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Spoilers aplenty~ where are you?

edited September 2004 in Dark Tower
Bob and i are both on pg 365. I'm not going to say what happens until i know others are at the same-ish spot.



:)Where are you?
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Comments

  • I'm roughly in the same spot.
  • so i stayed up all freakin night and im now vey close to the end.

    *spolier*















    Holy Crap! I cried so very much almost contiuously, but there were a few parts especially with tassenbaum, where i was also giggling
  • Irene's a real trip, isn't she? Great character.
  • I agree.



    I also stayed up all night reading. Less than a hundred pages to go!
  • Finally finished around 5:30 CMT
  • Yes, I rene totally kicked butt. I am extremely disappointed Jack was not involved however i did catch a few references made towrds him. Is the Stuttering bill robot supposed to mean more than what i gleened?



    I also did like the ending. Though it wan't as much 'happy ever after' as what i wanted it to be.(i'm a softie at heart)

    And what i am surprised at is Jericho Hill wa not done in more detail! we still don't know what specifically happened there. Perhaps another book??
  • Ford_Prefect wrote: Is the Stuttering bill robot supposed to mean more than what i gleened?


    Maybe. King doesn't come down firmly on one side or the other in this case, but given his association with the creature who looked briefly like a clown...
  • Spoilers, of course....























    I thought that the Stuttering Bill reference was an interesting one, though I don't know what to make of it.



    Just like I thought it was very interesting that the house in Maine was called Cara Laughs. Though, again, I don't know much of what to make of it.





    The ending... I don't know if I should feel good or bad about the fact that it was one of the many possible endings I had invisioned. As much as I would have liked to be completely surprised, there were enough surprises leading up to that end and the ending felt right.



    I never would have imagined that a single horn could hold such hope...



    A couple of questions, though they may not have answers (which won't really bother me, I don't think). Who was it, from Book V, that actually saved Pere from the Hitler Bros (is that the right name)? Everyone just seemed to assume it was Tower and his friend, but was it ever actually explained? How is Pat get there at the end? Was the prophecy of him saving the lives of two men (one who must not die) ever fulfilled? And, one last clearly only answerable with speculation... Is Roland the only one trapped in the loop, or is it all of them? In other words, when Roland reaches the beach again, will he draw Eddie and the rest, or a new ka-tet?



    I am still amazed that it is done.
  • Assumption police be on guard.........

    okay patrick saving... perhaps when he erased Sussanahs boil(?) that was also considered a save. it was already stated that it was a blood tumour(probably cancer).

    I would also like to know more of how patrick got to dandelo's basement and the travels in between. What happened to his mother??

    and what happened to him after.

    Now paradox. If roland had to start agagin, they ALL had to start again. ka-tet. fate intertwined. the horn thing is somewhat confusing to me, because the jericho hill incident was never described enough for me.
  • I am leaning towards the idea that Roland is the only one that starts again. Not all worlds. Just my opinion, though.



    I was a bit surprised that there wasn't more on Jericho Hill, but I am okay with it. Knowing that it was a big battle, Cuthburt and Roland were there at the end, Cuthburt died, droped the horn and Roland didn't pick it up, and Roland hit amongst the dead bodies is enough information for me.



    Sorry if that was a very poorly written sentence.
  • I believe they've all been through it before, many times, and will go through it again untold more times. I think this accounts for the sense of deja vu the others experience and how they acquire new skills so quickly -- throwing Orizas, shooting, riding horses. Eddie comments on this when he rides from their camp to Calla Bryn Sturgis.
  • Interesting point... and one I had not yet considered...



    Of course, I haven't been thinking about this quite as long as you have :)
  • Okay, new thoughts keep jumping into my head.



    If it is the whole ka-tet repeating everything, it is just the ka-tet or all worlds? In 'Keystone Earth' time always runs forward. Can the tower change that? Everytime they go through the loop, is it June 19, 1999 at the right time? So, everyone (us included, if we are the ones that are reading the books that the fictional King is writing) is in the loop?



    Also...



    Roland has been to the tower many times before. But, this time he begins again with the horn. Why? What did he do differently this time? Again, there may not be an answer, but that doesn't mean I can't think about the question...
  • Third post in a row...

    and will go through it again untold more times.


    So, you don't think that having the horn will make a difference the next time around?


  • this actually goes towards my theory of life....okay.......

    i believe say the first time eddie didnt make the key properly they lost Jake and the mission wasn't properly fulfullied so again....

    the next time pere callahan didnt give them an important piece of info so the quest was properly done and again....

    they keep going until ALL aspects have been fulfulllied to the 'right' way. Once Roland has learned to humble himself and to sacrifice himself instead of others perhapsit then will stop and go forward in 'real time' again.

    did that make sense??
  • Yeah, that idea makes sense and something similar has occurred to me. The only thing about it that makes me hesitate, even a little, is just the idea that in every loop Roland must still make it to the tower, since that is what sends him back to the start. So, the things that change from loop to loop can't be so big as to prevent that final outcome.



    And, on those lines, maybe it ends when Roland is able to resist the tower in the end. After all, once Pat took out the CK (and, really ever since they saved SK and stopped the breakers), the tower was safe and the beams were being restored. Roland didn't need to enter the tower for any reason other than for himself. Maybe that would be the ultimate sacrifice, to keep himself from his obsession in order to keep it safe.
  • newinside wrote: Third post in a row...





    So, you don't think that having the horn will make a difference the next time around?





    Yes, I think the horn is a sign, either a gift from ka as a reward for his growth or an indicator that he has progressed to a higher level of the Tower (in a kharmic sense). But I don't think it's a guarantee that the next time is the magic trip through. It's like Eddie and the key--whittling a little bit more each time until he reaches perfection. But what is perfection for Roland? I have some ideas about that, too, but it's just speculation on my part.
  • newinside wrote: Yeah, that idea makes sense and something similar has occurred to me. The only thing about it that makes me hesitate, even a little, is just the idea that in every loop Roland must still make it to the tower, since that is what sends him back to the start. So, the things that change from loop to loop can't be so big as to prevent that final outcome.



    And, on those lines, maybe it ends when Roland is able to resist the tower in the end. After all, once Pat took out the CK (and, really ever since they saved SK and stopped the breakers), the tower was safe and the beams were being restored. Roland didn't need to enter the tower for any reason other than for himself. Maybe that would be the ultimate sacrifice, to keep himself from his obsession in order to keep it safe.


    There you go! That's my idea, too. After King is safe and the Tower is safe, Roland should just go back to the Calla and live out his life with Rosie. His hubris, his assumption that he can understand the nature of creation...that's his tragic flaw, in my opinion.
  • heres a thinker... what if roland had died from the lobstossities venom/infection?

    i think that along the way roland has died several times and every time he does the loop begins again. Because of KA he HAS to fulfill the prophecy.



    *by th by guys.. i love these kinds of dicussions and i don't get nerly enough of them. So i thank-you. Not many people read anymore. Or read books of any consequence. :)
  • Bev_Vincent wrote:



    There you go! That's my idea, too. After King is safe and the Tower is safe, Roland should just go back to the Calla and live out his life with Rosie. His hubris, his assumption that he can understand the nature of creation...that's his tragic flaw, in my opinion.


    It is like I just got a gold star from the teacher. ;D
  • Ford_Prefect wrote: heres a thinker... what if roland had died from the lobstossities venom/infection?

    i think that along the way roland has died several times and every time he does the loop begins again. Because of KA he HAS to fulfill the prophecy.



    My feeling is that Roland has never failed to the extent that he didn't save the Tower or else everything would have come to an end.
  • he was always just slightly short........
  • newinside wrote: Yeah, that idea makes sense and something similar has occurred to me. The only thing about it that makes me hesitate, even a little, is just the idea that in every loop Roland must still make it to the tower, since that is what sends him back to the start. So, the things that change from loop to loop can't be so big as to prevent that final outcome.



    And, on those lines, maybe it ends when Roland is able to resist the tower in the end. After all, once Pat took out the CK (and, really ever since they saved SK and stopped the breakers), the tower was safe and the beams were being restored. Roland didn't need to enter the tower for any reason other than for himself. Maybe that would be the ultimate sacrifice, to keep himself from his obsession in order to keep it safe.


    Agrees with this line of thinking also. That the loop will end only when Roland can give the Tower up when it has already been saved.



    But...



    Could any of us being Roland, give the Tower up and walk away after losing so very much in his long life?



    When for him it has been the cause of everything?



    As with Susannah, had Roland asked, perhaps another door could have been opened by Patrick where Roland can one day step into a world with his friends.



    Maybe he will decide to do this one day.
  • Bev_Vincent wrote:



    Yes, I think the horn is a sign, either a gift from ka as a reward for his growth or an indicator that he has progressed to a higher level of the Tower (in a kharmic sense). But I don't think it's a guarantee that the next time is the magic trip through. It's like Eddie and the key--whittling a little bit more each time until he reaches perfection. But what is perfection for Roland? I have some ideas about that, too, but it's just speculation on my part.


    Perfection was ever a devious thing ;)



    I think you're right Bev, that this will all happen again until Roland learns to just accept some things and not try changing them.
  • Obviously, there are spoilers coming:













    I tend to think that to successfully get out of the loop, he needs to keep more of his ka-tet with him, and alive. Considering the Beam tells him that the Dark Tower is full of death because he himself has made it like that, if there is less death in his life, the dark tower should be, well, lighter. And the some of the final book's deaths are created with such flukes, (Roland's hip goes out, Pimli's drunken weave, the piece of glass) that it seems it wouldn't take much to save these major character's another time around. Get to the top of the tower with the gang all still together, then choose not to open the door at the top.

    On the other hand, maybe all he has to do is not let Jake fall under the mountains, just once, and he can live happily ever after.
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