In any great fictional series, there comes a minor character who later reveals themselves to be far more important than anyone realized. Whether it is a villainous role when the mysterious man that the survivors captured onLOSTturned out to be leader of the Others, Ben Linus, or when ayoung woman named Reyon a desert world found her calling as a powerful Jedi in the newerStar Warstrilogy, these characters, both minor and major, can have a profound impact on the direction a series will take. In the world ofStephen King’sThe Dark Tower, one minor character that ends up having a truly powerful impact on the overall story is Stanley Ruiz, aka Sheemie.
A young boy Roland Deschain, who will become the last of the gunslingers, visited and befriended in his youth on his first mission, Sheemie has a tragic story filled with abuse and loss, but ends up holding untold power that makes him pivotal in the warbetween The White and the Red, otherwise known as Roland and his allies versus the Crimson King’s forces.In the upcoming adaptation ofThe Dark Tower, it is crucial that this character gets the spotlight he needs to make the series' major plot points come to life.
The Dark Tower’s Stanley ‘Sheemie’ Ruiz, Explained
Stanley “Sheemie” Ruiz was first discovered in the small town of Hambry in the region of Mejis. Working at a local bar known as The Traveller’s Rest, Sheemie was often bullied and harassed due to his mental handicap, and his parentage was never even truly known, with the bar owner, also named Stanley Ruiz, even admitting he could be the boy’s father. When Roland and his friends Cuthbert and Alain make their way into town and subsequently the bar, theydiscover one of the Big Coffin Hunters, Roy Depape, tormenting Sheemie.
Refusing to allow this,Cuthbert came to the boy’s rescue, with the rest of the Big Coffin Hunters and Gunslingers springing forth into a draw, with Roland getting the drop on leader Eldred Jonas and forcing a draw.From that point on, Sheemie worshiped Roland and his friends, seeing them as his heroes. Eventually, his loyalty to the group led him to rescue Roland’s love, Susan, but eventually she would be recaptured and forced into her ultimate fate.This led to Sheemie following the group once they fled Mejis.
On the road home, Sheemie wrestled with his guilt about losing Susan to the people of Hambry, and as he follows the group he finds a Dogan, where he accidentally activates a psychic enhancer that gives him his psychic abilities.This includes the ability to teleport, and he is able to teleport to his new friends and save Alain by healing him from injuries sustained by wolves. He then enters Maerlyn’s grapefruit and saves Roland from the magical sphere. Later, he attempts to enter Gilead but ismistaken for one of John Farson’s men and is only spared when Cuthbert and Alain save him.
Not much is known about what happened in the years that followed, but Roland assumed that after they fled Gilead, the boy was lost.In reality, the Man in Black had Sheemie kidnapped and brought to End-World in the land of Thunderclap, to be used as a breakerby the Crimson Kingto destroy the beams holding the Dark Tower.As an adult, he is recognized by Roland, and the gunslinger comforts Sheemie, who still feels responsible years later for Susan’s fate. He then helps the Gunslingers free the other breakers alongside Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw, although further use of his powers proves harmful as each use creates a minor brain hemorrhage. Roland learns after the escape Sheemie got a cut on broken glass, and it became infected, and the man he once called a friend passed soon after.
Sheemie’s Important Role In TheDark TowerSeries
Stephen King has a history of creating powerful and beloved characters like Sheemie, from Douglas “Duddits” Cavell inDreamcatcherto Tom Cullen inThe Stand.Sheemie not only gains a power unparalleled by many other breakers in theDark Toweruniverse, being able to teleport not just anywhere in his world, but in all worlds, but he is also instrumental in Roland’s journey to the Dark Tower to begin with. It was Sheemie who discovered theCrimson King’s plot to use breakers to destroy the beamsholding the Dark Tower in place, with the Dark Tower itself being the epicenter of all reality that holds back the darkness or chaos known as The Prim.
Sheemie is the one who tells Roland the true purpose of the Crimson King’s plans, and it is from that conversation,told after the fall of Gilead, that Roland decides to pursue the Dark Tower and protect it from the Crimson King’s forces.Roland didn’t know the full scope of what was at stake until Sheemie showed him, and it was Sheemie’s visions that put Roland on that path. In the end, it was Sheemie who began Roland’s Dark Tower journey, and ultimately, he was there for nearly the end of that journey as well.In the upcoming adaptation ofThe Dark Towerby Mike Flanagan, both the younger and older versions of Stanley “Sheemie” Ruiz are vital to the future of this series and the overall story of Roland Deschain as well.
