CHILDE

In the Middle Ages, a 'childe' was the eldest son of a nobleman who had not yet attained to knighthood, or had not yet won his spurs.
The term is now obsolete, but is still well-known from poetry, such as Robert Browning's ''Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'' and Lord Byron's ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage''.
The term also exists, albeit with a different meaning, in the roleplaying system "" and various spin-offs. It signifies the "offspring" of a vampire, in this respect called a "Sire". See Childe (vampire).
Childe in Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series) is, in Roland Deschain's own words, "...a term that describes a knight - or a gunslinger - on a quest. A formal term, and ancient. We never used it among ourselves...for it means holy, chosen by ka. We never liked to think of ourselves in such terms, and I haven't thought of myself so in many years." (p. 859, ''The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower'', Pocket Books, 2006 ed.)
The term is used to apply to an expected next stage in human evolution in the ''Childe Cycle'' novels by Gordon R. Dickson.