I have never been much of a horror reader, and therefore, I’ve never read much Stephen King. His fantasy novels, however, were introduced to me by my dad, who got me a copy of The Gunslinger for Christmas one year when I was in high school. It tells the story of Roland Deschain, the titular gunslinger, and his pursuit of The Man in Black. The novel includes flashbacks to the years when Roland was training to be a gunslinger, learning from Cort, the formidable armsmaster. In order to become a man–to earn his guns–a prospective gunslinger must fight Cort one on one and take his ironwood staff from him. To fail is to be permanently exiled.
When Roland discovers that his mother is falling prey to Marten, an evil counselor, he feels that he can no longer wait to attain the status of gunslinger and challenges Cort to his manhood test. Roland is allowed to choose his own weapon, but he refuses to tell the armsmaster what it will be. Hoping for the element of surprise, Roland brings his elderly hawk, David, to the battle. What follows is an exchange–and a declaration of intent–that I have never forgotten:
“Have you come here for a serious purpose, boy?”
“I have come for a serious purpose.”
“Have you come as an outcast from your father’s house?”
“I have so come.”
“Have you come with your chosen weapon?”
“I have.”
“What is your weapon?”
“My weapon is David.”
I’m not even entirely sure what it is about that last line that sticks with me, that makes me want to fist-pump with savage glee. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t say that his weapon is a hawk, but uses the hawk’s name. Maybe it’s because David is named for the Biblical figure who fought and defeated Goliath. And maybe it’s just that the line is absolutely bad-ass and that I can clearly picture a young man with a sharp-eyed hawk on his wrist, both staring directly at their foe.
Although the Dark Tower saga becomes more convoluted as the series progresses, King still peppers his prose with standout moments that are hard to forget. For me, it all started with a hawk named David.