2. "Who is The Man in Black?"

        This is becoming a tougher and tougher question. You see originally The Man in Black was a sorcerer named Walter who may have aided in the collapse of the Gunslinger community where Roland grew up (see the partial chronology that follows.) He was in the employ of another man named Marten who attempted to have Roland banished from the community. He died after Roland caught up with him at the end of the first book.

        The revised edition of Book 1 changes the ending slightly. The Man In Black, identified earlier in the book as "Walter O'Dim", is a very powerful sorceror. That being said he also says that he's the least of the towers minions. After him come "The Ageless Stranger" and "The Crimson King". He also says that he took the guise of Marten specifically to manipulate Roland's mother.

        So here's the problem, if you read the next note about Richard Fannin you know the problem with him and Walter. Walter is supposed to work for him, he's not supposed to be the same entity as him. The only possible saving grace is that he says that he came to Roland's mother as Marten, not that he literally was Marten. This leaves it open for interpretation as to if Walter and R.F. are the same person or not. Certainly in the revised version Walter behaves a lot more like R.F. than he did in the previous edition.

        Personally I think it's a mistake to make all the villains in Roland's world the same guy. Having the man in black, the good man, Marten, Richard Fannin and the Ageless Stranger all be the same person stretches credulity and it means that Roland never gets any resolution, the bad guy always gets away to taunt him further on down the road. Not a very satisfying bad guy, not in the least.