The Waste Lands

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This is an article about a Stephen King book. For the poem by T.S. Eliot see The Waste Land.

The Dark Tower III -
The Waste Lands

Author	Stephen King
Cover Artist	Ned Dameron
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Horor], Science fiction novel
Publisher	Donald M. Grant
Released	1991
Media Type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	509 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-937986-17-8
Preceded by	The Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
Followed by	The Dark Tower IV - Wizard and Glass

The Waste Lands is book III of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The original limited edition hardcover featuring full-color illustrations by Ned Dameron was published in 1991 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher. The book was reissued in 2003 to coincide with the publication of The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla.

The story begins several weeks or months after the end of The Drawing of the Three: Roland, Susannah, and Eddie have moved east from the shore of the Western Sea, and into the woods of Out-World. After an encounter with a gigantic robot bear named Shardik, they discover one of the six mystical Beams that hold the world together. The three gunslingers follow the Path of the Beam inland to Mid-World.

Roland's group receives two new members: Roland's formerly-dead companion Jake Chambers from 1977 New York City, and an unusually intelligent billy-bumbler (which looks like a combination of badger, raccoon and dog with parrot-like speaking ability) named Oy. Jake is able to pass into Roland's world using a portal which exists in a haunted house on Dutch Hill in his version of NYC 1977. The portal ends in a 'speaking ring'in Roland's world. During this crossing over, Susannah has sex with the demon of the speaking ring to keep it from devouring Jake.

The ka-tet (a group of people bound together by fate) continue on the Path of the Beam to Lud. The ancient, high-tech city has been ravaged by decades of war, and one of the surviving fighters, Gasher, kidnaps Jake. Roland must then pursue them over a bridge which corresponds with the George Washington Bridge of Jake's NYC in order to rescue the boy. The ka-tet is eventually reunited at the Cradle of Lud, a train station which houses a monorail that the travellers use to escape Lud before its final destruction.

Once aboard Blaine, the highly intelligent, computerized mono, it announces its intention to derail itself with them aboard unless they can defeat it in a riddle contest. The novel ends with Blaine and Roland's ka-tet speeding through the Waste Lands, a radioactive land of mutated animals and ancient ruins, on the way to Topeka, the end of the line.

[edit] The Twelve Portals and Guardians

Twelve Guardians are explained to guard the Twelve Portals. Each Guardian matches up with a Guardian at the Portal on the other end of the Beam, and at the point where all the Beams meet is the Dark Tower. The Guardians are revealed in several scenes, the first is when Roland is explaining to Eddie and Susannah Dean what Shardik was and his understanding of the Beams, another is when Eddie and Susannah approach the Cradle of Lud, and the last, Bird and Hare, are revealed in the poem Roland and Susan Delgado (his lover) recite to each other occasionally: "Bird and Bear and Hare and Fish..." The only pairs identified are by Susannah and Eddie while at the Cradle of Lud.

Shardik was created by North Central Positronics Ltd. which may be connected to the mysterious Sombra Corp.

The pairings as mentioned in the book are:

• Bear - Turtle
• Horse - Dog
• Rat - Fish
• Elephant - Wolf
• Lion - Eagle

[edit] The Rose

The rose is thought to be the manifestation of the Dark Tower in Jake's where and when. It should be noted that while both Eddie and Susannah appear to be from the same where, such appearances can be deceiving. Much like the Ages of Myst, within the infinity of worlds linked by the Tower, anything is possible.

[edit] External links

• TheDarkTower.net forums

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) • 1988 Nightmares in the Sky (1988) • 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) • 2005 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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