[there be SPOILERS ahead,
may it do ya fine]
yesterday i finished
sai Stephen King’s
The Dark Tower series –
entered the clearing
at the end of that path
it took me right around a year,
all told;
i think the longest extended
narrative i’ve ever read
by way of a mini-review:
i dug it 🙂
i’m a fan of King
and his style,
and the story here is
obv epic in scope,
full of wonders, adventure,
humor, tragedy,
characters you can relate to,
ones you wish you couldn’t,
and, ultimately,
it MEANS something
(more on that soon)
it was not perfect,
certainly –
many sections
and even entire books
got to be a bit of a slog
(like the characters’
journeys themselves),
there were build ups
to ultimate let downs,
promises not kept imo,
digressions, confusions, etc.,
much of which may be
due to the series’
long, fascinating
actual history
(which you can google) –
but in the end, for me,
it was worth the trip
for sure
saying more would only
hold up what i
mainly intend to say:
The Dark Tower Ending Explained
so what does the
series
and its ending
mean?
for such a long,
complex tale,
and such a
seemingly tricky question,
it’s surprisingly simple
The Dark Tower is
a story about stories
what about stories?
they end.
they themselves
inevitably reach
the clearing
at the end of the path.
to shoot straighter:
stories resolve.
King himself,
near the end of Book 7,
the last,
even cheekily
chides the reader
for needing
an ending,
basically daring us
not to read on;
but nevertheless,
he gives us the end
as he knows he must
and, also, as well,
the specific end he gives,
in context,
underlines the point:
stories resolve
see, The Dark Tower
is about how
“there are other worlds
than these;”
about, basically,
“the multiverse” –
the idea that
there are
different worlds,
and also that the lives
of the different
people within them
(including those of
King himself and
his decades-deep
cast of characters)
are somehow
actually happening together,
intertwined in space/time
sitting at
multiverse center?
the Dark Tower itself –
the nexus of all worlds
a knight errant –
Roland Deschain,
the gunslinger,
the main character –
is destined by ka
to seek this tower
and reach the
room at its summit;
the series tells
of this quest
at the end of Book 7,
the coda,
Roland reaches the
top of the tower,
only to walk through
a door
(and back in time)
to the opening line
of Book 1:
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
in other words,
the multiverse
is not only made
of many worlds,
it also apparently
runs in many cycles –
the “end” is
just the beginning
but, however,
most ultimately importantly,
just as the many worlds
of the multiverse
converge on the one spot,
one thing for Roland
is different
in this one new cycle
that begins at the end:
he has an item
(the Horn of Eld,
though the specifics
probably aren’t
what’s important)
which promises
the possibility
of a final and last cycle –
an actual end,
the inevitable resolution
So What?
great question 🙂
one this post
won’t address
but i encourage you
to ask more deeply:
why do stories resolve?
why must they?
why must we humans
tell them –
all of them variations
of the same
resolving tale,
over and over?
(for a bit of
my personal take, see:
“What IT Means (and How *Any* Good Story ‘Means’)”
here’s a hint:
it has something to do
with Gan (God),
commala come you)
in any case,
long days
and pleasant nights
to ya –
till you too
reach the clearing