel, the wheel can be slowed or sped up. In terms of Roland's world and the erosion and destruction of the underlying beam structure made the "gear" upon which that world's wheel was turning the "wrong size". A good analogy of this is an electric meter... if you put a larger post in it, it turns less time per minute. Since it was made clear that time was "slower" in Roland's world, we can assume the effect of the beam damage was to make the "gear" "larger". I would also postulate that since we are talking about time and space (or spacetime for you physicists out there) that the effects would be unusual and not always on a definitive metric (sometimes the slowness is to a greater or lesser degree). However, as with my dream example, the perception of these people would be that it seemed longer somehow or maybe "undefined", but not the straight analgous translation of "a thousand years" as measured when the "world [hadn't] moved on" yet.
That is my theory behind my reasoning of the answer to this question. Sorry to be so verbose-- I just drank a Red Bull.
Re: How Old is Roland?
Well, as it seems to me to be defined, Ka is kind of "everything", akin to bhuddist philosophy. Or maybe "fate" is a better word? Since fate depends on time to occur when it is supposed to, the two are intertwined. Roland seemed to be "tethered" to his world and its specific "rate" of time regardless of where he was physically located. The impossibility of translating that from world to world seems to make it impossible to accurately decode his true age in our years (or in dog years
Today, I have not had a Red Bull yet!
Re: How Old is Roland?
Yes, no matter were he is, he'll age the same. It is possible to find his age, because he lives in a world were Stephen King decides everything, so Sai king himself could say Roland's age and it would be accurate. He could say he was 19 or 99. Oh and did I mention 19?Well, as it seems to me to be defined, Ka is kind of "everything", akin to bhuddist philosophy. Or maybe "fate" is a better word? Since fate depends on time to occur when it is supposed to, the two are intertwined. Roland seemed to be "tethered" to his world and its specific "rate" of time regardless of where he was physically located. The impossibility of translating that from world to world seems to make it impossible to accurately decode his true age in our years (or in dog years
Today, I have not had a Red Bull yet!
Re: How Old is Roland?
Well, as Ms Mod said earlier that Steve said Robin's math was generally OK, I guess we all have to bow to the master and agree then! (I still don't really agree thoughYes, no matter were he is, he'll age the same. It is possible to find his age, because he lives in a world were Stephen King decides everything, so Sai king himself could say Roland's age and it would be accurate. He could say he was 19 or 99. Oh and did I mention 19?
Re: How Old is Roland?
I guess we do... but we will never know. Sai King is done with DT. Unless he makes The Wind Through the Keyhole! But that lost to Doctor Sleep...
Re: How Old is Roland?
I feel Roland is as old as time itself. Though I'm sure you could find in answer if you studied it, but I feel that would suck all the enjoyment of a mighty fine series.
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