The Dark Tower

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:50 am

Who else has joined the quest for the Dark Tower? If you haven't, shame on you.

Sage · Post by **Sage** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:52 am

I must be missing something here...

Crill3 · Post by **Crill3** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:14 pm

Quest for the Dark Tower?

Zantalos · Post by **Zantalos** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:36 pm

Yeah, I thought that was a new Steven King movie called "The Dark Tower."

I have the feeling you're pulling my leg.

rudel_ic · Post by **rudel_ic** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:18 pm

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

My first thought was, he lied in every word
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee that pursed and scored
Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby.[...]

Whatever it's supposed to mean, I guess it's not connected to your "Quest for the Dark Tower" thingie. Explain NOW!

Is it some Oblivion add-on?

Viking Zippy · Post by **Viking Zippy** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:29 pm

Sage wrote:I must be missing something here...

I second that.

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 7:16 pm

rudel_ic wrote:Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
My first thought was, he lied in every word
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee that pursed and scored
Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby.[...]
Whatever it's supposed to mean, I guess it's not connected to your "Quest for the Dark Tower" thingie. Explain NOW!

Is it some Oblivion add-on?

LOL. It tickles me that your first idea was that it's an Oblivion add-on. Gaming must be decaying your mind.

And what the hell, you're seriously telling me that out of all of you who've commented, none of you know what it is?

I'd list the series as a Fantasy/Adventure/Science Fiction/Horror/Western hybrid. Hahahaha. There are some gruesome bits, hence horror, and there is a lot of shooting, gunslingers, and Western-themed towns, hence Western. The series is also about reality, there being many different worlds, and the travel between those worlds, hence Science Fiction. If you don't think you're a fan, I don't blame you for stopping reading, but I advise you to continue anyway.

But no, The Dark Tower is a book series by Stephen King, not a movie. It's not a movie as of yet, anyway. It's about a gunslinger named Roland, and his quest for the Dark Tower. It's a seven-book long series of novels.
Stephen King has cited a number of inspirations for the series, hailing it as his ultimate project, and the one that has affected him more than any other book by far. King seems to think of it as his raison d'etre, or reason for being. It's pretty epic stuff.

A number of things he's cited as inspirations for it are (1) Lord Of The Rings, which needs no explanation, although I've never read the novels, (2) Robert Browning's poem, "Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came", (3) T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Waste Land" and (4) Sergio Leone's film "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly".

A number of things he's gotten from Lord Of The Rings are the idea of fellowship, which in his books are referred to as "ka-tet", which means "one from many". He also names places similarly, like "Mid-World", Stephen King's version of "Middle-Earth". Another aspect is that there is always the eye of the main evil in the story looming over the horizon, much like the far-seeing eye of Sauron. The last thing would be the fictional language in the story, which is called the High Speech.

Sergio Leone's Western, "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", about the gun-toting Man With No Name, acted by Clint Eastwood is the basis for the main character, Roland of Gilead. Roland is a gunslinger, and was based on the image of the "Man With No Name", Clint Eastwood, although don't assume he's going to have the same character, as Roland's personality is nothing like the Man With No Name's personality.

"Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came" is an inspiration primarily for reasons that, if they're not obvious by now, you're either pretty stupid or not paying much attention.

"The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot is an inspiration for the novel because most of the world portrayed in the novel is much like a wasteland. This becomes more and more clear in the novel, and is emphasised to great extent throughout, but more so at the end, of the third novel, "The Waste Lands". Lol. That sounds like I'm taking the easy way out in explaining why it's an inspiration, but I'm not. In the novels, a phrase commonly used in Roland's world is "The world has moved on", which is in reference to the decay of the whole world over the years. You learn more about why they say that as the story nears its end, but anyone with a bit of sense can guess about what has happened to their world from clues throughout the novels.

I must say they are the finest novels I've ever read. I'm on the seventh and last of the series. Some have said Stephen King loses steam towards the end, but I think that is complete and utter crap. If you like reading, pick up "The Gunslinger", which is the first novel.

Post by **Jeff** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:31 pm

Hmm, maybe I will check it out. I hope it's good.

Nayr · Post by **Nayr** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:27 pm

I read them all, and I must say they're great. Oh, and yes, it is a sci-fi/western/epic fantasy series. Possibly one of king's best, aside from the Stand.

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:39 pm

Never read the Stand, but he refers to it a lot in the author's notes and stuff. It's very long, is it? Hahaha. Did you understand what all the "Nineteen" stuff was about? And my name is "****** ****** *******". F***ing NINETEEN, man.

Also, I was over in Croatia on holidays two weeks ago, and at the hotel we were in I was staying in room B19. I was walking up the corridor one evening, going back to my room, counting the room numbers as they went by, and I was just after reading a bit in Song Of Susannah where there was a lot of references to Nineteen. When I got to my room, I just kind of stood there in front of the door, looking at "B19" for a while. Then I burst out laughing for a while, but after that I looked to my right down the hall, and there was two people standing there who had been having a conversation. They had stopped talking and were just fucking staring at me like "What the hell is this guy on?" LOL. I immediately went inside so they'd stop staring at me like I was mental.

Post by **Ninjas** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:00 pm

I really hated The Stand, which is why it is the only Stephen King book I have ever read. My brother read the first three Dark Tower books, and he seemed to like them, so maybe I'll give him another chance.

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:25 pm

Cool.

loki J Lo · Post by **loki J Lo** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:48 pm

I'm reading The Stand now. I also read a book by King called "Eyes of the Dragon," and the king in it is named Roland, which you mentioned as the main charactor in The Dark Tower series, and the villain is Flagg, which is the bad guy in The Stand, and I think I read something about the villain in the Dark Tower series being Flagg...

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:23 pm

loki J Lo wrote:I'm reading The Stand now. I also read a book by King called "Eyes of the Dragon," and the king in it is named Roland, which you mentioned as the main charactor in The Dark Tower series, and the villain is Flagg, which is the bad guy in The Stand, and I think I read something about the villain in the Dark Tower series being Flagg...

Whoa, I didn't know that. There is a character in the Dark Tower series named Walter/Randal Flagg/Maerlyn. He goes by a lot of different names in the series. He's not the ultimate villain, but he's one of the bad guys alright. About the king in that story being named Roland, I don't know how much similarity there could be other than that.

In the Dark Tower series, Stephen King integrates a lot of characters from his other books, including Father/Pere Donald Callahan from Salem's Lot. There is also a lot of characters used from books he didn't write, such as the bear Shardik and the turtle Maturin.

Also, I advise anybody thinking about reading the series to get the hardback editions with the illustrations included. The illustrations are highly satisfying, if I may say so. Ninjas, you said you were thinking about reading the books. I'd assume you would appreciate the finely-done illustrations, being that you yourself are a pretty good concept artist.

Nayr · Post by **Nayr** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:38 pm

he also mentions in the last book (actually, some of the characters IN the book say it for him—it's actually kind of confusing.) that all of the other books led up to it.

I actually found my self speaking like them. Say thankya, sai, say thankya big-big. Yer-bugger!