Discussion:
Susannah Dean age problem
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Lou Van Hille
21 years ago
Permalink
Maybe someone can help me

In dt2, it is said that Susannah comes 1964.
in dt3, it is said that Susannah is 3 years older than Eddie and that she's
26... which sounds correct as Eddie is 23

therefore, Susannah (Odetta) was born in 1938...

Yet, in WOLVES OF THE CALLA, Susannah says :

"No, honey," she said. "My dad and Pop Mose made me a trust fund, but it
went moot in 1959, when I turned twenty-five." She turned her eyes-dark eyes
of amazing beauty and expression-upon him. "There. You don't need to devil
me about my age anymore, do you? If you can subtract, you can figure it out
for yourself."

So, she turned 25 in 1959 ?!?!?
She would then have been born in 1934 ?!!!!????!!!

Did King make a mistake and should have written "(...) in 1959, when I
turned twenty-one" or maybe "(...) in 1963, when I turned twenty-five".

I know the Tower is sick and that time no longer means anything... But that
would be too much an easy answer.

I hope it's because my understand of English is not correct and that being a
non-native confused me with the text King wrote... But if it's the case,
please, tell me what I misunderstood

Lou
Bev Vincent
21 years ago
Permalink
...
Lou:

There is a lot of age confusion in the Dark Tower series, especially with
Eddie and Susannah. Several statements in different books contradict each
other -- it's not a language problem on your part. Robin Furth and I have
gone back and forth on this while working on our respective books. I
generally think of Eddie as about 23 and Susannah as about 26 and ignore the
other references as aberrations.
--
Bev Vincent
www.BevVincent.com

The Road to the Dark Tower, NAL (Penguin), October 2004
Morgan
21 years ago
Permalink
Many women I know (and a few men) have two different ages. For 20 years I
knew my mother was born in 1949, only to find out that she was born in 1945.
Not a big difference, but enough for her to be happy with. And silly me,
when I saw her licence with the correct birthyear, I thought the DMV made a
mistake.
But I do think King made a mistake.

Morgan
Humble Will Teach
21 years ago
Permalink
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.

Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
--
Just so you know, I'm ashamed the Dixie Chicks are from Texas.
Roland Ofgilead
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
I have a big age/consistency proble with Henry Dean. In The
Wastelands it says Henry is 18 and it is 1975. He is in good helath
and able to play basketball with Eddie when Jake sees them. How did
he get hurt in Vietnam if he turned 18, 3 years after the War ended?
Joliet Jake
21 years ago
Permalink
Not to play Devil's advocate but.....


If we know nothing else we know that the Dark Tower intersects all realities
including many resembling our own world. Who's to say that Eddie was not
drawn from one in which the Vietnam War lasted through the 1970s?
Post by Roland Ofgilead
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
I have a big age/consistency proble with Henry Dean. In The
Wastelands it says Henry is 18 and it is 1975. He is in good helath
and able to play basketball with Eddie when Jake sees them. How did
he get hurt in Vietnam if he turned 18, 3 years after the War ended?
Matthias Wenigwieser
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by Joliet Jake
If we know nothing else we know that the Dark Tower intersects all realities
including many resembling our own world. Who's to say that Eddie was not
drawn from one in which the Vietnam War lasted through the 1970s?
That seems to be the default response every time King f*cks up. Can't we all
just agree that, yes, the Dark Tower " intersects all realities including
many resembling our own world" and, yes, the mistake may be explained by it
happening in another reality, but that, seriously, it's much more likely
that King simply is too lazy to check his own facts?

Not that I *want* to be Robert Whelan, but this defensiveness is ridiculous,
IMHO.

Matthias
Post by Joliet Jake
Post by Roland Ofgilead
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
I have a big age/consistency proble with Henry Dean. In The
Wastelands it says Henry is 18 and it is 1975. He is in good helath
and able to play basketball with Eddie when Jake sees them. How did
he get hurt in Vietnam if he turned 18, 3 years after the War ended?
Joliet Jake
21 years ago
Permalink
...
Defensive? I only offered it as a possibility. I for one am more than
willing to admit that King probably screwed up with the real-world timelines
and such. What I meant to convey is that perhaps he'll trot this
explaination out in one of the future volumes. Sorry if my attempt to
discuss the book offended you.
Aaron Sanders
21 years ago
Permalink
...
LOL

Yes, but your "discussion" consisted of the overused,
*end-of-discussion* argument that we don't know *for sure* exactly
which world each of the characters comes from. Granted. However,
without more evidence that his world is different, this is unprovable,
and therefore highly irritating. See?

-Aaron
Tina
21 years ago
Permalink
...
Not just *irritating*, but *highly*? Perhaps it's time to move on to an
author that will entertain instead of highly irritate. :)

Tina
Aaron Sanders
21 years ago
Permalink
...
Erm, I was referring to the poster and the line of argument, not the author.

-Aaron
Joliet Jake
21 years ago
Permalink
Glad that my first post could be so annoying then
Post by Aaron Sanders
Post by Tina
Not just *irritating*, but *highly*? Perhaps it's time to move on to an
author that will entertain instead of highly irritate. :)
Tina
Erm, I was referring to the poster and the line of argument, not the author.
-Aaron
Tamara
21 years ago
Permalink
...
Of course, it could quite simply be a mistake.

I mean, my IMPRESSION was that Susannah started off in her 40's and got
younger, even though that is patently untrue. For some reason I had this
idea she was heaps older than them all - except maybe Roland - and thought
it was pretty cool that a r'ship between an older woman and younger man was
being explored. Now I realise I was fooled. It was the age she was when she
was taken from HER when - then skip to Eddie's when and HIS age that fooled
me. For some reason I thought she lived all those years inbetween!

Shame on me for being so silly.

Tamara
Doug Cunningly
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by Roland Ofgilead
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
I have a big age/consistency proble with Henry Dean. In The
Wastelands it says Henry is 18 and it is 1975. He is in good helath
and able to play basketball with Eddie when Jake sees them. How did
he get hurt in Vietnam if he turned 18, 3 years after the War ended?
Last I heard, the last helicopters left South Vietnam in 75. I know I got
called in in 72 and it was NOT over yet. Luckily I was 3 pounds overweight
on induction day, so I got a 4-f and went home..
Tamara
21 years ago
Permalink
...
The guys at my work - Returned Soldiers League of Australia Sub Branch - are
mostly Viet Nam Vets. Many were there from 64 until 75 or so, spending over
10 years "fighting" that conflict. Still fighting the government that sent
them, finally winning over public opinion regarding their War Service. It's
very conceivable that Eddie's brother was in Viet Nam in 75. It's a War that
people are still learning the details of. From when troops really WERE sent
in, to when the last ones came home. A shitty yukky gross war - rather like
the one in Iraq now.

Tamara

stePH
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
How could you have written him about it "ten years or so ago" when the
discrepancy only comes clear in a book released just last year?

stePH
--
"A lion will exert himself to the utmost, even when entering the tiger's
den to throw baby rabbits off a cliff!" -- Moroboshi Ataru
Humble Will Teach
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by stePH
Post by Humble Will Teach
That very problem bedeviled me enough to write to Big Steve about it,
ten years or so ago.
Big shock, I never heard back. Not that I expected to.
How could you have written him about it "ten years or so ago" when the
discrepancy only comes clear in a book released just last year?
stePH
Well, let's see. My copy of The Waste Lands is copyright 1991, which
certainly puts my "10 years or so ago" comment within the realm of
possibility.

Now, I don't remember every word of everything I have ever read, but,
between the words contained in books two and three, I clearly noticed
an age discrepancy. WOTC had nothing to do with it.

And I remember it was 1994ish, because I wrote to Big Steve shortly
before I got my Marlboro watch, which was shortly after I left my
wife. I remember 1994 pretty well.
--
Just so you know, I'm ashamed the Dixie Chicks are from Texas.
stePH
21 years ago
Permalink
...
From the original post:
[quote]
In dt2, it is said that Susannah comes 1964.
in dt3, it is said that Susannah is 3 years older than Eddie and that she's
26... which sounds correct as Eddie is 23

therefore, Susannah (Odetta) was born in 1938...
[/quote]

Where's the discrepancy?


The OP wrote that the discrepancy is noted thusly:

[quote]
Yet, in WOLVES OF THE CALLA, Susannah says :

"No, honey," she said. "My dad and Pop Mose made me a trust fund, but it
went moot in 1959, when I turned twenty-five."
[/quote]

So what was the discrepancy as YOU noticed it, based solely on what's in
the first three books?

stePH
--
"A lion will exert himself to the utmost, even when entering the tiger's
den to throw baby rabbits off a cliff!" -- Moroboshi Ataru
Humble Will Teach
21 years ago
Permalink
Post by stePH
So what was the discrepancy as YOU noticed it, based solely on what's in
the first three books?
stePH
Like I said, I can't quote you chapter and verse, and I'm not going to
reread these right now to prove my point, but trust me, it's in there.

HWT
--
Honi soit qui mal y pense
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