The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - Help!

[Robert Gray]

Not sure I can help any but I'll try. Before Roland reaches the doorway to Eddies 'when', he has pavaler with the man in black (he has finally caught up with him because he sacrificed Jake!).During conversation he is told he will meet three doors. So he knows the guy with a monkey on his back means a man with a tremendous burden-this case drugs. So he approaches door very hesitantly and looks for clues. He only knows theres someone with a burden he needs to bring thru this door-literally. He at first understands very little and has no idea he will actually enter the mind of anyone else. Roland intends to go get this mystery person, but also knows he absolutely must get food and medicene first asap!when Roland opens door he sees thru eyes but it takes a moment for him to fully realize it. Doesnt take him long to figure out others can 'see' him as well--his eyes anyway. What an adventure he finds for himself!!

This isn't actually true. Do not read any further unless you don't care about spoilers (not only for Drawing of the Three but for all the Dark Tower books). Roland at first believes (and perhaps he even continues to believe) that by sacrificing Jake he is able to catch the "man in black" and generate the doors. It is, in fact, the man in black who suggests this idea. It is a lie. I can prove it is a lie. In the Dark Tower III, when Roland is losing his mind, there are two realities, i.e. the one wherein Jake is saved and thus never enters Roland's world and the one wherein he does (to be sacrificed). In both realities, Roland reaches the beach, finds the doors, brings his companions through, and so on. This indicates the boy was never necessary to catch the man in black or generate the doors.

So why would the man in black suggest this notion to Roland? The lie serves him. The sacrifice of Jake was the most important moment of this particular trip to the Tower because it is the moment where Roland does NOT "stand and be true." His drive to reach the Tower combined with the long days of wanderings which made him strange weakened his resolve to the point wherein he failed in his duty as a Gunslinger. I would argue it is that point in the story wherein he is damned. It is that moment where it is decided that should he reach the Tower he will simply go back around the Wheel of Ka again. The evidence to support this is the fact that Roland is deposited back in the sandy, hot wastes at the point not long before he met the boy the last time. Timing is important. While the test will not be the same, he does not go back to relive his childhood or many other adventures or pain. He is placed back to a point prior to his failure.


To bring this back and more directly on topics, the Doors are placed in Roland's path by a force beyond his immediate actions or those of the man in black. The companions he will draw are chosen for him. The nature of the doors is set for a reason too. They are not mechanical or scientific. They are magical. They will defy logical explanation beyond one that simply says there are forces which pay attention to Roland's antics and guides them from afar.

[There Goes Bill]

The food made it throught because of Ka, roland wasn't going to die on a beach because of no food. Just like he isnt going to die from Detta or the sickness. i Don't recall the actaully quote from Walter/Flagg but it was something like the blood of a hundred king runs in your veins, and how Roland is the reason the doors are even there. Walter did not bring the doors Roland did in his need of gunslingers. Vas Ka Gan

[ghost19]

Suspend logic, you're dealing with magic. <3

Brilliantly stated!!!!!, that is one of the best summations of the Dark Tower I've ever seen, BRAVO Connie, bravo!!!!

[There Goes Bill]

The man in black made the gunslinger drop the boy to tear his mind apart with the paraodx