Jun 12
The 3000+ page trek through Steven King’s The Dark Tower series has come to an end. I am truly blown away by King’s ability to tell a story and draw the reader in. There have been some (many?) that were disappointed with King’s conclusion (King even eluded to this in his final comments) but I found it very fitting. King also said, “I wasn’t exactly crazy about the ending, either, if you want to know the truth, but it’s the right ending. The only ending, in fact.” Ka is a wheel, my friends.
Cam-a-cam-mal, Pria-toi, Gan delah.
White over red, thus Gan wills ever.
Good over evil, this is the will of God
Say thankya
The seven parts of Dark Tower will take you on a journey and the ka-tet of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy will become part of your tet. Dark Tower VII is especially emotional because things are coming to a close and it is like losing your family. I think this speaks highly of King’s story telling abilities! I am not going to say anything about the story because I think you should read it. It is gruesome, intense, vulgar at times, and long - but an amazing voyage of relationship, love, and hope. Read it.
Roland of Gilead sat in front of the door, which already looked tired and unimportant. It would never open again. He put his face in his hands. It occured to him that if he had never loved them, he would never have felt so alone as this. Yet of all his many regrets, the re-opening of his heart was not among them, even now.
The most important location in this keystone world of ours is the vacant lot in New York City. Luckilly, some folks on this thing we call the internet have been there and taken a few pictures:
(Source) The vacant lot?
(Source) On the wall around that lot.
(Source) Dag Hammarskjold Place: the location of the Tet Corporation.
There are lots of “Turtle Bay” companies in the area (which some have believed to be Dark Tower references, this is not the case) which is the name of the area and something that King incorporates into the book. (More about Turtle Bay.) I also found images from the final book (the quality isn’t the best, but they are all I could find) that I really liked and that were perfect in adding to some of the very emotional moments (weeping like a school girl!). The art was done by Michael Whelan who also did the art for the first in the series (and the image of Roland and the Dark Tower at the head of the post). I recommend not looking at the images unless you have read the final book as they give plot info away. “He moved in between Jake and Eddie” - “… The place where Roland finally stopped felt more like a church than a clearing.” - “It would never open again…”
Long days and pleasant nights!
Resources:
Pursuing Holiness’ Open Trackback!
The Dark Tower - The official website.
TheDarkTower.net - Brought to you by North Central Positronics. Also includes a cool Dark Tower Wiki.
Wikipedia Articles - lots of good info:
“Go then, there are other worlds than these.” -Jake
About This Entry -
Posted by Matt Jones @ 6:51 pm on June 12, 2006 • Filed under: Literature
Permalink: The Dark Tower
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Permalink: The Dark Tower
You can trackback from your own site and follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 comments feed.
13 Responses to “The Dark Tower”
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Comments:
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Attila the Mom Said:
Hey, thanks for posting this! I live in the mountains–far far away from NYC, and seeing these pictures was truly a treat for a Dark Tower fan!
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Lucy Said:
I eagerly read each one of these books as they came out. I was one of those that was disappointed in the ending of the series. My husband thought it was fitting, but I wanted something different I guess.
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Matt Jones Said:
I thought the New York pictures were cool too. I would like to visit myself.. maybe I could find the Dixie Pig!
It seems that most DT fans were split, either they were looking for something else or they though it was fitting. It doesn’t seem like many absolutley hated it or absolutley loved it.
So what would have been a “good” ending? Roland meets God? All the beans are restored?
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TonyR Said:
Dark Tower is for geeks… I read it too
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Samantha Said:
Roland is like the coolest charecter ever! I was disappointed when the series ended though.
Thankee Sai..Long days and pleasant nights
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Spinning Girl Said:
Great post!
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otto Said:
roland was here
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Marillion Said:
Great ending to a great series.It’s not a predictable ending which made it great.It also makes you use your imagination a bit.There is obviously hope for Roland of Gilead.
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Bango Skank Said:
I’ll be damned, I’m headed for New York this coming week and was planning to visit the vacant lot and leave a Tower related tag behind. Even though it’s a hurried sharpie legend, someone else very obviously beat me to it. If traffic is low and I’m not in the open I’ll try to draw something nice. If not, I’ll just recreate some of the graffiti that is supposed to be there (Such as a certain series of tic tac toe games in Mark Cross pen, or a poem about a certain turtle). I extend my deepest apologies to anyone that objects to this. You may cast me on but no man may cast me back, for I am round and roll as I do.
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Pursuing Holiness on 13 Jun 2006 at 8:49 pm Said:
Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage… » Wikimapia on 09 Aug 2006 at 12:38 am Said:
[...] I couldn’t leave the site until I had added Steven King’s Dark Tower to the New York skyline. [...]
Matt’s Wikimapia Blog » Wikimapia on 14 Sep 2006 at 10:56 pm Said:
[...] I couldn’t leave the site until I had added Steven King’s Dark Tower to the New York skyline. [...]
Mostly Harmless on 13 Dec 2006 at 2:36 pm Said: