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The Dark Tower (2004 novel)
Encyclopedia
The Dark Tower is the seventh novel in Stephen King
's Dark Tower series
, published by Grant on September 21, 2004 (King's birthday), and illustrated by Michael Whelan
.
The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 2005.
and Father Callahan
battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire
lounge in New York City
featuring roasted human flesh and doors to other worlds. After fighting off and destroying numerous "low-men" and Type One Vampires, Callahan sacrifices himself to let Jake survive. In the other world, in Fedic, Mia, her body now physically separated from Susannah Dean
, gives birth to Mordred Deschain
, the biological son of Roland Deschain
and Susannah. The Crimson King
is also a "co-father" of this prophetic child somehow, so it is not surprising when "baby" Mordred's first act is to shapeshift into a spider-creature and feast on his birth-mother. Susannah grabs a gun, wounds but fails to kill Mordred, eliminates other agents of the Crimson King, and escapes to meet up with Jake. Aging at an accelerated rate, Mordred later stalks Roland and the other gunslinger
s throughout this adventure, shifting from human to spider as the need arises, seething with an instinctive rage toward Roland, his "white daddy."
In Maine
, Roland and Eddie recruit John Cullum, and then make their way back to Fedic, where the ka-tet is now reunited. Walter (known in other stories as Randall Flagg
) has dreams of grandeur in which he plans to slay Mordred and use the birthmark on Mordred's heel to gain access to the Tower, but he is easily slain by the infant when Mordred sees through his lies.
Roland and his ka-tet travel to Thunderclap, then to the nearby Devar-Toi, to stop a group of psychics known as Breakers who are allowing their telepathic abilities to be used to break away at the beams that support the Tower. Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw
assist the gunslingers with information and weapons, and reunite Roland with his old friend Sheemie Ruiz from Mejis. The Gunslingers free the Breakers from their captors, but Eddie is mortally wounded after the battle and dies a short while later. Roland and Jake pause to mourn and then jump to Maine of 1999 along with Oy, in order to save the life of Stephen King (who he writes to be an omniscient secondary character in the book); the ka-tet have come to believe that for some unexplained reason, the success of their quest depends on King's surviving to write about it through his books.
They discover King about to be hit by a van. Jake pushes King out of the way but is killed in the process. Roland, heartbroken with the loss of the person he considers his true son, buries Jake and returns to Susannah in Fedic with Oy, where they depart and travel for weeks across freezing badlands toward the Tower.
Along the way they find Patrick Danville
, a young man imprisoned by someone who calls himself Joe Collins but is really a psychic vampire named Dandelo. Roland and Susannah are alerted to the danger by Stephen King, who drops clues directly into the book, enabling them to defeat the vampire. Patrick is freed and soon his special talent becomes evident: his drawings and paintings have the strange tendency to become reality. As their travels bring them nearer to the Dark Tower, Susannah comes to the conclusion that Roland needs to complete his journey without her. After discovering Patrick's magical abilities in his drawings, Susannah asks Patrick to draw a door she has seen in her dreams, which lead her out of this world. He does so and once it appears, Susannah says goodbye to Roland and crosses over to another world.
Mordred finally reaches and attacks Roland. Oy
viciously defends his dinh, providing Roland the extra seconds needed to exterminate the were-spider. Unfortunately, Oy is impaled on a tree branch and dies. Roland continues on to his ultimate goal and reaches the Tower, only to find it occupied by the Crimson King. They remain in a stalemate for a few hours, till Roland uses Patrick's special abilities to draw a picture of the Crimson King and then erase it, thus wiping him out of existence. Roland gains entry into the Tower while Patrick turns back home. The last scene is that of Roland crying out the names of his loved ones and fallen comrades as he had vowed to do. The door of the Dark Tower closes shut as Patrick watches from a distance.
The story then shifts to Susannah coming through the magic door in an alternate 1980s New York where Gary Hart
is President. Susannah throws away Roland's gun (no longer functioning on this side of the door), rejecting the life of a gunslinger, and starts a new life with alternate versions of Eddie and Jake, who are brothers with the last name of Toren in this world and who do not remember Susannah or their previous journey. It is also implied that an alternate version of Oy, a dog with a long neck whose barks sometimes sound like words, will also join them.
King (writer, not character) inserts an "Afterword" which warns readers to close the book at this point, consider the story finished with a happy ending, and not venture inside the Tower with Roland. For those who do not heed the warning, the story resumes with Roland climbing to the top of the Dark Tower. He encounters various rooms with siguls or signs of his past life. When he reaches the top of the Tower, he finds a door marked "ROLAND" and to his horror, he realizes he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is sucked through the door only to be teleported back in time to the Mohaine desert
, with no memories of what has just occurred, ending the series where it began in the first line of book one: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." The only difference is that this time Roland possesses the Horn of Eld, which in the previous incarnation he had left lying after the Battle of Jericho Hill.
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Dark Tower series
The Dark Tower (series)
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
, published by Grant on September 21, 2004 (King's birthday), and illustrated by Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years he worked as an illustrator specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art...
.
The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 2005.
Plot summary
Beginning where book six left off, Jake ChambersJake Chambers
John "Jake" Chambers is a fictional character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. He first appeared in the short story "The Way Station" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1980, which was later compiled as one of the chapters of the first Dark Tower book, The...
and Father Callahan
Father Callahan
Father Donald Frank Callahan is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He originally appeared in Salem's Lot and later the Dark Tower, appearing in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah and finally The Dark Tower...
battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire
Vampire (Stephen King)
Vampires appear throughout Stephen King's fictional multiverse. They appear in the novels Salem's Lot, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower; the short stories "One for the Road", "The Night Flier", "Popsy", and "The Little Sisters of Eluria"; and are mentioned in a number of...
lounge in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
featuring roasted human flesh and doors to other worlds. After fighting off and destroying numerous "low-men" and Type One Vampires, Callahan sacrifices himself to let Jake survive. In the other world, in Fedic, Mia, her body now physically separated from Susannah Dean
Susannah Dean
Susannah Odetta Holmes Dean is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series...
, gives birth to Mordred Deschain
Mordred Deschain
Mordred Deschain of Discordia is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. He is one of the major antagonists of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, seeking to destroy his father Roland and his ka-tet...
, the biological son of Roland Deschain
Roland Deschain
Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society...
and Susannah. The Crimson King
Crimson King
The Crimson King, also commonly known as Los', is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the antagonist in the novel Insomnia the main villain due to a plot twist in Black House and one of the main villains in the latter half of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.-Fictional...
is also a "co-father" of this prophetic child somehow, so it is not surprising when "baby" Mordred's first act is to shapeshift into a spider-creature and feast on his birth-mother. Susannah grabs a gun, wounds but fails to kill Mordred, eliminates other agents of the Crimson King, and escapes to meet up with Jake. Aging at an accelerated rate, Mordred later stalks Roland and the other gunslinger
Gunslinger
Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...
s throughout this adventure, shifting from human to spider as the need arises, seething with an instinctive rage toward Roland, his "white daddy."
In Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Roland and Eddie recruit John Cullum, and then make their way back to Fedic, where the ka-tet is now reunited. Walter (known in other stories as Randall Flagg
Randall Flagg
Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by Stephen King. Flagg has appeared in seven novels by King, sometimes as the main antagonist and others in a brief cameo. He often appears under different names; most are abbreviated by the initials R.F. There are exceptions to this rule; in The Dark...
) has dreams of grandeur in which he plans to slay Mordred and use the birthmark on Mordred's heel to gain access to the Tower, but he is easily slain by the infant when Mordred sees through his lies.
Roland and his ka-tet travel to Thunderclap, then to the nearby Devar-Toi, to stop a group of psychics known as Breakers who are allowing their telepathic abilities to be used to break away at the beams that support the Tower. Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw
Dinky Earnshaw
Richard Ellery "Dinky" Earnshaw is a fictional character appearing in Stephen King's Dark Tower series and short story "Everything's Eventual". Dinky is a powerful psychic, also known as a Breaker...
assist the gunslingers with information and weapons, and reunite Roland with his old friend Sheemie Ruiz from Mejis. The Gunslingers free the Breakers from their captors, but Eddie is mortally wounded after the battle and dies a short while later. Roland and Jake pause to mourn and then jump to Maine of 1999 along with Oy, in order to save the life of Stephen King (who he writes to be an omniscient secondary character in the book); the ka-tet have come to believe that for some unexplained reason, the success of their quest depends on King's surviving to write about it through his books.
They discover King about to be hit by a van. Jake pushes King out of the way but is killed in the process. Roland, heartbroken with the loss of the person he considers his true son, buries Jake and returns to Susannah in Fedic with Oy, where they depart and travel for weeks across freezing badlands toward the Tower.
Along the way they find Patrick Danville
Patrick Danville
Patrick Danville is a fictional character created by Stephen King, featured in the novels Insomnia and The Dark Tower.-Insomnia:Patrick was introduced as a child in Insomnia, a budding artist who was destined to die saving the lives of two men, one of whom must not die...
, a young man imprisoned by someone who calls himself Joe Collins but is really a psychic vampire named Dandelo. Roland and Susannah are alerted to the danger by Stephen King, who drops clues directly into the book, enabling them to defeat the vampire. Patrick is freed and soon his special talent becomes evident: his drawings and paintings have the strange tendency to become reality. As their travels bring them nearer to the Dark Tower, Susannah comes to the conclusion that Roland needs to complete his journey without her. After discovering Patrick's magical abilities in his drawings, Susannah asks Patrick to draw a door she has seen in her dreams, which lead her out of this world. He does so and once it appears, Susannah says goodbye to Roland and crosses over to another world.
Mordred finally reaches and attacks Roland. Oy
Oy (Dark Tower)
Oy of Mid-World is a primary character in Stephen King's The Dark Tower. He was introduced in the third book, The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, and became a member of the ka-tet for the rest of the series....
viciously defends his dinh, providing Roland the extra seconds needed to exterminate the were-spider. Unfortunately, Oy is impaled on a tree branch and dies. Roland continues on to his ultimate goal and reaches the Tower, only to find it occupied by the Crimson King. They remain in a stalemate for a few hours, till Roland uses Patrick's special abilities to draw a picture of the Crimson King and then erase it, thus wiping him out of existence. Roland gains entry into the Tower while Patrick turns back home. The last scene is that of Roland crying out the names of his loved ones and fallen comrades as he had vowed to do. The door of the Dark Tower closes shut as Patrick watches from a distance.
The story then shifts to Susannah coming through the magic door in an alternate 1980s New York where Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
is President. Susannah throws away Roland's gun (no longer functioning on this side of the door), rejecting the life of a gunslinger, and starts a new life with alternate versions of Eddie and Jake, who are brothers with the last name of Toren in this world and who do not remember Susannah or their previous journey. It is also implied that an alternate version of Oy, a dog with a long neck whose barks sometimes sound like words, will also join them.
King (writer, not character) inserts an "Afterword" which warns readers to close the book at this point, consider the story finished with a happy ending, and not venture inside the Tower with Roland. For those who do not heed the warning, the story resumes with Roland climbing to the top of the Dark Tower. He encounters various rooms with siguls or signs of his past life. When he reaches the top of the Tower, he finds a door marked "ROLAND" and to his horror, he realizes he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is sucked through the door only to be teleported back in time to the Mohaine desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
, with no memories of what has just occurred, ending the series where it began in the first line of book one: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." The only difference is that this time Roland possesses the Horn of Eld, which in the previous incarnation he had left lying after the Battle of Jericho Hill.
External links
- The Dark Tower official website
- TheDarkTower.org
- The Dark Tower at Worlds Without End