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“ | The lady of shadows, does she look two faced to you Gunslinger? | „ |
~ Randall Flagg describing Susannah |
Susannah Dean is one of the main protagonists of the the The Dark Tower series. Originally an amputee with dissociative identity disorder split between the gentler Odetta Holmes and the the vicious and deadly Detta Walker, the two personalities were merged together to form a brand new personality, Susannah Dean.
She first appears as the main tritagonist in the second book Drawing of the Three where she is found as Odetta by Roland and Eddie behind the door marked as "The Lady of Shadows". After causing some problems as Detta, the gunslinger managed to fuse the two personalities which allowed her to join Roland in his adventures. After the second book, she serves as a major protagonist for the rest of the series.
Biography[]
Past[]
Sometime while Odetta was 5 years old, the sociopathic killer Jack Mort dropped a brick on her head, resulting in Detta Walker's creation. Later down the line the pusher also proceeds to push her onto a train, resulting in the lost of her legs. Despite this, Odetta survives and later becomes a peaceful civil right activist while Detta becomes a serial killer.
The Drawing of the Three[]
Odetta was found at her residence by Eddie Dean and Roland Deschain in the latter's attempt to get some companions and help for his injuries. However, upon being brought through the door, Detta ends up taking control though the two The two were able to keep her from hurting them until they find the third door labeled "The Pusher". Roland decided to give his companions one of his revolvers for defense, his infection growing worse.
While going to the third door, Roland was about to collapse, prompting Eddie to get to him and foolishly leave the revolver he got with Detta. As the gunslinger passes through the door, the prisoner was taken hostage and used by Detta to force Roland to return her. After going through another adventure, the gunslinger returns to find what had happened to Eddie.
The gunslinger used the open door behind him to force Odetta to confront her alter, resulting in the two merging into a brand new personality, Susannah Dean who quickly releases the prisoner. He and Susannah eventually form a romantic relationship and later marry.
The Waste Lands[]
5 weeks after the events of the previous book, the 3 travelers continue their journey East away from the beach and into the woods, fittingly encountering a cyborg bear on the way. In the woods they encounter one of the 6 mystical beams which allows them to travel inland to Mid-World. Finding a place to rest, Roland decides to reveal to his group that he is growing insane as a result of a paradox he created when he stopped Jack's murder, revealing that he had prevented the death of Jake Chambers who had arrived to this world due to his murder in Jack's hands.
Roland ends up burning the jawbone he had been bringing after waking up, allowing Eddie to figure out the solution to this problem, make a door that'll lead to Jake. The prisoner and his wife creates a "Speaking Circle" which can create a portal. Unfortunately, this ends up inviting an incubus which Susannah had to deal with while Eddie carves the key, eventually allowing Jake to reach their world, ending Roland's madness. With that issue solved, the travelers continue on their journey to find the next mystical beam.
On their way, they encounter an intelligent creature recognized to be a "Billy-Bumbler" whom Jake names Oy. Eventually they arrived at the city of Lud, once ancient and high tech though now a war-riddled place between two factions. While crossing a decaying bridge, the travelers wound up in an accident and while they survived, they ended up losing Jake to a gangster from the "Grays" faction named Gasher.
Once Jake is back, the group continue their journey, arriving at an abandoned monorail. Unfortunately the AI running the place had gone insane, threatening to run them off the tracks unless they can beat it in a riddle contest. As they do so, they were able to see the outside world. A horrid apocalyptic place leading to a place called Topeka.
Wizard and Glass[]
In an attempt to beat the AI, Eddie tells it some childish jokes, befuddling the AI to the point of short-circuiting. Exiting the monorail, they soon discovered that Topeka was actually the same one as the Kansas city Topeka, taking place in a similar universe as another of Stephen King's work. After passing through a bunch of references, they decide to take a break in which Roland reveals more details of the past.
After going through the flashback, the group decide to continue their journey, discovering a green tinted town reminiscent of the Emerald City from Wizard of Oz. In one of the castles they encounter "the wizard" who was actually just a disguised Flagg. All around a loud voice belonging to the surviving Tick-Tock Man threatens the group, trying to get them to turn away.
This fails and he was quickly killed off, followed by the group turning on Flagg. After an unsuccessful shootout, Flagg managed to escape and leave behind a mirror which reveals the day when Roland killed his mother. Despite knowing the fates of people close to the gunslinger, the group still goes along with him, continuing their journey forward.
The Wind Through the Keyhole[]
During their journey, Roland and his group had to take cover from a depression, having been warned by an elderly ferryman. During their cover, the gunslinger decides to reveal more details of his past. After a long-winded story of his past adventures against another horrific foe, the depression eventually ended and the group can continue their journey.
Wolves of the Calla[]
After escaping the depression, Eddie and Jake are sent to New York with the rest of the travelers getting followed by a group of citizens from a village. Their leader who is a character from another of Stephen King's book, under the name of Father Callahan, explains their need for assistance against a group of wolves who engage in kidnapping and mutating children twins.
Said leader ended up explaining how he had gotten to this place after the many crossover chapters he went through, he shows the travelers an evil magic ball which had been given by Flagg himself. The ball, being named Black Thirteen, is something Roland could recognize, figuring that it was what had taken Eddie and Jake from their companions. They decide to use said ball to join their separated companions, arriving to New York and finding said companions.
They ended up explaining what they had been doing while trapped in New York, meeting an old enemy, the mob boss that had kidnapped Eddie's brother and is now hunting down a friend they had made in this place. Susannah stayed behind as Roland and Eddie battles Balazar's goons and secure their friend. After the two came back, they decide to take a break and plan for their battle against the wolves.
During this time, the group noticed Susannah's odd behavior which had something to do with the incubus she had to deal with during the ritual she and Eddie did to bring Jake into their realm and stop Roland's madness. As it turns out, the lady of shadows had been impregnated by a demon. She didn't mind it, having come to terms with this revelation and even giving a name to it, Mia.
With their planning finished, the travelers begin their preparation while Jake goes off to a military outpost where he discovers a conspiracy. Some time after Roland and Eddie deal with the issue, the former explains what he had heard from a conversation to his team, the reveal that the wolves were actually robots.
However this revelation was far worse as these wolves have the power of blatant referencing and immunity to copyright. They wear green hoods meant to resemble Dr. Doom and wield lightsabers from Star Wars. At a range they begin attacking with flying winged killer orbs resembling Golden Snitches from the Harry Potter series.
The travelers along with some warriors were able to take down the wolves with little casualties all while the children remain safe. Unfortunately after this battle, Mia ended up taking over Susannah's body and ran off with the other travelers failing to follow her. Worse still, the village's leader ended up discovering himself and his world to be from a book, written by Stephen King.
Song of Susannah[]
While the rest of her teammates are trying to reach her or survive, Susannah is brough to the Dixie Pig where she explains her motivations, revealing that the two are carrying a child made out of the material of the two, the Crimson King, and Roland. The child is close to being born and has the potential to wreck havoc. Outside, Jake, Oy, and Father Callahan are about to break into the place in order to save her as she lay there helpless.
The Dark Tower[]
Her teammates were too late as the child Mia had created was birthed into the world, a horrific monster under the name of Mordred Deschain. Mordred proceeded to immediately eat the demon that birthed him. Despite being an infant, the gunslinger's son managed to escape from Susannah, ending up in the outside world. The lady of shadows exited the place that held her, meeting up with Jake and Oy back at the place they had been fighting at.
While taking a break, they are met by Roland and Eddie who had survived their ordeals. The group travel to Thunderclap in an attempt to find and free a group of psychics who are attempting to break beams supporting the Dark Tower. They meet a few of Roland's old friends and other characters from Stephen King's other works. During a fight to free the psychics, Eddie ended up getting injured severely due to a bullet to the eye. His group spent what little time they had to stay by his side and listen to his final words. Despite how painful it was, they had to go on once he died as they didn't have the time to mourn.
Susannah stayed behind as the rest of her teammates jumped to 1999 in an attempt to save Stephen King from the car accident he will suffer though this ends with Jake's death. After going through freezing wastelands and avoiding a horrific monster, they ended up being tangled up with a particular monster under the name Dandelo in their attempt to save an imprisoned man.
Dandelo feeds on laughter which is what prompts him to tell jokes to the group that were surprisingly effective. Even Roland who is normally dry and unemotive was made to laugh by the monster's joke which allowed him to slowly drain them of their life. Thankfully, Stephen King was able to snap Susannah out of it with some written in hints, allowing her to kill off Dandelo.
The imprisoned man, another character from Stephen King's written works with the name Patrick Danville, had the ability to bring life to his drawings. At this point, the travelers had been getting closer to the Dark Tower which is when Susannah decided that Roland needed to finish his journey without her. With a sad goodbye, she enters a doorway created by Patrick.
In this new world, she found her revolvers no longer functioning. Eddie and Jake are awaiting her, now a pair of brothers with the last name "Toren". They only remember bits of their adventures in the realm and soon Susannah will suffer the same fate.
Equipment[]
- Wheelchair: Susannah is often depicted in a wheelchair in some illustrations and descriptions of her, being her main method of mobility due to her injuries
- Revolvers: Susannah received a revolver upon arriving at Roland's realm and is trained to use it. It is her primary weapon of choice which she used in various shootouts. Susannah carries specialized cleaning tools and gun belt in order to keep these revolvers usable throughout his journey
Abilities[]
Due to being from the real world, Susannah lacks many of the supernatural abilities Roland and other denizens of the realm possesses. Despite this, she is still fully capable of defending herself from attacks through the use of her skills.
- Marksmanship: While Odetta lacked any combat skills, Detta herself was a proficient murderer, fully capable of using various weapons which included firearms. With Susannah's creation, she ended up inheriting some of Detta's skills and combined with Roland's training, she was able to participate in various general shootouts her team faced
In Other Media[]
Marvel Comics[]
Marvel Comics released the story of The Dark Tower series in comic form, telling the story of Roland's past, events of The Gunslinger, and events of The Drawing of the Three. Each of those are separated into 3 story arcs with 30, 30, 25 issues respectively. The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three are mostly faithful to the books they are based on with only few minor changes. However, other events that have happened before the beginning of the novel are further explored and gain extra additions.
Gallery[]
Novels[]
Comics[]
External Links[]
- Susannah Dean in the Dark Tower Wiki
- Susannah Dean in the Stephen King Wiki