DAVID

History: (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born#1 (fb)) - Training under Cort to be a gunslinger, Roland Deschain took the hawk David and not only trained it to hunt and attack on command but also befriended him. Cort instructed the students to follow the example of their hawks, as hawks were God's gunslingers. Roland read at least one book on falconry. (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born#1) - In a training session, Roland had David airborne while the others were still pulling off their birds' hoods. David hunted and returned with a bloodied dove (or some other white bird) while the other hawks were just taking flight. (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born#1 - BTS) - After Marten Broadcloak brought Roland to see his undressed mother, Gabrielle, following an adulterous encounter, she asked him about David, and he told her that David was past his prime. (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born#1) - With David hooded and perched on his arm, Roland subsequently confronted Cort, challenging him to battle, which would end with Roland departing as a gunslinger if he won and as an exile if he lost. He refused to tell Cort what his weapon would be.     An hour later, in preparation for the combat, Roland told David that he (David) would die that day acting as a sacrifice like all of the little birds on which he had been trained. He further told David that after today, he (Roland) would be the hawk, and each year he would shoot in the sky in his memory.     When Cort arrived, Roland told him that his weapon was David. As Cort charged him, Roland unleashed David and told him, "At him, David!" David flew into Cort's face, tearing his eyelid and cheek with his claws. With Cort distracted, Roland tackled him, but the much larger and more experienced Cort threw him to the ground and prepared to shove his thumbs into his eyes. Roland called for David to kill him, and David again attacked Cort's face.

Cort grabbed David and tore him apart, proclaiming "Ye're a fierce trim, hawk, but ye're done!"     However, as Cort noted that the damned thing had nearly taken his ear, Roland, having claimed Cort's bladed stick-weapon, knocked him to the ground and continued to strike him repeatedly, until Cort yielded.      Praising David as a fine weapon, he asked Roland how long it took him to train him, and Roland replied that he never trained him but rather friended him.     After Roland took the key to the vault where the apprentice weapons were kept, his friend Cuthbert Allgood asked if he needed anything, and he replied that he needed help burying his hawk.      After claiming a pair of pistols, he saw Marten and Gabrielle, who noted his success, and Roland told Marten that he had planned for him to lose and be exiled.     Cuthbert helped Roland bury David, who had come to clearing at the end of his path...

Comments: Created by Stephen King;
    adapted to Marvel by Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee and Richard Isanove.

    According to ye olde interweb, hawks in the wild live to be 10-20 years old, but I don't know how that compares to hawk used in "falconry" (hawkery?), and at what point he was past his prime.

Courtesy of Loki, who was kind and knowledgeable enough to recommend David for this profile to cover the Dark Tower:

The Dark Tower series is mainly set on All-World, which is a somewhat decayed alternate Earth. However, it's also a multiversal story, so some of the story hops to other alternate Earths. Most of King's non-Dark Tower tales take place on a single Earth, with characters from one novel making cameo appearances in others, and The Dark Tower is in that same multiverse, and refers back to the other books too. The titular Dark Tower is the nexus that allows passage between these worlds, as each floor links to a different alternate Earth. 

   This profile was completed 01/17/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
David should be distinguished from:

• other "David" or hawk characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

First posted: 09/18/2026
Last updated: 01/17/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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