by Robin Furth
29. III:33—Shardik is two thousand to three thousand years old when our ka-tet finds him in the Great West Woods. III:38—Creating the cyborg Guardians was the Great Old Ones’ final act of atonement for the harm they had done to the earth, and to each other. To pinpoint a timeline date, I counted backward from our ka-tet’s adventures in the Great West Woods. At that point, Roland is approximately 336 years old. (I explain Roland’s age in Footnote 27.) Since Shardik’s age is approximate, I thought this date should be approximate also. 3,000-336 A.R.B. = 2,664 B.R.B. 2,000-336 A.R.B. = 1,664 B.R.B., or approximately 2,700 B.R.B. to 1,700 B.R.B.
30. VI:243—The Red Death affected Fedic two dozen centuries, or twenty-four hundred years, before the coming of the Wolves. Most people were already birthing monsters. Mid-World’s many mutants came into being thanks to the Great Old Ones’ disastrous wars. For more information, see MUTANTS, in CHARACTERS.
31. VI:243—The Red Death may have come out of the deep crevice beyond Fedic, called the Devil’s Arse, but given the name of the disease (taken from a fictional plague created by Edgar Allan Poe), and the terrible practices of the Great Old Ones, it seems most likely that it was created by biological engineers and accidentally released.
32. III:38—See Footnote 2. For date on the timeline, I counted backward. The Great Old Ones disappeared two thousand years before the Wolves began raiding the Callas (V:339). In Wolves of the Calla, we find out that the Wolves have been preying on the children of the borderlands for six generations (V:339). In the Calla, one generation is twenty-three years (V:15). Six generations equals 138 years. If Roland is approximately 336 at the time that Wolves of the Calla takes place, he was 198 when the Wolves started raiding (198 A.R.B.). I counted back from this date.
33. There appear to be two Arthur Elds—the mythical Arthur Eld, who was the first king to arise after the Prim receded and who was the ancestor of both the line of Deschain and the Crimson King (VII:176), and the historical Arthur Eld, forefather of Steven Deschain. Steven Deschain was twenty-ninth, on a sideline of descent, from the historical Arthur Eld. Roland, then, is thirtieth. If a generation is approximately twenty-three years (see V:15), and if Steven Deschain was approximately twenty-three when Roland was born, then 30 x 23 = 690.
34. III:412—At the time The Waste Lands takes place, eight hundred years have passed since Blaine’s monitoring equipment went down in End-World. If Roland is 336 years old when he and his tet riddle with Blaine, 800-336 = 464 B.R.B.
35. III:242—Civil war erupts in Garlan/Porla three hundred to four hundred years before our ka-tet reaches River Crossing.
36. I(2003):160.
37. I(1988):159, I(2003):170—Roland is fourteen when he finds out that Marten Broadcloak is having an affair with his mother. Roland challenges his teacher, Cort, and wins his guns. Hax hanged by the neck three years before Roland’s test of manhood.
38. I(2003):169.
39. See Footnote 10. I(1988):163—Roland goes for his test five years too early. Steven Deschain sent Roland east because he thought that the Good Man and his followers were in the west. IV:112.
40. Events of Wizard and Glass.
41. IV:655-56.
42. Ibid.
43. I(2003):118—The land falls to Farson five years after Hax’s hanging. Roland’s father is dead by this time. I(2003):161—Steven Deschain was killed by a knife.
44. I(1988):163—Roland won his guns five years too early. He was fourteen at the time. Hence, the average age for gunslingers to win their guns is nineteen. II:177—We are told that Cort dies of poison nine weeks after the gunslinger apprentices’ Presentation Ceremony.
45. II:177.
46. V:347—Cuthbert was twenty-four when he died at Jericho Hill. If he and Roland were approximately the same age, then Roland must have also been about twenty-four when this battle was fought.
47. VII:174.
48. VII:174-75.
49. I(2003):152—Roland catches sight of Walter, presumably after the battle of Jericho Hill, and then does not see him again for twelve years, or until he and Jake enter the passages beneath the Cyclopean Mountains. Twenty-four years plus twelve years equals thirty-six years.
50. I(2003):146.
51. Events of “The Little Sisters of Eluria.”
52. Events from The Gunslinger. For explanation of Roland’s age, see Footnote 22.
53. VII:176-77.
54. I(2003):230-31—Roland appears to be ten years older when he wakes. II:47—At least one hundred years pass while Roland is in the golgotha. III:375—According to Blaine, by the time our ka-tet reaches Lud, it has been three hundred years since any gunslinger walked either In-World or End-World. Since Roland is the last gunslinger, Roland must have disappeared for about three centuries. Roland was approximately twenty-four at the battle of Jericho Hill. (See Footnote 19.) He was approximately thirty-six when the events of The Gunslinger took place. (See Footnote 22.)
55. According to Si of River Crossing, the last tribute was sent to River Barony Castle in the time of his great-grand-da, but they found the castle in ruins. Si is at least seventy by the time he tells his story.
56. V:339—By the time Wolves of the Calla takes place, the Wolves have been invading the Calla for six generations, or 138 years. On V:15, we learn that a generation is approximately twenty-three years.
57. III:244—Ninety years before our ka-tet reached River Crossing, Quick rode into Lud with his harriers. III:273-75—Our ka-tet finds the remains of both Quick and the flying machine.
58. III:246—The mono under discussion stopped running seventy years before our ka-tet reached the town of River Crossing. On this page, our tet seems to think that the stalled mono is Blaine. Later in the story they realize that Patricia stopped running, not Blaine.
59. Throughout Wolves of the Calla, we are told that Jake is twelve years old. In the previous books he was eleven. Hence, a year (or a good part of a year) must pass between the events of The Waste Lands/Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.
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Copyright © 2006, 2012 by Robin Furth
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ISBN 978-1-4516-9487-1
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