My theory about DT ending

****** SPOILERS ********
****** SPOILERS ********
****** SPOILERS ********

Stop right there if you haven't read DT VII yet. I'm going to freely
discuss the ending of the entire DT series in this post so if you
haven't read it then STOP and don't read any further.

Scroll down otherwise....

































After more than 15 years of reading the Dark Tower books, I finally had
time to finish reading it. I had to delay reading the final book
because of demands on my time, but I finally reached the ending
tonight.

I have to say that, at first, I was a little disappointed at the idea
that Roland would simply emerge through the top of the Tower back to
the start of his quest, but the more I considered it in context, the
more I started to understand what I was really witnessing and the more
I am stunned by the awesome scale of it. I don't know if King meant it
the way I'm taking it, but I hope so. I can't think of any other
interpretation that either doesn't make sense or is a massive
disappointment.

The context explains the ending--all the parallel worlds, all similar,
but slightly different, slightly different histories, characters,
futures, settings, cities, etc. At the end, Roland didn't emerge into
the beginning of the same place and time when we first met him in book
I, but rather a new world, a parallel place. He's no longer the Roland
we knew, but a slightly different one, a new similiar Roland for this
new similar world where the beams are under attack and need to be
saved. We haven't been here before. We've seen something similar.

There is no room at the top of the tower. That door leads into the next
world.

Roland's quest stretches beyond merely one world, but across all of
them. For each of them, he must become Roland again retrace this quest,
draw others from parallel worlds to help him (he will never draw Jake,
Eddie and Sussanah again, but others), defeat the horrors of these
other worlds, take down the representation of the Crimson King and his
minions in those worlds, protect any "creators" attached to these
worlds, remove the threats to the beams, and must climb the tower at
the end to shed his old self and be reborn into the next iteration of
his persona.

In a sense, the Dark Tower is basically a stairway into other worlds
that Roland climbs once he has cleaned things up. That's why he can't
take those he draws with him. Nobody can go with him.

To some degree, it's almost worth considering whether Roland is a human
or some kind of demi-god. Clearly, someone who spends his existence
moving from world to world to fix them when they have fallen into ruin
is something beyond merely human.

Anyway, just my thoughts here a couple hours after finishing the
series. I might post again later, but for now, this is more than
enough to chew on. I'm quite thrilled with what at first seemed to be a
rather mundane (if not cliched) circular ending. Because of the
context, I think there's much more to it than what it seems.

"zurg" <zurg.RemoveThis@fakeaddress.com> wrote in message
news:280220050225420831%zurg@fakeaddress.com...
 > ****** SPOILERS ********
 > ****** SPOILERS ********
 > ****** SPOILERS ********
 >
 > Stop right there if you haven't read DT VII yet. I'm going to freely
 > discuss the ending of the entire DT series in this post so if you
 > haven't read it then STOP and don't read any further.
 >
 > Scroll down otherwise....
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > After more than 15 years of reading the Dark Tower books, I finally had
 > time to finish reading it. I had to delay reading the final book
 > because of demands on my time, but I finally reached the ending
 > tonight.
 >
 > I have to say that, at first, I was a little disappointed at the idea
 > that Roland would simply emerge through the top of the Tower back to
 > the start of his quest, but the more I considered it in context, the
 > more I started to understand what I was really witnessing and the more
 > I am stunned by the awesome scale of it. I don't know if King meant it
 > the way I'm taking it, but I hope so. I can't think of any other
 > interpretation that either doesn't make sense or is a massive
 > disappointment.
 >
 > The context explains the ending--all the parallel worlds, all similar,
 > but slightly different, slightly different histories, characters,
 > futures, settings, cities, etc. At the end, Roland didn't emerge into
 > the beginning of the same place and time when we first met him in book
 > I, but rather a new world, a parallel place. He's no longer the Roland
 > we knew, but a slightly different one, a new similiar Roland for this
 > new similar world where the beams are under attack and need to be
 > saved. We haven't been here before. We've seen something similar.
 >
 > There is no room at the top of the tower. That door leads into the next
 > world.
 >
 > Roland's quest stretches beyond merely one world, but across all of
 > them. For each of them, he must become Roland again retrace this quest,
 > draw others from parallel worlds to help him (he will never draw Jake,
 > Eddie and Sussanah again, but others), defeat the horrors of these
 > other worlds, take down the representation of the Crimson King and his
 > minions in those worlds, protect any "creators" attached to these
 > worlds, remove the threats to the beams, and must climb the tower at
 > the end to shed his old self and be reborn into the next iteration of
 > his persona.
 >
 > In a sense, the Dark Tower is basically a stairway into other worlds
 > that Roland climbs once he has cleaned things up. That's why he can't
 > take those he draws with him. Nobody can go with him.
 >
 > To some degree, it's almost worth considering whether Roland is a human
 > or some kind of demi-god. Clearly, someone who spends his existence
 > moving from world to world to fix them when they have fallen into ruin
 > is something beyond merely human.
 >
 > Anyway, just my thoughts here a couple hours after finishing the
 > series. I might post again later, but for now, this is more than
 > enough to chew on. I'm quite thrilled with what at first seemed to be a
 > rather mundane (if not cliched) circular ending. Because of the
 > context, I think there's much more to it than what it seems.

My thoughts on the ending change now and again. My latest theory is that
each time he returns from the top of the "physical tower", he reaches
another level of the "real tower". There's a part in book 5 when Eddie
realizes that they're on level 19 of the dark tower, so now I think that
Roland and ka-tet has finished this quest for the 19th. time--at the end of
book 7, he's embarking on the 20th. journey with the ka-tet of 20 and
(whatever year), and are on level 20 of the "real tower". Maybe the next
time the facilitator is Claudina y Inez Bachman (you know, 20 letters)?

Morgan<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->