The Dark Tower (series)

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"The Dark Tower" painting by Michael Whelan
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"The Dark Tower" painting by Michael Whelan

The Dark Tower is a series of seven books by American writer Stephen King that tells the tale of lead character Roland Deschain's quest for the "Dark Tower." The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements. King has described the series as his magnum opus; beside the seven novels that comprise the series proper, many of his other books are related to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses.

The series was mostly inspired by the epic poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for Roland. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own, are also influenced by Tolkien's work.

Contents

[edit] Books in the series

  1. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982, originally published as separate short stories; revised and expanded edition released in 2003)
  2. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
  3. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
  4. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
  5. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (title originally announced as The Crawling Shadow) (2003)
  6. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
  7. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)

[edit] Illustrations

Each book in the series was originally published in hardcover format with a number of full-color illustrations spread throughout. Each book contained works by a single illustrator only. Subsequent printings of each book in trade paperback format usually preserve the illustrations in full, except for books I and IV. Pocket-sized paperback reprints contain only black-and-white chapter or section header illustrations.

The illustrators who worked on each book are:

  1. Michael Whelan, multiple award-winning science fiction and fantasy painter. The Dark Tower is among his early notable works.
  2. Phil Hale, the only Dark Tower illustrator who created a second set of illustrations for a later printing of the book he illustrated.
  3. Ned Dameron.
  4. Dave McKean, graphic designer noted for working in many media, including photography and film. The only Dark Tower illustrator to work in photocollages.
  5. Bernie Wrightson, established illustrator for 1960s and 1970s horror comics.
  6. Darrel Anderson, the only Dark Tower illustrator who used digital illustration techniques.
  7. Michael Whelan, returning more than 20 years later as the only recurring Dark Tower illustrator.

[edit] Plot summary

In the story, Roland is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West, as well as bearing the magical powers and relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to either be, or be located at, the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on", and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams — mighty nations are being torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish from the face of the earth without a trace, time does not flow in an orderly fashion; even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and even his age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.

[edit] Characters in the series

For more details on this topic, see The Dark Tower Characters.

[edit] Places

[edit] All-World (Roland's World)

All-World is the world/universe (see: parallel universe) also known as "Keystone Tower". It is the only world/universe in King's multiverse that contains the Dark Tower in its physical form. All others contain a representative of the Tower (such as a rose, a tiger, or an "ur-dog"), but not the Tower in an accessible form. From All-World, it is possible to actually enter the Dark Tower.

All-World is divided into three regions; In-World, Mid-World, and End-World. The geography is widely varied. It includes deserts, mountains, rolling plains and vast wastelands. All-World is said to have "moved on." This seems to mean that where there was once great order there is now little if any order. For example: the sun does not always rise in the right place and sometimes it does not even cross the sky in a whole day; also, the compasses directions themselves are at drift: What is East today, might be Southeast next week, and next year might be full-on South. According to Blaine the Mono, a talking monorail that functioned throughout Mid-World, his "Slo-Trans" engines were supposed to last for millions of years, but were already faltering after a few thousand. However, since time appears to run at different rates all throughout All-World, and given Blaine's dementia, this assessment may not be dependable.

It seems that an extremely advanced civilization once existed in All-World, a parallel United States. This can be inferred from the high degree of similarity between Old Ones (the name for these ancient people) architecture, automobiles, clothing and the fact that an Old Ones military outpost used an everyday phone modem and Microsoft products. They might have spoken English.

The civilization of the Old Ones collapsed because of the replacement of magic, which could last forever, with technology, which would disintegrate if left unattended, but which nevertheless was allowed to be responsible for maintaining the Beams of the Dark Tower.

The Beams are six invisible forces connecting the edge of the world/universe to the center. These Beams are the primary sources of force in All-World and they maintain order. Failure of the Beams cause changes in physical and astronomical constants, which causes chaos in nature, as well as in civilization. There were six Beams with twelve Guardians, one for each "Portal" (the end of a Beam) arranged like the spokes of a wheel with The Tower at the center. (see also: The Waste Lands). Guardians were based on novels like Shardik (for the bear) and Maturin for the turtle (Patrick O'Brian's character Dr. Stephen Maturin was a naturalist who named at least one species of turtle).

The Old One civilization used technology to maintain the Beams of the Dark Tower instead of magic, and sought to literally control reality. The final blow for the Old One civilization seems to have been nuclear war, biological warfare, chemical warfare, and something "else" something that is hinted to be more horrible/powerful than those three. It is not known when such wars took place (but long ago enough that it is in the ancient past, and that the gene lines are finally starting to breed true, or "threaded"), why they took place, or even between which nations or organizations such wars were fought. It is widely hinted the Crimson King was ultimately working behind the scenes, manipulating people and events to bring about civilization's destruction, since such destruction serves his ultimate ends.

The All-World of most of the Dark Tower series seems to be sparsely populated and dangerous, filled with mutants both human and animal, and vast swaths of land are irradiated. Demons and robots are to be found, as well as Taheen, who are in the employ of the Crimson King. Governments do not extend beyond the town/local level. Resources are scarce, and relics of the Old One's technology exist mainly in perverted, deranged, or damaged forms that threaten instead of helping the last remnants of civilization.

[edit] Keystone Earth and the rose

One of only two "unique" worlds (the other being All-world). The only world with Stephen King in it, and, like All-world, the only worlds where changes made are permanent and can't be unmade (time flows in only one direction on both). This world is home to the rose, which they say is not merely the representative of the tower here, but is elsewhere referred to as the guardian of the Bear-Turtle Beam. At the end of the series it was being protected by the Tet Corporation, which Roland's ka-tet created in 1977, using Odetta Holmes's fortune as heiress to the Holmes Dental Corporation.

[edit] Language

King created a language for his characters, known as the High Speech. This was probably influenced by the J. R. R. Tolkien story The Lord of the Rings. Examples of this language include the phrase Thankee, Sai ("Thank you, Sir/Ma'am."), Dan-Tete ("Little Saviour") and Can-Toi ("Low man/men"). The dialect appears to be derived from a combination of American mixed with Old World terminology both European and Asian. Some aspects of the dialect, specifically Thankee, Sai may highlight the 'mirroring' between the Dark Tower universe and our world. It may also be King's way of demonstrating the unstoppable evolution of human language. The dialect which mixed old and new terms, seen in Roland's use of the word aye, could also be a reflection of a major Dark Tower theme -- that of old things/old ways enduring into the future even if they remain in a broken or dysfunctional way. Or vice versa -- even in evil times, the good in civilization may endure in very small ways.

[edit] Adaptations and Spinoffs

According to Stephen King's website, the series will be adapted into a comic book miniseries spin-off by Marvel Comics, the first issue coming out in February of 2007. The comic books will be written by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, illustrated by Jae Lee and colored by Richard Isanove [1]. The six comic book issues will come out in monthly installments between February and July of 2007, and a hard cover collection will be released in October of that year [2].

The series has also prompted related non-fiction work by authors besides King. Robin Furth has published the two-volume Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance, an encyclopedia-style companion to the series she originally wrote for King's personal use. Bev Vincent has published The Road to The Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus, a book containing back story, summary and analysis. Stephen King has endorsed both books.

[edit] Connections to King's other works

The series has become a lynchpin that ties much of King's work together. The worlds of The Dark Tower are in part composed of locations, characters, events and other various elements from many of King's novels.

The following is a list of specific connections between books. Note that all Dark Tower books are connected to each other chronologically.[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links


The Dark Tower

The Series

The Little Sisters of Eluria | The Gunslinger | The Drawing of the Three | The Waste Lands | Wizard and Glass | Wolves of the Calla | Song of Susannah | The Dark Tower | The Comic Series

Main Characters

Roland Deschain | Randall Flagg | Crimson King

Other Characters

Father Callahan | Cuthbert Allgood | Rhea of the Cöos | Eldred Jonas | Blaine the Mono | John Farson | Dinky Earnshaw | Patrick Danville | Bryan Smith | Mordred Deschain

Organizations

North Central Positronics | Sombra Corporation | Tet Corporation

Misc

Glossary | Ka | The White | The Red | Slo-Trans | Taheen | Nozz-A-La




Stephen King
Bibliography
Novels: Carrie (1974) • ’Salem's Lot (1975) • Rage (as Richard Bachman) (1977) • The Shining (1977) • Night Shift (stories) (1978) • The Stand (1978) • The Dead Zone (1979) • The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman) (1979) • Firestarter (1980) • Cujo (1981) • Roadwork (as Richard Bachman) (1981) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) • Different Seasons (novellas) (1982) • The Running Man (as Richard Bachman) (1982) • Christine (1983) • Pet Sematary (1983) • Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) • The Talisman (written with Peter Straub) (1984) • Thinner (as Richard Bachman) (1984) • Skeleton Crew (stories) (1985) • The Bachman Books (novel collection) (1985) • It (1986) • The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) • Misery (1987) • The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) • The Tommyknockers (1988) • Dark Visions (cowritten with George R. R. Martin and Dan Simmons) (1988) • The Dark Half (1989) • Dolan's Cadillac (1989) • My Pretty Pony (1989) • The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990) • Four Past Midnight (stories) (1990) • Needful Things (1990) • The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) • Gerald's Game (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1993) • Nightmares & Dreamscapes (stories) (1993) • Insomnia (1994) • Rose Madder (1995) • Umney's Last Case (1995) • The Green Mile (1996) • Desperation (1996) • The Regulators (as Richard Bachman) (1996) • Six Stories (stories) (1997) • The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) • Bag of Bones (1998) • The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) • The New Lieutenant's Rap (1999) • Hearts in Atlantis (1999) • Dreamcatcher (2001) • Black House (sequel to The Talisman; written with Peter Straub) (2001) • From a Buick 8 (2002) • Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (stories) (2002) • The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (revised edition) (2003) • The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) • The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) • The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) • The Colorado Kid (2005)
Cell (2006) • Lisey's Story (2006)
Non-fiction: • Danse Macabre (1981) • Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (cowritten with Stewart O'Nan) (2005)
Original ebooks: Riding the Bullet (2000) • The Plant: Book 1-Zenith Rising (2000)
Audio Recordings
Audiobooks: L.T.'s Theory of Pets • Blood and Smoke (2000) • Stationary Bike (2006)
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