Comment 6 of 6, added on February 15th, 2010 at 2:45 PM.
Roland
Roland, a knight of sorts or in most general terms a warrior or every day hero. He sets out on a trail of the heart and soul. One that most people seek but never follow. The Dark Tower is not just a concept of death or life. It is also ultimately a goal in which he sets out to reach. This goal is equal to what every man desires. It represents Life, Death, Happiness, and Everything that makes this Earth and world turn. The very essence that drives civilization and the will to go on keep progressing. Roland sees hardship and great trials on his journey. At times the thought of discontinuing crosses his mind, yet the past haunts him in a way that encourages him to move on. The haunting is not that of bad things...per say...but that of the very meaning of his drivin self. His heroic past friends and aquaintances that made a great impact on his life and his long journey to find his destiny: to reach the Dark Tower. That ever looming black and empty finish line which casts a shadow that cannot be escaped. Roland set out to conquer. Browning and Roland leave us with the choice that everyone faces at least once in life: The rest of the story is up to you...will you push on and make of life what you can get or will you follow all of the previous failures?

James Tomlinson from United States

Comment 4 of 6, added on November 19th, 2008 at 11:26 PM.

Roland is determined to be the first "would-be" knight to prevail against all odds and overcome death(the Tower). His mission begins as a challenge to prove his manhood, but the closer he gets to his destination/defiance the more he realizes that the journey along the way is the yardstick by which we measure our purpose/desire to resist or embrace death. The bodies of "soldiers" that Roland must cross over to get to the other side are remnants of men, who never realized life's purpose and fell "short" of seeing a glimpse of their final destination. When Roland finally arrives to the Tower, he sees former men who have gone before him... driven, competitive men who are waiting to see if Roland's final "play" in life will reveal a different outcome than their own sad realization.....that in life we choose (willingly or unknowingly) evil or good. How we address the evils (obstacles) in life will determine our fate in the end....a life of emptiness, hopelessness, and futilty because of our journey along the way, or a life's end filled with meaningfulness, purpose and readiness to cross over to "the other side."

Joan from United States

Comment 2 of 6, added on May 7th, 2006 at 3:49 AM.

those at the end were his allies who'd fallen on their collective journey to the tower. roland is an untested knight, whose mind is filled w/ the horrors of an unfamiliar world, full of wrongs he feels compelled to right. in the end no one knows if he is successful or not, though apparently the knowledge that he was allowed to fail was more comforting to him than the actual completion of his journey. in "childe roland" a childrens story about a young boy who takes his fathers sword into the land of the elfking to rescue his sister from the dark tower we learn that he is successful (though most claim this story is not connected to brownings poem.) so, assuming that his sister might be his compasionate side (soft & feminine) & she is prisoner to the tower, then perhaps rolands world is an ugly wasteland w/out that sense of innocence & in his journey he turns his back on all his commrades, even golden cuthbert, for lack of his compasion.?. who knows, even robert browning claimed after he wrote it (from a dream he felt was sent by God) that only God knew its meaning.

rob