In Stephen King's novel Song of Susannah, the sixth book of a seven-volume series titled "The Dark Tower," King writes of President Kennedy's assassination, "America's last gunslinger is dead. O Discordia!" in stanza 10 seems to suggest that Kennedy might be considered a forerunner of King's own Roland Deschain. In this way, King also implies that since the 1960s, our world (or at least the United States) has descended ever closer to chaos, just as Mid-World has. Both worlds have experienced a loss of innocence and wonder, and both are now on the verge of destruction.
Roland Deschain is the hero of the entire "Dark Tower" series. His quest is to save the Dark Tower, as well as discover exactly what the Dark Tower is and who occupies it. Over the course of the series, he recruits three people to help him on this quest: Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, and Jake Chambers. The quest is his "ka," or destiny, and they are his "ka-tet," with their own destinies bound to his.
Roland is a gunslinger—the type of character who might have once been played by John Wayne or Clint Eastwood in western movies. He is generally a man of few words, allowing his gun to speak for him. He rarely laughs or even smiles. He is obsessed with his quest. Although basically a good man, he will not hesitate to kill anyone who opposes him, or even sacrifice innocent bystanders if doing so will improve his chances of completing his quest.
For more about The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, see Encyclopedia.com.
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