User:Quispiam/The Dark Tower overview
The Dark Tower is a series of seven books written by American author Stephen King between 1970 and 2004. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror and western elements. They describe a gunslinger's quest toward a tower whose nature the books call both physical and metaphorical. King has described the series as his magnum opus. Besides the seven novels that compose the series proper, many of his other books relate to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses. After the series were finished, a series of comics prequels has followed.
This article is an overview of the different books and short stories being part of the Dark Tower series.
| The Gunslinger (October, 1978) - Short story |
| We are introduced to Roland, a gunslinger travelling through a vast desert seeking the Man in Black. On his way he meets a man called Brown, to who he tells a story of his last meeting with people, in a town called Tull. |
| A short story originally released in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, later revised and released as the first chapter in the book The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. |
| The Way Station (April, 1980) - Short story |
| At a way station in the desert, the gunslinger meets Jake Chambers for the first time. Under hypnosis, the boy remembers that he has recently been killed in his own world, the New York City of 1977, which creates a first link of Roland's world to ours.
Later, it's Roland's turn to remember – he flashes back to a training session under the severe regiment of their teacher Cort, who shows them how to use a hawk as a weapon. Afterwards, Roland and one of his best friends, Cuthbert Allgood, expose the cook Hax as a traitor working for the Good Man and send him to the gallows. The boys' witnessing his execution is one step away from childhood to manhood. |
| A short story originally released in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, later revised and released as the second chapter in the book The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. |
| The Oracle and the Mountains (February, 1981) - Short story |
| 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 the boy to death via sexual intercourse.
Roland restrains Jake at their campsite, and then goes down to the Speaking Ring, where he has sex with the Oracle, who tells him of Eddie Dean and Susannah Dean, two persons he will draw into Mid-World and who will help him reaching the Tower as his ka-tet. 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. |
| A short story originally released in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, later revised and released as the third chapter in the book The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. |
| The Slow Mutants (June, 1981) - Short story |
| Roland and Jake make their way through a mine shaft in the side of the mountain using a nuclear-powered cart created by the Great Old Ones. During this time, to distract the boy, Roland tells him a story of his childhood.
As a fourteen years old, Roland saw his mother having an affair with his father's court magician, Marten Broadcloak. Marten taunted Roland, hoping to urge him into an early trial to become a gunslinger, in order so 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. However, using his hawk, David, as a weapon in the trial - an unexpected move - Roland was able to pass the test and become a gunslinger. During their time in the mountain, Roland and Jake are attacked by slow mutants. In order to escape them, Roland and Jake hurry over a precipice on a trellis. Jake slips and Roland catches him, but urges Roland to let him go so he can continue. Roland does so, giving Jake as his sacrifice. When Roland leaves the mountain, he is therefore able to climb down to speak with the Man in Black. |
| A short story originally released in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, later revised and released as the fourth chapter in the book The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. |