Line #38 Literature/TheGunslinger


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mw_roland_us.jpeg]]
2	->''"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."''
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4	''The Gunslinger'' is the first book in ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' series.
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6	The story opens with TheGunslinger Roland Deschain trekking across a desert that appears to be in [[TheWestern the Old West]] but [[WriterInducedFanon may actually be]] our own world [[AfterTheEnd in the distant future]]. {{Flashback}}s tell a HighFantasy tale of Roland's childhood.
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8	To see the character sheet for the whole book series, go [[Characters/TheDarkTower here]].
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10	Followed by ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree''.
11	----
12	!!''The Gunslinger'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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14	* AdaptationalSelfDefense: Allie is held as a shield and hostage by Sheb as the residents of Tull attack Roland. In the original edition of the book, Roland kills her out of pure instinct; his trained hands react quicker than his mind. She screams at him not to shoot, but it's too late, and the guilt of her death sits on Roland throughout the rest of the story. In the revised edition, there is instead a subplot in which after Walter resurrects Nort, he tells Allie that if she says "nineteen" to Nort, he will tell her what he saw on the other side. Knowing will drive her crazy, [[ShmuckBait but so will not knowing]]. Later, during the shootout, she begs Roland to kill her because she has spoken nineteen to Nort and can't bear the horrors that he whispered back to her. As she dies King says that "the last expression on her face might have been gratitude."
15	* AfterTheEnd: "The World has moved on." (Also the ArcWords)
16	* ArcVillain: [[spoiler:Randall Flagg]]/Marten Broadcloak/The Man in Black is the one Roland is chasing throughout the novel for more information on the Tower and the first major villain he faces on his quest.
17	* BadassAndChildDuo: Roland and Jake.
18	* BigBeautifulWoman: Sylvia Pittston is described in this manner, with big dark eyes, "creamy, unmarked, lovely" skin, massive white thighs and "breasts like earthworks". Even Roland finds himself getting turned on when he sees her preaching and has to look away.
19	** A smart detail that underscores the difference between the gunslinger's world and ours: like his ecstatic amazement at the sweetness of Coca-Cola (he can't imagine 20th century people getting hooked on hard drugs when sugar is so available, and is shaken to the core even despite his unnatural self-control), his sexual attraction to a large, well-kempt, sensual Rubens-esque woman seems to be a result of his post-apocalyptic culture, where neither are common.
20	* BlackCloak: The man in black, obviously.
21	* BringMyBrownPants: During the battle at Tull, after Roland drops multiple assailants in one fell swoop, one of the other onlooking attackers is noted to make "a sudden and amazing load in his pants" at the sight.
22	* ChekhovsGun: The ancient jawbone.
23	* CombatPragmatist: Roland's weapon of choice in his gunslinger trial is [[spoiler:David, his trained hawk]]. He's also mastered the art of fighting dirty, which makes [[SadistTeacher Cort]] proud.
24	** Young Roland is on his way to masturbate on the roof when he stumbles upon his mother's tryst with Marten. "Go and find your hand, boy."
25	* DieLaughing: [[spoiler:Walter]]'s skeleton appears this way.
26	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Not only is this book much shorter than the others in the series; it has a much more disjointed, poetic style. The narrative flow is much more linear in later books, which justify the different style by emphasizing that Roland went a ''little bit nuts'' during his long solo journey.
27	** In the un-revised version, Farson isn't a character but a ''town'' targeted for poisoning by the Good Man ... who is stated to be Marten.
28	* TheEndOfTheBeginning: The man in black tells Roland this.
29	* EvilChancellor: Marten.
30	* EvilLaugh: The man in black.
31	* FriendOrIdolDecision: The Boy or the Tower? [[spoiler:The Tower.]]
32	* FriendToAllChildren: Hax the cook. Subverted when he turns out [[spoiler:to be a traitor]].
33	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: King did this with the revised edition.
34	* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: The Crimson King serves as this in the revised edition as he is mentioned by Randall Flagg during his and Roland’s final confrontation at the end.]]
35	* TheGunslinger: Not the trope namer, but it could have been. Certainly a TropeCodifier.
36	* GunsAkimbo: [[spoiler: Afterward, Roland loses two fingers and can't properly take the position again.]]
37	* HardHead: Like many other details in the books, instructive injuries meted out by Cort, the gunslinger's teacher, are poetically exaggerated. Cort casually and repeatedly strikes two of his pupils' heads so hard that blood comes out of their ears. Unlike a bloody nose, ears bleed only when a part of the hearing apparatus is obliterated, or if the entire base of the skull is turned to mush inside by trauma.
38	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Roland and Cuthbert, while they were kids at least.
39	* HumanoidAbomination: The Slow Mutants.
40	* HumanShield: Sheb uses Allie as a human shield just before the battle of Tull. However, due to Roland's quick reflexes [[spoiler: and over Allie's terrified objections, it doesn't work and he shoots them both. Though the revised version of the book instead has Allie being driven insane and asking for death.]]
41	* ImmuneToBullets: Walter. Despite his ImprobableAimingSkills, when Roland fires at him, he misses him with all twelve shots.
42	* {{Jerkass}}: Cort. Though Cort is eventually shown to be an effective teacher who is genuinely concerned with training his pupils and earns untold respect from Roland and his first Ka-Tet. He is something of DrillSergeantNasty - SadistTeacher hybrid.
43	* MoodDissonance: Walter o' Dim includes a little smiley face ☺ in his letter to Alice telling her the incomprehensible, indescribable PsychologicalHorror that would happen to her if she told Nort his TriggerPhrase. [[spoiler: It's foreshadowing that he's actually Randall Flagg, who would wear a smiley face button in ''Literature/TheStand''.]]
44	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: The final test to become a gunslinger is a public fight between the candidate and his teacher, wherein they both pull out all the stops. Roland beats the everliving shit out of Cort before the latter yields, and afterwards he falls into a coma.
45	* OrwellianRetcon: The 2003 revised edition. Aside from bringing the writing style more in line with the sequels and expanding on some scenes, it outright changes details from the original--to close a few plot holes and to better foreshadow events from later books. For example, the circumstances of [[spoiler:Allie's death]] are different, and Walter's monologue no longer mentions a mysterious Beast in connection with the Crimson King.
46	* PatchworkStory: The book was originally published as a series of short stories and novellas, hence its somewhat episodic nature.
47	* PrecisionFStrike: In contrast to the ClusterFBomb of the other books.
48	* RedOniBlueOni: Cuthbert is the red to Alain's blue.
49	* ShootTheHostage: Sheb uses Roland's lover, Allie, as a HumanShield and hostage. Roland kills her out of pure instinct; his trained hands react quicker than his mind. [[AdaptationalSelfDefense Changed]] in the revised edition.
50	* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Allie finds some of them out to her horror from her conversation with Nort.
51	* TimeSkip: Happens ''during'' the story. [[spoiler:After his conversation with Walter o' Dim, Roland wakes up to find that ten years have passed, and Walter's skeleton is across the campfire from him.]]
52	* TrainingFromHell: How Cort trains the young gunslingers for their test.
53	* TriggerPhrase: Nineteen (in the revised edition).
54	* VillainHasAPoint: John Farson, the "Good Man", is a cruel, power-hungry despot, [[InformedAttribute or so we're told]]. However, he's right that the Affiliation is ruled by a cabal of thugs with vague aristocratic pretensions who maintain power largely by having the best guns.
55	%%* WeirdWest -- Commented out for being an Administrivia/ZeroContextExample. Add context to this entry before uncommenting it.
56	* WouldHitAGirl/ WouldHurtAChild: Roland kills every inhabitant of Tull, men, women and children. To be fair, they were all trying to kill him.
57	* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: When the two finally meet, Walter, the man in black, congratulates Roland [[spoiler:on letting Jake fall to his death in order to reach his goal]]. Roland's responds by attempting once again to shoot Walter.

Context Literature / TheGunslinger