Who is Roland Croninger from Swan Song and what is their importance?

Roland is an average boy in the beginning of the novel. He is restless after a long car trip and plays a little too freely with his father's gun, carelessly tucked under the seat. He idolizes Colonel Macklin, war hero of Vietnam, and enjoys playing a game called King's Knight. However, Roland is different from the average child, apparent immediately when he crushes the butterfly in his room for no reason. He has a capacity for great evil, but perhaps if the future had gone differently he could have learned to lead his life in an a way that caused no harm. He is snatched at random by Teddybear Warner right after Earth House collapses to help Colonel Macklin, thus beginning the great game of King's Knight that will last the rest of his life. He has a strong instinct for self-preservation that causes him to stick to Macklin instead of searching for his parents, whom he subsequently kills, one actively and one passively.