Discussion elsewhere on Roland's character led me to thinking about some of the conflicting elements. His upbringing and training are obviously major factors, but I'm thinking specifically about love, and the fact that Roland is, for the most part, too hard and single-minded for love to have any part in his life.
Excepts that isn't true, because we know that Roland loves, Jake, Edie and Susannah even though he knows that his quest probably spells death for them and that he is prepared to sacrifice them almost without thought.
I find myself wondering whether the events of his youth lead to him conditioning himself to not permitting himself to love - his parents, Susan, and his three companions to Mejis all die deaths which he could at least partly blame himself for, so does he feel guilty? Is that part of why he is so cold? If so, it's a lovely bit of character motivation, laid in over many pages with craft, and never spelled out.
Excepts that isn't true, because we know that Roland loves, Jake, Edie and Susannah even though he knows that his quest probably spells death for them and that he is prepared to sacrifice them almost without thought.
I find myself wondering whether the events of his youth lead to him conditioning himself to not permitting himself to love - his parents, Susan, and his three companions to Mejis all die deaths which he could at least partly blame himself for, so does he feel guilty? Is that part of why he is so cold? If so, it's a lovely bit of character motivation, laid in over many pages with craft, and never spelled out.