Original artwork, not a still
The Waste Lands ‧ 1991
I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a vow of character disguised as a marksman's tip. Each verse takes a skill and hands it to a higher faculty: the hand is only an instrument, and a gunslinger's real aim is moral. The "face of his father" is what you forget when you lose sight of who taught you and why. In the series it is repeated like a prayer, and fans use it as a motto for steady aim and for doing something with your whole self.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Waste LandsShow the scene
This is the gunslingers' creed, a rhyme taught to Roland Deschain's apprentices. It runs in three verses: he who aims with his hand, shoots with his hand, or kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. The matching answers are to aim with the eye, shoot with the mind and kill with the heart. It is not in The Gunslinger (1982): Wikiquote's Dark Tower page places the full creed under Volume III, The Waste Lands (1991). The Dark Tower wiki describes it as the teaching a gunslinger gives his students.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: The Dark Tower (series)Vol. III, The Waste LandsReference checked
- Dark Tower Wiki: GunslingerTeachings sectionReference checked
Context reviewed