A Post Not About X-Factor #10

Shocking, I know. Today's post actually draws from this post at the Absorbascon.

It's kind of funny to me that for all the reading I've done over the years (and I mean reading for enjoyment not "Read Hamlet and write a critical analysis essay over it"), that I don't really know anything about the theories of literature, or the changes in it over time. I might be subconsciously aware of them, but I never really think intently on them. But reading that post brought me to Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

Maybe it's King's comments that everything he's ever written has tied into the Tower on some level, but I thought, since Roland of Gilead's group consisted of four heroes, could King have consciously made them each a representative of the different eras?

So I looked at the criteria, as explained by both Scipio and Vera Norman (in the link at the end of the post), and here's my thinking (keeping in mind I don't have the books in front of me for reference, though I do have The Stephen King Universe):

Roland (Classical Hero) - Son of a king. Became a gunslinger at the age of 14, the earliest it had ever been accomplished. Gunned down an entire town that was out to kill him. Reached the Dark Tower. Lost fingers on his left(?) hand. Suffers from arthritis. Death is well, I can't say, it would spoil the books if you haven't read them. No one sent Roland to look for the Tower, he does so because he wants to, because he feels he has to. On the occasions where he's helped people (as in the City of Lud, or Eddie with his drug dealer issues), it's been because it served his purpose, and was done whether the people wanted his help or not.

The only criteria I don't think he meets is the "noble character which is close to perfectly ideal except for a fatal flaw". Roland's an aging fellow, with an extreme lack of imagination, but I don't think he's perfectly ideal, though given his hand in creating Mordred (a demonic child), he might be more special than I give him credit for.

Jake Chambers (Medieval Hero) - Son of an ad executive. Is constantly demonstrating that even though he's a child, he can more than hold his own with the others, and was willing to sacrifice his life to aid Roland's quest (twice!). Jake's a pretty straight arrow, never really got into trouble prior to entering Roland's ka-tet. Not really old enough for chastity to be threatened. Has to follow the rules for a gunslinger, thought those aren't nearly as elaborate as they are for a knight, or else Roland's more lax with them, deeming them unneccessary. Fights to help Roland reach the Tower. We're never really certain what Jake would receive from all this (other than a really cool father figure), but he fights on regardless.

The part where Jake stumbles is the "must follow elaborate rules of chivalry, dress, codes of conduct, etc.". Personally, I think we cut him slack since it's harder to maintain those things as part of a wandering band of warriors, than as a knight living in a castle. The world's slowing/breaking down and the pretty stuff is the first to go.

Plus, to tie him to DC's Silver Age, Jake has a helpful pet, Oy the billy-bumbler. Think of him as Jake's Krypto.

Susannah Dean (Romantic Hero) - African-American woman from a time when there was significant struggle to show that shouldn't be a strike against you, that it's what you do that's important. Susannah is the end result of the combination of Odetta Holmes and Detta Walker, two very different personalities is the same woman. Detta still emerges occasionally. Susannah is more or less willing to do as she pleases if she thinks it's right (the Detta aspect, I think). She's not above abandoning her friends to find the right spot to have her child. The conception of that child was not entirely up to her, in that she didn't know it was a possibilty at the time of conception. Despite the fact she has no legs, Susannah is more than able to hold her own as a warrior on multiple occasions. The wars she fought within have made everything else fairly simple. But she goes through periods where she leaves her friends, or frequently won't confide in them what is wrong with her, where even Roland, typically stoic, will tend to let his friends know what troubles him. Susannah's loyalties lie with her ka-tet, and especially with Eddie Dean.

I think Susannah may just fit better than anyone else.

Eddie Dean (Modern Hero) - Initially, all Eddie cares about is getting another hit (heroin) and helping his brother. Eddie just wants to feel good; the heroin does that, so it's the important thing. Eddie maintains his cheerful demeanor through just about anything, it's what he clings to in even the most dire situation (such as with Blaine the Mono). Is Eddie debauched and depraved as his enemy? Well, he wasn't a stone cold killer like the drug lord Balazar, but he can kill people pretty calmly by midway through the story. Internal struggle with external addictions? Check. And Eddie has pretty much always been about just a few select people, first his brother, then his ka-tet.

Eddie may be the most iffy, because once he's been in Roland's world long enough, he shakes the heroin addiction and turns things around. I'm not sure what he becomes at that point. He struggles with self-doubt, so somewhat Romantic, but he also tries to live up to what Roland sees in him, so Medieval, and you could say his love for Susannah is his fatal flaw, so perhaps Classical.

Given the huge amount of design and planning that seemed to go into The Dark Tower, I can't figure this is just a coincidence.