This blog post contains major spoilers for Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger” and “The Waste Lands.”  Please read no further if you haven’t read the series.

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A re-read of “The Waste Lands” has informed me of a switcheroo that might strongly detract from one of the most powerful scenes in “The Gunslinger.”  (And I am not sure how the hell I missed this in past readings of the novel … did I just forget?  Am I going senile?)

It is actually Jack Mort, and not The Man In Black, who pushes Jake Chambers into traffic in New York. He is (somewhat confusingly) also dressed as a priest.

I much prefer the iconic, terrifying Walter/Flagg as the slayer (sort of) of poor Jake.  I might just forget that whole Jack Mort retcon, which served little point in “The Waste Lands” and seemed like a surprise that was just shoehorned in.