This Tragic Love Story Needs to Be A Pivotal Part of Mike Flanagan’s Series

Whether it is always realized or not, tragic love stories have always been ingrained into the fabric of the arts. Whether that showed itself in classic plays and literature like William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, to more modern depictions in popular shows like that of Buffy and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Jack and Kate on LOST. The gut-wrenching, emotional pull of two prominent characters who share a love that knows no bounds, and yet are constantly pulled apart by circumstances beyond themselves, help elevate the tension and the drama of such prominent works. In the acclaimed series The Dark Tower by Stephen King, there is one love story that brings that tragedy to life, and that is the romance between Roland Deschain and Susan Delgado.

Before the fall of Gilead and Roland’s quest for the Dark Tower, Roland’s first mission as a gunslinger brought the then-fourteen-year-old teenager Roland Deschain to another land, on a mission to uncover corruption. Yet while there, Roland would meet the beautiful Susan Delgado, and from there their love would bloom and become the heart of Roland’s tragic backstory. If MIke Flanagan is going to adapt this story to perfection, exploring Roland’s past and his tragic romance with Susan is vital to the core story.

Related

The Dark Tower: How This Little-Known Stephen King Book Holds A Major Connection To The Dark Tower Series

A heartfelt and compelling novel shares a shocking setting with the acclaimed Stephen King series The Dark Tower.

Roland Deschain and Susan Delgado, EXPLAINED

The chance meeting between Roland and Susan began with Roland’s arrival in the town of Hambry after becoming a gunslinger. After being goaded into challenging his teacher Cort to take the test of manhood after witnessing his mother and the wizard Marten Broadcloak in the midst of an affair, Roland surprises everyone by winning the challenge, becoming the youngest gunslinger in Gilead. However, this would paint a target on his back, and Roland’s father Steven would send Roland and his friends Alain and Cuthbert to the town of Hambry on a mission to uncover a connection between missing oil and the rise of John Farson’s army.

While riding one night, Roland would come across Susan Delgado. Having just left Rhea of the Coos to be tested that she remained “pure”, Susan was struggling with the knowledge that she was to become local Mayor Hart Thorin’s mistress, despite being led to believe she was simply a surrogate to bear his child for he and his wife. Arranged by her hateful Aunt Cordelia, she only agreed to the arrangement so that they could remain on her father’s land after the tragic passing of her father. When she met Roland, the two teenagers instantly made a connection, and although they resisted that connection for a long time, eventually they both recognized their growing feelings for one another.

They would continue to meet in secret, causing a rift between Roland and his friend Cuthbert, who had grown jealous. When Roland and Susan were intimate together, Rhea discovered their affair using Maerlyn’s Grapefruit, and alerted the Big Coffin Hunters to this. Capturing her and locking her in the mayor’s house, Susan is rescued by Sheemie and taken out of town while Roland and his friends track down the Big Coffin Hunters and complete their mission. However, things take a turn when Rhea directs her Aunt Cordielia to where Susan is hiding. The town brands Susan a traitor, and Roland, far from town after completing his mission, watches through Maerlyn’s Grapefruit as Susan is used as a human sacrifice by the townspeople, being burned on what is called a Charyou Tree, or death tree. Roland would attempt to recover her body from the tree later on, but when his soul was lost in Maerlyn’s Grapefruit for a time, her body would be lost, and he would be haunted by her loss for the rest of his days.

The Tragedy of Susan Delgado in Live-Action

The love story between Roland and Susan is a defining moment for both Roland as a person and his journey to the Dark Tower. For much of Roland’s life, he was defined by his duty to Gilead and his desire to be a gunslinger like his father before him. It wasn’t until he met and fell in love with Susan that he even entertained a life outside his mission. Yet he opened his heart to Susan, and in losing her he closed his heart again. This, paired with the circumstances surrounding his mother’s death and the fall of Gilead, and it would be years before he would open himself up to any sort of relationship.

Yet it was Susan and her alone that would be his one true love. Exploring this aspect of Roland’s backstory is crucial to understand how Roland became the stoic, singularly focused gunslinger that he is, and why he has dedicated himself to his mission and the Dark Tower as a whole. When Mike Flanagan hones in on this aspect of Roland’s backstory, Susan is one of those characters that is non-negotiable, as their love story and the tragedy of their relationship is a huge turning point in Roland’s past, and helps bridge the gap between himself and the rest of his ka-tet later on in the series as well.

MORE

Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower Series Can’t Pull Any Of Its Punches

Mike Flanagan’s The Dark Tower adaptation must embrace the series’ brutal stakes to honor Stephen King’s epic, unflinching vision.

Birthdate

September 21, 1947

Birthplace

Portland, Maine

Notable Projects

The Shining, Cujo, The Shawshank Redemption, It, Carrie