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Roland of Gilead is the hero and main character of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of Gunslingers. His image and personality are largely inspired by the "Man with No Name" from several of Sergio Leone's westerns.
During the course of a seven-book series, Roland is the last surviving gunslinger and is possessed (or, as he describes it himself, "addicted"; Roland calls himself a "Tower junkie") by a quest to reach the Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds rotate. The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King, a Satanic figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.
Roland follows "ka", a variant of fate that is similar to other karmic powers such as the Force in the Star Wars universe.
It is hinted numerous times that Roland is a descendant of another worlds verion of King Arthur, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. Even his guns, some version of Excalibur, were originally melted down from the legendary Excalibur sword.
Rolands quest is to reach The Dark Tower at all costs, whether to simply climb to its top, rule it, or even be the one to destroy it thereby destroying all the worlds that seemingly yeild to its axis.
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