the Revised extended version of Dark Tower 1. What extra stuff does it have?

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Spideyman

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Jul 10, 2006
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What extra 30 pages of whatever does the Revised extended edition of Dark Tower have anyway?
Have you read the Gunslinger?
The spoiler contains the major difference and has some spoilers to the remaining books.

Revised and Expanded edition[edit]
King revised The Gunslinger in 2003. In his introduction to the new edition, King stated that he felt the original version was "dry" and difficult for new readers to access. He also made the storytelling more linear and the book's plot more consistent with the series' ending. Other changes were made in order to resolve continuity errors introduced by later volumes. The added material was over 9000 words (35 pages) in length.[4]

Some changes include:

  • Roland suffers a dizzy spell at the beginning, a reference to his cyclical quest.
  • Removal of a reference to Roland reading a magazine in Tull. Later information presented in The Drawing of the Three suggests that paper is a scarcity in Roland's world.
  • Reference to 12 years having passed since the fall of Gilead, which happened when Roland was a teenager, is changed to "untold years". Otherwise, it would be deduced that Roland is in his 30s, when later books imply that Roland is ancient.
  • Likewise The Man in Black originally says he is "nearly immortal", while in the revision he says this of both himself and Roland.
  • "[Roland] didn't know where Cort was[5]" is changed to "Cort was dead",[6] as the Fall of Gilead was not completely fleshed out until later books.
  • Roland's cold-hearted killing of Allie is changed to make him appear more humane. Originally, when the town of Tull turns on Roland, Allie is seized by a townsperson and used as a human shield. She begs Roland not to fire before he ruthlessly guns down both her and her captor.[7] In the revised version, she has been driven mad by Walter by the time she is seized and begs Roland to put her out of her misery.[8]
  • The town of Farson is changed to Taunton, as John Farson was a character in the later books in the series.
  • References to the Beast were changed to refer to the Crimson King, who otherwise is not mentioned in the series until The Waste Lands.
  • "Blue Heaven" and "Algul Siento", terms that are revealed in the final books, are mentioned.
  • A single Taheen appears early in the revised version. The Taheen are a race of creatures which wouldn't originally appear until the final three books.
  • A major textual change is the fate and identity of the Man in Black. In the original text, Walter's death at the end of the story is of no uncertainty to Roland. In the revised edition, Roland speculates if his discovery of Walter's bones is some trick or if he has truly died. The original text also kept Walter and Marten Broadcloak completely disambiguated. Even after the death of Walter, Broadcloak was still to be found and killed. Later in Wizard and Glass they, along with Randall Flagg, are all revealed to be one-and-the-same person. Though no reference of the name "Flagg" is made in the revised edition of The Gunslinger, all references to Walter and Marten are altered so that it is plausible they are the same man.
  • Jake Chambers, originally nine years old, was made 10–11 years old in the revised edition.
  • In general, the world the gunslinger walked through in the original text was a run-down version of our own - the text mentions England, the star Polaris, Mars, Jesus and other biblical figures, Easter, All-Saint's Eve (Halloween), and Greek and Egyptian Gods. In the revision, most of these references were removed to make Roland's world only vaguely like our own.
  • In the expanded edition of the novel, on the last page before the text the single word RESUMPTION appears; in the "Argument" foreword of Wolves of the Calla, King explains that it is the subtitle of the novel.
 

urrutiap

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Jan 19, 2009
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Yes I've read only the original version of Dark Tower 1.

Recently this year months ago I bought the hardcover of the series and the hardcover of Dark Tower 1 is the newer "revised" extended version but haven't had time to read it.

So what exactly is "new" in it?
 

Spideyman

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preciousroy

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Apr 4, 2018
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Most of the revisions make the original printing sound better to me lol.
Changing Allie to Walter's insane victim is like making Han Solo shoot second. So what if Roland was a mean bastard? He learned to love again after the gathering of his new ka-tet, and especially after he redeemed himself with Jake. I'm not the author so I can only criticize so much but that change kinda sucked.

Also, reading The Gunslinger almost 20 years ago for the first time, I have a memory of a scene that didn't show in my recent read-through. Perhaps I missed it, and it's certainly not an important detail and I could be mixing it up with The Talisman because I read that (and The Stand) around the same time. There's a scene where Roland is dehydrated and close to fading. He finds water but forces himself to sip it, knowing that if he gulps it down his body will refuse it and it will all be regurgitated. Was that The Gunslinger? I can't even remember anymore.
 

kingricefan

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Jul 11, 2006
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Most of the revisions make the original printing sound better to me lol.
Changing Allie to Walter's insane victim is like making Han Solo shoot second. So what if Roland was a mean bastard? He learned to love again after the gathering of his new ka-tet, and especially after he redeemed himself with Jake. I'm not the author so I can only criticize so much but that change kinda sucked.

Also, reading The Gunslinger almost 20 years ago for the first time, I have a memory of a scene that didn't show in my recent read-through. Perhaps I missed it, and it's certainly not an important detail and I could be mixing it up with The Talisman because I read that (and The Stand) around the same time. There's a scene where Roland is dehydrated and close to fading. He finds water but forces himself to sip it, knowing that if he gulps it down his body will refuse it and it will all be regurgitated. Was that The Gunslinger? I can't even remember anymore.
While I liked the revisions, I still have a for-special place in my heart for the original version.
 

Edward John

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Aug 15, 2019
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King talks about it in the introduction to the new novel, he says something along the lines of it not changing the story itself but correcting continuity errors that would arrise in later books, like Jakes age for example. Its nothing major, just details I think, he also expands on some of the characters backstory.