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Name: Charlie
DW username: plaids
E-Mail: thesafecolour@gmail.com
IM: skype: planispheres; i can get aim again if necessary!
Plurk: N/A
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Eddie Dean
Series: The Dark Tower
Timeline: The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
Canon Resource Link: Wiki page, slightly more extensive Wikia page.
Character History:
DW username: plaids
E-Mail: thesafecolour@gmail.com
IM: skype: planispheres; i can get aim again if necessary!
Plurk: N/A
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Eddie Dean
Series: The Dark Tower
Timeline: The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
Canon Resource Link: Wiki page, slightly more extensive Wikia page.
Character History:
To understand Eddie Dean, you must know two things.
First, his older sister (6 years old at the time) was killed by a drunk driver when Eddie was barely 2 years old. This caused his mother to live in constant fear of losing Eddie, as well, and therefore to insist that his older brother Henry keep an eye on him at all times. Eddie's mother made sure that Eddie understood what this meant. His brother was, after all, sacrificing everything for him. Henry had no time for extracurricular activities like sports, because he had to take care of Eddie. Henry had no time to do his homework, which made his grades suffer, because he had to take care of Eddie (even when taking care of Eddie entailed nothing more but watching television with him all evening). Henry grew jealous that he had to dedicate his life to his brother, that whenever Eddie did something he did it better than him, and started to bring Eddie down any chance he got. He made fun of him, teased him, was nothing but negative in regards to his brother. This lead to Eddie doing whatever his brother wished out of desperately seeking his approval, but also out of guilt for having stolen his brother's life.
The second thing is that because of this, by 1987, Eddie Dean is 23 and a heroin addict.
Eddie's part of the quest to the Dark Tower begins on a plane. With pounds of cocaine strapped under his arms, he finds himself at an impasse: the stewardess has noticed him, but, too high on heroin, Eddie has not noticed her. This is the precise moment that Roland, the gunslinger from another world, finds a magical door on a beach that opens into Eddie's mind. In exchange for medicine from Eddie's world to cure his blood poisoning, the gunslinger helps Eddie smuggle the drugs through the door into his world. Eddie, too stunned, too scared to do much but listen to the gunslinger's plan, follows through. It's the first time he smuggles cocaine like this, and he's doing it only because the man Henry works for, Enrico Balazar, promised he would send them both to rehab after this one last job. It is Enrico's fault in the first place that they are both addicts: he provided Henry with heroin in order to keep him on a leash while he dealt his cocaine. Eddie had followed suit, not wanting his brother to go where he couldn't follow. At this point in time, Henry is too far gone to smuggle drugs without immediately being a suspect, so Eddie agreed to go in his stead.
Even with the gunslinger's help, Eddie gets arrested and searched. They find nothing, of course, as the drugs lie on a beach, through a magical door in another world. He's let go, but Balazar's men wait for him and take him right to the boss. Who had, as a measure of insurance, already picked up Henry from his home. Sadly, Balazar's men gave Henry just a little too much and he overdosed. Eddie is interrogated as this happens, keeping his attitude snarky despite badly wanting a fix, and being scared half out of his mind. Eddie combats fear and anxiety by making quips and sarcastic remarks, or acting silly: speaking in voices and accents, grand exaggerated gestures.
After learning of the death of his brother, Eddie is filled with a desire to fight the ones who did this, who wrapped them both in their drug deals. He follows the gunslinger into battle. Eddie fights well considering he has never used a gun in his life before. He fights like a gunslinger, with no fear and little hesitation. There's a real courage there, one that needs training, but there all the same. The shoot out is bloody, violent, and when one of the drug cronies throws Henry's severed head at Eddie, he snaps. He no longer hears Roland, and he empties the gun into the guy's chest. Eddie is at a loss; the sirens tell him police are on their way, and he holds his brother's head in his arms. Roland, the gunslinger, offers him to go through the door into his world. Eddie thinks it's pointless without his brother, but words of a quest and an adventure, perhaps ending in death, make him step through the door with the strange man.
There's steel in Eddie, a real bravery that is rare in most. Stepping through the door is part courage, and part having nowhere else to go. There's no heroin in this new world, and Eddie forcibly becomes an ex-addict. The withdrawal is awful, and he must go through it alone. Roland is dying, and the medicine is barely helping; the beach they are on is ruled by lobsters as big as corgis with claws as sharp as razors (they have already claimed two of the gunslinger's fingers). Yet Eddie goes on. Yet he finds water, shoots the lobstrosities and cooks them, feeds them to the gunslinger. Eddie keeps him alive despite his anger, despite his own illness, because he needs to be needed, and Roland Deschain needs him. He snarks and quips at him and yet continues to take care of him, to give him the little medicine they have in the hopes that the man's fever fades. They argue, but they keep on.
They walk on the beach until the next door.
The next person they drag out into Roland's world is duality itself. Eddie falls in love with one of her personalities at once: her name is Odetta Walker. The other is Detta Walker, a horrible, cruel person. She wishes only to interfere, sees Eddie and Roland as horrible men who treat her terribly and want her dead. The personalities switch with sleep, but not always. Sometimes one sticks around for a few days. The two women are unaware of each other, and the three (four) of them must keep on until the third and last door. Travelling is difficult; this woman is in a wheelchair (her legs ending at just above the knees), and it travels poorly over the gravel and rocks of the shore. Roland is weakening again, and cannot push her. Eddie's own health is on the decline; all they've eaten for days, weeks, are lobster meat. They are fed, but not nourished.
Detta wants only to cause them harm, and is bidding her time until she can act. The door is too far to even be seen, and Roland too weak to walk. They strike a deal: Eddie will go ahead with the woman and the chair, leave her at the door, and run back with the chair to take Roland. An argument breaks out as Eddie wishes to leave her with one of Roland's gun's, and Roland tells him no. Eddie can't bear the thought of her being alone and unarmed, even if he understands the danger of giving her second personality a weapon she could use against them. He hears the sounds of wildcats in the night and fears for her. Roland's suggestion to leave her with a pile of rocks seems cruel and unnecessary. Like leaving her for dead. Eddie's not heartless, and has a deep pool of generosity and empathy. Even if Detta is horrible, Odetta is not, and both women are one. He accepts and understands that neither of them deserve for harm to come to them.
In the end, Eddie gives her a gun. He fetches Roland, and when they arrive to the door Odetta Walker is gone. Eddie is beside himself, screams her name and looks for her in their surroundings. Meanwhile, the gunslinger prepares to step through a door once more. There is nothing for Eddie to do but wait and hope she will return while the gunslinger is gone. The follow events involve Detta getting the upperhand on Eddie and tying him up, leaving him for dead on the shore, Roland returning just in time, and tricking Detta into looking through the door in order to see her other self. She becomes Susannah Walker.
The three of them spend the next few months in the forest, living in shelter they built themselves, hunting wild animals for food and to use their skins and fur for clothes and other necessities. Eddie loves Susannah with all his heart, and their love deepens. He calls her his wife, and she takes his name: Susannah Dean. Eddie has never had a very stable or long term relationship, but this comes naturally. It feels right, and they already share the ease of communication of the long married. Eddie learns new practical skills, and finds that he likes living like this. It's peaceful.
Roland trains them to shoot like gunslingers. Eddie is a quick learner, but he is held back by his insecurities. This is the case for most anything Eddie does. Were he to trust and believe in himself, he would do just fine, but his constant fear of not being good enough, of failing, hold him back. The voice of his brother, Henry, reminds him that he's a good for nothing, and makes it so he barely tries anything and instead makes jokes at the expense of his situation or himself.
When he begins to be plagued by strange dreams, he gets a feeling that he is meant to do something important. Remembers that, as a kid, he'd fallen violently in love with whittling but had dropped the hobby after his brother's incessant jabs. Now, on his adventure, he picks up a piece of wood and starts to whittle again.
The dreams seem to echo the mental torment that the gunslinger Roland is experiencing, and Eddie begins to believe they are not just dreams. He is being shown another world, and the last member of their group needs their help to come over into this one. For this, Eddie must whittle the key to open the last door. Tensions grow high as Eddie struggles to get the shape of the key right based on a vision. He is desperate to get it perfectly, as he knows failure to produce the exact necessary shape will mean the boy Jake will not be able to come through and join them. Not only that, but it means his certain death. Eddie is terrified that he will fail, and it takes Roland's anger at him to make him put aside his brother's voice and work the shape until it's perfect. He has a minute doubt, a small suspicion that the key isn't quite right, but he chalks this up to remnants of his low self-confidence.
When the time comes, the door is at the center of a demon's haunt. Susannah distracts the thing while Eddie attempts to get the door open, but the key doesn't work. Eddie screams, yells, but all he can do is be quick, focus, and try again. He has to let go of all of his fears for this in order not to mess it up. He has to believe that he knows exactly what he's doing, and trust himself. He shaves another bit of wood, and this time the key turns.
They pull Jake into their world.
Their new companion is only 12 years old, but Eddie likes having him around. At least someone laughs at his jokes, now. His tendency to kid around and act silly when scared is more comfortable when someone laughs with him. Less isolating. Plus, Jake understands many of the cultural references Eddie loves to make, as he's from 1977. They travel on, searching for the Dark Tower. Eddie takes Roland apart, tells him that he doesn't have to drag him anymore. That he doesn't have to force Eddie to do anything. Eddie is in it to the end, willingly. He wants to see the goddamn Tower. He is growing up, and he finds himself fitting perfectly on the path the gunslinger has taken. He is seeing worlds like he'd never imagined, but also meeting people and finding a kinship with them like none other. They're like family to him, and Eddie loves his three companions. After asking himself where he's been all his life, Eddie has settled that waiting for this is the answer.
Jake came into their world with a little book of riddles, and one evening as they sit around a fire, they start to pass it around. The answers, however, have been torn out, and they are quickly stumped. Eddie starts telling some riddles of his own, but the gunslinger's distaste quiet him. Roland says his riddles are not true puzzles, only tasteless, silly and pointless jokes. Eddie is stung, a little annoyed, but drops it.
Their next stop is Lud, a city in which two factions of people wage a century old war. Some of them live underground, the rest, above ground. The group has to split when Jake is kidnapped, and Eddie is afraid he will never see Jake or Roland again, but this time continues on with their mission anyway: they must find the monorail called Blaine, and ride it across the Wastelands. They encounter some of the people who have lived in the abandoned city for years, and before they attack, Eddie kills them with the gunslinging skills Roland taught him. He's unsettled at the ease with which this happens, how simple it is to pull the trigger on these people. He keeps on, enlisting two of the survivors to take them to the monorail. Eventually, Roland and Jake return, and Eddie's joy is so big that he whoops and shouts and dances.
The monorail's name is Blaine, and he wants to play a game. He will take them where they want to go, but only if they play a good game of riddles with him and manage to stump him. The monorail wants only the best of riddles, and has no time for silly ones. They all, except for Eddie, take turns trying to stump the monorail. None of them succeed. Eddie wracks his brain for good riddles, but something at the edge of his mind keeps nagging at him. He's lost in thought for much of the ride, until he recalls that Roland had called his riddle silly. He begins to recite every joke riddle he knows, non stop, and this drives the monorail to scream in anger, as he cannot guess the answers: riddles and puzzles are easy, but riddled jokes have no logic to them. Eddie slays the monorail with them, taking advantage of a skill the gunslinger had previously only frowned upon.
In the end, it's Eddie's crass humour that saves their lives, but also the fact that he used it to their advantage. Doing this required for Eddie to grow out of the shadow of himself, of his doubts, even when Roland had just recently looked down on him for the very same thing. It was an act of bravery for Eddie to stand up and starting listing the very same jokes that his mentor had found so distasteful. After this, however, Roland thanks Eddie for saving their lives.
Their next travels take them to a village, Calla Bryn Sturgis, where wolves come every 20 or so years and take away children. This place needs their gunslinger help, so they decide to take a look around and see if they can indeed provide said help. When introduced to the entirety of the village, Roland surprises Eddie by stating that Eddie will say a few words. After a flare of anger at Roland for putting him on the spot, Eddie starts to speak, and the moment the crowd laughs at his first joke, he relaxes. He's not very happy with Roland, but the words flow out of him naturally, and the crowd responds to it Talking is something he does, and well, and he can use it to his advantage when he puts his fears aside. He gets another occasion to do just that when Roland sends Eddie and his companions into town to shop. They end up amassing a group of watchers, and Eddie adopts the local speech manners and charms them all with a handsome smile. People flock to them, and Eddie welcomes them. He no longer hears his brother's voice, criticizing him for everything. They sit with the villagers for hours on end, answering their questions.
He almost forgets that something is going on with Susannah, something that Roland speaks to him about. She is divided again, and a new personality has emerged, showing herself at night. Roland thinks it's best not to tell her just yet. Instead of fear or anger, instead of refusing to lie to his wife, Eddie understands why Roland thinks its best to wait. He's not happy about lying to her (has never done so before), but he fears for Susannah's safety. Telling the truth could trigger the consequences of what's happening, and it's reluctantly, sadly, that he accepts Roland's request not to say anything. A few months ago Eddie would have argued and fought to the teeth, but Eddie's a grown person now. He can be rational. He and Roland have reached an understanding, a mutual respect that comes with fighting side by side. And Eddie knows that there's a difference between what feels right to him and what's best.
He witnesses the appearance of this third personality one night, and his heart goes out to her. She is afraid, and only looking out for the baby growing inside of Susannah. He wishes he could help and do something without risking that this personality take over and leave with Susannah, or cause a pre-emptive birth, so he lets her be, for now, and decides to keep a close eye to insure Susannah's safety.
Eddie's role in his group is in part comic relief, but he possesses deep pools of empathy and caring that make him a real friend. It's hard for him to see others suffer and in pain, and he tends to try and help as best as he can (which, often, is just anecdotes and jokes to take one's mind off of things).
Abilities/Special Powers: First, his older sister (6 years old at the time) was killed by a drunk driver when Eddie was barely 2 years old. This caused his mother to live in constant fear of losing Eddie, as well, and therefore to insist that his older brother Henry keep an eye on him at all times. Eddie's mother made sure that Eddie understood what this meant. His brother was, after all, sacrificing everything for him. Henry had no time for extracurricular activities like sports, because he had to take care of Eddie. Henry had no time to do his homework, which made his grades suffer, because he had to take care of Eddie (even when taking care of Eddie entailed nothing more but watching television with him all evening). Henry grew jealous that he had to dedicate his life to his brother, that whenever Eddie did something he did it better than him, and started to bring Eddie down any chance he got. He made fun of him, teased him, was nothing but negative in regards to his brother. This lead to Eddie doing whatever his brother wished out of desperately seeking his approval, but also out of guilt for having stolen his brother's life.
The second thing is that because of this, by 1987, Eddie Dean is 23 and a heroin addict.
Eddie's part of the quest to the Dark Tower begins on a plane. With pounds of cocaine strapped under his arms, he finds himself at an impasse: the stewardess has noticed him, but, too high on heroin, Eddie has not noticed her. This is the precise moment that Roland, the gunslinger from another world, finds a magical door on a beach that opens into Eddie's mind. In exchange for medicine from Eddie's world to cure his blood poisoning, the gunslinger helps Eddie smuggle the drugs through the door into his world. Eddie, too stunned, too scared to do much but listen to the gunslinger's plan, follows through. It's the first time he smuggles cocaine like this, and he's doing it only because the man Henry works for, Enrico Balazar, promised he would send them both to rehab after this one last job. It is Enrico's fault in the first place that they are both addicts: he provided Henry with heroin in order to keep him on a leash while he dealt his cocaine. Eddie had followed suit, not wanting his brother to go where he couldn't follow. At this point in time, Henry is too far gone to smuggle drugs without immediately being a suspect, so Eddie agreed to go in his stead.
Even with the gunslinger's help, Eddie gets arrested and searched. They find nothing, of course, as the drugs lie on a beach, through a magical door in another world. He's let go, but Balazar's men wait for him and take him right to the boss. Who had, as a measure of insurance, already picked up Henry from his home. Sadly, Balazar's men gave Henry just a little too much and he overdosed. Eddie is interrogated as this happens, keeping his attitude snarky despite badly wanting a fix, and being scared half out of his mind. Eddie combats fear and anxiety by making quips and sarcastic remarks, or acting silly: speaking in voices and accents, grand exaggerated gestures.
After learning of the death of his brother, Eddie is filled with a desire to fight the ones who did this, who wrapped them both in their drug deals. He follows the gunslinger into battle. Eddie fights well considering he has never used a gun in his life before. He fights like a gunslinger, with no fear and little hesitation. There's a real courage there, one that needs training, but there all the same. The shoot out is bloody, violent, and when one of the drug cronies throws Henry's severed head at Eddie, he snaps. He no longer hears Roland, and he empties the gun into the guy's chest. Eddie is at a loss; the sirens tell him police are on their way, and he holds his brother's head in his arms. Roland, the gunslinger, offers him to go through the door into his world. Eddie thinks it's pointless without his brother, but words of a quest and an adventure, perhaps ending in death, make him step through the door with the strange man.
There's steel in Eddie, a real bravery that is rare in most. Stepping through the door is part courage, and part having nowhere else to go. There's no heroin in this new world, and Eddie forcibly becomes an ex-addict. The withdrawal is awful, and he must go through it alone. Roland is dying, and the medicine is barely helping; the beach they are on is ruled by lobsters as big as corgis with claws as sharp as razors (they have already claimed two of the gunslinger's fingers). Yet Eddie goes on. Yet he finds water, shoots the lobstrosities and cooks them, feeds them to the gunslinger. Eddie keeps him alive despite his anger, despite his own illness, because he needs to be needed, and Roland Deschain needs him. He snarks and quips at him and yet continues to take care of him, to give him the little medicine they have in the hopes that the man's fever fades. They argue, but they keep on.
They walk on the beach until the next door.
The next person they drag out into Roland's world is duality itself. Eddie falls in love with one of her personalities at once: her name is Odetta Walker. The other is Detta Walker, a horrible, cruel person. She wishes only to interfere, sees Eddie and Roland as horrible men who treat her terribly and want her dead. The personalities switch with sleep, but not always. Sometimes one sticks around for a few days. The two women are unaware of each other, and the three (four) of them must keep on until the third and last door. Travelling is difficult; this woman is in a wheelchair (her legs ending at just above the knees), and it travels poorly over the gravel and rocks of the shore. Roland is weakening again, and cannot push her. Eddie's own health is on the decline; all they've eaten for days, weeks, are lobster meat. They are fed, but not nourished.
Detta wants only to cause them harm, and is bidding her time until she can act. The door is too far to even be seen, and Roland too weak to walk. They strike a deal: Eddie will go ahead with the woman and the chair, leave her at the door, and run back with the chair to take Roland. An argument breaks out as Eddie wishes to leave her with one of Roland's gun's, and Roland tells him no. Eddie can't bear the thought of her being alone and unarmed, even if he understands the danger of giving her second personality a weapon she could use against them. He hears the sounds of wildcats in the night and fears for her. Roland's suggestion to leave her with a pile of rocks seems cruel and unnecessary. Like leaving her for dead. Eddie's not heartless, and has a deep pool of generosity and empathy. Even if Detta is horrible, Odetta is not, and both women are one. He accepts and understands that neither of them deserve for harm to come to them.
In the end, Eddie gives her a gun. He fetches Roland, and when they arrive to the door Odetta Walker is gone. Eddie is beside himself, screams her name and looks for her in their surroundings. Meanwhile, the gunslinger prepares to step through a door once more. There is nothing for Eddie to do but wait and hope she will return while the gunslinger is gone. The follow events involve Detta getting the upperhand on Eddie and tying him up, leaving him for dead on the shore, Roland returning just in time, and tricking Detta into looking through the door in order to see her other self. She becomes Susannah Walker.
The three of them spend the next few months in the forest, living in shelter they built themselves, hunting wild animals for food and to use their skins and fur for clothes and other necessities. Eddie loves Susannah with all his heart, and their love deepens. He calls her his wife, and she takes his name: Susannah Dean. Eddie has never had a very stable or long term relationship, but this comes naturally. It feels right, and they already share the ease of communication of the long married. Eddie learns new practical skills, and finds that he likes living like this. It's peaceful.
Roland trains them to shoot like gunslingers. Eddie is a quick learner, but he is held back by his insecurities. This is the case for most anything Eddie does. Were he to trust and believe in himself, he would do just fine, but his constant fear of not being good enough, of failing, hold him back. The voice of his brother, Henry, reminds him that he's a good for nothing, and makes it so he barely tries anything and instead makes jokes at the expense of his situation or himself.
When he begins to be plagued by strange dreams, he gets a feeling that he is meant to do something important. Remembers that, as a kid, he'd fallen violently in love with whittling but had dropped the hobby after his brother's incessant jabs. Now, on his adventure, he picks up a piece of wood and starts to whittle again.
The dreams seem to echo the mental torment that the gunslinger Roland is experiencing, and Eddie begins to believe they are not just dreams. He is being shown another world, and the last member of their group needs their help to come over into this one. For this, Eddie must whittle the key to open the last door. Tensions grow high as Eddie struggles to get the shape of the key right based on a vision. He is desperate to get it perfectly, as he knows failure to produce the exact necessary shape will mean the boy Jake will not be able to come through and join them. Not only that, but it means his certain death. Eddie is terrified that he will fail, and it takes Roland's anger at him to make him put aside his brother's voice and work the shape until it's perfect. He has a minute doubt, a small suspicion that the key isn't quite right, but he chalks this up to remnants of his low self-confidence.
When the time comes, the door is at the center of a demon's haunt. Susannah distracts the thing while Eddie attempts to get the door open, but the key doesn't work. Eddie screams, yells, but all he can do is be quick, focus, and try again. He has to let go of all of his fears for this in order not to mess it up. He has to believe that he knows exactly what he's doing, and trust himself. He shaves another bit of wood, and this time the key turns.
They pull Jake into their world.
Their new companion is only 12 years old, but Eddie likes having him around. At least someone laughs at his jokes, now. His tendency to kid around and act silly when scared is more comfortable when someone laughs with him. Less isolating. Plus, Jake understands many of the cultural references Eddie loves to make, as he's from 1977. They travel on, searching for the Dark Tower. Eddie takes Roland apart, tells him that he doesn't have to drag him anymore. That he doesn't have to force Eddie to do anything. Eddie is in it to the end, willingly. He wants to see the goddamn Tower. He is growing up, and he finds himself fitting perfectly on the path the gunslinger has taken. He is seeing worlds like he'd never imagined, but also meeting people and finding a kinship with them like none other. They're like family to him, and Eddie loves his three companions. After asking himself where he's been all his life, Eddie has settled that waiting for this is the answer.
Jake came into their world with a little book of riddles, and one evening as they sit around a fire, they start to pass it around. The answers, however, have been torn out, and they are quickly stumped. Eddie starts telling some riddles of his own, but the gunslinger's distaste quiet him. Roland says his riddles are not true puzzles, only tasteless, silly and pointless jokes. Eddie is stung, a little annoyed, but drops it.
Their next stop is Lud, a city in which two factions of people wage a century old war. Some of them live underground, the rest, above ground. The group has to split when Jake is kidnapped, and Eddie is afraid he will never see Jake or Roland again, but this time continues on with their mission anyway: they must find the monorail called Blaine, and ride it across the Wastelands. They encounter some of the people who have lived in the abandoned city for years, and before they attack, Eddie kills them with the gunslinging skills Roland taught him. He's unsettled at the ease with which this happens, how simple it is to pull the trigger on these people. He keeps on, enlisting two of the survivors to take them to the monorail. Eventually, Roland and Jake return, and Eddie's joy is so big that he whoops and shouts and dances.
The monorail's name is Blaine, and he wants to play a game. He will take them where they want to go, but only if they play a good game of riddles with him and manage to stump him. The monorail wants only the best of riddles, and has no time for silly ones. They all, except for Eddie, take turns trying to stump the monorail. None of them succeed. Eddie wracks his brain for good riddles, but something at the edge of his mind keeps nagging at him. He's lost in thought for much of the ride, until he recalls that Roland had called his riddle silly. He begins to recite every joke riddle he knows, non stop, and this drives the monorail to scream in anger, as he cannot guess the answers: riddles and puzzles are easy, but riddled jokes have no logic to them. Eddie slays the monorail with them, taking advantage of a skill the gunslinger had previously only frowned upon.
In the end, it's Eddie's crass humour that saves their lives, but also the fact that he used it to their advantage. Doing this required for Eddie to grow out of the shadow of himself, of his doubts, even when Roland had just recently looked down on him for the very same thing. It was an act of bravery for Eddie to stand up and starting listing the very same jokes that his mentor had found so distasteful. After this, however, Roland thanks Eddie for saving their lives.
Their next travels take them to a village, Calla Bryn Sturgis, where wolves come every 20 or so years and take away children. This place needs their gunslinger help, so they decide to take a look around and see if they can indeed provide said help. When introduced to the entirety of the village, Roland surprises Eddie by stating that Eddie will say a few words. After a flare of anger at Roland for putting him on the spot, Eddie starts to speak, and the moment the crowd laughs at his first joke, he relaxes. He's not very happy with Roland, but the words flow out of him naturally, and the crowd responds to it Talking is something he does, and well, and he can use it to his advantage when he puts his fears aside. He gets another occasion to do just that when Roland sends Eddie and his companions into town to shop. They end up amassing a group of watchers, and Eddie adopts the local speech manners and charms them all with a handsome smile. People flock to them, and Eddie welcomes them. He no longer hears his brother's voice, criticizing him for everything. They sit with the villagers for hours on end, answering their questions.
He almost forgets that something is going on with Susannah, something that Roland speaks to him about. She is divided again, and a new personality has emerged, showing herself at night. Roland thinks it's best not to tell her just yet. Instead of fear or anger, instead of refusing to lie to his wife, Eddie understands why Roland thinks its best to wait. He's not happy about lying to her (has never done so before), but he fears for Susannah's safety. Telling the truth could trigger the consequences of what's happening, and it's reluctantly, sadly, that he accepts Roland's request not to say anything. A few months ago Eddie would have argued and fought to the teeth, but Eddie's a grown person now. He can be rational. He and Roland have reached an understanding, a mutual respect that comes with fighting side by side. And Eddie knows that there's a difference between what feels right to him and what's best.
He witnesses the appearance of this third personality one night, and his heart goes out to her. She is afraid, and only looking out for the baby growing inside of Susannah. He wishes he could help and do something without risking that this personality take over and leave with Susannah, or cause a pre-emptive birth, so he lets her be, for now, and decides to keep a close eye to insure Susannah's safety.
Eddie's role in his group is in part comic relief, but he possesses deep pools of empathy and caring that make him a real friend. It's hard for him to see others suffer and in pain, and he tends to try and help as best as he can (which, often, is just anecdotes and jokes to take one's mind off of things).
Eddie's abilities are far from magical, but possess a sort of magic nonetheless. He's good at whittling, for one, and can see shapes in pieces of wood before he even gets his hands on them. He has deep flashes of intuition that provides him the ability to understand people and situations quickly (at times; but not always). It's almost a sixth sense, where he can sense someone's feelings in brief flashes. Eddie is also a convincing person, and can get out of situations by talking endlessly and convincing others -- this goes with his talent of making light of most situations, barking out sarcastic quips at inopportune moments. Eddie talks a lot, and enough to know what to do with his words when it really matters most. In terms of fighting and weaponry, he can shoot well, and fast, and with good aim. He has an intrinsic knowledge of weaponry as a whole, and could pick up anything and know how to use it without training (not perfectly, but well enough).
Third-Person Sample: Eddie Dean has no idea where he is. This is not entirely unusual. Not so long ago he might have woken up in a strange place, a migraine thudding at the forefront of his mind, hungover and smacking dry lips and an even dryer mouth. But the drugs have long been over, for him, and hasn't had a drink in months. It's the soft press of a pillow at his head and a mattress at his back that tells him he is not where he was when he fell asleep. These past few years Eddie Dean has been sleeping on cold hard ground with a bundle of his clothes as a pillow, with his wife's arms around him. There is none of this now but soft linen as his hand runs on the sheets below him.
He has to rub a hand over his eyes to truly get them open, and with the gesture comes a flash of memory: covering his face as he fell into darkness. No, not darkness. It had been void, plain and simple, a void filled with hidden monsters just waiting, their tendrils moving in the dark in search of purchase. I fell into todash darkness, Eddie thinks, and the thought is terrifying. They'd all been warned that going todash, travelling into other worlds in their dreams, could be a dangerous business. Miss the exit and you fall into the void, never to be seen again.
There are pillows in the void? Eddie sits up, looks around, and concludes that this is not the hellsape of darkness and monsters he expected. Not even Cthulhu in sight. He does, however, notice that he is alone. Roland, Susannah and Jake are nowhere to be found. There's a threat of an oncoming panic, and edge of desperation in his thoughts at this realisation, but he swallows it down. Instead of falling into darkness, he must have fallen into another world. The others could be nearby, still.
With limbs that feel like lead, Eddie gets up from the bed. A calloused hand runs through his hair, brushing it back from his forehead, before coming to rest at his hips. Where he notices his gunbelt is gone. He pats himself, as if this would make it and the weapon inside appear, to no avail. The now familiar weight of the sandwalwood grips of the gun at his right hip is gone, truly.
"Oh, fuck," he says to the empty room. Being alone in a strange place is one thing, but being alone, unarmed and feeling naked, and potentially having lost a weapon thousands of years old belonging to a dear friend of his... is another. "Shit."
Eddie takes a look around again, his eyes landing on the door. Nothing to do but go out there and find out where he's landed, right? There'll be time for panic later. Once he knows his surroundings.
He wraps his hand carefully around the cool handle, takes a deep breath, and then steps through.
First-Person Sample: He has to rub a hand over his eyes to truly get them open, and with the gesture comes a flash of memory: covering his face as he fell into darkness. No, not darkness. It had been void, plain and simple, a void filled with hidden monsters just waiting, their tendrils moving in the dark in search of purchase. I fell into todash darkness, Eddie thinks, and the thought is terrifying. They'd all been warned that going todash, travelling into other worlds in their dreams, could be a dangerous business. Miss the exit and you fall into the void, never to be seen again.
There are pillows in the void? Eddie sits up, looks around, and concludes that this is not the hellsape of darkness and monsters he expected. Not even Cthulhu in sight. He does, however, notice that he is alone. Roland, Susannah and Jake are nowhere to be found. There's a threat of an oncoming panic, and edge of desperation in his thoughts at this realisation, but he swallows it down. Instead of falling into darkness, he must have fallen into another world. The others could be nearby, still.
With limbs that feel like lead, Eddie gets up from the bed. A calloused hand runs through his hair, brushing it back from his forehead, before coming to rest at his hips. Where he notices his gunbelt is gone. He pats himself, as if this would make it and the weapon inside appear, to no avail. The now familiar weight of the sandwalwood grips of the gun at his right hip is gone, truly.
"Oh, fuck," he says to the empty room. Being alone in a strange place is one thing, but being alone, unarmed and feeling naked, and potentially having lost a weapon thousands of years old belonging to a dear friend of his... is another. "Shit."
Eddie takes a look around again, his eyes landing on the door. Nothing to do but go out there and find out where he's landed, right? There'll be time for panic later. Once he knows his surroundings.
He wraps his hand carefully around the cool handle, takes a deep breath, and then steps through.
[ a throat clears. hacks. there's a mutter: ] Okay, alright.
Hello, everybody. I know you're asking yourselves who this handsome devil might be, and I'll tell you: my name is Eddie Dean, and I'm looking for my friends. If you've seen either: an old, tall and ugly guy who talks funny, a 12 year old kid tailed by a fucked up kind of weasel with a twirly tail, or a lovely lady in a wheelchair, holler.
[ a winning smile, but it's clear he's not quite feeling it. It fades, just a little. ]
I get a feeling I'm not the first to make this kind of announcement, but if you could help me out, I'd really --
[ he looks serious, now, weary and tired. ]
-- Really appreciate it. I mean it. I'll owe you big-big. Thanks.
Hello, everybody. I know you're asking yourselves who this handsome devil might be, and I'll tell you: my name is Eddie Dean, and I'm looking for my friends. If you've seen either: an old, tall and ugly guy who talks funny, a 12 year old kid tailed by a fucked up kind of weasel with a twirly tail, or a lovely lady in a wheelchair, holler.
[ a winning smile, but it's clear he's not quite feeling it. It fades, just a little. ]
I get a feeling I'm not the first to make this kind of announcement, but if you could help me out, I'd really --
[ he looks serious, now, weary and tired. ]
-- Really appreciate it. I mean it. I'll owe you big-big. Thanks.