Roland Deschain of Gilead

The Last Gunslinger • Son of Steven • Heir of the Line of Eld

Roland Deschain was born into the dying light of Gilead, the last true stronghold of the gunslingers. Son of Steven Deschain and Gabrielle of Arten, he came of age in a world already beginning to move on. At fourteen he took the test of manhood against Cort and won, earning the right to carry the revolvers of his fathers—the great irons of the Eld that had been handed down for generations. From that day forward he was a gunslinger in full, bound by the old code: I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.

His early manhood was shaped by love and betrayal. In the barony of Mejis he met Susan Delgado, the girl who became the great love of his life. Their time together was brief and bright, ended by treachery, fire, and the first true taste of the sacrifice the Tower would demand of him. He returned from Mejis with the horns of the eld and a heart already scarred, only to watch Gilead fall. At the Battle of Jericho Hill he stood with Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns—the last of his childhood ka-tet—and saw them die. He alone walked away, the final gunslinger of the line of Eld.

Since then Roland has walked the wastelands for longer than most men live, aging slowly under the weight of ka. He is tall and spare, his face weathered to leather and lined by sun and sorrow, his eyes a cold, faded blue that miss little. He speaks rarely and wastes nothing—neither words, nor bullets, nor mercy when mercy would serve the Tower. The quest for the Dark Tower consumes him. It has cost him friends, fingers, years, and pieces of his soul, yet he continues. He is capable of terrible coldness and sudden, fierce loyalty in equal measure. He remembers the face of his father. He remembers Susan. He remembers the sound of the horn of Eld that he left behind on the field at Jericho Hill.

Roland is not a hero in the soft sense of the word. He is an instrument of ka: relentless, tragic, and necessary. The world has moved on around him, but he has not. While the Beams still sing and the Tower still stands, he will keep walking.