The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Roland Deschain

The last gunslinger of Gilead, a knight with sandalwood-gripped guns and cold blue eyes, chasing the man in black to reach the Dark Tower. He kills a whole town to survive and sacrifices a boy to keep moving — and never stops.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Desert and the Trap in Tull; Part 2: The Way Station and the Boy from Manhattan; Part 3: The Oracle, the Mountain, and the Fall; Part 4: The Palaver and Ten Lost Years
Themes:: Obsession as identity; The cost of the quest; Colliding worlds; Faith turned to hate; Fathers and teachers

Jake Chambers

A boy from 1970s Manhattan who died pushed in front of a car and woke in Roland's world. He trusts Roland completely, and Roland lets him fall into the abyss — the book's central wound.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Way Station and the Boy from Manhattan; Part 3: The Oracle, the Mountain, and the Fall; Part 4: The Palaver and Ten Lost Years
Themes:: The cost of the quest; Colliding worlds; Fathers and teachers

The man in black / Walter / Marten

Roland's adversary, who leaves traps across the desert and was once the wizard Marten, seducer of Roland's mother. He reads Roland's fate in cards, fails to turn him, and sends him west.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Desert and the Trap in Tull; Part 2: The Way Station and the Boy from Manhattan; Part 3: The Oracle, the Mountain, and the Fall; Part 4: The Palaver and Ten Lost Years
Themes:: Obsession as identity; The cost of the quest; Colliding worlds; Faith turned to hate; Fathers and teachers

Sylvia Pittston

The church leader of Tull, pregnant with a demon sired by the man in black. Her sermon of hate turns the town on Roland, and she dies in the massacre she starts.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Desert and the Trap in Tull
Themes:: Faith turned to hate

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Cort

Roland's brutal teacher in Gilead, keeper of the gunslinger's code. A fourteen-year-old Roland beats him in the test of manhood by sacrificing his hawk.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Way Station and the Boy from Manhattan
Themes:: The cost of the quest; Fathers and teachers

Brown

A lonely desert farmer with a raven named Zoltan who listens to Roland's story of Tull. He wakes Roland to a dead mule and the devil's work.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Desert and the Trap in Tull

Steven Deschain and Gabrielle

Roland's father, a Gunslinger and lord of Gilead, and his mother, seduced by Marten. Their ruined marriage is the lever Marten uses to force Roland into his test early.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Way Station and the Boy from Manhattan
Themes:: Fathers and teachers

How they are connected

Key relationships

Roland Deschain The man in black / Walter / Marten
The last gunslinger of Gilead, a knight with sandalwood-gripped guns and cold blue eyes, chasing the man in black to reach the Dark Tower.
Jake Chambers Roland Deschain
A boy from 1970s Manhattan who died pushed in front of a car and woke in Roland's world.
Sylvia Pittston The man in black / Walter / Marten
The church leader of Tull, pregnant with a demon sired by the man in black.
Sylvia Pittston Roland Deschain
Her sermon of hate turns the town on Roland, and she dies in the massacre she starts.
Cort Roland Deschain
Roland's brutal teacher in Gilead, keeper of the gunslinger's code.
Brown Roland Deschain
A lonely desert farmer with a raven named Zoltan who listens to Roland's story of Tull.
Steven Deschain and Gabrielle Roland Deschain
Roland's father, a Gunslinger and lord of Gilead, and his mother, seduced by Marten.
Steven Deschain and Gabrielle The man in black / Walter / Marten
Roland's father, a Gunslinger and lord of Gilead, and his mother, seduced by Marten.

Go deeper

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger themes & symbols

Obsession as identity · The cost of the quest · Colliding worlds · Faith turned to hate

Themes explained

Read the full The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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