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Dark Tower 7 *Spoiler's Present*
This is your final warning
Have a nice Day:)
- R.F.
*** My thoughts - Part I ***
Firstly, let me say that the book couldn't have been any different in its ending. I always expected the last line (DT7) to be the first line (DT1) - I did envision that Roland would chase the Man in Black through the Tower, which we know didn't happen because of Flagg/Walter's demise so early in the book at the hands of Mordred.
I think the most haunting line in any book I have ever read is the one that follows:
The door closed gently behind him.
So final, so tragic, so eternal...
I felt Roland's shock at what he saw at the top of the Tower and his agony as he screams against Gan an Ka, which both ignored (or were predestined to send him through the door) him.
It was all the more startling what happened as he remembered how many times he had faced that door before which bore his own name, and how many other countless times would he face it too...?
We end the book seeing him following the Man in Black as he fled across the desert. But what intrigues me is like Roland understood at the end also: why did the loop start in the desert and not at the beginning of his life? his quest never started in the desert, but it started long before then in Gilead, and the only thing I can think of so far, is that up to this point everything he has down in his life served his spiritual Ka correctly. It's only when he is in the desert that the loop of mistakes that always brings him to the same spot begins. That's my thinking on that anyway.
Only Ka will know whether he succeeds this time around and I think in our hearts and minds we have begun the journey with him again across the landscapes of imagination, hoping for a different outcome for his life. Perhaps by imagining things for him we can change his outcome. As there are many ways of beginning again, there are also many minds having a different view of how things turn out for him after DT7...apologies if that rambled abit.
Comments
Something on the whole loop theory struck me as interesting also, as regarding The Crimson King. At the end when Patrick erased CK, all except for the eyes - that is what the sigul of the CK has always been, the scarlet eye, imposed so, because they are all that remain on the Tower balcony. I am not sure how a set of eyes fits into things, but it seems, Patrick's erasing of the CK has introduced the sigul for the CK.
One thing I really had to get to grips with was Flagg dying at the hands of Mordred - which so shocked and astounded me that I had to go away from the book for awhile and then come back to it. This is my favourite character except for Roland and the ka-tet; and it was just so hard reading of his demise.
Mind you that ego he has was always going to be his own undoing...so perhaps it was fitting he died in the story of the Dark Tower which is a fitting resting place for him.
My other shocks as am sure everyone else's were when Eddie died in Blue Heaven!
The other shock was Jake dying by being hit by the Bryan Smith van, whilst saving King!
After these much loved characters died, it was only a matter of time for Susannah - I was really glad to see that she lived
There are alot more things I could talk about which are at the back of my mind, but I'll wait till everyone joins us and we can throw back theories and such as to why things happened.
My final thought for this book is that "DT7 King" was made to write the entire series by Roland, after his life had been saved and something tells me that "DT7 King" might be the reason that Roland exists within the infinity loop!
King was pissed at Roland and Roland was pissed at King. What if King wrote in at the end that Roland would reach his precious Tower - though King might not want to write it - (He let it fall by the wayside once, I see no reason why it can't happen again.) and what if King in an act of maliciousness he knows/not knows that he possesses decides it might be a convenient way to remove Roland from his life by placing him in the Infinity Loop!
It could be like, well okay my friend, you have forced me to write this series for you, so you can reach your damn Tower - and why don't we see if I can't add a little something for you at the room at the top.
Just a thought...
This was an excllent book, often dark and sad, but one which ended in a way that I liked, though not at the loss and emotions that Roland felt at the end...
May he one day find the peace he so desires...
As to why Roland starts over at the desert it is the one point in his life where his faculties are at their lowest. As a gunslinger his sense of himself and his surroundings have been honed to be constantly on. By DT7 we find out he can even track time in his head!
In the desert, he has minimal sensory input, and he is reduced to one train of thought - pursuing the Dark Man.
His senses are at their weakest and most susceptible. He is a living thinny, in essence. This point in his life is the optimum moment to restart.
Also, there is the allusion to Jesus going in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil to consider as well.
RF's ego here is matched only by that from the last half of The Stand when everything he has built starts to fall apart and he still couldn't see the big picture. The only difference is, this time the danger he is facing is not just a sicko pyromaniac with an A-bomb, but a bonafide half demon not unlike himself. He should have known better and prepare an escape hatch beforehand.
But like sai King said, the small consolation is he wouldn't make another mistake again. Heh heh.
I'd kept myself from trying to guess what was at the top of the Tower, knowing that I couldn't come close. (Before "Wolves" came out, I was thinking it would be King at the top of the Tower, but he wove himself into the story in a much more interesting way.)
I loved, loved, LOVED the ending. I mean...how perfect. When the door opened, and Roland realized what was behind it and screamed "Have mercy!" you could FEEL the despair jumping off the page. The realization that he'd done it all before...and would do it all again...
Knowing that this time, he has the Horn of Eld....maybe that will be the detail that leads him to get it right this time...
So much throughout this book. I laughed out loud when Irene was trying to drive Roland and Jake around, and jerked the car causing turkey and "a word he'd learned from Eddie" to fly out of Oy's mouth. "Did that creature just say f**k?" had me howling.
The fall of the ka-tet, one after the other. Eddie. Jake. Oy. Susannah making it out alive...
The book had all of King's trademarks - creepy moments, horrible monsters, wonderful characters, surprises.
What a great, fitting, perfect way to end the series. I can't wait to see what he's got in store next.
Blu
I have been thinking about this. Are we sure Susannah made it out alive? I was wondering if maybe the world she went to really is 'the clearing at the end of the path.' In other words, maybe that is heaven, wtih the ka-tet as a family. The CK did say she died when she went through the door (of course, I realize that the CK is not exactly what we would call trustworthy) and there was one point that it said that we could expect Oy to show up as a dog shortly after she did, and of course shortly after she went through the door Oy died.
Anyway. Just a thought.
Personally I like the idea that Susannah had died after going through that door and the epilogue was her version of heaven. Make the sacrifices of each of the ka-tet members seem more powerful.
And what do ya think of ol Dandelo of Odd Lane ;D
Seem like a cousin of one shapeshifting clown we know so well.
Of course, Heaven is life eternal, so...
Yeah, I like it.
Blu
Yeah, there is clearly a connection there, with Stuttering Bill and there was a reference to him looking like a psychotic clown.
The only problem is with how easily Susannah killed Dandelo. Would It have been taken out by a shot like that? Of course, Roland's guns are normal guns...
Is there anything that isn't discussed there?
I was a bit surprised to see that many people venting about problems with the ending and stuff. To each his own, I guess.
That's pretty much how I saw it too, with Eddie dreaming of Susannah alot like Jake and Roland dreamed of each other, slowly becoming insane until they meet again.
But like Bev said the ending is open to interpetation and each to his own in what one believes
On the topic of the Tower and what Roland sees as he entered it, I did my own (private and for personal use) story about what might happen should he come back along this way millenia later and how things change in subtle differences for him.
It's abit rough and a few things need changing or enhancing and it introduces us to exactly how the Man in Black became the Man in Black
I wouldn't mind showing people it, but I don't think I am allowed to because of legal copyright reasons...unless anyone knows differently?
BTW - loved the bit where Mrs Tessenbaum says, "Did that creature just say f**k?"
Brilliant ;D
Does this mean no leeway on creative answers?
For Ka was always merciless...
Also somewhat arbitrary...
I liked the Tassenbaum/Oy part a lot, too. Made me laugh out loud!
That and Roland's mayo remark to Eddie were priceless.
Did you expect Flagg to go so quickly?
Did you expect Eddie and Jake to die?
Did you expect the journey to start again at the top of the Tower, or did you think something else would happen?
For me there was a point as the ka-tet gathered around Eddie's bedside where I nearly put the book down, not wanting to continue the journey because of what happened to Eddie.
Because I then realised, that if Eddie can die then any of them can, and the biggest heartbreak for me would have been Roland dying.
But the Dark Tower draws all things towards it, and it drew me back along the Path of the Beam...
A really good book, but very sad in places too.
When I read that I was like, OMG did he just say that!
lmao
I can answer all your "Did you expect" questions easily, as I had no expectations. I was ready for whatever King delivered.
He delivered a classic story
The only thing I wasn't surprised about really was Callahan's death in the Dixie Pig - that seemed preordained.
It's been along time since an author delivered such shocks in a single book, but King did an excellent job, and he did himself justice for writing the tale as it was written
This is by no means a crowd pleaser, if you want that go read a Danielle Steel or a Sidney Sheldon. And I guess most of the fans in other discussion forums over the internet who are peeved at the ending and calling it a cop out are those who expect their story wrapped up nicely and s-p-o-o-nfed to them.
The ending is by no means a cop out. Sai King has been writing stories for more than 30 years, don't you think he would have known what kind of ending would please the majority of DT fans? But he bravely chose not to guide the story towards that conventional path but instead let the story guide him to this more fitting ending. If the ending have been a nicely wrapped up bundle with Roland gaining the Tower and meeting up again with Susan and living happily ever after etc etc, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A COPOUT
For me that is the only way and the best way to have ended, minding all the sad things that happened it was still a great book, and the fact that King can make you cry or laugh aloud at a certain scene speaks volumes about his ability as a writer to touch the reader's heart, and he knew how he wanted it to end, and that's how it ended, and for those that feel, this wasn't covered or that wasn't covered...maybe it will be explained or maybe it won't.
The world could have moved on, and Roland simply forgot alot of things as he approached the Tower. Maybe the forgetting is the beginning of his ascendancy onto the next level of the Tower, and instead of carrying around excess baggage emotionally, it all drains away to be replaced by a new beginning and new people.
His past could simply have been made up by the writer that created the Gunslinger also...as someone else mentioned.
The hypotheses is as endless as the imagination of the reader.
I don't think he copped out at all. This was really the ending I'ved expected. Somewhere on another board we had this discussion and I said I thought it would end with the same line it started with.
He made me laugh, he made me cry. He made me remember why I always say he is my favorite author and that I love the Dark Tower books.
I don't think he could have ended it in any other way.
This way we can all have our differing conclusions.
For me the next time Roland makes it to the end of the Dark Tower he will blow the horn of Eld and all will be right in the world.
One question? Where the heck did Jack Sawyer go? I kept thinking he would show up somewhere in the last book.