Eddie Dean

Eddie Dean (born Edward Cantor Dean) is a fictional character in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series of novels. He was introduced in "The Drawing of the Three" and became a main character for the remainder of the series.

In New York

Eddie is introduced in "The Drawing of the Three" when the series protagonist, Roland Deschain, enters his head from a magical door on the beach of Mid-World. Eddie is a 23-year-old heroin addict from Co-op City, Bronx in 1987. When Roland enters his head, Eddie is on a plane, smuggling cocaine back to New York for mob boss Enrico Balazar. When a stewardess on the airplane becomes suspicious of him, Roland helps him smuggle the cocaine through the door into Mid-World, which saves Eddie when he is later searched and checked by airport security.

Roland informs Eddie of his quest to find the Dark Tower, and how Walter o'Dim predicted that Eddie would help him. After he helps Eddie with the cocaine, Eddie agrees to help him, but when he gets back home he is captured by Balazar's men and taken to the mob's headquarters in Little Italy. With the cocaine still in Mid-World, Eddie fears that Balazar will kill him before he can find a way to get it back to his world. After being questioned and searched by Balazar and his men, Eddie finally tricks them into letting him use the bathroom (where he and Roland can go through the magical door and get the cocaine, averting trouble). When Eddie suddenly realizes that Balazar has killed his brother and lifelong best friend, Henry Dean, he forces one of Balazar's men through the door, who then is eaten by the poisonous "lobstrosities". Roland gives Eddie one of his guns, and both of them go back into the mob headquarters and shoot and kill Balazar and his men, after which they pass again through the door, returning to Mid-World.

In Roland's World

While helping Roland back to good health, Eddie begins to suffer withdrawal symptoms from his heroin addiction and immediately becomes distrustful of Roland. When Roland and Eddie finally reach the door that will lead to the next person who is supposed to help them in their quest, they realize that it leads to New York (only this time in 1964). Eddie realizes he can get some heroin and begs Roland to let him go through the door, but Roland refuses him and goes in alone. Eddie hits a breaking point and almost murders an unconscious Roland on the beach, but his good senses (or Roland's good timing) finally beat his heroin addiction.

When Roland brings back his second companion, Odetta Holmes, Eddie immediately falls in love with her, and goes through the struggles of her split personality with Roland. He helps Odetta deal with her split personality, and she eventually becomes his wife, with the new name of Susannah Dean.

Throughout the rest of the series, Eddie becomes a sort of humorous sidekick in Roland's ka-tet, and often a taste of the real world and real life to the numerous characters they come across. At one point, Roland says Eddie looks and acts exactly like Cuthbert Allgood, a friend from his younger days.

Death

In the final novel, "The Dark Tower" – after Roland and his ka-tet have freed the Breakers from their prison and stopped, at least temporarily, the destruction of the universe – the nearly dead warden of the Breaker prison shoots Eddie in the head. To the horror of the ka-tet, Eddie collapses immediately; Roland kills the dying warden.

Eddie spends the afternoon and evening lying – hysterical, but comforted by Susannah – on his deathbed. When Roland and Jake Chambers enter his room for the last time, he speaks a final message to each of them. He thanks Roland for being his father and tells Jake to make sure that Roland watches for Dandelo. Eddie's death permanently breaks the ka-tet, bringing devastation and sadness to Roland, Jake, Susannah, and Oy.

Susannah in New York

In the aftermath of the Dark Tower, Susannah enters a door leading to New York and meets Eddie again; however, it is uncertain whether this is her Eddie Dean or just a parallel version of him. Although the new Eddie seems not to have remembered his time with Roland and the ka-tet, he claims to have dreamed about Susannah and to have been in love with her. This Eddie is also brother to Jake Chambers, and their last name is now "Toren", the Dutch word for "tower".