Patel, 1

The Dark Tower: Stephen Kings Greatest Work

Stephen King is probably best known as an excellent horror novelist, but, while

he remains fascinated by the horrific, he has written many other types of stories as

well. The Dark Tower Series is hard to classify, but can be described as a kind

of dark fantasy with elements of science fiction and horror. The massive seven volume

epic was written over the course of Stephen King’s career. He began writing the

first book, The Gunslinger, right after graduating from the University of Maine in

1970. The Gunslinger would not be finished for twelve years, but King’s thoughts

kept going back to it even while he was writing other novels. The remaining six

volumes of The Dark Tower took another 22 years to complete, published at very

irregular intervals to the dismay of the readers. All this time, the series stayed in

King’s mind, influencing many of his other works to varying degrees. Some, like

Insomnia, are very closely related. Others make only minor reference to places,

characters or concepts from The Dark Tower. Some other works by King were tied

to The Dark Tower by writing characters from these other novels into the Tower

series.

Kings series is heavily influenced by several other works. King’s primary

sources of inspiration were Sergio Leone “spaghetti westerns” and a poem by

 Patel, 2

Robert Browning called Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, which King had

studied in a university course two years prior to commencing work on The

Gunslinger (The Gunslinger, 246) Robert Browning’s poem seems to have little in

common with The Dark Tower except for some names (Roland, Cuthbert), locations

(the Dark Tower, a bleak wasteland) and secondary characters (Dandelo, called

“that hoary cripple” in the poem, and his incredibly sickly old horse). King seemed

more to use the poem as a base and build on it . King a l s o w a s i n f l u e n c e d b y

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which inspired him to go into fantasy fiction

(Wolves of the Calla, ix.) What makes the dark tower truly great is that it is connected

to many of his other novels to varying degrees, and it has many of the elements of a

modern myth.

The Dark Tower is, like most fantasy literature, written in the same style

as ancient myths, but with a more modern language. What makes it a myth is that it is

written using unrealistic scenarios and it deals with the supernatural. What makes it

truly mimic a myth is that the story details a character on a long and dangerous quest.

Many ancient myths deal with super human characters such as gods but the

protagonist of the Dark Tower, Roland Deschain, is a normal aging man and he has

none of extraordinary characteristics of old myths and epics. His main goal in the

series is to reach the top of the Dark Tower and in doing so save the world . He wants
 Patel, 3

to rid the tower of any Evil that may be controlling it and he also wants to see whether

or not god is still there.

Looking back at the series it is easy to see how Roland’s journey truly

began. When he was young he was forced to enter a trial of manhood at age 14 . He

succeeded and this can be partially thought of as the beginning of his mythic journey .

The focus of the next part of the book revolves around Roland and his friends visiting

a small town called Mejis to take stock of supplies should his home town need them .

The premise is that there is a war between a man named John Farson and Roland’s

Father, Stephen Deschain. Farson wants to take down the tower and end the world

although Roland doesn’t know it at this point. Once in Mejis Roland falls in love with a

girl named Susan Delgado whom he eventually impregnates . The true journey Roland

embarks on starts here. Roland figures out John Arson’s plot and he also learns that

the town of Mejis is controlled by Farson. He eventually has to make a choice

between the Tower or Susan and he chooses the former . From this we can see how

Roland truly embodies the qualities of a mythic hero. His life’s new goal is to attain the

tower and save the world.

The main story of Roland Deschain and his quest for the tower is told through

various flashbacks and sidetracks of secondary characters. Books three do focus on

the journey Roland makes on his road to the tower but they often sidetrack into
 Patel, 4

adventures with some of the secondary characters. These adventures add to the

mythic feel of the series. In a lot of old myths the heroes are forced to go through

trials. Many of the side stories in the Tower books end up being trials for Roland on

his quest for the tower. One of these side stories discusses one of the greater trials

Roland had to face on his journey. He enters a town called Tull and soon learns a trap

has been set for him. Instead of leaving he stays and waits for the trap to be sprung.

Finally when it does happen all the villagers attack him and he ends up killing every

single one. This trial hardens Roland and helps make him formidable enabling him to

travel further towards the Tower.

Stephen King’s main focus in his novels is horror and many of his other books

have been very popular. What sets the Dark Tower apart from the other books is its

vastness. Many of his other novels feature a singular setting and tend to have much

shorter story lines. The mythic aspect of the tower truly allows king to expand his

horizons and add greatly to the story line and many of the pieces of the Tower books

are too unrealistic for a standard novel. Other books by King are critically acclaimed

and several have been made into movies but because they are only a single book

they don’t allow extensive character development or story advancement . The other

novels mainly focus on the horror genre whereas the Tower focuses on horror, as well

as fantasy and adventure. This is only one of the reasons why the Dark Tower Series
 Patel, 5

surpasses kings other novels.

King has spent more time on the Dark Tower series than many of his other

novels combined. The first volume itself took 12 years to complete . This extended

period of time allowed King to work on other novels. Many of these novels have been

directly influenced by the tower series and others have lent pieces to the Tower

series. These connections range from the mention of a place all the way to an entire

character crossing over to the series. One of the biggest crossovers that happen is

with a character named Randall Flagg.

In the Tower books Randall Flagg is essentially the antagonist. He is always

trying to get Roland to give up the tower. In the and however he fails to accomplish

this. Overall Flagg has appeared in seven of Kings novels although in some he is

referred to by other names. In The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance. Flagg is

described as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark"

(265). In a nutshell Flagg is generally the antagonist of the books he appears in

although in some novels he only makes a small cameo appearance. In Kings novel

The Stand the world has been destroyed by a deadly virus known as Superflu . In this

book Flagg is the main antagonist. He is portrayed as someone who wants to destroy
 Patel, 6

what’s left of the world after the plague strikes. In the Tower series Roland ends up in

the same world as the stand but after the plague has destroyed the world . In this

sense the setting overlaps from one book to the other. Also in the dark tower Flagg

wants to stop Roland from reaching the Tower and ultimately destroy the world. Kings

novel The Eyes of the Dragon refers back to the Tower books but in more ways than

just Flagg. The tale is set in the medieval country known as Delain which mimics

Roland’s last name Deschain. Another connection is that the king is called Roland.

Like The Sting the main antagonist is Flagg. In The Eyes of the Dragon Flagg wants to

ultimately take over the kingdom. Like The Sting he fails to accomplish his goal.

Various other King novels have other connections. In the book Salem’s Lot there

is a vampire plague spreading and the protagonist, Ben Mears, seeks to put a stop to

it. He is helped by several other people including the local priest Father Callaghan . In

the Dark Tower series Roland meets the same Callaghan from Salem’s Lot. After

meeting Roland the priest tells his part of the story from Salem’s Lot but he also

expands upon it to a greater degree since he was not the main protagonist . In this

sense the Tower books borrowed a character from Salem’s Lot. In the novel Insomnia

two characters are introduced, The Crimson King and Patrick Danville . In the novel

Patrick Danville is a child who draws a picture of the Dark Tower and also of the
 Patel, 7

Crimson King trapped inside it. In the tower series Patrick Danville is brought back as

a child and is saved by Roland. We also learn that the Crimson King is indeed trapped

in the tower. This is one of the more direct links between Kings novels . Another major

connection is seen in the novel It. Both it and the Tower refer to a Turtle that helps the

protagonists overcome evil. Also in It one of the characters has the nickname

Stuttering Bill. Stuttering Bill is seen as a robot in the Tower Series . In the book Black

House the Crimson King’s plans are expanded upon relating it directly to the Tower

books. Finally in the book Under the Dome the character Roger Killian has 2 sons

named Randall and Roland. Both of these names relate back to the Dark Tower

though the characters are different. Randall is one of the minor antagonists in the

novel. Many other of Kings novels reference the Tower and Roland in one way or

another.

Overall the Tower Series has influenced many of Kings other Novels . Through

these connections it is very easy to see how much this series has shaped Kings other

work. While king was working on his other novels it is easy to see that his mind always

went back to the Tower. This shows that he was always focused on the Tower . The

length of time he spent on the 7 books shows his dedication to them and how he

managed to always go back to them no matter what his other projects may have been.
 Patel, 8

This is one of the main reasons I believe that the Tower Series is a great work if not

Kings Greatest work.

The works of an author can be compared with each other and many times it is

hard to find one that stands out on top. King has done a great job making the Tower

books stand out from the rest. Over the course of his career he has written over 40

novels and has also written several nonfiction books and comics as well. Even while

working on many other projects he was always able to make time to work on the

Tower books. Besides horror they embody many aspects of fantasy as well as many

elements of a modern myth. We see Roland on an epic adventure to get to the Tower

and save the world and throughout the series we see how he passes many trials and

works towards his goal. Although he is not superhuman or a god like in many classic

myths he is still embodies many of their traits and characteristics . The vastness of the

books truly allowed King to develop his characters fully and effectively . It also allowed

him to expand the story beyond many of his other works. According to an article in

Entertainment Weekly Universal Pictures has gotten the rights to turn the books in to a

movie trilogy and TV mini-series. This is indicative that the series is popular enough to

warrant it being made into films and a TV series. It is hard to truly classify a work as

great as many people have their own opinions but I believe that the dark tower series

can be seen by many people as Stephen King’s greatest work.

 Patel, 9

Works Cited
 Patel, 10

King, Stephen. The Gunslinger. New York, NY: New American Library, 1988. Print.

King, Stephen. The Drawing of the Three. New York: New American Library, 1989.
Print.

The wastelands