Question about The Gunslinger and The Drawing of The Three

[MoKe]

Hello All,

So I'm a long time reader but I'm new to the message board. My father got me started on the Dark Tower series years ago, and I've been a junkie ever since. I love all the books and would be really excited if they come out with a movie. There is just one thing that has been bothering me about the end of The Gunslinger, and the beginning of The Drawing of the Three. In the first book Roland and Jake are heading south east when they get to the mountains. They climb them and when Roland gets to the top and has his little palaver with the Man in Black he is told to go west to the sea and head north. So he does. When he heads north along the beach the ocean is to his right. It says that the sun sets towards the ocean. The part that doesn't make sense is that he had to go south East to get to the mountains, and then the Man in Black tells him to go West, then north along the beach. Roland should have been at the east coast of the land not the west. Can anyone help me. Maybe I've been reading it wrong or something.

Thankee Big Big

[wally wonder]

you're not alone...i think many have looked at the direction of travel and have come up swinging...the only advice i have is go with it...don't get hung up on it. i've read other stories, mike in bones maybe, heading down to the beach...he's turning left, i'm heading right, i gotta switch back and run to catch up. if you ever puzzle it out, let me know.

[GNTLGNT]

No you've been reading it correctly, things aren't always what they seem in Roland's world-including directions...plus, nobody ever said Uncle Stevie was a cartographer...

[youngfibre]

All i can say is you are one scientific observant reader, surprised you still had time to enjoy the book. Welcome! Stay awhile, you may come to discover we are all drawn to the same coast.

[MoKe]

Don't get me wrong. I didn't let it bother me to the point where I didn't enjoy the book. I think that I'm about as much as a tower-junkie as Roland is. I wanted to name a son Roland, but the wife won't let me. I was just wondering if I was misunderstanding it or something. Thanks for letting me know that I'm not alone in that.

[wally wonder]

Don't get me wrong. I didn't let it bother me to the point where I didn't enjoy the book. I think that I'm about as much as a tower-junkie as Roland is. I wanted to name a son Roland, but the wife won't let me. I was just wondering if I was misunderstanding it or something. Thanks for letting me know that I'm not alone in that.

best bet, MoKe, is to woo her w/flowers, 'ttention, and before you know it, you're in like flynn, but it is a crap-shoot, cause you never know if it's going to come up heads, or tails...got some friends, either all girls, or all boys.

[SeventhSinger]

Things aren't always as clearly defined in Roland's world. I wouldn't get too hung up on it as it may have been intentional to reflect the differences between worlds as well as the fact that "the world has moved on."

Very observant of you though and i intend to double check it when i arrive home this evening.

[snowcat]

Hi there, I been following da King for the last 20 years, have read

[jondubb]

I noticed the same thing and just took it as a sign of a strange world that has "moved on". A world where East is South, babies transform into spiders, and robots plot against twin children.

[blunthead]

I also noticed it right away, which makes you and me observant and constant readers. I suspected sK had not made an obvious, editorially undetectable error. Subtly, little hints that something is wrong, gives suspense its depth, gives a suspense story longevity. sK built on the other quality of Other Worlds in subsequent Dark Tower books.