in the first book, when Roland and Walter hold palaver, Walter says something like, "If only you'd remember, but you never do." Kinda makes you wonder if Walter knew about the time loop. Then there's tons of points in the series where one of the characters felts as though they had "been there before" having a strong sense of Deja vu, almost as if King was trying to tell us something
Out of universe: there's absolutely no chance Stephen had this ending in mind when he wrote book one, and probably not before book 5. He says explicitly in a couple of the afterwords that he has no idea what happens when Roland reaches the tower and is just kind of making it up as he goes (King is notorious for never really outlining his books), and he had to retcon quite a bit from the earlier Tower novels to make the ending make sense.
What isn't mentioned in this video is that Roland had the horn of eld. That's is a major difference from the way the series starts for us. He left it at Jericho Hill. Maybe he needs to complete his journey at the tower.
I love this ending because of how many different ways you can see it as... Every time I reread this series I find myself stock between two different takes on the ending. One is the loop you refer to in this video, but sometimes I have another theory. If we take a closer look, we see that maybe the real ending is the poem "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came" that is right after the return of Roland to the desert. And if that is so, then the series is Roland's penultimate attempt at completing the quest given that this last time is different, he has the horn of Eld. And so, the poem is Roland's last attempt where maybe none of his friends die, and maybe, just maybe, he actually finds peace this time... It depends on your mood at the moment you read it and how you want to take it.
I always saw the field of roses representing all the times Roland has saved the tower from falling, he is the assigned guardian of the tower for the rest of existence and that is a pretty badass job to be assigned, amazing ending to a great series, far from a perfect book overall but has its great moments too .. Thankee Sai for making these review videos
“The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions. It was white and blinding and waterless and without feature save for the faint, cloudy haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil-grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death. An occasional tombstone sign pointed the way, for once the drifted track that cut its way through the thick crust of alkali had been a highway. Coaches and buckas had followed it. The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.” ― Stephen King, The Gunslinger
I finished the last book today I lost my shit thought the ending was shit but now I’ve calmed down. Pure genius, I feel slightly robbed but what a stroke of genius
I just came across this video and I never realized the parallels between Roland’s quest and our own reading the series. We so wanted to know what was going to happen in the end, just as Roland was desperate to get to the tower. The lesson is that the journey is what’s important, not the destination. I was never that thrilled with how the series ended but now I appreciate it much more.
Gotta hand it to Steven King, he is a great author. I love how he ties his books together by revealing that they all are set in a multi-verse, with the Dark Tower at the center. And he's been doing this since the 1980s (maybe longer, need to look into that info)! I find the ending to the Dark Tower series to be both simple and also complex. You can look into this any way that you can and still find something in it. You can see it as a damnation-like curse for Roland, where he repeats the same thing over and over agin. Or you can see it as Roland's journey with different details, just the same beginning and ending. For me, I kinda believe that if Roland just stopped on his quest then he would find peace. But because he is so determined and focused on this journey, he won't find it. And it's ironic, considering that he seems to believe that it is the end of his journey that he will find some form of peace/closure from all of this.
I’ve always seen his story like Groundhog Day. He’s in a loop and he can’t escape it until he gets things just right. In this last iteration we see he made some good decisions, like not adding Jack Mort to the ka-tet, going back to save Jake, etc., but he also made some mistakes, like the fact that he ever let Jake die at all, or losing his fingers so early on. Maybe this next time, everything goes right for him and he shows growth by making the right choices both for the Tower and for him as a cold and calculating gunslinger making an effort to be a better human. Now he’s got the Horn of Eld, all that’s left is to follow a path as good as or better than last time and maybe even get to the Tower with his full ka-tet alive to see it.
First time watching your videos. I really like them. About the ending, I've grown to love it. About the times Roland has been there is either the 19th, which is why the number 19 keeps coming up or the 1,999th. I do believe the next 20th/2,000th (depending on what it is), will be his last since he finally has the Horn of Eld. The journey in these books was not his last, that could be why his battle with the Crimson King could have been anti-climactic ... because it wasn't the final battle. Perhaps each time he Draws new people to join him, or other characters from King's books (such as Charlie McGee and Danny Torrance--if so, I would have loved to read about those quests), but I digress. I do love that the final time will be in my imagination, or if (by some unimaginable miracle and against incredible odds) the movie (and others) are successful and the cinematic story continues. And as King suggested (and the Director confirmed), The Dark Tower movie is a follow-up/sequel to the books, starting to chronicle his 20th/2,000th trip to The Dark Tower.
The movie is trash, and I don't know care what ANYONE says, it's not cannon. Even if it technically is, people will forget about it, and it will be retconned out of the cannon in a few years.
This was one of the best books I every read in my life...I felt a connection to the characters.... When they died I literally got tears in my eyes....I felt it...
The real question is why on earth did Stephen Say that Roland went back, not to the beginning, where something could have been changed. Not that far back, but to the moment where he knew he would find the tower. Which was in the Mohaine Desert. So why does he have the horn? If he didn't go far back enough for something to change, why did something change? I think it's an alternate universe, slightly different in one way, and our Roland is sent to each new universe by Gan to save the tower. And he's doomed for eternity because all the towers have to be saved. I would have left the mystery of the tower alone if the regular ending to the series hadn't been so disapointing!
Does anyone else get the feeling that Westworld was heavily influenced by this series? Roland is really just a Host, put there to take us Guests on a storyline in the park. Amazing meta-narrative in both The Dark Tower and Westworld.
When I finished the last book, I was shocked but a lot of things make sense throughout the book. You mentioned out of the things and another thing mentioned that should've gave us all a clue this story was a loop was when the man in black kept telling the Roland "Death will never touch you Gunslinger...never for you." This part jumped out to me when I finished the book.
I sat on King's warning for a week. Sadly, curiosity got me like the cat. I read it and was truly horrified. Great ending but this story as a full picture is King's greatest horror of all time. Wonderful video!
"This happened once before when I came to your door. No Reply." "We looked at each other in the same way, then. But I can't remember where or when." "And the mourners are all singin' As they drag you by your feet. But the hangman isn't hangin' And they put you on the street. You go back, Jack, do it again. Wheels turning round and round." "Wheel in the sky keeps on turning..." "He was turned to steel In the great magnetic field Where he traveled time For the future of mankind." "I started a joke, which started the whole world laughing; oh, but I couldn't see that the joke was on me." If I had a wish before Gan takes him to the clearing, it would be for Stephen King to write (or edit an anthology by other approved writers) of snippets of the other cycles. I mean, can you imagine how bloody some of the earliest cycles must have been? The original Roland stories also had flawed heroes; Roland of Chansons De Geste failed to call for help when it would have done any good, and the original story has the Moors opposing him worshipping a demon--par for those times, but still ugly. The original story of Childe Roland (before the Dark Tower poem) had his damsel-in-distress little sister trapped for an insane reason. Also, is the Tower/Gan saying basically they never needed rescuing? That the effort to break all the beams was bubcus to its eternal being and self?
Remember Blaine in the wastelands talking about him going insane from traveling back in forth I think that was to foreshadow what would happen at the end
I just finished the book and personally, I think he's the eternal protector of the Tower. he must journey to find it because along the way that is where he'll find those who seek to destroy it. This cycle that the book series is based on, he finds the potential death of its storyteller, he finds the Crimson King and his low men, he finds the Breakers being controlled by said low men, and he and the people he pick up along this cycle must save the beams and save the tower. Once the tower is safe, he goes back and stops the next group of people or whomever is attempting to destroy the tower. Roland is nothing more than a guardian and his ka-tet is nothing more than those fated to help him protect it. Once that's completed, they're discarded and the cycle is restart. Whether or not it's the same group I'm not sure of. Maybe it is or maybe it's not.
This book set up Roland “leaving the Horn” as THE pivotal moment that keeps Roland in the loop. Every tragedy can point the reader back to one critical mistake, one lapse of judgment that leads to the hero’s tragic end. The scene was discussed so long ago, I can’t remember what lesson Roland ignored or what fatal character flaw was exposed by deciding to just leave it.
While I agree with you that this is the perfect And only ending the serious could possible end with, you "guarantee" we won't like what we find in the tower. Now you eat your words. Also, you did not mention the most important fact about the conclusion. The fact that Roland now has the horn. That is proof right there that he makes progress and changes his fate with every revolution of Ka's wheel.
except it would have been alot more awesome if we had been with Roland when he makes the final trip. All it does is start a new cycle with a change so now I want to see that cycle, but there isn't anymore story even through the story isnt over at the end of the book.
@@eismatt But if we were with him on the final trip then we wouldn't know it is a loop that keeps cycling round. I agree it would be awesome to see what happens at the very end, but the impact that the ending had, when he's back on the desert and the famous first line of the first book is repeated, that was genius!
@@eismatt I definitely see what you're saying but imagine if King tried to explain that Roland had been living a loop his whole life and this time he beat it, to me the whole loop idea would then be pointless, because then it wouldn't be a loop to us as we would have never experienced a full loop. Would you prefer to completely get rid of the idea of a loop and have a definitive ending?
Late to the show, but my theory is that this story’s ending is supposed to mirror Ragnarok of Norse mythology. Recurring, cyclic in nature. Well done. Not meant to be exhaustive, meant to keep the lore alive. Thanks
At first I was disappointed in the ending of The Dark Tower However upon reflection I see Roland as a modern Don Quixote. An obsession whether for The right or wrong reasons leads to tragedy. Mr King 's primary sources Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the dark tower came" sets the tone and another prime source "The King Arthur saga sets the tempo of the story no happy endings in either one of these . I believe Mr King pays homage to the great Literary epics such as Beowulf, the Illad and other classic heroic renderings. I believe Mr King meant to be a breath of fresh air in our current modern storytelling endeavours especially those of the mainstream culture. Thank you for the reviews of this series
I like to think that it's because Roland is being punished for something. Roland isn't a very friendly or caring man by nature. However when he meets his Ka-Tet, his Ka family loosens him up a little, he eventually warms up to his friends as the book series progresses however he still cares more for Dark Tower than his friends. Roland's actions caused Jake to die several times etc. It's almost like Roland has kidnapped these people, brought them back to his world and used them as disposable pawns paving his way to the Dark Tower. I believe he will continue to make this journey to the Tower until Gan feels like Roland's is improving. The fact that he receives the Horn of the Eld at the end of the book series, indicates to me that Roland did something different this time, something better than his previous journeys to the Tower. The hell of it is, not long after Roland gets pushed back into the Mohaine desert, amnesia quickly sets in, followed by some dizzyiness and then nothing. So his loss of memory isn't doing him any favors. There is a saying, "you learn from your mistakes" but you can only really learn from your mistakes if you know what those mistakes are from your previous journeys, which unfortunately Roland has no memory of. In fact, the only thing that Roland remembers is his early years, his time in Gilead, he rememberss Gilead and all that other stuff in WIizard and Glass, he remembers the face of his father, Steven, he remembers his mother singing the lullaby rhyme to him, baby-bunting, which is where he hears the word nineteen for the first time, chassit. So those thoughts are always with him, even never forgets that stuff. But when he heard about this Tower and he started making his quest for it, he travelled great distances. He finds the Tower and Gan pushes him back to the desert. So he remembers stuff before 'initially' reaching the desert for the very first time (not after a loop, i mean when he actually crossed the desert for the very first time) however he doesn't remember stuff after a certain point in the desert. And while all this is going on, we must keep in mind that time is slipping forwards or backwards, all sense of time is diminishing, even the points of the compass are all out of whack. And we don't actually know how old Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger is, we don't know how many times he has reached the Tower. Roland lacks imagination and he is very literal about things. Roland is the sort of guy that if, Eddie asked him to draw the curtains/drapes, Roland might say, "do you have a pencil?".. see what I mean? he is different like that.
Personally I see the dessert, as a place where some people enter the after-life. That is why Jake ended up there too, when he was run over - and why Roland asks the guy he meets there, if they're dead or ghosts. Personally I think that Roland was killed during the battle of Gilead right after Cuthbert (I believe it' in book 5), since, the battle is described as hopeless, and the last thing Roland remembers from it, is basically him about to die in a blaze of glory, and no parts of Rolands further youth is never described after that flashback. I guess this is where he enters the dessert and starts searching. So Roland is basically a ghost jumping in and out of peoples minds and timelines, walking in limbo looking for salvation - which me might find one day.
I 100% agree with everything you say lol! I’ve been thinking down those lines since finally reading them last spring. I wanted the ultimate adventure story and an ending that punched me in the face! I’ve never heard of a fate more tragic than that of Roland Deschain. You could even so far as to say it’s the most horrifying moment of all his writing. A surprise firework of doom that goes off and hurts your ears for the last few seconds as the curtain falls!
Roland is a part of the ka, a part of the Dark Tower, an asset of Gan to create balance to the universe. Where there is red, there must be white too. Roland is white, while the Crimson King is red. Jin yang. Good vs. Evil.
I was very satisfied with the ending, it made absolute perfect sense to me. I've heard other readers of the series complain about the ending, can any of those unsatisfied readers give an alternative ending that would have been better than King's? If so, please share ...
Dont pretend you didnt get choked up reading this! EPIC! Cause Ka is a wheel. He either is stuck doing this forever or his walking through the door was the last time. It shows he was doing things differently this time id like to think. Roland may be able to find peace this time. Also interesting to note that after the end of the book he put the poem, almost as though it ties into the end of the book and Roland really did finish in the poem.
Frosty, I gotta say man I've really enjoyed each of your reviews of the dark tower series. I've watched them all and after finishing each book of the series in turn I would watch your review of that book to get your take on it and just wanted to say great job man. I will take your advice and read through the other books with Dark Tower connections (then I will probably watch your review on each one). Long days and pleasant nights sai 👍.
I like to think that Roland NEEDS to keep the cycle going in order for existence to keep existing. Of course, he’ll never know that. We, the audience, do.
I always felt kinda hopeful with ending. As if him having the horn of eld was a sort of promise to roland and the reader, that while he loops, he dosen't do so without progress. Or at least without some chance of a decent ending a thousand years in the future
You know what you should have done? Right after you read the sentence about Roland opening the last door in the tower, you should have immediately cut to your first “Gunslinger” video where you begin reviewing the book. lol. Would have been so confusing.
I agree this ending is perfect. I just finished the series. My only knowledge going into the series was that “the ending is trash” according to my homie. Buuut turns out it was the best ending of all time. In my opinion
great review. I come to watch your reviews each time I finish one. I'm feeling ambiguous about the ending. I hope Roland's "loop" was a glitch and would be fixed over time now that the Tet had fixed the beam. Do you think the loop of Roland's quest only effects himself or does it include everything else (all the other worlds)? P.S. Oy's death broke my heart. Loyal thing protected his dihn till' his death. "Oland."
I was always under the impression that the loop was basically a hard reset and it reset everything back to where it was at the beginning of the Gunslinger. I'm also under the impression that the Tower is trying to teach Roland a lesson about obsession and addiction and that it's perfectly fine for Roland to actually quit his quest before the Tower. But since Roland has no imagination he just keeps doing the same things over and over. Thanks for the watch.
+FrostyKnives13 man that's a such a neat theory. I do agree Roland's somewhat obsessed over the tower, but all this time I've always perceived his quest as just and necessary, that I only felt sorry for all the deaths that surrounds him, and didn't think twice about his decisions. After reading your theory, I remember there was this one occasion in which Roland meets the red king's administer of state who told Roland now with the beam saved and red King trapped you can go back forget about the tower, I just feel it's so ironic that Roland saw right through his plan of killing him with the snakes and went on. If the beam child would have had send a dream to tell Roland to give up the quest mayhap Roland wouldve gone off to the alternative new York with Susanna, Patrick and oy.
***** That's exactly what did man, (I mean listening to audiobook.) And I couldn't agree more with you on the picking up nuances part. Upon the first reading of book 1 I was very curious why Jake Chambers said there was somebody else at the way station as him and Roland were leaving, then the secret revealed that Father Callahan and the man in black were palavering. Stephen King does a great job at not spoiling major plot twists all in one book.
Maybe Roland got it right the first time, maybe nothing could stop the tower from falling. The only thing that could stop the tower from falling was to set time on a loop for all eternity and Roland choose that the first time to save all the universe and all the other dimensions.
As a fellow Dark Tower aficionado, you need to know this. He picks up the Arthur Eld's HORN this time, the one he left at Jericho hill before. That's what he needed to end the cycle. (Page 114 in my copy of Dark Tower V) ----------------------------------------------- Cuthbert raises the horn to his bloody lips and blows a great blast- the final blast, for when it drops from his fingers a minute later (or perhaps it's five, or ten; time has no meaning in that final battle), Roland will let it lie in the dust. In his grief and bloodlust he will forget all about Eld's Horn Then at the end of Book VII ----------------------------------------------- He shifted his gunna from one shoulder to the other, then touched the horn that rode on his belt behind the gun on his right hip. The ancient brass horn had once been blown by Arthur Eld himself, or so the story did say. Roland had given it to Cuthbert Allgood at Jericho Hill, and when Cuthbert fell, Roland had paused just long enough to pick it up again, knocking the deathdust of that place from its throat. This is your sigul, whispered the fading voice that bore with it the dusk-sweet scent of roses, the scent of home on a summer evening-O lost!-a stone, a rose, an unfound door; a stone, a rose, a door. This is your promise that things may be different, Roland-that there may yet be rest. Even salvation.
I like to think that when the after the oracle Roland grabs the horn of Eld and decided that the line of Eld need not be risked and he and Jake wait He trains Jake loves him like his son and through Ka they destroy the breakers and LOS and dies on the way and Jakes does what Roland could never do “And Jake places his fathers guns at the foot of the Dark Tower and moves on and lived happily ever after for the rest of his days”
omg i love this ending i agree only ending which could have been and i still get chills as u read the ending just amazing im getting my firs darktower tattoo this weekend i say first bcoz im sure im goin to add more to it nd i really want to get a line out of the ending and im soòoo excited been wanting this tat for a long time nd wanting to make sure i get this tat done before this movie comes out nd i am really worries about this movie its like my baby nd i dnt want it to be portrayed or blown up like harry potter or twilights series idk im just protective oveer it!
Brianna De La Cruz personally I agree with the thought of getting a tattoo about the dark tower series and I am going to get one also of the ka tet symbol on the inside of my wrist
+X Hydra +X Hydra yes! u should i have been consistently been wanting this tattoo for many yrs i think if it is a tattoo your mind keeps coming bak to then u should get it i have kept coming back to the same tattoo idea for yrs so i knew it was the right thing besides the darktower being my favorite story of all time and i found this story at an exteremely difficult time of my life i almost felt like i was meant to find it idk what i would of done without it and many of kings books but the dark tower especially . well congrats on the tattoo if u get it i dont think u will be sorry
MarkusVFG The movie sucked. They should have made the movies like Harry Potter style, but rated R. Could you imagine that? That would be amazing. Generate new Tower Junkies as well.
Hile sai-Brianna! That's cool that you have a Dark Tower tattoo, or a series of them, I'm hoping to get one too someday!!!!! As for the movie, it was awful, nothing like the books at all, I was very disappointed! :(
I know I'm going to get hammered for this but I'm sorry this series deserved better. IMHO this is the pre-eminent epic series in modern literature. I don't claim to have read every quality series that would fall into this category but to me it tops even Tolkein so I doubt there's much out there that can claim to be better than that. I've seen essentially the same scenario in books like The Stand and IT, he creates, not meaning to overuse the term but it fits, epic stories then isn't able to come up with a worthy ending. 1500 pages of amazing set up followed by 3 pages of mediocre ending. Or in the case of DT several thousand pages, not to mention 30 years, of set up and NO ending. You may now commence to ripping me and my opinion to shreds
+David Stevens You actually do make a couple of good points. The series really did piss a lot of readers off, especially those of us who have followed it since literally the beginning. If King has one flaw, and I'm sure he has a few, it's that he has always had trouble closing out the novels. He's great at the set up and action but almost always chokes on the ending. The Stand was that way, as was Under the Dome and most of his other long novels, although I did enjoy the ending to IT. That being said i think this was the ending that King always envisioned for the Tower, and my problems with the books stems from other things than the ending. I think his accident really scared the shit out of him and he somewhat rushed the last three novels of the series instead of taking his time. Still I can totally understand your point about the endings.
Don't know if you're a College Football Fan but I once said the CFB season was like a Stephen King novel, tremendous build up with disappointing and un-satisfying ending. This was on the Mike and Mike show on ESPN and apparently Mike Golic is a huge SK fan because he got very upset at my comment. The ending of the series is the one major adjustment I hope they make for the movies. If people watch 3 movies and a few seasons of TV, which at this point apparently is the plan, and that is how the last movie ends those that haven't read the books will rip out the seats and throw them at the screen.
I LOVE the ending to. I've never read a series of books that makes a complete circle like The Dark Dower does. It's pure genius. The part I wasn't so thrilled with was him making himself a character in the book. It was a little weird to me, even for King.
I Loved the ending. I think it could of had more but you can also make up whatever you want in your mind. He told a good story, you bought it and SK got richer. Whaaaa.
i wish I was as happy with the ending as you were. I finished the final book about ten years ago and the main thing I remember is that I thought the loop ending was a cop out. Reading the series, you can tell the old King from the new King.
It may be a loop but there is a difference between the end and the beginning. At the end, after the tower Roland has his horn which in the story (first time) the horn was lost in a battle. So there is a difference each time the cycle begins.
I agree with ya with the ending. It was perfect I enjoyed the sence of "hope" the horn of eld give us. maybe roland will not let jake fall instead of chasing the man in black. maybe he wont get lost in palver with the man in balck and he wont be so old. Maybe he will keep his fingers. maybe..........
That's a good assessment, I was thinking Roland began turning a new leaf with the ka-tet and the characters. That the whole point was for him to regain a sense of humanity and love to move on with life in mid-world.
I don't believe Roland is doomed to forever repeat the same loop, as he begins the next journey with a key item that he hadn't possessed in his previous one. He now has the Horn of Arthur Eld, which he was supposed to blow before entering the Tower.
I think people get mad because it’s hard to wrangle with the fact that the fight never ends. It’s harder to admit you have to live by the code, in perpetuity, til the rheumatiz is unbearable, til the past is yours alone and the names you faintly remember are fully forgotten to time because you were the last to know them. It’s a lot harder to walk forward with that nagging knowing that it’s a wheel, and you’re on it, but the carrot out of reach is always going to be exactly that. In Roland’s case, I always found that the idea of “the last time around” was perfect. How does the embodiment of the hero stop the embodiment of the villain? It has to keep fighting, as long as the villain does. And with an extra-dimensional “it” not bound by time or age, what else can Roland do? Corny as it might be, the Doctor Strange movie hit it on the head with the trope of a (spoilers for years old film) time loop trap. If the villain is always trapped to repeat this sequence, so is the hero, but everything else keeps on as if nothing happened. Of course, you could dive down a rabbit hole with quantum theory of what that implies for all the others when’s akin to a “go then, there are other worlds”, but Roland has already lost it all. So much so, that losing again isn’t the same pain anymore. I don’t think it could have ended in any other way.
You missed some other details. Roland also had found Elds horn on his belt, back in the Mohain and the fact that the tower said he can still redeem himself.
What I want to know is... When he goes back, does that mean that everyone who died is alive again? Will he make the exact same journey with the same people? Or is it like... In each iteration, he still makes it there, but by using different paths, different people? Because, if the answer is that he does it exactly the same way, for me it takes all happiness out of the ending for Susana, Eddie and Jake. Why are they also doomed to an eternal time loop? But also... Why are the bad guys brought back? What is the tower's intention in being constantly at risk of falling? What if an iteration of Roland should fail?
I really feel like the Horn of Eld should have been more incorporated into the series, given that the ending suggests that Roland having it on his next time around might make a difference. I read the original version of Book One, which did not include it at all, unlike the revised version. Instead it just comes out of nowhere but is super duper important. That's bad.
No mention of the Horn of Eld... The reason the saga, and its "ending", is so fucking perfect: is that it is an open-ended conclusion; made whole only by the reader's imagination. Lady or the tiger? Does the true end of this new quest end in that same desert or does Roland save Jake from falling this time and throw a stick in the spoke known as the wheel of Ka?
I liked the story and I am alright with the ending, though I would have liked to know what would happen and what he would find when the loop finally ends and Roland reaches the top. I feel like that has been avoided. Also not sure about the way the problem of the crimson king was resolved (undrawing seemed a bit easy and convenient?) And why did Modred not use his mental powers on Roland in the end like he did with the Man in Black?
Mordred was weak and dying because he has eaten dandelo's poisoned horse. That was his last chance to attack. If he had attacked before susannah leave roland, she would have killed him . Ps: sorry for my English. I did the best i could.
Not sure about that, but i mean there was written anywhere that the tower is not a part of any world(or so). So maybe therefore the Crimson King could not jump off the balcony.
Yeah Crimson King fight seemed a little phoned in and too easy. Wolves of Calla fight is way better even tho the absurd Harry Potter references started to destroy the story for me.
It wasn’t clear to me; I’ll have to go back and check the book. Were Roland’s missing fingers and toe restored upon passing through the door? Or are his wounds from his previous quest(s) simply added to the list?
SPOILER ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Well, in this go, he has the Horn of Eld, and things must be different then, simply because that exists. I think different, that Ka is trying to find the best path for things, to be healed completely, entirely and through looping the Gunslinger, each time perhaps with something different, something new, something old, or what not - maybe that is the meaning? The Horn of Eld is a huge object, as powerful as his guns, I feel. With it in his arsenal this time, things must be different, they will be. That is how I took it - with hope. The hope the Horn brings. If you read this, I say thankya. Long days and pleasant nights, fellow readers of the Dark Tower.
This ending explains a lot. As dreadful as it is. The big one is Roland's unnaturally long life. Every time he saves the tower he goes back, and the world moves on a little more. So many narrow margins where it all could and sometimes did go wrong. My hypothesis is that he has to reach the tower with the horn and both guns, and his whole ka-tet in tow. Remember how the second gun aged ages when Susanna went through the door? I suspect that aged and weathered, damaged piece of hardware returned to it's end condition. The condition it will be in when Roland finally gets the combination right. There's no reason for it to so dramatically age otherwise. It's not a plot device anymore, as it was removed from the loop Roland is trapped in. And the tower is not an end to things but rather the beginning. Gan spun creation from his navel, and everything spins out from the tower. Gan's own form on this mortal plane.
But each time Roland do it better. At the beggining of the "next time" Roland has the Cutbert's Horn with him, that was taken at the Jericho's Hill battle so, and this is my guess, if Roland is capable to do his quest better each time, with more empathy, maybe choosing Jake instead the man in black in the tunnels crossroad, Roland could reach the tower accompanied with his friends and sooner or later, he could save mid world even when he was a child at Mejis barony.
I made it all the way to 60% through wolves of the calla and then stopped and just watched your videos haha. Great ending though, makes me appreciate the series more knowing that's how it ends
Should i read the Dark tower books in this order? 1.Gunslinger 2. Drawing of the 3 3.The Wastle lands 4.Wizard And Glass 5. Wind through the keyhole 6. Wolves Of The Calla 7 Songs of susannah 8. Dark tower Should i read it in that order or different order?
Great reviews mate, King's endings often seem rushed and a bit of a let down and I thought the same of this with the anticlimax of the Crimson King battle and the predictable ending being a loop (this was hinted at countless times during the series). I did however find very interesting the addition of the Horn of the Eld to beg the question is it really a loop or is this a lesson that Roland does not seem to learn over the past 19 attempts, perhaps with the horn the 20th time will be different... I still found the ending of IT to be the biggest let down by King even though it is my favorite King novel. Thanks and keep up the great work.
How many times has he traveled the loop?. Easy, as many as the books has been read. How many time could it still happen?. possibly unlimited as long as the books excist.
you didn't mention that king was in the tower as Gan....am I of the alternate universe? I dream of breaking, lifting the veil......all things serve the path of the beam
So I just sat thru all of these, and thank you for that. I’d like to see a clear timeline one day of all the king books lined up with their ties, maybe overall lore. That being said this ending wasn’t great in terms of being thought out. If this is a loop are there different people every time? If so where are the other dark tower books from another writer? If not, why wouldn’t traveling back to save king each time cause multiple versions of the same people there at once? Like... wouldn’t the time travelers see alternate versions of themselves from other loops tracking to the same time?
Are you thinking of it in terms of time continuing as per normal when in fact it could have actually 'reset'/rewinded (remember the watch?). Ka is a wheel, so I think linear interpretations are bound to cause confusions like these.
![YoungBoy Never Broke Again - Catch Me [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KxwEXXFQMTY/mqdefault.jpg)
in the first book, when Roland and Walter hold palaver, Walter says something like, "If only you'd remember, but you never do." Kinda makes you wonder if Walter knew about the time loop. Then there's tons of points in the series where one of the characters felts as though they had "been there before" having a strong sense of Deja vu, almost as if King was trying to tell us something
100% this
There is that line too during their palaver. "Oh there will be death gunslinger, but never for you".
@The ill will yeah, I think king was hunting this will now be the final trip, but who knows for certain. I personally loved the ending and this series
Out of universe: there's absolutely no chance Stephen had this ending in mind when he wrote book one, and probably not before book 5. He says explicitly in a couple of the afterwords that he has no idea what happens when Roland reaches the tower and is just kind of making it up as he goes (King is notorious for never really outlining his books), and he had to retcon quite a bit from the earlier Tower novels to make the ending make sense.
What isn't mentioned in this video is that Roland had the horn of eld. That's is a major difference from the way the series starts for us. He left it at Jericho Hill. Maybe he needs to complete his journey at the tower.
How many times did Roland do this quest in the "past" is no mistery
19 times, of course.
Well that would make sense. Huh.
I'd say 18 times. Attempt 19 will be the one that he get's everything right and Jake will be his son...
that would be attempt 99 :D
still a long way to go
Mattia Salvetti+ Or 1999 times.
Edit: made typo
Mistery(mystery)? More like misery
I love this ending because of how many different ways you can see it as... Every time I reread this series I find myself stock between two different takes on the ending. One is the loop you refer to in this video, but sometimes I have another theory. If we take a closer look, we see that maybe the real ending is the poem "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came" that is right after the return of Roland to the desert. And if that is so, then the series is Roland's penultimate attempt at completing the quest given that this last time is different, he has the horn of Eld. And so, the poem is Roland's last attempt where maybe none of his friends die, and maybe, just maybe, he actually finds peace this time... It depends on your mood at the moment you read it and how you want to take it.
I always saw the field of roses representing all the times Roland has saved the tower from falling, he is the assigned guardian of the tower for the rest of existence and that is a pretty badass job to be assigned, amazing ending to a great series, far from a perfect book overall but has its great moments too .. Thankee Sai for making these review videos
Roland did this quest exactly 4 times; I know because I read it four times.
I've binged watched all your book reviews, you're easily my favorite book reviewer on RUclips now. Keep at it!!! 👍
👏👏👏
“The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions. It was white and blinding and waterless and without feature save for the faint, cloudy haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil-grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death. An occasional tombstone sign pointed the way, for once the drifted track that cut its way through the thick crust of alkali had been a highway. Coaches and buckas had followed it. The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.”
― Stephen King, The Gunslinger
Thanks man. I spent almost 20 years reading these 7 books... now I feel like I’m starting all over again- not my favorite ending
I finished the last book today I lost my shit thought the ending was shit but now I’ve calmed down. Pure genius, I feel slightly robbed but what a stroke of genius
I just came across this video and I never realized the parallels between Roland’s quest and our own reading the series. We so wanted to know what was going to happen in the end, just as Roland was desperate to get to the tower. The lesson is that the journey is what’s important, not the destination. I was never that thrilled with how the series ended but now I appreciate it much more.
Gotta hand it to Steven King, he is a great author. I love how he ties his books together by revealing that they all are set in a multi-verse, with the Dark Tower at the center. And he's been doing this since the 1980s (maybe longer, need to look into that info)!
I find the ending to the Dark Tower series to be both simple and also complex. You can look into this any way that you can and still find something in it. You can see it as a damnation-like curse for Roland, where he repeats the same thing over and over agin. Or you can see it as Roland's journey with different details, just the same beginning and ending.
For me, I kinda believe that if Roland just stopped on his quest then he would find peace. But because he is so determined and focused on this journey, he won't find it. And it's ironic, considering that he seems to believe that it is the end of his journey that he will find some form of peace/closure from all of this.
I’ve always seen his story like Groundhog Day. He’s in a loop and he can’t escape it until he gets things just right. In this last iteration we see he made some good decisions, like not adding Jack Mort to the ka-tet, going back to save Jake, etc., but he also made some mistakes, like the fact that he ever let Jake die at all, or losing his fingers so early on. Maybe this next time, everything goes right for him and he shows growth by making the right choices both for the Tower and for him as a cold and calculating gunslinger making an effort to be a better human. Now he’s got the Horn of Eld, all that’s left is to follow a path as good as or better than last time and maybe even get to the Tower with his full ka-tet alive to see it.
First time watching your videos. I really like them. About the ending, I've grown to love it. About the times Roland has been there is either the 19th, which is why the number 19 keeps coming up or the 1,999th. I do believe the next 20th/2,000th (depending on what it is), will be his last since he finally has the Horn of Eld. The journey in these books was not his last, that could be why his battle with the Crimson King could have been anti-climactic ... because it wasn't the final battle. Perhaps each time he Draws new people to join him, or other characters from King's books (such as Charlie McGee and Danny Torrance--if so, I would have loved to read about those quests), but I digress. I do love that the final time will be in my imagination, or if (by some unimaginable miracle and against incredible odds) the movie (and others) are successful and the cinematic story continues. And as King suggested (and the Director confirmed), The Dark Tower movie is a follow-up/sequel to the books, starting to chronicle his 20th/2,000th trip to The Dark Tower.
The movie is trash, and I don't know care what ANYONE says, it's not cannon. Even if it technically is, people will forget about it, and it will be retconned out of the cannon in a few years.
This was one of the best books I every read in my life...I felt a connection to the characters.... When they died I literally got tears in my eyes....I felt it...
The real question is why on earth did Stephen Say that Roland went back, not to the beginning, where something could have been changed. Not that far back, but to the moment where he knew he would find the tower. Which was in the Mohaine Desert. So why does he have the horn? If he didn't go far back enough for something to change, why did something change? I think it's an alternate universe, slightly different in one way, and our Roland is sent to each new universe by Gan to save the tower. And he's doomed for eternity because all the towers have to be saved.
I would have left the mystery of the tower alone if the regular ending to the series hadn't been so disapointing!
Does anyone else get the feeling that Westworld was heavily influenced by this series? Roland is really just a Host, put there to take us Guests on a storyline in the park. Amazing meta-narrative in both The Dark Tower and Westworld.
When I finished the last book, I was shocked but a lot of things make sense throughout the book. You mentioned out of the things and another thing mentioned that should've gave us all a clue this story was a loop was when the man in black kept telling the Roland "Death will never touch you Gunslinger...never for you." This part jumped out to me when I finished the book.
I sat on King's warning for a week. Sadly, curiosity got me like the cat. I read it and was truly horrified. Great ending but this story as a full picture is King's greatest horror of all time. Wonderful video!
I always wonder is there is someone out there who read all 7 books and stopped at Kings warning
It's the eternal struggle between good and evil.
"This happened once before when I came to your door. No Reply."
"We looked at each other in the same way, then. But I can't remember where or when."
"And the mourners are all singin' As they drag you by your feet. But the hangman isn't hangin' And they put you on the street. You go back, Jack, do it again. Wheels turning round and round."
"Wheel in the sky keeps on turning..."
"He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind."
"I started a joke, which started the whole world laughing; oh, but I couldn't see that the joke was on me."
If I had a wish before Gan takes him to the clearing, it would be for Stephen King to write (or edit an anthology by other approved writers) of snippets of the other cycles. I mean, can you imagine how bloody some of the earliest cycles must have been?
The original Roland stories also had flawed heroes; Roland of Chansons De Geste failed to call for help when it would have done any good, and the original story has the Moors opposing him worshipping a demon--par for those times, but still ugly. The original story of Childe Roland (before the Dark Tower poem) had his damsel-in-distress little sister trapped for an insane reason.
Also, is the Tower/Gan saying basically they never needed rescuing? That the effort to break all the beams was bubcus to its eternal being and self?
Remember Blaine in the wastelands talking about him going insane from traveling back in forth I think that was to foreshadow what would happen at the end
I just finished the book and personally, I think he's the eternal protector of the Tower. he must journey to find it because along the way that is where he'll find those who seek to destroy it. This cycle that the book series is based on, he finds the potential death of its storyteller, he finds the Crimson King and his low men, he finds the Breakers being controlled by said low men, and he and the people he pick up along this cycle must save the beams and save the tower. Once the tower is safe, he goes back and stops the next group of people or whomever is attempting to destroy the tower.
Roland is nothing more than a guardian and his ka-tet is nothing more than those fated to help him protect it. Once that's completed, they're discarded and the cycle is restart. Whether or not it's the same group I'm not sure of. Maybe it is or maybe it's not.
It's the first video I've seen of yours, liked it. And I loved the way your voice started to break after you mentioned the loop. Cheers.
This book set up Roland “leaving the Horn” as THE pivotal moment that keeps Roland in the loop. Every tragedy can point the reader back to one critical mistake, one lapse of judgment that leads to the hero’s tragic end. The scene was discussed so long ago, I can’t remember what lesson Roland ignored or what fatal character flaw was exposed by deciding to just leave it.
While I agree with you that this is the perfect And only ending the serious could possible end with, you "guarantee" we won't like what we find in the tower. Now you eat your words. Also, you did not mention the most important fact about the conclusion. The fact that Roland now has the horn. That is proof right there that he makes progress and changes his fate with every revolution of Ka's wheel.
except it would have been alot more awesome if we had been with Roland when he makes the final trip. All it does is start a new cycle with a change so now I want to see that cycle, but there isn't anymore story even through the story isnt over at the end of the book.
@@eismatt But if we were with him on the final trip then we wouldn't know it is a loop that keeps cycling round. I agree it would be awesome to see what happens at the very end, but the impact that the ending had, when he's back on the desert and the famous first line of the first book is repeated, that was genius!
@@andrewmartin7952 I feel like it was less creative in my opinion. It's easier to loop it then to end it satisfactorily.
@@eismatt I definitely see what you're saying but imagine if King tried to explain that Roland had been living a loop his whole life and this time he beat it, to me the whole loop idea would then be pointless, because then it wouldn't be a loop to us as we would have never experienced a full loop. Would you prefer to completely get rid of the idea of a loop and have a definitive ending?
@@andrewmartin7952 yeah I'd prefer they drop the loop and give a real ending.
Late to the show, but my theory is that this story’s ending is supposed to mirror Ragnarok of Norse mythology.
Recurring, cyclic in nature. Well done. Not meant to be exhaustive, meant to keep the lore alive. Thanks
At first I was disappointed in the ending of The Dark Tower
However upon reflection I see Roland as a modern Don Quixote.
An obsession whether for The right or wrong reasons leads to tragedy.
Mr King 's primary sources Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the dark tower came" sets the tone and another prime source "The King Arthur saga sets the tempo of the story no happy endings in either one of these .
I believe Mr King pays homage to the great Literary epics such as Beowulf, the Illad and other classic heroic renderings.
I believe Mr King meant to be a breath of fresh air in our current modern storytelling endeavours especially those of the mainstream culture.
Thank you for the reviews of this series
I like to think that it's because Roland is being punished for something. Roland isn't a very friendly or caring man by nature. However when he meets his Ka-Tet, his Ka family loosens him up a little, he eventually warms up to his friends as the book series progresses however he still cares more for Dark Tower than his friends. Roland's actions caused Jake to die several times etc. It's almost like Roland has kidnapped these people, brought them back to his world and used them as disposable pawns paving his way to the Dark Tower. I believe he will continue to make this journey to the Tower until Gan feels like Roland's is improving. The fact that he receives the Horn of the Eld at the end of the book series, indicates to me that Roland did something different this time, something better than his previous journeys to the Tower. The hell of it is, not long after Roland gets pushed back into the Mohaine desert, amnesia quickly sets in, followed by some dizzyiness and then nothing. So his loss of memory isn't doing him any favors. There is a saying, "you learn from your mistakes" but you can only really learn from your mistakes if you know what those mistakes are from your previous journeys, which unfortunately Roland has no memory of. In fact, the only thing that Roland remembers is his early years, his time in Gilead, he rememberss Gilead and all that other stuff in WIizard and Glass, he remembers the face of his father, Steven, he remembers his mother singing the lullaby rhyme to him, baby-bunting, which is where he hears the word nineteen for the first time, chassit. So those thoughts are always with him, even never forgets that stuff. But when he heard about this Tower and he started making his quest for it, he travelled great distances. He finds the Tower and Gan pushes him back to the desert. So he remembers stuff before 'initially' reaching the desert for the very first time (not after a loop, i mean when he actually crossed the desert for the very first time) however he doesn't remember stuff after a certain point in the desert. And while all this is going on, we must keep in mind that time is slipping forwards or backwards, all sense of time is diminishing, even the points of the compass are all out of whack. And we don't actually know how old Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger is, we don't know how many times he has reached the Tower. Roland lacks imagination and he is very literal about things. Roland is the sort of guy that if, Eddie asked him to draw the curtains/drapes, Roland might say, "do you have a pencil?".. see what I mean? he is different like that.
Personally I see the dessert, as a place where some people enter the after-life. That is why Jake ended up there too, when he was run over - and why Roland asks the guy he meets there, if they're dead or ghosts. Personally I think that Roland was killed during the battle of Gilead right after Cuthbert (I believe it' in book 5), since, the battle is described as hopeless, and the last thing Roland remembers from it, is basically him about to die in a blaze of glory, and no parts of Rolands further youth is never described after that flashback. I guess this is where he enters the dessert and starts searching.
So Roland is basically a ghost jumping in and out of peoples minds and timelines, walking in limbo looking for salvation - which me might find one day.
I 100% agree with everything you say lol! I’ve been thinking down those lines since finally reading them last spring. I wanted the ultimate adventure story and an ending that punched me in the face! I’ve never heard of a fate more tragic than that of Roland Deschain. You could even so far as to say it’s the most horrifying moment of all his writing. A surprise firework of doom that goes off and hurts your ears for the last few seconds as the curtain falls!
Roland is a part of the ka, a part of the Dark Tower, an asset of Gan to create balance to the universe. Where there is red, there must be white too. Roland is white, while the Crimson King is red. Jin yang. Good vs. Evil.
I was very satisfied with the ending, it made absolute perfect sense to me. I've heard other readers of the series complain about the ending, can any of those unsatisfied readers give an alternative ending that would have been better than King's? If so, please share ...
Dont pretend you didnt get choked up reading this! EPIC! Cause Ka is a wheel. He either is stuck doing this forever or his walking through the door was the last time. It shows he was doing things differently this time id like to think. Roland may be able to find peace this time. Also interesting to note that after the end of the book he put the poem, almost as though it ties into the end of the book and Roland really did finish in the poem.
Frosty, I gotta say man I've really enjoyed each of your reviews of the dark tower series. I've watched them all and after finishing each book of the series in turn I would watch your review of that book to get your take on it and just wanted to say great job man. I will take your advice and read through the other books with Dark Tower connections (then I will probably watch your review on each one). Long days and pleasant nights sai 👍.
I like to think that Roland NEEDS to keep the cycle going in order for existence to keep existing. Of course, he’ll never know that. We, the audience, do.
I always felt kinda hopeful with ending. As if him having the horn of eld was a sort of promise to roland and the reader, that while he loops, he dosen't do so without progress. Or at least without some chance of a decent ending a thousand years in the future
You know what you should have done? Right after you read the sentence about Roland opening the last door in the tower, you should have immediately cut to your first “Gunslinger” video where you begin reviewing the book. lol. Would have been so confusing.
Haha. After reading last line I immediately started rereading book 1
I agree this ending is perfect. I just finished the series. My only knowledge going into the series was that “the ending is trash” according to my homie. Buuut turns out it was the best ending of all time. In my opinion
great review. I come to watch your reviews each time I finish one. I'm feeling ambiguous about the ending. I hope Roland's "loop" was a glitch and would be fixed over time now that the Tet had fixed the beam.
Do you think the loop of Roland's quest only effects himself or does it include everything else (all the other worlds)?
P.S. Oy's death broke my heart. Loyal thing protected his dihn till' his death. "Oland."
I was always under the impression that the loop was basically a hard reset and it reset everything back to where it was at the beginning of the Gunslinger. I'm also under the impression that the Tower is trying to teach Roland a lesson about obsession and addiction and that it's perfectly fine for Roland to actually quit his quest before the Tower. But since Roland has no imagination he just keeps doing the same things over and over.
Thanks for the watch.
+FrostyKnives13 man that's a such a neat theory. I do agree Roland's somewhat obsessed over the tower, but all this time I've always perceived his quest as just and necessary, that I only felt sorry for all the deaths that surrounds him, and didn't think twice about his decisions.
After reading your theory, I remember there was this one occasion in which Roland meets the red king's administer of state who told Roland now with the beam saved and red King trapped you can go back forget about the tower, I just feel it's so ironic that Roland saw right through his plan of killing him with the snakes and went on. If the beam child would have had send a dream to tell Roland to give up the quest mayhap Roland wouldve gone off to the alternative new York with Susanna, Patrick and oy.
***** That's exactly what did man, (I mean listening to audiobook.) And I couldn't agree more with you on the picking up nuances part. Upon the first reading of book 1 I was very curious why Jake Chambers said there was somebody else at the way station as him and Roland were leaving, then the secret revealed that Father Callahan and the man in black were palavering.
Stephen King does a great job at not spoiling major plot twists all in one book.
I strongly believe Roland IS the TOWER
Maybe Roland got it right the first time, maybe nothing could stop the tower from falling. The only thing that could stop the tower from falling was to set time on a loop for all eternity and Roland choose that the first time to save all the universe and all the other dimensions.
As a fellow Dark Tower aficionado, you need to know this. He picks up the Arthur Eld's HORN this time, the one he left at Jericho hill before. That's what he needed to end the cycle. (Page 114 in my copy of Dark Tower V)
-----------------------------------------------
Cuthbert raises the horn to his bloody lips and blows a great blast- the final blast, for when it drops from
his fingers a minute later (or perhaps it's five, or ten; time has no meaning in that final battle), Roland will
let it lie in the dust. In his grief and bloodlust he will forget all about Eld's Horn
Then at the end of Book VII
-----------------------------------------------
He shifted his gunna from one shoulder to the other, then
touched the horn that rode on his belt behind the gun on his
right hip. The ancient brass horn had once been blown by
Arthur Eld himself, or so the story did say. Roland had given it
to Cuthbert Allgood at Jericho Hill, and when Cuthbert fell,
Roland had paused just long enough to pick it up again, knocking the deathdust of that place from its throat.
This is your sigul, whispered the fading voice that bore with
it the dusk-sweet scent of roses, the scent of home on a summer
evening-O lost!-a stone, a rose, an unfound door; a stone,
a rose, a door.
This is your promise that things may be different, Roland-that
there may yet be rest. Even salvation.
The start of the video reminds me of the ending of Myst when Atrus looks at you and acting in a similar manner says "Oh you're still here..." XD
I like to think that when the after the oracle
Roland grabs the horn of Eld and decided that the line of Eld need not be risked and he and Jake wait
He trains Jake loves him like his son and through Ka they destroy the breakers and LOS and dies on the way and Jakes does what Roland could never do
“And Jake places his fathers guns at the foot of the Dark Tower and moves on and lived happily ever after for the rest of his days”
It's been a decade...still remember the end
omg i love this ending i agree only ending which could have been and i still get chills as u read the ending just amazing im getting my firs darktower tattoo this weekend i say first bcoz im sure im goin to add more to it nd i really want to get a line out of the ending and im soòoo excited been wanting this tat for a long time nd wanting to make sure i get this tat done before this movie comes out nd i am really worries about this movie its like my baby nd i dnt want it to be portrayed or blown up like harry potter or twilights series idk im just protective oveer it!
I'm pretty protective about the movie too! Gladly it will be as great as the books
Brianna De La Cruz personally I agree with the thought of getting a tattoo about the dark tower series and I am going to get one also of the ka tet symbol on the inside of my wrist
+X Hydra +X Hydra yes! u should i have been consistently been wanting this tattoo for many yrs i think if it is a tattoo your mind keeps coming bak to then u should get it i have kept coming back to the same tattoo idea for yrs so i knew it was the right thing besides the darktower being my favorite story of all time and i found this story at an exteremely difficult time of my life i almost felt like i was meant to find it idk what i would of done without it and many of kings books but the dark tower especially . well congrats on the tattoo if u get it i dont think u will be sorry
MarkusVFG The movie sucked. They should have made the movies like Harry Potter style, but rated R. Could you imagine that? That would be amazing. Generate new Tower Junkies as well.
Hile sai-Brianna! That's cool that you have a Dark Tower tattoo, or a series of them, I'm hoping to get one too someday!!!!! As for the movie, it was awful, nothing like the books at all, I was very disappointed! :(
I know I'm going to get hammered for this but I'm sorry this series deserved better. IMHO this is the pre-eminent epic series in modern literature. I don't claim to have read every quality series that would fall into this category but to me it tops even Tolkein so I doubt there's much out there that can claim to be better than that. I've seen essentially the same scenario in books like The Stand and IT, he creates, not meaning to overuse the term but it fits, epic stories then isn't able to come up with a worthy ending. 1500 pages of amazing set up followed by 3 pages of mediocre ending. Or in the case of DT several thousand pages, not to mention 30 years, of set up and NO ending. You may now commence to ripping me and my opinion to shreds
+David Stevens You actually do make a couple of good points. The series really did piss a lot of readers off, especially those of us who have followed it since literally the beginning. If King has one flaw, and I'm sure he has a few, it's that he has always had trouble closing out the novels. He's great at the set up and action but almost always chokes on the ending. The Stand was that way, as was Under the Dome and most of his other long novels, although I did enjoy the ending to IT. That being said i think this was the ending that King always envisioned for the Tower, and my problems with the books stems from other things than the ending. I think his accident really scared the shit out of him and he somewhat rushed the last three novels of the series instead of taking his time. Still I can totally understand your point about the endings.
Don't know if you're a College Football Fan but I once said the CFB season was like a Stephen King novel, tremendous build up with disappointing and un-satisfying ending. This was on the Mike and Mike show on ESPN and apparently Mike Golic is a huge SK fan because he got very upset at my comment. The ending of the series is the one major adjustment I hope they make for the movies. If people watch 3 movies and a few seasons of TV, which at this point apparently is the plan, and that is how the last movie ends those that haven't read the books will rip out the seats and throw them at the screen.
I LOVE the ending to. I've never read a series of books that makes a complete circle like The Dark Dower does. It's pure genius.
The part I wasn't so thrilled with was him making himself a character in the book. It was a little weird to me, even for King.
I Loved the ending. I think it could of had more but you can also make up whatever you want in your mind. He told a good story, you bought it and SK got richer. Whaaaa.
David Stevens You thought
This ending is PERFECT
i wish I was as happy with the ending as you were. I finished the final book about ten years ago and the main thing I remember is that I thought the loop ending was a cop out.
Reading the series, you can tell the old King from the new King.
It may be a loop but there is a difference between the end and the beginning.
At the end, after the tower Roland has his horn which in the story (first time) the horn was lost in a battle.
So there is a difference each time the cycle begins.
I agree with ya with the ending. It was perfect I enjoyed the sence of "hope" the horn of eld give us. maybe roland will not let jake fall instead of chasing the man in black. maybe he wont get lost in palver with the man in balck and he wont be so old. Maybe he will keep his fingers. maybe..........
He probably gets the horn in all the other times to
Yeah, when I read it it seemed like it was similar to Groundhog day script that essentially he has to do it perfectly for it to end.
That's a good assessment, I was thinking Roland began turning a new leaf with the ka-tet and the characters. That the whole point was for him to regain a sense of humanity and love to move on with life in mid-world.
I don't believe Roland is doomed to forever repeat the same loop, as he begins the next journey with a key item that he hadn't possessed in his previous one. He now has the Horn of Arthur Eld, which he was supposed to blow before entering the Tower.
The difference this time is that he has the horn. That may change this outcome.
Time is a flat circle...
I think people get mad because it’s hard to wrangle with the fact that the fight never ends. It’s harder to admit you have to live by the code, in perpetuity, til the rheumatiz is unbearable, til the past is yours alone and the names you faintly remember are fully forgotten to time because you were the last to know them.
It’s a lot harder to walk forward with that nagging knowing that it’s a wheel, and you’re on it, but the carrot out of reach is always going to be exactly that.
In Roland’s case, I always found that the idea of “the last time around” was perfect. How does the embodiment of the hero stop the embodiment of the villain? It has to keep fighting, as long as the villain does. And with an extra-dimensional “it” not bound by time or age, what else can Roland do?
Corny as it might be, the Doctor Strange movie hit it on the head with the trope of a (spoilers for years old film) time loop trap. If the villain is always trapped to repeat this sequence, so is the hero, but everything else keeps on as if nothing happened.
Of course, you could dive down a rabbit hole with quantum theory of what that implies for all the others when’s akin to a “go then, there are other worlds”, but Roland has already lost it all. So much so, that losing again isn’t the same pain anymore.
I don’t think it could have ended in any other way.
I love this ending and what I found at the tower. Anyone who says otherwise is as shallow as a paper plate.
Do you know what Hell is? It is repetition!
You missed some other details. Roland also had found Elds horn on his belt, back in the Mohain and the fact that the tower said he can still redeem himself.
I enjoyed your reading, we are well met
Whoa. That's interesting.
Thank you..
This isn't a punishment. It is the Towers last gasp and best chance of surviving. He replays the loop each time to get closer in succeeding.
What I want to know is... When he goes back, does that mean that everyone who died is alive again? Will he make the exact same journey with the same people? Or is it like... In each iteration, he still makes it there, but by using different paths, different people?
Because, if the answer is that he does it exactly the same way, for me it takes all happiness out of the ending for Susana, Eddie and Jake. Why are they also doomed to an eternal time loop?
But also... Why are the bad guys brought back?
What is the tower's intention in being constantly at risk of falling?
What if an iteration of Roland should fail?
I really feel like the Horn of Eld should have been more incorporated into the series, given that the ending suggests that Roland having it on his next time around might make a difference. I read the original version of Book One, which did not include it at all, unlike the revised version. Instead it just comes out of nowhere but is super duper important. That's bad.
Your gurarantee did not hold up. I loved it.
No mention of the Horn of Eld...
The reason the saga, and its "ending", is so fucking perfect: is that it is an open-ended conclusion; made whole only by the reader's imagination. Lady or the tiger? Does the true end of this new quest end in that same desert or does Roland save Jake from falling this time and throw a stick in the spoke known as the wheel of Ka?
100% agree. Horn of Eld = Perfect Ending.
Until he does it right
I liked the story and I am alright with the ending, though I would have liked to know what would happen and what he would find when the loop finally ends and Roland reaches the top. I feel like that has been avoided.
Also not sure about the way the problem of the crimson king was resolved (undrawing seemed a bit easy and convenient?)
And why did Modred not use his mental powers on Roland in the end like he did with the Man in Black?
Mordred was weak and dying because he has eaten dandelo's poisoned horse. That was his last chance to attack. If he had attacked before susannah leave roland, she would have killed him .
Ps: sorry for my English. I did the best i could.
your English is fine
Also why didn't the Crimson King just jump off the balcony?
Not sure about that, but i mean there was written anywhere that the tower is not a part of any world(or so). So maybe therefore the Crimson King could not jump off the balcony.
Yeah Crimson King fight seemed a little phoned in and too easy. Wolves of Calla fight is way better even tho the absurd Harry Potter references started to destroy the story for me.
Roland has made his journey as many times as his journey has been read, and still counting...
Love this series
It wasn’t clear to me; I’ll have to go back and check the book. Were Roland’s missing fingers and toe restored upon passing through the door? Or are his wounds from his previous quest(s) simply added to the list?
And the horns reality was comforting.
I teared up at the end as katet ended
The quest for the tower is his hell. Roland is in hell , he can change his path but the destination is the same .
SPOILER
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Well, in this go, he has the Horn of Eld, and things must be different then, simply because that exists. I think different, that Ka is trying to find the best path for things, to be healed completely, entirely and through looping the Gunslinger, each time perhaps with something different, something new, something old, or what not - maybe that is the meaning? The Horn of Eld is a huge object, as powerful as his guns, I feel. With it in his arsenal this time, things must be different, they will be. That is how I took it - with hope. The hope the Horn brings. If you read this, I say thankya. Long days and pleasant nights, fellow readers of the Dark Tower.
This ending explains a lot. As dreadful as it is. The big one is Roland's unnaturally long life. Every time he saves the tower he goes back, and the world moves on a little more. So many narrow margins where it all could and sometimes did go wrong. My hypothesis is that he has to reach the tower with the horn and both guns, and his whole ka-tet in tow.
Remember how the second gun aged ages when Susanna went through the door? I suspect that aged and weathered, damaged piece of hardware returned to it's end condition. The condition it will be in when Roland finally gets the combination right. There's no reason for it to so dramatically age otherwise. It's not a plot device anymore, as it was removed from the loop Roland is trapped in.
And the tower is not an end to things but rather the beginning. Gan spun creation from his navel, and everything spins out from the tower. Gan's own form on this mortal plane.
I've always wondered at what point time's curse could have been lifted.
But each time Roland do it better. At the beggining of the "next time" Roland has the Cutbert's Horn with him, that was taken at the Jericho's Hill battle so, and this is my guess, if Roland is capable to do his quest better each time, with more empathy, maybe choosing Jake instead the man in black in the tunnels crossroad, Roland could reach the tower accompanied with his friends and sooner or later, he could save mid world even when he was a child at Mejis barony.
If Roland is in a loop would that mean in turn everyone else is in the loop with him like Jake, Eddie, Randal, Patrick ect.
Carter Dahl that would be my thought as well, although Roland may be the only one aware of the loop
I made it all the way to 60% through wolves of the calla and then stopped and just watched your videos haha. Great ending though, makes me appreciate the series more knowing that's how it ends
Read em
I like what I found in the tower I love this ending
Should i read the Dark tower books in this order?
1.Gunslinger
2. Drawing of the 3
3.The Wastle lands
4.Wizard And Glass
5. Wind through the keyhole
6. Wolves Of The Calla
7 Songs of susannah
8. Dark tower
Should i read it in that order or different order?
Yes
Great reviews mate,
King's endings often seem rushed and a bit of a let down and I thought the same of this with the anticlimax of the Crimson King battle and the predictable ending being a loop (this was hinted at countless times during the series). I did however find very interesting the addition of the Horn of the Eld to beg the question is it really a loop or is this a lesson that Roland does not seem to learn over the past 19 attempts, perhaps with the horn the 20th time will be different...
I still found the ending of IT to be the biggest let down by King even though it is my favorite King novel.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
This video is awesome
Groundhog day. I love the ending.
Strange, I remember this book, a bit. The ending I remember is, Roland starts again, but the next world is a little worse.
Are you going to make more book reviews? Looking forward to your next title.
ka is a fucking wheel. no wonder they sometimes just knew what to do
personalized flesh tower
How many times has he traveled the loop?. Easy, as many as the books has been read. How many time could it still happen?. possibly unlimited as long as the books excist.
And mans purgatory
Great ending
you didn't mention that king was in the tower as Gan....am I of the alternate universe? I dream of breaking, lifting the veil......all things serve the path of the beam
So I just sat thru all of these, and thank you for that.
I’d like to see a clear timeline one day of all the king books lined up with their ties, maybe overall lore.
That being said this ending wasn’t great in terms of being thought out. If this is a loop are there different people every time? If so where are the other dark tower books from another writer?
If not, why wouldn’t traveling back to save king each time cause multiple versions of the same people there at once? Like... wouldn’t the time travelers see alternate versions of themselves from other loops tracking to the same time?
Are you thinking of it in terms of time continuing as per normal when in fact it could have actually 'reset'/rewinded (remember the watch?). Ka is a wheel, so I think linear interpretations are bound to cause confusions like these.
@@pjn2001 Yeah, so this is saying this is some Matrix level Dr Strange like space time roll back every time the gun slinger repeats his loop?
@@DaddyDizz716 Something like that yes.
Isnt the tower taking the risk of being destroyed every time the loop starts again? Or will it always be saved as ka is a wheel?
My interpretation is that it will eventually be destroyed by the Horn of Eld.
At 5:32 i wondered what he had for dinner... was he bound to experience it over & over? Like the wheel of Ka?
I thought this time he went through the door he had the horn
FrostyKnives13
Hey just wondering how many pages is that first edition?
What I wonder is what damned Roland in the first place?
Come on man... He has the horn of eld this time...
I didn’t like the ending. I loved it.