Origin
Cort is the son of Fardo Andrus, the famed Gunslinger trainer. As a young boy, Cort watched as his father trained apprentice Gunslingers in the square, grassy yard behind Gilead’s Great Hall. Cort witnessed an incident where a young student challenged Fardo to the one-on-one test of manhood that would either make him a man and Gunslinger or exiled forever to the west, young Eldred Jonas failed that test and limped away with a leg shattered by an ironwood club. Cort matured and grew to become a wizened warrior in his own right, following in his fathers footsteps as the man responsible for training the new generations of apprentices in the way of the Gunslinger.
Major Story Arcs
Gunslinger Born
Cort trained Roland Deschain in the art of the Gunslinger, as he did Roland’s father Steven Deschain (reigning Lord of Gilead and one of the most renowned Gunslingers in history). At the age of 14 Roland challenged Cort to the one-on-one test of manhood, two years younger than Roland’s father, who was previously the youngest to ever become a Gunslinger, and won his right to his pistols.
Powers and Abilities
Cort is a master in nearly all forms of known combat. When it comes to fighting he knows everything that has ever been, from grappling techniques of the Troitan warriors to the advanced nunchaku arts of the Kashmini fighters. He is a seasoned tactician whose only arguable weakness is an inability to quickly adapt to new non-traditional combat situations and techniques. He is also highly skilled animal trainer and hunter.
Equipment
Although a master of many weapons, Cort’s weapon of choice is his heavy ironwood fighting stick, which is sharpened on one end for piercing blows and spatulate on the other for blunt striking attacks.
Other Media
Novels
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Revised)
The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. So begins Book I of Stephen King’s iconic fantasy series, The Dark Tower. Part sci-fi novel, part futuristic dystopia, part spaghetti Western, and part high fantasy vision, The Gunslinger tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is tracking an enigmatic magician known only as the man in black. Following his quarry across the demon-infested Mohaine Desert, Roland confronts a mad preacher woman and her murderous flock, holds palaver with a speaking demon, and finally befriends a young boy from our world named Jake Chambers. Jake joins Roland on his quest, but while Roland travels with his young companion Jake, the man in black travels with Roland’s soul in his pocket. The 2003 revised edition of The Gunslinger contains the essay “On Being Nineteen (And a few other things)” by Stephen.