The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (17 page)

T
he Dark Tower
was published three months after
Song of Susannah
, on September 21, 2004, Stephen King's birthday. It is dedicated to the Constant Readers who have listened to the Song of the Turtle as channeled by King.

The book covers an impressive amount of time and distance, both in Mid-World and in Keystone Earth. So many things happen that it's sometimes hard to believe they all took place in one book. It is also the most brutal book in the series. Several major characters don't make it to the end.

In brief, the novel relates the story of Jake and Father Callahan's battle at the Dixie Pig and Jake's return to Mid-World; the birth of Mordred Deschain and its aftermath in the Fedic Dogan; Eddie and Roland convincing John Cullum to help form Tet Corporation; Roland and Eddie's return to Mid-World; the showdown between Mordred and Walter o'Dim; the battle of Algul Siento; the trip to 1999 to save Stephen King; Roland's meeting with Tet Corporation; the harrowing passage under Castle Discordia; the long trek through the Badlands; the encounter at Le Casse Roi Russe; the long trek across Empathica; the encounter with Joe Collins; Susannah's return to Earth; the showdown between Roland and Mordred; the showdown with the Crimson King and what happens when Roland reaches the Dark Tower.

The battle at the Dixie Pig is mostly about Father Callahan's redemption. When Barlow challenged his faith in 'Salem's Lot, Callahan faltered. He's had a lot of time to consider his actions and their repercussions. Now that he is a member of Roland's
ka-tet
, he is prepared to retake that test. Armed with Jake's Ruger and the scrimshaw turtle, he confronts a room full of low men and vampires. His life is disposable by now—he's already died once. Callahan is to serve as a distraction so Jake can escape—as he and Jake learn through the voices of Roland and Eddie—and he relishes the role.

This time, when challenged to throw away his cross, Callahan is prepared. He won't throw it away, but he does put it away. His faith is renewed and the power of the White runs through him. When the smell of blood draws the vampires, he shoots himself, satisfied that he has done his job and fulfilled his duty. Jake slips into the kitchen and through a secret door in the pantry into a tunnel that runs beneath the restaurant, past a mind-trap, to a North Central Positronics door to the Fedic Dogan, where he and Oy are reunited with Susannah.

Roland and Eddie need a way to get the title to the vacant lot to Moses Carver. Aaron Deepneau is too susceptible to Calvin Tower's wishy-washy behavior. Their go-to guy is John Cullum, who didn't leave town like he was supposed to and is ready to answer their call. He believes their story and takes Aunt Talitha's cross with an embedded message containing a secret Susannah revealed to Eddie to convince Moses Carver to join up. The newly established Tet Corporation, financed by Holmes Dental's assets, will have three purposes: protect King, guard the rose in the vacant lot, and thwart North Central Positronics in every way possible. Eddie and Roland travel to the Fedic door beneath the Dixie Pig via a magic door that opened up over Kezar Lake near Stephen King's house, kill the posse that followed Jake, and reunite with Susannah, Jake and Oy, the first time they've all been together since the battle in Calla Bryn Sturgis.

Susannah has her own story to tell. No one—not even Richard Sayre—is prepared for the creature that Mia births in the Fedic Dogan. Moments after Mordred is born, he turns into a were-spider and sucks the life out of his mother. Susannah is sufficiently startled that she misses the opportunity to kill the creature, though she does wound it. She kills almost everyone else in the Dogan, including Sayre. She also blinds the Asimov robot, Nigel the Domestic, who reminds her of Andy, though Nigel is mostly harmless.

Mordred gets away, though he can stay in spider form for only a short period because of the amount of energy it requires. As a human, though, he's only a baby, so he forces Nigel to bring him food. Walter o'Dim shows up in the Dogan's control room, intending to kill Mordred and take his foot, which bears the mark of the Eld that provides access to the Dark Tower. Throughout his long existence, Walter has underestimated people—especially Roland—but none so much as he underestimates the babe in diapers, who literally has Walter for lunch.

The
ka-tet
turns their attention to freeing the Breakers, which will save the Dark Tower. They pass through the same failing scientific door the Wolves
used to raid the Callas and end up in Thunderclap Station, where a trio of Breakers led by Ted Brautigan waits. These renegades now know what they are breaking at the prison camp, Algul Siento, and they've decided to assist the
ka-tet
in ending this destructive work. They also suspect that the Calla raids had something to do with them.

One member of the trio is Roland's old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, whose special talent is creating doorways—another way of describing teleportation. Ted, Dinky Earnshaw and Sheemie used this power to amass an arsenal in a cave outside Algul Siento and explain the compound's security features. It's up to Roland to come up with a plan of attack.

Their time line is complicated by one fact Ted reveals:
ka
is fed up with Stephen King because he has decided to stop working on Roland's story. The
Ka
of Nineteen and the
Ka
of Ninety-nine will collide on a country road in western Maine. They have to save the Beams first, but as soon as that's done they have to get to Maine in time to save King. Roland's aches aren't from arthritis—they're sympathetic pains that mirror the injuries King will suffer in a fatal accident.

The battle of Algul Siento—and the lead-up to it—forms the novel's centerpiece. The battle—like most—is over in minutes, but it has a profound effect on everything that comes after. The
ka-tet
had a sense that something bad was going to happen to their tight-knit group and something does—the first of their core group ends up on the wrong end of a gun barrel. Though the battle is a success—the work of the Breakers is ended, the Beams are saved and can begin to renew themselves, and the prison camp is dismantled—the cost is high. Gran-pere Jaffords's prediction about Eddie Dean's fate was proved correct. Worse, it's not a quick death, but a long, drawn-out affair that delays Roland and Jake from their appointment with King.

Once they finally get away, thanks to Sheemie's talent, they find another helpful person in the East Stoneham General Store: Irene Tassenbaum. She knows how to get to Turtleback Lane, where King lives. Roland is determined to change
ka
, though he knows there will be a price. He intends to pay that price with his life—he won't sacrifice Jake again—but
ka
has other plans. They reach King just as a minivan is about to hit him. Roland attempts to fling himself in front of the oncoming vehicle, but his weak hip fails and Jake leaps into action. King is saved—though seriously injured (as he was in real life)—but Jake succumbs to his injuries while Roland is dealing with the van driver. Within a few hours, nearly half of Roland's
ka-tet
is killed.

Roland buries Jake, convinces King to return to his story, and gets Irene
to drive him to New York so he can take the door under the Dixie Pig back to Fedic, where Susannah should be waiting for him. Oy decides to come along, too, rather than perishing at Jake's grave. Irene is revitalized by her part in saving the world and does her best to console and comfort Roland in the two days it takes them to get to Manhattan.

Roland's first stop is 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, which Tet Corporation built to protect the rose and where they have their headquarters. Moses Carver, who is now one hundred, is the only surviving member of the Founding Fathers. Aaron Deepneau's cancer returned—though he lived a good many years longer than anyone might have expected—and John Cullum was shot, probably by an agent working for North Central Positronics. Marian Carver, Moses's daughter, is now the company's president. Roland learns about their work over the past two decades and is given information and several gifts. The most important of these is Aunt Talitha's cross, which he promised to lay before the Dark Tower. The least important is a copy of
Insomnia
, which he later gives to Irene Tassenbaum because he thinks it might contain too many mind-traps.

The people of Tet tell Roland that his job is done. He has saved the Beams and Stephen King. He need go no farther. If he does, he will be going beyond
ka
. They are shocked to discover that saving the Tower is only a means to an end for Roland. If the Tower fell, he couldn't confront whoever is at the top. He wants that entity to undo all the harm that has befallen Mid-World—and all of the terrible things Roland has had to do during his quest.

Roland and Oy rejoin Susannah in Fedic. She tells him that Sheemie died on the train from Algul Siento from an infection, and how a handful of Breakers, including Ted and Dinky, went on toward the Callas in hopes of finding a way back home. While gathering provisions for the continuation of their journey, they find two paintings bearing the signature of Patrick Danville, someone the Calvin researchers who work for Tet Corporation advised he should look out for. One of the paintings depicts the Dark Tower from the perspective of someone who must have seen it.

They outrun a creature from the abyss in the dark passage under Castle Discordia and emerge on the Badlands leading to Le Casse Roi Russe. They have plenty of food and water but little warm clothing, so they are miserably cold as they trudge down the rutted road. When they reach the Crimson King's castle, they encounter another trap: the promise of food and warm garments. This ruse is meant to draw them across the dead-line the Crimson King set around the castle before he killed his staff and fled for the Tower.
Three men resembling Stephen King—presenting themselves as King's id, ego and superego—tell Roland and Susannah of the last days the Crimson King spent here and try to encourage Roland to give up his mission. If he goes on, he runs the risk that the Crimson King will capture him and use his weapons to regain access to the Tower, undoing everything Roland has accomplished.

Roland leaves Rando Thoughtful, the Crimson King's former minister of state, behind in the hopes that he will be able to lure Mordred into the same trap or warn him off. Mordred is terribly hungry, but he is too smart to be tricked and too angry to be diverted from his mission. He dines on Thoughtful and continues his pursuit.

The Badlands give way to the White Lands of Empathica in the heart of winter. Roland and Susannah spend a few days killing deer and preparing the meat for meals and the hides for clothing. Their days of discomfort are over. Susannah even makes Roland snowshoes to speed up their journey. She's pleased to contribute in this way, even though she's dreaming of Eddie and uncertain that she'll make it to the Tower.

They might have passed by the occupied house on Odd's Lane except Roland felt duty bound to warn the resident about Mordred. Joe Collins was waiting outside to greet them anyway, so they decide to accept his hospitality. He claims he was a stand-up comic from America who was badly beaten after one of his performances and woke up in a deserted town in Mid-World nearly two decades ago. He seems old and harmless—and is of particular interest to Roland because he has a Polaroid photograph of the Dark Tower pinned to his wall—but is in fact Dandelo, someone Eddie and Jake tried to warn Roland about: a vampire who feeds on emotions rather than blood. Roland is caught in Dandelo's trap, but Susannah comes to the rescue, with the help of Stephen King, who passes her a couple of overt clues about their predicament, including a photocopy of the Browning poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.”

In the basement, they find the artist, Patrick Danville, a severely damaged man of indeterminate age who has been Dandelo's victim for untold years. Dandelo fed him just enough to keep him alive and stole his emotions time and time again. He also stole Patrick's tongue.

With assistance from Stuttering Bill, a friendly Asimov robot, Roland, Susannah, Oy and Patrick set off down Tower Road. Susannah is still dreaming of Eddie but unable to interpret his message. She finally realizes that Patrick is the solution to her dilemma. When he draws, he changes reality.
Dandelo realized this and removed the erasers from his pencils to prevent him from undoing reality. After he successfully deletes the cancerous sore from Susannah's face—caused by exposure to the toxic atmosphere of the Badlands—she gets him to re-create the Unfound Door so she can go to Central Park and join Eddie. She knows it won't be her Eddie, nor will it be the Keystone World, but it will be better than what might lie ahead for her if she stays with Roland.

The version of Eddie she meets has a brother, but it isn't the great sage and eminent junkie Henry Dean, but rather Jake, and their last name is Toren. Eddie and Jake have been dreaming of her, too, and Eddie is already in love with her. They will join up with Tet Corporation and live long and mostly happy lives together.