Does anybody recall if we ever had anything from King himself about Roland’s mother’s loyalties and motivations? I’ve been re-reading, listening actually, the series. I’m up to book 4. She had an affair with Marten. Her husband knew about it for several years. Roland is tricked into killing her. I’ve looked at some of the DT wikis and they are of little help. There’s a lot of stuff there from comics that may, or may not, be canon. King seems to have approved a lot of stuff and it is all handwaved as being on another level of The Tower. So what do we know about her for sure?
I’ve always assumed it was basically a lift from the Arthurian tradition, especially the French romances. An identification of the character with Guinevere. I don’t think her story is meant to matter other than the effect on Roland.
I remember it as Marten seducing Roland’s mom implicitly through magic. Then, something with the grapefruit and I think Roland killed her because he was tricked by the grapefruit. I think she was always loyal to Roland’s father. What I didn’t really understand is why Marten or the Crimson King cared about a world that had moved on. Was this yet another area that had to be overturned to break the Tower?
IIRC Gabrielle Deschain was the victim of magical manipulation; she was otherwise loyal to her husband.
I believe this was explored in “The Wind Through the Keyhole”. But my memory may be faulty about that.
I haven’t read The Wind through the Keyhole but I seem to remember Roland’s experience with Black 13 alluding to him knowing (on some level) that he was killing Gabrielle Deschain.
From “The Wind Through the Keyhole” (in events that happened after Roland killed his mother):
The women also give Roland a note written by his mother during her stay in Serenity. In this note, his mother reveals that Marten has predicted that Roland will one day kill her. Although this has caused her to slowly lose her sanity, in the end she forgives Roland and asks that he forgive her infidelity to his father and betrayal of Gilead in return.
I would take that to mean that her infidelity and and betrayal were her choices.
If you read the actual story, it puts more emphasis on the magic affecting her, and the knowledge imparted to her driving her mad.
Read the story some time back. I will have to re-read.