The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Jake hasn’t spoken since seeing the Man in Black, and the gunslinger has talked nonstop to fill the silence. He says that he, Cuthbert, and Alain weren’t supposed to be at the Sowing Nigh Cotillion, a spring dance that was held in the Great Hall once a year.

He describes this night in the Great Hall with “crystal chandeliers, heavy glass with electric spark-lights. It was all light, it was an island of light” (171). Roland and his friends had snuck into the balcony to secretly watch everything. He describes a great stone table where the gunslingers and their women sat, dancers, the guardians, the cavaliers, and endless amounts of food. He remembers how “Marten sat next to my mother and father—and I knew them even from so high above—and once she and Marten danced, slowly and revolvingly, and the others cleared the floor for them and clapped when it was over” (172). While not directly stated, it’s hinted at that Marten and Roland’s mother were having an affair.

Roland describes his father as “the last lord of light,” and the highest-ranking gunslinger in all the land (172). Roland keeps repeating how he remembers the intimacy of his mother and Marten’s dance, but Jake says that he’s tired, so Roland stops talking.