Everyone deserves to know about Roland Deschain

Anitheroes have become a staple of modern media. Many now find them more interesting than “morally correct” protagonists. While the archetype has always been common, it’s received a massive resurgence in popularity, and I want to introduce you to my favorite one: The protagonist of Stephen King’s the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and why he matters to you.

Roland Deschain is introduced as the badass wanderer type, riding around on a horse and lighting up a town infested with crazed locals with his signature double pistols.

While his swagger and skill is displayed in this opening scene, we see he does wrong as well, cementing him as someone to admire cautiously: He takes advantage of a vulnerable woman for sex, and doesn’t hesitate to murder civilians who get in his way.

But there’s something there, the mystery surrounding our King Arthur themed cowboy is something not easily ignored. And when his backstory is revealed, he becomes as real as you and I.

The universe of the Gunslinger exists in a multiverse, the one Roland inhabits being a industrial revolution version of King Arthur’s time, Roland being a knight of the round table, known in this universe as the Order of the Gunslingers, made to establish order and peace across the land. However, the universe begins to rupture due to a enigmatic Man in Black, who has used the mysterious Dark Tower to causing timelines and universes to begin to converge into one . This causes Roland’s world to crumble all around him, destroying the Order and leaving him alone as the last Gunslinger.

Roland’s duty is to hunt down the Man in Black at all costs, no matter what.

Things change when he meets Jake Chambers.

Jake is a normal human boy from a universe set in the modern day, The Dark Tower drawing him into Roland’s world. Woefully unprepared, scared and alone, Roland takes Jake under his wing, and the bond between them grows.

Roland begins to crack, the years of sadness, grief, and fighting alone begin to show on him, as he grows to truly love Jake, putting him above everything else, changing your whole perspective on the character.

Roland goes from a murder whose intentions are morally dubious at best, to a kind, caring, soft father figure to Jake.

My love for Roland grew as he grew to love Jake, I latched onto him, following his journey as if it was my own.

Many characters that hold up a facade are instantly tore down when a traumatic event destroys their front in one fell swoop, making their character do a complete 180, which can work sometimes, but sometimes can feel cheap and ingenuine.

Roland, on the other hand, is like a hard boiled egg, you slowly peel off his shell one bit at a time, learning a little more and a little more, aligning to how real people share their trauma and slowly easing the reader into who Roland really is.

This, to me, makes Roland just as real as you and I.

And modern media has shown how truly effective Roland is as a character, his specific archetype and traits being shown in countless examples of antiheroism. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that all modern antiheroes are based of off Roland, to some extent.

For example: The incredibly popular Mandalorian, said to have brung Star Wars back from the brink follows Roland’s character arc to a T:

The Mandalorian is introduced as a ruthless murderer who finds and befriends a child, Grogu, from another world, which he slowly opens up to over the course of his world-hopping journey.

So put some respect on Roland Deschain, the original Antihero.