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 Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:58 pm
The man in black fled across the desert...
This thread is about Cuthbert "Bert" Allgood.
...and the gunslinger followed
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:52 pm
Summery Cuthbert is Roland Deschain's childhood friend, and a member of his original ka-tet. Cuthbert, often called Bert, is first featured in The Gunslinger, but he does not play a major role in the series until Wizard and Glass, the fourth volume in the series. He is very witty and skilled with a slingshot, although he does also carry the guns of a gunslinger. During the battle of Jericho Hill, Cuthbert is shot through the eye by an arrow fired by Randall Flagg. Cuthbert's role in Roland's ka-tet is often that of a "constant joker", leading Roland to make frequent comparisons between Cuthbert and Eddie Dean throughout the Dark Tower series. As with Alain, Cuthbert's ancestry goes back to the days of Arthur Eld.
There is mention of Cuthbert in the Robert Browning poem upon which The Dark Tower series is based, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came".
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:55 pm
Childhood
Throughout the series, Cuthbert's character is mostly recalled through flashback, as Roland recounts the memories of his childhood in Gilead and his days as a young gunslinger. Cuthbert is a part of Roland's first ka-tet, along with Alain Johns and Jamie De Curry, both childhood friends of Roland. In The Gunslinger, we learn that Cuthbert was Roland's closest friend and that the two were nearly inseparable as children, and they had played together since they were in diapers.
Cuthbert and Roland undergo gunslinger training together, and on one occasion when Bert is beaten particularly badly by their instructor, Cort, he is sent away without dinner or breakfast. The two friends sneak into the kitchen and were secretly given pie by Hax the cook, and it is on this occasion that they happen to overhear a conversation between Hax and a guard discussing an act of treason that Hax plans to commit. Hax is hanged soon after, and the boys beg their fathers to let them see it. The boys attend, but regret asking; they are both afraid to look and join hands as the box is pulled from under Hax's feet. The memory seems to have struck a chord in Roland; he remembers it vividly.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:57 pm
Wizard and Glass
When Roland is urged to go east and leave Gilead by his father, Steven Deschain recommends that Roland take along some friends, but not "that laughing boy", Cuthbert Allgood. Roland's father says that it would be more useful to bring a barking dog. Roland takes Bert anyway, along with Alain Johns, and the three boys travel to the town of Hambry, in the Barony of Mejis. There, Roland meets Susan Delgado and begins an affair with her that puts both the couple and the rest of his ka-tet at great risk. Cuthbert is increasingly bothered by Roland's unusually clouded vision, and the two are nearly permanently estranged. At the height of his anger, Bert punches Roland, who is immediately awakened from his love-induced stupor, and asks Cuthbert for forgiveness.
Part of Cuthbert's anger with Roland seems to be jealousy; it is mentioned often that Cuthbert is very attracted to Susan and wanted her from the first time he saw her. He also seems annoyed with the way everyone cites ka as a reason for everything, Cuthbert calls ka "everybody's favorite whipping boy".
While in Hambry, Cuthbert uses the alias Arthur Heath.
Cuthbert meets a boy in the town of Hambry named Sheemie Ruiz, who is mentally handicapped, but gifted with The Touch, a kind of extra-sensory perception. Cuthbert saves Sheemie from The Big Coffin Hunters, and for that, he earns Sheemie's total loyalty and gratitude. He befriends all of Roland's tet but maintains a special fondness for Bert, who he knows as Sai Heath. Later, Cuthbert is able to confide his real name to Sheemie, who sounds it out as 'Key-youth-bert', and declares it a funny name for a funny man.
Cuthbert is possessed of a rook's skull which he refers to as "The Lookout". He seems to have an attachment to it, though it is unknown where he picked it up and what it could mean to him. It amuses him a great deal to put the rook's skull on the pommel of his saddle, and later, to wear it around his neck by stringing it through the eyesockets. Cuthbert often speaks to The Lookout and asks it questions, or 'translates' the skull's thoughts and opinions for his friends. While he is in Mejis, people come to recognize him by the rook's skull about his neck. When he accidentally loses the rook's skull, he is upset and regards it as a foul omen, which proves true as it is eventually used as a piece of planted evidence against the ka-tet, placed at the scene of the mayor's murder.
Susan thinks when she meets Cuthbert that if she had met him first, she would have fallen in love with him instead of Roland.
While in Mejis, Cuthbert carries a gun described as a huge, antique 'beer-barrel' revolver, but is more partial to using a slingshot that he made himself. Roland claims that Bert can take a bird on the wing at sixty yards with his slingshot.
Cuthbert's horse is named Glue Boy, likely a joke referencing the use of a horse's connective tissue for glue production. Roland expresses frustration that he "can't even name his horse like a normal person" which is one of the many times Roland loses tolerance for Cuthbert's joking nature.
When Roland, Cuthbert and Alain are leading Latigo's men into the thinny in Eyebolt Canyon, Bert begs Roland to let him ignite the brush pile that will seal the trap, stating that he is a "firebug at heart", a statement which appears to mean he is subject to whims of pyromania.
Cuthbert seems to be somewhat sentimental. He tears up in the marketplace in Hambry when he sees a serape for sale that reminds him of his mother, and is very upset when Eldred Jonas sneaks into the tet's bunkhouse and tears up a photo of Cuthbert's mother and father.
Cuthbert is depicted as being very social, witty and humorous throughout Wizard and Glass. He is occasionally admonished by both Roland and Alain for talking endlessly, and often, Roland has little patience for his continual jokes. Roland calls Cuthbert ka-mai, a phrase meaning "ka's fool" that he later ascribes to Eddie Dean. In fact, Roland states many times throughout the series that Cuthbert and Eddie are very alike, both in personality and appearance. It is possible that Cuthbert Allgood and Eddie Dean are "twinners", a concept in many of Stephen King's books relating to The Dark Tower (most specifically found in The Talisman). In fact, in Song of Susannah the character of Stephen King states under hypnosis that Eddie and Cuthbert are "twins". Both Eddie and Cuthbert are killed in a similar fashion. Cuthbert is shot through the eye with an arrow at the battle of Jericho hill, while Eddie is shot through the eye with a bullet.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:59 pm
Death
In the battle of Jericho Hill, Cuthbert is killed while fighting the remnants of Farson's armies, with an arrow through the eye by Roland's arch nemesis Randall Flagg, operating under the alias Rudin Filaro. He fought a long time through many wounds, and Roland held him up until he died. True to form, he was laughing to the end. Cuthbert maintained possession of Roland's horn throughout the battle, attempting to blow it, even as he was mortally wounded. After the battle, Roland neglected to retrieve the artifact from his friend.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:00 pm
Appearance
Cuthbert is described as being tall, thin, and good-looking, with dark eyes and dark hair. However, in the Browning poem, Cuthbert has curly blonde hair. At one point in the series, Roland implies that Cuthbert and Eddie Dean have similar features. In the final book of the series, upon reading the poem left for them in Dandelo's bathroom by Stephen King, Roland states that the curly blonde hair is that of Susan Delgado, and that stanza speaks of how his relationship with her broke the boys' fellowship.
Cuthbert has appeared in every issue of the Gunslinger comics, where he is depicted as having shoulder-length black hair and dark eyes.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:52 pm
Summery From the Comics
REAL NAME: Cuthhbert Allgood
ALIASES: Arthur Heath
NICKNAMES: Bert
PLACE OF BIRTH: Gilead, Barony of New Canaan
OCCUPATION: Gunslinger apprentice
AFFILIATION: Gunslingers, the Affiliation
KNOWN RELATIVES: Robert Allgood (father)
EDUCATION: Gunslinger training
HEIGHT: 6’
WEIGHT: 145 lbs
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Brown
SPECIAL SKILLS: Like most Gunslinger apprentices, Cuthbert has undergone rigorous training in gunplay, the art of war, navigation, hypnotism, and hand-to-hand combat. While he is very skilled in the use of firearms, he is especially adept in the use of his custom-made slingshot. His aim with the slingshot is so great that he can hit a flying bird from 60 yards away. He is also very detailed-oriented, able to memorize every name, face, and nuance that he encounters. Cuthbert is skilled in mimicking voices and other dialects and accents of Mid-World.
EQUIPMENT: Cuthbert wields an antique, beer-barreled, large caliber five-shot nickel-plated revolver known as a “carver” (which matches Alain John’s revolver). He also wears a slingshot on the back of his belt, tucked into a holster he had specially made for it. Hanging from the left side of his belt is a cotton pouch which once held his father’s tobacco but now carries an arsenal of nearly four dozen steel shots for his slingshot. His horse is named “Glue Boy.”
HISTORY: The son of Robert Allgood, a loyal follower of Steven Deschain, Cuthbert Allgood befriended Roland Deschain in early childhood. At age eleven, the two boys witnessed the public hanging of Hax, the head cook of Gilead’s West Kitchen, whose allegiance to John Farson was exposed after he secretly plotted to poison the nearby town of Taunton at Farson’s behest.
Although Cuthbert is Roland’s oldest and closet friend, Roland has never really understood his comedic companion (Roland has always thought that Cuthbert would die laughing). A practical joker at heart, Cuthbert has a relentless sense of foolery, with laughter always bubbling just under his surface, even in the direst of situations. He is very sarcastic and struggles to keep his mouth shut in instances where he knows his wisecracks will jeopardize the welfare of his friends. He does not believe in destiny, does not like opinions or politics, and would much rather face danger than silence. He is very skeptical of the supernatural and believes Maerlyn’s Rainbow and the Dark Tower are mere fairy tales. But Cuthbert is much more complex than he appears, and his never-ending onslaught of jokes and pranks not only masks his kind and selfless nature and his desire to respect the dignity inherent in all humans, but it also helps to hide his dark side, which he would rather suppress.
When departing on their trip to Hambry, Steven Deschain begged his son Roland not to chose Cuthbert as a traveling companion, arguing that Roland would be better off if he brought a barking dog. Although Roland often finds Cuthbert’s constant humor and carefree behavior irritating, he nonetheless brought Cuthbert along with him to Hambry. Roland knows that Cuthbert possesses other valuable qualities that would make him an asset on the trip: he is extremely detailed-oriented and remembers every name, face, and nuance.
Just prior to departing on their trip to Hambry, Cuthbert found a rook’s skull which he decided to keep as “Lookout.” Much to Roland’s chagrin, Cuthbert had taken to constantly placing the rook’s skull on the horn of his saddle or wearing it around his neck on a gold chain. He frequently asked the rook’s skull for its opinions on matters, most likely because he knew his behavior irritated the stoic Roland. Unfortunately for Cuthbert and his companions the “Lookout” was eventually found by Eldred Jonas of the Big Coffin Hunters after Cuthbert accidentally left it behind while surveying Hambry’s Citgo oil field. Jonas, who was serving as John Farson’s agent in Hambry, arranged events so that Mayor Hart Thorin was brutally murdered and the rook’s skull was placed at the scene of the crime, effectively framing Roland and his friends for the Mayor’s death. Cuthbert and his allies eventually escaped custody, however, and Cuthbert proved to be instrumental in helping Roland defeat Farson’s agents in Hambry and preventing the shipment of crude oil which would have enabled Farson to power his war machines.
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