The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower

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:

The Dark Tower
(Source) The vacant lot?

The Dark Tower
(Source) On the wall around that lot.

The Dark Tower
(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:

  • The Dark Tower Series
  • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
  • The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
  • The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
  • The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
  • The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
  • The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
  • The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
  • “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” -Jake


    Categories: Literature
    1. June 13th, 2006 at 05:49 | #1

      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!

    2. June 13th, 2006 at 10:03 | #2

      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.

    3. June 13th, 2006 at 11:06 | #3

      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?

    4. June 13th, 2006 at 14:31 | #4

      Dark Tower is for geeks… I read it too :)

    5. June 28th, 2006 at 11:46 | #5

      Roland is like the coolest charecter ever! I was disappointed when the series ended though.

      Thankee Sai..Long days and pleasant nights

    6. December 2nd, 2006 at 18:47 | #6

      Great post!

    7. otto
      November 30th, 2007 at 03:39 | #7

      roland was here

    8. Marillion
      September 1st, 2008 at 14:37 | #8

      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.

    9. Bango Skank
      October 24th, 2009 at 08:23 | #9

      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.

    10. Carlos
      September 8th, 2011 at 15:04 | #10

      I just find one catch with this marvelous story, and it’s when Roland opens the door in the beach to draw Eddie Dean. The gunslinger is surprised when he sees a woman wearing jeans in the airplane, supposedly because it was the first time he did. But when he’s in Mejis and very younger, his girlfriend Susan wears jeans to go horse- riding.

    1. December 13th, 2006 at 14:36 | #1
    2. June 13th, 2006 at 20:49 | #2
    3. August 9th, 2006 at 00:38 | #3
    4. September 14th, 2006 at 22:56 | #4

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