"The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" formed the fifth and final chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.

The man reads Roland's fate from a pack of Tarot cards, including "the sailor" (Jake), "the prisoner" (Eddie Dean) "the lady of shadows" (Susannah Dean), "death" (but not for Roland), and the Tower itself, as the center of everything.

The man in black states that he is merely a pawn of Roland's true enemy, the one who now controls the Dark Tower itself.

When Roland awakens, he finds that nothing is left of the man except his skeleton, and that he himself has aged ten years.

He takes the skeleton's jawbone with him as he departs, as a replacement for the one he had given to Jake in "The Oracle and the Mountains."