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Pet Sematary (film)
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Pet Sematary
Pet sematary poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Mary Lambert
Produced by
Richard P. Rubinstein
Screenplay by
Stephen King
Based on
Pet Sematary
 by Stephen King
Starring
Dale Midkiff
Fred Gwynne
Denise Crosby
 Brad Greenquist
Miko Hughes
Blaze Berdahl
 Beau Berdahl
Susan Blommaert
Music by
Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography
Peter Stein
Editing by
Daniel P. Hanley
Mike Hill
Distributed by
Paramount Pictures
Release dates
April 21, 1989

Running time
103 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$11.5 million
Box office
$57,469,179
Pet Sematary (sometimes referred to as Stephen King's Pet Sematary) is a 1989 American horror film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. Directed by Mary Lambert and written by King, the film features Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed, Blaze and Beau Berdahl as Ellie Creed, Miko Hughes as Gage Creed, and Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall. Andrew Hubatsek was cast for Zelda's role. Author King has a cameo as a minister.
A sequel, Pet Sematary Two, was released which was met with less financial and critical success.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Music
4 Reception
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
The Creed family moves from Chicago to the small town of Ludlow, Maine. They end up befriending their elderly neighbor, Jud Crandall, who takes them to the isolated pet cemetery (misspelled "Sematary") behind the Creeds' new home.
Later, Louis Creed is working at the University of Maine when a young student named Victor Pascow is brought in with severe injuries from a car accident. The young man dies, but not before warning Louis (by name) of the pet cemetery. That night, an undead Victor visits Louis, taking him to the cemetery and issuing a warning about its power. Louis wakes up the next morning convinced the incident was a dream, but he discovers dirt on the sheets and his feet.
During Thanksgiving with the family gone, Church, Ellie's cat, is run down on the road. Jud takes Louis off to the Micmac burial ground beyond the pet cemetery to bury the cat, explaining it is the true burial ground. After returning, Louis asks Jud if anyone buried a person up there to which Jud immediately answers no. Church soon returns, but is a shell of his former self.
Sometime later, during a picnic, Louis' young son, Gage is killed by a truck on the same road while chasing down the kite he was playing with. Louis considers burying Gage in the burial grounds. Jud tries to dissuade him from doing so, telling him about a young man from town, Timmy Baterman, who died in service during World War II. Timmy's father, Bill, placed his son's corpse into the Micmac burial ground, only to have it reanimate and terrify the townsfolk. Jud and three of his friends tried burning down the house with the son in it, but Bill was attacked by Timmy and they both perished in the fire.
Rachel begs Louis to go with her and Ellie to Chicago, but he declines. Louis heads to the cemetery Gage is buried in, intending to exhume his son's body. He is met at the graveyard by Pascow, who warns him not to proceed.
On the flight, Ellie has a nightmare, stating that "Paxcow" warned her that Louis is going to do something really bad, and that he is trying to help because Louis tried to save his life. Rachel realizes who her daughter is talking about and calls Jud after Louis does not answer the phone. She asks if he has seen Louis, and then tells him she is returning. Jud warns her not to, but she has already hung up.
Louis takes his son's corpse to the Micmac burial ground. Pascow's spirit unsuccessfully tries to stop Louis. Louis returns home, exhausted from his activities. Gage later arrives and enters his father's room, removing a scalpel from one of his bags. Gage enters Jud's house and kills Jud while Church watches.
Rachel arrives home, hearing something that sounds like her late sister, Zelda, calling her name, then Gage's laughter. Rachel enters Jud's house and finds Gage in an upstairs bedroom. Gage tells her he brought her something and shows her Louis' scalpel. Rachel hugs her son in disbelief and is murdered.
Louis wakes up to find Gage's muddy footprints on the floor, his doctor's bag open and his scalpel gone. He receives a call from Gage saying, "I'm at Jud's, daddy. Will you come over and play with me? First I played with Jud. Then mommy came, and I played with mommy. We played, daddy. We had a awful good time. Now I want to play with YOU."
Preparing shots of morphine, Louis heads to Jud's house, running into Church once more. He distracts the cat with a raw steak, then kills him with a shot of morphine. He heads into the house, once more taunted by Gage. Louis searches the house only to have Rachel's corpse fall from the attic, hanged by her neck. Gage attacks his father, but Louis injects the boy with a morphine shot, killing him. Louis soaks the house in kerosene and sets it on fire, carrying his wife's body out. Pascow watches, attempting to apologize and begging Louis not to make the same mistake. Louis replies that he waited too long with Gage, and that it will work with Rachel because she just died. Louis walks through Pascow, who vanishes screaming.
Late that night while Louis plays solitaire, Rachel's reanimated corpse returns to the house. She and Louis embrace and begin to kiss. Unbeknownst to Louis, Rachel reaches for the knife on the table and raises it behind his back. The screen blacks out as a stab and Louis's scream of "NO!" is heard.
Cast[edit]
Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed
Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall
Denise Crosby as Rachel Creed
Brad Greenquist as Victor Pascow
Michael Lombard as Irwin Goldman
Miko Hughes as Gage Creed
Blaze Berdahl as Ellie Creed
Beau Berdahl as Ellie Creed
Susan Blommaert as Missy Dandridge
Mara Clark as Marcy Charlton
Kavi Raz as Steve Masterton
Mary Louise Wilson as Dory Goldman
Andrew Hubatsek as Zelda
Lisa Stathoplos as Jud's mother
Stephen King as Minister
Chuck Courtney as Bill Baterman
Peter Stader as Timmy Baterman
Music[edit]
Main article: Pet Sematary (soundtrack)
The film's score was written by Elliot Goldenthal.[1] The film features two songs by the Ramones, one of Stephen King's favorite bands: "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" appears in a scene, and "Pet Sematary", a new track written specially for the movie, plays over the credits.[2][3]
The song "Pet Sematary" became one of the Ramones' biggest charting hits, reaching number four on the Billboard 'Modern Rock Tracks' list, despite being, in the words of AMG, "reviled by most of the band's hardcore fans".[4]
Reception[edit]
Pet Sematary received mixed reviews, garnering a 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews, while it managed a positive 63% rating from audiences.[5] The film grossed $57 million in North America.[6] The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the song Pet Sematary.
Fangoria magazine had exclusive coverage of the filming of Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Their correspondent, Rod Labbe, visited the set twice: in October 1988 (at Bangor, Maine's Mount Hope Cemetery) and in November 1988 (Ellsworth, Maine). His articles were published in the February, April and June 1989 editions of Fangoria. Labbe and Pet Sematary also had the cover story in Gorezone, July 1989, an interview with the film's director, Mary Lambert.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Allmusic ((( Pet Sematary > Overview )))
2.Jump up ^ Mason, Stewart. "Pet Sematary". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
3.Jump up ^ MattFini's Halloween Top 10 Lists: Most Memorable End Credit Songs
4.Jump up ^ Eduardo Rivadavia (1989-05-23). "Brain Drain - The Ramones | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
5.Jump up ^ Pet Sematary at Rotten Tomatoes
6.Jump up ^ Pet Sematary at Box Office Mojo
External links[edit]

Portal icon Film portal
Pet Sematary at the Internet Movie Database
Pet Sematary at Box Office Mojo
Pet Sematary at Rotten Tomatoes


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Pet Sematary Two
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Pet Sematary II
Pet sematary ii ver2.jpg
Theatrical Release Poster

Directed by
Mary Lambert
Produced by
Ralph Singleton
Written by
Richard Outten
Starring
Edward Furlong
Anthony Edwards
Clancy Brown
Jared Rushton
Darlanne Fluegel
Jason McGuire
Lisa Waltz
Music by
Mark Governor
Cinematography
Russell Carpenter
Editing by
Tom Finan
Distributed by
Paramount Pictures
Release dates
August 28, 1992

Running time
100 min.
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$8,000,000
Box office
$17,092,453
Pet Sematary Two (1992) is a horror film directed by Mary Lambert. The screenplay was written by Richard Outten. It is the sequel to the 1989 film Pet Sematary. The film stars Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards and Clancy Brown.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception 3.1 Box office
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]
Following the accidental death of his mother, Renee, during production of her latest movie, thirteen-year-old Jeff Matthews and his father, Chase, a veterinarian, move to Ludlow, Maine. Jeff learns about the Creed family and the cursed Indian burial ground. His friend Drew's dog, Zowie, is shot by Drew's stepfather, Gus Gilbert, the town sheriff. Jeff and Drew bury Zowie at the burial ground in an attempt to bring him back to life. The dog returns from the dead, but is unusually fierce, and his eyes have an unnatural glow to them even in daylight. Gus grounds Drew because he thinks he was lying when he said he only missed school was because he was burying Zowie. Zowie is treated for his gunshot wound by Chase, who finds that the wound is not healing and Zowie has no heartbeat. Chase sends a blood sample to a lab and learns that Zowie's cells have completely deteriorated and are no different from those of a dead canine.
Jeff and Drew go to the pet cemetery on Halloween for a night of horror stories about the Creed murders when Gus comes looking for Drew and punches him. Before Gus can hit his stepson with one of the gravemarkers, Zowie rushes out of the shadows and kills him with a bite to the jugular. The boys bury Gus in the burial ground. Gus returns to life, but now exhibits stiff movements and treats Drew more fairly, but remains mostly silent and in a zombie-like state. Soon, he becomes more crude and sadistic; he rapes Drew's mother and brutally skins his pet rabbits for supper.
Zowie breaks out of the veterinary clinic and kills three cats before entering Chase's home and attacking him. Chase survives with an injured arm, but is shaken. The next day, Jeff encounters the school bully, Clyde Parker in a ditch. Clyde is about to cut off Jeff's nose with the spokes of his own bike when Gus arrives. Gus orders Jeff to go home, then kills Clyde with his motorcycle. Drew witnesses the killing.
Gus traps Drew inside his house with Zowie, who has gone savage. Drew escapes through a window and gets in the car of his arriving mother. Gus chases them down the highway with his police car, killing them by forcing them to collide with a truck. Gus returns to Clyde's corpse with a police shovel and body bag, saying, "I'm takin' you up the hill, Clyde, buddy. That's the way the Indians did it."
That night, Jeff becomes obsessed with the burial ground`s power and decides to reanimate his mother. He has Gus exhume her corpse, and meets him at the burial ground. His father is told that his wife has been removed from her grave by Gus. Chase rushes to Gus's house and is attacked by Zowie but manages to shoot and kill the undead dog. He enters Gus's house but finds the undead man waiting for him. Shooting Gus in his chest has little effect on him. Just as Gus is about to kill Chase with an electric drill, Chase retrieves his gun and shoots Gus through the head, killing him.
Jeff's mother Renee has come back to life. She stabs and kills Chase's housekeeper, Marjorie Hargrove, in the attic. Jeff hears Marjorie`s screams and walks calmly up to the attic, meeting the undead Renee up there. Chase arrives home and finds Marjorie's body as well as his son embracing his undead wife. He is unmoved by Renee and tries to warn Jeff to get away from her. Renee then asks Jeff to go downstairs so she and Chase can "talk". An undead Clyde arrives armed with an ax and fights Jeff. Chase is knocked out, and Renee locks everyone in the attic and sets the place on fire.
Before Clyde can kill him with an ice-skate, Jeff kills Clyde with a severed insulated cable, then uses his axe to chop down the attic door and grabs his unconscious father. Renee tries convincing Jeff to stay by muttering, "I love you", but Jeff ignores her cries and pleas then leaves his mother to die in the flames. As Renee burns and melts, she screams out "Dead is better!" The next morning, Jeff and Chase leave Ludlow to start a new life in Los Angeles.
Cast[edit]
Edward Furlong as Jeff Matthews
Anthony Edwards as Chase Matthews
Clancy Brown as Gus Gilbert
Jared Rushton as Clyde Parker
Jason McGuire as Drew Gilbert
Darlanne Fluegel as Renee Hallow/Matthews
Lisa Waltz as Amanda Gilbert
Sarah Trigger as Marjorie Hargrove
Reception[edit]
The movie gained a negative reception.[1] [2]
Box office[edit]
The film debuted at No.3.[3]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Review/Film; Freudian Horror and a Dead Dog". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
2.Jump up ^ "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Pet Sematary II' Rife With Teen Trauma". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
3.Jump up ^ "Weekend Box Office : 'Honeymoon' Is Unforgiving". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
External links[edit]
Pet Sematary Two at the Internet Movie Database
Pet Sematary Two at Box Office Mojo
Pet Sematary Two at Rotten Tomatoes


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1992 horror films
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Pet Sematary
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This article is about the novel. For other uses, see Pet Sematary (disambiguation).

Pet Sematary
StephenKingPetSematary.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Linda Fennimore
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Horror novel
Publisher
Doubleday

Publication date
 November 14, 1983
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
374
ISBN
978-0-385-18244-7
Pet Sematary is a 1983 horror novel by Stephen King. It was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984,[1] and was later made into a film of the same name. In November 2013, PS Publishing released Pet Sematary in a limited 30th Anniversary Edition.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Origin and inspiration
3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]
Louis Creed, a doctor from Chicago, moves to a house near the small town of Ludlow, Maine, with his family: wife Rachel; their two young children, Eileen ("Ellie") and Gage; and Ellie's cat, Winston Churchill ("Church"). Their neighbor, an elderly man named Jud Crandall, warns Louis and Rachel about the highway that runs past their house; it is used by trucks from a nearby chemical plant that often pass by at high speeds.
Jud and Louis become friends. Since Louis' father died when he was three, his relationship with Jud takes on a father-son dimension. A few weeks after the Creeds move in, Jud takes the family on a walk in the woods behind their home. A well-tended path leads to a pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary") where the children of the town bury their deceased animals, most of them dogs and cats killed by the trucks on the road. A heated argument erupts between Louis and Rachel the next day. Rachel disapproves of discussing death and she worries about how Ellie may be affected by what she saw at the cemetery. It is later explained that Rachel was traumatized by the early death of her sister, Zelda, from spinal meningitis.
Louis has a traumatic experience as director of the University of Maine's campus health service when Victor Pascow, a student who is fatally injured after being struck by an automobile, addresses his dying words personally to Louis even though they have never met. On the night following Pascow's death, Louis is visited by the student's walking, conscious corpse, which leads him to the cemetery and refers specifically to the "deadfall", a dangerous pile of tree and bush limbs that form a barrier at the back. Pascow warns Louis not to "go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to." Louis wakes up in bed the next morning convinced it was a dream, but discovers his feet and the bedsheets covered with dirt and pine needles. Louis dismisses the episode as the product of stress caused by Pascow's death coupled with his wife's anxieties about death, and rationalizes away the physical evidence of his night journey as the result of a bout of sleep walking.
Louis is forced to confront death at Halloween, when Jud's wife, Norma, suffers a near-fatal heart attack. Thanks to Louis' immediate attention, Norma recovers. Jud is grateful for Louis' help, and decides to repay him after Church is run over by a truck at Thanksgiving. Rachel and the children are visiting her parents in Chicago, and Louis frets over breaking the news to Ellie. Jud takes him to the pet cemetery, supposedly to bury Church. Instead, Jud leads Louis beyond the deadfall to "the real cemetery": an ancient burial ground that was once used by the Micmacs, a Native American tribe. Following Jud's instructions, Louis buries the cat and constructs a cairn.
The next afternoon, the cat returns home. However, while he used to be vibrant and lively, he now acts strangely and "a little dead," in Louis' words. Church hunts for mice and birds much more often, but rips them apart without eating them. The cat also gives off an unpleasant odor. Louis is disturbed by Church's resurrection and begins to regret his decision. Jud tells Louis about his dog Spot, who was brought back to life in the same manner when Jud was twelve. Louis asks if a person was ever buried in the Micmac grounds, to which Jud answers vehemently no.
Several months later, Gage, who had just learned to walk, is run over by a speeding truck. At Gage's wake, Rachel's father, Irwin, who never respected Louis or his daughter's decision to marry him, berates Louis harshly, blaming Louis for the boy's death. The two fight in the funeral home's viewing room and upset the casket; Rachel witnesses the fight and becomes hysterical.
Overcome with grief and despair, Louis considers bringing his son back to life with the power of the burial ground. Jud, guessing what Louis is planning, attempts to dissuade him by telling him the story of Timmy Baterman, a young man from Ludlow who was killed charging a machine gun nest on the road to Rome during World War II. His father, Bill, put Timmy's body in the burial ground, where he came back to life, and was seen by terrified townsfolk soon thereafter. Jud and three of his friends went to the Baterman house to confront the pair, but Timmy confronted each of them with indiscretions they had committed, indiscretions he had no way of knowing, thus giving the impression that the resurrected Timmy was actually some sort of demon who had possessed Timmy's body. Jud and his friends fled the house horrified, and Bill shot his son and burned his house to the ground, killing himself.
Jud concludes that Gage died because he showed Louis the burial ground. There are hints that at some point the burial ground was used for victims of cannibalism and that it became the haunt of the Wendigo, a terrible creature of the forest, whose mere presence gives men a taste for the flesh of their own kind. In Jud's words the "ground had gone sour" and now corrupts any animal or person buried there.
Despite Jud's warning and his own reservations, Louis' grief and guilt spur him to carry out his plan. Louis has Rachel and Ellie visit her parents in Chicago again, not telling them his intentions, intending to bury Gage and then spend a couple of days with him in private to 'diagnose' his son and determine if what happened to Timmy has happened to him. Louis exhumes his son's body and takes him to the burial site. Along the trail, the Wendigo nearly frightens him away but Louis' determination, combined with the power of the burial site, keeps him moving.
Ellie has a nightmare featuring Victor Pascow on the flight to Chicago. Because of Ellie's near hysteria, and an agreement between Rachel and her daughter as to Louis' behavior, Rachel attempts to fly back to Maine, but misses her connecting flight at Boston and decides to drive the rest of the distance.
Louis buries Gage at the burial ground. Gage returns as a demonic shadow of his former self, able to talk like an adult. He breaks into Jud's house and taunts Jud about his wife's implied infidelity, and then kills Jud with one of Louis' scalpels. When Rachel arrives at Jud's house, Gage kills her also (and, it is implied, partially eats her corpse). This event pushes Louis' mind into its final stage of insanity. Louis kills Churh and Gage with a fatal dose of morphine, and then grieves for his wife and son by sitting in the corner of the hallway.
Louis, now completely insane and having prematurely aged with gray hair, burns down Jud's house, then carries Rachel's body to the burial ground, saying that he "waited too long" with Gage but is confident that Rachel will come back the same as before. After being interrogated by investigators about the fire, Louis waits until nightfall for Rachel to return. Playing solitaire, he hears his resurrected wife walk into the house, and the novel ends with Rachel speaking "Darling", her mouth sounding as if it is full of dirt.
Origin and inspiration[edit]
In 1978, King returned to his alma mater, the University of Maine at Orono, to teach a year in return for the education he had received there. During this time his family rented a house on a busy road in Orrington. The road claimed the lives of a number of pets, and the neighborhood children had created a pet cemetery in a field near the Kings' home. King's daughter Naomi buried her cat "Smucky" there after it was hit, and shortly thereafter their son Owen had a close call running toward the road. King wrote the novel based on their experiences, but feeling he had gone too far with the subject matter of the book it became the first novel he "threw away". However, needing a final book for his contract King reluctantly submitted it to Doubleday on the advice of his wife Tabitha[3] and friend Peter Straub.[4]
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations[edit]
Main article: Pet Sematary (film)
Pet Sematary was made into a film in the autumn of 1988 (released April 1989) and directed by Mary Lambert, starring Dale Midkiff as Louis, Fred Gwynne as Jud, Denise Crosby as Rachel and Miko Hughes as Gage. A man, Andrew Hubatsek, was chosen for Zelda's role because the filmmakers could not find a woman bony enough to portray the terminally ill girl.[5]
There was also a sequel, Pet Sematary Two.
In 1997 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of the story in six half-hour episodes. It was adapted by Gregory Evans and starred John Sharian, Briony Glassco and Lee Montague. The director was Gordon House.[6]
In March 2010, it was announced that a remake was in the works, with Matt Greenberg (writer of another King adaptation, 1408) currently working on the screenplay.[7] On 21 September 2010, Guillermo del Toro announced that he would like to direct the Pet Sematary remake, along with a new adaptation of another Stephen King novel, It, but stated that his busy schedule made it unlikely that he would be able to work on either film any time soon.[8] On October 31, 2013, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider are producing the remake and both di Binaventura and the studio are in talks with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in talks to direct the remake. [9]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "1984 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
2.Jump up ^ http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/pet-sematary-30th-anniversary-edition-by-stephen-king-1713-p.asp
3.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2010-03-22). Pet Sematary. ISBN 9781848940857.
4.Jump up ^ From "Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King," by Lisa Rojak
5.Jump up ^ Pet Sematary (1989) - Trivia
6.Jump up ^ "Pet Sematary", radiolistings.co.uk. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Sampson, Mike (5 March 2010). "Pet Sematary remake gets a new writer". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
8.Jump up ^ By (2010-09-22). "Guillermo del Toro Would Like to Adapt Stephen King's It and Pet Sematary". Horror Year. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
9.Jump up ^ Pet Sematary Revived with Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
External links[edit]


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The Shining (film)
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The Shining
The Shining poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster by Saul Bass

Directed by
Stanley Kubrick
Produced by
Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by
Stanley Kubrick
Diane Johnson
Based on
The Shining
 by Stephen King
Starring
Jack Nicholson
Shelley Duvall
Danny Lloyd
Scatman Crothers
Music by
Wendy Carlos
Rachel Elkind
Cinematography
John Alcott
Editing by
Ray Lovejoy
Studio
Peregrine Productions
 Producers Circle
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
Release dates
May 23, 1980

Running time
146 minutes (Premiere)
 144 minutes[1]
 119 minutes[2] (European cut)
Country
United Kingdom
 United States
Language
English
Budget
$19 million[3]
Box office
$44,360,123[3]
The Shining is a 1980 British-American psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. The film is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, though there are significant changes.[4]
In the film, Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at an isolated hotel called the Overlook Hotel. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. Soon after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and attempts to murder his wife and son.
Unlike previous Kubrick films, which developed an audience gradually by building on word-of-mouth, The Shining was released as a mass-market film, opening at first in just two cities on Memorial Day, then nationwide a month later.[5] Although initial response to the film was mixed, later critical assessment was more favorable and it is now listed among the greatest horror movies, while some have even viewed it as one of the greatest films of all time. Film director Martin Scorsese, writing in The Daily Beast, ranked it as one of the 11 scariest horror movies of all time.[6] Film critics, film students, and Kubrick's producer Jan Harlan, have remarked on the enormous influence the film has had on popular culture.[7][8][9]
The initial European release of The Shining was 25 minutes shorter than the American version, achieved by removing most of the scenes taking place outside the environs of the hotel.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Music and soundtrack
5 Post-release edit and European version
6 Home media
7 Reception 7.1 Initial reception
7.2 Later reception
7.3 Analysis of change in perception
7.4 Response by Stephen King
7.5 Establishment as classic
7.6 Awards and nominations
8 Social interpretations of the film 8.1 Native Americans
8.2 Geoffrey Cocks and Kubrick's concern with the Holocaust
9 Literary allusions
10 Ambiguities in the film 10.1 Ghosts vs. cabin fever
10.2 The two Gradys
10.3 The photograph
11 Comparison with the novel 11.1 Motivation of ghosts
11.2 Room number
11.3 Jack Torrance
11.4 Danny Torrance
11.5 Wendy Torrance
11.6 Stuart Ullman
11.7 Family dynamics
11.8 Plot differences
11.9 Film adaptation commentary
12 In popular culture
13 See also
14 References
15 External links

Plot[edit]
Jack Torrance arrives at the Overlook Hotel to interview for the position of winter caretaker, with the aim of using the hotel's solitude to work on his writing. The hotel is built on the site of a Native American burial ground and becomes completely snowed in during the long winters. As a result the Hotel is closed from November to May. Manager Stuart Ullman warns him that a previous caretaker developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself. Jack's son, Danny, appears to have ESP and has had a terrifying premonition about the hotel. Jack's wife, Wendy, tells a visiting doctor that Danny has an imaginary friend named Tony, and that Jack has given up drinking because he had hurt Danny's arm following a binge.
The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour. The African-American chef Dick Hallorann surprises Danny by telepathically offering him ice cream. He explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared this telepathic ability, which he calls "shining". Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel itself has a "shine" to it along with many memories, not all of which are good. He also tells Danny to stay out of room 237.
A month passes; while Jack's writing project goes nowhere, Danny and Wendy explore the hotel's hedge maze. Wendy becomes concerned about the phone lines being out due to the heavy snowfall and Danny has more frightening visions. Jack, increasingly frustrated, starts acting strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts.
Danny's curiosity about room 237 gets the better of him when he sees the room's door open. Later, Wendy finds Jack, asleep at his typewriter, screaming while in the midst of a horrifying nightmare. After she awakens him, he says he dreamed that he had killed her and Danny. Danny then shows up with a bruise on his neck and visibly traumatized, causing Wendy to accuse Jack of abusing Danny. Jack wanders into the hotel's Gold Room where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd. Lloyd serves him bourbon on the rocks while Jack complains to him about his marriage.
Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her that a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" tried to strangle him. Jack investigates room 237, where he encounters the ghost of a dead woman, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. Wendy and Jack argue about whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and a furious Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here, he meets the ghost of the previous caretaker, Grady, who tells Jack that he must "correct" his wife and child, and that Danny has reached out to Hallorann somehow.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Hallorann has a premonition that something is wrong at the hotel and takes a flight back to Colorado to investigate. Danny starts calling out "redrum" frantically and goes into a trance, now referring to himself as "Tony".
While searching for Jack, Wendy discovers his typewriter; he has been typing endless pages of manuscript repeating "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" in different layouts. She is confronted by Jack, who threatens her before she knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. She manages to drag him into the kitchen and lock him in the pantry, but this does not solve her larger problem; she and Danny are trapped at the hotel since Jack has sabotaged the hotel's two-way radio and snowcat. Later, Jack converses through the pantry door with Grady, who then unlocks the door, releasing him.
Danny writes "REDЯUM" in lipstick on the bathroom door. When Wendy sees this in the bedroom mirror, the letters spell out "MURDƎЯ". Jack begins to chop through the door leading to his family's living quarters with a fire axe. Wendy frantically sends Danny out through the bathroom window, but it will not open sufficiently for her to pass. Jack then starts chopping through the bathroom door as Wendy screams in horror. He leers through the hole he has made, shouting "Here's Johnny!", but backs off after Wendy slashes his hand with a butcher knife.
Hearing the engine of the snowcat Hallorann has borrowed to get up the mountain, Jack leaves the room. He kills Hallorann in the lobby and pursues Danny into the hedge maze. Wendy runs through the hotel looking for Danny, encountering several ghosts and a huge cascade of blood from an elevator. Meanwhile, Danny walks backwards in his own tracks and leaps behind a corner, covering his tracks with snow to mislead Jack, who is following his footprints. Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat, while Jack freezes to death in the hedge maze.
In a photograph in the hotel hallway dated July 4, 1921, Jack Torrance smiles amid a crowd of party revelers.
Cast[edit]
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance
Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance
Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance
Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann
Barry Nelson as Stuart Ullman
Philip Stone as Delbert Grady
Joe Turkel as Lloyd the bartender
Anne Jackson as Doctor
Tony Burton as Larry Durkin
Lia Beldam as Young Woman In Bath
Billie Gibson as Old Woman In Bath
Barry Dennen as Bill Watson
Lisa Burns as Grady Daughter #1
Louise Burns as Grady Daughter #2
In the shorter European cut, all of the scenes involving Jackson and Burton are cut (although their names still appear in the credits). Dennen is onscreen in both versions of the film, albeit to a limited degree (and with no dialogue) in the shorter cut.
The actresses who played the Grady daughters, Lisa and Louise Burns, are identical twins; however, the characters in the book and film script are merely sisters, not twins. In the film's dialogue, Mr. Ullman identifies them as "about eight and ten". Nonetheless, they are frequently referred to in discussions about the film as "the Grady twins".
The resemblance in the staging of the Grady girls and the "Twins" photograph by Diane Arbus has been noted both by Arbus' biographer, Patricia Bosworth,[10] and by numerous Kubrick critics.[11] Although Kubrick both met Arbus personally and studied photography under her during his youthful days as photographer for Look magazine, Kubrick's widow says he did not deliberately model the Grady girls on Arbus' photograph, in spite of widespread attention to the resemblance.[12]
Production[edit]



Saint Mary Lake with its Wild Goose Island is seen during the famous opening scene.
Before making The Shining, Stanley Kubrick directed the 1975 movie Barry Lyndon, a highly visual period film about an Irish man who attempts to make his way into the English aristocracy. Despite its technical achievement, the film was not a box office success in the United States and was derided by critics for being too long and too slow. Kubrick, disappointed with Barry Lyndon's lack of success, realized he needed to make a film that would be commercially viable as well as artistically fulfilling. Stephen King was told that Kubrick had his staff bring him stacks of horror books as he planted himself in his office to read them all. "Kubrick's secretary heard the sound of each book hitting the wall as the director flung it into a reject pile after reading the first few pages. Finally one day the secretary noticed it had been a while since she had heard the thud of another writer's work biting the dust. She walked in to check on her boss and found Kubrick deeply engrossed in reading The Shining." [13]



 Exterior shots of the Timberline Lodge were used to depict the fictional Overlook Hotel.
After having chosen Stephen King's novel The Shining as a basis for his next project, and after a pre-production phase, Kubrick had sets constructed on soundstages at EMI Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, Britain – to enable chronological filming and changes during production, he used several stages at EMI Elstree Studios in order to make all sets available during the complete duration of production. The set for the Overlook Hotel was then the largest ever built at Elstree, including a life-size re-creation of the exterior of the hotel.[14] Some of the interior designs of the Overlook Hotel set are notable for being based on those of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.
While most of the interior shots, and even some of the Overlook exterior shots were done on studio sets, a few exterior shots were done on location by a second-unit crew headed by Jan Harlan: Saint Mary Lake with its Wild Goose Island was the filming location for the aerial shots of the opening scene.[15] The Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon was filmed for a few of the exterior shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel, and notably absent in these shots is the hedge maze – a nonexistent feature at the Timberline Lodge.



 One of the famous sequences in which the camera tracks Danny, shot with a special low-pole version of the Steadicam developed for this film.
This film was among the first half-dozen to use the newly developed Steadicam (after the 1976 films Bound for Glory, Marathon Man, and Rocky), and was Kubrick's first use of it.[16] This is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically separates the operator's movement from the camera's, allowing smooth tracking shots while the operator is moving over an uneven surface. It essentially combines the stabilized steady footage of a regular mount with the fluidity and flexibility of a handheld camera. The inventor of the Steadicam, Garrett Brown, was heavily involved with the production. Brown published an article in American Cinematographer about his experience,[17] and contributed to the audio commentary on the 2007 DVD release of The Shining. Brown describes his excitement taking his first tour of the sets which offered "further possibilities for the Steadicam". This tour convinced Brown to become personally involved with the production. Kubrick was not "just talking of stunt shots and staircases". Rather he would use the Steadicam "as it was intended to be used – as a tool which can help get the lens where it's wanted in space and time without the classic limitations of the dolly and crane." Brown used an 18 mm Cooke lens that allowed the Steadicam to pass within an inch of walls and door frames.[18]



 The set design for the interior scenes of the Overlook Hotel was modeled in large parts on the Ahwahnee Hotel – seen here is the Ahwahnee's great lounge which was recreated on the Elstree Studio set as the Colorado Lounge.
Kubrick personally aided in modifying the Steadicam's video transmission technology. Brown states his own abilities to operate the Steadicam were refined by working on Kubrick's film. On this film, Brown developed a two-handed technique, which enabled him to maintain the camera at one height while panning and tilting the camera. In addition to tracking shots from behind, the Steadicam enabled shooting in constricted rooms without flying out walls, or backing the camera into doors. Brown notes that

"One of the most talked-about shots in the picture is the eerie tracking sequence which follows Danny as he pedals at high speed through corridor after corridor on his plastic Big Wheel tricycle. The soundtrack explodes with noise when the wheel is on wooden flooring and is abruptly silent as it crosses over carpet. We needed to have the lens just a few inches from the floor and to travel rapidly just behind or ahead of the bike."
This required the Steadicam to be on a special mount modeled on a wheelchair in which the operator sat while pulling a platform with the sound man. The weight of the rig and its occupants proved to be too much for the original tires, however, resulting in a blowout one day that almost caused a serious crash. Solid tires were then mounted on the rig. Kubrick also had a highly accurate speedometer mounted on the rig so as to duplicate the exact tempo of a given shot so that Brown could perform take after identical take.[19] Brown also discusses how the scenes in the hedge maze were shot with a Steadicam.



 The Ahwahnee's lobby stood model for the set of the lobby created at Elstree Studios.
The Shining had a prolonged and arduous production period, often with very long workdays. Principal photography took over a year to complete, due to Kubrick's highly methodical nature. Actress Shelley Duvall did not get along well with Kubrick, frequently arguing with him on set about lines in the script, her acting techniques and numerous other things. Duvall eventually became so overwhelmed by the stress of her role that she became physically ill for months. At one point she was under so much stress that her hair began to fall out. The shooting script was being changed constantly, sometimes several times a day, adding more stress. Jack Nicholson eventually became so frustrated with the ever-changing script that he would throw away the copies that the production team would give to him to memorize, knowing that it was just going to change anyway. He learned most of his lines just minutes before filming them. Nicholson was living in London with his then-girlfriend Anjelica Huston and her younger sister, Allegra, who testified to his long shooting days.[20]
Nicholson was Kubrick's first choice for the role of Jack Torrance; other actors considered were Robert De Niro (who claims the film gave him nightmares for a month),[21] Robin Williams and Harrison Ford, all of whom met with Stephen King's disapproval.[22]
The opening panorama shots (outtakes of which were used by Ridley Scott for the closing moments of the original cut of the film Blade Runner) and scenes of the Volkswagen Beetle on the road to the hotel were filmed from a helicopter in Glacier National Park in Montana on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.



 Original typewriter and page from the film.
For the final Gold Room sequence, Kubrick instructed the extras (via megaphone) to not talk, "but to mime conversation to each other. Kubrick knew from years of scrutinizing thousands of films that extras could often mime their business by nodding and using large gestures that look fake. He told them to act naturally to give the scene a chilling sense of time-tripping realism as Jack walks from the seventies into the roaring twenties."[23]
For international versions of the film, Kubrick shot different takes of Wendy reading the typewriter pages in different languages. For each language, a suitable idiom was used: German (Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen – "Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today"), Italian (Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca – "The morning has gold in its mouth"), French (Un «Tiens» vaut mieux que deux «Tu l'auras» – "One 'here you go' is worth more than two 'you'll have its'", the equivalent of "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"), Spanish (No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano – "No matter how early you get up, you can't make the sun rise any sooner"). These alternate shots were not included with the DVD release, where only the English phrase "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" was used.
In his search to find the right actor to play Danny, Kubrick sent a husband and wife team, Leon and Kersti Vitali, to Chicago, Denver and Cincinnati to create an interview pool of 5,000 boys over a six-month period. The three cities were chosen because Kubrick was looking for a boy who had an accent that fell in between Jack Nicholson's and Shelley Duvall's speech patterns.[24]
During production, Kubrick screened David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) to the cast and crew, to convey the mood he wanted to achieve for the film.[25]
The door that Jack chops through with the axe near the end of the film was a real door. Kubrick had originally shot the scene with a fake door, but Nicholson, who had worked as a volunteer fire marshal, tore it down too quickly. Jack's line, "Heeeere's Johnny!", is taken from Ed McMahon's famous introduction to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was improvised by Nicholson. Kubrick, who had lived in England for some time, was unaware of the significance of the line, and nearly used a different take.[26] Carson later used the Nicholson clip to open his 1980 Anniversary Show on NBC.
Music and soundtrack[edit]
The film features a brief electronic score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, including one major theme in addition to a main title based on Hector Berlioz' interpretation of the "Dies Irae", used in his "Symphonie Fantastique", as well as pieces of modernist music. The soundtrack LP was taken off the market due to licensing issues and was never released on compact disc release.[citation needed] In the film itself, parts of the soundtrack were overdubbed one atop another.[27]
Carlos and Elkind had composed a great deal of music for the film, however, Kubrick decided to go with classical music from other sources, as he had done on previous occasions. Some of Carlos' unused music appears on her album Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol. 2.
The stylistically modernist art-music chosen by Kubrick is similar to the repertoire he first explored in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Although the repertoire was selected by Kubrick, the process of matching passages of music to motion picture was left almost entirely at the discretion of music editor Gordon Stainforth, whose work on this film is known for the attention to fine details and remarkably precise synchronization without excessive splicing.[28]
The non-original music on the soundtrack is as follows:
1.Lontano by György Ligeti, Ernest Bour conducting Sinfonie Orchester des Südwestfunks (Wergo Records)
2.Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta by Béla Bartók, Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
3.Utrenja  – excerpts from the Ewangelia and Kanon Paschy movements by Krzysztof Penderecki Andrzej Markowski conducting Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic, Warsaw (Polskie Nagrania Records)
4.The Awakening of Jacob (Als Jakob erwachte...), De Natura Sonoris No. 1 (the latter not on the soundtrack album, Cracow Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Henryk Czyż) and De Natura Sonoris 2, by Krzysztof Penderecki (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrzej Markowski, Polskie Nagrania Records)
5.Home by Henry Hall and the Gleneagles Hotel Band (Columbia Records)
6.It's All Forgotten Now performed by Ray Noble and His Orchestra, with Al Bowlly (not on the soundtrack album)
7.Masquerade by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra (not on the soundtrack album)
8.Kanon (for string orchestra) by Krzysztof Penderecki (not on the soundtrack album)
9.Polymorphia (for string orchestra) by Krzysztof Penderecki, performed by Cracow Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Henryk Czyż (not on the soundtrack album)
10.Midnight, the Stars and You by Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly and Harry Woods, performed by Ray Noble and His Orchestra, with Al Bowlly (not on the soundtrack album)
Wendy Carlos on the first version of the film she and Elkind were shown by Kubrick upon their arrival to Elstree Studios: "The film was a little on the long side. There were great gobs of scenes that never made it to the film. There was a whole strange and mystical scene in which Jack Nicholson discovers objects that have been arranged in his working space in the ballroom with arrows and things. He walks down and thinks he hears a voice. A ghost throws a ball back to him. None of that made it to the final film. We scored a lot of those. We didn't know what was going to be used for sure."[29]
Post-release edit and European version[edit]
After its premiere and a week into the general run (with a running time of 146 minutes), Kubrick cut a scene at the end that took place in a hospital. The scene shows Wendy in a bed talking with Mr. Ullman who explains that Jack's body could not be found; he then gives Danny a yellow tennis ball, presumably the same one that lured Danny into Room 237. This scene was subsequently physically cut out of prints by projectionists and sent back to the studio by order of Warner Bros., the film's distributor. This cut the film's running time to 144 minutes. As noted by Roger Ebert:

If Jack did indeed freeze to death in the labyrinth, of course his body was found – and sooner rather than later, since Dick Hallorann alerted the forest rangers to serious trouble at the hotel. If Jack's body was not found, what happened to it? Was it never there? Was it absorbed into the past and does that explain Jack's presence in that final photograph of a group of hotel party-goers in 1921? Did Jack's violent pursuit of his wife and child exist entirely in Wendy's imagination, or Danny's, or theirs?... Kubrick was wise to remove that epilogue. It pulled one rug too many out from under the story. At some level, it is necessary for us to believe the three members of the Torrance family are actually residents in the hotel during that winter, whatever happens or whatever they think happens.
For its release in Europe, Kubrick cut 25 minutes from the film.[30][31] The excised scenes made reference to the outside world, and to Danny's imaginary friend, Tony.
Home media[edit]
The US region 1 DVD of the film is the longer (144 minute) edit of the film. The European (including UK) region 2 DVD is the shorter (119 minute) version. On British television, the short version played on Channel 4 once and on Sky Movies numerous times in the mid-nineties. All other screenings, before and since these, have been on either ITV or ITV4 and have been the longer US edit. The German DVD shows the short version, as seen in German TV screenings.
In accordance with stipulations contained in Kubrick's will, DVD releases show the film in open matte (i.e., with more picture content visible than in movie theaters). The scene in which Wendy discovers her husband's work (consisting only of a simple proverb: "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" repeatedly typed on numerous pages) was shot with different proverbs in at least five languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian and German). Nevertheless, most DVD releases show the English version, disregarding the dub language.
DVDs in both regions contain a candid fly-on-the-wall 33-minute documentary made by Kubrick's daughter Vivian (who was 17 when she filmed it) entitled Making The Shining, originally shown on British television in 1980. She also provided an audio commentary track about her documentary for its DVD release. It appears even on pre-2007 editions of The Shining on DVD, although most DVDs of Kubrick films before then were devoid of documentaries or audio commentaries. It has some candid interviews and very private moments caught on set, such as arguments with cast and director, moments of a no-nonsense Kubrick directing his actors, Scatman Crothers being overwhelmed with emotion during his interview, Shelley Duvall collapsing of exhaustion on the set and a very playful Jack Nicholson enjoying playing up to the behind-the-scenes camera.[32]
Reception[edit]
Initial reception[edit]
The film had a slow start at the box office, but gained momentum, eventually doing well commercially during the summer of 1980 and making Warner Bros. a profit. It opened at first to mixed reviews. For example, Variety was critical, saying "With everything to work with, [...] Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about Stephen King's bestseller."[33] It was the only one of Kubrick's last nine films to get no nominations at all from either the Oscars or Golden Globes, but was nominated for a pair of Razzie Awards, including Worst Director and Worst Actress (Duvall),[34] in the very first year that award was given. (At that time, the Raspberries were voted on by a handful of friends of Raspberry founder John Wilson. This was long before the voting body expanded to a large international committee that included reputable film critics and industry professionals.)[35][36][37][38]
Later reception[edit]
As with most Kubrick films, more recent analyses have treated the film more favorably. A common initial criticism was the slow pacing which was highly atypical of horror films of the time; viewers subsequently decided this actually contributes to the film's hypnotic quality.[39] Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 92% "Certified Fresh".[40]
Roger Ebert did not review the film on his TV show when first released,[41] and in print complained that it was hard to connect with any of the characters[42] but in 2006, The Shining made it into Ebert's series of "Great Movie" reviews, saying "Stanley Kubrick's cold and frightening The Shining challenges us to decide: Who is the reliable observer? Whose idea of events can we trust?" [...] "It is this elusive open-endedness that makes Kubrick's film so strangely disturbing."[43]
Analysis of change in perception[edit]
Jonathan Romney, writing about the film in 1999, discussed the originally lukewarm perception of the film and its gradual acceptance as a masterpiece: "The final scene alone demonstrates what a rich source of perplexity The Shining offers. At first sight this is an extremely simple, even static film. [..] Kubrick had put so much effort into his film, building vast sets at Elstree, mak­ing a 17-week shoot stretch to 46, and what was the result? A silly scare story – something that, it was remarked at the time, Roger Corman could have turned around in a fortnight. But look beyond the simplicity and the Overlook reveals itself as a palace of paradox...." Romney says "The dominating presence of the Overlook Hotel – designed by Roy Walker as a composite of American hotels visited in the course of research – is an extraor­dinary vindication of the value of mise en scène. It's a real, complex space that we don't just see but come to virtually inhabit. The confinement is palpable: hor­ror cinema is an art of claustrophobia, making us loath to stay in the cinema but unable to leave. Yet it's combined with a sort of agoraphobia – we are as frightened of the hotel's cavernous vastness as of its corridors' enclosure. [...] The film sets up a complex dynamic between simple domesticity and magnificent grandeur, between the supernatural and the mundane in which the viewer is disoriented by the combination of spaciousness and confinement, and an uncertainty as to just what is real or not."[44]
Response by Stephen King[edit]
Stephen King has been quoted as saying that although Kubrick made a film with memorable imagery, it was not a good adaptation of his novel[45] and is the only adaptation of his novels that he could "remember hating".[46] However, in King's 1981 nonfiction book Danse Macabre, he listed Kubrick's film among those he considered to have "contributed something of value to the [horror] genre" and mentioned it as one of his "personal favorites."[47] Notably, before the 1980 movie King often said he did not care about the film adaptations of his novels.[4]
King thought that his novel's important themes, such as the disintegration of the family and the dangers of alcoholism, were ignored. King has admitted he was suffering from alcoholism at the time he wrote the novel, and as such there was an element of autobiography in the story. King especially viewed the casting of Nicholson as a mistake and as being too early a tip-off to the audience that the character Jack would eventually go mad (due to Nicholson's identification with the character of McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). King had suggested that a more “everyman”-like actor such as Jon Voight or Christopher Reeve or Michael Moriarty play the role, so that Jack's subsequent descent into madness would be more unnerving.[4]
At other times, King suggested that he disliked the downplaying of the supernatural element of the film, which he felt took the "bite" out of the story and made Jack a less sympathetic character. According to King, he viewed Jack as being victimized by the genuinely external supernatural forces haunting the hotel, whereas Kubrick's take viewed the haunting and its resulting malignancy as coming from within Jack himself.[48]
King's oft-cited remark about Kubrick being a man who “thinks too much and feels too little” has frequently been quoted as disparaging Kubrick's overly clinical and detached approach to directing actors, but in context it is really a reference to Kubrick's ambivalent skepticism about the reality of the supernatural which emerged in pre-production conversations between King and Kubrick. The full context of King's well-known quote is

Parts of the film are chilling, charged with a relentlessly claustrophobic terror, but others fall flat. Not that religion has to be involved in horror, but a visceral skeptic such as Kubrick just couldn't grasp the sheer inhuman evil of The Overlook Hotel. So he looked, instead, for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones. That was the basic flaw: because he couldn't believe, he couldn't make the film believable to others. What's basically wrong with Kubrick's version of The Shining is that it's a film by a man who thinks too much and feels too little; and that's why, for all its virtuoso effects, it never gets you by the throat and hangs on the way real horror should.[49]
Mark Browning, a critic of King's work, observed that King's novels frequently contain a narrative closure that completes the story, which Kubrick's film lacks.[50] Browning has in fact argued that King has exactly the opposite problem of which he accused Kubrick. King, he believes, "feels too much and thinks too little."
King was also disappointed by Kubrick's decision not to film at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which inspired the story (a decision Kubrick made because the hotel did not have sufficient snow or electric power). King finally supervised the 1997 television adaptation also titled The Shining, filmed at The Stanley Hotel.
The animosity of King toward Kubrick's adaptation has dulled over time. During an interview segment on the Bravo channel, King stated that the first time he watched Kubrick's adaptation, he found it to be "dreadfully unsettling".
Establishment as classic[edit]
Horror film critic Peter Bracke reviewing the Blu-ray release in Hi-Def Digest writes

... just as the ghostly apparitions of the film's fictional Overlook Hotel would play tricks on the mind of poor Jack Torrance, so too has the passage of time changed the perception of The Shining itself. Many of the same reviewers who lambasted the film for "not being scary" enough back in 1980 now rank it among the most effective horror films ever made, while audiences who hated the film back then now vividly recall being "terrified" by the experience. The Shining has somehow risen from the ashes of its own bad press to redefine itself not only as a seminal work of the genre, but perhaps the most stately, artful horror ever made.
The Shining has become widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the horror genre and a staple of pop culture. Like many Kubrick films, it has been described as "seminal".[39][51] In 2001, the film was ranked 29th on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills list and Jack Torrance was named the 25th greatest villain on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list in 2003. In 2005, the quote "Here's Johnny!" was ranked 68 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list. It was named the all-time scariest film by Channel 4,[52] Total Film labeled it the 5th greatest horror film,[53] and Bravo TV named one of the film's scenes 6th on their list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments. In addition, film critics Kim Newman[54] and Jonathan Romney[55] both placed it in their top ten lists for the 2002 Sight and Sound poll. Director Martin Scorsese placed The Shining on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.[56] Even mathematicians at London's King's College used statistical modeling in a study commissioned by Sky Movies to conclude that The Shining was the "perfect scary movie" due to a proper balance of various ingredients including shock value, suspense, gore and size of the cast.[57][58]
Awards and nominations[edit]

Award
Subject
Nominee
Result
Razzie Award Worst Actress Shelley Duvall Nominated
Worst Director Stanley Kubrick
Saturn Award Best Director
Best Supporting Actor Scatman Crothers Won
Best Horror Film Nominated
Best Music Wendy Carlos
Rachel Elkind
American Film Institute ListsAFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #29
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: Jack Torrance – #25 Villain
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: "Here's Johnny!" – #68
"Wendy, give me the bat." - Nominated
"Come play with us, Danny. Forever and ever." - Nominated
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated[59]
Social interpretations of the film[edit]



 The film's famous sequence where Jack sticks his face through the broken door. This echoes scenes in both D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms and the Swedish horror film The Phantom Carriage.[60][61]
Film critic Jonathan Romney writes that the film has been interpreted in many different ways; as being about the crisis in masculinity, sexism, corporate America, and racism: "It's tempting to read The Shining as an Oedipal struggle not just between generations but between Jack's culture of the written word and Danny's culture of images...." Romney writes, "Jack also uses the written word to more mundane purpose – to sign his 'contract' with the Overlook. 'I gave my word,' [..] which we take to mean 'gave his soul' in the [..] Faustian sense. But maybe he means it more literally – by the end [..] he has renounced language entirely, pursuing Danny through the maze with an inarticulate animal roar. What he has entered into is a conventional business deal that places commercial obligation [..] over the unspoken contract of com­passion and empathy that he seems to have neglected to sign with his family."[40] These varied interpretations spawned the 2012 documentary Room 237 directed by Rodney Ascher that provides an in-depth exploration of various interpretations of, and myths surrounding, the film.
Native Americans[edit]
Among interpreters who see the film reflecting more subtly the social concerns that animate other Kubrick films, one of the earliest and most well-known viewpoints was discussed in an essay by ABC reporter Bill Blakemore entitled "Kubrick's 'Shining' Secret: Film's Hidden Horror Is The Murder Of The Indian," first published in The Washington Post on July 12, 1987.[62][63] He believes that indirect references to American killings of Native Americans pervade the film as exemplified by the Indian logos on the baking powder in the kitchen and Indian artwork that appears throughout the hotel, though no Native Americans are ever seen. Stuart Ullman tells Wendy that when building the hotel a few Indian attacks had to be fended off since it was constructed on an Indian burial ground.
Blakemore's general argument is that the film as a whole is a metaphor for the genocide of Native Americans. He notes that when Jack kills Hallorann, the dead body is seen lying on a rug with an Indian motif. The blood in the elevator shafts is, for Blakemore, the blood of the Indians in the burial ground on which the hotel was built. As such, the fact that the date of the final photograph is July 4 is meant to be deeply ironic. Blakemore writes,

As with some of his other movies, Kubrick ends The Shining with a powerful visual puzzle that forces the audience to leave the theater asking, "What was that all about?" The Shining ends with an extremely long camera shot moving down a hallway in the Overlook, reaching eventually the central photo among 21 photos on the wall. The caption reads: "Overlook Hotel-July 4th Ball-1921." The answer to this puzzle, is that most Americans overlook the fact that July Fourth was no ball, nor any kind of Independence day, for native Americans; that the weak American villain of the film is the re-embodiment of the American men who massacred the Indians in earlier years; that Kubrick is examining and reflecting on a problem that cuts through the decades and centuries.
Blakemore also sees this film as similar to other Kubrick films where evil forces get weak men to do their bidding.
Film writer John Capo sees the film as an allegory of American imperialism. This is exemplified by many clues; the closing photo of Jack in the past at a 4th of July party, or Jack's earlier citation of the Rudyard Kipling poem "The White Man's Burden."[64] The poem has been interpreted as rationalizing the European colonization of non-white people, while Jack's line has been interpreted as referring to alcoholism, from which he suffers.
Geoffrey Cocks and Kubrick's concern with the Holocaust[edit]
Film historian Geoffrey Cocks has extended Blakemore's idea that the film has a subtext about Native Americans to arguing that the film indirectly reflects Stanley Kubrick's concerns about the Holocaust (Both Cocks' book and Michael Herr's memoir of Kubrick discuss how he wanted his entire life to make a film dealing directly with the Holocaust, but could never quite get the handle on it that satisfied him). Cocks is a cultural historian best known for describing the impact of the Holocaust on subsequent Western culture. Cocks, writing in his book The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History and the Holocaust, proposed a controversial theory that all of Kubrick's work is informed by the Holocaust; there is, he says, a strong (though hidden) holocaust subtext in The Shining. This, Cocks believes, is why Kubrick's screenplay goes to emotional extremes, omitting much of the novel's supernaturalism and making the character of Wendy much more hysteria-prone.[65] Cocks places Kubrick's vision of a haunted hotel in line with a long literary tradition of hotels in which sinister events occur, from Stephen Crane's short story "The Blue Hotel" (which Kubrick admired) to the Swiss Berghof in Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain,[66] about a snowbound sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps in which the protagonist witnesses a series of events which are a microcosm of the decline of Western culture. In keeping with this tradition, Kubrick's film focuses on domesticity and the Torrances' attempt to use this imposing building as a home which Jack Torrance describes as "homey."
Cocks claims that Kubrick has elaborately coded many of his historical concerns into the film with manipulations of numbers and colors and his choice of musical numbers, many of which are post-war compositions influenced by the horrors of World War II. Of particular note is Kubrick's use of Penderecki's The Awakening of Jacob[67] to accompany Jack Torrance's dream of killing his family and Danny's vision of past carnage in the hotel, a piece of music originally associated with the horrors of the Holocaust. As such, Kubrick's pessimistic ending in contrast to Stephen King's optimistic one is in keeping with the motifs that Kubrick wove into the story.
Cocks' work has been anthologized and discussed in other works on Stanley Kubrick films, but sometimes with skepticism. In particular, Julian Rice writing in the opening chapter of his book Kubrick's Hope believes Cocks' views are excessively speculative and contain too many strained "critical leaps" of faith. Rice holds that we cannot really replicate or corroborate what went on in Kubrick's mind beyond a broad vision of the nature of good and evil (which included concern about the Holocaust), but Kubrick's art is not governed by this one single obsession.[68] Diane Johnson, co-screenwriter for The Shining, commented on Cocks' observations and holds that preoccupation with the Jewish Holocaust on Kubrick's part could very likely have motivated his decision to place the hotel on a Native American burial ground, although Kubrick never directly mentioned it to her.[69]
Literary allusions[edit]
Geoffrey Cocks notes that the film contains many allusions to fairy tales, both Hansel and Gretel and the Three Little Pigs,[65] with Jack Torrance identified as the Big Bad Wolf, which Bruno Bettelheim interprets as standing for "all the asocial unconscious devouring powers" that must be overcome by a child's ego.
The saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" appeared first in James Howell's Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659).[70]
Ambiguities in the film[edit]
Screenwriter Todd Alcott has noted:

Much has been written, some of it quite intelligent, about the spatial anomalies and inconsistencies in The Shining: there are rooms with windows that should not be there and doors that couldn’t possibly lead to anywhere, rooms appear to be in one place in one scene and another place in another, wall fixtures and furniture pieces appear and disappear from scene to scene, props move from one room to another, and the layout of the Overlook makes no physical sense.[71]
Roger Ebert notes that the film does not really have a "reliable observer", with the possible exception of Dick Hallorann. Ebert believes various events call into question the reliability of Jack, Wendy, and Danny at various points.[72] This leads Ebert to conclude that:

Kubrick is telling a story with ghosts (the two girls, the former caretaker and a bartender), but it isn't a "ghost story," because the ghosts may not be present in any sense at all except as visions experienced by Jack or Danny.
Ebert ultimately concludes that "The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies". Likewise, film critic James Berardinelli (who is generally much less impressed with the film than Ebert), notes that "King would have us believe that the hotel is haunted. Kubrick is less definitive in the interpretations he offers." He dubs the film a failure as a ghost story, but brilliant as a study of "madness and the unreliable narrator."[73]
Ghosts vs. cabin fever[edit]
In some sequences, there is a question of whether or not there are ghosts present. In the scenes where Jack sees ghosts he is always facing a mirror, or in the case of his storeroom conversation with Grady, a reflective, highly polished door. Film reviewer James Berardinelli notes "It has been pointed out that there's a mirror in every scene in which Jack sees a ghost, causing us to wonder whether the spirits are reflections of a tortured psyche."[74] In Hollywood's Stephen King, Tony Magistrale writes:

Kubrick's reliance on mirrors as visual aids for underscoring the thematic meaning of this film portrays visually the internal transformations and oppositions that are occurring to Jack Torrance psychologically. Through...these devices, Kubrick dramatizes the hotel's methodical assault on Torrance's identity, its ability to stimulate the myriad of self-doubts and anxieties by creating opportunities to warp Torrance's perspective on himself and [his family]. Furthermore the fact that Jack looks into a mirror whenever he "speaks" to the hotel means, to some extent, that Kubrick implicates him directly into the hotel's "consciousness," because Jack is, in effect, talking to himself.[75]
Ghosts are the implied explanation for Jack's escape from the locked storeroom. Kubrick scholar Michel Ciment has written

It seemed to strike an extraordinary balance between the psychological and the supernatural in such a way as to lead you to think that the supernatural would eventually be explained by the psychological: 'Jack must be imagining these things because he's crazy.' This allowed you to suspend your doubt of the supernatural until you were so thoroughly into the story that you could accept it almost without noticing...It's not until Grady, the ghost of the former caretaker who axed to death his family, slides open the bolt of the larder door, allowing Jack to escape, that you are left with no other explanation but the supernatural.[76]
The two Gradys[edit]



 Jack and "Delbert" Grady.
Early in the film, Stuart Ullman tells Jack of a previous caretaker, Charles Grady, who, in 1970, succumbed to cabin fever, murdered his family and then killed himself. Later, Jack meets a ghostly butler named Grady. Jack says he knows about the murders, claiming to recognize Grady from pictures; however, the butler introduces himself as Delbert Grady.
Gordon Dahlquist of The Kubrick FAQ argues that the name change "deliberately mirrors Jack Torrance being both the husband of Wendy/father of Danny and the mysterious man in the July Fourth photo. It is to say he is two people: the man with choice in a perilous situation and the man who has 'always' been at the Overlook. It's a mistake to see the final photo as evidence that the events of the film are predetermined: Jack has any number of moments where he can act other than the way he does, and that his (poor) choices are fueled by weakness and fear perhaps merely speaks all the more to the questions about the personal and the political that The Shining brings up. In the same way Charles had a chance – once more, perhaps – to not take on Delbert's legacy, so Jack may have had a chance to escape his role as 'caretaker' to the interests of the powerful. It's the tragic course of this story that he chooses not to."[77] Dahlquist's argument is that Delbert Grady, the 1920s butler, and Charles Grady, the 1970s caretaker, rather than being either two different people or the same are two 'manifestations' of a similar entity; a part permanently at the hotel (Delbert) and the part which is given the choice of whether to join the legacy of the hotel's murderous past (Charles), just as the man in the photo is not exactly Jack Torrance, but nor is he someone entirely different. Jack in the photo has 'always' been at the Overlook, Jack the caretaker chooses to become part of the hotel. The film's assistant editor Gordon Stainforth has commented on this issue, attempting to steer a course between the continuity-error explanation on one side and the hidden-meaning explanation on the other; "I don't think we'll ever quite unravel this. Was his full name Charles Delbert Grady? Perhaps Charles was a sort of nickname? Perhaps Ullman got the name wrong? But I also think that Stanley did NOT want the whole story to fit together too neatly, so [it is] absolutely correct, I think, to say that 'the sum of what we learn refuses to add up neatly.'"[77]
Kubrick's other doubling/mirroring effects in the film:
1."Jack's interview with Ullman, whose confident affability contrasts with Jack's unconvincing nonchalance, pairs off with the meeting between Wendy and a female doctor, whose somber and professional womanhood reacts in stunned disbelief to Wendy's explanation for an old injury inflicted on Danny by his drunken father.
2.During the interview, Jack and Ullman are joined by a hotel employee named Bill Watson, whose only real distinction (and function) is his striking physical resemblance to Jack, especially when seen from behind.
3.The Grady sisters who look like twins but who are actually doubles (their ages of eight and ten are established in Jack's interview with Ullman).
4.On two occasions Ullman says goodbye to two young female employees.
5.In the Miami bedroom, two paintings showing a black nude woman on opposite walls (mirroring) are seen just before Hallorann experiences a "shining."
6.Two versions of the same nude woman inhabit the green bathroom in Room 237.
7.The film not only contains two mazes (the hedges outside, which are, appropriately, 13 feet high, and the model inside), but the Overlook itself is a maze and, significantly, breaks down into two sections, one old and one remodeled, one past, one present. (During Wendy's initial tour of the kitchen with Hallorann she remarks that it is like a maze, and she later characterizes the fast-emptying hotel as "like a ghost ship.")
8.There are two Jack Torrances, the one who goes mad and freezes to death in present time and the one who appears in a 1921 photograph that hangs on the gold corridor wall inside the Overlook." [78]
The photograph[edit]



 The photograph, captioned Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921. A young Jack stands smiling in the bottom center.
At the end of the film, the camera moves slowly towards a wall in the Overlook and a 1921 photograph, revealed to include Jack Torrance seen at the middle of a 1921 party. In an interview with Michel Ciment, Kubrick overtly declared that the photograph suggests that Jack was a reincarnation of an earlier official at the hotel.[79] Still, this has not stopped interpreters from developing alternative readings, such as that Jack has been "absorbed" into the Overlook Hotel. Film critic Jonathan Romney, while acknowledging the absorption theory, wrote "As the ghostly butler Grady (Philip Stone) tells him during their chilling confrontation in the men's toilet, 'You're the caretaker, sir. You've always been the caretaker.' Perhaps in some earlier incarnation Jack really was around in 1921, and it's his present-day self that is the shadow, the phantom photographic copy. But if his picture has been there all along, why has no one noticed it? After all, it's right at the center of the central picture on the wall, and the Torrances have had a painfully drawn-out winter of mind-numbing leisure in which to inspect every corner of the place. Is it just that, like Poe's purloined letter, the thing in plain sight is the last thing you see? When you do see it, the effect is so unsettling because you realise the unthinkable was there under your nose – overlooked – the whole time."[44]
Comparison with the novel[edit]


 This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (October 2013)
The film differs from the novel significantly with regard to characterization and motivation of action. The most obvious differences are those regarding the personality of Jack Torrance (the source of much of author Stephen King’s dissatisfaction with the film).[45][80][81]
Motivation of ghosts[edit]
The novel and the film differ as to whether the primary motive of the ghosts is to control the spirit of Jack Torrance (as in the film) or that of his son Danny (as in the book). In the novel, Danny's tremendous supernatural "shining" ability is the main factor motivating the ghosts who want to possess Danny's soul, and the ghosts use Jack Torrance as an agent in order to get him to kill Danny – his "shining" ability will be absorbed along with all the other awful energies that manifest there[82] and so they would become far more powerful.[83][original research?] In turn, Danny gains insight into dynamics of his father's troubled psyche, especially when he is able to restore his father to sanity, which never occurs in the film. Thus Danny's maturing and transformation as a result of these harrowing experiences is a prime focus of the novel.
In the film, the motive of the ghosts is apparently to "reclaim" Jack (even though Grady expresses an interest in Danny's "shining" ability), who seems to be a reincarnation of a previous caretaker of the hotel, as suggested by the 1920s photograph of Jack at the end of the film and Jack's repeated claims to have "not just a deja vu".[84] The film is even more focused on Jack (as opposed to Danny) than the novel.
This plot difference re-contextualizes the line "You've always been the caretaker," which in the novel is a lie told by the ghosts of the hotel to bolster Jack's ego,[85][original research?] but may in some sense be literally true in the film.
Room number[edit]
The room number 217 has been changed to 237. There are fringe analyses relating this to rumors that Kubrick faked the first moon landing, as there are approximately 237,000 miles between the earth and the moon.[86]
On the role of other numbers used in the film, Danny wears a jersey numbered 42, and he briefly watches with Wendy the film Summer of '42. The numbers of Room 237 multiplied with each other is 42. Forty-two is 21 doubled (1921, 21 pictures on the gold corridor wall). Twelve is a mirror image of 21. The radio call number for the Overlook is KDK 12. The two screen titles for part three (8 a.m. and 4 p.m.) add up to 12. Room 237 when added together equal 12.[87]

 Another simpler explanation is that it was requested to not use room #217 but #237 instead. Timberline Lodge, located on Mt. Hood in Oregon, was used for the exterior shots of the fictional "Overlook Hotel"; the lodge requested that Kubrick was not to depict room #217 (featured in the book) in The Shining, because future guests at the Lodge might be afraid to stay there. So a nonexistent room, #237, was substituted in the film. Curiously and somewhat ironically, room #217 is requested more often than any other room at Timberline. - See more at: http://www.timberlinelodge.com/the-shining/#sthash.58saHoXJ.dpuf
Jack Torrance[edit]
The novel presents Jack as initially likable and well-intentioned but haunted by the demons of alcohol and authority issues. Nonetheless, he becomes gradually overwhelmed by the evil forces in the hotel. At the novel's conclusion, the hotel forces have possessed Jack's body and proceed to destroy all that is left of his mind during a final showdown with Danny, leaving a monstrous entity that Danny is able to divert while he, Wendy and Dick Halloran escape.[85] The film's Jack is established as somewhat sinister much earlier in the story and dies in a different manner. Jack actually kills Dick Hallorann in the film, but only wounds him in the novel. King attempted to talk Stanley Kubrick out of casting Jack Nicholson even before filming began, on the grounds that he seemed vaguely sinister from the very beginning of the film, and had suggested Jon Voight among others for the role.[88][89]
Only in the novel does Jack hear the haunting heavy-handed voice of his father with whom he had a troubled relationship.[90] In both the novel and film, Jack's encounter with the ghostly bartender is pivotal to Jack's deterioration. However, the novel gives much more detail about Jack's problems with drinking and alcohol.
The film prolongs Jack's struggle with writer's block. Kubrick's co-screenwriter Diane Johnson believes that in King's novel, Jack's discovery of the scrapbook of clippings in the boiler room of the hotel which gives him new ideas for a novel catalyzes his possession by the ghosts of the hotel, while at the same time unblocking his writing. Jack is no longer a blocked writer, but now filled with energy. In her contribution to the screenplay, she wrote an adaptation of this scene, which to her regret Kubrick later excised, as she felt this left the father's change less motivated.[91] Kubrick showed Jack's continued blockage quite late in the film with the iconic scene of Jack's "novel," which is not in the novel.
Stephen King has openly stated on the DVD commentary of the 1997 mini-series of The Shining that the character of Jack Torrance was partially autobiographical, as he was struggling with both alcoholism and unprovoked rage toward his family at the time of writing.[92] Tony Magistrale wrote about Kubrick's version of Jack Torrance in Hollywood's Stephen King:

Kubrick's version of Torrance is much closer to the tyrannical Hal (from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Alex (from Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange) than he is to King's more conflicted, more sympathetically human characterization.[93]
From Thomas Allen Nelson's Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze: "When Jack moves through the reception area on his way to a 'shining' over the model maze, he throws a yellow tennis ball past a stuffed bear and Danny's Big Wheel, which rests on the very spot (a Navajo circle design) where Hallorann will be murdered." Jack's tennis ball mysteriously rolls into Danny's circle of toy cars just before the boy walks through the open door of Room 237.
"In the film's opening, the camera from above moves over water and through mountains with the ease of a bird in flight. Below, on a winding mountain road, Jack's diminutive yellow Volkswagen journeys through a tree-lined maze, resembling one of Danny's toy cars or the yellow tennis ball seen later outside of Room 237."[94]
Danny Torrance[edit]
Danny Torrance is considerably more open about his supernatural abilities in the novel, discussing them with strangers such as his doctor.[95] In the film, he is quite secretive about them even with his prime mentor Dick Halloran, who also has these abilities. (The same is true of Dick Halloran, who in his (book) journey back to the Overlook talks with others with the "shining" ability while in the film he lies about his reason for returning to the Overlook.) Danny in the novel is generally portrayed as unusually intelligent across the board.[96] In the film, he is more ordinary, though with a preternatural gift. In the novel, Danny is much more bonded to his father than in the film.
Although Danny has supernatural powers in both versions, the novel makes it clear that his apparent imaginary friend "Tony" really is a projection of hidden parts of his own psyche, though heavily amplified by Danny's psychic "shining" abilities. At the end it is revealed that Danny Torrance's middle name is "Anthony".[97][original research?]
Wendy Torrance[edit]
Wendy Torrance in the film is relatively meek, submissive, passive and mousy; this is shown by the way she defends Jack even in his absence to the doctor examining Danny. It is implied she has perhaps been abused by him as well. In the novel, she is a far more self-reliant and independent personality who is tied to Jack in part by her poor relationship with her parents.[98] In the novel, she never displays hysteria or collapses the way she does in the film, but remains cool and self-reliant. Writing in Hollywood's Stephen King, author Tony Magistrale writes about the mini-series remake:

De Mornay restores much of the steely resilience found in the protagonist of King's novel and this is particularly noteworthy when compared to Shelley Duvall's exaggerated portrayal of Wendy as Olive Oyl revisited: A simpering fatality of forces beyond her capacity to understand, much less surmount.[99]
Co-screenwriter Diane Johnson stated that in her contributions to the script, Wendy had more dialogue, and that Kubrick cut many of her lines, possibly due to his dissatisfaction with actress Shelley Duvall's delivery. Johnson believes the earlier draft of the script portrayed Wendy as a more-rounded character.[100]
Stuart Ullman[edit]
In the novel, Jack's authority issues are triggered by the fact that his interviewer, Ullman, is highly authoritarian, a kind of snobbish martinet. The film's Ullman is far more humane and concerned about Jack's well-being, as well as smooth and self-assured. Only in the novel does Ullman state that he disapproves of hiring Jack but higher authorities have asked that Jack be hired.[101] Ullman's bossy nature in the novel is one of the first steps in Jack's deterioration, whereas in the film, Ullman serves largely in the role of expositor.
In Stanley Kubrick and the Art of Adaptation, author Greg Jenkins writes "A toadish figure in the book, Ullman has been utterly reinvented for the film; he now radiates charm, grace and gentility."[102]
From Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze: Ullman tells Jack that the hotel's season runs from May 15 to October 30, meaning the Torrances moved in on Halloween. On Ullmann's desk next to a small American flag sits a metal cup containing pencils and a pen—and a miniature replica of an ax.
"When Ullman, himself all smiles, relates as a footnote the story about the former caretaker who 'seemed perfectly normal' but nevertheless cut up his family with an ax, Jack's obvious interest (as if he's recalling one of his own nightmares) and his insincere congeniality (early signs of a personality malfunction) lead the viewer to believe that the film's definition of his madness will be far more complex." [103]
Family dynamics[edit]
Stephen King provides the reader with a great deal of information about the stress in the Torrance family early in the story,[104] including revelations of Jack's physical abuse of Danny and Wendy's fear of Danny's mysterious spells. Kubrick tones down the early family tension and reveals family disharmony much more gradually than does King. In the film, Danny has a stronger emotional bond with Wendy than with Jack, which fuels Jack's rather paranoid notion that the two are conspiring against him.
Plot differences[edit]
In the novel Jack recovers his sanity and goodwill through the intervention of Danny while this does not occur in the film. Writing in Cinefantastique magazine, Frederick Clarke suggests "Instead of playing a normal man who becomes insane, Nicholson portrays a crazy man attempting to remain sane."[105] In the novel, Jack's final act is to enable Wendy and Danny to escape the hotel before it explodes due to a defective boiler, killing him.[106] The film ends with the hotel still standing. More broadly, the defective boiler is a major element of the novel's plot, entirely missing from the film version.
Because of the limitations of special effects at the time, the living topiary animals of the novel were omitted and a hedge maze was added,[107][108] acting as a final trap for Jack Torrance as well as a refuge for Danny.
In the film, the hotel possibly derives its malevolent energy from being built on an Indian burial ground, while in the novel, the reason for the hotel's manifestation of evil is possibly explained by a theme present in King's previous novel Salem's Lot as well as Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House: a physical place may absorb the evils that transpire there and manifest them as a vaguely sentient malevolence.[109] In the novel, Jack does a great deal of investigation of the hotel's past through a scrapbook,[110] a subplot almost omitted from the film aside from two touches: a brief appearance of the scrapbook beside the typewriter, and Jack's statement to the ghost of Grady that he knows his face from an old newspaper article describing the latter's horrific acts.
Some of the film's most famous iconic scenes, such as the ghost girls in the hallway and the torrent of blood from the elevators, are unique to the film. The most notable of these would be the typewritten pages Wendy discovers on Jack's desk.[111] Similarly, many of the most memorable lines of dialogue ("Words of wisdom" and "Here's Johnny!") are heard exclusively in the film.
Film adaptation commentary[edit]
Although Stephen King fans were critical of the novel's adaptation on the grounds that Kubrick altered and reduced the novel's themes, a defense of Kubrick's approach was made in Steve Biodrowski's review of the film.[112] He argues that as in earlier films, Kubrick stripped out the back story of the film, reducing it down to a "basic narrative line," making the characters more like archetypes. His review of the film is one of the few to go into detailed comparison with the novel. He writes, "The result ...[is] a brilliant, ambitious attempt to shoot a horror film without the Gothic trappings of shadows and cobwebs so often associated with the genre."
In popular culture[edit]
Both parodies and homages to The Shining are prominent in U.S. popular culture, particularly in films, TV shows and music.[113][114][115][116] Images and scenes frequently referenced are: the Grady girls in the hallway, the word "Redrum", the blood spilling out of the elevator doors[117] and Jack sticking his head through the hole in the bathroom door, saying, "Here's Johnny." The tricycle scene in which Danny sees the Grady girls and the "here's Johnny" scene are seen on a drive-in theatre screen in the movie Twister just before a tornado rips the screen down.[118]
Director Tim Burton (who credits Kubrick as an influence) modeled the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum on the Grady girls in his version of Alice in Wonderland (like so many viewers of the film, Burton identifies the girls as twins in spite of Ullman's dialogue to the contrary).[119]
The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V" includes a parody titled "The Shinning." In addition, Sherri and Terri, the twins in Bart's 4th grade class, are visually similar to the Grady girls.[120][121]
Remington Steele episode "Etched In Steele" includes a reference to "The Shining" when Steele uses one of his customary cinematic references to explain the concept of writer's block to his colleague Laura Holt.[122]
Five episodes of the drama Gilmore Girls reference the film. One episode contains Lorelai's line "Well, we like our Internet slow, okay? We can turn it on, walk around, dance, make a sandwich. With DSL, there's no dancing, no walking, and we'd starve. It'd be all work and no play. Have you not seen The Shining, Mom?"[123]
Kate Bush's 1982 album The Dreaming contains the song "Get Out of My House," inspired primarily by the novel.[124] Sound clips of Ullman warning Jack about cabin fever with Jack's reassurances appear in Swedish goth band Katatonia's song "Endtime" on the album Brave Murder Day.[125] The plot of the film is referenced in the music video for "The Kill" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.[126]
Rocko's Modern Life parodied the movie in the episode "Uniform Behavior."
"Here's Johnny!" was parodied by British comedian Lenny Henry in a controversial advertisement for Premier Inn.[127]
In an episode the TV series Community, Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) has a supernatural experience similar to Jack Torrance's encounters with ghosts. The final shot of the episode mirrors the final shot in the film, with Chang appearing in an old photo along with some of the ghosts he met (although the concept is quickly parodied when the photo's plaque - "Old Timey Photo Club, 2014" - is revealed).
See also[edit]

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A Nightmare on Face Time, a 2012 episode of South Park parodying the film
Room 237, a 2012 documentary about interpretations of The Shining
Treehouse of Horror V, a 1994 episode of The Simpsons that features a sketch parodying the film



References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "THE SHINING (15)". BFI Films. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
2.Jump up ^ "THE SHINING (X)". Columbia-Warner Distributors. British Board of Film Classification. July 21, 1980. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
3.^ Jump up to: a b "The Shining, Box Office Information". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c "Kubrick v. King". TheIntellectualDevotional.com. October 29, 2008.
5.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, Vincent. Stanley Kubrick: A Biography, p. 449
6.Jump up ^ Martin Scorsese (2009-10-28). "11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
7.Jump up ^ "Kubrick #3 – The Shining (1980) " The Hollywood Projects". Thehollywoodprojects.com. 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
8.Jump up ^ "Brent Wiese". Public.iastate.edu. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
9.Jump up ^ My Movie Mundo (2010-02-28). "Jan Harlan (producer) – The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, etc". My Movie Mundo. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
10.Jump up ^ Bosworth, Patricia (255). Diane Arbus: a biography. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31207-2.
11.Jump up ^ including Webster, Patrick (2010). Love and Death in Kubrick: A Critical Study of the Films from Lolita Through Eyes Wide Shut. McFarland. p. 115. ISBN 9780786459162. and Kolker, Robert (2011). A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman. Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-19-973888-5. and several others.
12.Jump up ^ Webster, p. 115
13.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, Vincent, "Stanley Kubrick, A Biography," (1997), p. 412
14.Jump up ^ Kubrick's The Shining - Closing Day idyllopuspress.com
15.Jump up ^ "The Shining (1980) - Trivia". IMDb. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
16.Jump up ^ Serena Ferrara, Steadicam: Techniques and Aesthetics (Oxford: Focal Press, 2000), 26–31.
17.Jump up ^ Brown, G. (1980) The Steadicam and The Shining. American Cinematographer, August, 61 (8), pp. 786–9, 826–7, 850–4. Reproduced at [1] without issue date or pages given
18.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, p. 426
19.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, p. 436
20.Jump up ^ Huston, Allegra. Love Child, a Memoir of Family Lost and Found. Simon & Schuster (2009) p. 214
21.Jump up ^ Robert De Niro (speaking about which films scared him), B105 FM interview on September 20, 2007
22.Jump up ^ Stephen King, B105 FM on November 21, 2007
23.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, p. 437
24.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, p. 420
25.Jump up ^ Roberts, Chris. "Eraserhead, The Short Films Of David Lynch". uncut.co.uk. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
26.Jump up ^ Jack Nicholson in interview with Michel Ciment in Kubrick: The Definitive Edition" p. 198
27.Jump up ^ "The Shining (1980) – Soundtracks".
28.Jump up ^ "Barham, Jeremy. "Incorporating Monsters: Music as Context, Character and Construction in Kubrick's The Shining." London: Equinox Press. ISBN 978-1-84553-202-4". Retrieved 2010-04-17.
29.Jump up ^ LoBrutto, p.447
30.Jump up ^ A detailed shot-by-shot account of the differences is in Monthly Film Bulletin – Nov 1980 – Vol. 47 No. 562
31.Jump up ^ IMDb.com, The Shining (1980) – Alternate versions
32.Jump up ^ Making "The Shining" on YouTube, film by Vivian Kubrick.
33.Jump up ^ The Shining – Excerpt from Variety.
34.Jump up ^ Tom O'Neil (2008-02-01). "Quelle horreur! 'The Shining' was not only snubbed, it was Razzed!". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
35.Jump up ^ Lindrea, Victoria (February 25, 2007). "Blowing raspberries at Tinseltown". BBC News Retrieved 2009-05-04.
36.Jump up ^ Larsen, Peter (January 20, 2005). "The Morning Read – So bad, they're almost good – A love of movies lies behind the Razzies". The Orange County Register: p. 1.
37.Jump up ^ Germain, David (Associated Press) (February 26, 2005). "25 Years of Razzing Hollywood's Stinkers". South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sun-Sentinel Company): p. 7D.
38.Jump up ^ Marder, Jenny (February 26, 2005). "Razzin' The Dregs of Hollywood Dreck – Film: Cerritos' John Wilson Marks His Golden Raspberry Awards' 25th Year With A Guide To Cinematic Slumming". Long Beach Press-Telegram: p. A1.
39.^ Jump up to: a b "Blu-ray Review: The Shining (1980) | High-Def Digest". Bluray.highdefdigest.com. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
40.^ Jump up to: a b "The Shining". Rotten Tomatoes.
41.Jump up ^ "Sneak Previews: Titles and Airdate Guide". Epguides.com. 2013-09-09. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
42.Jump up ^ DiMare, Philip (2011). Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 440. ISBN 9781598842975.
43.Jump up ^ "Great Movies: The Shining". Chicago Sun-Times.
44.^ Jump up to: a b "Sight & Sound | Stanley Kubrick 1928-99 Resident Phantoms". BFI. 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
45.^ Jump up to: a b "Kubrick FAQ - The Shining". Visual-memory.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
46.Jump up ^ "Writing Rapture: The WD Interview", Writer's Digest, May/June 2009
47.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1981). Danse Macabre. Berkley Press. pp. 415–417. ISBN 0425104338.
48.Jump up ^ Stephen King (interviewee), Laurent Bouzerau (writer, director, producer) (2011). A Night at the Movies: The Horrors of Stephen King (Television production) (in English). Turner Classic Movies.
49.Jump up ^ "Quoted in". Thewordslinger.com. 2008-03-01. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
50.Jump up ^ Stephen King on the big screen by Mark Browning p. 239
51.Jump up ^ "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures". Documentaryfilms.net. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
52.Jump up ^ "100 Greatest Scary Moments: Channel 4 Film". Channel4.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
53.Jump up ^ Jamie Graham (2005-10-10). "Total Film – Shock Horror!". Totalfilm.com. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
54.Jump up ^ Kim Newman's choices in the Sound and Sound Top Ten poll 2002
55.Jump up ^ Jonathan Romney's choices in the Sound and Sound Top Ten poll 2002
56.Jump up ^ Scorsese, Martin (October 28, 2009). "11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
57.Jump up ^ "Shining named perfect scary movie". BBC News. 2004-08-09. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
58.Jump up ^ "King's College News "Mathematicians declare The Shining perfect scary movie"". Kcl.ac.uk. 2004-08-09. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
59.Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-06-06.
60.Jump up ^ "Den svenska filmens Guldålder" (in Swedish) Thorellifilm
61.Jump up ^ Original Scene from "The Phantom Carriage" on YouTube
62.Jump up ^ Blakemore's essay has gone on to be discussed in several books on Kubrick particularly Julien Rice's Kubrick's Hope as well as a study of Stephen King films Stephen King on the Big Screen by Mark Browning. It is also assigned in many college film courses, and discussed ubiquitously on the Internet
63.Jump up ^ Blakemore is best known as a spearhead for global warming issues and having been ABC News' Vatican Correspondent since 1970.
64.Jump up ^ Capo, John (2004-09-27). "Tailslate.net". Tailslate.net. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
65.^ Jump up to: a b Geoffrey Cocks, James Diedrick, and Glenn Perusek, ed. (2006). Depth of Field: Stanley Kubrick, Film, and the Uses of History (1st ed.). Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0299216146.
66.Jump up ^ Cocks, Diedrich & Perusek 2006, p. 201.
67.Jump up ^ Cocks, Diedrich & Perusek 2006, ch. 11.
68.Jump up ^ Rice, Julian (2008). Kubrick's Hope: Discovering Optimism from 2001 to Eyes Wide Shut. Scarecrow Press, pp. 11–13
69.Jump up ^ Cocks, Diedrich & Perusek 2006, p. 59, Writing The Shining, essay by Diane Johnson.
70.Jump up ^ "James Howell Quotes". Famousquotesandauthors.com. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
71.Jump up ^ Todd Alcott (November 29, 2010). "Todd Alcott:What Does the Protagonist Want?". Todd Alcott. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
72.Jump up ^ Roger Ebert (June 18, 2006). "The Shining (1980)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
73.Jump up ^ James Berardinelli (February 18, 2009). "The Shining (1980)". REELVIEWS.com. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
74.Jump up ^ "Reelviews Movie Reviews". Reelviews.net. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
75.Jump up ^ Hollywood's Stephen King by Tony Magistrale Palgrave Macmillan 2003 pp.95–96
76.Jump up ^ Kubrick by Michel Ciment, 1983, Holt Reinhart Winston
77.^ Jump up to: a b "Kubrick FAQ - The Shining Part 2". Visual-memory.co.uk. 1921-07-04. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
78.Jump up ^ Nelson, Thomas Allen, Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze, p. 206-207
79.Jump up ^ "The Kubrick Site: Kubrick speaks in regard to 'The Shining'". Visual-memory.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
80.Jump up ^ Movie Junk Archive: Stephen King's The Shining
81.Jump up ^ TV Guide, April 26 – May 2, 1997
82.Jump up ^ Cinema of the occult: new age, satanism, Wicca, and spiritualism in film By Carrol Lee Fry p. 230.
83.Jump up ^ The motivation laid out overtly in Chapter 55, That Which was Forgotten.
84.Jump up ^ Among many other places, this is suggested in The Modern Weird Tale by S.T. Joshi, p. 72.
85.^ Jump up to: a b See Chapter 55, That Which Was Forgotten.
86.Jump up ^ Segal, David (March 27, 2013). http://www.webcitation.org/6KnOGPMEU "It’s Back. But What Does It Mean? Aide to Kubrick on ‘Shining’ Scoffs at ‘Room 237’ Theories". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
87.Jump up ^ Nelson, Thomas Allen, Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze, p. 325-326
88.Jump up ^ King discusses this in an interview he gave at the time of the TV remake of The Shining in the New York Daily News"The Shining By the Book".
89.Jump up ^ Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide By Stephen Jones Published by Watson-Guptill, 2002 p. 20
90.Jump up ^ Magistrale, Tony. Stephen King: America's Storyteller, p. 120. ABC-CLIO, 2010. ISBN 9780313352287. See also novel, Chapter 26, Dreamland.
91.Jump up ^ Johnson essay 2006, p. 58.
92.Jump up ^ DVD of The Shining TV mini-series directed by Mick Garris Studio: Warner Home Video DVD Release Date: January 7, 2003
93.Jump up ^ p. 100 of Hollywood's Stephen King By Tony Magistrale Published by Macmillan, 2003
94.Jump up ^ Nelson, Thomas Allen, Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze p.203, 209, 214
95.Jump up ^ Rasmussen, Randy. Stanley Kubrick: Seven Films Analyzed p.233. McFarland.See novel's Chapter 17, The Doctor's Office, and chapter 20, Talking with Mr. Ullman
96.Jump up ^ Rasmussen, 233-4. See also novelChapter 16, Danny.
97.Jump up ^ Tony's real identity is revealed in Chapter 54.
98.Jump up ^ Bailey, Dale. American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction, p. 95. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299268732. See also the novel Chapter 5, Phone Booth, and Chapter 6, Night Thoughts.
99.Jump up ^ Magistrale, p. 202.
100.Jump up ^ Johnson essay 2006, p. 56.
101.Jump up ^ Jack's disdain for Ullman is the main subject of Chapter 1 of the novel, setting up Jack's authority issues.
102.Jump up ^ p. 74 of Stanley Kubrick and the Art of Adaptation: Three Novels, Three Films by Greg Jenkins, published by McFarland, 1997
103.Jump up ^ Nelson, p. 200, 206, 210
104.Jump up ^ Rasmussen, 233-4. See also novel Chapter 6, Night Thoughts.'
105.Jump up ^ Clarke, Frederick (1996). Cinefastique 28.
106.Jump up ^ Bailey, Dale (1999). American nightmares: the haunted house formula in American popular fiction. Popular Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-879727-89-5.
107.Jump up ^ "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining". Pages.prodigy.com. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
108.Jump up ^ "Stanley Kubrick's – The Shining – By Harlan Kennedy". Americancinemapapers.homestead.com. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
109.Jump up ^ Cinema of the occult: new age, satanism, Wicca, and spiritualism in film, by Carrol Lee Fry, notes similarities to both the Jackson story and Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher (p. 230).
110.Jump up ^ The chapter is analyzed at length in Magistrale, Toney (1998). Discovering Stephen King's The shining:. Wildside Press. pp. 39–following. ISBN 978-1-55742-133-3.
111.Jump up ^ "KevinBroome.com". Retrieved 2010-04-17.
112.Jump up ^ "The Shining (1980) Review". Hollywood Gothique. Retrieved 2010-04-17. Biodrowsky is a former editor of the print magazine Cinefantastique
113.Jump up ^ "'Secret Window' achieves horror with suspense, silence". Western Herald. 2004-03-15. Retrieved 2007-05-21. ""The Shining" has cemented a spot in horror pop culture."
114.Jump up ^ Simon Hill. "The Shining Review". Celluloid Dreams. Retrieved 2007-05-21. "This film has embedded itself in popular culture..."
115.Jump up ^ Mark Blackwell (2005-11-24). "Deep End: Christiane Kubrick". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-05-21. "Images from his films have made an indelible impression on popular culture. Think of [...] Jack Nicholson sticking his head through the door saying 'Here's Johnny' in The Shining."
116.Jump up ^ "Shining tops screen horrors". BBC News. 2003-10-27. Retrieved 2007-05-21. "The scene in The Shining has become one of cinema's iconic images..."
117.Jump up ^ "Stephen Chow's "Kungfu Hustle" salutes to Kubrick's "The Shining" (in Chinese)". 2004-12-12. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
118.Jump up ^ Janet Maslin (May 10, 1996). "Dorothy and Toto Had It Easier". New York Times. Retrieved 24 March 2011. "Mr. de Bont has the gleeful opportunity to stage an elaborate sequence at a drive-in theater playing "The Shining," and then blow Mr. Nicholson's famously evil grin right off the screen."
119.Jump up ^ Geoff Boucher (February 10, 2010). "Tim Burton took a 'Shining' to Tweedledee and Tweedledum". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
120.Jump up ^ The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Gary Westfahl states, "While the scope of reference to fantastic fiction in The Simpsons is vast, there are two masters of the genre whose impact on The Simpson supersedes that of all others: Stanley Kubrick and Edgar Allan Poe." p. 1232
121.Jump up ^ "The Family Dynamic". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
122.Jump up ^ "Etched in Steele transcription". Retrieved 2013-09-27.
123.Jump up ^ Calvin, Ritch (2008). Gilmore girls and the politics of identity: Essays on Family and Feminism in the Television Series. McFarland. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-7864-3727-6.
124.Jump up ^ "Gaffaweb - Kate Bush - THE GARDEN - Kate's KBC article - Issue 12 (Oct 1982) - About The Dreaming". Gaffa.org. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
125.Jump up ^ "Katatonia – Brave Murder Day". Hailmetal.com. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
126.Jump up ^ Thirty Seconds to Mars A Beautiful Lie CD/DVD, "Making of The Kill music video" – Jared Leto and Matt Wachter talk about the song's meaning.
127.Jump up ^ "Premier Inn 'horror' ad banned from children's network". BBC News. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
External links[edit]


 This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (November 2012)
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Shining (film)
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Shining (film).
The Shining at the Internet Movie Database
The Shining at the TCM Movie Database
The Shining at Box Office Mojo
The Shining at Rotten Tomatoes
The Shining at Metacritic
The Kubrick Site
The Kubrick FAQ
Detailed comparison of American cut with European cut
Kubrick on The Shining, An interview with Michel Ciment
Detailing of alternate takes and different footage, as well as ABC's disclaimer the first time it was on national TV
In Depth Analysis of the Film
'Staircases to Nowhere', an oral history of the film as told by several crew members
Whatever Happened To: Lisa and Louise Burns


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The Shining (novel)
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 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

The Shining
Shiningnovel.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Dave Christensen
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Gothic novel
Horror
Publisher
Doubleday

Publication date
 January 28, 1977
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
497
ISBN
978-0-385-12167-5
Followed by
Doctor Sleep
The Shining is a Horror novel by American author Stephen King. Published in 1977, it is King's third published novel and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre. The setting and characters are influenced by King's personal experiences, including both his visit to The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his recovery from alcoholism. The novel was followed by a sequel, Doctor Sleep, which was published in 2013.
The Shining centers on the life of Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the historic Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. His family accompanies him on this job, including his young son Danny. Danny possesses "the shining," an array of psychic abilities that allow Danny to see the horrific past of the hotel. Soon, after a winter storm leaves them snowbound, the supernatural forces inhabiting the hotel influence Jack's sanity, leaving his wife and son in incredible danger.
The Shining was adapted into a feature film in 1980 by director Stanley Kubrick, with a screenplay co-written with Diane Johnson, which is regarded by some as one of the greatest films of all time.[1][2] King himself was disappointed with the film, stating it had abandoned several of his book's major themes. The Shining was later adapted into a television mini-series in 1997, closely monitored by King to ensure it followed the book.[3] King wrote the series himself and was reportedly unable to criticize the previous film due to his contract.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Background
3 Sequel
4 Limited edition
5 Footnotes
6 External links

Plot summary[edit]
The Shining mainly takes place in the fictional Overlook Hotel, an isolated, haunted resort located in the Colorado Rockies. The history of the hotel, which is described in backstory by several characters, includes the deaths of some of its guests and of former winter caretaker Delbert Grady, who succumbed to cabin fever and killed his family and himself.
The plot centers on Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their five-year-old son Danny, who move into the hotel after Jack accepts the position as winter caretaker. Jack is characterized as an aspiring writer[5] and recovering alcoholic troubled by past binges that, prior to the story, had caused him to accidentally break Danny's arm and lose his position as a teacher. Jack hopes that the seclusion at the hotel will help him reconnect with his family and give him the motivation needed to work on a play. Danny, unbeknownst to his parents, possesses telepathic abilities referred to as the "shining" that enable him to read minds and experience premonitions. Dick Hallorann, the chef of the Overlook, senses Danny's abilities and helps to explain them to him, giving Hallorann and Danny a special connection.[6]
As the Torrances settle in at the Overlook, Danny sees frightening ghosts and visions. Although Danny is close to his parents, he does not tell either of them about his visions because he senses that the care-taking job is important to his father and the family's future. Wendy considers leaving Jack at the Overlook to finish the job on his own; Danny refuses, thinking his father will be happier if they stay. However, Danny soon realizes that his presence in the hotel makes the supernatural activity more powerful, turning echoes of past tragedies into dangerous threats. Apparitions take form, and the garden's topiary animals come to life.
The Overlook has difficulty possessing Danny, so it begins to possess Jack, frustrating his need and desire to work. Jack starts to develop cabin fever, and the sinister ghosts of the hotel gradually begin to overtake him, making him increasingly unstable. One day, after a fight with Wendy, Jack finds the hotel's bar fully stocked with alcohol despite being previously empty, and witnesses a party at which he meets the ghost of a bartender named Lloyd. As he gets drunk, the hotel urges Jack to kill his wife and son. He initially resists, but the increasing influence of the hotel proves too great. He becomes a monster under the control of the hotel, truly unable to control his dark side.[7][8] Wendy and Danny get the better of Jack, locking him into the walk-in pantry, but the ghost of Delbert Grady releases him after he makes Jack promise to bring him Danny and to kill Wendy. Jack attacks Wendy with one of the hotel's roque mallets, but she escapes to the caretaker's suite and locks herself in the bathroom. Jack tries to break the door with the mallet, but she slashes his hand with a razor blade to slow him down.
Meanwhile, Dick Hallorann, the Overlook's head chef and a telepath like Danny, receives a psychic distress call from Danny while working at a winter resort in Florida. Hallorann rushes back to the Overlook, only to be attacked by the topiary animals and badly injured by Jack. As Jack pursues Danny through the Overlook, he briefly gains control of himself just long enough to tell Danny to run away. The hotel takes control of Jack again, causing him to violently batter his own face and skull with the mallet so Danny can no longer recognize him, and Danny tells him that the unstable boiler in the basement is about to explode. Jack hurries down to relieve the pressure as Danny, Wendy, and Hallorann flee. Jack is too late; the boiler explodes and destroys the Overlook. Fighting off a last attempt by the hotel to possess him, Hallorann guides Danny and Wendy to safety.
The book's epilogue is set during the next summer. Hallorann, who has taken a chef's job at a resort in Maine, comforts Danny over the loss of his father.
Background[edit]
After writing Carrie and Salem's Lot, both of which are set in small towns in King's home state of Maine, King was looking for a change of pace for the next book. "I wanted to spend a year away from Maine so that my next novel would have a different sort of background."[9] King opened an atlas of the US on the kitchen table and randomly pointed to a location, which turned out to be Boulder, Colorado.[10]
On October 30, 1974,[11] Stephen and Tabitha checked into the Stanley. Stephen and Tabitha were the only two guests in the hotel that night. "When we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the place — with all those long, empty corridors . . ."[9] They checked into room 217 which they found out was said to be haunted. This is where room 217 comes from in the book.[12]
Ten years prior, King had read Ray Bradbury's The Veldt and was inspired to someday write a story about a person whose dreams would become real. In 1972 King started a novel entitled Darkshine, which was to be about a psychic boy in a psychic amusement park, but the idea never came to fruition and King abandoned the book. During the night at the Stanley, this story came back to him.[13]
Tabitha and Stephen had dinner that evening in the grand dining room, totally alone. They were offered one choice for dinner, the only meal still available. Taped orchestral music played in the room and theirs was the only table set for dining. "Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book in my mind".[14]
After dinner, Tabitha decided to turn in, but Stephen took a walk around the empty hotel. He ended up in the bar and was served drinks by a bartender named Grady.[11]
"That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind."[10]

Sometimes you confess. You always hide what you're confessing to. That's one of the reasons why you make up the story. When I wrote The Shining, for instance, the protagonist of The Shining is a man who has broken his son's arm, who has a history of child beating, who is beaten himself. And as a young father with two children, I was horrified by my occasional feelings of real antagonism toward my children. Won't you ever stop? Won't you ever go to bed? And time has given me the idea that probably there are a lot of young fathers and young mothers both who feel very angry, who have angry feelings toward their children. But as somebody who has been raised with the idea that father knows best and Ward Cleaver on 'Leave It To Beaver,' and all this stuff, I would think to myself, Oh, if he doesn't shut up, if he doesn't shut up. . . . So when I wrote this book I wrote a lot of that down and tried to get it out of my system, but it was also a confession. Yes, there are times when I felt very angry toward my children and have even felt as though I could hurt them. Well, my kids are older now. Naomi is fifteen and Joey is thirteen and Owen is eight, and they're all super kids, and I don't think I've laid a hand on one of my kids in probably seven years, but there was a time ...[9]
According to "Guests and Ghosts," an Internet article, the Stanley, which was built by Freelan Oscar ("F.O.") Stanley, based on the designs of his wife, Flora, opened in 1909 and was "once a luxury hotel for the well-heeled Edwardian-era tourist". The hotel boasts having had such guests as not only King but also Theodore Roosevelt, Bob Dylan, Cary Grant, Doris Day, Billy Graham, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, and John Philip Sousa.[14]
The Shining was also heavily influenced by Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House,[15] Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death and The Fall of the House of Usher,[13] and Robert Marasco's Burnt Offerings.[10] The story has been often compared to Guy de Maupassant's story "The Inn".[16]
Prior to writing The Shining, King had written Roadwork and The Body which were both published later. The first draft of The Shining took less than four months to complete and he was able to publish it before the others.[10] The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on...".[17]
Bill Thompson, King's editor at Doubleday, tried to talk King out of The Shining as he felt after Carrie and 'Salem's Lot, King would get "typed" as a horror writer. King considered that a compliment.[10]
Originally there was a prologue titled "Before the Play" that chronicled earlier events in the Overlook's nightmarish history and an interlude in which a young Jack Torrance is himself abused by his father, also an alcoholic, while a voice tells him that "what you see is what you'll be". It was removed from the finished manuscript, although it was later published in the magazines Whispers and TV Guide (the latter, in an abridged version, to promote King's new miniseries adaptation of the novel). There also was an epilogue titled "After the Play", but it appears to no longer exist, as it was never published, and King maintains he does not have a copy of it.[18][19]
Sequel[edit]
Main article: Doctor Sleep (novel)
On November 19, 2009, during a reading at the Canon Theatre in Toronto, King described to the audience an idea for a sequel to The Shining. The idea was prompted by the occasional person asking, "What ever happened to Danny?"[20] The story would follow Danny Torrance, now in his 40s, living in New Hampshire, where he works as an orderly at a hospice and helps terminally ill patients pass away with the aid of some extraordinary powers.[21] Later, on December 1, 2009, King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next, Doctor Sleep or the next Dark Tower novel:

I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak).[22]
Voting ended on December 31, 2009, and it was revealed that Doctor Sleep received 5,861 votes, while The Wind Through the Keyhole received 5,812.[23]
In 2011, King posted an update confirming that Doctor Sleep was in the works and that the plot includes a traveling group of psychic vampires called The True Knot.[24][25]
Doctor Sleep was published on September 24, 2013.
Limited edition[edit]
Subterranean Press will be releasing a limited edition of The Shining with illustrations by Vincent Chong. It will be available in three different editions; a slipcased Gift Edition with 1500 copies, a traycased Limited Edition with 750 copies and a traycased Lettered Edition with a remarque from Chong with 52 copies.[26]
Footnotes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. September 2013. p. 1. ISBN 9780787650155.
2.Jump up ^ Thomson, David (2013-03-25). "The Days and Nights at the Overlook". New Republic 244 (4): 56–58.
3.Jump up ^ Smith, Greg (Summer 2002). "The Literary Equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries?: Academics, Moralists, and the Stephen King Phenomenon". Midwest Quarterly 43 (4): 329–345.
4.Jump up ^ Walls, Jeannette (August 1996). "Redrum, he wrote". Esquire 126 (2): 22.
5.Jump up ^ Bruhm, Steven (January 1996). . "On Stephen King's Phallus; Or the Postmodern Gothic". Narrative 4 (1): 55–73. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
6.Jump up ^ Hohne, Karen A. (Fall 1994). "The Power of Spoken Word in the Works of Stephen King". Journal of Popular Culture 28 (2): 93–103.
7.Jump up ^ Martin Alegre, Sara (June 2001). "Nightmares of Childhood: The Child and the Monster in Four Novels by Stephen King". Atlantis 23 (1): 105–114.
8.Jump up ^ Holland-Toll, Linda J. (Fall 1999). "Bakhtin's Carnival Reversed:King's The Shining as Dark Carnival". Journal of Popular Culture 33 (2): 131–146.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Stephen King Companion" Beahm, George Andrews McMeel press 1989
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Stephen King: America's Best Loved Boogeyman" Beahm, George Andrews McMeel Press 1998
11.^ Jump up to: a b "Stephen King Country" Beahm, George Running Press 1999
12.Jump up ^ This is asserted by the management of the Stanley Hotel on their tours and on their website.
13.^ Jump up to: a b "Stephen King: The Art of Darkness" Winter, Douglas E. Plume 1984
14.^ Jump up to: a b http://www.vvdailypress.com/2001-2003/103985280065691.html (captured 6/15/06)[dead link]
15.Jump up ^ "The Annotated Guide to Stephen King" Collings, Michael R. Starmount House 1986
16.Jump up ^ "Guy de Maupassant Biography". Classiclit.about.com. 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
17.Jump up ^ King discusses this in Underwood, Tim; Chuck Miller (1988). Bare Bones: Conversations in Terror with Stephen King'. McGraw-Hill. p. 125. ISBN 9780446390576.
18.Jump up ^ "Before the Play". StephenKing.com. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
19.Jump up ^ "Stephen King Rare Works". Horrorking.com. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
20.Jump up ^ Breznican, Anthony (2013-01-18). "Stephen King on His Shining Sequel". Entertainment Weekly (1242): 56–57.
21.Jump up ^ "Stephen King planning possible sequel to The Shining".
22.Jump up ^ "Steve needs your input". Stephenking.com. 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
23.Jump up ^ "Doctor Sleep wins?". Stephenking.com. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
24.Jump up ^ "Dr. Sleep Sequel Confirmed".
25.Jump up ^ "Stephen King Officially Announces 'The Shining' Sequel, 'Dr. Sleep'". 2011-09-26.
26.Jump up ^ "Subterranean Press: The Shining".
External links[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Portal icon United States portal
Portal icon 1970s portal
Portal icon Horror portal
The Shining title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Bookpoi - How to identify first edition copies of The Shining by Stephen King.


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Crimson King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the Stephen King character. For the musical group, see King Crimson.



[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.


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The Crimson King
The Dark Tower character
A man wearing a red robe, his face shrouded by the hood, sitting on a throne made out of skulls above several corpses.
The Crimson King as illustrated by Michael Whelan.

First appearance
Insomnia
Last appearance
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (in chronological sequence)
Created by
Stephen King
Information

Nickname(s)
Red Daddy
 The Red King
 Big Red
Aliases
Los'
 Ram Abbalah
 The Kingfish
 The Red King
 Lord of Discordia
 Lord of Spiders
Satan[1]
Species
Trans-dimensional Demon
Gender
Male
Occupation
Leader of the Random
Relatives
Arthur Eld (father)[2]
 Crimson Queen (mother)[2]
Mordred Deschain (son)
 Randall Flagg (cousin)[3]
Wizard's Rainbow (cousin)[3]
Roland Deschain (29th-generation half-nephew)[4]
The Crimson King, known to some as Los' or Ram Abbalah, is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the main antagonist of King's seven-volume Dark Tower series, as well as the novels Insomnia and Black House. Described as "Gan's crazy side",[5] the Crimson King is the ultimate ruler of the Red (also called the Random and the Outer Dark), and the archetypal embodiment of evil in Stephen King's fictional multiverse. His goal is to topple the Dark Tower which serves as the lynchpin of time and space, destroying the multitude of universes which revolve around it so that he can rule in the primordial chaos which follows.


Contents  [hide]
1 Fictional biography
2 Characteristics
3 Inspiration for the character
4 In other King works
5 References
6 External links

Fictional biography[edit]
According to the Dark Tower comics, the Crimson King was the bastard offspring of Arthur Eld, a legendary gunslinger, and the Crimson Queen, a demonic creature of the Prim – the chaotic primordial void from which the Dark Tower, and all universes, arose. With the aid of the wizard Maerlyn, the Crimson Queen took on human form and deceived Arthur Eld to achieve this union. The main protagonist of the series, Roland Deschain, is himself a distant descendant of Eld; this makes the Crimson King a half-uncle of Roland, albeit through many generations. This is the key through which Roland can defeat the King, as stated in a prophecy laid out during the course of the series. In the one-shot comic The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer, Randall Flagg and the Pink Grapefruit (one of the thirteen Bends o' the Rainbow) refer to the Crimson King as their cousin.
The Crimson King is introduced in the Stephen King novel Insomnia, where he is depicted as a powerful and mysterious entity that forces others to do his bidding. He seeks to kill a child named Patrick Danville who is prophesied to aid in bringing the King down; he is defeated during a confrontation with that novel's main protagonist, Ralph Roberts. He makes his next appearance at the end of Black House, where he is revealed to be responsible for the events of that novel and is seen to have been weakened by the actions of protagonist Jack Sawyer and his allies. In the Dark Tower novels, the King is revealed to be behind the destruction of the beams that hold up the Dark Tower which holds reality and all of the universes together. He is shown to have gone insane and his intentions are not quite clear beyond that he wishes to destroy the Tower and possibly rule the darkness that would follow. He rules from the lands of Discordia and, as his insanity worsens, he kills nearly everyone in his employ and even kills himself. He thus becomes undead and possibly immune to Roland's guns. He reaches the tower before Roland, but is trapped on a balcony on one of its lower levels. When Roland finally meets the King at the climax of the final Dark Tower novel, he appears as an old man with a white beard and blood-red eyes who throws grenades from his imprisonment in the Tower. As previously predicted, Roland and Patrick Danville bring about the Crimson King's downfall. Patrick captures the King's image with his supernatural artistic abilities, using a mixture of Roland's blood and a rose's petals to finish the drawing; then he erases the King from existence, forever banishing him to some other world, or to the todash space between the worlds. Only his red eyes remain, trapped eternally on the balcony of the Tower.
However, the series ends with Roland being transported back in time to the Mohaine desert to repeat his quest from the beginning, this time with the Horn of Eld. The final line of the series reveals that the deceased Randall Flagg is alive once more.[6] The Crimson King's status in this altered reality is uncertain.
Characteristics[edit]
The Crimson King has taken many forms throughout the series. In The Dark Tower VI, Susannah tells Mia that, in her world, people see the Crimson King as a horned, red-skinned monster called Satan.[1] As evidenced in Insomnia, the Crimson King is a shapeshifter; like the titular creature in It, he takes the form most terrifying to whoever confront him. When he is injured by Ralph Roberts, he reverts first to a handsome, blonde man, and then to a creature Ralph is unable to see properly, suggesting that his true form cannot be comprehended by human beings. When he finally appears near the end of the Dark Tower series, the Crimson King has the appearance of an old man with white hair and one fang, but in the comics he appears both as a monstrous entity with spiderlike characteristics much like his son Mordred, as well as a bald man with a large tusk or horn on his head. Throughout all of his appearances his one defining characteristic is his blood red eyes, which fascinate anyone who looks into them. Patrick Danville also mentions that the King fades in and out of view due to his transcendent magical powers.
The Crimson King prefers to work from behind the scenes. His sigil, a glaring red eye, is seen throughout each of the books in which he has appeared. He employs other people to do his bidding, as well as numerous supernatural beings, including Atropos, Mr. Munshun, Dandelo, Randall Flagg, John Farson, and various vampires, low men, and taheen.
Inspiration for the character[edit]
King drew inspiration for the Crimson King from the 1969 song and album In the Court of the Crimson King by British progressive rock band King Crimson. The name of the album appears in Insomnia to signify the protagonist's entry into the Crimson King's realm.
In other King works[edit]
The Crimson King is also mentioned in the Stephen King novel Hearts in Atlantis.[7]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, 10th Stanza: Susannah-Mio, Divided Girl of Mine, Seventeen
2.^ Jump up to: a b David, Peter (w), Lee, Jae (p). The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home (2008-07-02), Marvel Comics
3.^ Jump up to: a b Furth, Robin (w), Isanove, Richard (p). The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer (2009-04-15), Marvel Comics
4.Jump up ^ The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Part Two: Susan, Chapter V: Welcome to Town, 2
5.Jump up ^ The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Chapter III: The Castle of the Crimson King, Three
6.Jump up ^ "The Book Spoiler for the book - THE DARK TOWER 7".
7.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1999-11-14). Hearts in Atlantis. New York, New York: Scribner. pp. 130, 134. ISBN 0-684-85351-5.
External links[edit]
Official Dark Tower web site
Official site for The Dark Tower Comics
Theories on the Crimson King
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touched_by_the_Crimson_King


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Randall Flagg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Randall Flagg
Stephen King character
An man with a lined face wearing a hooded jacked and looking into the camera. He wears peace cross, smiley face and 'eye' buttons.
Randall Flagg, as depicted by Michael Whelan

First appearance
The Stand
Created by
Stephen King
Portrayed by
Jamey Sheridan
Information

Nickname(s)
The Walkin' Dude[1]
 The Dark Man[1]
 The Hardcase[1]
 Ageless Stranger[2]
 The Man In Black[2]
Aliases
Walter Padick[3]
 Walter o'Dim[2]
 Marten Broadcloak[2]
Nyarlathotep[1][3]
 Russell Faraday[1]
 Richard Fannin
 Richard Freemantle
 Rudin Filaro
 The Covenant Man
Species
Quasi-immortal wizard[3]
Gender
Male
Relatives
Maerlyn (father)
 Selena (mother)
 Morphia (aunt)
 Sam Padick (foster father)
Nationality
Delain
Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by Stephen King. Flagg has appeared in at least nine of King's novels, sometimes as the primary antagonist and other times in a cameo appearance. He has a variety of names, usually initialed "R.F." but with occasional exceptions, such as Walter o'Dim (originally envisioned by King as a separate character) in The Dark Tower series.[3] Flagg is described as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark",[3] with supernatural abilities involving necromancy, prophecy, and influence over animal and human behavior. His goals typically center on bringing down civilizations through destruction and conflict.[4]
Flagg first appeared in The Stand as a demonic figure who wreaks havoc after a plague kills most of the population. He makes his second appearance in The Eyes of the Dragon as an evil wizard trying to plunge the fictional medieval city of Delain into chaos. Flagg was a primary antagonist in King's epic series, The Dark Tower, who tries to keep protagonist Roland Deschain from reaching the Tower (the linchpin of existence) so he can claim it for himself and become a god. The Dark Tower expanded on Flagg's background and motivation, linking his previous appearances. Aside from King's novels, Flagg was featured in a television miniseries adaptation of The Stand (played by Jamey Sheridan) and appeared in Marvel Comics' adaptations of The Dark Tower and The Stand.
King initially cited Donald DeFreeze, primary kidnapper of Patty Hearst, as his inspiration for Flagg. Later, he attributed Flagg to an image of a man walking the roads in cowboy boots, denim jeans, and a jacket, a notion which "came out of nowhere" when he was in college. As King's self-described best villain, Flagg's character and the nature of his evil has been the subject of considerable critical attention.


Contents  [hide]
1 Appearances 1.1 Novels
1.2 Film
1.3 Comics
2 Concept and creation
3 Characterization
4 References

Appearances[edit]
Novels[edit]



There was a dark hilarity in his face, and perhaps in his heart, too, you would think—and you would be right. It was the face of a hatefully happy man, a face that radiated a horrible handsome warmth, a face to make water glasses shatter in the hands of tired truck-stop waitresses, to make small children crash their trikes into board fences and then run wailing to their mommies with stake-shaped splinters sticking out of their knees. It was a face guaranteed to make barroom arguments over batting averages turn bloody.
Stephen King, The Stand[1]
Randall Flagg makes his first appearance in King's 1978 apocalyptic novel, The Stand, where he tries to construct an eponymous civilization in the United States after a plague kills most of the population. Flagg is described as a "tall man of no age" in old blue jeans, denim jacket and old cowboy boots. He wears an old Boy Scout knapsack, and his jacket pockets are stuffed with pamphlets from dozens of fringe splinter groups. Flagg’s background is vague, even to him; he says that at some point he just “became”, although he remembers being a Marine, a Klansman, a Viet Cong member and having a hand in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. In Las Vegas Flagg attracts people drawn to destruction, power and draconian rule (fascism), using crucifixion, torture and other punishments on those disloyal to him. His followers reorganize society, rebuilding the city. Flagg plans to attack and destroy a rival emerging civilization (Mother Abagail's Free Zone in Boulder, Colorado) to become the dominant society in the former United States.[1]
After two of Flagg's followers fail to kill the leaders of the Free Zone, the Boulder community sends a group of men to Las Vegas to stop him. After being taken prisoner, the men are brought before the city for a public execution. Before Flagg can kill them, one of his most loyal and devout followers (the Trashcan Man) arrives with a nuclear warhead. As Trash dies of radiation poisoning the Hand of God appears, detonating the warhead (which annihilates Flagg's followers and the two remaining prisoners). The novel was re-published in 1990 in an expanded edition, with text cut from its original edition. This edition has Flagg reappearing on a beach, with a new group of people to control.[1]
Flagg later appears in The Eyes of the Dragon (1986) as an evil wizard wreaking havoc in the medieval country of Delain. He is described as a "thin and stern faced man of about 50 [years of age]", despite being much older. He hides himself under a dark cloak, and most of his magic comes from spells, potions and poisons. He is described as a "sickness" which seems to reappear in Delain when there is something worth destroying.[5] In this novel, Flagg schemes to throw the kingdom of Delain into chaos by poisoning the king and framing Prince Peter (legitimate heir to the throne) for the crime. Thomas (Peter's naive, resentful younger brother) becomes king instead; Flagg, whom he sees as his only friend, becomes his royal advisor. Due to his youth and inexperience, Thomas allows Flagg great power and is easily manipulated by the wizard. Flagg becomes the de facto ruler of Delain, plunging the kingdom into a dark age. Years later Thomas confronts Flagg about his father's murder, which he witnessed as a child but suppressed the memory out of fear. Thomas shoots Flagg in the eye with an arrow, and Flagg disappears from the kingdom. Peter is given his rightful throne; Thomas and his butler, Dennis, leave the kingdom in search of Flagg. In the novel Thomas and Dennis find Flagg, but the nature of their encounter is never revealed[5] and Flagg survives to engender chaos in later stories.
In Hearts in Atlantis (1999), Raymond Fiegler is identified near the novel's end as leader of an activist group when he prevents Carol Gerber from retrieving an unexploded bomb on a college campus.[6] King never identifies Fiegler as Flagg, but Christopher Golden and Hank Wagner suggest in The Complete Stephen King Universe that there is little doubt Fiegler is Flagg. Golden and Wagner cite evidence such as Fiegler's ability to make himself appear "dim" (an ability shared by Flagg in Eyes of the Dragon), his manipulation of Carol Gerber and her activist friends and Flagg's frequent use of aliases (usually with the initials "R.F.")[7]

Spooky looking character in a hooded gown, holding fortune cards. The background is a desert.

 Walter o'Dim, Flagg's main persona in The Dark Tower. O'Dim was originally written as a separate character from Flagg, but King later combined the two. Art by Michael Whelan
Flagg makes his next several appearances in King's Dark Tower series, which follows gunslinger Roland Deschain as he travels in search of the Dark Tower. Flagg's presence is felt in the opening sentence of the first book: "The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed". In this series, Flagg assumes the guise of several individuals. He first appears as Walter o'Dim, chased across the desert by Roland. Identifying himself as the demon Legion, he says that Roland must defeat him to enter the tower. In flashbacks Flagg assumes the identity of Marten Broadcloak, a wizard who conspires with the Crimson King to cause the fall of the Dark Tower. In the original Marten is a separate person from Walter, who is also separate Flagg, but all 3 are ret-conned into one character in later editions. In the original edition Walter speaks derisively of Marten, implying Marten would not be able to handle the vision that Walter showed Roland.
When Roland was young, Marten had an affair with Roland's mother, Gabrielle, using the affair to provoke Roland to take the gunslinger test early. He hoped Roland would fail (so he would be exiled) but Roland passed the test. Eventually, Roland catches Walter; they have a long discussion about Roland's destiny and the Tower which causes him to slip into delirium. He awakens to find a pile of bones in Walter's place.[8] In the original edition Walter and Marten are separate characters, with Walter dying at the end of the novel. When King published an expanded edition of the novel Walter and Marten are portrayed as identical, and Walter fakes his own death.[2]
Flagg appears briefly in a flashback in the 2nd installment of the Dark Tower Series "The Drawing of the 3." Roland recalls seeing 2 men named Thomas and Dennis pursuing a man named Flagg who was almost certainly a demon. These seem to be the same characters from the Eyes of the Dragon. At the time it was written, this version of Flagg was probably still intended to be a separate character than both Marten Broadcloak and Walter o'Dim. This is interesting because Roland actually met the character "Flagg" and thought of him as a different person than Walter and Marten. This is also the first example of The Dark Tower series crossing over with one of Stephen Kings other books.
Flagg makes his next full appearance in the series' third installment, The Waste Lands. In the city of Lud, Flagg saves Tick-Tock Man Andrew Quick (an enemy of Roland's ka-tet, left for dead in an earlier confrontation). Quick becomes Flagg's devoted servant, and Flagg assumes the name of Richard Fannin.[9] The character returns in the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, as Marten Broadcloak. Also identifying himself as Flagg, he warns Roland and his ka-tet to abandon their quest for the Dark Tower. In flashbacks the reader learns that Flagg (as Walter o'Dim) was an emissary for John Farson, one of those responsible for the destruction of Roland's home Gilead.[3]
The "Argument" (a summary of the series thus far) beginning Wolves of the Calla—the fifth novel in the series—notes that Flagg is known as Broadcloak, Fannin and John Farson, depending on the world in which he lives. In Wolves of the Calla, Flagg makes a brief appearance (as Walter o'Dim) when Father Callahan arrives in Roland's world. Flagg gives Callahan Black Thirteen, a dangerous crystal ball, hoping it will kill Roland on his way to the tower. In this encounter, Flagg is described with "the face of a human weasel", and "the same welling red circle" on his forehead as the Can-toi.[10] His appearance in The Song of Susannah is via a flashback revealing that Flagg bargained with the succubus Mia; this resulted in the birth of Mordred Deschain, son of both Roland and the Crimson King.[3]
In the last novel Flagg indicates that he is not John Farson, but served under him until the latter's downfall. Flagg reveals his plans to climb the Dark Tower, see the room at the top and become the god of all. His ultimate goal is to kill Roland Deschain: "...most of all for the death of his mother, whom I once loved." Flagg believes that he can only achieve these goals by killing Mordred and taking his birthmark-stained foot. Although he tries to befriend Mordred and pledge allegiance to him, Mordred telepathically senses Flagg's true motives and eats him, forcing him to rip out his eyes and tongue first.
The Dark Tower reveals more of Flagg’s background, relating that he was born Walter Padick at least 1,500 years earlier in Delain to Sam the Miller of Eastar’d Barony. At age 13 Walter set out for a life on the road, but was raped by a fellow wanderer. (Bev Vincent hypothesized in The Road to the Dark Tower that Flagg's later actions towards Delain in The Eyes of the Dragon may have been revenge for his abuse as a child.[11]) Resisting the temptation to crawl back home, Padick instead moves towards his destiny; he learns various forms of magic, achieving a quasi-immortality. After centuries of wreaking havoc Flagg attracts the attention of the Crimson King, who adopts him as his emissary.
In 2013, King published a new story from The Dark Tower entitled The Wind Through the Keyhole. Here Flagg is depicted as the Covenant Man: central villain of the book's story-within-a-story, "The Wind Through the Keyhole", a legend from Mid-World set years before the series' beginning. He is the Barony's "tax collector" from Gilead, attempting to collect taxes from residents of the small town of Tree. The Covenant Man sends the story's protagonist (a young boy named Tim) on a perilous quest through the Endless Forest to save his mother; unbeknownst to Tim, the Covenant Man is supplying him with false prophecies and misinformation as part of a cruel practical joke. However, Tim succeeds in his journey; he saves his mother after encountering the wizard Maerlyn, who has been imprisoned in the form of a "tyger". While the Covenant Man is not explicitly identified as Flagg, with only the initials "RF/MB" in his signature as identification, Stephen King confirmed in an interview with Bev Vincent for his book The Dark Tower Companion that the two are one and the same. [12]

Close-up of a smiling, long haired young man.

Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg. King wanted to cast a lesser-known actor as this character.
Film[edit]
King was influential in deciding who would play Flagg in the television adaptation of The Stand. He felt Flagg was the best villain he had ever created, and wanted the actor playing him to be right for the part. Director Mick Garris and the studios wanted to give the role to an established star such as Christopher Walken, James Woods, Willem Dafoe or Jeff Goldblum. King himself had suggested Robert Duvall in his introduction to the novel.[13] Miguel Ferrer, who played Flagg's henchman in the film, was interested in playing the villain.[14]
King's idea for the role was someone who "would make the ladies' hearts go pitty pat, that looked like the type of guy you would see on the cover of one of those sweet, savage love paperback romances". He eventually persuaded the decision-makers to cast a lesser-known actor as Flagg, which turned out to be Jamey Sheridan.[14]
Sheridan's performance was generally well received. Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker wrote that the best acting came from Sheridan, who gave the character a “grim intensity”. He commented that Sheridan had “leading-man looks” with the hair of a “dissolute heavy metal star”, making him “unsettling” even when not wearing makeup that makes him look like a devil.[15] Douglas E. Winter of Fangoria magazine believed that Sheridan might have been a bit young and “zany” for the part, but gave a credible performance; he said that Sheridan attacked the role “with the swagger of Elvis, the sway of David Koresh and as much craziness as your heart desires (and network TV allows)".[16]
In February 2011, Warner Bros. announced plans to produce a new feature film adaptation of The Stand. King commented that he would like to see Dutch actor Rutger Hauer in the role of Flagg, but said that he may be too old for the part.[17]
Comics[edit]
Beginning in 2007, Marvel Comics released a series of comics which were a prequel to the Dark Tower novels.[18] Randall Flagg, appearing as Marten Broadcloak and Walter o'Dim, plays a significant role in the series.
In April 2009 Marvel released a single-issue comic written by Robin Furth and illustrated by Richard Isanove entitled The Dark Tower: Sorcerer, which focused on the character of Marten Broadcloak-Walter o'Dim.[19] Sorcerer provides an origin for the character different from the one King initially wrote, explaining that Walter was the son of the wizard Maerlyn and Selena (Goddess of the Black Moon). Walter was left at the home of a mill owner, Sam Padick, "to learn the ways of men". At age 13, Walter burns down his adoptive father's mill before running away to find his true father (Walter's rape is not mentioned). Furth wrote in the afterword that the idea of Maerlyn being Walter's father came from King. The comic also reveals that Marten had poisoned Roland's infant brother. Furth introduced the idea that the Bends o' the Rainbow, 13 magic spheres created by Maerlyn in the distant past, are sentient beings able to project personifications which can interact with other characters. Marten has a sexual relationship with the female personification of Maerlyn's Grapefruit (one of the spheres). This is described as incestuous, since the beings were given life by Maerlyn (Walter's biological father); Marten and the Grapefruit repeatedly call each other as brother and sister.[20] The siblings also refer to the Crimson King as their "cousin", indicating that Maerlyn is related to him. In her afterword Furth says that although she conceived these ideas, King approved them. According to the comic, Marten's romantic feelings for Roland's mother trigger jealousy in the Grapefruit (who influences Roland to unwittingly kill his mother). (In Wizard and Glass, the witch known as Rhea of the Cöos orchestrate Roland's matricide as revenge for his killing of her pet snake.) Enraged, Marten imprisons his "sister" in the Grapefruit and vows revenge on Roland for his involvement in his beloved's death. Addressing inconsistencies between the novels and the comics, Furth stated that the comics exist on another level of the Tower: "a spinoff world, one which is very similar to, but not exactly the same as the one where [the Dark Tower novels] take place". [21]
On the character of Marten, Furth noted that "[he] is one of the scariest characters that Stephen King has ever created. He moves from book to book, bringing chaos and anarchy with him...He is quite a demonic figure, and as such he is one of the great anti-heroes of contemporary popular fiction" and that "[j]ourneying into Walter's mind is a pretty wild experience and at times a little frightening. You have to travel to very dark places".[22] To find Walter's voice, Furth went to John Milton's Paradise Lost, William Blake's Proverbs of Hell, the Biblical Song of Solomon and the writings of Aleister Crowley for inspiration. [23]
In his interview with Bev Vincent, Isanove opined that Walter was his favorite character to draw; "Jae [Lee, the original artist for the series] established him as almost androgynous. He's always got this bare chest, and he's very feminine in the way he moves, with his hands raised. He's always moving his hands around. He's got this weird face, with a broken nose and greasy hair. He's starting to bald, but he's always got a very white separation in the middle of it. He's just so greasy, he's great to draw. And he still has to be seductive at the same time, so you can't make him repulsive... He's such a great character."[24]
Marvel later released an comic book adaptation of The Stand, which began in September 2008 and ran for thirty issues.[25] Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa described Flagg as "The man of nightmares. Or, put another way, our nightmares given human (more or less) form. The dark side of the American Dream...King's 'Walkin' Dude' may not be the Devil, himself, as Mother Abagail says, but he comes pretty damn close..."[26] Initially, artist Mike Perkins said he felt "Flagg needed to be designed less as a man—more as a force of nature. His hair will obscure his features, his face will be almost always in heavy shadow. This is the creature lurking under your bed, in your wardrobe, in your nightmares. Slightly familiar but wholly terrifying".[26] Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa later commented on the original idea of hiding Flagg's face: "...the further into the book and the adaptation you go, the less feasible that becomes. Stephen spends so much time describing [Flagg]'s features and smiles, you need to show those things". [27]
Concept and creation[edit]

Close up of a short-haired man wearing glasses.

 Stephen King has said that the inspiration for Flagg's character "came out of nowhere".
King initially named Donald DeFreeze, lead kidnapper in the Patty Hearst case, as his inspiration for Randall Flagg. According to King, he remembered the Patty Hearst case when he began to write a description of DeFreeze: "Donald DeFreeze is a dark man". He remembered that in photographs of the bank robbery in which Patty Hearst participated that DeFreeze was only partially visible, hidden under a large hat. What he looked like was based on guesses made by people who only saw a portion of him. This inspired King, who then wrote "A dark man with no face". After reading "Once in every generation the plague will fall among them", King began writing The Stand and developing the character of Randall Flagg.[28]
In 2004, King stated that the inspiration for Flagg came to him "out of nowhere" while he was attending college. According to him, the author had an image of a man in cowboy boots and denim jeans and jacket who always walked the roads. The character inspired King to write "The Dark Man", a poem about a man who rides the rails and confesses to murder and rape. To the author, what made Flagg interesting was that he was a villain who was "always on the outside looking in". King has said that he thinks Flagg has been a presence since he began writing.[29]
Characterization[edit]
Characteristic of Randall Flagg is his embodiment of evil. When King created the character, he based him around what he believed evil represented. To King, Flagg is “somebody who’s very charismatic, laughs a lot, [is] tremendously attractive to men and women both, and [is] somebody who just appeals to the worst in all of us”.[29] This idea carries over into The Stand, in which Flagg first appears as the personification of evil opposing Mother Abagail (the personification of good). Character Tom Cullen ascribes to Flagg the ability to kill animals and inflict cancer at will; he also refers to him as the demon Legion and the Lovecraftian entity Nyarlathotep.[1] King wanted Flagg to embody a "gigantic evil", although he intended the character to weaken by the end of The Stand.[30] He said, "I think the Devil is probably a pretty funny guy. Flagg is like the archetype of everything that I know about real evil, going back all the way to Charles Starkweather in the '50s — he is somebody who is empty and who has to be filled with other people's hates, fears, resentments, laughs. Flagg, Koresh, Jim Jones, Hitler — they're all basically the same guy".[31] Although Flagg was not intended to represent Satan, this did not detract from what King sees as his ultimate goal. He notes that no matter who sees him or how he is seen (Flagg appears differently to different individuals), his message is the same: "I know all the things that you want and I can give them to you and all you have to do is give me your soul".[29]
Critics also note Flagg’s penchant for evil. Tony Magistrale sees Flagg as a Shakespearian villain (comparing him to Iago, Edmund and Richard III), contending that Flagg is an antihero. Magistrale believes that Flagg’s evil is based on his ability to replace peace with conflict and unity with destruction; although he seeks power, it is merely a resource to achieve a greater level of destruction.[32] Heidi Stringell finds Flagg “an embodiment of pure evil”, contending that King sees good and evil as “real forces”; Flagg’s embodiment of evil is confirmed by the fact that “he is a killer, a maker of mischief, a liar, and a tempter”. To Stringell, Flagg’s disappearance at the end of The Stand shows that “evil ultimately leads nowhere”.[33] The author calls Flagg a “generic hybrid” of the archetypical “Dark Man and the Trickster”. To her, the combination of these two characteristics (found in different cultural realms) forces people to face their “flawed humanity” with the “amorality” Flagg represents.[34] Jenifer Paquette writes that "Flagg's horror is that he looks like an ordinary man, and his behavior is a mockery of humanity — a terrible insight into the human psyche. King suggests that the thing to fear the most is inside ourselves." [35]
Douglas Winter believes that Flagg epitomizes the Gothic villain—an “atavistic embodiment of evil”—since his appearance is indistinct, malleable and a “collection of masks”. Flagg symbolizes “the inexplicable fear of the return of bygone powers—both technological and, as his last name intimates, sociopolitical”. Like other Gothic villains, Flagg’s plans seem to fail at every turn as he seems to need to convince others of his importance. Winter asserts that Flagg is a Miltonic superman who receives his strength from a dark, mysterious source. He compares him to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: both collapse when directly confronted.[36] Alissa Stickler describes Flagg as a “contemporary medievalist interpretation on the themes of evil, magic and the (d)evil figure”. She likens Flagg to Merlin, whispering in the ear of Arthur. Stickler notes that Flagg is politically powerful in The Stand and The Eyes of the Dragon; he uses his power differently in each novel, challenging depictions of evil and witchcraft common in medieval times. She explains that there does not appear to be a higher power to which Flagg “must appeal to his abilities” (as there is with traditional evil). Flagg is more of a “humanesque evil”, which works against him as much as it does for him. His supernatural knowledge is fallible, and the customary black-and-white depiction is replaced with an “acceptance of a shadowy gray area”. Stickler says that although Flagg appears “terrifying and supernatural” as depicted by King, there are no absolutes. She concludes that Flagg represents the medieval monster both past and future, which challenges (yet supports) the literary Middle Ages.[4]
Flagg’s character has its detractors. In his essay "The Glass-Eyed Dragon", author L. Sprague de Camp criticizes Flagg in Eyes of the Dragon, saying that he is one of the least-believable characters in the book and too evil to be credible. According to de Camp, absolute evil is hard to envision; whereas Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin believed they were improving the world, Flagg only enjoys causing destruction and chaos. De Camp notes that Flagg fails to see that there is no advantage to his actions.[37]



Walter's eyes widen, and for a moment he looks deeply hurt. This may be absurd, but Callahan is looking into the man's deep eyes and feels sure that the emotion is nonetheless genuine. And the surety robs him of any last hope that all this might be a dream, or a final brilliant interval before true death. In dreams—his, at least—the bad guys, the scary guys, never have complex emotions.
Stephen King, Wolves of the Calla[10]
Flagg's embodiment of evil is not the only characteristic seen by critics. Joseph Reino commented that the character's presence in The Stand was "Stephen King's version of a pestilential Big Brother".[38] Tony Magistrale revisits the character in a second book, this time comparing him to Norman Mailer. Here, Magistrale states that in The Stand Flagg gives the reader an “illustration of King’s jaundiced perspective of modern America” as he presents the consequences of technology-worship and the sacrifice of “moral integrity to the quest for synthetic productivity”.[39]
Flagg's background as a rape victim and its impact on his character have also been explored. Patrick McAleer argues that Flagg's situation is the most sympathetic of all of King's characters, and his evil may be retribution: "[I]n suspending any disbelief in the possibility that reprisal is a reaction to rape, the life of Flagg becomes one that looks to strike a balance for the sexual crime committed against him. And although Flagg's possible search for justice and balance is that which becomes imbalanced and even prejudiced, the mitigating factor here is that Flagg is not an originator of evil - he is just caught up in its web as another wronged individual seeking justice". McAleer compares Flagg to Satan in Paradise Lost, suggesting that he may be another "fallen angel who has a valid case supporting his devilry". While agreeing that Flagg can be seen "relishing in evil deeds at almost every juncture", he contends that no judgement can be made without the full story and context for his actions.[40]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i King, Stephen (1990). The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition. New York: Doubleday. pp. 214–215. ISBN 0-385-19957-0.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e King, Stephen (2003). The Gunslinger: Revised and Expanded Edition. Viking Penguin. p. 230. ISBN 0-670-03254-9.
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Furth, Robin (2006). The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance. New York: Scribner. pp. 265–268. ISBN 0-7432-9734-2.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Stickler, Alissa (2002). "The Mid(Evil) Nightmare of Yesterday and Tomorrow: Flagg as the Immortal Monster in Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon and The Stand". This Year's Work in Medievalism 17: 124–138..
5.^ Jump up to: a b King, Stephen (1987). The Eyes of the Dragon. New York: Viking. pp. 48–50. ISBN 0-670-81458-X.
6.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1999). Hearts in Atlantis. New York: Scribner. p. 454. ISBN 0-684-84490-7.
7.Jump up ^ Golden, Christopher; Hank Wagner (2006). The Complete Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 518. ISBN 0-312-32490-1.
8.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (September 1988). The Gunslinger. Broadway, New York: Plume. p. 215. ISBN 0-452-26134-1.
9.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Waste Lands. Plume. p. 387. ISBN 0-452-27962-3.
10.^ Jump up to: a b King, Stephen (November 2003). Wolves of the Calla. Donald M. Grant/Scribner. p. 463. ISBN 1-880418-56-8.
11.Jump up ^ Vincent, Bev (2004). The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus. New York: New American Library. p. 254. ISBN 0-451-21304-1.
12.Jump up ^ Vincent, Bev (April 2013). The Dark Tower Companion. New American Library. p. 107. ISBN 978-0451237996.
13.Jump up ^ Stephen King, The Stand, 1990 Doubleday edition, page xii
14.^ Jump up to: a b King, Stephen (1999). Stephen King's The Stand (DVD). Artisan.
15.Jump up ^ Tucker, Ken (1994-05-06). "The Stand". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
16.Jump up ^ Winter, Douglas E. (June 1994). "A Television Stand-Out". Fangoria. p. 33.
17.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (February 3, 2011). "Stephen King:: 10 things I know about the remake of 'The Stand'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
18.Jump up ^ Colton, David (2006-12-18). "'Dark Tower' looms in graphic form.". USA Today.
19.Jump up ^ Marvel.com Details on The Dark Tower: Sorcerer #1
20.Jump up ^ "Preview: Dark Tower: Sorcerer #1". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
21.Jump up ^ Furth, Robin (w). The Dark Tower: Sorcerer 1: 33 (June 2009), Marvel Comics
22.Jump up ^ Kleid, Neil (2009-03-12). "Dark Tower: Last Days of Treachery". Marvel.com. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
23.Jump up ^ Furth, Robin (w). The Gunslinger: The Man in Black 1: 33 (June 2012), Marvel Comics
24.Jump up ^ Vincent, Bev (April 2013). The Dark Tower Companion. New American Library. p. 229-230. ISBN 978-0451237996.
25.Jump up ^ Schedeen, Jesse (2007-06-01). "Marvel Chats About King's The Stand". IGN. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Aguirre-Sacasa, Roberto (w), Perkins, Mike (p). The Stand Sketchbook (2008-07-02), Marvel Comics
27.Jump up ^ Phegley, Kiel (April 2009). "The King Makers". Wizard #210. p. 45.
28.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1994). Danse Macabre. Berkley Books. p. 399. ISBN 0-425-10433-8.
29.^ Jump up to: a b c Wyss, Trudy (2004). "Stephen King's Favored Child: The Dark Tower Series Is Finally Finished". Bordersstores.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
30.Jump up ^ Kilgore, Michael (1980-08-31). "Interview with Stephen King". The Tampa Tribune.
31.Jump up ^ Arrington, Carl W. (1994-05-07). "Stephen King: The Making of 'The Stand'". TV Guide. p. 13.
32.Jump up ^ Magistrale, Tony (1992). Stephen King: The Second Decade, Danse Macabre to The Dark Half. New York: Twayne Publishers. pp. 135–137. ISBN 0-8057-3957-2.
33.Jump up ^ Stringell, Heidi (2009). "On The Notions Of Good And Evil In Stephen King's Fiction". The Global Journal of Perspectives...on Evil and Human Wickedness (Global Interdisciplinary Research Studies) 1 (3): 133–145.
34.Jump up ^ Stringell, Heidi (2005). Stephen King: From the Gothic to Literary Naturalism. Popular Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-299-20974-1.
35.Jump up ^ Paquette, Jenifer (2012). Respecting The Stand: A Critical Analysis of Stephen King's Apocalyptic Novel. McFarland. p. 50. ISBN 0786491000.
36.Jump up ^ Winter, Douglas E. (1982). Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of Stephen King. San Francisco, California: Underwood-Miller. p. 197. ISBN 0-934438-58-7.
37.Jump up ^ de Camp, L. Sprague (1988). Reign of Fear: The Fiction and the Films of Stephen King. Novato, California: Underwood-Miller. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-88733-149-1.
38.Jump up ^ Reino, Joseph (1988). Stephen King: The First Decade, Carrie to Pet Semetary. Boston: Twayne Publishers. pp. 57, 59. ISBN 0-8057-7512-9.
39.Jump up ^ Magistrale, Tony (1988). Landscape of Fear: Stephen King's American Gothic. Popular Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-87972-405-6.
40.Jump up ^ McAleer, Patrick (2009). Inside the Dark Tower Series: Art, Evil and Intertextuality in the Stephen King Novels. McFarland. pp. 123–127. ISBN 978-0-7864-3977-5.


[hide]
v ·
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 e
 
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King


Novels
The Gunslinger ·
 The Drawing of the Three ·
 The Waste Lands ·
 Wizard and Glass ·
 Wolves of the Calla ·
 Song of Susannah ·
 The Dark Tower ·
 The Wind Through the Keyhole
 

Short stories
"The Gunslinger" ·
 "The Way Station" ·
 "The Oracle and the Mountains" ·
 "The Slow Mutants" ·
 "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" ·
 "The Little Sisters of Eluria"
 

Comics
The Gunslinger Born ·
 The Long Road Home ·
 Treachery ·
 The Sorcerer ·
 Fall of Gilead ·
 Battle of Jericho Hill ·
 The Journey Begins ·
 The Little Sisters of Eluria ·
 The Battle of Tull ·
 The Way Station ·
 The Man in Black
 

Characters
Roland Deschain ·
 Father Callahan ·
 Randall Flagg ·
 Crimson King
 

Related books
'Salem's Lot ·
 The Stand ·
 The Talisman ·
 "The Mist" ·
 Skeleton Crew ·
 It ·
 The Eyes of the Dragon ·
 Insomnia ·
 Rose Madder ·
 Desperation ·
 The Regulators ·
 Bag of Bones ·
 Hearts in Atlantis ·
 Black House ·
 Everything's Eventual ·
 From a Buick 8 ·
 "Ur"
 

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Father Callahan
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Father Callahan from Wolves of the Calla. Art by Bernie Wrightson.
Father Callahan

Gender
Male 
Occupation
Priest
Allies

Enemies
Vampires

First appearance
'Salem's Lot
Created by
Stephen King
Father Donald Frank Callahan is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He originally appeared in 'Salem's Lot and later the Dark Tower, appearing in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah and finally The Dark Tower. He is at first an alcoholic with a troubled faith, but seems to find his peace in the Dark Tower books, and his faith is restored.


Contents  [hide]
1 History 1.1 Salem's Lot
1.2 Wolves of the Calla
1.3 Song of Susannah
1.4 The Dark Tower
2 Other Versions 2.1 Deleted Scene
2.2 1979 Miniseries
2.3 1995 radio drama
2.4 2004 Miniseries


History[edit]
Salem's Lot[edit]
Father Callahan is the local Roman Catholic priest of the small Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot. Callahan presides over the funeral of Danny Glick, a young boy who was, unbeknownst to the townsfolk, killed by the vampire Kurt Barlow. Life goes on as normal, until more and more of the populace disappear and are turned to vampires. Ben Mears, a local writer, discovers the epidemic that has been propagating during the nighttime. Joined by his girlfriend Susan Norton, local teacher Matt Burke, doctor Jimmy Cody, and the young Mark Petrie, he convinces Callahan of the vampire presence and enlists him to help.
Unfortunately, while making an attempt to slay Barlow, Susan is captured and bitten. Callahan leads a daytime assault on Barlow's manor, only to find that the vampire has vacated the premises in anticipation of their attack. However, the group uses the opportunity to slay the vampiric Susan, and purify the house against future vampire occupation.
His faith falters in Barlow's presence. After saving Mark Petrie from the vampire, his faith fails and he is dependent on his crucifix which soon loses its powers. Barlow tears open his own throat and forces the priest to drink his blood, taunting him by calling him 'shaman' and ultimately damning him. Defeated, Callahan returns to his church, but burns his hand on the door and is refused entrance. Callahan leaves the town on a bus, bemoaning how "unclean" he has become.
Wolves of the Calla[edit]
After fleeing 'Salem's Lot, Callahan arrives in New York City, and becomes a vagrant. Now able to sense vampires, he realizes that they live and hunt all around him. His alcoholism gets worse but after he starts working at a homeless shelter, he begins to recover. He befriends several people, such as Rowan Magruder and Lupe Delgado. Callahan later develops a deep fondness for Lupe and later admits to having fallen in love with him. He wonders if this means he is gay, but despite a brief kiss on the cheek, nothing physical occurs between them.
Callahan learns that there are three types of vampires. The Type Ones are the most powerful ones and are almost immortal. They can spread vampirism to others and create Type Two vampires. Kurt Barlow was a Type One. Type Twos are more common and can create other Type Twos or Type Threes. Lastly, the Type Threes cannot spread vampirism but can spread diseases that travel by blood, such as HIV. Callahan refers to them as 'mosquitoes'. After Lupe is infected by a Type Three vampire and dies from AIDS, Callahan begins to kill vampires (mostly Type Threes). This attracts the attention of the Crimson King and his soldiers, the Low Men or "can-toi". The Hitler Brothers, two hoodlums who murder Jews, black people and homosexuals and carve swastikas on their victim's foreheads, are hired to find Callahan. They torture Rowan Magruder, who later dies of his wounds, in hopes of finding him.
They later find and attack Callahan, and carve a cross on his forehead, intending it to become a swastika. But before they can finish the swastika, Callahan is rescued by Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau, two men who figure prominently later in Roland's quest. The Hitler Brothers flee, and are later killed by the Low Men. Callahan is later lured into a building by Richard Sayre, a Low Man, and several vampires. Rather than being infected, he jumps out a window committing suicide.
After his death, he wakes up in the Way Station, where he encounters Walter o'Dim who gives him Black Thirteen, one of the "Bends" in the Wizard's Rainbow. Walter apparently does so in the hopes that it will kill Roland Deschain later in his journey. It transports him to the Doorway Cave outside Calla Bryn Sturgis, where he leads a new life and over the next five years attempts to teach the locals his religion.
Roughly every twenty-three years, the Callas are raided by Wolves, which turn out to be robotic soldiers serving the Crimson King. These Wolves steal half of the Calla's children, who return a few months later "roont". "Roont" (ruined) children are sterile, mentally handicapped, grow to be larger and stronger than other children, and die painfully at a younger age. When Roland and his ka-tet arrive, Callahan seeks their help to defeat the Wolves. During their stay, he shares with them his story since the events of 'Salem's Lot. The Wolves are defeated with the help of the ka-tet, but Susannah becomes possessed by the demon succubus known as Mia and escapes via the Doorway Cave. There, Callahan discovers a copy of the novel 'Salem's Lot, in which he is a major character, causing him to question his reality.
Song of Susannah[edit]
Immediately after the events of the previous book, the ka-tet regroups in Callahan's house, where they lay down their plans of action; Roland and Eddie would follow Susannah to New York while Jake and Callahan would be sent to Maine, in order to visit Calvin Tower (the man who saved Callahan from the Hitler Brothers) as well as Stephen King, in order to ensure that the remaining books are written. While there, Callahan planned on questioning King about his existence, but something goes wrong when the door is opened. The group is uncontrollably sucked through and separated, with Roland and Eddie ending up in Maine and Jake, Callahan, and Oy landing in New York City in the year 1999.
The trio lands violently in the middle of a busy street, and Oy is very nearly run down by a speeding cab. Preventing a potentially deadly response from an angry Jake, Callahan beats down the aggressive driver and bribes him (before Jake had the opportunity to shoot him), and they remove themselves from the scene.
Thanks to Jake's psychic connection with Susannah, they find the hotel where Susannah/Mia left Black Thirteen. They attempt to remove it safely, but it awakens and forces them both to their knees, urging them to murder each other. They nearly succumb to the suicidal whisperings, but Callahan uses his restored faith to silence the orb, putting it back into its slumber and saving their lives.
In search of a safe storage place, he and Jake move Black Thirteen to a long-term storage locker underneath the World Trade Center, with the hope that either it will stay dormant or Roland will at some point come to destroy it. (Rather aptly, they comment on how a building falling on it might destroy it, foreshadowing that the future terrorist attack will be the end of the crystal ball.
They go to the Dixie Pig, the restaurant stronghold of the Low Men and vampires where Susannah is being held, where they prepare to ambush the unknown forces within.
The Dark Tower[edit]



 Father Callahan from The Dark Tower. Art by Michael Whelan.
Jake and Callahan burst into the Dixie Pig, where they are greeted by a preponderance of Low Men and lesser vampires, as well as a gathering of "Type One" vampires (of which there are only a small number in existence).
Seeing the overwhelming odds against them, Callahan sends Jake on ahead to rescue Susannah while he draws their attention. After dispatching several Low Men and Type Ones, he is goaded to toss away both his cross and the sigul of the turtle (the magical ornament that incapacitates the Low Men). At this point Callahan realizes what he did not understand while facing Barlow in 'Salem's Lot; the power of his faith transcends such objects.
Eventually, once Jake reached relative safety, he was overwhelmed and swarmed by the vampires. Before the beasts can assault him, he once again escapes their clutches by shooting himself under the chin. Before taking his own life, he converses briefly with Roland, who bears witness to the scene across time and space. His final words to Roland and in life were a benediction to the Gunslinger: "May you find your Tower, Roland, and breach it, ...and may you climb to the top!"
Jake in particular was disturbed by his death, and the ka-tet mourned the loss of their friend and compatriot. When Roland finally made it to the Dark Tower, Callahan's is one of the names shouted by Roland as he walks through the field of roses, showing Roland's respect and love for the redeemed Priest.
Other Versions[edit]
Deleted Scene[edit]
The original draft of "Salem's Lot" originally depicted a different fate for Callahan. Rather than forced to drink Barlow's blood and leaving town damned, he marks the vampire with a knife before committing suicide. Furious, the vampire desecrates the priest's body, decapitating it and hanging it upside down. This scene was changed by King before he originally published the story, though it was included in a section of deleted scenes featured in the deluxe limited edition released by Centipede Press in 2005 and the later trade edition.
1979 Miniseries[edit]
In the 1979 Salems Lot miniseries, Father Callahan is featured only as a minor character. He is played by James Gallery. Callahan is first briefly seen officiating at the funeral of Danny Glick. Later, Ben Mears and Susan Norton have a brief interview with him where they try to convince him to join them against the evil in the town. Callahan is skeptical and makes a brief comment on how the Church's view of evil has changed. Soon afterwards, Callahan is at the Petrie house to talk to Mark and his parents about Mark's nocturnal experiences. Abruptly, with a surge of electricity and a tremor, the vampire Barlow enters, kills the Petrie parents, seizes Mark and challenges Callahan. The exchange, although shortened, is much the same as in the original novel, only with Straker, now also present, interpreting for the more monstrous and less articulate Barlow. Barlow lets Mark go in order to confront Callahan, who falteringly hold on to his crucifix while facing the vampire. Barlow plucks the Crucifix from the priest's hand, and Callahan is not seen again, presumably killed.
1995 radio drama[edit]
In the (1995) BBC radio-dramatization of the 'Salem's Lot novel, Callahan was voiced and played by Nigel Anthony.
2004 Miniseries[edit]



 James Cromwell as Father Callahan.
In the 2004 Salem's Lot miniseries, Father Callahan was portrayed by James Cromwell. The beginning of the film shows an event taking place after most of the story; Ben Mears enters a homeless shelter and sees Callahan giving out food.
Mears confronts Callahan and chases him up some stairs where they struggle. Mears pushes Callahan out a window; the two of them land on a police car. The rest of the film is told in flashback as Ben explains to a hospital orderly why he attacked Callahan.
Callahan is generally portrayed as in the novel (although there is a scene with him browsing what could be a Satanic porn site), but after Barlow forces him to drink his blood, Callahan does not leave town in shame. Instead, he takes Straker's place as Barlow's slave. Callahan later visits Matt Burke in the hospital and impales him with his cane.
As Ben Mears tells his story to the orderly, Callahan is suffocated with a pillow by Mark Petrie in the hospital.
These events contradict the last three Dark Tower books, which feature the return and redemption of Callahan.


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Roland Deschain
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 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Roland Deschain
The Dark Tower character
Roland Deschain by Michael Whelan.png
Roland Deschain as illustrated by Michael Whelan.

First appearance
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
Last appearance
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
Created by
Stephen King
Information

Nickname(s)
The Gunslinger
Species
Human
Gender
Male
Title
Gunslinger
Family
Steven Deschain (father)
 Gabrielle Deschain (mother)
Significant other(s)
Susan Delgado
Children
Mordred Deschain (son)
Relatives
Arthur Eld (30th-generation grandfather)
Crimson King (29th-generation half-uncle)
Nationality
Gilead
Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character and the protagonist of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society.


Contents  [hide]
1 Fictional biography 1.1 Background
1.2 Quest for the Dark Tower
2 Relations with other characters
3 Characteristics
4 Adaptations
5 References
6 Sources

Fictional biography[edit]
Background[edit]
Roland becomes a gunslinger at the unheard-of age of 14 after being manipulated into taking the "trial of manhood" by Marten Broadcloak, his father's adviser and an incarnation of Randall Flagg. Marten has an affair with Roland's mother and makes sure Roland finds out about it, prompting Roland to request his trial in order to gain his guns and exact revenge on Marten. In the trial, Roland must defeat his teacher, Cort, using a weapon of his choosing. He chooses a hawk named David and defeats Cort. Roland sacrifices David to win the fight, setting the tone for Roland's future choices in life. Despite Roland's victory, Cort and Roland's father convince Roland to bide his time before seeking retribution.[citation needed]
Not long after, Roland's father sends him on a mission to the town of Hambry in the Outer Barony of Mejis with his friends Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood, who will form the basis of his first ka-tet. While there, he meets Susan Delgado, whom he falls in love with. He also comes into the possession of a pink crystal ball, one of 13 magical artifacts referred to as "Maerlyn's Rainbow." It was while looking into this artifact that Roland first discovered his destiny to quest for the Dark Tower.[citation needed]
Roland is a 30th-generation descendant of his world's version of King Arthur, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. In Wizard and Glass, during a flashback to Roland's time in the Barony of Mejis, a letter from his father identifies Steven Deschain as a 29th-generation descendant of Arthur Eld from a side lineage (that is to say, from one of Arthur's many "gillies," or concubines). Even his guns were originally made of the melted-down metal from the legendary Excalibur sword. It is hinted that one must possess this sword, or another sign of the Eld (the line of Arthur Eld) in order to open the door at the foot of the Tower. According to a supplemental prose story by Robin Furth included in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (issues #7 & #2, respectively), Roland's ancestry traces back to Arthur Eld and Emmanuelle Deschain, the daughter of his seneschal, Kay Deschain, while the Crimson King's ancestry traces back to an affair between Arthur and the Crimson Queen.[citation needed]
Quest for the Dark Tower[edit]



 Roland on the cover of the comic The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1.
Roland is alone at the beginning of the series, following the way of ka, a variant of destiny. The term ka-tet is used for a group of people who are deeply bonded to one another through ka. The seven-book series is about Roland's acquisition of a new ka-tet and the completion of his quest. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger and is possessed (or, as he describes it himself, "addicted") by a quest to reach The Dark Tower, the axis upon which infinite numbers of parallel worlds rotate. (Eddie Dean, an ex-heroin addict and member of Roland's ka-tet, calls Roland a "Tower junkie.") The Dark Tower is under assault by the Crimson King, Lord of Discordia, a Satanic figure bent on destroying the Dark Tower by undermining the "Beams" that support it.
In the first novel, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Roland's original desire is simply to climb to the Dark Tower's top to question whatever god dwells there, but ka has greater plans for him. The ka-tet he acquires during the series bears many resemblances to his childhood ka-tet, who were all killed trying to help Roland on his quest. How he treats his new ka-tet when faced with decisions between their lives and his quest is a key component of the novels. Ultimately, his ka-tet represents a chance for redemption and a means by which he can ultimately change his own ka.
At the end of the seventh novel, it is revealed that he is trapped in a repetitive reincarnation, his "damnation" for his crimes and killings (similar to Stephen King's short story "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French", in which he expresses that his idea of hell is repetition.) However, it is also suggested that this eternal repetition is not quite eternal; after his rebirth at the end of the novel, it is revealed that in this particular reiteration of his journey, he possesses the Horn of Eld which in his previous pilgrimages he had lost in the final stand at Jericho Hill, the one major element which was discrepant from his approach to the tower and Childe Roland's approach in Robert Browning's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came ("Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set...").
Relations with other characters[edit]
Roland's chief enemy is Randall Flagg, a villain who appears in many of King's works. Flagg's character appears in many different incarnations throughout the series. He is a minion of the Crimson King himself, though he is ultimately hoping to overthrow him. He is often at the heart of most conflicts with Roland throughout the Gunslinger's lifetime.
His relationships with his ka-tet change greatly over the course of the story. When he first 'draws' Eddie from the reader's world, Roland dislikes him for being a drug addict and constantly complaining about his plight. After Eddie beats his addiction, however, he starts to care for him more and more and eventually Roland regards him as something between a son and a brother. His relationship with Susannah follows the same pattern: though he is initially wary of her second personality, Detta, after her personalities 'merge' into Susannah he gets to know her better and grows to care deeply for her. His relationship with Jake is perhaps the deepest, initially seeing the boy as a trustworthy and strong companion, but eventually regarding him as his true son. Roland, already scarred by the deaths of all his childhood friends — who all died helping him to get closer to the tower — he is shown to be emotionally devastated by Eddie's and especially Jake's death, weeping openly (something Eddie mentioned before did not happen often, if at all).[citation needed]
Roland cries out all their names — both his first and second Ka-Tet's — when he reaches the door of the Dark Tower, along with other characters whom he cared for in some way or another: Susan Delgado, Roland's first (and only true) love, who was killed while he was in Mejis; Father Callahan, who was also a member of Roland's second Ka-Tet, albeit for a much shorter time; Hax the cook, whom Roland betrayed to the gunslingers because he was a traitor, something that deeply affected Roland; his teachers Cort and Vannay; his parents' names; the name of David the Hawk, whom Roland used in the trial for his revolvers; and the name of Aunt Talitha of River Crossing, whose cross he lays at the base of the tower. He also cries the names of Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw, two 'Breakers' who helped him and his friends greatly; the name of Sheemie Ruiz, one of Roland's longest-surviving friends; and that of Oy, the billy-bumbler, a ka-tet member who died saving Roland's life from Mordred Deschain.[citation needed]
Characteristics[edit]
Emotionally, Roland at times appears detached or unsympathetic, often reacting with seeming uncaring or anger at signs of cowardice or self-pity, yet he possess a strong sense of heroism, often attempting to help those in need. He is shown to be mentally scarred from the deaths of all his friends and family, often thinking about their words and actions, and he is said (on more than one occasion by himself) to greatly lack imagination. He also describes himself as "not very good in thinking around corners", meaning he has a very practical character, never really seeking other meanings or intentions behind what he sees, although he is very perceptive and intelligent. Cuthbert, Roland's best friend in his childhood, once said the gears in Roland's head turn slow, but grind extremely well. Roland is not very patient, especially when he is under stress, and often makes a rotating gesture with his hand, which means 'go on, hurry, move on' in conversations. Similarly, he prefers not to over-plan his actions, trusting greatly in his instinct and skill at improvising according to the situation. He is also shown not to have a great sense of humor: though he knows a lot of riddles he rarely jokes and is visibly irritated at times when Eddie (and in the past, Cuthbert) joke around. Roland is not one for small talk.[citation needed]
In The Waste Lands, Susannah compares Roland first to Marshal Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke, but later comes to believe he is more like John F. Kennedy. While she acknowledges that Roland lacks the president's imagination, both men have similar levels of charisma, cunning, and romance. King often notes Roland's strong sense of romance in his narrations, but describes this aspect of the gunslinger's character as being usually hidden by his more dominant sense of pragmatism.[citation needed]
Roland is also shown to care a great deal for his Ka-Tet, or "Companions in fate", and often puts himself at risk to save or assist them - though when confronted with the choice between saving one of them or getting one step closer to the Tower, he would almost certainly choose the Tower. Roland's silent desperation for the Tower is the driving rhythm of the series; it can be felt most powerfully in "The Gunslinger", wherein Roland's sole desire is the Tower and nothing below it.[citation needed]
Roland's revolvers (sometimes referred to as "the big guns" by other characters) are described as long and heavy, with blued steel (originally from his world's Excalibur) and sandalwood grips. These guns are a major sigil, as they are recognized throughout Mid-World and are used as an identifier of Roland. During the search for more ammunition in New York City in The Drawing of the Three, the guns are revealed to be chambered close enough to .45 or the .45 Long Colt to use manufactured ammo. In The Gunslinger Roland exhibits a technique for reloading his weapons at blinding speed, though it causes burns to his fingertips when done repeatedly in a short time. He loses this ability at the start of The Drawing of the Three, when the first two fingers of his right hand are bitten off. Even after being crippled, he possesses almost superhuman accuracy and he can draw his guns faster than any other character. Roland is noted as being able to shoot equally well with both hands.[citation needed]
In addition to being a master gunslinger, Roland is an experienced traveler, able to hunt, make his own clothes from the skins of animals, and navigate via the stars. Roland can speak five languages, including the High Speech and the Low Speech. He also possess a great deal of knowledge about ka the nature of the world. Roland is also a skilled leader, diplomat, and teacher.[citation needed]
There is a point during the second book at which Roland psychically bonds himself with a murderer named Jack Mort; the combination of the two personages is said to resemble the mannerisms of Arnold Schwarzenegger as he appeared in The Terminator. Eddie Dean sees Stephen King as a young man and recognizes that he and Roland share many of the same physical features, saying that Roland could be King's father.[1]
Some of his hair is gray or white, but some remains black. His facial features are described as rough (although Susannah once compared them to that of a tired poet; Eddie frequently refers to him as "old long tall and ugly"), and he has light blue eyes, often referred to by characters and Stephen King as "bombardier's eyes." Roland lost his right big toe and his right index and middle fingers, which is problematic as he is right-handed in everything other than shooting. He is a strong and disciplined man, capable of working through injuries and illnesses that would have killed or incapacitated another man. Roland is also unusually tall; at 14, he stood taller than the 16-year-old Susan, and, as an adult, his height exceeds that of his father. In The Dark Tower he is described as having reached an adult height of roughly 6'3".[citation needed]
In the last novel, it is implied that the gunslinger's mostly cold, ruthless nature is alleviated slightly every time he reaches the Dark Tower and begins his journey again—Whilst his memories are erased, his personality changes in reflection of the experiences of each quest. This is symbolised by his re-acquisition of the Horn of Eld after the version covered in the Dark Tower series, implying that he has learned some of the true values of family and love; he has clearly taken the horn from Cuthbert Allgood's body as he wished rather than leaving it there as he did before.[citation needed]
Adaptations[edit]



 Roland as depicted in the opening credits of another Stephen King movie, The Mist.
It was announced in September 2010 that Universal had acquired the rights to produce three films and a TV series based on the seven novels, as well as the short stories and comic books. Ron Howard will direct the first film and the first season of the TV series, with the script being written by Akiva Goldsman. Actor Javier Bardem was set to portray Roland.[2][3] As of March 2012, Universal has dropped the Dark Tower project, but it has since been picked up by Time Warner, who will handle the film and television series through Warner Bros. and HBO respectively. In August 2012, it was reported that Bardem was no longer attached, and that Russell Crowe may be cast if Warner Bros. picks up the project.[4]
In Frank Darabont's 2007 film adaptation of King's novella The Mist, the main character, David Drayton, can be seen painting a movie poster with Roland in the center, standing in front of a trans-dimensional Ironwood door, with a rose and the dark tower to each side.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Song of Susannah, Stanza 11 "The Writer", Chapter 5
2.Jump up ^ [1]. NJ.com.
3.Jump up ^ "Bardem nails 'Tower' saga". New York Post. April 26, 2011.
4.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (August 2, 2012). "Warner Bros. Has ‘Dark Tower’ Decision Looming: And Russell Crowe Is In The Mix". Deadline.com. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
Sources[edit]
King, Stephen; Robin Furth (December 5, 2006). Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance. Scribner. ISBN 0-7432-9734-2.


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King


Novels
The Gunslinger ·
 The Drawing of the Three ·
 The Waste Lands ·
 Wizard and Glass ·
 Wolves of the Calla ·
 Song of Susannah ·
 The Dark Tower ·
 The Wind Through the Keyhole
 

Short stories
"The Gunslinger" ·
 "The Way Station" ·
 "The Oracle and the Mountains" ·
 "The Slow Mutants" ·
 "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" ·
 "The Little Sisters of Eluria"
 

Comics
The Gunslinger Born ·
 The Long Road Home ·
 Treachery ·
 The Sorcerer ·
 Fall of Gilead ·
 Battle of Jericho Hill ·
 The Journey Begins ·
 The Little Sisters of Eluria ·
 The Battle of Tull ·
 The Way Station ·
 The Man in Black
 

Characters
Roland Deschain ·
 Father Callahan ·
 Randall Flagg ·
 Crimson King
 

Related books
'Salem's Lot ·
 The Stand ·
 The Talisman ·
 "The Mist" ·
 Skeleton Crew ·
 It ·
 The Eyes of the Dragon ·
 Insomnia ·
 Rose Madder ·
 Desperation ·
 The Regulators ·
 Bag of Bones ·
 Hearts in Atlantis ·
 Black House ·
 Everything's Eventual ·
 From a Buick 8 ·
 "Ur"
 

 


Categories: Characters in American novels of the 20th century
Characters in American novels of the 21st century
Characters in short stories
Fictional vigilantes
The Dark Tower characters
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Stephen King characters
Fictional antiheroes
Fictional child soldiers
Fictional sole survivors








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List of The Dark Tower characters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The Dark Tower is a series of seven novels written by American author Stephen King, which incorporate multiple genres including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. Below are The Dark Tower characters that come into play as the series progresses.


Contents  [hide]
1 Protagonists 1.1 Ka-tet of the Nineteen and/or Ninety and Nine 1.1.1 Roland Deschain
1.1.2 Eddie Dean
1.1.3 Susannah Dean
1.1.4 Jake Chambers
1.1.5 Oy
1.2 Roland's original Ka-tet 1.2.1 Cuthbert Allgood
1.2.2 Alain Johns
1.2.3 Jamie De Curry
1.2.4 Thomas Whitman
1.3 Allies of the Ka-tet 1.3.1 Susan Delgado
1.3.2 Ted Brautigan
1.3.3 Sheemie Ruiz
1.3.4 Dinky Earnshaw
1.3.5 Pere Donald Callahan
1.3.6 Patrick Danville
1.3.7 Aunt Talitha Unwin
1.3.8 Cortland "Cort" Andrus
1.3.9 Abel Vannay
1.3.10 Stephen King
1.3.11 Stuttering Bill
1.3.12 Calvin Tower
1.3.13 Aaron Deepneau
1.3.14 John Cullum
1.3.15 Maturin
1.3.16 Moses Carver
1.3.17 Irene Tassenbaum

2 Antagonists 2.1 John Farson
2.2 Randall Flagg
2.3 The Crimson King
2.4 James Farson
2.5 Jack Mort
2.6 Blaine the Mono
2.7 Shardik
2.8 Rhea
2.9 Eldred Jonas
2.10 Roy Depape
2.11 Clay Reynolds
2.12 Coral Thorin
2.13 Cordelia Delgado
2.14 Mia
2.15 Mordred Deschain
2.16 Richard Patrick Sayre
2.17 Finli O'Tego
2.18 Enrico Balazar
2.19 Jack Andolini
2.20 Dandelo
2.21 Lippy
2.22 Tick-Tock Man
2.23 Andy the Messenger Robot (Many Other Functions)
2.24 Pimli Prentiss
3 Neutral 3.1 Gan
4 References
Protagonists[edit]
Ka-tet of the Nineteen and/or Ninety and Nine[edit]
Roland Deschain[edit]
Main article: Roland Deschain
Roland Deschain, son of Steven Deschain, was born in the Barony of Gilead, in In-World. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger, a man whose goal is finding and climbing to the top of the Dark Tower, purported to be the very center of existence, so that he may right the wrongs in his land. This quest is his obsession, monomania and geas to Roland: In the beginning the success of the quest is more important than the lives of his family and friends. He is a man who lacks imagination, and this is one of the stated reasons for his survival against all odds: he can not imagine anything other than surviving to find the Tower.
Eddie Dean[edit]
Eddie makes his debut in The Drawing of the Three, in which Roland encounters three doors that open into the New York City of our world in different times. Through these doors, Roland draws companions who will join him on his quest, as the Man In Black foretold. The first to be drawn is Eddie Dean, a drug addict and a first-time cocaine transporter. Eddie lived with his older brother and fellow junkie Henry, whom Eddie reveres despite the corrupting influence Henry had upon his life. Roland helps Eddie fight off a gang of mobsters for whom he was transporting the cocaine, but not before Eddie discovers that Henry has died from an overdose of heroin in the company of the aforementioned mobsters (after which the mobsters decide to chop off Henry's head). It is because of Eddie's heroin addiction that he is termed 'The Prisoner', and that is what is written upon the door from which Roland draws him.
Roland also acquires medicine for his infection during the trip to Eddie's world, but this only temporarily quells the fever.
Eddie passes through the door into Roland's world, and faces heroin withdrawal symptoms, but despite his suffering, he also shows an affinity for the ways of the gunslinger. Unwillingly at first, and somewhat under duress, Eddie becomes Roland's companion through Mid-World, and he soon falls in love with Susannah, the next member of Roland's ka-tet. Eddie and Susannah consider themselves husband and wife, although they never formally marry.
In the final novel, during the attack on Algul Siento, Eddie is shot and killed by Pimli Prentiss, the master of the establishment.
Roland also notes that Eddie's character strongly resembles that of Cuthbert, a gunslinger of Roland's past, and one of Roland's greatest friends. The character of Cuthbert is mentioned in Browning's poem and is described most fully in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, although he is first mentioned in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.
Susannah Dean[edit]
Also hailing from New York City, Susannah is an African-American (although as a woman of 1964, she prefers the term "Negro" over the term considered appropriate in Eddie's time, "Black") woman with two major afflictions: her legs below the knees were severed in a subway accident, and a childhood head injury left her with dual personalities, which Eddie incorrectly labels schizophrenia. She is "The Lady of Shadows", the second companion predicted by Walter to be drawn into Roland's world via the mysterious doors.
Initially, her dominant personality is that of Odetta Susannah Holmes, a well-mannered but priggish woman active in the civil rights movement. At times, however, she is taken over by Detta Susannah Walker—murderously psychotic, incredibly crafty, completely unbreakable—whom neither Eddie nor Roland can control. Roland manages to resolve these personalities by forcing her to look through the third door while he himself looks out of it, forcing her to see herself as she really is; thereafter, her personalities are integrated into a single, far more balanced individual, known as Susannah Dean, Eddie's wife, although they were never formally married. Susannah has access to the memories and personalities of both Holmes and Walker, and can call upon their skills and temperaments at will.
During the drawing of Jake, she submits to sex with the demon of the doorway in order to distract it and afterwards, she becomes pregnant. Susannah shares the experience of her pregnancy with a demon-turned-mortal named Mia, resulting in Susannah housing yet another personality in her mind. Mia takes over Susannah's body (and melds with it, giving her legs for a short while) and runs in it to yet another when of New York, this one circa 1999, to give birth to the demon child.
Susannah is the last member of Roland's ka-tet to leave him (and the only one to survive in a Keystone world), having been given the chance to return to another form of Eddie and Jake in a parallel world.
Jake Chambers[edit]
Jake Chambers, an eleven-year-old boy from the New York of 1977, is the symbolic (and later adopted) son of Roland. Jake's given name is John, but he prefers to be known by Jake, and is called "'Bama" by his housekeeper, who is far closer to him than his parents. In his home world, he dies at the hands of Jack Mort (who Jake initially believes is Walter) and ends up in Roland's world as a result. The gunslinger and the boy travel together in pursuit of the Man in Black, developing a strong bond along the way. However, in order to reach the Man in Black, Roland lets Jake fall to his death.
The child Roland allowed to die reappears in Roland's mind in The Waste Lands, however, due to a paradox. Since Roland (in The Drawing of the Three) prevented Mort from shoving Jake into traffic, he never died, therefore he never appeared in Mid-World and was never left to die under the mountains. Jake and Roland, however, can remember both timelines, and the knowledge is slowly driving them insane.
In the first half of The Waste Lands, Roland's ka-tet figure out a way to draw Jake into Mid-world, where he belongs (an action which finishes the real Drawing of the Three, Jack Mort never having been intended to join the ka-tet). Eddie is driven to whittle a key out of wood as they approach a Speaking Ring, where Eddie draws another door into the ground, this one guarded by an invisible demon. Susannah distracts the demon by allowing it to copulate with her, while Eddie perfects the key and uses it to open the door. On the other side, Jake has been led by the younger version of Eddie who lived in that when to a haunted house (indeed, Eddie has vague memories of the encounter himself), filled with evil spirits and a horrendous gate-keeper. Jake, with some timely assistance from Roland, fights through them to reach the door. Once the boy is in Mid-World again, Roland's and Jake's memories are merged and their descent into insanity abated.
While crossing the desolate city of Lud, Jake is kidnapped by a deranged resident of the city. He allows himself to be taken in exchange for the rest of the group's safe passage, and Roland promises to come for Jake, despite having to abandon him temporarily. Despite the danger it poses, he rescues Jake, reaffirming the father-son bond that has grown between them. Like Eddie and Susannah, Jake shows amazing aptitude to the way of a gunslinger.
Jake is the second member of the ka-tet to die, when he sacrifices himself to save Stephen King (as a character in the series) from certain death by putting himself between King and the van meant to take his life. By the end of the tale Jake has died a total of three times. An alternate version of Jake is encountered later by Susannah Dean.
Roland also notes that Jake strongly resembles Alain, another gunslinger, in his stable, reserved personality and talent with a psychic skill referred to as "the touch." Alain is described mostly by his time with Roland as a teen in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass.
Oy[edit]
Oy is a "billy-bumbler," a strange creature found in Roland Deschain's world. King describes Oy in the "Argument", or foreword, of the fourth book, Wizard and Glass - "Bumblers, which look like a combination of badger, raccoon, and dog, have a limited speaking ability".[1] Elsewhere, bumblers are described as "a combination raccoon and woodchuck, with a little dachshund thrown in."[2] At one point, Eddie calls Oy "a fucked-up weasel".[3] Oy's voice is described as "low and deep, almost a bark; the voice of an English footballer with a bad cold in his throat."[4]
King seems to base Oy's appearance on the Tanuki, also known as the raccoon dog, or the Coati. Regarding Oy's appearance, by far the most frequently described feature throughout the series is his large, "bright"[5] almost glowing, "intelligent, gold-ringed eyes",[6] though King also frequently refers to the creature's "disproportionately long,[7]" "surprisingly graceful neck".[8] The creature has "black- and grey-striped fur[9]" and a "furry corkscrew tail".[10]
At the time of their meeting, Roland concedes that Oy may quite possibly be meant as another member of their ka-tet. Later, in the 6th book, this is confirmed when the Tet Corporation forms as the association of "Deschain, Dean, Dean, Chambers, and Oy."
Oy develops emotions and even a sense of humanity beyond that of his ability to replicate some words that the others speak. Oy is often referred as the smartest bumbler that characters have seen since the world had moved on. Oy provides a much-needed shelter from the harsh adultness of the quest for his master, often playing with Jake or providing moments of lightheartedness to the ka-tet. Together, the two are sometimes able to recall the innocence they have lost.
Oy is killed in the last Dark Tower book. He saves Roland's life by attacking Mordred, who came to kill Roland in his sleep. Mordred snaps Oy's back and impales him on a tree limb while the bumbler is defending his friend, but Oy finds enough strength to lick Roland's hand one time before he dies. Stephen King hints that Oy will be found in the same universe that Susannah travels to and will be in some form of a dog with "odd, gold-ringed eyes and a bark that eerily resembles human speech."
Roland's original Ka-tet[edit]
Cuthbert Allgood[edit]
Cuthbert is Roland Deschain's childhood best friend, and a member of his original ka-tet. Roland and Cuthbert are described as having been playing together since they were toddlers. Cuthbert, often called Bert, is first featured in The Gunslinger, but he does not play a major role in the series until Wizard and Glass, the fourth volume in the series. Cuthbert is characterized by his outwardly flippant, care-free view of the world. He constantly makes jokes, often testing the nerves of his companions. He is notably skilled with a sling-shot: it is said that he could 'take a bird on the wing at 50 yards' with it. This is a skill that comes in handy on many occasions in Mejis, when the boys cannot openly carry their guns. Cuthbert is quick-witted and sometimes has a way with words — his proclivity for words can be noticed as he often stops to repeat and muse over phrases he finds to be nice and 'round'. Physically, Cuthbert is described as being trim and short with shoulder length dark hair and dark eyes. During the battle of Jericho Hill, Cuthbert is shot through the eye by an arrow fired by Randall Flagg. In Song of Susannah, Eddie Dean is revealed to be a reincarnation, or at least a "twinner" of Cuthbert Allgood.
Alain Johns[edit]
Alain is one of Roland's original ka-tet, and along with the gunslinger and Cuthbert is evacuated to Mejis in Wizard and Glass for safety, due to the ongoing war against John Farson. Alain is strong in the 'touch', which is the mid-world term for a combination of telepathy, pre-cognition and hyper-sensitivity to the guiding hand of Ka.
Alain is described as being stout with blond hair. He is calm, reserved and often plays the role of level-headed mediator between ever pragmatic Roland and ostensibly care-free Cuthbert — particularly when Susan Delgado is seen to be interfering with Roland's decision making.
After Mejis, Alain joined Roland, Cuthbert and Jamie on their quest for the Dark Tower.
Shortly before the battle of Jericho Hill, the last stand by the gunslingers of Gilead against Farson's men, Alain was accidentally killed by Roland and Cuthbert, who mistook him for an assassin in the night.
Jamie De Curry[edit]
Jamie De Curry was a member of Roland Deschain's original ka-tet. He grew up and trained with Roland under Cort and Vanny in Gilead. He was the first to discover Roland's plan to attempt to finish his training (by fighting Cort, their veteran teacher) at the unprecedented age of 14. He is characterized by a birthmark on his face, leading some in Gilead to refer to him as "Jamie of the marked face." He was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Jericho Hill, while pushing Roland from the line of fire. It's stated by Roland that as a child he excelled in archery — the use of bow and 'bah'(crossbow) - far more so than Roland himself, although by the time of the Battle of Jericho Hill he is a Gunslinger, like the rest of Roland's ka-tet.
Jamie figures prominently in the novel The Wind Through the Keyhole, traveling with Roland to investigate rumors of a shape-changing "skin-man" that is attacking a frontier town. In this novel, his birthmark is described as being a deep red one his hand, making it appear as if it has been dipped in blood, and he has the nickname "Jamie Red-Hand."
Thomas Whitman[edit]
Not much is known about Thomas Whitman. He is only briefly mentioned in The Gunslinger as one of Roland Deschain's childhood friends who studied under Cort. He is shown in several installments of the Gunslinger comics. He is shown to have a lean build with short, black hair. In the Battle of Jericho Hill, he and several other Gunslingers are killed by a flamethrower.
Allies of the Ka-tet[edit]
Susan Delgado[edit]
Susan Delgado appears in Wizard and Glass, the fourth book of the series. She is a resident of Hambry in the Barony of Mejis, where the 14-year-old Roland and his ka-tet have been sent for their own safety. Her father was killed in a horseback riding "accident", actually a murder, and Susan has been cajoled by her aunt Cordelia into becoming a "gilly", essentially a concubine, for Mejis mayor Hart Thorin. Although Susan is to be paid for her services, she is a recognized consort and any heir she bears to the heretofore-childless Thorin will be legitimate. Before her relationship with Thorin is allowed to begin, however, she falls in love with Roland and becomes involved in his plans to prevent John Farson from using an oilfield near Hambry to supply his troops with crude oil. When Roland and his friends are framed for Thorin's murder and arrested, she breaks them out of jail and helps them escape Hambry. Before she can flee, though, she is captured, brought back to town, and publicly burned at the stake as an alleged accomplice in the murder. At the time, she is already pregnant with Roland's first child. Roland is devastated by her death — not just because of his love for her, but because, when confronted with the choice of returning for her or setting out for the Dark Tower and thus saving all of creation, he chose the Tower, thus condemning her to death.
Roland believes that Susan Delgado was the only true love of his life.
Ted Brautigan[edit]
Ted Stevens Brautigan (19 letters) was introduced in the Stephen King novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis. He is a powerful "Breaker", a psychic, whose extraordinary powers as a facilitator are sought by the Crimson King so he can hasten the destruction of the beams and Dark Tower. Ted arrives in the Devar-Toi, the prison camp where the Breakers are held, in 1955, and with help from Roland's old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, soon escapes the Devar-Toi and enters the Connecticut of 1960, which is when the story of "Low Men in Yellow Coats" takes place. After his adventure in Connecticut, the low men capture and smuggle him back to the Devar-Toi via the Dixie Pig and Thunderclap Station. Ted meets Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series, and he, "Everything's Eventual"'s Dinky Earnshaw, and the newly revealed psychic Sheemie assist the ka-tet in the attack on the Devar-Toi and ultimately succeed in obliterating the low men and the taheen. After Roland, Jake, and Oy travel to the Maine of 1999 to prevent Stephen King from dying, Ted and his friends escort Susannah Dean to Fedic Station, and Ted, along with a handful of the other psychic Breakers depart for the Callas, where they hope to first find redemption from the Calla folken and then return to America via the Doorway Cave.
Sheemie Ruiz[edit]
Sheemie, introduced in Wizard and Glass, was a mildly mentally retarded tavern boy at a saloon in Hambry. Sheemie assisted Roland and his first ka-tet in preventing the followers of John Farson, and more specifically, the Crimson King, from reviving the Great Old Ones' war machines, later following the group back to Gilead. Sheemie joined Roland's ka-tet briefly and helped the gunslingers ward off the Crimson King's followers until he and his mule Capi mysteriously disappeared. However, while Roland assumes Sheemie is dead, he is not; he had been captured by the low men and taken to the Devar-Toi, the Breaker prison, because of his telepathic abilities, which remained unknown to Roland's ka-tet. He reappears in the series' final novel and assists the new ka-tet in defeating the low men and the taheen. However, during the battle, he steps on a piece of glass, causing an infection (accelerated by the "poison air" around Thunderclap). While escorting Susannah to Fedic on the train, he dies of blood poisoning. Ironically, though Susannah never learns this, she is indirectly responsible for his death, as it is her bullet that breaks the glass out of his window, causing it to be there for him to step on.
Dinky Earnshaw[edit]
Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw is the psychic assassin from Stephen King's short story "Everything's Eventual." He was hired by a man named Mr. Sharpton who was the head of a North Central Positronics subsidiary. However, when Dinky discovered what Sharpton was truly using him for, he killed Sharpton. Unfortunately, the low men captured him and transported him to the Devar-Toi, where he later met Ted Brautigan and Sheemie Ruiz. The three joined forces with Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series and they helped to defeat the Devar-Toi's guards.
Pere Donald Callahan[edit]
Main article: Father Callahan
Donald Frank Callahan (19 letters) is the "damned" priest who first appeared in the novel 'Salem's Lot. He makes his first appearance in the Dark Tower series in Wolves of the Calla, although his involvement in the series was hinted at in the afterword to Wizard and Glass. After being marked by the vampire Kurt Barlow, and therefore forced out of his church, Father Callahan spends time volunteering in a homeless shelter. Callahan made it a goal to get even with the vampires for what they did to him and his friend, who contracted HIV after being bitten by a vampire. He is aided in this by his ability to spot the vampires; since Jerusalem's Lot (and the forced taking of some of the vampire Barlow's blood) he has been able to recognize vampires at a glance. Like Jake Chambers, Callahan enters Mid-World after dying in his own world, although in Callahan's case the death is his own doing; he jumps from a window to escape agents of the Crimson King, then arrives at the Way Station from The Gunslinger, shortly after Jake & Roland left it. He becomes a partial member of the ka-tet, assisting the ka-tet in the Battle against the Wolves and Susannah's rescue mission from 1999 New York, and sacrificing himself so that Jake may live in the final stand in The Dark Tower VII against the can-toi (low men) and vampires. For the second time, Callahan kills himself before allowing himself to fall at the hands of the vampires.
Patrick Danville[edit]
Patrick appears in Insomnia as a promising child artist, then again at the end of the Dark Tower series as a young adult artist with enough talent to shape the real world as he sees fit. As a young boy, he was prophesied to save two men in the future. He drew pictures of Roland and the roses as well. In the Dark Tower series, he was kept imprisoned for an unknown amount of time by the psychic vampire Dandelo and was rescued by Susannah and Roland. Patrick draws a door that allows Susannah to enter a parallel world, and later draws and erases a picture of the Crimson King, causing him to disappear from the Tower so that Roland can safely enter it.
Aunt Talitha Unwin[edit]
"Aunt" Talitha Unwin is a resident of River Crossing, near the city of Lud. When Roland Deschain came to River Crossing, she was 105 years old. She and the people of River Crossing provided food and shelter for the ka-tet while they were on their way to Lud. Talitha gave her cross to Roland to lay at the base of the Dark Tower. It was given to John Cullum to act as a sigul and was later returned to Roland by Moses Carver.
When Roland came to the Dark Tower, Talitha Unwin was one of the names that he called out and he remembered to place her cross at its base.
Cortland "Cort" Andrus[edit]
Teacher of Roland's original ka-tet. Roland earned his guns by defeating him with the hawk David, who was mortally wounded in that battle. After Roland's challenge, Cort laid in his cabin for a week in a coma, being tended by two nurses. Cort was often rough handed with his students, using physical punishment and denial of food to punish mistakes. He also fancied calling the prospective gunslingers "maggots". According to Roland, he is murdered soon after Roland's class graduates. He acts as a sort of a spiritual guide to Roland throughout the series, his voice and teachings popping up in the Gunslinger's mind every so often as Roland needs to reflect upon his training.
Abel Vannay[edit]
Also known as "Vannay the Wise", he was the other primary tutor of Roland's ka-tet and of apprentice gunslingers. Known mostly for his wisdom and forbearance, Vannay's analytical method of instruction and pacifistic nature serve as strong counterpoints to the ruthless application of force and cynical thought process exercised by Cort. It is mentioned that he walks with the assistance of a black ironwood cane. His only known relative was his son Wallace, who played with Roland as a toddler; however, he died very young of an illness. Vannay would become one of the many victims to fall prey to the forces of John Farson in the battle for Gilead.
Stephen King[edit]
See also: Stephen King
Stephen King (as a fictionalized character) appears in the final two Dark Tower books. Roland and his ka-tet learn of his existence when Roland comes across a copy of 'Salem's Lot, after first meeting Father Callahan, in the fifth book Wolves of the Calla. Roland and Eddie later confront King in his Maine home at a time when he has written 'Salem's Lot and The Gunslinger but no further Dark Tower books. Roland hypnotizes King and it is revealed that the author did not in fact "create" the characters of Father Callahan, or Roland, or any others involved with the Dark Tower, but Stephen King is in this reality a channel (another servant of the Beam / ka / Gan) that records their ongoing quest. It is also revealed that at a very young age, the Crimson King attempted to claim Stephen King as one of his own. King fears death and retaliation from the Crimson King if he continues to write Roland's tale but the Gunslinger's hypnosis encourages him to continue. The eventual attempt on King's life that would end his chronicling of Roland's quest comes in the form of his 1999 automobile incident.
Many elements of Stephen King's real life are presented through his character (such as his 1999 accident) but are further fictionalized; King notes in the afterword to The Dark Tower that he took particular liberties with the geography of Maine to obscure the real-life location of his home and preserve what privacy he still has. Although he does not appear as a character until Song of Susannah, he is alluded to as early as The Drawing of the Three when Eddie recalls having seen The Shining in movie theaters.
Stuttering Bill[edit]
Stuttering Bill is a robot (full name William D-746541-M Maintenance Robot) with many other functions. He plowed Tower Road all the way up to the edge of the white lands, where the snow ended and the roses began. He gave Roland, Susannah and Patrick a ride on his snowplow for many miles, taking them closer to the Dark Tower.
Stuttering Bill was also the nickname of William Denbrough, one of the central characters in King's novel It.
Calvin Tower[edit]
Calvin Tower is the lease holder of the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore in the Dark Tower series. He makes his first appearance in The Waste Lands, where he sells Jake two books which later prove vital to the ka-tet's survival of their encounter with Blaine the Mono. In later volumes, it is revealed that Tower owns the lot containing the rose, and is being pressured by mobsters to sell the property to the Sombra Corporation. Eddie saves Tower from a beating, and convinces Tower to sell the land to the ka-tet in the guise of the "Tet Corporation". Tower is an extremely reluctant recruit to the ka-tet's cause, and his selfishness, obsessive addiction to acquiring rare books nearly derail the ka-tet's efforts on several occasions. His eventual — and reluctant — decision to do the right thing comes largely thanks to the influence of his much more selfless, heroic friend, Aaron Deepneau. In the end, he sells the lot to Tet Corporation, and serves on the board for many years. With Deepneau, he saves Father Callahan from knife-wielding thugs, as requested by the ka-tet. Tower dies of a heart attack in 1990.
Aaron Deepneau[edit]
Aaron Deepneau is Calvin Tower's best — and only — friend. He serves as Tower's conscience, and steadily leads his friend to the gunslinger's cause. He later joins the board of Tet Corporation, and proves to be one of the rose's most ardent defenders. His grand-niece Nancy, a gunslinger in her own right, works for the Tet Corporation. Deepneau dies of cancer in 1992.
John Cullum[edit]
Met Roland and Eddie during the ambush in Stoneham, 1977. He leads the pair to safety, ferries them to his home, and provides a vehicle for them to use. He also becomes a member of Tet Corp's board and tireless champion of the rose, and dies for the cause, assassinated by Sombra/NCP in 1989.
Maturin[edit]
The Guardians of the Beams keep watch over either end of the six beams that support The Dark Tower. Of the twelve Guardians the ones that are mentioned are Turtle, Bear, Fish, Wolf, Elephant, Rat, Bat, Lion, Horse, and Eagle; Maturin, the Turtle (also a character in It), is considered the most powerful, or significant, of these. Throughout the series the reader repeatedly comes across a simple, nursery-rhyme style poem about Maturin:


See the TURTLE of enormous girth!
 On his shell he holds the Earth,
 His thought is slow but always kind;
 He holds us all within his mind.
 On his back the truth is carried,
 And there are love and duty married.
 He loves the earth and loves the sea,
 And even loves a child like me.
Maturin guards the same beam as Shardik from the opposite end. Whereas Shardik runs amok in The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, nearly killing Eddie before it can be destroyed, Maturin is a totally benevolent (and incredibly powerful) presence in the story, helping the ka-tet at several points along their journey.
In The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, a small ivory scrimshaw sculpture of Maturin comes into the ka-tet's possession, and with it, Susannah/Mia hypnotizes a stranger, forcing him to get Susannah/Mia a hotel room. Susannah leaves the turtle where Jake will find it, enabling him (and, through his own martyrdom, Pere Callahan) to track Susannah and escape the low men, taheen, and vampires in the Dixie Pig. The sculpture essentially holds any human (or can-toi) totally enrapt and compliant upon seeing it in the hands of its wielder. The carving is said to have a question-mark shaped scratch on its shell.
Also in books VI and VII, multiple characters stumble upon a small park near #2 Hammarskjold Plaza containing a fountain beside a bronze sculpture of a turtle. The park—and the sculpture—actually exist, although King places the park across the street from #2 Hammarskjold Plaza: In fact, the turtle is in a larger park directly alongside the building, part of the Katharine Hepburn Memorial Garden. The sculpture is a nod to the neighborhood's centuries-old nickname, Turtle Bay.[1]
Both Turtle Bay and Maturin the turtle appear in King's earlier novel It, serving much the same benevolent supernatural guardian role.
The name Maturin itself is a reference to Stephen Maturin, a naturalist from the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels who discovers a new species of tortoise.
Moses Carver[edit]
Odetta/Susannah's godfather and guardian, retired president of the Tet Corporation, and protector of the rose. When he finally appears in The Dark Tower, he is 100 years old, with a fiery, mischievous, and extremely likable character. He has little gold framed glasses, a bad case of rheumatism, and a stooped posture; upon seeing him, Roland estimates that if he could stand straight, the two would be the same height (roughly 6'3"). He is the last living founder of the corporation, and his daughter Marian serves as its president since his retirement in 1997.
Irene Tassenbaum[edit]
Irene is a middle-aged housewife from Staten Island, somewhat neglected by her wealthy husband, who meets Roland, Jake, and Oy in Stoneham, Maine of the Keystone World in the year 1999. She volunteers to drive the gunslinger's party to Lovell, where they narrowly manage to save Stephen King's life, with Jake sacrificing his own life in the process. Tassenbaum then drives Roland and Oy to New York (sleeping with Roland along the way), where the gunslinger and the bumbler will meet with the board of Tet Corp. before returning to Mid-World. Irene promises Roland that she will plant a rose at Jake's grave.
Antagonists[edit]
John Farson[edit]
Farson, a.k.a. the Good Man, was a former thief, murderer, and harrier in the lands west of Gilead in Roland's youth, later becoming a general of rebellious people from the lesser classes of Mid-World. Followers, at his command, occupied Downland Baronies such as the Barony of Cressia, and after allying with the blue-faced barbarians of Grissom, they finally overwhelmed Gilead and the gunslingers. After the fall of Gilead and Farson's triumph, Roland and his old ka-tet fought for nine years against the remainder of Farson's forces, eventually leading to the battle of Jericho Hill. Farson sends his Generals Grissom and Walter O´Dim with the last two thousand soldiers and mutants against Roland, who was the only survivor. Farson is tall and slim, he has short, straight, black hair, brown eyes and wears black armor. He wears a terrible fright mask around his men.
Randall Flagg[edit]
Main article: Randall Flagg
The Man in Black, and a character with numerous aliases, including: the Ageless Stranger, the Walking Dude, Walter O'Dim, Marten Broadcloak, Richard Faninn, Rudin Filaro, Legion, Covenant Man, and his given name, Walter Padick, son of Sam; he appears in many books of Stephen King, most notably in The Eyes of the Dragon and in The Stand, always as a nearly-demonic sorcerer. He is the Crimson King's chief agent.
The Crimson King[edit]
Main article: Crimson King
The ultimate in evil, this mysterious figure wishes to conquer the Dark Tower and raze it to the ground. Since this will destroy the entire universe, the Crimson King is naturally cast as the villain in The Dark Tower books. He is also known as Ram Aballah, and once ruled from his castle in End-World, but now is imprisoned on a balcony on the Dark Tower, which he had run to in a fit of madness that had taken him over. He believes that when the Tower falls, he will rule the Todash darkness that was once the multiverse. He is the one whom Walter/Flagg serves, whom the low men and taheen serve, and he has opposed Roland of Gilead from the beginning. The Crimson King is known by a number of names, including Los' the Red, Ram Aballah, The Aballah, The Kingfish, The Red King, The Lord of Spiders, and The Lord of Discordia. He also appears in Insomnia as a higher being trying to murder Patrick Danville as a child.
The Crimson King is also named in the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel Black House, the sequel to The Talisman.
James Farson[edit]
Farson's nephew, young, slim musician had a short, straight, black hair and dark eye's, he's a high-ranking soldier or henchmen of Farson's Revolutionary Army, and one who met Gabrielle Deschain in their plan for murderer of Steven Deschain. He is always seen near of his uncle, not directly in battle.
Jack Mort[edit]
Jack Mort (whose name means "Death" in French) is a fictional character who makes a brief appearance in The Gunslinger, and a more detailed appearance in The Drawing of the Three. The third door that Roland encounters on the beach leads to Mort and New York in the mid-1970s. Roland finds himself inside the mind of "The Pusher", a sociopath named Jack Mort, whose sadistic acts of random violence have shaped the lives of Roland's companions. Mort, an accountant, thrives on being a meticulous planner when it comes to murder. This, and his style of execution, leads him to be an anonymous and therefore very effective killer. For example, Mort will drop bricks (and presumably other heavy items) on people's heads from tall places (what he calls "depth charging"), will push people in front of cars, and will also push people in front of subway trains. His methods allow a complete lack of direct confrontation, and thus allow him to continue his secret life quietly and with deadly effectiveness. He acts as a linking point between Susannah (both Odetta and Detta), Jake, and ultimately Roland. When Odetta was five, Mort dropped a brick on her head (which led to the emergence of her multiple personalities); he also pushed Odetta in front of a subway car when she was a teenager (neither knowing nor caring that she was a previous victim of his cruelty). On the day Roland enters him, he is planning to shove a young boy (who turns out to be Jake Chambers) into traffic. Unwilling to let Jake die once again through his inaction, Roland takes control of Mort's body and stops him. This death was the means that forced Jake into Roland's world the first time; when Roland prevented it, it had caused a time paradox, though it was resolved later, or rather, undermined, when Jake entered into Roland's world again, but through a door. Later, Roland purposefully forces Jack Mort to throw himself burning in front of a subway train, while telling him that he deserves a far worse fate. In the midst of this struggle, Roland manages to trick Detta into looking through the door, which forces both Odetta and Detta to acknowledge their dual personalities and the cause of them. Mort is described as tall, thin, and having blonde hair in The Drawing of the Three, yet is said by Roland to have had dark hair when mentioned in The Waste Lands.
Blaine the Mono[edit]
Blaine the Mono is a demented monorail train appearing in The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass. Originally serving as public transit in the city of Lud with his partner, another monorail with female characteristics, he slowly went insane after the world went into decline and the despondent female monorail committed suicide. Roland and his ka-tet have to ride this psychopathic train in order to travel safely in the Wastelands. The train seems to be connected to the children's book found by Jake, Charlie the Choo-Choo. Before Blaine lets Roland and his ka-tet on board, he kills every single living thing in the city of Lud with poison gas. Blaine reveals to the ka-tet that he plans to destroy himself along with the ka-tet, he promises to let them live on one condition, the ka-tet must beat him in a riddling contest. If he cannot answer one riddle they ask him, he will not destroy himself with the ka-tet on board. It becomes clear that Blaine has a huge library of riddles from many different levels of the tower at his disposal, and programs to decipher the riddle's wordplays or hidden clues, so the game seems doomed. Eddie eventually stumps Blaine with unsolvable and exceedingly stupid jokes humans sometimes make. This forces Blaine to try to "lower" his intelligence to levels necessary to answer, which ends up driving him completely insane and causes his computer to crash. Eddie then proceeds to shoot Blaine's main computer, which causes the train to crash, killing Blaine.
Shardik[edit]
Shardik is a character encountered by Roland and his ka-tet in the novel The Waste Lands.
Shardik, while appearing to be a massive bear, is actually a mechanical construct of North Central Positronics. A cyborg, Shardik was built by North Central Positronics to serve as one of the twelve Guardians of the Beams. At the time that he is encountered by Roland, he is several thousand years old, malfunctioning, slowly dying, and infested with parasites (a reference to Richard Adams's novel Shardik). Driven insane by his illness, he attacks Roland and his ka-tet, and they are forced to kill him.
The Guardians of the Beams keep watch over either end of the six beams that support The Dark Tower. Of the twelve Guardians the ones that are mentioned are Turtle, Bear, Fish, Wolf, Elephant, Rat, Bat, Lion, Horse, and Eagle; Maturin, the Turtle (also a character in It), is considered the most powerful, or significant, of these. By the time Roland was growing up, the Guardians had reached a near-mythic status, and he wasn't sure whether they even existed before running into Shardik.
The original Guardians, like so many other elements of Roland's world, may have been magic entities that were replaced by North Central Positronic's technological constructs. The death of Shardik represents another failure of technology and is one more step in the dismantling of not only Roland's world, but the entire multiverse of existence.
Shardik is also a novel by Richard Adams; King took the name from this book, something some members of Roland's ka-tet recognize: Susannah realizes the source of the name (although the book was published a decade after the year she was drawn from), while Eddie mentions that he thinks of rabbits when he hears the name Shardik—a reference to Watership Down, another of Adams' books. Adams' Shardik, like King's, is a giant bear.
Rhea[edit]
A decrepit old witch, Rhea Dubativo was the one responsible for the death of Roland's true love, Susan Delgado. She was entrusted with the pink Wizard's Glass (known as Merlin's Grapefruit), which slowly drained her and drove her insane, similar to the deterioration of Smeagol/Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Readers never find out what happens to her; although Roland implies that he killed her, nothing more is elaborated upon beyond that.
Eldred Jonas[edit]
The main antagonist of Wizard and Glass, Eldred is a failed gunslinger now in service to the Crimson King. He leads a gang called the Big Coffin Hunters. Eldred, though in charge of the Red's operations in Mejis, is answerable to George Latigo (one of John Farson's chief lieutenants) and Randall Flagg (at this time known as Walter), Farson's personal wizard.
Roy Depape[edit]
Arguably the shortest-tempered of the Big Coffin Hunters, Roy Depape's hot-headedness is one of the major catalysts for events in Wizard and Glass; through threatening Sheemie Ruiz following a mishap in the local tavern, Roy sets off a multi-layered Mexican standoff between Roland's original ka-tet and the Big Coffin Hunters. Though the situation is initially resolved with diplomacy, the event reveals to Jonas the true nature of Roland and his friends (who were hiding incognito in Mejis under aliases) and blows their cover. When the Big Coffin Hunters frame the young Gunslingers for murder he kills mayor Hart Thorin and plants the rook's skull that ties Cuthbert and by extension Roland and Alain to the crime. He was killed by Roland when the three young gunslingers attacked Eldred and his hundred men, who were riding to meet George Latigo.
Clay Reynolds[edit]
Clay Reynolds is Eldred Jonas' right-hand man and the quietest of the Big Coffin Hunters. He is described as red-haired and especially handsome, and has a reputation as a ladies' man. His most notable accessory (besides his pistol) is a long red cloak. When the Hunters are framing Roland and his friends he volunteers to kill Kimba Rimer with a long dagger he bought for the occasion, in revenge for a comment Rimer made about his cloak. During the ensuing confusion that transpires near the end of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Clay escapes from Mejis with Coral Thorin, and the two become a bandit couple. It is interesting to note that King first cites Reynolds as having red hair, then changes it to dark (brown/black), then references Depape as being "be-spectacled and red-haired" several times. Roland mentions that both Reynolds and Coral Thorin were killed in a failed robbery several years after the events of Mejis. In the comic series The Long Road Home, Reynolds is seen leading a possee of Mejis citizens in pursuit of Roland's Ka-tet, which they break off when Cuthbert Allgood cuts a rope bridge over a wild river. In the one shot issue The Sorcerer, Reynolds is seen being whipped by John Farson for losing Maerlyn's Grapefruit while Coral Thorin waits outside Farson's tent.
Coral Thorin[edit]
Coral is the traitorous sister of Mejis' mayor, Hart Thorin. Mature and slender, she catches the eye of both Eldred Jonas and Clay Reynolds. Crafty and intelligent, Coral is able to ascertain that Jonas is indeed working for John Farson and, not wanting to be on the losing side, conspires with and aids Jonas in his dealing in Mejis. The two enter into a sexual relationship, but following Jonas' death Coral becomes the lover and cohort of Clay Reynolds.
Cordelia Delgado[edit]
Cordelia Delgado was Susan Delgado's aunt, who sold her to Mayor Thorin as a "gilly". She has no problem selling Susan for money. Cordelia has a short temper and has fits where she becomes enraged and screams at Susan. When Cordelia learns that Susan has lost her virginity to Roland and not Hart Thorin, she becomes enraged and slowly loses her mind. Towards the end of the book, she has gone completely insane and joins Rhea in killing Susan. Cordelia is the first person to light the pyre that sets Susan on fire; Rhea is second. Shortly after killing Susan Delgado, Cordelia has a stroke and dies.
Mia[edit]
An invading spirit who possesses Susannah Dean's body in Wolves of the Calla. Originally an immortal spirit similar to a succubus, she saw and fell in love with a baby and longed to have one of her own (an unknown force kept her from coming too close to the child she loved and taking it for herself). Long after a plague ravaged the town of Fedic and the child was taken away, Mia struck a bargain with Walter/Flagg. If she would give up her formless immortality, Walter would give her a baby. Mia's purpose in Walter's and the Crimson King's plan is to bear Roland's child; prophecy has foretold that this child will be Roland's doom.
Mia called the child her "chap", and it was carried by both Susannah and Mia. Susannah had become pregnant with Roland's seed from the demon she copulated with in The Waste Lands, during Jake's Drawing. The demon, a hermaphrodite able to change its sex, had copulated previously with Roland as a female in The Gunslinger while Roland protected Jake and queried it for information. The demon had somehow preserved Roland's semen (and allowed it to be somehow mixed with that of the Crimson King's seed) and impregnated Susannah with it while male. Mia possessed Susannah in order to take over the birthing of her "chap".
Mia is killed and eaten by her child, Mordred, shortly after giving birth.
Mordred Deschain[edit]
Son of two fathers and two mothers, Mordred was born of Susannah's egg fertilized by the seed of both Roland of Gilead and the Crimson King, and carried to term by Mia. Mordred is half-human, half-spider, able to transform between the two, and if his fate is fulfilled, he will both kill Roland and topple the Dark Tower itself. He is both very powerful and extremely arrogant. Growing at a rapid speed, Mordred passes from childhood through adolescence in a matter of months. His abilities include the ability to change between human form and spider form at will and absorbing a victim's knowledge and experience by devouring them. Mordred becomes deathly ill after eating poisoned horse meat, and when he makes a final attempt to kill Roland, he is attacked by Oy. Oy is able to distract Mordred long enough to allow Roland to wake up and kill his son at the threshold of the Dark Tower.
Richard Patrick Sayre[edit]
The leader of the can-toi and the head of the Sombra Corporation, Sayre is the individual who lured Callahan to his death in 1983. He is the one who witnesses Mordred's birth in the Extraction Room at the Arc 16 Experimental Station in Fedic, and he meets his end when he is shot twice in the back of the head (once for Mia, once for Pere Callahan) by Susannah. Like several other characters, his name is 19 letters long. He, like all low men, has a large red dot on his forehead that resembles an open wound. His usual attire was a black shirt with black pants, a yellow sport coat, and blood-red tie. He was killed while drawing his pistol by Susannah Dean when she tried to escape after Mordred devoured Mia.
Finli O'Tego[edit]
Finli O'Tego is a weasel-headed Taheen that appeared in the fifth and seventh Dark Tower books; he was referred to briefly in Wolves of the Calla, before reemerging as a fully fleshed out character in The Dark Tower.
Finli is an assistant and close friend to Pimli Prentiss and helped in the running of Devar-Toi. Like most Taheen, he has psychic abilities; he also enjoys eating pus, offered by Prentiss as he breaks the pimples that erupt on his face. He is credited with orchestrating the re-capture of Ted Brautigan, an event described in Hearts in Atlantis. During the siege of Algul Siento by Roland's ka-tet, Finli was mortally injured and ultimately put out of his misery by Eddie Dean.
Enrico Balazar[edit]
Enrico Balazar is a New York criminal kingpin first introduced in The Drawing of the Three. He manages a club called "The Leaning Tower" and has a fascination with building houses of cards on his desk. Among his actions in the series are: kidnapping Eddie Dean's older brother, Henry (who in turn overdoses on heroin before he can be saved), running over Jake with his car and killing him for the first time, and hiring out his musclemen to the Sombra Corporation. Enrico is killed by Eddie and Roland in Dark Tower II, but a parallel-earth version of him is alive and mentioned in books VI and VII.
Jack Andolini[edit]
Jack Andolini is a New York gangster and affiliate of Enrico Balazar, whom readers first met in The Drawing of the Three. In that novel, he followed Eddie and Roland from Earth to Mid-World (via magic door) and was promptly eaten alive by lobstrosities (after suffering major wounds to his face and arm during gunplay with Roland). He reappears, first in Wolves of the Calla and later in Song of Susannah as a representative of the Sombra Corporation, in a parallel-earth, 1977. When Roland and Eddie enter the Maine of 1977, Andolini and his gang ambush them at the East Stoneham General Store. This version of Andolini meets a less horrible fate: he is imprisoned in a Maine county jail.
Dandelo[edit]
Dandelo is a psychic vampire who feeds on emotions. He makes an appearance in Book VII: The Dark Tower. Using the name of 'Joe Collins', he lures Roland and Susannah into his cottage on Odd Lane (the street that crosses Tower Road in the White Lands of Empathica, and an anagram of "Dandelo") and treats them to a feast. Afterward, he tells them that before entering All-World, he was a stand-up comedian. Roland asks to hear some of his act, during which Dandelo comes close to making Roland laugh to death. Susannah avoids entrapment because she is in the bathroom at the time, tending to a troublesome sore on her face. There she discovers a note apparently left by Stephen King himself (the note even acknowledges itself as a deus ex machina) that helps her puzzle out Joe's true identity. Before he can sap all of Roland's life force, Dandelo is killed by Susannah with two shots to the head.
It is later revealed that he had kept Patrick Danville captive as a 'food source' to drain of emotions; at one point Dandelo ripped out Danville's tongue, preventing him from speaking.
Lippy[edit]
Dandelo had a stable behind his house, in which he kept a blind horse named Lippy. Lippy whinnied when she saw Roland, Susannah and Oy approach. She was very old, ragged, and had holes in her coat. When Dandelo is slain by the gunslingers, Lippy flees her stable, but returns to seek shelter from a winter storm—only to be shot down by Roland. After the gunslingers have moved on, Mordred Deschain, starving after weathering the storm out in the wilderness, fed on Lippy's corpse, which poisoned him and eventually contributed to his downfall.
Tick-Tock Man[edit]
The Tick-Tock Man (real name Andrew Quick) is the leader of the Grays of Lud.
He is the great-grandson of David Quick. His left eye was punctured by Oy during a fight, and Jake shot him in the leg, and then in the head with a .22 pistol. He was left for dead, but survived, the bullet having only grazed his skull and torn off a flap of skin. Randall Flagg rescues him and takes him to the Emerald Palace, where he attacks Roland's ka-tet, and is shot and killed by Eddie and Susannah. He seems to be a successor to the Trashcan Man from The Stand, as both were followers of Flagg who repeated the mantra "My life for you" in regard to their loyalty to him.
Andy the Messenger Robot (Many Other Functions)[edit]
Andy was one of the main antagonists in Wolves of the Calla. Andy was created by Lamerk Industries (the same company that made the Twelve Guardians) and had lived in the Calla for thousands of years. He was obsessed with telling people their horoscopes, like Blaine the Mono was obsessed with riddles. Andy played music from a speaker in his chest and was loved by all the children in the Calla. Andy sent information about the Calla and the whereabouts of the children of the Calla to Finli O'Tego. The information was used so that the Wolves, who were really robots disguised as monsters, could locate the children and take them into the Thunderclap. Andy's evil side was discovered by Jake Chambers, who hid in an ancient control center and overheard Andy talking to Ben Slightman Sr. about the Wolves. Andy claimed he didn't know much about the Wolves (under Directive Nineteen), but he always told the townsfolk when they were coming a month in advance. Andy was finally put to rest by Eddie, who blinded him by shooting his eyes out and then ordering him to shut down under Directive Twenty. Andy was then buried underneath a pile of manure in an outhouse.
Pimli Prentiss[edit]
Pimli Prentiss is the warden of Algul Siento. He is described as being tall, overweight, and balding. Pimli Prentiss (born "Paul Prentiss"; he adopted the taheen name Pimli during his induction ceremony) was recruited by the Crimson King to run Algul Siento, the Crimson King's prison for Breakers. He got the job by replying to a help wanted advertisement in a daily newspaper. Pimli was not a resident of the plane that Algul Siento existed on, but a parallel Earth very similar to our own, where he worked as a prison guard.
Pimli is shown to be cautious and restrained in his approach to his service to the Crimson King. He relies on his humanity and spirituality to guide him in his endeavors. He is portrayed as being a newly devout Catholic. This devotion to Catholicism is apparently triggered by his experiences in End-World.
Pimli was killed by Roland Deschain's ka-tet during the raid on Algul Siento. Before dying, he was able to inflict a mortal gunshot wound on Eddie Dean, thus breaking Roland's ka-tet.
Neutral[edit]
Gan[edit]
The being Gan is first mentioned by name in the Stephen King novel The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, the sixth installment in The Dark Tower series. He is described as speaking "through the voices of the can-calah, who men call angels," and as "denying the Crimson King and denying Discordia itself." Gan's role in the novels is very much in line with the concept of God. In the cosmology of Stephen King's multiverse, Gan is that which the High Speech term "The White" refers to. Gan rose from the Prim (inferred to as the darkness behind everything) and created the universes and infinite alternate universes that the Dark Tower (a building that serves as a microcosm of all of the multiple realities of the Dark Tower series) holds in place.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1997). Wizard and Glass. New York: Penguin. p. XIII. ISBN 0-452-27917-8.
2.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Wastelands. New York: Penguin. p. 221. ISBN 0-452-26740-4.
3.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1997). Wizard and Glass. New York: Penguin. p. 636. ISBN 0-452-27917-8.
4.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Wastelands. New York: Penguin. p. 221. ISBN 0-452-26740-4.
5.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1997). Wizard and Glass. New York: Penguin. p. 60. ISBN 0-452-27917-8.
6.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1997). Wizard and Glass. New York: Penguin. p. 652. ISBN 0-452-27917-8.
7.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1997). Wizard and Glass. New York: Penguin. p. 16. ISBN 0-452-27917-8.
8.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Wastelands. New York: Penguin. p. 222. ISBN 0-452-26740-4.
9.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Wastelands. New York: Penguin. p. 220. ISBN 0-452-26740-4.
10.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1992). The Wastelands. New York: Penguin. p. 222. ISBN 0-452-26740-4.


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The Dark Tower series by Stephen King


Novels
The Gunslinger ·
 The Drawing of the Three ·
 The Waste Lands ·
 Wizard and Glass ·
 Wolves of the Calla ·
 Song of Susannah ·
 The Dark Tower ·
 The Wind Through the Keyhole
 

Short stories
"The Gunslinger" ·
 "The Way Station" ·
 "The Oracle and the Mountains" ·
 "The Slow Mutants" ·
 "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" ·
 "The Little Sisters of Eluria"
 

Comics
The Gunslinger Born ·
 The Long Road Home ·
 Treachery ·
 The Sorcerer ·
 Fall of Gilead ·
 Battle of Jericho Hill ·
 The Journey Begins ·
 The Little Sisters of Eluria ·
 The Battle of Tull ·
 The Way Station ·
 The Man in Black
 

Characters
Roland Deschain ·
 Father Callahan ·
 Randall Flagg ·
 Crimson King
 

Related books
'Salem's Lot ·
 The Stand ·
 The Talisman ·
 "The Mist" ·
 Skeleton Crew ·
 It ·
 The Eyes of the Dragon ·
 Insomnia ·
 Rose Madder ·
 Desperation ·
 The Regulators ·
 Bag of Bones ·
 Hearts in Atlantis ·
 Black House ·
 Everything's Eventual ·
 From a Buick 8 ·
 "Ur"
 

 


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The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria
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The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria
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Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
"Monthly"
Genre

Publication date
December, 2010— Apr., 2011
Number of issues
5
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Richard Isanove /Luke Ross
The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics.[1] It is the seventh comic book miniseries based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Richard Isanove and Luke Ross. Stephen King is the Creative and Executive Director of the project. The first issue was published on December 8, 2010.
Summary[edit]
A battle with mutants leaves Roland injured and in the care of a small, strange clinic. However, the nurses are more of a danger than the mutants ever were.
Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: December 8, 2010
Issue #2: January 12, 2011
Issue #3: February 9, 2011
Issue #4: March 16, 2011
Issue #5: April 13, 2011
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Comic Books Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Little Sisters of Eluria (2011 - Present) | Browse Comic Books From Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Little Sisters of Eluria (201...


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The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins
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The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins
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Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
"Monthly"
Genre

Publication date
May, 2010— Sept., 2010
Number of issues
5
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Richard Isanove /Sean Phillips
The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics.[1] It is the sixth comic book miniseries based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Richard Isanove and Sean Phillips. Stephen King is the Creative and Executive Director of the project. The first issue was published May 19, 2010.
Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: May 19, 2010
Issue #2: June 16, 2010
Issue #3: July 21, 2010
Issue #4: August 18, 2010
Issue #5: September 22, 2010
Plot[edit]
The Man in Black is fleeing across the Desert and challenges Roland to catch him.
In pursuit of the Man in Black Roland first encounters an old man who gives Roland a compass. Later Roland stumbles onto a dwelling owned by a man named Brown. Brown informs Roland that the Man in Black did pass through, but Brown cannot say how long ago it was because time has become difficult to determine. Roland stays the night with Brown, but is unsure if Brown is real or an enchantment created by the Man in Black. Roland agrees to tell Brown part of his story starting with Jericho Hill.
After John Farson’s victory at Jericho Hill the bodies of the gunslingers are being placed on pyre. Roland, thought to be dead, regains consciousness and escapes the pyre by knocking out a drunken guard. Vowing to take revenge for the death of his friend, Roland is surprised to see Aileen is still alive.
Together the two escape the enemy camp, but Aileen refuses to continue the fight against Farson as she believes her wounds are still mortal. Roland promises to take her back to the ruins of Gilead so she can be buried in her family crypt.
Dragging Aileen back to Gilead on a gurney Roland stumbles onto a merchant’s wagon that had been attacked. The only survivor of the attack is a billy-bumbler. The billy-bumbler, which is capable of some speech, says its master was killed by “Not-Men”.
Later that night Roland is attacked by these Not-Men who have the ability to turn invisible. Roland is rescued by the billy-bumbler and is able to defeat the Not-Men but Aileen is hit by a dart tipped with poison and dies.
Roland and the bumbler (Billy) reach the ruins of Gilead and Roland places Aileen's body in her Uncle Cort’s coffin. While investigating the ruins further, Roland and Billy stumble onto a pack of slow mutants attacking a family of billy-bumblers. Roland defends the bumblers by helping kill all the mutants. After the battle Roland encounters the ghost of Hax
Hax was Gilead’s former cook who was hanged years ago for plotting to poison children for John Farson. Roland flashes back to his adolescences and his first experience with death. Roland and Cuthbert had overheard Hax plan to poison children and reported the treachery to Roland's father. Hax was hung because of Roland’s accusations. Hax’s ghost expresses regret for what his past.
While touring more of the ruins of Gilead, Roland begins to think of all those he has lost over the years when Martin (the Man in Black) appears. Roland attempts to shoot Martin, but the bullets are blocked by magic. Martin claims to be able to help Roland to reach the Dark Tower. Martin vanishes, and Roland begins his quest to find him, believing Martin is his best resource for finding the Tower.
Weeks later Roland and Billy come to the fortified city of Kingstown. A public hanging of a Not-man is scheduled. While waiting for the hanging Roland believes he sees the long dead Susan, but loses her in the crowd. As the Not-man is being hung, Roland overhears a second Not-Man and attempts to capture him for the townsfolk.
After failing to catch the Not-Man Roland enters a tavern and is served by the girl that looks exactly like Susan Delgado. The girl’s name is in fact “Susan” but not the one Roland use to know. Susan tells Roland that Not-Men have been stealing women, many of them her friends, ever since Farson’s men came through the territory looking for weapons.
Later that night Susan herself is taken by the Not-Men. Roland promises to prevent history from repeating itself and goes after Susan. Billy leads Roland to the Not-Men’s lair by following Susan’s scent. There Roland learns the Not-Men use technology to turn invisible. Several women are being held against their will with restraining collars.
Roland manages to free the girls, who help him kill most of the now visible Not-Men. Using his sense of smell Billy is able to help track many of the still invisible Not-Men. The last surviving Not-Man takes Susan hostage and uses her as a human shield. Billy attacks this Not-Man, but is thrown against a tree limb and impaled. Roland shoots the last Not-man and Billy dies from his wound soon after.
With the death of another friend, Roland only spends a single night with Susan before moving on to his next quest. In the present Roland informs Brown that anyone close to him dies. However Roland also admits to feeling better after telling his story. Having finished his story Roland continues his search for the Man in Black.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://marvel.com/comic_books/browse/comic_series/9785/dark_tower_the_gunslinger_-_the_journey_begins_2010


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The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill
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The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill

Cover of The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho 1 (December, 2009).

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
"Monthly"
Genre

Publication date
December, 2009—April, 2010
Number of issues
5
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Richard Isanove /Jae Lee
The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics.[1] It the fifth comic book miniseries based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Richard Isanove and Jae Lee. Stephen King is the Creative and Executive Director of the project. The first issue was published in December 2009.
Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: December 3, 2009
Issue #2: December 23, 2009
Issue #3: February 10, 2010
Issue #4: February 24, 2010
Issue #5: April 21, 2010
Plot[edit]
Gilead has fallen to John Farson and his forces. Roland Deschain and Gilead's few remaining survivors manage to escape the city through a secret exit. Not long after, a massive earthquake strikes and further damages the city. Alain informs the survivors it is no normal earthquake but rather a beamquake, meaning one of the six beams holding up the mythical Dark Tower has broken. Gilead was rumored to rest on the Eagle-Lion Beam and its destruction broke the beam. Roland decides as the leader of Gilead's survivors it is their mission to find the Dark Tower and use its power to set things right.
However, Roland and his ka-tet are uncertain which direction to travel along the beam. For nine years they wander unable to locate the Dark Tower as reality seems to be coming apart, time and space no longer being constant. In addition Roland has learned that the Crimson King is working to break the remaining five beams holding The Dark Tower. Unable to find The Dark Tower the ka-tet takes the fight directly to John Farson, by forming a resistance group and destroying several of his military installations.
The war between Roland and Farson take a turn when Randolph, member of Roland's ka-tet, loses his wife and son is taken by a slow mutant. It is later revealed that this slow mutant was acting under orders from Marten. Marten is holding Randolph's family to force him to betray the resistance. Randolph leads Sheemie into a trap. Marten decides to keep Sheemie alive as his abilities make him too valuable.
After a several more setbacks the ka-tet begins to suspect a traitor and attempts to keep sensitive information among the most trusted men. However, a mission to destroy a weapon's cache ends in an ambush due to a false scouting report from Randolph. Alain is the only member to escape the ambush and realizes that Randolph is the traitor. As Alain is returning to camp, Roland and Cuthbert mistake him for an enemy soldier and Alain is fatally wounded. Alain is able to tell his friends that Randolph is the traitor before dying.
Roland and Cuthbert return to camp aware that it is only a matter of time before John Farson attacks their camp. Despite Randolph's helping Marten his wife and son are killed anyway. Out of despair for this family and betraying his friends, Randolph commits suicide. His last request is have his son buried with Alain so a true gunslinger will be able to take him to the clearing.
John Farson's army attacks the resistance encampment on Jericho Hill. The resistance is unable to retreat and is outnumbered by thousands. The ka-tet decides to fight on rather than ask for mercy. Early in the battle, Aileen is impaled by a spear and left for dead. Cuthbert is wounded next, but continues to fight. Jamie DeCurry is killed by taking a bullet for Roland. The twelve remaining gunslingers go on one final charge against Farson's army. Cuthbert blows the Horn of Eld and is killed by an arrow shot by Marten. Eventually all the gunslinger are shot down, including Roland.
Roland and the other gunslinger are thrown into a pile and left for dead. Sometime later, Roland stands up, wounded but alive and more determined than ever to reach the Dark Tower. [2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Battle of Jericho Hill". Stehenking.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
2.Jump up ^ 'Peter David and Robin Furth. 'The Dark Tower:Battle of Jericho Hill


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The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
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 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead

Cover of The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead 1 (May, 2009).

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
"Monthly"
Genre

Publication date
May 13, 2009—November 25, 2009
Number of issues
6
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Richard Isanove
The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics.[1] It is the penultimate story arc of five based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Richard Isanove. Stephen King is the Creative and Executive Director of the project. The first issue was published May 13, 2009.
Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: May 13, 2009
Issue #2: June 17, 2009
Issue #3: July 29, 2009
Issue #4: August 26, 2009
Issue #5: September 30, 2009
Issue #6: November 25, 2009
Plot[edit]
In direct continuation of the previous story's finale, Roland Deschain, is overcome with grief over accidentally killing his mother, Gabrielle. Abel Vannay the Wise and Cortland "Cort" Andrus search the quarters of Kingson, John Farson's nephew, whom Cort recently killed at the feast's riddle competition when he realized he was in league of Farson. Cort discovers a journal, but as he leafs through it, licking his fingers to do so, he picks up the poison with which the journal's pages are laced, much to Abel's horror. Steven Deschain discovers that Maerlyn's Grapefruit, the mysterious seeing sphere of John Farson's that Roland acquired during his recent mission, is missing from the cabinet where he hid it, and suspects that his wife, Gabrielle, secretly took the cabinet's key off of him as they danced at the recent feast, but is horrified when he discovers his son Roland over Gabrielle's dead body. Roland admits that he killed his own mother while under the spell of Maerlyn's Grapefruit which made her appear as Rhea of the Coos. Upon checking Gabrielle's body, the group discovers a poisoned blade with the sigul of John Farson, confirming that Gabrielle was coerced by Marten to assassinate Steven Deschain. Despite this, Roland is locked away in a cell to await trial for the murder of Gabrielle.
While Roland awaits trial, Steven Deschain and a group of gunslingers follow a trail leading from Gilead that they believe will lead them to John Farson. They are ambushed by a group of Slow Mutant's and Robert Allgood (Cuthbert's Father) is killed with a poisonous dart. Later, they are ambushed again by Farson's men and all are killed except Steven Deschain and Chris John's (Alain's Father) Cort also passes away from the effects of the poison ink, and Vannay is shot by a messenger as he prepares Cort's body for burial. Aileen, Cort's niece, enraged by the murder of her uncle, disguises herself as a boy and a gunslinger and helps Roland escape from his cell, only to discover that all of his gunslinger mentors have been slain, and that his father is injured badly from the ambush. Upon returning it is soon discovered that the doctors in Gilead have been killed by Farson's men in preparation for the upcoming assault on Gilead. Chris Johns throat is slit as he checks on the home of Doctor Decurry, and Steven is stabbed in the back by a traitorous guard. With his last breath, Steven scrawls "Open the Pits" in his own blood on the floor, a signal to Roland to use the castle's ancient defenses, only to be used in the most dire circumstances. Three days later, John Farson's army arrives at the gates of Gilead and a battle ensues. Despite the ancient pits, John Farson's troops, slow mutants, and great machines of the old times (tanks, RPGs) are too much for the city and the citizens are forced to flee in the sewer.[2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ ""The Fall of Gilead" arrive pour la Tour Sombre". Elbakin.net. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
2.Jump up ^ Peter David and Robin Furth. The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead #1 July 2009


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The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer
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The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer

Cover of The Dark Tower: Sorcerer 1 (Jun, 2009).

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Format
One-shot
Genre
Weird west

Publication date
April 15, 2009
Number of issues
1
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth
Artist(s)
Richard Isanove
Letterer(s)
Chris Eliopoulos
The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer is a one-shot issue comic book, which serves as a prelude to The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead story-arc within Marvel's The Dark Tower comic book series, which is a spin-off of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novel series.
Unlike the previous three Dark Tower story-arcs, which follow Roland Deschain and his ka-tet, Sorcerer follows the life and motives of The Dark Tower villain Marten Broadcloak.
References[edit]

External links[edit]
Marvel.com Web Solicitation for The Dark Tower: Sorcerer


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The Dark Tower: Treachery
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The Dark Tower: Treachery

Cover of The Dark Tower: Treachery 1 (Sept, 2008).Art by Jae Lee.

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
"Monthly"
Genre

Publication date
September 2008—February 2009
Number of issues
6
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Jae Lee
Richard Isanove
The Dark Tower: Treachery is a monthly, six-issue comic book mini-series, a prequel spin-off of Stephen King's sci-fi western novel series The Dark Tower, the first issue of which was published September 10, 2008. It is the third of five such miniseries based on those novels, following the 2007 mini-series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born and the 2008 mini-series The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home. The series is written and illustrated by the same creative team as The Gunslinger Born and The Long Road Home, which includes writers Robin Furth and Peter David, and illustrators Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. Whereas The Gunslinger Born was largely based on the events of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Treachery, like The Long Road Home, consists mostly of new material not found in any of the novels.[1]
The story depicts The ka-tet of Roland Deschain, Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood dealing with the events following their return to Gilead from Hambry, including the toll that Maerlyn's Grapefruit has taken on Roland's health, his obsessive desire to continue peering into its depths, and the search for John Farson and the Big Coffin Hunters.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Publication dates
2 Plot
3 Promotion
4 Reception
5 Related releases
6 References
7 External links

Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: September 10, 2008
Issue #2: October 8, 2008
Issue #3: November 12, 2008
Issue #4: December 24, 2008
Issue #5: January 28, 2009
Issue #6: February 25, 2009
Plot[edit]
A momentous celebration is held in Gilead following the return of Roland Deschain, Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood from their successful mission in Hambry. Alain and Cuthbert are praised by Roland's father, Steven Deschain, the lord of Gilead, for accomplishing their mission, and are recognized as gunslingers. The two gunslingers, however, are worried about Roland, who is still obsessed with Maerlyn's Grapefruit, the mysterious seeing sphere that Roland acquired during their mission. They are conflicted over their decision to remain loyal to him by keeping his addiction to it a secret, rather than forcing Roland to turn it over to his father. Roland is also troubled by the Grapefruit, through which he is still taunted by the Crimson King.
A posse that includes the trio's fathers heads out on a mission to thwart John Farson. They come across a group of Farson's men whose loyalty to Farson is wavering. They are ambushed by the posse, and although most are killed, one is able to detonate a grenade. The explosion is observed at a distance by another Farson deserter, who is turn killed by one of Farson's lieutenants.[2] Charles Champignon, who shielded Steven from the grenade, is badly wounded. Steven applies the gunpowder from a bullet to his wound and ignites it, cauterizing the wound.[3] They resolve to get Charles home to more proper medical attention before his pregnant wife gives birth.[4]
In Gilead, Aileen Ritter, the niece of the gunslinger trainer Cort, laments how she is excluded from becoming a gunslinger because she is female. Cort wants to betroth her to Roland Deschain, but she would rather die than marry. She steals revolvers from Cort's armory to practice with them. When she joins the boys, Cuthbert dismisses her, but she gets the best of him by putting a bullet through his gun belt as he holds it in his hand.[3] Cort is upset with Aileen for stealing from the armory, and for eschewing the traditional role of females with her gunslinger aspirations, but observes that she is just like her late mother, and resolves that she will choose her own path.[4]
At a nunnery in Debaria called Our Lady of the Rose, Gabrielle Deschain attempts to atone for her infidelity to Steven with Marten Broadcloak, but Marten himself appears, and insists that he is the only one who loves and understands her.[4] He convinces her to murder Steven, and makes her the false promise her that her son, Roland, will be unharmed. At the same time, Steven and his men attempt to strategize how to outflank John Farson, but Justus, their chief source of information on Farson's movements, is actually a spy in Farson's employ.[5]
Within the Grapefruit, Roland sees a vision of Rhea of the Cöos, the witch behind Susan Delgado's death, arriving in Gilead, and murdering his father.[4] Alain and Cuthbert manage to convince Roland to relinquish the Grapefruit to his father, which Roland does, apologizing to Steven for not doing so upon his return to Gilead. Steven is understanding of Roland's sin, due to the nefarious effect that the Grapefruit has on its victims, and tells Roland he will atone for his actions by showing forgiveness to his mother at the upcoming banquet. Roland begrudgingly agrees. Steven, rather than allowing the Grapefruit to seduce him as it did Roland, hides it in a safe, an act that is secretly observed by Justus, who informs Farson of this.[5]
Alain and Cuthbert, observing that new gunslingers typically are seated next to the prospective brides selected by their fathers, ponder whether Roland will be seated next to Aileen at the upcoming banquet, but Roland, who is still mourning Susan Delgado, has no interest in the issue. Meanwhile, Gabrielle meets with Justus and Kingson, Farson's nephew, who works as a musician. They give her a dagger coated with a deadly poison with which she is to kill Steven, and instruct her to procure the key to the safe in which Steven placed the Grapefruit.[6]
In Gilead, Abel Vannay the Wise, the gunslingers' philosophy teacher, crafts riddles for a competition at the upcoming banquet. Cort looks forward to the challenge, but both are interrupted by Kingson, who seeks to participate in the competition himself. Kingson later switches out Vannay's bag of riddles for his own, but his treachery is secretly witnessed by Cort.[6]
At the banquet, Steven presents the three new gunslingers, and presents to his son the guns of Eld, which previously served Steven himself.[6] Roland and Aileen share a dance, and later, a personal conversation outside, but when she kisses him, Roland pulls away, still mourning Susan. Kingson squares off against Cort in a competition of riddles, and appears to win the competition, but Cort accuses him of substituting Vannay's scrolls with ones that Kingson himself copied from older texts with poorly thought out, incorrect answers. Cort stabs him to death, and finds a signet ring on him, marking him as one of Farson's spies. Roland finds the Grapefruit missing from his father's vault, and then finds it in his mother's chambers. Gazing into it, he sees a reflection of Rhea of the Coos, approaching him from behind with a garrot. He turns and shoots the woman in the chest, but it turns out to be his mother, Gabrielle, holding a belt with Roland's name stitched into it that she was planning to leave him as a gift. Her last words before she expires are "Roland, I...I love thee.."[7]
Promotion[edit]



 Writer Peter David and artist Mike Perkins, at the midnight signing of Treachery and The Stand: Captain Trips at Midtown Comics in Times Square, Manhattan, September 10, 2008. At far right is Alan Kistler of ComicMix, interviewing Perkins.
As with the previous two miniseries, writer Peter David appeared at a midnight signing at Midtown Comics in Times Square, Manhattan to promote the book. Artist Mike Perkins was also present to promote The Stand: Captain Trips, Marvel's comic book adaptation of Stephen King's novel, The Stand.[8] Midtown, along with 80 other U.S. stores participating in the midnight launch, were given an exclusive Midnight Opening Variant of the first issue, which features a gatefold cover.[9]
Reception[edit]
The trade paperback collection of the series made the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List in May 2009.[10]
Related releases[edit]
On February 11, 2009, Marvel released the The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead written by Anthony Flamini and Robin Furth.[11] The handbook serves as a guide to the City of Gilead, featuring original art by David Yardin on subjects such as Buffalo Star, the Queen o’ Green Days, Lord Perth, the Blue-Faced Barbarians, and the Kuvian Night Soldiers.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Marvel book solicitations for September 2008.
2.Jump up ^ Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #1 (November 2008)
3.^ Jump up to: a b Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #2 (December 2008)
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #3 (January 2009)
5.^ Jump up to: a b Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #4 (February 2009)
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #5 (March 2009)
7.Jump up ^ Robin Furth and Peter David. The Dark Tower: Treachery #6 (April 2009)
8.Jump up ^ Kistler, Alan. "Interviews: Peter David and Mike Perkins" comicmix.com. September 10, 2008
9.Jump up ^ "The Dark Tower Midnight Launch Details" marvel.com. September 9, 2008
10.Jump up ^ Gustines, George Gene. "Graphic Books Best Seller List: May 16". The New York Times. May 22, 2009
11.Jump up ^ Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead solicit.
External links[edit]
Robin Furth Interview at Newsarama
Robin Furth and Ralph Macchio Interview at Comic Book Resources


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The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home
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The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Format
Limited series
Genre

Publication date
March, 2008
Number of issues
5
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Jae Lee
Richard Isanove



Peter David and Jae Lee at the midnight signing of the first issue at Midtown Comics Times Square, March 5, 2008.
The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home is a monthly five-issue[1] comic book mini-series, a spin-off of Stephen King's sci-fi western novel series of the same name. The first issue was published on March 5, 2008.[2] It is the second of five such miniseries based on those novels, following the 2007 mini-series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born.
The story depicts the title character of Roland Deschain as he returns to Gilead from Mejis. Whereas The Gunslinger Born was largely based on the events of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, The Long Road Home showcases mostly new material not found in any of the novels.
The series is written and illustrated by the same creative team as The Gunslinger Born, which includes writers Robin Furth and Peter David, and illustrators Jae Lee and Richard Isanove.[1] On March 5, 2008, David and Lee appeared at a midnight signing of the first issue of the series at Midtown Comics Times Square, as they had done the previous year with The Gunslinger Born.[3][4][5]


Contents  [hide]
1 Publication dates
2 Plot
3 Reception
4 Related releases
5 Footnotes
6 External links

Publication dates[edit]
Issue #1: March 5, 2008
Issue #2: April 2, 2008
Issue #3: May 7, 2008
Issue #4: June 4, 2008
Issue #5: July 2, 2008
Plot[edit]
In continuation of the events of The Gunslinger Born, Roland Deschain and his ka-tet, Alain Johns and Cuthbert Allgood, are on the run from the Hambry posse, hoping to return to Gilead with Farson's prize, the evil seeing sphere known as Maerlyn's Grapefruit. The young gunslingers argue over Roland's insistence on carrying Susan Delgado's body to give it a proper burial, and during this, Roland shoots the Grapefruit. It transmogrifies into an enormous eyeball with tentacles that attach to Roland, drawing out his consciousness and into the sphere's dream-like realm, called End-World. There he encounters the spirits of the deceased Big Coffin Hunters. Alain and Cuthbert continue fleeing, carrying the unconscious Roland with them, barely escaping their pursuers via a dangerous river.
Meanwhile, a hapless, mentally challenged child named Sheemie, the village idiot of Hambry, and a friend of Roland, comes across a military control center called a Dogan (featured in the novel Wolves of the Calla), where his presence reactivates a long-dormant robot. The robot appears to electrocute Sheemie, filling him with energy in order to "experiment" on him. This act gives Sheemie the gift of telepathy, teleportation and rapid healing.
In the dream-like realm of End-World, Marten Broadcloak taunts Roland with the assertion that it is he whose machinations led to Roland's situation, and will lead to his eventual death. Alain and Cuthbert cross a dilapidated bridge with Roland's lifeless body, though at the cost of Cuthbert's horse, whom Bert is forced to euthanize, before destroying the bridge to elude the posse.
In End-World, Roland encounters a future version of himself as an adult. Broadcloak further taunts the young Roland with the assertion that his adult self killed his friends, and now walks alone on an endless path to the Dark Tower. Alain tries to reach Roland's mind with his psychic abilities, and is drawn into the realm, while Cuthbert fends off wolves from their camp. Alain is eventually ejected from the Grapefruit. Roland's body awakens, but apparently without the benefit of Roland's consciousness, and kills one of the wolves with its bare hands. Alain is again pulled briefly into the Grapefruit, from which he is again ejected after challenging Marten. As he reappears before Bert and the again-lifeless Roland, the trio are now confronted by a group of wolves. In fending off the wolves, Alain repeatedly shoots Sheemie, who has appeared at their camp. However, his wounds are instantly healed, and he also heals Alain's injuries. He then looks deep into the Grapefruit, and after mounting his mule, enters it.
In End-World, Marten delivers Roland to his master, the Crimson King, who tells Roland that they are both descended from Arthur Eld, and therefore, are akin to cousins. The Crimson King wants Roland to help him open the Dark Tower in order to destroy the many worlds spun from it, and restore the King's rightful kingdom of disorder and chaos, which he will rule with Roland. When Roland rebuffs his offer, the King tortures Roland with his magic, but is thwarted by Sheemie, who forces Roland out of the Grapefruit. Sheemie's whereabouts are unknown after this.
The trio return home to Gilead, where Roland's father, Steven, and the rest of the townsfolk are elated at their return, having been informed by agents of Farson that they had perished. Roland does not inform his father about the Grapefruit, which he keeps to himself. Alain and Cuthbert keep the secret out of loyalty, but fear that Roland is a changed man for his experiences, and that the young man they knew when they first set out to Hambry is lost to them.
Reception[edit]
The first issue topped the March comic sales figures, with an estimated 123,807 sold, 20,000 more than the next comic, New Avengers.[6]
Related releases[edit]
In July 2008, Marvel released The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac, written by Robin Furth and Anthony Flamini.[7] In September 2008, Marvel released the first issue of the sequel series The Dark Tower: Treachery. In October 2008, Marvel released "The Long Road Home," in a hardcover collection of the comic book series.
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Comic Addiction Talks to Peter David!"; Interview conducted by Robert Tacopina and Antony Ellis; October 24, 2007
2.Jump up ^ The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #7; Inside back cover.
3.Jump up ^ "March Madness"; peterdavid.net; February 29, 2008.
4.Jump up ^ "Peter interviewed on ComicMix TV for Dark Tower launch"; peterdavid.net; March 5, 2008.
5.Jump up ^ Video Interview with Peter David and Jae Lee at comicmix.com
6.Jump up ^ Sales Estimates for March, 2008 Books, Comic Book Resources, April 28, 2008
7.Jump up ^ Dark Tower: End-World Almanac solicit.
External links[edit]
Robin Furth Interview at Newsarama
Robin Furth and Ralph Macchio Interview at Comic Book Resources


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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

Cover art to The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1.
 Art by Jae Lee.

Publication information

Publisher
Marvel Comics
Schedule
Monthly
Format
Limited series
Genre

Publication date
February 7, 2007
Number of issues
7
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)[1]
Artist(s)
Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
Creator(s)
Stephen King
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is a seven-issue comic book limited series, published in 2007 by Marvel Comics.[2][3] It is the first story arc of five based on The Dark Tower series of novels by Stephen King. It is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. Stephen King serves as Creative and Executive Director of the project.


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview
2 Issues
3 Related releases
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Overview[edit]
The first issue of The Gunslinger Born was released at midnight on February 7, 2007.[4] Creators Peter David and Jae Lee, and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada appeared at a midnight signing at a Times Square, New York comic book store to promote it.[5][6] The entire Dark Tower comic book series comprises four additional arcs of 6 issues for a total of 31 issues.[2]
The Gunslinger Born is an expansion and interpretation of events covered in The Dark Tower series, beginning with Roland Deschain's manhood test against Cort and ending with the last events of the flashback sequences in Wizard and Glass. Later arcs will "cover the time period between Roland leaving Hambry and the fall of Gilead".[2] The Gunslinger Born is followed by The Long Road Home, whose first issue was released on March 5, 2008.[7]
Issues[edit]

Issue
Released
Summary
Special Features
#1 Feb 7, 2007 During Roland's flight across the Mohaine Desert he recalls the treachery of Marten Broadcloak, the sin of his mother, his test of manhood against his teacher Cort, and the night that followed. A prose story in which Roland's teacher, Vannay, demonstrates to the boys the power and significance of The Beam.
#2 Mar 7, 2007 Roland's father, Steven, returns with a plan to send Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain to Hambry in the east, the true form of the Crimson King is revealed, and Marten flees Gilead after escaping arrest. A prose story about Roland's ancestry and the creation of Maerlyn's Rainbow as well as the birth of the Crimson King, and an open letter from Stephen King.
#3 Apr 4, 2007 Roland and friends have fled for the city of Hambry, as their home in Gilead is now too dangerous. But, once there, Roland learns to his horror that he is no safer. Hambry’s leaders have switched allegiance and the assassins known as the Big Coffin Hunters have marked Roland and company for death. A prose story about the origin of the gunslingers' shooters, and part one of a Comic-Con Q&A including those involved in creating the series.
#4 May 2, 2007 Roland seems willing to put his friends in deadly danger by staying in Hambry when his relationship with Susan Delgado deepens. Meanwhile, Marten Broadcloak’s agents — also known as the Big Coffin Hunters — are zeroing in for the kill on Roland and his ka-tet. Part one of a prose story about Maerlyn's Laughing Mirror, an article on the process of making each page of the comics, and part two of the Comic-Con Q&A.
#5 Jun 6, 2007 Just outside Hambry, Roland makes a monstrous discovery: John Farson and his men have stolen the weapons of the Great Old Ones and now have the oil to power them and launch an attack against the Affiliation—a group which counts among its members Roland’s father, Steven Deschain. And, at just the wrong time, the young gunslinger’s ka-tet may be splintering, when Cuthbert accuses Roland of cowardice and rides off on his own. Part two and three of the prose story about Maerlyn's Laughing Mirror, in which the origins of both Rhea and Jonas's evils are revealed, and the third and final part of the Comic-Con Q&A.
#6 Jul 5, 2007 The Affiliation, the group composed of Roland’s father and his forces, are being lured into a fatal trap in the Shaved Mountains. With the Great Old Ones’ weapons fired up by Hambry’s oil, the Affiliation will be wiped out—unless Roland Deschain—the Gunslinger—can intercede in time. Part one of the prose story about the history of Charyou Tree, and an illustrated description of Gunslinger's guns.
#7 Aug 1, 2007 Roland and his ka-tet have their long-awaited showdown with Eldred Jonas and the Big Coffin Hunters; Rhea's plan finally comes to fruition with deadly results; Roland Deschain’s love affair with Susan Delgado comes to a tragic conclusion. Part two of the prose story about the history of Charyou Tree.
Related releases[edit]
To accompany the series, Marvel released a free 15-page Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born Sketchbook. Also available is Marvel Spotlight: The Dark Tower, in which the illustrators, writers, and editors are interviewed.
In August 2007, Marvel released the The Dark Tower: Gunslinger's Guidebook written by Robin Furth and Anthony Flamini. The Guidebook features profiles on characters who appeared in The Gunslinger Born as well as those who will debut in later volumes of the Marvel Comics franchise, such as John Farson, General Grissom, and Aileen Ritter.
The entire seven-issue run of The Gunslinger Born was collected into a hardcover edition, released on November 7, 2007 (ISBN 0785121447), though it does not include the prose work that ran in the individual issues.
At the end of the seventh and final issue of The Gunslinger Born, an advertisement is seen for the sequel, The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home.
See also[edit]
List of comics based on fiction
Weird West
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Peter David (2006-04-05). "King David". PeterDavid.net. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Lilja (2006-02-28). "Interview with Robin Furth". Lilja's Library. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
3.Jump up ^ Stephen King (2005-12-02). "Marvel Comics to publish Dark Tower Comic Books". StephenKing.com. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
4.Jump up ^ "Marvel Eagerly Anticipating Dark Tower Midnight Release". Marvel.com news. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
5.Jump up ^ Peter David discusses the signing on his blog.
6.Jump up ^ Another blog entry of the signing with photos and links to interviews.
7.Jump up ^ The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #7; Inside back cover.
External links[edit]
Official site at Marvel.com
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born at the Comic Book DB
Richard Isanove on The Dark Tower at Newsarama
Interview with Joe Quesada about the series at Lilja's Library
Interview with Richard isanove about the series at Lilja's Library
Interview with Peter David about the series at Lilja's Library
Interview with Robin Furth about the series at Lilja's Library
Interview with Ralph Macchio about the series at Lilja's Library
Dark Tower Official Site
Heroes Con 2007 Panel Discussion with Peter David and Robin Firth (Audio) at The Dollar Bin
Interviews with Joe Quesada, Jae Lee and Peter David at The Comic Collective


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The Dark Tower (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Dark Tower

Cover of The Gunslinger Born #1

Publication information

Publisher
United StatesCanada Marvel
FranceBelgium Soleil
NetherlandsBelgium Uitgeverij L
BrazilSpainItaly Panini
GermanyAustria Splitter, Heyne
Poland Albatros
Turkey Altın Kitaplar
Genre

Publication date
February 7, 2007 -
Main character(s)
Roland Deschain, Alain Johns, Cuthbert Allgood
Creative team

Writer(s)
Robin Furth (adaptation)
Peter David (script)
Artist(s)
Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
Creator(s)
Stephen King
The Dark Tower, first published in 2007, is a series of comic books by Marvel Comics based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. It is plotted by Robin Furth and scripted by Peter David. Stephen King serves as Creative and Executive Director of the project.
The first chapter run of the series consists of 30 issues that make up five volumes illustrated by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. The first volume, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, is based primarily on flashbacks from The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass; the later ones are new content.
As stated by Peter David's afterword to The Long Road Home, the series will detail Roland Deschain's "progress from callow youth to gunslinger," starting with his adventures in Mejis from Wizard and Glass and ending with the Battle of Jericho Hill (as detailed in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower).
The second chapter run consists of another 30 issues broken up into volumes under the title of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. The first volume of the second chapter run is The Journey Begins and it takes place twelve years after the Battle of Jericho Hill. The final volume, The Man in Black, is largely an adaptation of the latter portion of the first Dark Tower novel, namely the novellas "The Slow Mutants" and "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man".
The Dark Tower comics were planned to be finished after the release of the one-shot So Fell Lord Perth, released on August 7, 2013, according to Marvel's website.[1] However, on April 25, 2014, a third arc, The Drawing of the Three, was announced.[2]
Marvel has been publishing hardcover collections for each story arc, and on September 21, 2011, it was published as an omnibus hardcover collection (ISBN 0785155414, 928 pages).


Contents  [hide]
1 Story arcs
2 Other releases
3 Collections
4 References
5 External links

Story arcs[edit]

#
Title
Issues
Dates
The Dark Tower
1 The Gunslinger Born 7 February 7, 2007—August 1, 2007
2 The Long Road Home 5 March 5, 2008—July 2, 2008
3 Treachery 6 September 10, 2008—February 25, 2009
* The Sorcerer 1 April 15, 2009
4 Fall of Gilead 6 May 13, 2009—November 25, 2009
5 Battle of Jericho Hill 5 December 3, 2009—April 21, 2010
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
6 The Journey Begins 5 May 19, 2010—September 22, 2010
7 The Little Sisters of Eluria 5 December 8, 2010—April 13, 2011
8 The Battle of Tull 5 June 1, 2011—October 5, 2011
9 The Way Station 5 December 14, 2011—April 25, 2012
10 The Man in Black 5 June 20, 2012—October 17, 2012
* Sheemie's Tale 2 January 9, 2013—February 13, 2013
* Evil Ground 2 April 3, 2013—June 5, 2013
* So Fell Lord Perth 1 August 7, 2013
 The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three
11 The Prisoner 5 September 17, 2014—
NotesThe Sorcerer is a one-shot that serves as a prelude to The Fall of Gilead
Sheemie's Tale, a one-shot that was meant to serve as an interlude between The Journey Begins and The Little Sisters of Eluria, was originally scheduled for publication in November 2010, then postponed to January 26, 2011, and later put on indefinite hiatus.[3] The final issue of The Man in Black announced that Sheemie's Tale will be next in the series.[4] While originally solicited as a one-shot, when finally released in 2013, it was announced as a two-issue limited series.[5] [1]
Other releases[edit]

Title
Dates
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born Sketchbook December 13, 2006
Marvel Spotlight: The Dark Tower January 27, 2007
The Dark Tower: Gunslinger's Guidebook August 1, 2007
The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac July 2, 2008
The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead April 8, 2009
Collections[edit]

#
Title
ISBN
Release date
Collected material
1 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born 0785121447 November 7, 2007 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1–7
2 The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home 0785135715 October 7, 2008 The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #1–5
3 The Dark Tower: Treachery 078513574X April 21, 2009 The Dark Tower: Treachery #1–6
4 The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead 0785129510 February 23, 2010 The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer and Fall of Gilead #1–6
5 The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill 0785129537 August 18, 2010 The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill #1–5
6 The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins 0785147098 January 25, 2011 The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins #1–5
7 The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria 0785149317 June 22, 2011 The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria #1-5
* The Dark Tower Omnibus 0785155414 September 21, 2011 Collections 1–5
* The Dark Tower Omnibus Companion Bonus material not included in the original collections (1-5)
8 The Dark Tower: The Battle of Tull 0785149333 January 25, 2012 The Dark Tower: The Battle of Tull #1-5
9 The Dark Tower: The Way Station 078514935X June 27, 2012 The Dark Tower: The Way Station #1-5
10 The Dark Tower: The Man in Black 0785149376 January 15, 2013 The Dark Tower: The Man in Black #1-5
11 The Dark Tower: Last Shots 0785149414 October 8, 2013 The Dark Tower: Sheemie's Tale #1-2, Evil Ground #1-2 and The Fall of Lord Perth #1
* Dark Tower Gunslinger Omnibus 0785188704 September 3, 2014 Collections 6-11
* Dark Tower Gunslinger Omnibus Companion Bonus material not included in the original collections (6-11)
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Marvel official page for 'So fell lord Perth'
2.Jump up ^ http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/27/dark-tower-drawing-of-the-three-comic/
3.Jump up ^ http://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/news-from-the-dead-zone-137/
4.Jump up ^ http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/18/marvel-comics-january-2013-solicitations
5.Jump up ^ http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Dark-Tower-Gunslinger-Sheemies-Tale-1-(of-2)___371359
External links[edit]
Official Dark Tower comics site


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The Little Sisters of Eluria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"The Little Sisters of Eluria"
Littlesistersofeluria.jpg
Cover artwork by Erik Wilson

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower (1st release),
Everything's Eventual
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
Legends
Publication type
Anthology
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Publication date
1998
Followed by
"The Gunslinger"

Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)
"The Little Sisters of Eluria" is a novella written by Stephen King. It was originally published in 1998 in the anthology Legends. In 2002, it was included in King's collection Everything's Eventual. In 2009, it was published together with the revised edition of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Grant in a limited edition of 4,000 numbered copies of the Artist Edition signed by illustrator Michael Whelan and 1,250 numbered copies of the Deluxe Edition signed by Whelan and Stephen King. Both editions contain Whelan's additional new illustrations for The Gunslinger.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 The Dark Tower
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

Plot summary[edit]
The tale features Roland of Gilead, whose quest for the Dark Tower is in its infancy; its events precede those of the body of the Dark Tower cycle, but occur after Roland's experiences in Mejis, as chronicled in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. At the time of telling he is accompanied by a horse and is already following Walter o'Dim, the Man in Black. He plans to eventually buy another horse, or perhaps a mule, which ties in with the events at the beginning of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.
Roland and his horse arrive at a deserted village, Eluria, where they encounter a feral dog bearing a cross-shaped spot in its fur attempting to eat a dead body. Roland scares it off, and while looking over the corpse, finds a rectangular medallion. Roland takes it and is immediately attacked and rendered unconscious by a group of slow mutants. He later awakens in a hospital marquee run by a strange group of nuns. Calling themselves The Little Sisters, they use tiny bug-like creatures they call "doctors" to heal his severe injuries. At first, they seem benign, but Roland slowly discovers the Sisters are actually vampires, who bring stray survivors back to their "hospital" only to feed on them once they've recovered.
The medallion Roland took from the dead body in the village proves to be a sort of holy protection from them. He notices another "patient" next to him who bears a matching medallion, and Roland comes to learn that the dead man whose medallion he removed is the brother of his fellow patient. Roland's wounds are eventually healed, but he is powerless to escape from his malevolent benefactors, who keep him weakened with potions. One of the Sisters, Sister Jenna, reveals to Roland that she had involuntarily joined the others and longs to leave them. She sneaks a dose of a powerful herb to Roland, which counteracts the weakening potions, and he slowly regains his strength until they are ready to escape. The Sisters bring one of the mutants to the hospital to remove the medallions from Roland and the patient next to him, since the Sisters are unable to touch the medallions themselves. The mutant realizes the Sisters will most likely kill him after he has removed the medallions, so he removes the medallion from the patient next to Roland and slashes the patient's neck open. The sight of gushing blood incites the Sisters into a feeding frenzy, allowing the mutant to escape and Roland to retain his medallion. The next night, Roland and Sister Jenna initiate their escape, but the other Sisters try to intercede. Sister Jenna reveals an ability to command the "doctors", who provide a diversion. Their leader, Great Sister Mary, soon catches up with them, but is attacked and killed by the same cross-bearing dog Roland first encountered. Roland and Sister Jenna declare love for each other, but alas, Jenna disintegrates into what may have been her natural state, the tiny doctors, while Roland is asleep.
Roland allows himself a moment of sorrow – before his quest for Walter (and ultimately the Tower) continues, once again "quite alone".
The Dark Tower[edit]
In The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003), Roland mentions Sister Jenna, noting that after Susan Delgado there was only one woman of note.
In The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004), the "doctor" bugs make another appearance in the Dixie Pig restaurant. The vampires and Low Men receive Mia/Susannah shortly afterward in the Arc 16 Experimental Station, where Sayre threatens Dr. Scowther. It is indicated in The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower on pg. 654 that the Mid-World creatures known as "throcken" or "billy-bumblers" are natural predators of these insects, in the statement: "ever had [billy-bumblers'] kind stood enemy to theirs".
In the novel Black House (2001), there is a mention of the "Little Sisters" after Jack Sawyer flips to the territories with Judy's twinner.
See also[edit]
Stephen King short fiction bibliography
External links[edit]
The Little Sisters of Eluria on Stephen King's Official Website
Stephen King Short Movies
Little Sisters of Eluria Website for a Dollar Baby Short Film (Spanish)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ https://secure.grantbooks.com/z-sk-dt-1-lsoe.html


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The Gunslinger and the Dark Man
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"The Gunslinger and the Dark Man"

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Publisher
Mercury Press
Media type
Print (Magazine)
Publication date
November 1981
Preceded by
"The Slow Mutants"
Followed by
"The Drawing of the Three"
"The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" is a short story by Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in November 1981. In 1982, "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" was collected with several other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" formed the fifth and final chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion. For the Revised and Expanded edition published in 2003, "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" was retitled to "The Gunslinger and the Man in Black."
Plot[edit]
After sacrificing Jake in the mountain, Roland makes his way down to speak to the man in black. The man reads Roland's fate from a pack of Tarot cards, including "the sailor" (Jake), "the prisoner" (Eddie Dean) "the lady of shadows" (Susannah Dean), "death" (but not for Roland), and the Tower itself, as the center of everything. The man in black states that he is merely a pawn of Roland's true enemy, the one who now controls the Dark Tower itself.
Roland attacks the man in black, who retaliates by knocking Roland out with an incantation. Roland enters a terrifying visionary hallucination revealing the nature of the cosmos. When Roland awakens, he finds that nothing is left of the man except his skeleton, and that he himself has aged ten years. He takes the skeleton's jawbone with him as he departs, as a replacement for the one he had given to Jake in "The Oracle and the Mountains."
The gunslinger continues traveling by foot until he reaches the Western Sea.
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The Slow Mutants
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"The Slow Mutants"

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Publisher
Mercury Press
Media type
Print (Magazine)
Publication date
July 1981
Preceded by
"The Oracle and the Mountains"
Followed by
"The Gunslinger and the Dark Man"
"The Slow Mutants" is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in July 1981. In 1982, "The Slow Mutants" was collected with four other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Slow Mutants" formed the fourth chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.
Plot[edit]
Roland and Jake make their way through a railway tunnel using a hand car cart created by the Great Old Ones. During this time, to distract the boy, Roland tells him a story of his childhood (which is also told in Wizard and Glass and The Gunslinger Born).
At age fourteen, Roland discovered his mother having an affair with his father's court magician, Marten Broadcloak. Marten taunted Roland in order to spur him into an early trial to prove his worth as a gunslinger, in order that he would fail and be sent into exile, therefore ending potential trouble for the Good Man and Crimson King to whom Marten secretly swore allegiance. Roland faced his teacher Cort, using his hawk David as his weapon and deliberately sacrificing him in order to gain the upper hand, and passed the trial.
While traveling through the mountain, Roland and Jake are attacked by a pack of slow mutants, who block the track in an attempt to catch them. Jake clears the obstruction just in time for them to escape, and they travel on to the edge of a deep chasm spanned by a dilapidated trestle. They abandon the hand car and start crossing on foot. Nearing the other end, Jake slips and Roland catches him, but the man in black arrives to offer Roland a choice: let the boy die or never catch him. Roland lets Jake fall to his death and exits the tunnel with the man in black.
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The Oracle and the Mountains
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"The Oracle and the Mountains"

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Publisher
Mercury Press
Media type
Print (Magazine)
Publication date
February 1981
Preceded by
"The Way Station"
Followed by
"The Slow Mutants"
"The Oracle and the Mountains" is a short story by Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in February 1981. In 1982, "The Oracle and the Mountains" was collected with several other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Oracle and the Mountains" formed the third chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.
Plot[edit]
Roland and Jake manage to make their way out of the desert, into lusher territory. They come across a Speaking Ring. At night, Jake is drawn to the ring by the Oracle contained within, but Roland saves the boy before the Oracle can drain him to death via sexual intercourse.
Roland restrains Jake at their campsite and gives him the jawbone taken from the skeleton in the way station, as a means of warding off the Oracle's influence. He then goes down to the Speaking Ring, taking mescaline to fortify himself. When he reaches the ring, he has a powerful psychosexual exchange with the Oracle, who tells him of Eddie Dean and Susannah Dean.
The next day they leave the campsite and eventually come to a mountain. The man in black is there, and taunts Roland, telling him they will speak on the other side. Roland asks Jake to make his choice as to whether he wishes to leave the gunslinger or accompany him, and Jake agrees to come with him, knowing that Roland plans to sacrifice him in order to reach the man in black.
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The Way Station
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Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007)

"The Way Station"

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Publisher
Mercury Press
Media type
Print (Magazine)
Publication date
April 1980
Preceded by
"The Gunslinger"
Followed by
"The Oracle and the Mountains"
"The Way Station" is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in April 1980. In 1982, "The Way Station" was collected with several other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Way Station" formed the second chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.
Plot[edit]
At a way station in the desert, Roland Deschain meets Jake Chambers for the first time. Under hypnosis, Jake remembers that he has recently been killed in his own world, the New York City of 1977, when someone pushed him into traffic. This event creates the series' first link of Roland's world to ours, and Jake's account leads Roland to believe that the man in black may have caused the death.
While searching the way station's cellar for usable supplies, Roland encounters a demon that speaks to him through a skeleton buried behind the wall. The demon warns him that the man in black will be able to use Jake as an asset against him as long as the two are traveling together. On impulse, Roland takes the skeleton's jawbone with him.
Roland and Jake set off into the desert, heading toward a mountain range where the man in black has gone. Along the way, Roland tells Jake about a training session under the severe regimen of his teacher Cort, who showed him how to use a hawk as a weapon; and how Roland and one of his best friends, Cuthbert Allgood, exposed the cook Hax as a traitor working for the Good Man and sent him to the gallows.
For the 2003 revised version of The Gunslinger, King altered and shortened the "Rain in Spain" nursery rhyme included in the opening pages.
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The Gunslinger (novella)
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"The Gunslinger"

Author
Stephen King
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
Fantasy short story
Published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Publisher
Mercury Press
Media type
Print (Magazine)
Publication date
October 1978
Preceded by
"The Little Sisters of Eluria"
Followed by
"The Way Station"
"The Gunslinger" is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October 1978. In 1982, "The Gunslinger" was collected with four other stories King published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. "The Gunslinger" formed the first chapter of the book, and was slightly revised for the inclusion.
Plot[edit]
The story begins with the sentence, "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." The gunslinger comes across a hut in the desert owned by a farmer named Brown, who has a pet raven named Zoltan. The gunslinger stays the night and, at Brown's urging, tells him the story of what happened to him the last time he came across people.
He had been traveling through Tull, the last town before the desert began. He made his way to the local saloon and learned from Allie, its bartender, that the town drunk Nort had died from eating narcotic devil-grass. The man in black (calling himself "Walter O'Dim") brought Nort back to life and told Allie that if she said a particular word to Nort, he would tell her everything he saw and heard during his time in the afterlife. Sensing that Walter had laid a trap for both him and Allie, the gunslinger warned her never to say the trigger word in Nort's hearing.
He next met and interrogated Sylvia Pittston, a fanatical preacher who believed that the man in black had impregnated her with the offspring of the Crimson King. She warned her congregation to beware of the gunslinger, referring to him as a malicious "Interloper," and eventually stirred the entire town to attack him. Even Allie joined the mob, having fallen into Walter's trap and gone insane from Nort's revelations. The gunslinger killed all 58 residents of Tull, then headed out into the desert.
After telling Brown his story, the gunslinger fills his water skins and continues across the desert, in pursuit of his quarry.
Among other minor additions and deletions made by King for the 2003 revised version of the novella, the word "parsecs" in the opening paragraph was changed to "eternity," and the story of Tull is expanded by King to include an additional exchange between Allie and Walter.
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The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
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The Dark Tower:
 The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Wind Through the Keyhole Cover Grant.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Jae Lee
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 February 21, 2012
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
336
ISBN
1-880418-76-2
Preceded by
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole is a novel by Stephen King, first published on February 21, 2012 by Grant as a limited edition,[1] and later published by Scribner as a trade hardcover (ISBN 978-1451658903) on April 24, 2012, with ebook and audiobook editions.[2] The audiobook is read by the author.[3] As part of The Dark Tower series, it is the eighth Dark Tower novel, but chronologically set between volumes four and five.[4] First mentioned by King in 2009, after the series had been proclaimed as concluded in 2004 with the publication of the seventh novel, it was announced on the author's official site on March 10, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on December 19, 2011, the day the limited edition of the novel became available for pre-order.[5]


Contents  [hide]
1 Background information
2 Publication information 2.1 Covers
3 Plot
4 Reception 4.1 External Links
5 References

Background information[edit]
In an interview in March 2009, King stated, describing an idea for a new short story he recently had: "And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel." According to King, the idea is a new Dark Tower novel. King said, regarding the Dark Tower series, "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel."[6]
While promoting his novel Under the Dome, King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The TimesCenter in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted the information that King will begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through the Keyhole.[7]
On December 1, 2009, Stephen King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next:

I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? [We] will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak).[8]
The voting ended on December 31, 2009. The following month it was revealed that Doctor Sleep received 5,861 votes, while The Wind Through the Keyhole received 5,812.[9]
Publication information[edit]



 Cover of the Scribner trade edition
The book, like its predecessors in the series, contains a number of illustrations. The artwork for this volume is provided by Jae Lee, the main illustrator for Marvel Comics' adaptations of King's other work, The Dark Tower. As with the previous three volumes in the series, Grant published a limited edition of the novel, followed by a mass market edition by Scribner, which does not contain the illustrations. Grant's limited edition was published in two variants: a traycased Deluxe Edition signed by Stephen King limited to 800 copies, and a slipcased Artist's Edition signed by Jae Lee limited to 5,000.[10]
Covers[edit]
Initially, the first cover artwork released for the book was a preliminary cover for the Scribner trade edition, which was labeled as "not final". It was available at online retailers, such as Amazon.com, in early September 2011. Later, when the Grant edition was first made available for pre-order on December 19, the cover artwork for the limited edition was revealed, followed by the final wraparound cover artwork for the Scribner edition on December 22.[2] The design of the Scribner edition cover was done by Platinum Fmd, the creators of the cover for King's 2009 novel Under the Dome, and Rex Bonomelli, Scribner's art director and designer. The preliminary version of the cover was simpler than the final version, and, according to Bonomelli, was missing pieces like the tiger, which in the final version "give the cover a little more drama".[11]
Plot[edit]
The novel begins with Roland and his ka-tet arriving at a river on their journey to the Dark Tower. An elderly man who operates a ferry gets them across the river, and warns them that a severe depression (starkblast) is coming, and that they can find shelter in a building a few miles ahead. They reach the shelter just in time, and while they wait out the storm, Roland tells them of an adventure in his youth to keep them occupied: "The Skin-Man."
Following the death of Roland's mother, his father sends him and his friend Jamie De Curry west to the town of Debaria on a mission to capture the Skin-Man, an apparent shape-shifter who terrorizes the town and surrounding areas by transforming into various animals at night and embarking on murderous rampages. Roland and Jamie take a train to Debaria, but it derails before arriving and they must finish their journey on horse. On their way, they pass through a town known as Serenity, a community of women where Roland's mother lived after suffering a mental breakdown following her affair with Marten. It is here that they learn of a woman attacked by the Skin-Man and hear her tale.
Roland and Jamie arrive in Debaria, and with the help of the local Sheriff, Hugh Peavy, they determine that the Skin-Man is most likely a salt miner from a nearby village. The next morning, they discover that another brutal attack has occurred overnight on a local farm. They investigate the scene, and discover a single survivor, a small boy named Bill, who has lost his father in the attack. Roland and Jamie determine that the murderer left the scene on horseback, and Roland sends Jamie to the salt mines to round up every miner who has a horse or is able to ride one. While returning to Debaria with Bill, Roland performs his hypnotism trick (which Roland first used in his chronological life in Wizard and Glass) with one of his spare rounds of ammunition. Under hypnosis, Bill relates what he saw of the Skin-man; Bill tells Roland that he saw the Skin-Man in his human form after the attack, but only glimpsed his feet. He states that the Skin-Man had a tattoo of a blue ring around his ankle. The tattoo indicates that the man spent time in the prison at a (now abandoned) military barracks further west of Debaria. That area had fallen to the chaos of John Farson, the Good Man, within the last generation. Back in town, Roland brings Bill to a cell in Sheriff's station. He plans to walk each suspect past Bill in the hopes the young boy can identify the Skin-Man, or that the Skin-Man will reveal himself by fleeing due to fear of being identified. While Roland and Bill wait for Jamie to round up the suspects, Roland tells Bill a story from his own childhood, "The Wind Through the Keyhole."
In this story (within a story), a boy named Tim Ross lives with his mother Nell in a forgotten village that fears the annual collection of property taxes by a man named The Covenant Man. Tim recently lost his father, who was said to have been killed by a dragon while in the woods chopping trees. After the death of his father, Nell, no longer able to pay the taxes to keep their home, marries his father's best friend and business partner Bern Kells, who moves in with them. Kells is a mean man, prone to heavy drinking, who begins to abuse both Tim and Nell. One day The Covenant Man comes to collect the taxes, and he secretly tells Tim to meet him later in the woods. During this meeting, The Covenant Man reveals to Tim that it was actually Kells who killed his father, not a dragon, and with help of a scrying bowl shows Kells beating his mother, causing her to go blind. Later, The Covenant Man sends Tim a vision telling him that if Tim again visits The Covenant Man in the woods, he will give Tim magic that will allow his mother to see again. Tim, armed with a gun given to him by his school teacher, journeys into the dangerous woods, and is led into a swamp by the mischievous fairy, Armaneeta. Here, Tim almost becomes victim to a dragon and other mysterious swamp creatures, but he is saved by his gun as well as a group of friendly swamp people, who mistake him for a gunslinger. The swamp people guide him to the far side of the swamp, and equip him with a small mechanical talking device from the 'Old People' that helps guide him on his journey. Eventually, Tim arrives at a Dogan where he finds a caged 'tyger', which wears the key to the Dogan around its neck. A starkblast approaches, and Tim, realizing this is likely a trap set for him by The Covenant Man, befriends the tyger. Tim and the tyger ride out the storm under a magical protective blanket. The next morning, Tim discovers that the tyger is actually Maerlyn, a white magician, who had been trapped in the cage for years due to black magic. Maerlyn gives Tim a potion to cure his mother's blindness and sends him back to his mother on the flying magic blanket. Returning home, Tim brings sight back to his mother. Tim is attacked by Kells, who had secretly entered the home as Tim tended to his mother, but the boy is saved by his mother, who kills Kells with her late husband's ax.
As Roland finishes telling "The Wind Through the Keyhole," Jamie arrives back in Debaria with the salt mine suspects. Young Bill is able to identify the Skin-Man due to his ankle tattoo and an associated scar, at which time the Skin-Man transforms into a snake, and kills two people. Roland shoots the snake with a specially-crafted silver bullet (which he had made upon their arrival in town), killing it. Roland and Jamie travel back to Serenity, where the women agree to adopt young Bill, who is now an orphan. Roland is also given a note written long ago by his mother. In this note, his mother claims she forgives Roland for his act of accidentally killing her.
With his Skin-Man story finished, Roland and his ka-tet find that the starkblast has passed, leveling every structure in the area except for the building in which they took shelter. They soon pack their belongings and resume their journey toward the Dark Tower.
Reception[edit]
The first review of the book was written by Kevin Quigley and posted by FEARnet on February 24, 2012. This appraisal of the book was very positive: "Most importantly, it manages to retain the quest structure of the first four novels and also subtly underscores King's obsession with the nature of fiction in the latter books, providing a necessary bridge between the two halves of the series. That actually may be the most apt word to describe The Wind Though the Keyhole: necessary. The next best word to describe this book? Fun. Veritable buckets of it." Quigley elaborates on the book's thematic 'bridge' status: "the shift from the Oz fascination of Wizard & Glass to the Magnificent Seven/Harry Potter/Doctor Doom/'Salem's Lot onslaught in Wolves of the Calla needed a better bridging element. If read as King intends, in between those two books, Keyhole mentally and emotionally prepares the reader for these fictional intrusions on reality."[12]
External Links[edit]
The Wind Through the Keyhole at SFReader
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Special Announcement: NOW ACCEPTING ADVANCE ORDERS: COMING IN 2012: THE DARK TOWER: THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE by STEPHEN KING". Donald M. Grant Publisher, Inc. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
2.^ Jump up to: a b "The Wind Through the Keyhole - A Dark Tower Novel". stephenking.com. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ http://www.stephenking.com/promo/wind_through_the_keyhole/audiobook/wind_audio_press_release.pdf
4.Jump up ^ King, Stephen. "The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole: 2012", stephenking.com, accessed March 11, 2011.
5.Jump up ^ "The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole (Excerpt)". tor.com. December 19, 2011
6.Jump up ^ "Stephen King not done with his 'Dark Tower' series". USA Weekend. March 18, 2009.
7.Jump up ^ King, Stephen. "The Wind Through The Keyhole - Letter from Stephen", stephenking.com, March 10, 2011.
8.Jump up ^ King, Stephen. "Steve needs your input", stephenking.com, November 30, 2009
9.Jump up ^ "Doctor Sleep wins?", stephenking.com, January 6, 2010
10.Jump up ^ "Special Announcement". Donald M. Grant. May 10, 2011
11.Jump up ^ "Scribner's art...". Facebook. 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
12.Jump up ^ "Review: 'The Wind Through the Keyhole' by Stephen King". FEARnet. February 24, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.


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The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
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[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




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The Dark Tower VII:
 The Dark Tower
Thedarktower7.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Michael Whelan
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 September 21, 2004
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
845
ISBN
978-1-880418-62-8
Preceded by
Song of Susannah
Followed by
The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Dark Tower is the seventh novel in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, published by Grant on September 21, 2004 (King's birthday), and illustrated by Michael Whelan. It has four subtitles: REPRODUCTION, REVELATION, REDEMPTION, and RESUMPTION - all but the second of these having been used as subtitles for previous novels in the series.
The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 2005.[1]
Plot summary[edit]
Beginning where book six left off, Jake Chambers and Father Callahan battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire lounge in New York City featuring roast human flesh and doors to other worlds. After fighting off and destroying numerous "Low-Men" and Type One Vampires, Callahan sacrifices himself to let Jake survive. In the other world, Fedic, Mia, her body now physically separated from Susannah Dean, gives birth to Mordred Deschain, the biological son of Roland Deschain and Susannah. The Crimson King is also a "co-father" of this prophetic child, so it is not surprising when "baby" Mordred's first act is to shapeshift into a spider-creature and feast on his birth-mother. Susannah shoots but fails to kill Mordred, eliminates other agents of the Crimson King, and escapes to meet up with Jake at the cross-dimensional door beneath the Dixie Pig which connects to Fedic. Maturing at an accelerated rate, Mordred later stalks Roland and the other gunslingers throughout this adventure, shifting from human to spider as the need arises, seething with an instinctive rage toward Roland, his "white daddy."
In Maine, Roland and Eddie recruit John Cullum, and then make their way back to Fedic, where the ka-tet is now reunited. Walter (known in other stories as Randall Flagg) plans to slay Mordred and use the birthmark on Mordred's heel to gain access to the Tower, but he is easily slain by the infant when Mordred sees through his lies.
Roland and his ka-tet travel to Thunderclap, then to the nearby Devar-Toi, to stop a group of psychics known as Breakers who are allowing their telepathic abilities to be used to break away at the beams that support the Tower. Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw assist the gunslingers with information and weapons, and reunite Roland with his old friend Sheemie Ruiz from Mejis. The Gunslingers free the Breakers from their captors, but Eddie is wounded after the battle and dies a short while later. Roland and Jake pause to mourn and then jump to Maine of 1999 along with Oy, in order to save the life of Stephen King (who he writes to be an omniscient secondary character in the book); the ka-tet have come to believe that the success of their quest depends on King's surviving to write about it through his books.
They discover King about to be hit by a van. Jake pushes King out of the way but Jake is killed in the process. Roland, heartbroken with the loss of the person he considers his true son, buries Jake and returns with Oy to Susannah in Fedic, via the Dixie Pig. They are chased through the depths of Castle Discordia by an otherworldly monster, then depart and travel for weeks across freezing badlands toward the Tower.
Along the way they find Patrick Danville, a young man imprisoned by someone who calls himself Joe Collins but is really a psychic vampire named Dandelo. Dandelo feeds off the emotions of his victims, and starts to feed off of Roland and Susannah by telling them jokes. Roland and Susannah are alerted to the danger by Stephen King, who drops clues directly into the book, enabling them to defeat the vampire. They discover Patrick in the basement, and find that Dandelo had removed his tongue. Patrick is freed and soon his special talent becomes evident: his drawings and paintings become reality. As their travels bring them nearer to the Dark Tower, Susannah comes to the conclusion that Roland needs to complete his journey without her. Susannah asks Patrick to draw a door she has seen in her dreams to lead her out of this world. He does so and once it appears, Susannah says goodbye to Roland and crosses over to another world.
Mordred finally reaches and attacks Roland. Oy viciously defends his dinh, providing Roland the extra seconds needed to exterminate the were-spider. Unfortunately, Oy is impaled on a tree branch and dies. Roland continues on to his ultimate goal and reaches the Tower, only to find it occupied by the Crimson King. They remain in a stalemate for a few hours, until Roland has Patrick draw a picture of the Crimson King and then erase it, thus wiping him out of existence except for his eyes. Roland gains entry into the Tower while Patrick turns back home. The last scene is that of Roland crying out the names of his loved ones and fallen comrades as he had vowed to do. The door of the Dark Tower closes shut as Patrick watches from a distance.
The story then shifts to Susannah coming through the magic door to an alternate 1980s New York, where Gary Hart is president. Susannah throws away Roland's gun (which does not function on this side of the door), rejecting the life of a gunslinger, and starts a new life with alternate versions of Eddie and Jake, who in this world are brothers with the surname Toren. They have only very vague memories of their previous journey with Susannah, whose own memories of Mid-World are already beginning to fade. It is implied that an alternate version of Oy, the billy-bumbler, will also join them.
In a final "Coda" section, King urges the reader to close the book at this point, consider the story finished with a happy ending, and not venture inside the Tower with Roland. For those who do not heed the warning, the story resumes with Roland stepping into the Dark Tower. He realizes that the Tower is not really made of stone, but a kind of flesh: it is Gan's physical body. As he climbs the steps, Roland encounters various rooms containing siguls or signs of his past life. When he reaches the top of the Tower, he finds a door marked with his own name and opens it. Roland instantly realizes, to his horror, that he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is forced through the door by the hands of Gan and transported back in time to the Mohaine desert, with no memories of what has just occurred, ending the series where it began in the first line of book one: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." The only difference is that, this time, Roland possesses the Horn of Eld, which in the previous incarnation he had left lying on the ground after the Battle of Jericho Hill. Roland hears the voice of Gan, whispering that, if he reaches the Tower again, perhaps this time the result will be different; there may yet be rest.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "2005 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
External links[edit]
The Dark Tower official website
TheDarkTower.org Towerpedia!
The Dark Tower at Worlds Without End





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The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
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[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




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The Dark Tower VI:
 Song of Susannah
Song of Susannah.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Darrel Anderson
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 June 8, 2004
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
432
ISBN
978-1-880418-59-8
Preceded by
Wolves of the Calla
Followed by
The Dark Tower
Song of Susannah is the sixth novel in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Its subtitle is Reproduction. The novel was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2005.[1]
Plot summary[edit]
Taking place mainly in our world (New York City and East Stoneham, Maine), this book picks up where Wolves of the Calla left off, with the ka-tet employing the help of the Manni to open the magic door inside Doorway Cave. The ka-tet are split up by the magic door, or perhaps ka, and sent to different 'wheres' and 'whens' in order to accomplish several essential goals pertaining to their quest towards the mysterious Dark Tower.
Susannah Dean is partially trapped in her own mind by Mia, the former demon and now very-pregnant mortal woman who had taken control of her body shortly after the final battle in Wolves of the Calla. Susannah and Mia, with their shared body mostly under the control of Mia, escape to New York of 1999 via the magic door in Doorway Cave with the help of Black Thirteen. Mia tells Susannah she has made a Faustian deal with the Man in Black, also known as Walter, to surrender her demonic immortality in exchange for being able to produce a child. Technically speaking, however, this child is the biological descendant of Susannah Dean and the gunslinger, Roland. The Gunslinger's 'seed' was passed to Susannah through an Elemental who had sex with both. The technical parentage of her child matters little to Mia, though, because The Crimson King has further promised her that she will have sole charge of raising the child, Mordred, for the first part of his life - the time before the critical destiny the Crimson King foresees for the child comes to pass. All Mia must do now is bring Susannah to the Dixie Pig restaurant to give birth to the child under the care of the Crimson King's men.
Jake, Oy, and Father Callahan follow Susannah to the New York City of 1999 in order to save Susannah from the danger Mia has put her in by delivering her into the custody of the Crimson King's henchmen. In addition, the ka-tet fear the danger posed to Susannah by the child itself; still unaware of the biological origins of this child, the ka-tet believe that it may be demonic in some way and may have the ability to turn on and harm its mother or mothers. While in New York, Jake and Callahan also hide Black Thirteen in a locker in the World Trade Center. It is implied in the text that Black Thirteen will be destroyed when the towers fall in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
While Susannah, Jake, and Callahan are in New York, Roland and Eddie Dean are sent by the magic doorway to Maine in 1977, with the goal of securing the ownership of a vacant lot in New York from its current owner, a man named Calvin Tower (who first appears in The Waste Lands as the proprietor of The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind, where he sells Jake a copy of Charlie the Choo-Choo, a book that has turned out to be important to the ka-tet's quest). The gunslingers have seen and felt the power of a rose that is located in the vacant lot and suspect it to be some sort of secondary hub to the universe, or possibly even a representation of the Dark Tower itself. The ka-tet believe that the Tower itself is linked to the rose and will be harmed (or fall) if the rose is harmed, the reason for this being the Dark Tower and the Rose are somehow connected, the two images very similar in the series. Calvin Tower is in hiding in Maine from Enrico Balazar's men (see The Drawing of the Three), who have almost succeeded in strong-arming him into selling them the lot. Tower has so far resisted, with the help of Eddie Dean (see Wolves of the Calla). Upon their arrival in Maine, the gunslingers find themselves thrown into an ambush by these same men, headed by Jack Andolini. Balazar's men were tipped off on Roland and Eddie's potential whereabouts by Mia, who hoped that they would dispose of the people she perceived as threats to her child. Roland and Eddie escape this onslaught with the help of a crafty local man, John Cullum, who they deem to be a savior put in their path through the machinations of ka.
After accomplishing their primary goal, the deeding of the vacant lot to the Tet Corporation, Roland and Eddie learn of the nearby location of Stephen King's home. They are familiar with the author's name after coming into possession of a copy of his novel 'Salem's Lot in the Calla, and they decide to pay him a visit. King's presence, and his relationship to the Dark Tower, cause the very reality surrounding his Maine town to become "thin." Strange creatures called "walk-ins" begin emerging and plaguing the community. The author is unaware of this and has never seen one, though most of the walk-ins have been appearing on his own street. During their visit to him, the Gunslinger hypnotizes King and finds out that King is not a god, but rather a medium for the story of the Dark Tower to transmit itself through. Roland also implants in King the suggestion to restart his efforts in writing the Dark Tower series, which he has abandoned of late, claiming that there are major forces involved that are trying to prevent him from finishing it. The ka-tet are convinced that the success of their quest itself depends somehow on King's writing about it through the story.
Meanwhile, in New York, Jake and Father Callahan prepare to launch an assault on the Dixie Pig, where Susannah is being held by the soldiers of The Crimson King. Their discovery of the scrimshaw turtle that Susannah has left behind for them gives them a faint hope that they might succeed, though Jake is filled with a strong sense of dread and neither Jake nor Callahan particularly expects to leave the place alive. The book ends with Jake and Callahan entering with weapons raised and Susannah and Mia about to give birth in Fedic, a town in Thunderclap. As a postscriptum, the reader becomes familiar with the diary of Stephen King the character which encompasses the period from 1977 to 1999. The diary details King's writing of the first five books of the Dark Tower story. It is said that the character, Stephen King, dies on June 19, 1999.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "2005 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
External links[edit]
The Dark Tower official website (requires Macromedia Flash 6)





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The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
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The Dark Tower V:
 Wolves of the Calla
Wolvescalla.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Bernie Wrightson
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 November 4, 2003
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
714
ISBN
978-1-880418-56-7
Preceded by
Wizard and Glass
Followed by
Song of Susannah
Wolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. This book continues the story of Roland Deschain, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Oy as they make their way toward the Dark Tower. The subtitle of this novel is Resistance. Prior to the novel's publication, two excerpts were published: "Calla Bryn Sturgis" was published in 2001 on Stephen King's official site, and "The Tale of Gray Dick" was published in 2003 in McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. Both excerpts were incorporated in revised form into the novel. Wolves of the Calla was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2004.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Influences
3 References
4 External links

Plot summary[edit]
After escaping the alternate Topeka and the evil wizard Randall Flagg, Roland's ka-tet travel to the farming village of Calla Bryn Sturgis where they meet the townsfolk, as well as Father Callahan, who was originally introduced in 'Salem's Lot. He and the townsfolk request the ka-tet's assistance in battling against the Wolves of Thunderclap, who come once a generation to take one child from each pair of the town's twins. After a few months of being away, the children are then returned "roont" (ruined) - mentally handicapped and destined to grow to enormous size and die young. The Wolves are due to come in about a month's time.
Father Callahan also tells the gunslingers his remarkable story of how he left Maine following his battle with the vampire Kurt Barlow in the novel 'Salem's Lot. Since that encounter he has gained the ability to identify Type-3 vampires with a blue aura. After some time he begins killing these minor vampires as he finds them; however, this makes him a wanted man amongst the "low men" and so Callahan must go into exile. Eventually he is lured into a trap and dies, allowing him to enter Mid-World in 1983, much as Jake did when killed in The Gunslinger. He appears near the Calla with an evil magic ball called Black Thirteen, and is found by the Manni people in a place called The Doorway Cave.
Not only do Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet have to protect the Calla-folken from the Wolves, they must also protect a single red rose that grows in a vacant lot on Second Avenue and Forty-Sixth Street in mid-town Manhattan of 1977. If it is destroyed, then the Tower (which is the rose in another form) will fall. In order to get back to New York to prevent this they must use the sinister Black Thirteen. To add to that, Roland and Jake have noticed bizarre changes in Susannah's behavior, which are linked to the event recounted in The Waste Lands when Susannah couples with the demon in the stone circle. Roland informs Eddie that Susannah has been impregnated by the demon, and though he fears for her safety he remains surprisingly calm. They promise to keep the fact that they know a secret from Susannah, but later Susannah reveals to the ka-tet that she herself has come to grips with it, and knowledge of a second personality living in Susannah named Mia "daughter of none" is shared.
Jake finds out that his new friend Benny Slightman's father is a traitor by following him to a military outpost between the Calla and Thunderclap known as "The Dogan" (which is also featured in The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home). Jake tells Roland, who shows mercy by not killing Slightman, instead leaving him alive for his son and Jake's sake. The wolves attack, using weapons resembling the snitches found in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (which are actually stamped 'Harry Potter Model') and lightsabers found in George Lucas' Star Wars, and are revealed to be robots and to have Doctor Doom-like visages. The gunslingers, along with some help from a few plate-throwing women in the Calla, defeat the wolves, all the while with the children safely hidden in a rice patch nearby. Mia takes over the body of Susannah and flees to the doorway cave, where she uses Black Thirteen to transport herself to New York.
Influences[edit]
Stephen King has acknowledged multiple sources of influence for this story, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, its stepchild The Magnificent Seven, Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy, and other works by Howard Hawks and John Sturges, among others.
Many direct references to popular culture are noted either by characters or via narration within the book's text. Such instances include: several of the Wolves carrying weapons that resemble lightsabers and a "messenger robot" similar in demeanor to the android C-3PO from the Star Wars movies, with the look of an Isaac Asimov robot; the Wolves themselves seeming to bear a physical resemblance to Doctor Doom from the Marvel Comics comic books,[2] and flying grenades named "sneetches" that are stated as being from the Harry Potter product line (a direct reference to the Golden Snitch from the J. K. Rowling books, and to the Dr. Seuss characters). Also, in minor reference to the Harry Potter series, King makes use of the same font (for chapter titles) used in all seven Harry Potter books.
King also references an earlier, uncollected short story from the late 1980s called "The Reploids", which deals with people sliding between realities and also features denominations of money featuring President Chadbourne.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "2004 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
2.Jump up ^ "The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters". Empire. 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
External links[edit]
The Dark Tower official website (requires Macromedia Flash 6)


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The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
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The Dark Tower IV:
 Wizard and Glass
Wizard and Glass.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Dave McKean
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 November 4, 1997
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
787
ISBN
978-1-880418-38-3
Preceded by
The Waste Lands
Followed by
Wolves of the Calla
Wizard and Glass is the fourth book in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. This book is subtitled "Regard". It placed fourth in the annual Locus Poll for best fantasy novel.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis
2 Notes
3 Illustrations
4 References
5 External links

Synopsis[edit]
The novel begins where The Waste Lands ended. After Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Roland fruitlessly riddle Blaine the Mono for several hours, Eddie defeats the mad computer by telling childish jokes. Blaine is unable to handle Eddie's "illogical" riddles, and short-circuits.
The four gunslingers and Oy the billy-bumbler disembark at the Topeka railway station, which to their surprise is located in the Topeka, Kansas, of the 1980s. The city is deserted, as this version of the world has been depopulated by the influenza of King's novel The Stand. Links between these books also include the following reference to The Walkin' Dude from The Stand on page 95, "Someone had spray-painted over both signs marking the ramp's ascending curve. On the one reading St. Louis 215, someone had slashed watch out for the walking dude."(King, 2003, pg 95) among others. The world also has some other minor differences with the one (or more) known to Eddie, Jake and Susannah, for instance, the Kansas City baseball team is the Monarchs (as opposed to the Royals), and Nozz-A-La is a popular soft drink.
The ka-tet leaves the city via the Kansas Turnpike, and as they camp one night next to an eerie dimensional hole which Roland calls a "thinny," the gunslinger tells his apprentices of his past, and his first encounter with a thinny.
At the beginning of the story-within-the-story, Roland (age fourteen) earns his guns—an episode retold in the inaugural issue of The Gunslinger Born —and becomes the youngest gunslinger in memory. He did it because he discovered his father's trusted counsellor, the sorcerer Marten Broadcloak, having an affair with his mother, Gabrielle Deschain. In anger, Roland challenges his mentor, Cort, to a duel to earn his guns. Roland bests his teacher, and his father sends him east, away from Gilead, for his own protection. Roland leaves with two companions, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns.
Soon after their arrival in the distant Barony of Mejis, Roland falls in love with Susan Delgado, the promised "gilly" of Thorin—the mayor. His love for Susan Delgado clouds his reasoning for a time and nearly results in a permanent split between him and his previously inseparable friend Cuthbert. He and his ka-tet also discover a plot between the Barony's elite and "The Good Man" John Farson, leader of a rebel faction, to fuel Farson's war machines with Mejis oil. After being seized by the authorities on trumped-up charges of murdering the Barony's Mayor and Chancellor, Roland's ka-tet manages to escape jail with Susan's help, destroy the oil and the detachment Farson sent to transport it, as well as the Mejis traitors. The battle ends at Eyebolt Canyon, where Farson's troops are maneuvered into charging to their deaths into a thinny.
The ka-tet also captures the pink-colored Wizard's Glass, a mystical, malevolent orb or crystal ball from the town witch, Rhea of the Cöos. The globe had entranced Rhea so much that she was starving herself and her pets to death because she spent every free moment watching the visions in the orb. The glass then shows Roland a vision of his future, and also of Susan's death (she is burned as a harvest sacrifice for colluding with Roland). The visions send him into a stupor, from which he eventually recovers—at which point the glass torments him with other visions, this time of events that he was not present for but nonetheless shaped his fate and Susan's, such is the nature of the Wizard's Glass. Thus Roland's sad tale comes to a close.
In the morning, Roland's new ka-tet comes to a suspiciously familiar Emerald City. The Wizard of Oz parallels continue inside, where the Wizard is revealed to be Marten Broadcloak, also known as Randall Flagg, who flees when Roland attempts to kill him with Jake's Ruger and narrowly misses (Flagg has bewitched Roland's own guns, saying, "Only misfires against me, Roland, old fellow"). In his place he leaves Maerlyn's Grapefruit, which shows the ka-tet the day Roland accidentally killed his own mother. Roland, it has been explained time and again, tends to be very bad medicine for his friends and loved ones. Nonetheless, when given the choice, Eddie, Susannah and Jake all refuse to swear off the quest; and as the novel closes, the ka-tet once more sets off for The Dark Tower, following the Path of the Beam.
Notes[edit]
Readers of the uncut version of The Stand may be confused by the dates given in the book. The uncut edition takes place in 1990, while Wizard and Glass brings the ka-tet to that world in 1986. When The Stand was first published, it took place in 1980. It may be said that this is "another when" than the novel The Stand, as pointed out by Roland.
Illustrations[edit]
Dave McKean created eighteen Illustrations for The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. The original eighteen illustrations appear only in the first edition hardback, released in 1997. All subsequent trade paperback editions of the novel include only twelve illustrations by Dave Mckean. Mass market paperback editions do not include any illustrations.[2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Locus Index to SF Awards
2.Jump up ^ http://www.mckean-art.co.uk/
External links[edit]
Official website (requires Macromedia Flash 6)


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The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
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This article is about the novel. For other uses, see Wasteland (disambiguation).

The Dark Tower III:
 The Waste Lands
The Waste Lands.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Ned Dameron
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, horror, science fiction
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 August 1991
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
512
ISBN
978-0-937986-17-2
Preceded by
The Drawing of the Three
Followed by
Wizard and Glass
The Waste Lands is the third book of the The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The original limited edition hardcover featuring full-color illustrations by Ned Dameron was published in 1991 by Grant. The book was reissued in 2003 to coincide with the publication of The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla.
The book derives its title from the T. S. Eliot poem The Waste Land, several lines of which are reprinted in the opening pages. In addition, the two main sections of the book ("Jake: Fear in a Handful of Dust" and "Lud: A Heap of Broken Images") are named after lines in the poem.
The Waste Lands was nominated for the 1991 Bram Stoker Award for Novel.[1] Its subtitle is Redemption.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Twelve portals and guardians
3 References
4 External links

Plot summary[edit]
The story begins five weeks after the end of The Drawing of the Three. Roland, Susannah, and Eddie have moved east from the shore of the Western Sea, and into the woods of Out-World. After an encounter with a gigantic cyborg bear named Shardik, they discover one of the six mystical Beams that hold the world together. The three gunslingers follow the Path of the Beam inland to Mid-World.
Roland now reveals to his ka-tet that his mind has become divided by the paradox of having let Jake Chambers die under the mountain after finding him at the Way Station in the desert, and yet also, after having subsequently prevented Jake's earlier death in New York City, having an alternate memory of traveling through the desert and mountains alone.
Meanwhile, in 1977 New York, Jake Chambers is experiencing exactly the same crippling mental divide, which is causing alarm at his private school, and angering Jake's cocaine abusing father.
Roland burns Walter's jawbone and the key to his and Jake's dilemma is revealed—but to Eddie Dean, not Roland. Eddie must carve a key that will open the door to New York in 1977.
Jake, in a schizophrenic panic, abruptly leaves school. After purchasing a children's book called Charlie the Choo-Choo at a used book shop, Jake finds a key in a littered vacant lot where grows a single red rose.
Jake is able to pass into Roland's world using the key to open a door in an abandoned haunted house on Dutch Hill in his place and time. This portal ends in a 'speaking ring' in Roland's world. During this crossing over, Susannah has sex with the demon of the speaking ring to keep it from attacking Eddie. Once the group is reunited, Jake's and Roland's mental anguish ends. Roland has now completed the task of bringing companions into his world, which he started in The Drawing of the Three.
Following the path of the Beam again, the ka-tet befriends an unusually intelligent billy-bumbler (which looks like a combination of badger, raccoon and dog with parrot-like speaking ability, long neck, curly tail, retractable claws and a high degree of animal intelligence) named Oy, who joins them on their quest.
In a small, almost deserted town called River Crossing, Roland is given a silver cross and a courtly tribute by the town's last, ancient citizens.
The ka-tet continues on the Path of the Beam to Lud. Before arriving at Lud, the ka-tet hear the drum beat from the song Velcro Fly, by ZZ Top, playing from the city, although Eddie at first can't remember where it is he has heard these drums before. Later the drums are revealed as "War Drums" which Lud's citizens fight to. The ancient, high-tech city has been ravaged by decades of war, and one of the surviving fighters, Gasher, kidnaps Jake by taking advantage of the near-accident the team faced while crossing a decaying bridge that looks like the George Washington Bridge of NYC. Roland and Oy must then trace them through a man-made labyrinth in the city and then into the sewers in order to rescue the boy from Gasher and his leader, the Tick-Tock Man. Jake manages to shoot the Tick-Tock Man, leaving him for dead. The ka-tet is eventually reunited at the Cradle of Lud, a train station which houses a monorail that the travelers use to escape Lud before its final destruction brought about by the monorail's artificial intelligence known as Blaine the Mono. The "Ageless Stranger" (an enemy whom the Man in Black warned Roland that he must slay) arrives to recruit the badly-injured Tick-Tock Man as his servant.
Once aboard Blaine, a highly intelligent, computerized train which is insane due to system degradation, it announces its intention to derail itself with them aboard unless they can defeat it in a riddle contest. The novel ends with Blaine and Roland's ka-tet speeding through the Waste Lands, a radioactive land of mutated animals and ancient ruins created by something that is claimed to have been far worse than a nuclear war, on the way to Topeka -the end of the line.
Twelve portals and guardians[edit]
Twelve Guardians are explained to guard the Twelve Portals. Each Guardian matches up with a Guardian at the Portal on the other end of the Beam, and at the point where all the Beams meet is the Dark Tower. The Guardians are revealed in several scenes: the first is revealed when Roland is explaining to Eddie and Susannah Dean what Shardik was and his understanding of the Beams; another is revealed when Eddie and Susannah approach the Cradle of Lud; and the last, Bird and Hare, are revealed in the poem Roland and his lover, Susan Delgado, recite to each other occasionally: "Bird and Bear and Hare and Fish..." The only pairs identified are by Susannah and Eddie while at the Cradle of Lud.
Shardik was created by North Central Positronics Ltd., which may be connected to the mysterious Sombra Corporation.
The pairings as mentioned in the book are:
Bear - Turtle
Horse - Dog
Fish - Rat
Elephant - Wolf
Lion - Eagle
Bat - Hare
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Past Bram Stoker Nominees & Winners". Retrieved 12 August 2013.
External links[edit]
The Dark Tower official website (requires Macromedia Flash 6)


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The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Dark Tower Book II:
 The Drawing of the Three
The Drawing of the Three.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Phil Hale
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 May 1987
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
400
ISBN
978-0-937986-90-5
Preceded by
The Gunslinger
Followed by
The Waste Lands
The Drawing of the Three is the second book in The Dark Tower series of novels written by Stephen King and published by Grant in 1987. The series was inspired by Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning. The story is a continuation of The Gunslinger and follows Roland of Gilead and his quest towards the Dark Tower. The subtitle of this novel is RENEWAL.
Plot summary[edit]
The book begins less than seven hours after the end of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger after The Man in Black has described The Gunslinger's fate using tarot cards. Roland wakes up on a beach, where he is suddenly attacked by a strange, lobster-like creature, which he dubs a "lobstrosity." He kills the creature but not before losing the index and middle finger of his right hand, and most of his right big toe; his untreated wounds soon become infected. Feverish and losing strength, Roland continues to trek north along the beach, where he eventually encounters three doors. Each door opens onto New York City at different periods in time (1987, 1964 and 1977, respectively) and, as Roland passes through these doors, he brings back the companions who will join him on his quest to the Dark Tower.
The first door (labeled "The Prisoner") brings Eddie Dean, a young heroin addict who is in the process of smuggling heroin into New York for the drug lord Enrico Balazar. Roland brings Eddie back through the door so he can hide the cocaine and get through a customs inspection, but the agents become suspicious and subject him to a lengthy interrogation and surveillance. Balazar learns of these events and kidnaps Eddie's heavily addicted, older brother Henry in order to force Eddie to deliver the drugs. After Henry dies from an accidental heroin overdose given by Balazar's men, Roland and Eddie go through the door and kill them. Eddie decides to throw his lot in with Roland, although with deep misgivings that he occasionally gives vent to in the form of angry outbursts.
The second door (labeled "The Lady of Shadows") reveals Odetta Holmes, a black woman who is active in the civil rights movement. She is wealthy and missing her legs below the knees after being pushed in front of a subway train. Odetta is completely unaware that she has an alternate personality, a violent, predatory woman named Detta Walker. Roland and Eddie are forced to contend with both of these personalities when Roland forcibly abducts Odetta's body into their world, with Detta suppressing Odetta during most of their travels. After Roland enters the third door, Detta captures Eddie and uses him as bait for the lobstrosities, hoping to force Roland to come back and return her to her own world.
Instead of revealing a new companion, the third door (labeled "The Pusher") brings a new adversary to Roland: Jack Mort, a sociopath who takes sadistic pleasure in injuring and killing random strangers — and the man responsible for the head trauma that created Odetta Holmes's alternate personality, the loss of Odetta/Detta's legs, and the death of Jake Chambers. Roland arrives in Jack's body just as he is about to push Jake into traffic (the event that leads to Jake's appearance in The Gunslinger), and stops him from doing so. Under Roland's control, Jack acquires medicine and ammunition that Roland needs to survive, then jumps in front of the same subway that hit Odetta/Detta years earlier. Roland returns to his world just before impact, having made sure that Odetta/Detta sees Jack's death in order to force the two personalities to confront each other. They merge into a third, stronger personality, Susannah Dean, and she stops the lobstrosities from trying to eat Eddie.
As the group travels away from the beach, Eddie - having broken his drug addiction after a painful withdrawal - begins to fall in love with Susannah. Both owe their lives to Roland, but he is acutely aware that he may eventually need to sacrifice them to reach the Tower.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
The Dark Tower official website (requires Macromedia Flash 6)


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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"The Gunslinger" redirects here. For other uses, see The Gunslinger (disambiguation).

The Dark Tower:
 The Gunslinger
The Gunslinger.jpg
First edition cover

Author
Stephen King
Cover artist
Michael Whelan
Country
United States
Language
English
Series
The Dark Tower
Genre
Fantasy, Western
Publisher
Grant

Publication date
 June 10, 1982
Media type
Print (Hardcover)
Pages
224
ISBN
978-0-937986-50-9
Followed by
The Drawing of the Three
The Gunslinger is a novel by American author Stephen King, and is the first volume in the Dark Tower series, which King considers to be his magnum opus.[1] Initially a fix-up novel that strung together five short stories published between 1978 and 1981, it was first published in book form in 1982. King substantially revised the novel in 2003, which is the version that is in print today. The story centers upon Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger who has been chasing after his adversary, "the man in black", for many years. The novel follows Roland's trek through a vast desert and beyond in search of the man in black. Roland meets several people along his journey, including a boy named Jake Chambers who travels with him part of the way.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background and publication
2 Summary
3 Revised and Expanded edition
4 References

Background and publication[edit]
The novel was inspired by the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, which King read as a sophomore at the University of Maine. King explains that he "played with the idea of trying a long romantic novel embodying the feel, if not the exact sense, of the Browning poem." King started writing this novel in 1970 on a ream of bright green paper that he found at the library.[2]
The five stories that constitute the novel were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction:
"The Gunslinger" (October 1978)
"The Way Station" (April 1980)
"The Oracle and the Mountains" (February 1981)
"The Slow Mutants" (July 1981)
"The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" (November 1981)
It took King twelve and a half years to finish the novel. The finished product was first published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as a limited edition in 1982. In 1988, Plume released it in trade paperback form. Since then, the book has been re-issued in various formats and included in boxed sets with other volumes of the series.
In 2003 the novel was reissued in a revised and expanded version with modified language and added and changed scenes intended to resolve inconsistencies with the later books in the series.
It is dedicated to Ed Ferman, long-time editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Summary[edit]
It tells the story of the gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, and his quest to catch the man in black, the first of many steps towards his ultimate destination - the Dark Tower.
The main story takes place in a world that is somewhat similar to the Old West but exists in an alternate time frame or parallel universe to ours. Roland exists in a place where "the world has moved on." This world has a few things in common with our own, however, including memories of the song "Hey Jude" and the child's rhyme that begins "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit". Vestiges of forgotten or skewed versions of real-world technology also appear, such as a reference to a gas pump that is worshipped as a god named "Amoco", and an abandoned way station with a water pump which is powered by an "atomic slug".
As Roland travels across the desert with his mule in search of the man in black, he encounters Brown, a farmer, and Zoltan, his crow, and Brown graciously offers to put Roland up for the night. While Roland is there, we learn of his time spent in Tull through a flashback. Tull was a small town which Roland came to not too long before the start of the novel. The man in black had passed through the town previously; he brought a dead man back to life, and left a trap for Roland: the town itself. After Roland spends some time there, the leader of the local church reveals to him that the man in black has impregnated her, and has turned her against Roland. She turns the entire town on Roland; men, women, and children. In order to escape with his life, Roland is forced to kill every resident of the town, including his lover, Allie. Telling this story seems cathartic for Roland. When he awakes the next day, his mule is dead, forcing him to proceed on foot. Before Roland leaves, Brown asks his permission to eat the mule.
At the way station Roland first encounters Jake Chambers, who died in his own universe (presumably our own) when he was pushed in front of a car while walking to school in Manhattan. Roland is nearly dead when he makes it to the way station, and Jake brings him water and jerky while he is recovering. Jake does not know how long he has been at the way station, nor does he know exactly how he got there. He hid when the man in black passed by the way station. Roland hypnotizes him to determine the details of his death, but makes him forget before he awakes (since Jake's death was extremely violent and painful). Before they leave the way station they encounter a demon in the cellar while looking for food. After their palaver, Roland snatches the jawbone from the skeleton in the hole, from which the demon speaks.
After leaving the way station, Jake and Roland eventually make their way out of the desert into more welcoming lands. Roland rescues Jake from an encounter with a succubus who is an oracle, and then couples with the oracle himself in order to learn more about his fate and path to the Dark Tower. Roland gives Jake the jawbone from the way station to focus on while he is gone. After Roland returns, Jake discards the jawbone. As Jake and Roland make their way closer to the mountain, Jake begins to fear what will become of him.
In a flashback, we learn about Roland's chance encounter in a kitchen which leads to the hanging of Hax, the cook. The apprentice gunslingers are allowed to witness the hanging with their fathers' permission. Roland reveals how he was tricked into calling out his teacher Cort early, through the treachery of Marten. He succeeded in defeating Cort in battle through his ingenious weapon selection - his hawk, David.
Jake and Roland make their way into the twisting tunnels below the mountain, propelled along by an ancient mine cart. During the journey, they are attacked by the "Slow Mutants", monstrous subterranean creatures. Roland fights the Slow Mutants off and they proceed. Eventually they find the Man in Black, and as Jake dangles precariously from the tracks, Roland comes to a pivotal choice; save Jake or pursue the Man in Black. Roland chooses to follow the Man in Black. Jake tells Roland, whilst hanging: "Go then. There are other worlds than these." He lets go of the edge and falls without screaming.
After sacrificing Jake in the mountain, Roland makes his way down to speak to the man in black. The man in black reads Roland's fate from a pack of cards, including "the sailor" (Jake), "the prisoner" (Eddie Dean) "the lady of shadows" (Odetta Holmes), "death" (but not for Roland), and the Tower itself, as the center of everything. The man in black states that he is merely a pawn of Roland's true enemy, the one who now controls the Dark Tower itself.
The man in black creates a representation of the universe, attempting to frighten Roland by showing him how truly insignificant he is in the grand scheme of things, and asks him to give up his quest. Roland refuses, and is made to fall asleep by the man in black. When he wakes up, ten years have passed and there is a skeleton next to him — what he assumes to be the man in black. Roland then sits on the edge of the Western Sea, contemplating the three people he now is charged with bringing into All-World - the Prisoner, the Lady of Shadows, and the Pusher.
Revised and Expanded edition[edit]
King revised The Gunslinger in 2003. In his introduction to the new edition, King stated that he felt that the original version was 'dry' and difficult for new readers to access. He also made the storytelling more linear as well as making the plot of the book more consistent with the series' ending. Other changes were made in order to resolve continuity errors introduced by later volumes. The added material was over 9000 words (35 pages) in length.[3]
Some changes include:
Removal of a reference to Roland reading a magazine in Tull. Later information presented in The Drawing of the Three suggested that paper is a scarcity in Roland's world.
Reference to twelve years having passed since the fall of Gilead, which happened when Roland was a teenager, is changed to "untold years." Otherwise it would be deduced that Roland is in his 30s, when later books imply that Roland is ancient.
Likewise The Man in Black originally says he is "nearly immortal," where in the revision he says this of both himself and Roland.
"[Roland] didn't know where Cort was[4]" is changed to "Cort was dead",[5] as the Fall of Gilead was not completely fleshed out until later books.
Roland's cold-hearted killing of Allie is changed to make him appear more humane. Originally, when the town of Tull turn on Roland, Allie is seized by a townsperson and used as a human shield. She begs Roland not to fire before he ruthlessly guns down both her and her captor.[6] In the revised version, she has been driven mad by Walter by the time she is seized, and begs Roland to put her out of her misery.[7]
The town of Farson is changed to Tull, as John Farson was a character in the later books in the series.
References to the Beast were changed to refer to the Crimson King, who otherwise is not mentioned in the series until The Waste Lands.
"Blue Heaven" and "Algul Siento", terms that are revealed in the final books, are mentioned.
A single Taheen appears early in the revised version. The Taheen are a race of creatures which wouldn't originally appear until the final three books.
A major textual change is the fate and identity of the Man in Black. In the original text, Walter's death at the end of the story is of no uncertainty to Roland. In the revised edition, Roland speculates if his discovery of Walter's bones is some trick or if he has truly died. The original text also kept Walter and Marten Broadcloak completely disambiguated. Even after the death of Walter, Broadcloak was still to be found and killed. Later in Wizard and Glass they, along with Flagg, are all revealed to be one-in-the-same person. Though no reference of the name "Flagg" is made in the revised edition of The Gunslinger, all references to Walter and Marten are altered so that it is plausible they are the same man.
Jake Chambers, originally nine years old, was made 10–11 years old in the revised edition.
In general, the world the gunslinger walked through in the original text was a run-down version of our own - the text mentions England, the star Polaris, Mars, Jesus and other biblical figures, Easter, All-Saint's Eve (Halloween), and Greek and Egyptian Gods. In the revision, these references were removed to make Roland's world only vaguely like our own.
In the early edition Roland's father is Roland the Elder, but is changed to Steven.
In the expanded edition of the novel, on the last page before the text the single word RESUMPTION appears; in the "Argument" foreword of Wolves of the Calla, King explains that it is the subtitle of the novel.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2002). Everything's Eventual. Toronto: Pocket Books. p. 167. ISBN 0-7434-5735-8.
2.Jump up ^ "Stephen King Biography". Retrieved 2008-06-23.
3.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2003). The Gunslinger: Revised and Expanded Edition. Toronto: Signet Fiction. xxii. ISBN 0-451-21084-0.
4.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1982). The Gunslinger. New York: Plume. p. 66. ISBN 0-452-26134-1.
5.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2003). The Gunslinger: Revised and Expanded Edition. Toronto: Signet Fiction. p. 69. ISBN 0-451-21084-0.
6.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (1982). The Gunslinger. New York: Plume. p. 59. ISBN 0-452-26134-1.
7.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2003). The Gunslinger: Revised and Expanded Edition. Toronto: Signet Fiction. p. 62. ISBN 0-451-21084-0.
King, Stephen (1989). Afterword. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. New York: Signet. ISBN 0-451-16052-5
Comparison of the original 1982 text and the 2003 revised edition


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The Dark Tower (series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see The Dark Tower (disambiguation).
The Dark Tower
Thedarktower7.jpg
"The Dark Tower" painting by Michael Whelan

The Gunslinger (1982)
The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Waste Lands (1991)
Wizard and Glass (1997)
Wolves of the Calla (2003)
Song of Susannah (2004)
The Dark Tower (2004)
The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)

Author
Stephen King
Illustrator
Michael Whelan, Phil Hale, Ned Dameron, Dave McKean, Bernie Wrightson, Darrel Anderson, Jae Lee
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Fantasy, science fiction, horror, western
Followed by
The Dark Tower (comics)
The Little Sisters of Eluria
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western. It describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King has described the series as his magnum opus. In addition to the eight novels of the series proper that comprise 4,250 pages, many of King's other books relate to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses. A series of prequel comics followed the completion of the novels.
The series was chiefly inspired by the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, whose full text was included in the final volume's appendix. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, Arthurian Legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for the protagonist, Roland Deschain. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own (High Speech), are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's work.
In 2009, King announced an eighth book, The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole. December 7, 2009 saw the release of a spin-off online game titled Discordia.[1] As of 2010 more than 30 million copies of the series have been sold in 40 countries.[2] A live-action adaptation was announced in September 2010, consisting of alternating feature films and television series. The project was reportedly cancelled in July 2011,[3] but in October 2011, it was announced that the film was still on track, and that the television series was slated to air on HBO.[4]
On March 13, 2012, it was reported that Warner Bros. was interested in making at least the first film, and would be in prime position to green-light the TV element through its sister company, HBO. Javier Bardem was originally set to play Roland, but the role was subsequently offered to Russell Crowe.[5] Initial reports indicated filming was going to commence as early as the first quarter of 2013.[6] Warner Bros. has since passed on the project, but Media Rights Capital has entered talks to distribute it.[7]
Stephen King saw the Dark Tower series as a first draft. He planned to rewrite it to eliminate continuity errors and possibly remove himself from the later books, but after revising The Gunslinger, he decided a rewrite for the entire series was no longer necessary.[8]


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview 1.1 Plot summary
1.2 Characters
1.3 Language
2 Series 2.1 Continuation
2.2 Illustrations
3 Reception
4 Other media 4.1 Tie-in books
4.2 Prequel comic series
4.3 Further comic adaptions
4.4 Discordia
4.5 Film/Television adaptation
5 Connections to King's other works
6 References
7 External links

Overview[edit]
Plot summary[edit]
In the story, Roland Deschain is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and the last of the line of "Arthur Eld", his world's analogue of King Arthur. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West but is also magical. Many of the magical aspects have vanished from Mid-World, but traces remain as do relics from a technologically advanced society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on", and it appears to be coming apart at the seams. Mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without a trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Sometimes, even the sun rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals and age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.
For a detailed synopsis of the novels, see the relevant article for each book.
Characters[edit]
Main article: List of characters from the Dark Tower series
Along his journey to the Dark Tower, Roland meets a great number of both friends and enemies. For most of the way he is accompanied by a group of people who together with him form the Ka-tet of the Nineteen and Ninety-nine, consisting of Jake Chambers, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, and Oy. Among his many enemies on the way are The Man In Black, Mordred and The Crimson King.
Language[edit]
King created a language for his characters, known as the High Speech. Examples of this language include the phrases Thankee, Sai ("Thank you, Sir/Ma'am.") and Dan-Tete ("Little Savior"). In addition, King uses the term Ka, which is the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech (and similarly, Ka-tet, a group of people bound together by fate/destiny). This term originated in Egyptian mythology and storytelling, and has figured in several other novels and screenplays since 1976. The term also appears in King's short story, Low Men in Yellow Coats, in which Ted describes its meaning to Bobby.
Series[edit]
1.The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) – 224 pages
2.The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) – 400 pages
3.The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) – 512 pages
4.The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) – 787 pages; 1998 Locus Award nominee[9]
5.The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) – 714 pages; 2004 Locus Award nominee[10]
6.The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) – 432 pages; 2005 Locus Award nominee[11]
7.The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) – 845 pages; 2005 British Fantasy Award winner[11]
8.The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) – 336 pages
Continuation[edit]
While the series was declared finished with the publication of the seventh volume in 2004, King described in an interview in March 2009 an idea for a new short story he'd recently had: "And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel." According to King, the idea is a new Dark Tower novel.
King said, regarding the Dark Tower series, "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel."[12] Stephen King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The Times Center in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted that King will begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through the Keyhole.[13] King noted that this novel should be set between the fourth and the fifth books of the series.
The book, titled The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole, was announced on Stephen King's official site on March 10, 2011, and was published on April 24, 2012.[14]
Illustrations[edit]
Each book in the series was originally published in hardcover format with a number of full-color illustrations spread throughout. Each book contained works by a single illustrator only. Subsequent printings of each book in trade paperback format usually preserve the illustrations in full, except for books I and IV. Pocket-sized paperback reprints contain only black-and-white chapter or section header illustrations.The illustrators who worked on each book are:
1.Michael Whelan – multiple award-winning science fiction and fantasy painter. The Dark Tower is among his early notable works.
2.Phil Hale – the only Dark Tower illustrator who created a second set of illustrations for a later printing of the book he illustrated.
3.Ned Dameron.
4.Dave McKean – graphic designer noted for working in many media, including photography and film. The only Dark Tower illustrator to work in photocollages.
5.Bernie Wrightson – established illustrator for 1960s and 1970s horror comics.
6.Darrel Anderson – the only Dark Tower illustrator who used digital illustration techniques.
7.Michael Whelan – returning more than 20 years later as the only recurring Dark Tower illustrator.
8.Jae Lee – an illustrator who had previously worked on the Marvel Comics adaptation of the series, illustrated The Wind Through the Keyhole.[15]
Reception[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (August 2007)
Bill Sheehan of The Washington Post called the series "a humane, visionary epic and a true magnum opus" that stands as an "imposing example of pure storytelling," "filled with brilliantly rendered set pieces... cataclysmic encounters and moments of desolating tragedy."[16] Erica Noonan of the Boston Globe said, "There's a fascinating world to be discovered in the series" but noted that its epic nature keeps it from being user-friendly.[17] Allen Johnston of The New York Times was disappointed with how the series progressed; while he marveled at the "sheer absurdity of [the books'] existence" and complimented King's writing style, he said preparation would have improved the series, stating "King doesn't have the writerly finesse for these sorts of games, and the voices let him down."[18] Michael Berry of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, called the series' early installments "highfalutin hodgepodge" but the ending "a valediction" that "more than delivers on what has been promised."[19]
Other media[edit]
Tie-in books[edit]
The series has prompted related non-fiction books by authors besides King. Robin Furth has published the two-volume Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance, an encyclopedia-style companion to the series that she originally wrote for King's personal use. Bev Vincent has published The Road to The Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus, a book containing back story, summary and analysis. Stephen King has endorsed both books.
Prequel comic series[edit]
Main article: The Dark Tower (comics)
A prequel to the Dark Tower series, set around the time of the flashbacks in The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass, has been released by Marvel Comics. With the project overseen by King, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David, and illustrated by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. The first issue of this first arc was released on February 7, 2007. A hardcover volume containing all seven issues was released on November 7, 2007.
The second arc in the Dark Tower comic series was released by Marvel Comics. Called The Long Road Home, the first issue was published on March 5, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all five issues was released on October 15, 2008.
The third arc in the Dark Tower comic series was released by Marvel Comics, and it is called The Dark Tower: Treachery. The first issue of the six issue arc was published on September 10, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues was released on April 21, 2009.
Following the completion of the third arc a one-shot issue titled The Dark Tower: Sorcerer was released April 8, 2009. The story focuses on the history of the villainous wizard Marten Broadcloak.
The fourth arc in the Dark Tower comic series was released by Marvel Comics, and it is called The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead. The first issue of the six issue arc was published on May 13, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues, as well as the Sorcerer One-Shot was released on February 2, 2010.
The fifth arc in the Dark Tower comic series was released by Marvel Comics, and it is called The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill. The first issue of the five issue arc was published on December 3, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 5 issues was released on August 17, 2010.
Marvel Comics has also published three supplemental books to date that expand upon characters and locations first introduced in the novels. The Dark Tower: Gunslingers' Guidebook was released in 2007, The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac was released in 2008, and The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead was released in 2009. All three books were written by Anthony Flamini, with Furth serving as creative consultant. End-World Almanac and Guide to Gilead feature illustrations by David Yardin.
Further comic adaptions[edit]
Main article: The Dark Tower (comics)

Question book-new.svg
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2012)
An adaption of King's novella The Little Sisters of Eluria, titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Little Sisters of Eluria, was made into a comic series and released by Marvel Comics. The first issue of the five-issue arc was published on December 8, 2010. The collected hardback edition was released on June 08, 2011.
An adaption of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Journey Begins, was made into a comic series and released by Marvel Comics. The first issue of the five-issue arc was published on May 19, 2010. The collected hardback edition was released on January 26, 2011.
A second adaption of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Battle of Tull, was made into a comic series and released by Marvel Comics. The first issue of the five-issue arc was published on June 1, 2011. The collected hardback edition was released on January 25, 2012.
A third adaption of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Way Station, was made into a comic series and released by Marvel Comics. The first issue of the five-issue arc was published on December 14, 2011. The collected hardback edition was released on June 27, 2012.
Discordia[edit]
December 7, 2009 saw the release of a spin-off online game titled Discordia,[1] available to play free of charge on the official Stephen King website. The game is a continuation of the original Dark Tower story, following the war between the Tet Corporation and Sombra/NCP in New York, and it has been supervised by both Stephen King and Robin Furth. From the website: "Exploring the behind-the-scenes conflict between the two companies, Discordia introduces long-time Dark Tower fans to new characters and numerous mechanical/magical items developed by Mid-World's Old Ones. Over the course of our adventure we will visit many locations, both those familiar to Dark Tower fans and others which we only glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels. While we may not see Roland and his ka-tet in this adventure, the development team has remembered the faces of its fathers. We have done our best to honor the original Dark Tower series while simultaneously mapping new and exciting Dark Tower territory."
Film/Television adaptation[edit]
Initially, in 2007 J. J. Abrams was connected to a film adaptation[20] but later revealed he had removed himself from involvement in the project.[21] On September 8, 2010, an official announcement was made that the series would be brought to both the big and the small screens via a trilogy of feature films and two seasons of a television series to bridge gaps between the films.[22] According to a press release from Universal Pictures from October 29, 2010, the first Dark Tower film would open on May 17, 2013.[23] On July 19, 2011, Universal pulled its support from the production of the Dark Tower films and television series. According to reports, the studio was unable to come to terms with producer Ron Howard.[24] Despite this, Stephen King remains confident Howard will see the project through with another studio, and Howard confirmed the adaptation is still on track, noting that HBO will now carry the television series portion of the project.[25][4] On March 13th 2012 it was reported that Warner Bros. is now interested in making at least the first film, and would be in prime position to green-light the TV element through its sister company, HBO. Russell Crowe, tipped to play Roland Deschain, is reportedly still on board. Reports indicated that filming may have commenced as early as the first quarter of 2013.[6] However, Warner eventually passed on the film.[26]
Connections to King's other works[edit]
Main article: Stephen King works related to The Dark Tower series
The series has become a linchpin that ties together much of King's body of work. The worlds of The Dark Tower are in part composed of locations, characters, events and other various elements from many of King's novels and short stories.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Stephenking.com/discordia". Stephenking.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
2.Jump up ^ "The Dark Tower to Become a Film Trilogy and TV Series". Superhero Hype. 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
3.Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (2011-07-18). "'The Dark Tower' Crumbles as Universal Officially Cancels Ron Howard Project". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
4.^ Jump up to: a b "'Dark Tower' Heading To HBO, Says Brian Grazer". Moviesblog.mtv.com. 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
5.Jump up ^ http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/warner-bros-has-dark-tower-decision-looming-and-russell-crowe-is-in-the-mix/
6.^ Jump up to: a b Child, Ben (2012-03-13). "The Dark Tower film project picked up by Warner Bros.". http://www.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
7.Jump up ^ ‘Ted’ Backer MRC In Talks To Finance Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’
8.Jump up ^ "Popular Writers: A Stephen King interview.". neilgaiman.com.
9.Jump up ^ "1998 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
10.Jump up ^ "2004 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
11.^ Jump up to: a b "2005 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
12.Jump up ^ "USA WEEKEND Magazine, part of USA Today Your Life". Blogs.usaweekend.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
13.Jump up ^ "Recent News". StephenKing.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
14.Jump up ^ King, Stephen (2011-01-01). "The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel (9781451658903): Stephen King: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
15.Jump up ^ Donald M. Grant, accessed September 11 2011
16.Jump up ^ Sheehan, Bill (2007-09-19). "The Return of the King". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
17.Jump up ^ Noonan, Erica (2004-01-15). "'Calla' worth the read, but caters to 'Tower' fans". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
18.Jump up ^ Agger, Michael (2004-10-17). "Pulp Metafiction". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
19.Jump up ^ Berry, Michael (2004-09-26). "Waiting for the end of their worlds". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
20.Jump up ^ Stax (2007-02-13). "Who is Lost in The Dark Tower?". IGN. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
21.Jump up ^ "J.J. Abrams Not Adapting King's 'Dark Tower' Series". Cinematical. 2009-10-11. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
22.Jump up ^ "The Dark Tower - Film and TV News Tracker". Stephenking.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
23.Jump up ^ "Universal Sets Release Dates Through 2013". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
24.Jump up ^ "Universal Dismantles The Dark Tower | Movie News | Empire". Empireonline.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
25.Jump up ^ Blauvelt, Christian (2011-07-19). "Stephen King 'Dark Tower' | Inside Movies | EW.com". Insidemovies.ew.com. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
26.Jump up ^ http://www.slashfilm.com/warner-bros-passes-on-ron-howards-adaptation-of-stephen-kings-the-dark-tower/#more-134797
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Dark Tower (series)
Official website


[hide]
v ·
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The Dark Tower series by Stephen King


Novels
The Gunslinger ·
 The Drawing of the Three ·
 The Waste Lands ·
 Wizard and Glass ·
 Wolves of the Calla ·
 Song of Susannah ·
 The Dark Tower ·
 The Wind Through the Keyhole
 

Short stories
"The Gunslinger" ·
 "The Way Station" ·
 "The Oracle and the Mountains" ·
 "The Slow Mutants" ·
 "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man" ·
 "The Little Sisters of Eluria"
 

Comics
The Gunslinger Born ·
 The Long Road Home ·
 Treachery ·
 The Sorcerer ·
 Fall of Gilead ·
 Battle of Jericho Hill ·
 The Journey Begins ·
 The Little Sisters of Eluria ·
 The Battle of Tull ·
 The Way Station ·
 The Man in Black
 

Characters
Roland Deschain ·
 Father Callahan ·
 Randall Flagg ·
 Crimson King
 

Related books
'Salem's Lot ·
 The Stand ·
 The Talisman ·
 "The Mist" ·
 Skeleton Crew ·
 It ·
 The Eyes of the Dragon ·
 Insomnia ·
 Rose Madder ·
 Desperation ·
 The Regulators ·
 Bag of Bones ·
 Hearts in Atlantis ·
 Black House ·
 Everything's Eventual ·
 From a Buick 8 ·
 "Ur"
 



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Categories: American fantasy novel series
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The Dark Tower novels
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