The Dark Tower - Principle Characters

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers from Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series of books).

As much as I would've been happy with focusing entirely on the Dark Tower itself, it would've done a major disservice to the work to ignore the lesson we're taught from Roland's epic journey, which is that it is the experiences, relationships and basic human connections that matter more than the destination itself. That is to say, the Dark Tower wouldn't be the Dark Tower without the principle characters.

Minifigure customization presents a whole different set of challenges compared to regular MOC building. Because minifigures often add the most detail and finishing touches to any set of LEGOs, minute things like facial expressions, accessories and torso printings can bring a minifigure, and therefore an entire creation, to life.



With the Dark Tower, naturally, I had to start with Roland. LEGO hasn't produced a whole lot of Western/Cowboy sets, but enough that I was able to find his torso, hat and pistol fairly easily. To that, I added dark blue pants to be true to the descriptions of the Gunslinger being in blue jeans.

But the real challenge was finding his face. I found it finally in the face of Captain Rex (Star Wars). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to properly represent Roland's blue bombardier eyes, but short of that, everything else spoke out to me as the closest representation I was going to get of Clint Eastwood, the original inspiration for Roland Deschain.

Finishing off Roland's look is the custom-made trenchcoat by MMCB from Australia.

Roland set the tone (pun not intended) for the rest of the principle characters. Since Roland himself was flesh-toned (rather than the traditional yellow LEGO minifigs), I was able to limit my face search for the other characters to flesh-toned faces typically available only in licensed LEGO sets (like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, etc.).



The Man in Black was my next easy target. Another custom-made wrap around robe was acquired to really give him an aura of mystery. Initially, I started with a sinister looking face, but eventually settled for the much more appropriate hysterical/chaotic evil smiling face appropriate to the character of Walter o'Dim/Randall Flagg/Marten/etc.

I'm still tinkering with the Man in Black's staff/walking stick (which is definitely described in the books, lest you think I am taking a creative liberty) which may end up being the Wizard's Staff I ordered from Brickforge.com.



The remaining characters are much more a WIP, but I like what I have so far.

Susannah is tricky not just because of her physical condition, but also the fact that LEGO has yet to print any dark-skinned female heads, but a feminine lock of hair over a neutral-looking face can help with that. I'm not sure I'm happy yet with her lower half, but it certainly works for now.

For Eddie, I tried to picture Casey Affleck as a drug addict, and eventually settled on the torso of Fenrir Greyback (Harry Potter). While his chest is a little TOO hairy for my tastes, I did like how it lined up with the description of Eddie when we first met him as having an open shirt.

Finally, Jake is dressed in a simple plaid shirt, but I'm still searching for a brown sweater that he is described as wearing. Jake is carrying what I intend to be one of Roland's water pouches over his shoulders.

I'm fairly happy with the way the orizas (plates used as weapons by Jake and Susannah) look, but I think both those characters could still use a little more customization. Susannah definitely needs a scarf to cover up her incorrectly colored neck area and Jake's shirt as mentioned could be better.

Still to do:

Since my big scene is the Dark Tower itself, I need to come up with an appropriate-looking Patrick Danville complete with pencil/paper. The trick there will be to distinguish Patrick and Jake sufficiently.

My biggest challenge though will be the Crimson King himself. I need a hulking presence for the main balcony of the Dark Tower, so it'll have to be more than a simple minifigure. I suspect the Crimson King will be haunting my dreams over many nights while I try to figure that out.