Roland Deschain, of Gilead

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I just finished my second read-through (this time on audiobook, actually) of Stephen King's Dark Tower epic. The first time I read it was before I found out I had A.S. After reading it the second time, I find that Roland screams Asperger's. He takes everything literally, has trouble understand humor, is very good a few specific things and terrible at everything else. At one point, early in Wolves of the Calla, I think, he is even sitting on the ground with his arms around his legs, rocking back and forth (stimming?) for no reason. And then there is his obsession (it is a story of obsession, after all). He seeks the Tower, and everything else, friends, family, loved ones, his very soul....all fall away as he lusts after it.

Has anybody else read this series and gotten this impression of the character?

Okay... now I am going to have to read the series again! I think I was about 16 the last time I read it!

Ooooh! The Gunslinger! I saw your subject line and started clapping. Heh. I normally cannot stand fiction, but I enjoyed those book and have read that series a few times. I had not thought of Roland as an aspie, but then aspergers is a relatively new word in my vocabulary and it has been while since I have read those books. Now I'm going to have to reread the series with that in mind. I can see what you mean though... it certainly makes sense... from the way he listens, observes, processes, reacts, behaves... to simple things like picking up patterns and parallels and counting how many letters there are in a book title and being amused when he catches himself doing so. Yep. I'll have to read these books again.

It really is amazing...the Aspieness of him, I mean. I was almost as emotional and unsettle reading it again as I was when I read Look Me In The Eye. There is so much in there and it is such a long story that it is hard to remember all of the points that made me think "Aspie". Another thing, though, is that everybody else in the series, from those he new as a child to he final Ka-tet, say he overthinks everything (he says this himself several times). He doesn't get sarcasm, he tends to pick up the speech patterns and dialects of the people around him (something I do, or struggle not to do).

I don't think it was intentional, though. I can't find any reference to King saying anything about A.S., though he has used autistics before as characters.

In a way, knowing what I am now and reading the story in that light made it richer and I connected with it even more than before. I felt kind of like I did when I read Look Me In The Eye. I just kept thinking, "Holy s**t, this is me!".

I love the Dark Tower series.

I never really got that impression from Roland, though. But now that I think about it, I can see what you mean...

So Roland is an aspie Clint Eastwood?

Personally, I think I identified most with Ogg.

Ogg... sorry, he was a compression format.

Oy, the yellow eyed talking dog thing?