"You don't have to give up your quest. But wouldn't it be easier to accomplish what you've set out to do if you no longer felt the pain and guilt from every death? What I offer you isn't incompatible with your desires."

His voice drops to something almost gentle.

"They're not strong enough to face what's to come. Your fellow heroes. They hide behind their screens, afraid to even talk to each other face to face. They refuse to kill, even when it's noble. They're soft. You can become stronger, Roland Deschain. Strong enough to protect them, to carry a weight they're too weak to bear."

He gestures to the world around them.

"I know this world of flesh must seem like a realm of horror to you. But it's not entirely of my making." A lie that can be made to seem like a truth. "It only reflects what lurks in the minds of those who accidentally wander into my realm. It mirrors the darkness in their hearts and those. And they only succumb to their dark desires if they hold such hatred in their hearts. For those of purer intentions and greater purpose, they can change into something better than what they were. Instead of self-destructing, they are sharpened and honed like a blade, into something stronger."

He doesn't see Victor coming -- or maybe he's only pretending he doesn't.