Stephen King: The Dark Tower--Theories

Dark Tower Theories

The theories below are submitted by our loyal readers: no attempt has been made to correct spelling, punctuation or grammar.

Burning Daylight writes:

All of the worlds that the Gunslinger and the Ka-tet travel through are undoubtedly the worlds, or universes created by Stephen King. At the end of DT4 he states that more of his universes will in fact come together in the DT series.
For these reasons, it is my guess that the God of Roland's world, the God at the top of the Dark Tower is none other then Stephen King himself. I also think that he will only have the last book published after his own death. Roland, King's determination personified, will find that he can not stop the worlds from moving on because the worlds are moving on due to King's increasing age. Thus the story will end with the ka-tet reaching the top of the tower and meeting King. They will then either shoot him or watch him die. Provided that King lives long enough to complete the final book, this is my guess as to how it will all end. The deeper you go into analogies based on this theory, the more it seems likely.
The epic of all time IMO.

Aron West writes:

I am a firm believer that we the constant reader shall eventually "see the turtle of enormous girth, for upon his shell he holds the earth". Furthering my belief in this is that in DT4, Roland sees the turtle in the Wizard's Glass, and says to him, "you will kill everything and everyone you know, yet still the tower will be pent against you". This leads me to believe that Roland will never enter the tower at all, maybe see it if he is lucky. One personal theory is that Roland will die facing Flagg, and just as Susannah says, they will continue the quest to the top. And we must not forget to protect the rose, correct? Atop the tower? It can only be the one beast that controls all the Guardians, possibly It. The turtle was in both, correct? And what about the boy in Insomnia? The one who broke his black crayon at the rally and who knew Roland's name? He must be protected as well, although I cannot see any connection just yet. The ka-tet seems complete, even if it is the second of Rolands. It does sadden me to think all that Roland has lost and yet he will not complete his journey, but it makes sense. Roland is just another victim of ka, there (I think) to get Jake to the tower and let him take over. Ka comes like the wind, and I think that the winds have changed for our gunslinger.

bill-z writes:

...if you look closely and study Stephen King's novels, you will find several links combining them, all seeming to relate or come back to the Dark Tower. I believe that the Beast mentioned by Walter in DT1 is most certianly It, since the Beast gaurds the Tower and is the center of all the Gaurdians. The Crimson King in Insomnia tells Ralph there has been a long history of shape-changing in Derry, meaning It. The Turtle is a highly mentioned component in It and DT3,4, being as one of the Gaurdians (maybe the most important), and a creature that holds whole universes inside it, or "upon his shell", if you wish. I think all the Gaurdians are acually universes themselves, surrounding the Dark Tower, and The Old Ones in Roland's world built the cyborgs as metaphors. Roland's world is most certainly one of Stephen King's worlds thousands of years into the future, and it could quite possibly be the world from The Stand, since Roland's Ka-tet is forced into that world in Wizard and Glass. Roland and Eddie will almost be killed when comfronting Randall Flagg in Thunderclap, only to be saved by Patrick Danville, the boy in Insomnia. I know this because Clotho tells Ralph in Insomnia that the boy will step onstage to play a quick but important part in saving two men's lives, one who must get to the Dark Tower. They will reach the Tower, and do battle with the one who is called The Crimson King, and from there on I cannot say, except that maybe the Dark Tower was once the White Tower.

Ozzie writes concerning the Higher Beings of the Tower:

   1.) The Guardians: I really don't think that the animals of the Beam (the 12 Guardians) are solely mechanical beasts/cyborgs that lurch around and protect their designated portals. In fact, I suspect that they are types of beings who share common purposes with the Beams. The turtle supports Roland's (and our) universe on its back; it is the creator, yet its involvement as testified in IT, is extremely limited. Note Roland's poem about the Turtle:       On his back all vows are made;
      *He sees the truth but mayn't aid.*
      He loves the land and loves the sea,
      and even loves a child like me."
   The turtle, being a fundamental building block of the universe, still lacks the free will or liberty to involve itself in the fates, or kas if you will, of mortal beings (ie- short-timers— see INSOMNIA). Yet we still gain the sense of great opposing forces behind the events seen in novels such as The Stand, IT, Insomnia, The Dark Tower Series, etc. Recall Insomnia's introduction to the four constants that exist on the lower levels of the Tower: Life, Death, the Purpose, and the Random. Yet do these constants exist on the higher levels? How do beings like the Turtle come into play with these constants. The LBD's of Insomnia (Little Bald Doctors) explain that concerning the Purpose, Roland is main pawn in their struggle against the Random. And since we see that Roland seems to have a "Crimson King" and "Ageless Stranger" seperating him and the Tower, it is fair to assume that these characters are agents of the Random.
   Yet what force or being is working behind Roland? We first identified this being as the "Other" in IT: Billy sensed that they were fighting IT, that the Turtle could not interfere, yet that there was Another who was on their side. Roland also seems to have ties with one called the Green Man who is introduced in INSOMNIA. Subsequently, we can identify this Green Man or "Other" as a figurehead agent in the Purpose, leading characters like Roland, Peter (from EOTD), Jack (The Talisman), and Ralph Roberts to acheive some purpose that can only be decided in the fundamental/foundation floors of the Tower- The Short Timer Levels, you could say.
   Therefore, we could also assume that It is also an agent of the Random: he opposes the Other vehemently (who we determined to be the driving force behind the Purpose) and resides in the macroverse's most damned place- the deadlights. Recall that the Crimson King flees into the deadlights after being defeated by Ralph Roberts in INSOMNIA, and that Walter referred to The Beast in DT I as "It." (oh, its also pretty reasonable to say that the Beast, "the keeper of the Tower and creator of all glammer," is the Crimson King- remember that kid's drawing in INSOMNIA? Who awaits Roland at the Dark Tower: The "Red King" himself! Also, Eddie dreams that the Beast had red eyes, eyes that are a signature feature of our Crimson King— and please don't ignore the "coincidence" of Stephen King and Crimson King--- who knows if that has any signifigance?) Apparently, It and the Crimson King share a great deal in common, though IT is far inferior than the Crimson King/Beast. Its also funny that Roland unknowingly (or maybe he did know—) described the deadlights when momentarily thinking about the chaotic nether-region that lies between existence: In DT II, after possessing Mort's body, Roland realizes that Mort's mind fainted, and thought about what horrors would see if he "expelled their kas together into the random, chaotic void that lies in between worlds." (not the exact words, but something to that extent) Hence, we now can safely say that one can identify the Random with the deadlights, an unimaginable that lurks in the macroverse of existence.
   Concerning the Turtle's role in King's writing:
   Why did the Turtle die in IT, yet still have some influence in DT IV? Easy: The events of DT IV when Roland fell in love with Susan precede the moving on of his world. Perhaps the childhood stage of IT was also during this time period (though time is still hard to define convincingly) Roland saw the Turtle in the Grapefruit a little while before it died. I think the death of the Turtle in It signals the "moving on" of Derry's world; I believe that in the same respect that the Turtle dies, the Bear also passed away, resulting in the moving on of Roland's world. In some way, one could say that the Turtle's call to Roland to go to the Tower is a dying request. We KNOW the Tower is crumbling; the rose's petals are withering in DT III and something's doing a lot of howling in the Tower in DT IV: (see "Closing the Year" in "Come Reap") "From its field of roses, the Dark Tower roared in its beast's (hey!) voice— time is a face on the water—" Worlds are overlapping, the Guardians are dying— something's definitely wrong with existence.
   Concerning the Location of Thunderclap and the arrival of Roland's ka-tet to our world:
   Now to figure out where's End-World's Thunderclap. Note that the rose exists in NYC, right? Also note that somewhere in End-World lies the Dark Tower. Further note that Salem's Lot is not too far from NYC. The cross that Aunt Tabitha (or Talitha) gave to Roland serves a pretty big purpose: recall that its SILVER and that its a CROSS. What kind of "pale faced— walking dead" creatures do we know of in King's writing that don't dig crosses and silver? That's right: vampires. So Roland's gonna face vampires? And? Well, considering that King mentions that "Father Callahan" of SALEM'S LOT "bordered on the edge of a Mid-World place called Thunderclap," its also funny to notice that:
   1.) Callahan spots a boy of about 13 years old at a station— an age similiar to that of Jake Chambers
   2.) Callahan is headed to— well, you guessed it: NYC.
   3.) Callahan is also a vampire--- I wonder if spreads this little trend around over in the Bigh Apple, eh?
   Suppose— maybe— the events of Salem's Lot precede those of Roland's arrival to our world--- or at least his arrival to Thunderclap (which I think IS the Mid-World equivalent of NYC). I wonder who'll be with Roland when they do arrive at Thunderclap (an I think its ridiculous that anyone would think Roland will die before getting to the Tower; as far as I'm concerned, Roland is the only one who can solve the problem at the Tower. If anything, it'll be Jake and Eddie who will die before our gunslinger— maybe in Roland's final test to achieve his Tower— remember when King writes that "Roland made the second most agonizing decision of his life" in deciding to let Jake die over losing Walter in DT I? What's Roland's MOST agonizing decision? Its probably waiting at the end of the gunslinger's quest.) Most likely, the ill-fated members of Roland's ka-tet will be Susannah and Oy:
   - Oy is a major part of the group of traveler's yet he doesn't hold a place in Roland's destiny— did Walter pull out a Tarot Card with a billybumbler on it? NOPE.
   - Susannah's going to die at childbirth--- that demon child just ain't gonna let her live. Besides, Susannah's being pregnant has no place in Roland's plans— and remember who died with an unborn child, also? None other than the woman who shares Susannah's very name: Susan.
   Concerning the fate of the Tower and all existence:
   As for what happens at the Tower— who can tell? I hardly think that the Tower will remain standing: Infinity demands that there exist an opposite to it: nothing. Consider a number line: what lies at the center of this line that stretches out to oblivion? What is the value of this origin of numbers, the thing that defines negatives and positives, left and right in the first dimension: the number zero. There's no other number quite like it (Robert Browning, "Childe Roland": "without a counterpart in the world.")-- suppose that this Tower is what defines things in ALL dimensions, not just positve and negatives but good and bad, fate and chance, etc. Yet it is nothing. It is zero. It will soon cease to exist. That's the solution to King's series.
   And the agent of the destruction of the Tower? Who drove the bulldozer at the end of Eddie's dream in DT IV that was about to destroy the Rose? None other than our hero, Roland? Will that be his most agonzing decision? To decide whether or not to destroy the Tower in hopes of healing or restoring the misery wrought upon all existence? Yet, regardless of infinity and the relativity of time, always remember King's biggest theme in all his writing: the wheel.
      And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again."
   This wheel— it controls the Tower, the All-Timers, the Purpose, the Random— everything. I think its more intriguing and relentless than anything else in King's definition of existence.

Jordan writes:

I have read the theories you have posted at they have given me alot to think about. However I can't help but wonder who exactly is Marten aka Randall Flagg? It seems to me that The Crimson King cannot interfere in the destinies of short timers anymore than the Turtle or the Green man can. It leads me to belive that Marten is therefore a mortal, given powers by someone higher up on the tower (obviously the Crimson King) just like Ralph and Lois were to save the boys life in Insomnia. This convinces me that Roland will not die fighting Marten. The forces behind each of them are evenly matched, the boy from Insomnia is therefore going to aid Roland and his followers in their battle tipping the odds in their favor. What will happen when they reach the Tower however is anyones guess.

Mark writes:

I have an interesting theory regarding the path of the beam in which Roland and his companions follow. It was hinted throughout the visit to Lud in DT3 and DT4 that Lud was New York. Eddie at one point dubbed one street in Lud after one in New York because it was so familiar. Also, they travel the path of the beam from Lud to Topeka, Kansas. Now, let us assume that Lud is New York, so we can whip out a trusty map of the United States and draw a beam connecting to a place in the state of New York to Topeka.... If we extend the beam paths beyond New York and Topeka, we get two other cities... To the Northeast of New York, the last city to fall on the path of the beam is... Bangor, Maine.... Hmmmmm..... :) Now, in the other direction--Southwest of Topeka--the other city to fall on the path of the beam is Tucson, Arizona. Roland made comments about the Tower being in the west... So is Tucson Arizona the original site of the Dark Tower? Let's assume that it is... Let's say that upon the building of the Tower, all eyes of the world turn to this area.... and people become interested in this area's past... say the Old West... This could have brought about a revival in old western culture... saloons...Old west lingo (my little trailhand!), and of course, Gunslingers!

April writes:

There are pages of analysis of possible connections to the DT series. One character or book is accepted, another denied. We scrutinize every detail and rule things out because one peice is missing. I wonder if we aren't guilty of appraoching this as Roland somtimes approached a riddle. The right answer is usually the simplest. My gut tells me that all these tales are part of the tower's story. Choose any of King's books and you'll find that things are going wrong, falling apart. Agents of Chaos lurk or rage everywhere. Ageless strangers, little bald man, beasts of all shapes, they are all companions in the same misson. They spark the fire, fan the flames, even become the blaze of death. In the end it doesn't matter which, the out come is the same. The story of the tower enchants me because it offers an explanation for all these specific events. I don't expect to finish the last tower book with a complete list of characters and places that relate. I won't need one. They are all part of the story. I think that is what King is trying to show us, and if we don't look so hard, maybe we will see it.
Remember Flagg lies with every word, don't expect the truth about his idenity to come from him, and I don't think he is bound to the initials R.F. If it ages like Flagg, lies like Flagg and dissappears like Flagg then I think it is safe to assume it is Flagg.

Kirk writes:

My personal theory is that Stephen King has written a great deal more of the Dark Tower than he is letting his constant readers know. I judge this by the fact that you can usually tell what the next book will be about by what has been said before. Since he said in the afterword to The Gunslinger "outlines are the last resourse of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters' theses" he won't use an outline, even a mental one. He would instead write as the insparation hits. Also from the afterword to The Gunslinger, he mentioned that the next book in the series was already finished. It is my opinion that Thunderclap is already written (if not finished editing).

Darkmar writes:

I recently read the Dark Tower series, and I have not read any of King's other works (besides Eye of the Dragon) and I have a theory of my own. King said that perhaps all worlds are contained in Roland's world. Think of Roland's world as a Really BIG bubble. This is the main world. Think of all the other worlds in King's universe (including ours) as bubbles of varying degrees of size inside Roland's bubble. Perhaps the thinnies are the eroding parts of the barriers of time/space that seperate the contained worlds. Perhaps the forces of the Purpose and Ka add the doors (DT III and IV) so that is possible to pass through the "thin" parts without being destroyed. Oh well. I'm only 14 and this is just a theory, so don't take it too seriously.

IIExOdUsII writes:

I believe that Roland's current Ka-tet will die, except for Roland. In the original poem by Browning which the books have been most influenced by it states that he lost all of his companions. I believe that he will eventually reach the tower but will be once more alone.

Either DM or JGW writes:

King writes in passion anyone who reads anything by him knows this. His passion will be the death of him, his books are written in sucession. The Dark Tower series started when King was in college, yet the first book was not released for many years. Why? it was not finished. He wrote many books in between each story, almost all of them having a reference to said Tower. To understand this is to understand the Tower. The Tower is King's future it is more than a mere book, to him at least. All great authors have hidden meaning in their novels, Dickens, Poe , etc. . . The Gunslinger's world is our own many years past the portals time travel not planetary. The Tower King's idea of the core of our exsitence call it God cycle of life what have you the bottom line is we are heading for this Wasteland we have had the ideas of gunslingers. The Tower will be reached at all costs

Dennis writes:

i think that the Flagg in the book "''the eyes of the dragon" beat their King Roland, i think that might be stephen kings way of for shadowing , because theese two worlds are the same because Roland does mention the two main charaters from the book entering the barony of gilead at its very end, i think that this is Kings way of telling us that roland my die and that Flagg might actually kill him

Jarrod writes:

Here are my thoughts on The Dark Tower:
Eddie will die just as Cuthbert. They are too much alike to escape the same fate. Susannah will die as Susan did, the demon child killing her, but going on to play a major roll in the tale, as what I don't know. The Dark Tower is Stephen King's "canterbury tales" each traveler telling their own story as they tread torwards their single goal. It is the inn at the end of worlds, and when there are no more stories to tell, no more worlds to discover, then the Ka-tet will reach its destination The Dark Tower. I think of this because of things King wrote in his introdcution to Neil Gaimen's Sandman, The World's End. A story, within a story, within a story.

C. writes:

The one theory I have which I hold too is that we have seen Roland go from world to world and from "when" to "when".
With this in mind...dont be surprised if Cuthbert, Alain and may be even Jamie deCurry show up again even if only for a brief moment.
Also, I agree with the reader who suggested the King will instruct his publisher not to release the last book of the Dark Tower series until after his death. I have been saying this for years. It would be so "Stephen King" for him to do something like that...the last chapter of his greatest work to be released after his own death! Its really only appropriate!! (That and the fact that if the last book really sucks or the ending is lame..he wont be alive to receive the criticism!)

Pyrite writes:

I don't know if you're the right person to direct this to, but I would like to share my opinions on the nature of Randall Flagg. Feel free to dismiss them as the mindless ravings of an overenthusiastic fan if you're so inclined.
   I feel the the "Flagg" of EotD is the same entity as Randall Flagg. The kicker for me is the trademark grin. Add in all the references to "Flagg" having a cloaked face in EotD and it seems pretty convincing. Of course the tiny bit of doubt is what makes it fun for the reader. Nothing like a slice of mystery to keep us coming back for more eh? ;>
   I am also willing to speculate that Flagg is the being known as the "Crimson King" in both "Insomnia" and the most recent "Dark Tower" novel. There is an undeniable tie in between the two most recent works. The child at the end of "Insomnia" describes his characters in his drawing at the stadium as "the Red King" and the man with the guns as " Hims name is Roland mama. I dream about him sometimes. Hims a king too." I believe that our old friend RF is this Crimson King. Probably some sort of right hand man to a greater evil that has yet to be introduced. After all...the Tower has many levels.
   I leave you with a paragraph from the afterword of Wizard and Glass.
   "I have written enough novels to and short stories to fill a solar system of the imagination, but Roland's story is my Jupiter-a planet that dwarfs all the others (at least from my own perspective), a place of strange atmosphere, crazy landscape, and savage gravitational pull. Dwarfs the others did I say? I think there's more to it than that, actually. I am coming to understand that Roland's world (or worlds) actually contains all the others of my making; there is a place in Mid-World for Randall Flagg, Ralph Roberts, the wandering boys from EotD, even Father Callahan, the damned priest from 'Salem's Lot, who rode out of New England on a Greyhound bus and wound up dwelling on the border of a terrible Mid-World land called Thunderclap. This seems to be where they all finish up, and why not? Mid-World was here first, before all of them, dreaming under the blue gaze of Roland's bombardier eyes."
   ...the tower is closer...

Nelson writes:

someone said they think Rolands world is a giant bubble and all other worlds are smaller bubbles inside it, that would explain why after Jake died (Dark Tower 1) he went to Rolands world. I also believe that anyone who has ever died in a King novel will be at the dark tower.

Shannon writes:

In Response to OZzie's theory on Roland's toughest decision: Roland's toughest decision was to start his quest for the Dark Tower instead of staying with Susan and becoming a husband and a father.

David writes:

i have a possible explanation as to the nature of Roland's world: Considering physics, any universe having X spatial dimensions must percieve time as a single dimension higher than x. also remember that time can be a spatial dimension, defined as motion of the universe itself along a non-spatial dimension. With a two dimensional universe, time would exist as a continuum along the third dimension, imagine stacking these universes one atop another, only not in increments but in a continuum (because time isn't divided into increments) along the third spatial dimension and you have the nature of time.
   Now in our three spatially dimensioned world time can be said to occupy a fourth spatial dimension we cannot access. If we could, time would no longer be a continuum but appear to be randomized, as it would then occupy a fifth dimension.
   I think Roland's world is a three dimensional plane "pressed" so to speak in a universe of four spatial dimensions, forcing time which by the nature of this universe, to flow along the fourth dimension as it does in our universe. I also thing Roland's world is unfolding, not only are distances growing and directions shifting, but time, ever linked to space, is becoming randomized(AND in the books it seems to be a localized phenomena, supporting the idea that time and space are in fact shifting places, that in some places time is becoming space (and therefore directions and distances change) while time itself begins to take on it's fifth dimensional form in these places.
   And the tower? This is the construct which forces Rolands world to conform to conventional three dimensional physics(and therefore must span the entirety of his universe). and i believe it's hold is weakening after time, allowing the world to "move on" in more directions than he can comprehend.
   Why is his universe unfolding? it is possible that the ancients decided to "mine"(to use the visual images i got of the description of the Portal of the Bear) the fourth spatial dimension, as this would allow the establishment of other parallel worlds linked along this dimension(the portals) I think in an almost Victorian age of expansion and ignorance, they blindly dug into time itself, set up colonies on the blank pages of their past and the future, and their universe began to collapse under all the holes.
   Something else to think about: a being causes a shadow of lesser dimension than itself. It is possible that there are forces, intelligent forces of a four-spatial dimensional nature working to eliminate Mid World and the like,and others to save it, unfathomable creatures whose mere shadows alone Roland and his universe can percieve, however their shadows(like that of the dark Man?) would appear to be three dimensional, and changing shape would be no more difficult for such a being than shifting one's hands making shadow puppets.
   And as to thought: many of the places in Rolands world appear to be the archetype of creative works by contemporaries of other worlds. Consider the OZlike-ness of Topeka in Wizard and Glass, Charlie the ChooChoo. It is possible that thought exists along the time-dimension, that it is quite possible to dream one's way into other worlds (and so attribute it to imagination)
   So does this mean that to actually reach the Tower Roland must somehow access the fourth spatial dimension, and is this possible for a being like him apart from sleep?
   Perhaps, eternal sleep.

Tess writes:

It is my opinion that readers of this series must be prepared to face the very real fact that the story may have no ending but that King will leave the worlds of his books in the very capable imaginations of his readers. In my opinion this is very brilliant, what better way to never be forgotten than to leave the worlds greatest yet simplest messages in the form of a story that may not even be rememberd for its literary merit. I think that the message that is being said is that through our hopes and dreams mixed with a little imagination and determination anything is possible.

Jennifer writes:

I think that Roland is really Stephen King and I think that the Dark Tower is nothing more than a bank and I think that Stephen King/Roland is laughing all the way to it. : )

KC's theory:

I believe that Roland's world is actually the realm of Stephen Kings mind. Roland is a part of Kings mind, but Roland is not King. Roland is a separate person in King; sort of like George Stark in "The Dark Half." I believe these things because of what King said in the Author's Note at the back of "The Waste Lands." He said " finding the doors to Roland's world has never been easy for me... it still holds me in thrall... I was as surprised by the conclusion to the third volume as some of my readers may be."
   We all have a kind of world in our minds, these worlds are filled with riddles and explanations. The worlds of writers are of corse filled with characters as well. The Dark Tower series is made up of the dream word in Kings head. Like in all of are dreams things are comparable to reality but not the same. People speak different languages that we wouldn't understand in the real world, but we some how can dreams. Therefore Kings Dream world can not be explained in real world logic.
   In our dreams bits and pieces of events drop in from the real world, for example, Jake is like the little boy in "The Shinning", Susannah has a spit personality like Thad in "The Dark Half", The people in the towns and cities have all gone a little..mad this happens in many of Kings short stories, only it happens with individuals not entire town.
   As Roland journey's closer to the Tower, King goes deeper within himself. And we all journey with them, only guessing what the Tower can be..

Rosie writes:

flagg is tak is not dead

Mike writes::

I personally predict that Susan Delgado is not dead. I believe she DID die, but, didn't Jake plummet to his death in DT1? I believe later in the series they will come to Susan's equivelant of the way station. Also, I believe Roland himself will be killed before he reaches the Tower, and the rest of his Ka-Tet will have to carry on his burden. This is foreshadowed in DT3 : Remember how he says they would have to to carry on for him if he dies, in a way? And they all agree? Also, we cannot be sure if Susannah Dean's child is the demon's child or not, because in DT1 Eddie and Susannah made love, also. So it could be Eddie's child, as well. Who knows? I'm not sure even King himself is sure. I can't make any predictions involving Insomnia or It, because i read It when i was 11, and that was almost 4 years ago (i'm 14, almost 15), although I'm planning to read Insomnia ASAP. But, untill the Tower is reached and the series has ended (if it ever does, which I hope to God it does), I don't think we'll ever know..

Rav writes:

We all know that Flagg is "the ultimate bad guy", versions of him exist in so many of King's novels I don't even want to go into them. Flagg in The Stand, Flagg In Eyes of the Dragon, Flagg in this, Flagg in that. Bah. When you've got a good bad guy, stick with him. Now, the question is, are all the Flagg universes the same universe, or did he jump from dimension to dimension because he's, well, *Flagg*?" I think it's the latter explanation, because, though we've determined an ultimate bad guy, no ultimate good guy has been found. I'm glad of that, it makes things less boring. Plus, if Flagg is messing around at the Dark Tower, he'd certainly want to screw *everything* up, which would include making a mess of all the world's he can. Now, in all the "Flagg-y" books, he hasn't been defeated. Could it be that King has had a plan all along to build up our hatred of this man, then kill him off (much to our delight) in his series of books that he has called his favorites? That is what I believe. Will Roland be the one to make the kill? As much as I love dear Roland, I doubt he'll make it. King has never made a "supercharacter" that did absolutely *everything*. Although, whoever kills Flagg (I'd like it to be Eddie, that would certainly illustrate his change from zero to hero, wouldn't it?) might get a nice happy little vision of Roland's ghost after the deed is done.
Regarding Susannah's baby: I don't think she's been impregnated by the demon. However, a newborn baby would hinder the quest. It's not really a sidetrack worth taking. I believe the baby will die, to symbolize how Roland's world has been "poisoned" by the wrongs at the Tower. Of course, all of these are just theories, but... I'm nearly drooling for the next book, to see if I'm right.
–Rav..

Mike writes:

And about that Dark Tower theory that King himself is at the top of the Tower, this seems unlikely to me because, at one point in The Tommyknockers, there is mention made of "that writer from Bangor who fills his novels with dirty words" or something close to that. This is obviously a reference to King.
If King lives as a common Short-Timer in his books (and the Tommyknockers' mention of Derry and It essentially links the book to most of King's other works), then it seems to me that he could not be the entity at the top of the Tower, in much the same way that Jake Chambers' reference to "Childe Roland" author Robert Browning in "My Understanding of Truth" pretty much rules Browning out too.
Just my two cents.....

Nelson writes:

Before i start i want to let u know that u are all addicts.You may have started reading the first book because u wanted to but when a new king book comes out everyone reads it just to see if it has anything to do with the dark tower.When he first started writing this he had no idea it would become so popular.
First of all here are some intresting things u might want to know:

Jake`s dad calls him the kid,the kid was a psycho who found trashcan man in The Stand.He also said he was going to over throw Flagg.
in the dream that Eddie has about the tower in DT3 he sees smoke come out of the tower(or something like that).I think that is the Red King.
There is a mention in one of the books about The Inn at The end of all Worlds.The boy in The Talisman had to go to a Black Hotel(or something like that).
Lud is not New York because i think Thunderclap is.They see the George Washington bridge but it could have easily been one of the many bridges in the bay area(San Fransico).Besides they were coming from the Western Sea.

Now here is my theory.They will all reach ThunderClap.Thomas and Dennis(from EotD)will join them.So will Jack(from the Talisman).After The Kid dies in The Stand i think he goes to mid-world.Thunderclap will be infested with vampires.There will be some sort of shoot-out as between Roland and Flagg as in the old west.Roland will not be fast enough but the boy from Insomnia will take the bullet for him.From there i think The Kid will fight with Flagg but not in a shoot-out.He will not kill Flagg but die trying.Thomas will finsh him.Susannah will be killed by vampires before the baby is ever born.The priest from Salems Lot will help them defeate the vampires.Ralph Roberts(from Insomnia)will join them and they will make there way to the tower.They will all be killed and in the end only Roland,Oy,and Jake will be left.What happens next i cant even theorize.any ending i think of doesnt sound right to me because i made it not King......

William writes:

I agree with those of you who believe that the Dark Tower series is the center of all of Kings work. I also agree that we will see more characters from other King novels in the future of this series. However, I now stand before you and say to you only this. "It is not for us to read the ending before it is written, if King has his ending in his mind it will be revealed to us when he is ready for it to be revealed and not before then." Keeping this in mind should allow us to enjoy his writings. Those of you who obsess over this series will be satisfied with an ending. Stephen King has no fear of an unsatisfactory ending as one person suggested. As for those of you who state that Roland cannot die without reaching the upper level of the tower should go back and find where King tells us that the tower will be reached. He states that it may not be Roland who gets there, that in fact it may not be any characters we have been introduced to as yet. Also, the unborn child, who among us knows for sure that it is the child of the demon. Remember that Susannah and Eddie made love on the beach for the first time. Therefore by conclusion it stands to reason that the child could be Eddies. Perhaps it will be named after the death of our hero Roland. Perhaps even to be named Rolande. Maybe even it will be the child alone who reaches the upper level of our bewildering tower. I agree with April we are all out here putting together theories and none of us has Kings mind. We think we know how he works, but we must keep in mind that he is the master of suspense. Stephen King will always leave his fans wanting more, and will always keep things twisting just enough to keep us from getting ahead of him.......

Lee writes:

I belive, that the final book of the dark tower series will link every book he has ever written. They all have noticable links, but i belive the really big one will be in the final volume. I belive that Flagg is the second hand man of the crimson king. I think that the Crimson king is no more than a manefestation of IT. It was a spider, right, making him a beast. In Crouch End, there was a proposed theroy that worlds are big balls with places running thin. Crouch End had several other-worldly creatures, and notice the use of the word thin. Perhaps its the thinnies, or maybe the crossovers where Jake passed through. I also belive whole-heartedly that the boy in INSOMNIA will play a big role.
I belive that Roland will eventually come to the Dark Tower and fight Flagg, and the Hook-Scar boy will save eddie and Roland, but Flagg will not be dead and he will return just as the Tick-Tock man did. Prehaps Flagg will kill Roland then when he returns. If that happens, I belive that they will encounter IT as the Crimson King, and Jake will kill him because IT always did seem vunerable to kids. Jake is Bill's age, too. The Dark Tower will not stand and it will fall, and it will not heal the injuries of the world.
I realize this because King has a surprising similarity to Tolkien. Hence the Towers. After the Lord of the Rings died, the Elves did not return but partially died off or went overseas. It is a sad tale but namely a true one.......

Richard writes:

I have read each of the theories posted here many times, and while all have the elements of truth, I think that one essential truth is missing:
Roland will make it to the tower alone. The Dark Tower series is based, at least in part, upon Robert Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". Roland makes it to the tower in this poem, alone, calls all the names of his past, and announces his presence to all beings within the tower. The theories that say Roland will die before seeing the Tower or will be the undoing of the Tower's existence are too farfetched.........

Bryan Murphy writes:

My ideas on whether the Flagg(s) in EOTD and the other King novels is (are) one and the same are not exactly original, I'm sure, but they make sense to me. We hear first from Roland that he saw Flagg (which we know is the Flagg from EOTD) and the little story there. Roland does NOT recognize this Flagg as Marten, and the reasons for this are not known to us. We later find out that in a time that would seem to match the timeframe of this story that Roland saw Flagg and that Flagg also saw Roland. My inference of this was more along the lines that Flagg was aware of Roland's presence even though Roland thought he was unseen. This awareness could easily have given Flagg the moments he would need to change his appearance (for real or just to Roland's eye). Given that he could change a person into a dog, the idea of changing his own appearance would be a simple one to pull off. And that is operating under the assumption that he doesn't change appearance with each and every persona he takes on. I think that there is one appearance that Randall Flagg takes on that is his 'standard' appearance. I also think that Stephen King is going to tie some more characters into the role of Flagg, and that these will be characters we wouldn't normally associate with him. I think the use of a 'standard' appearance by Flagg is more a matter of RF's perverse sense of humor in allowing people to associate atrocious acts with him rather than any sense of necessity. At any rate, I definitely think the two Flagg's are one and the same..........

Brandy writes:

I think that Roland will make it to the tower,but he'll be there alone.Susanah,I suspect,will die from giving birth to the demon child.Eddie will fall during the battle with either Flagg or the Crimson King(who is Flagg's master in my opinion)during a battle that I think will not be resolved with gunpowder.That would leave only Jake and a deminished Roland(wounded both physically and spiratualy in the battle).If anyone should make it to the tower besides Roland,it would be Jake,but that will not happen.Jake will fall in either the end of the second to last or the end of the last.He will once again act as the sacrafice(but not to Roland's consent this time).I think he will die at the end of the 6th(should there be 7).He will die defeating the Beast(whome I believe to be IT).I believe the Beast to be higher than either The Crimson King or Flagg.The Beast is the right hand of who I believe to be the master of the Tower(which I think is evil beyond comprehension)who may be none other than Satan himself.Jake will die in Roland's arms.Jake's last words,being spoken to a weeping Roland,will be "Weep not,Gunslinger, for there are other worlds than these ."And here the 6th book ends.The last begins with Roland as he was in the beginning;alone.In tis,he will find the tower,and battle his way to the uppermost level of the Tower.There,he will do battle against the master of the tower,and God-willing he will win.This,also,is a battle that will be resolved without a shot being fired.I believe that The Dark Tower series wil show to have a large spiritual meaning,such as the the Stand(which I believe to be linked in a very large part to the series).This is my theory on the Dark Tower.You may agree or you may not,but I believe this to be so at least partly.I'm sure we all have one thing in common,though.I can't wait to get to the Tower...........

SaraH responds:: to brandy, who says that the conflict at the dark tower will be settled without a bullet being fired, that's rediculous. Roland is a Gunslinger - why would it go any other way? Roland will fight and triumph with what he knows best - his guns.
   i think that the Tower itself is good, and whatever evil is there that Roland must kill, it is not the Tower in and of itself.
   All the books by Stephen King are like a world - just one world. In case you hadn't noticed, in all the books he set in Derry, there are references to other books that happened there. For example, in Bag of Bones, Norris R. from Needful Things shows up and talks to him, and mentions Allan and Polly. This is the world of stephen King's mind, and it ALL takes place in there.
   no matter where it is, the Dark TOwer is REAL.

Jeanie writes:

After reading the DT series for the third time, in my mind I have realized the whole intent of the series as a whole. Maybe you can clarify my thought for me. I have come to believe the the perpose of the series is to show the effect of technology in reverse. Am I mistaken or is it all summed up in the line in the 3rd book something to the effect of "if only we were to see the technology of our ancestors in reverse." I may be mistaken of the actual line but my thought are in the right place. If my theory is anywhere near true please let me know.

Mark writes:

After reading the above theories, I have come to the conclusion that anything can happen from now up until the point in which we come face-to-face with the Tower ( I really dig the theory about a showdown with a bunch of vampires.) However, I believe that the real mystery begins once we reach the Tower. Roland, alone, will reach the Tower because that is where Browning left him. Browning never told us what it was Roland did after he put his horn to his lips and blew "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."
I look at the DT series as a paint by number portrait which was outlined by Browning without any little numbers to tell you what color to fill in. In my opinion, what King has done and is still doing (I hope!!) is filling in that color. With each color representing a different tale or event that occurred along the journey that Browning created. Once Roland enters the Tower to do whatever it is that he needs to do is the point where King takes over where Browning left off. I'm sure that whatever happens we will not be disappointed. ...........

Jess writes::

Here's one I don't personally believe, but a friend shared it with me and it is interesting so I thought I'd share.
Roland will never reach the Dark Tower because he's already there. The world, all the worlds, are held inside the Dark Tower. If he even reaches what he thinks is the tower, he will find it merely an illusion, a sham he has wasted his whole life on. He'll realise how much of his life he wasted chasing the impossible dream and may either go mad (forcing Eddie, Susan, and Jake to kill him) or be killed in a showdown at the tower, either way leaving the rest of the ka-tet in this strange world to fend for themselves.
As for myself, I have but one question. Susannah is obviously Susan, Eddie is Cuthbert, and I might go so far as to name Oy as the new counterpart to the boy who worked at the Inn. But what of Jake and Alain, since they don't seem to match up. Will we meet a new character from the past, perhaps Jamie or Thomas(EotD?)? And then a new character in the "present" of the book will have to emerge............

Aaron writes:

Ok...running theme in a few of these theories is that all of Roland's companions will die along the quest of the beam. I would begin this "theory" of mine by saying all of his companions have died. Alain, Cuthbert and "even Jamie".
Roland's new set of companions are different. They each have their own personal quest, and their Ka is separate from Roland's. They each have a destiny that Roland has only glimpsed at.
The theory on Susannah dying is a sound one and I have a strong feeling Roland himself will die before actually reaching the top of his "Dark Tower", but there is a good amount of story left before then and I look forward to every page of it.............

Len writes:

The very thought of any (or more rightly, all) of the current Ka-tet dying, seems quite unlikely. Possibly Oy.. he doesn't contribute much, and we know what happens to most dogs in King boks? (Ok, Cujo got his bites in, but he's dead in the end.)
   Also, I think you're taking the poem tos literally. Maybe it is the outline for certain parts of the story but who said the ROland is the one who comes alone, is the Roland in the book? Perhaps the Roland that ends up at the tower, could be the wandering Prince Thomas. If you remember, In the EotD, they said he looked exactly like his father ROLAND that his brother could barley recognise him, and Flagg did not at all.
   Perhaps he ends up there alone trying to exorcise the demons of his past, and is, in a sense, killed there. At this time, Roland, and his enterouge arrive to fulfill their true destiny.
   Also, about the "demon child", I think when the group gets to 90's New York, Suzanna will obtain an abortion, against her better judgement, but for the good of the group and possibly the world. Well, Just thoughts from lil' ole me..............

Aaron M. writes:

The Dark Tower is a series of books that in fact include all of Stephen King's other books in an odd round about sort of way.We find similar characters throughout his novels and ideas that match up in the same way. The theories I have come up with, with a little help from other Dark Tower hunters like my self are this:

All of the Dimensions in Stephen King's books are connected by the fog that is introduced in the fourth instalment in the Dark Tower series. The center of all of these dimensions is the tower it self. In this tower all the evil (It, tak, Trash Can Man, The Crimson King, Flagg, etc.) rests waiting for Roland and any who would aid him on his quest.
We will see Alain and Cuthbert again before the the series concludes be it in another book or in the series it self. We will find out how they die and why Roland betrayed them in their deaths. Perhaps they may even appear in another dimension, who knows when Stephen King is at the helm.
Only Roland will ever see the Dark Tower. All of his companions will die along the way, or the path of the beam as some may have it. Susan will not die while giving birth to the demon child, but will go crazy after giving birth which then eventually leads to her return to the world of split personalities. Eddie will be forced to chose between her and following the path of the beam, in the end he will chose the path and be forced to finish off the only woman that he has ever loved. Jake will once again die at the hands of Roland but this time it will be of his own will. Many people believe that he will die fighting It in a final showdown but I do not hold this to be true. Roland will most likely run in to many other characters from other books but they too will fall on the path of the beam. Giving their lives so that Roland may achieve his final goal.
Even though Stephen King's last book was a haunted romance story, it is still connected to the dark tower by way of Insomnia. In Bag of Bones the main character runs in to Ralph Roberts the same man from Insomnia, yet another connection?
Derry will play an important part in the Dark Tower series, how it will is yet to be seen.
Will the Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and Apt Pupil play any role in the whole scheme of things?
Perhaps their mission will end when the find the same things that are in the wizard of oz: a Brain, a Heart, and Courage. The path to the tower could just be the path that leads them to these elements.

These are some of my theories so until next time, Stay faithful to the Beam...............

Wayne writes:

Many will balk at my ideas for the Dark Tower, but these came to me in the form of a dream I had almost a year ago. It tied everything very nicely, but I have since forgotten most of it, so bear with me. It doesn't bear much resemblance to other theories posted.
   BTW, the dream was in the form of a full length movie which starred the following actors: Susanna=Angela Basset; Jake=Elijah Wood; Roland= (oddly enough) Liam Neilsen (I always thought it wood be someone more like Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford); Eddie= I forget, but I guess any good smart-ass actor would do=maybe David Ducovney or Adam Sandler. David would play a good junkie; Roland's father=Sam Elliot; Walter=Gary Oldman; Randall Flagg=Richard Marcinko (how's that for a villan?); and Cort=Stephen King.
   Anyway, back to the "Plot": Essentially all make it to the Tower, though they encounter much trials. Roland does indeed reach the tower, but somehow dies before whatever needs to be set right is done. The remaining ka-tet sets things right, which releases Roland's soul hanging in Limbo (or maybe Hell, ala Flagg) and he is resurrected or freed and blissfully is reunited with Susan who had been waiting for him. They are somehow reunited (either in life or death) when the Tower is fixed.
   Everyone's deepest wish becomes a reality at the foot of the Tower. This was Roland's (and Susan's). Susanna gets her legs back. Eddie finds a rehabilitated Henry who now respec's his badass little brother. I forget what Jake gets (probably a girlfriend or a heart, a brain, and courage, plus and all-expense paid trip home, NYC). Oy runs off into the field of roses where an army of billy cumblers are welcoming him home, but making a choice, he returns to Jake's side out of love, only to find that he can now fully speak. As Roland is not a full member of their ka-tet, he forever leaves them and goes off with Susan. I believe that they must be dead because I seem to remember they ka-tet watching the spirits of Roland and Susan dancing off into the sunset sky and fading out.
   I know, a cheezy happy ending. Oh well. No one dies, except Roland who in the end gets everything he wants. I don't remember the details of getting to the Tower of how anything is fixed.
   However, I like the idea of Stephen King being the God at the top level of the Tower. Anyone notice that Crimson KING might be Stephen KING? A god who creates the universes in his writings. Maybe the crumbling of these Univerese is a result of them not being maintained due to a severe case of writer's block. Maybe all the bad guys on the lower levels of the tower are his obnoxious kids who have run wild while "dad" is busy in his office, not supervising them.
   Where is the purple blade of grass Roland saw in Walter's vision? Was it replaced by the rose? And if Marten is more powerful than Walter, why does Walter say that he could never have shown the vision to Marten, for he would come back a blubbering fool? Obviously, Roland defeats Marten 3 years after his trial of manhood, through Walter's guideance, as stated in DTI. Therefore, Flagg and Marten canot be the same person. Flagg may not be It. But Flagg was the bad guy in The Stand. It is probably the Beast. Or the Beast may be the Tower itself. I agree that Roland may be the personification of Stephen King's ambition and endurance.
   I think Oy will be really important in the future, and he already has helped save Jake's life once. He was important enough to have red booties in DT4, showing he is a full member of the ka-tet. I think we will meet some vampires in the future, as have been foreshadowed by the silver cross Roland received, and by the reference of 'Salem Lot's preacher ending up in Thunderclap, however, I feel that the Thunderclap story being totally centered around vampires would be cheezy, and King has already addressed this element in Roland's world in The Little Sisters of Eluria. Besides, Thunderclap is mainly supposed to be centered in Eddie and Susanna's world.
   I thought that Charlie the ChooChoo winking at Jake was a great idea. But I don;t even want to open up the can of beans about Susanna being pregnant. I know it won;t happen, but I'd like to know about Cort's travels to other worlds. At least I hope we find out about how Cort died.
   Anyhow, those are a few of my ideas. I know that they do not follow the general consensus, but hey, it was a dream...............

Brandy writes:

Roland will definately make it to the Tower,but his ka-tet will not.The figures that stand between Roland and the Tower are Randall Flagg(The Wizard,Maerlyn,The Walking Dude,The Ageless Stranger),The Crimson King,and The Beast.Most of us know that Randall Flagg was the villain in The Stand,The Eyes of The Dragon,and a few more.The Crimson King,who is higher in rank than Flagg, was mentioned in Insomnia.Not much in known about the beast,but take notice thatin DK1,the Man in Black calls him It alathe book IT.I believe that the two are the same.Now let's talk about Roland's ka-tet.There is Roland,Eddie,Susannah,Jake,and Oy,the billy bumbler.Each individual person in this group has a certain use.Roland is to find the Tower,and the others are to be sacrifices along the way.Jake was saccrificed in order to get Roland to Walter.He now has a new purpose,and that is to defeat the Beast/IT who can only be defeated by children.He will die in this battle,but will destroy the Beast in doing so.Oy's purpose is to "Take a bullet" for Jake somewhere along the line,and also help save Jake in Lud.Eddie's job is to draw Jake back from his world.He will also be the one to defeat Flagg,but he will also be killed.Susannah's job was to keep the demon off Eddie so the he could draw Jake.She will die giving birth to the demon's child.In the end,Roland will destroy The Crimson King and take the Tower alone.

Christopher writes:

I just randomly found the site, so I figured after all the time I spent analyzing the Dark Tower Books, I should share some of my theories.
   I'm sad to say, I have not seen any of the parallels between the other books that many have. I have viewed a glimpse of the Stand in these writing, dealing with DT IV (Capt. Tripps) and also Randall Flagg. I do not dispute what most have read, but I view this series as a stand alone set, that pertains little to the rest of Mr. King's work, save for a fantastic re-occurring villain. But it could be the case that the Dark Tower Series encompasses all the books as the Tower itself encompasses all worlds.
   Will Roland make it to the Tower. Will he blow his horn and shout the names of all that have fallen with him, I don't know. We can only wait for the ending as it will be told.
   As for what is the beast, what is in the tower, what is at the top; I will surmise this:
    1) The top is empty, devoid of all things, when Roland steps in there then he will be all things.
or 2) The being that waits on top, can not be truly evil, for evil wishes to conquer & control, not destroy what it has. Therefore the creature (if it is even that) may too old or too insane to see what is happening with the worlds just outside the Tower's doors.
or 3) The one who waits on the top is Roland himself. Tired, alone, old, he watches himself come to the Tower, his own journey happening again and again in a cycle. He is the god at the top, as he is the one searching for god. So it was always, so it will always be.
    4) As shown in the Talisman, when Roland's band reaches the field of roses at the base of the Tower, they will be met by the infinite army of the people who Roland sacrificed to get there. Cuthberts, Alains, Susans, etc..., from all the different worlds shall stand before him. Will they let him pass? Will he be able to bring himself to face them after what has already happened?
    5) The Tower itself is alive, just as the house that Jake entered to be reborn was. But its dying. The darkness/cloud that Eddie saw in his dream (DTIII), was really the dust coming from the Tower as it crumbles. It needs some one new for itself, either for food or companionship?
    6) Something wants Roland to get to the Tower (or at least as close as possible). Roland has been led from the beginning by something that was not of himself. First the Man in Black, he led Roland to the Sea, the Sea lead Roland to the Doors and to the Beams, the Beams will lead to the Tower. All for what fulfill the one quest Roland has: To restore his world, which he believes can only happen at the Tower. Who or what is leading him on and for what purpose is beyond me at this time.
   Just remember:
      "There are other worlds then these."
And other Towers.

Nathan writes:

First off I have read all four, plus numerous other novels. I have come to this conclusion. Each novel people view as linked are part of good versus evil (also called Purpose v. Random, etc.). Each hero (in the Stand, TEotD, Talisman, and others) is a soldier in that ultimate battle (that for the tower that Roland leads). I therefore believe that each of these soldiiers will show up (this could be foreshadowed in IV "will we meet the dark man and good woman" well they have already met the dark man). After these soldiers have gathered I believe there will be the final battle. Who will live after this battle I do not know, but some will. I would like to see the whole ka-tet live but that wouldn't happen. Whether Susanannah dies or not depends on Eddie, there fates are linked and as one goes so goes the other
And other Towers.

Keepow writes:

I have read all the theories presented, and most are better than anything I could come up with, but I do have some thoughts on whether Roland will reach the Tower. Though i would have it otherwise I think Roland will either die before reaching the Tower,or be somehow absorebed by the Tower. In part One of the Dark Tower series, Walter, while telling Rolands fortune, pulls the 6th card, which is the Dark Tower and covers Rolands card completley with it. this is never explained. combine this with th 7th card which is "Life, but not for you." Most probably Roland and at least a portion of his current Ka-tet, will reach the Tower and there will be a confontation with one of the guardians of the Tower. Roland and the gaurdian will battle and somehow Roland will be lost and become a part of the Tower, this will fix the error in the Tower and the others will have the Life predicted in the 7th card.

Ryan says:

For all you people who have ideas about Roland dying before he reaches the Tower, remember what Walter said when reading the tarots: Death, but not for you, Gunslinger.

CReDI responds:: In reply to Ryan : who says "For all you people who have ideas about Roland dying before he reaches the Tower, remember what Walter said when reading the tarots: Death, but not for you, Gunslinger. ", I just want reply that when Walter read the tarots, he got twice Death. The first wasn't for gunslinger, but the second was.

Kelly writes:

I have been reading the theories presented here, and I find parts of them interesting. For example, I liked the idea of Jake fighting It and most likely dying in the battle. But I'd like to put in my two sense.
    I'm not sure which group of the ka-tet will make it all the way, but I do believe that at least Roland and Eddie will make it to the Tower, or at least will lay eyes on it. Eddie may die soon after laying eyes on the Tower, but I believe that he will at least live long enough to see it. And I do believe that those two will make it that far due to the valiant efforts and sacrifice of Patrick from Insomnia.
    Slightly off-track here: Susan Delgado's father's name was also Pat. What significance this fact has, if any, I don't know. Just thought it was interesting.
    I have no idea if Susannah's child is Eddie's or the demon's. I was thinking that it was the demon's, and that she would die either in childbirth or in another way that was connected to her demonspawn. But now I have another theory.
    Remember, Roland's group is now in what appears to be the same world of The Stand. Either the same exact world, or one very similar to it. Captain Trips may still be floating around in the air. If you recall from The Stand, just because the mother was immune to the superflu didn't mean the baby was immune. One of Roland's party may succumb to the superflu, or maybe the baby will be Eddie's and contract the superflu. Or maybe Susannah will die of it before the baby is even before.
    I do also like the idea about Roland's group confronting vampires somewhere in their travels. King did mention something about Father Callohan. I don't recall if he was truly turned into a vampire at the end of 'Salem's Lot or if he was just damned by drinking their blood, but, either way, he may play a pivotal role. If he is just damned but is not a vampire, he may try to redeem himself by fighting the vampires this way around. If he is a full-fledged vampire, he may still try to redeem himself by helping Roland's group, like Jenna in Little Sisters of Eluria.
    I am really looking forward to the confrontation with Flagg, and also wonder if Dennis and Thomas will come to have some sort of a role in the upcoming battles. And what's this about the Crimson King? Everytime I hear or read that name, I think of King Crimson's recording, In the Court of the Crimson King. The force behind the group King Crimson is Robert Fripp. Maybe, at the top of the Tower, Roland will confront none other than Robert Fripp.
    All joking aside, there's one thing that has bugged me since reading The Little Sisters of Eluria. Roland promised John(?) to see his family if he ever stops by Delain. But yet, in an earlier book, Roland remembers a time in his home realm of Gilead where a man named Flagg visited, and not too much later, Dennis and Thomas came after him. From Delain, presumably. I would surmise that Flagg was heading towards the Dark Tower, since Flagg meets up with Roland when Roland is well on his way to the Tower. I know that Roland is still supposed to be trying to find the trail of the man in black in Little Sisters, but wouldn't going to Delain be backtracking, taking him back through Gilead?

Scratch Speegle writes:

Hate to break it to ya, friends and neighbors, but Oy is toast. Nothing is more dooming than a grapefruit-pink precognition of a Bumbler-ka-bob. I also hold with the theory that every single novel king has written can at the very least be inadvertently be tracked back to the dark tower series in one way or another. Have you ever wondered how it is that such supernatural evils such as Leland Gaunt and The Recent Sara Tidwell (Bag of Bones) were released upon the world? I have read every single Stephen King novel to date (which speaks either insanity on my part or intense loyalty, you be the judge) and in my humble half crazed opinion, I think all of these bad ol' beasties were loosed upon the world by such evil minions of the tower as your friend and mine, Randall Flagg. True, all of these have been very different from one another but I do believe that they all come from the same level of the Tower.
Also, in my humble opinion, as opposed to the individual who says that there is no real omniscient super good guy in all of King's books, I must tender to disagree. i seem to think there is "another" out there who gives Bill Denborough and Peter and Alan and Roland and Thad and Danny and even little David Carver the Power to Combat evil. God? Who knows? But there seems to be someone who lives Outside and every once in a while says "Hey, whoa, time to give the good guys a chance for a while." And then forks out some really neat goodies like Precognative flashes or Richie Tozier's voices or whatever. And I think that He or She or...It (heh) Lives at the top of the Tower. But something ain't quite right. Too much Yin and not enough Yang. Whatever. Maybe roland can right it. I hope so...but kind of not.

Clay writes:

I have read the other theories posted on this sight and i must say that i think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves. Despite how things look in the first four installments in the series it is a veritable impossibility to guess what is to come. however, here is what i think is going to happen. how am i qualified to venture a idea on possible outcomes? how indeed!!! First of all, susannah is doomed, not because of the possibility of having rosemary's baby but because of all the members of rolands group she is the only one so far who has not been sent a vision of the tower: Jake's rose, eddie's dreams, and roland's palaver with walter. Whatever higher power that is urging roland on does not deem her necessary to complete the quest. About vampires, not going to happen in this series. Stephen king obviously liked the idea from reading the theories in this site and used that as inspiration for the sisters of whatever story, but come on, don't you people think that would be a trite and contrived enemy for roland. why not send lex luther and the Joker against him too. I agree that roland is the only one capable of righting whatever ails the dark tower. here is the lineup of good versus evil in order of rank.Crimson King, Beast, flagg, any pick of human enemies manipulated by the first three versus The green man, mother abigail, roland, rolands ka-tet,and then some other people possibly from other novels. Oy will die. whoever wrote about there being more than one tower is confused. that statements defeats the entire point of these books. if the tower is one of many what's the point. is it just me or in the first book doesn't walter refer to marten as an inferior i.e. "this vision would have driven him mad or something like that", but in the forewards, afterwards, and sidewards of the other books even king himself makes it clear that marten was more powerful than walter. in the start of book 4 they go through a thinny into another world, why weren't they eaten by it like the one in eyebolt canyon, did all those men go to another world or were they killed, it sure seems like they were killed so this whole series i believe is just a dream from one of the characters on Dallas. what part will i play in this series? none. in the first book rolands father is named roland and dies from a knife wound the day he gets back to find out about rolands defeat of cort, but in book 4 he doesn't die that day obviously, so i am convinced that stephen king wrote none of these books. it was in fact Ben Jonson.

OdysseyPF writes:

Everybody loves Roland, but the painful truth is that he will certainly die before completing his quest. In some ways he is the archetypal hero, but remember that he has also commited countless atrocities along the way. These are his own words. Because of this, he will not be allowed to reach his goal. Jake will also die, and it is very likely that Roland's final act, the one that shuts the Tower against him, will be his second sacrifice of Jake Chambers. Roland has killed his friends in the past, and he will do it again. This is the only way he can draw closer to the Tower, yet the weight of his crimes will eventually be balanced by the price of Roland's life. His mission is one of destruction in the name of a greater good, and can only end with his death.

Anthony writes:

I believe Roland will die but he will do a Jake, meaning the rest of the ka-tet will move on to another world and meet up with him again or if he does did for good the child of Susannah and Eddie will be named Roland and in the end only the new Roland will reach the Dark Tower. He will still be a boy therefore he could defeat It/Beast and fix whatever is wrong with the Dark Tower......but who knows, only time will tell.

J.T. writes:

Hi. I'm J.T., and I love your page, particuarly the Dark Tower theories. I have a few ideas of my own, which kind of fit in with some of the others already posted. Eddie has never seen a vision in which he enters the tower, only standing in front of the tower in the field of roses. I believe Eddie dies attempting to enter the Tower. Susanna and Oy will have died long before this, from this, that, or the other thing. Eddie will kill the "child" that Susan died giving birth to. Roland and Jake enter the Tower alone, and Roland dies setting things right. I love the idea of the spirits of those Roland has betrayed showing up, and I believe they will. Can Roland shun the spirit of Susan? Shoot down Alain and Cuthbert again? His mother? Hmm. I look forward to the showdown with Flagg, and by the vision sent to Roland by the man in black, it should happen very soon. I don't think "It" will be the creator of all glamor, the Beast, but we shall see. I don't know how it will turn out, I just hope King has the balls to kill a popular character (like Susan or Eddie) if the story demands it. Good day!

Becky writes:

Hi...I haven't gotten nearly as in depth as some of those who have posted theories here, and that's not really what I choose to discuss. If and when he finishes this story, (more than likely when, but I've tossed around the idea that King won't finish it) I think we can expect that it will be the last we will ever hear from Stephen King. If the DT encompasses all of his novels, when it is finished, he will have outdone himself, and it will be a fitting end, leeting all of his readers know what has to become to all of the worlds that we know of.
I don't think King knows when he is going to finish the DT series. Several theories said that he was going to wait until after his death to publish the final installment. That may or may not be true, but I don't think even King himself knows yet. However it goes out, it's going to go out with a bang; King's last bang.!

Noogieaa1 writes:

first i would like to thank all of the people who wrote theories they have made me think hard about all of kings work. it is obvious that all kings books are connected he said it himself if not from random proof in his other books than from the proof that is all over the dark tower series. for instance rolands katet comes across the superflu from the stand in DT4. king is a great writer and the dark tower is his world. he may never finish it (knock on wood) but it is obvious that well come across heros from other king books will they join roland on his quest? who knows. but roland will live to reach the tower, no doubt this is his quest and may all the heros who join him at the dark tower stand and be true..!

Slaycroft writes:

I believe that adventures will go on...we'll see a battle with It...maybe a couple of aliens from the tommyknockers...Who knows...Leland Gaunt...Gatlin from Children of the Corn...possbilities are endless...but I wager a book where they just jump from book to book ala Quantum Leap But I think the Beast will be waiting for the Ka-tet at the tower...and Roland will run from it...sacrificing the rest of them to it.. While the Beast is killing them...he will gain entrance to the Dark Tower.....!

LucasBuckX writes:

Ok...I think that the funniest thing of all time...Nobody but Oy reaches the tower! But Oy makes it to the tower and stands true! Just a funny thought...More Douglas Adams then King...but Come on I also expect for Roland to use a gun to Kill Randal Flagg...a showdown in the wild west...and Roland Wins... I think Susannah's baby will be Eddie's...I don't know if demons and humans genetic codes could even match... We will see Pennywise! And I feel that the rose on the street wasn't the Dark Tower...but where all the nexus' do meet...and the portal to take them there... Oh I also believe that the short story the mist...the mist was a thinny... food for thought eh ?.....!.....!

Amnon writes:

According to Roland's vision in DT4, while looking in the piece of Maerlyn's Rainbow, which is Rhea's crystal ball, The turtle shows him the Dark Tower. Roland sees that the tower is surrounded by a "Field of blood", but later he tells Susannah, Eddie and Jake that "It wasn't blood but roses".
    Shortly before Jake was killed by walter he saw the rose in a vacant lot, And king says that the rose "is in terrible danger",(After word,dt4); I think that the roses that surround the dark tower represent the dead people from kings' worlds.
    That means that, every time that people die in kings worlds, "their" rose is added to Roland's "field of blood" which surround the dark tower.
    If my hypothesis is true, then in the next book someone from Roland's group will surely die, Sooner than I and maybe others think.

racapri writes:

Sure do enjoy reading the different theories posed by all my fellow Dark Tower fans. I have to say, though, that I would feel a bit let down if Roland's ka-tet makes it to the to the top of the tower only to find Stephen himself cranking out the last few pages of book 7. I'm sure whatever it is they find there, it will be a surprise and far from satisfying as it will mark the close to the best epic since the LOTR. My own thoughts: I agree that Susannah will be written out of the story. Either she will die giving birth to a demon (which seems likely; this event would surely harden Eddie and complete his transition to that of a grim gunslinger) or she could quite possibly have Eddie's child and stay behind at some point to raise their baby. Possibly the Earth of our time when the group next comes across the rose in the vacant lot. I think Eddie will be lost at some point too, but closer to the end of the story. Remember, Patrick Danville saves the lives of only two men, and I'm putting my money on Roland and an older Jake. I think the series will end as it began with the two that set off in the first book, finally reaching the tower in the last. As a matter of fact I think it will be Jake who stands triumphant in the end. The green man in Insomnia is surely some newer incarnation of the Turtle (he died at the end of It, right?). Turtles=green. I'm not so sure I believe that the gunslinger's world is the post-apocolyptic version of our own anymore. Not just for the fact that the events in Insomnia happen after the events of the Stand, but also because in the third book Shardik was said to have been created before the events of the plague. If they are speeking of the plague in the Stand, this cannot be. I'm sure this could be expalined of course. It would indeed be interesting, for instance, if Arthur of Eld, Roland's great ancestor, was in fact, a decendant of Frannie Goldsmith's baby. I also think that we will see more of Andrew Quick (and probably more back-story on David Quick) seeing as how Stephen said at the end of book 3 we would be reacquainted with him later on, and in book 4 he appeared for only a few pages. He's an interesting character I'd like to see more of. Well, I can't wait to see them get to Thunderclap so they can meet up with Father Callahan. Thanks for your great page....

JReyn writes:

I think that the minions of the Dark Tower will have their own hetchmen to assist, such as Trashcan Man and Henry Bowers. Not to mention other devious villians such as Jack Torance and Ed Deepnue? In my opinion I think the "Terrortories" are in fact Rolands world before the fall of Gilead and the darkening of the tower. This little bit of simularities convinced me even further, there is a Morgan of Orris, and then there is Roland of Gilead. And if Rolands world and Morgans worlds are different, it must be just one "flip" over. Now that I think about it, I do think they are different worlds but very very close in simularities. Also in the Talisman Jack crosses the Badlands, a.k.a. Mid-Worlds Wastelands
    If you read the Talisman you will remember Jacks final trip into the Black Hotel where he finally got in touch with the Talisman. Black Hotel may be the Dark Tower of that dimension and inside the tower in Rolands world there must be some sort of Talisman device that can set Rolands world right again. Or jake will in some way set the world right and erase everything that ever happened in every world, even our own. To virus, to vampires, werewolves, killer clowns, tommyknockers, you name it.
    I have to proof to what I will say but I know that some charactor will die, I cant justify who they will meet there fate because there is to many ways for them to die. Such as Sushannas possible demon child, another weak theory I hold is that Sushanna will in fact give birth to a child, half demon and half human. All the powers of a demon, no weakness's of a human, kind like the movie charactor "Blade." He will age faster I believe but he will somehow greatly assist Roland when he faces a super natural villian of the tower, hence Tak or the Crimson King if they do infact turn up in the series.
    My theory is that if The Crimson King or Tak do show up, people like Ralph Roberts and Johny Marinville will show up and face there foes once again. Someone broght up the short story "The Mist" up and I came up with yet another theory. In the Wastelands when they are riding Blain they pass over the vast desert where deep in its trenches lie various beasts that represent a few monsters mentioned in the Mist. David and Ollie were talkin about the Arrowhead project and talked about the place ripping holes in other dimensions. Maybe the unfortunate people at the Super Market ripped a hole into the Wastelands.
    I think if IT is the beast than eating the children in Derry was to give itself it energy for the final confrontation at the Dark Tower with Roland and the Gunslingers. And/or to pre-occupy Itself until they finally arrive toward the Tower. I think that each charactor will have to confront a villain physically and mentally. Such as maybe dead spirits of each charactors past. Like Rolands own mother that he killed and Eddie's dead brother. They will each have to kill them and go through extreme emotional struggles as well as physical ones...maybe Oy will end up fighting Cujo!
    And now another interesting point. In the Gunslinger while Roland began to cross the desert and he slept the night at the dwellers house who had the bird Zoltan, the bird kepting on making the noise "Tak" which refers to the evil force in Desperation. I have strong suspicians that the crow that was near Roland that day was infact Randal Flagg observing him. He was a raven in the Stand so what would stop him from being one in this world.
    And Pennywise indeed did not die after his defeat in his chambers after the encounter with Bill Denbrough and his friends. I say this because in the following book Tommyknockers Jim Gardner thinks he see's a clown in the sewer pipes. It might be me but I only know one clown that lives in Maine. And at the end of "IT," Pennywise makes a statement I cant quite remember but IT claims something like he cannot die because he is the eternal evil and was there around almost since the beginning of time.
    I still don't understand why King is deciding to put Father Callahan in Thunderclap, he was in his second book ever made yet he returns all these years later to help Roland in his struggle. And if he does join Roland will he turn into a vampire just like he was thrown back from the door of the the church when he grasped the door knob. I can understand how Ralph Roberts fits in though, with his expiriences the Crimson King and the little bald doctors.

    I have heard a few suggestions stating that only Jake will ever be able to kill the Beast/IT because IT has particular weak points only children can affect. Please correct me if im wrong, but doesn't IT control who he should appear to and not? Hence why Jim Gardner saw him in Tommyknockers, or did he see him because he himself is an author with a good imagination?
    I have pumbled my mine constantly thinking about this one subject. If the Beast is in fact IT and the Crimson King who is Tak? And if the The Beast is all these devious forces why didnt IT display such power as the Crimson King and Tak while facing off with the Losers Club? I believe that IT and the Crimson King are infact the same entity, but the creature Tak is another. If there is a evil force in Derry Maine, what stops other evil forces from being in India, Belgium, Madagascar, etc.
    This hypothesised occurance of my ideas proves why there might be a seperate different force called Tak living in Desperation, Nevada (my state). And if they are different beings from unbound evil are they aware of each other? And if they are, are they rivals or ally's? One evil force might have the intention of wiping out the other force in order to gain success and become the ultimate evil. And if this is true, would Tak assist Roland in his fight with The Beast and then try to destroy him? To many possible ways in a Stephen King Novel. If this theory is pure insanity to other people reading this scripute i cant apologize no matter how much i rival your own theory, its my opinion that i chose to state.
    Father Callahan is now in Thunderclap and i have an interesting theory why he is there. Ben Mears and Mike Petrie did you know what at the end of 'Salems Lot ( I dont want to ruin the book for those who have not read it ) diminishing the remaining vampires that were there. Im saying that Randal Flagg or some other minion of the Dark Tower caused Father Callanhan to be there to put a stop to Roland. Why in the world would there be vampires in a place like Thunderclap? And if they are there, how did they get there? The way i see it is that Father Callahan will soon be damned by the vampire curse and start to re-populate the vampire population in Thunderclap. So in otherwords he will be the head hancho of vampires....welcome to 'Clap Lot
    If Mr. Ralph Roberts does indeed make a appearance in The Dark Tower will he have his same abilities he had in Insomnia? The power to see energy. If he does would he dare tell Roland what is auora looks like, would it be one black and gritty while cloaked with death? Or will that aoura belong to one of his crew members? It's very well possible that he will see Athropos ( i cant precisely remember his name) stalking roland with a rusty razor.
    There are to many possibilities of what the story may bring us, will it be a happy ending or a sad one? Will Roland be the only left at the Tower or will he not even reach it at all? But one of the biggest questions I would like to knows is, if Roland survives and reaches the tower, what will he do afterward. He has spent his entire life insearch of this Tower, what will he do when his lifes work is finished but he is not dead?

qtr-nevermore writes:

These are my thoughts on what will happen in the last 2-3 DT novels.

Jake most likely will be the only member of the Ka-tet to enter the Tower.

Eddie, Susanah, and Oy will die before reaching the Tower.

Roland will face all the ghosts of his past when he reaches the Tower.

The boy from Insomnia will play a major role in the quest for the Tower.

Roland will defeat Flagg.

One notion I like, but don't personally believe, is that Stephan King is at the top of the Tower. If this is the case then the crumbling of the Tower could be caused by the aging of King. Furthermore if the Tower incompasses all of King's worlds then when King eventually dies wouldn't all those worlds cease to exist? So it is at least feasible that the Tower will not be fixed because King's death is unavoidable.

Chris writes (This is a spoiler read at your own risk!):

The Dark Tower is obviously the centerpoint of the whole 'Stephen King' universe. With every new book that King writes, the similarities and the links to the Dark Tower become stronger. Kings newest tale "The Storm of the Century" is no different. If you have not yet seen the T.V. movie you may want to stop reading at this point.
    The similarities begin with Michaels son Ralphie. Ralphie has an identifying mark on his nose that his father calls a 'Fairy Saddle'. In 'Insomnia' the child that Ralph rescues has a similar mark on his nose. The child in 'Insomnia' plays a key role in the 'Dark Tower', in the future he is suppose to rescue two important people that have links to the 'DT series'. It is also ironic that the childs name in 'The Storm of the Century' is the same as the hero of Insomnia, 'Ralph'! Coincedences? This is not the first time that King has played the name game he also does it in 'The Regulators' and 'Desolation', which work together to show the parallells in the Stephen King universe.
    How do these similarities play into the action of the 'DT Series'? King has created a universe with many different dimensions or locations. It is obvious that all of the stories, while taking place in the same universe occur perhaps in different dimensions that are tied together through the Tower. As the Tower crumbles so do the worlds of Kings universe, this is why the quest to preserve the Tower is so important to Roland and his Ka-tet. If they are unsuccessful the world that King has created is doomed. In 'Insomnia' and the 'Dark Tower' books it is explained that the Tower is inhabited by the forces of chaos and order and that there are the different levels in the tower, the higher the level the more powerful, influental and manipulative the forces are. Humans are referred to as being short timers and are on the first level of the tower. There also beings like the 'short bald men in smocks' in Insomnia that are on a level above that of humans, these are the long timers. The highest level that we know of are the eternals or all timers that are beings such as Randal Flagg, a powerful entity on the side of chaos. (Andrea Leinog, of 'The Storm of the Century' is probably also on that level. Because of the lack of information about him that cannot be determined as of yet.)
    King is gathering the different forces together, chaos against order. In 'The Storm of the Century' the child Ralph is abducted by Andrea Leinog, another pawn in the game of chaos against order. What the ties between the stories mean I don't yet know, but something big is definitely brewing! King has definitely created a world of stories that are of epic proportions! In my opinion King will be celebrated in the future for his genius! For those of you who have stumbled onto this website and would like to know more about the world of King specifically relating to the Dark Tower series the important books to read are the Dark Tower series of course, Insomnia, The Stand, Eye of the Dragon and It. Desolation and The regulators are also good books to read to show the parallells between the different locations. Please note that all of Kings books tie into the Dark Tower series and they are all excellent, the books that are recommended above in my personal opinion are just more focused into the series and the links between them and the series are clearer than in the other books.

Jamez writes:

Hello, my name is Jamez Burling and boy!... Do I have things to say... How come NOBODY has seemed to mention Rose Madder???... I mean, let's see... "I've seen bodies on fire and heads by the hundreds poked onto poles along the streets of the City of Lud...." the brown skinned woman in the red robe remarked in the world of Rose Madder... (the picture that Rosie bought) I mean, if that doesn't scream DARK TOWER I don't know what does... So, whatz the deal with the baby that Rosie rescues from the Temple of the Bull???... Well, I honestly think I'm way off on this (I ALWAYS try to guess what'll happen in an SK novel and ALWAYZ am I wrong!) but I think that the baby will replace the demon child that Susannah is supposed to have....... They'll have to do something with that baby and replace it with the other....... And that bringz me to another thing... Do we know if the child that Susannah will have is even going to be a "demon"... Yes she was raped by that invisible demon in DT3 but maybe the child is Eddie's..... Well... Who knows.... Now, I think that maybe I'M the only one in the world who got the OTHER connection between Rose Madder and the Dark Tower... In Daughters and Sisters (the battered women's shelter that Rosie goes to) there are two women there who are ummmm... Well... I don't know.... One is Cynthia Smith, who, after battling Norman in RM, does battle with the odd Tak in Desperation... And the other..... Consuelo Delgado!!!!!... Delgado!!!!!!!!!!!!... Now, if THAT doesn't scream DARK TOWER well.... Then I don't know what does..... Now.... I don't know... Flagg is weak... Oh yes, weak!!... The Stand... I mean..... At first he was strong, but near the end you could just see his powers rapidly decrease... Flagg WON'T kill Roland... The cute boy at the end of Insomnia is needed to save two men... One who needs to get to the Tower... Eddie is the one who needs to get there... I mean, if Roland dies, it would suck, but if Eddie dies, do you think that Susannah could go on???... Of course Roland would make her go on but she just wouldn't be able to put the effort into it... She would die quickly after that..... And then everything would be ruined... Roland's a king (as the boy stated) and somehow I belive that maybe once all this Tower business is over and done with who knows??? Maybe Roland will become the ruler of the world (that world anywayz)..... I'm only 15, I read the first 3 books when I was 13, I read the 4th a month or so after it came out..... Becuz of these books I am setting my goals on become a successful writer... But anywayz, my point is, I'm only 15, so maybe I don't know everything... I know a hell of a lot so listen up: Don't worry about it... The story will get written, just sit back and enjoy..... I mean, if you think too hard about these "theories" then you'll probably spoil the surprise for yourself... So, don't get too caught up in it.... Thank you, Jamezzzzz... PS: The person who said that never finishing the story may be the best thing.... What an idiot!... I've written too much already... I don't want to write and more so there......

Jamie writes:

I know how to explain all of the guardians, cross-overs, and "others" in the dark tower series. The theories expressed on this page are all mostly wrong. The guardians are not tied in with the IT, no one knows whether or not susannah will die, and who knows who will stand at the tower. No one knows. Not even Stephen King, because the information doesn't exist yet. How can anyone know what will happen at the end of the series. King himself said that he uses no outline for his stories, he just writes what comes to him as it comes. The only thing that is certain is that whatever resides at the highest level of the dark tower will be something that no one on this page predicted. That is just not King's style. He'll make the ending just what we think it won't be. Who knows, no one may make it to the dark tower. Have any of you thought of that yet? The tower may stand forever as one of one of the greatest literary mysteries of all time!......

Twisted Ivory writes:

After reading a solid 25 pages of theories, I have developed one of my own not yet mentioned. It's not nearly as in depth as some, but here it is. . . Stephen King is the head of a large conspiracy. The Dark Tower represents technology; the error that must be fixed was recognized long ago by King. Roland is an unwitting solution to the impending Y2K bug!!......

Dave writes:

Here are some of my Theories:

I think that all four of the ka-tet (Jake Eddie Susannah Oy) will survive and reach the tower because in book to it was said that if one should die, then the doors should close. This should include any "doors" to the tower. I also think Roland will reach the tower because he is the centre piece to this puzzle.
I don't think Susannah will have a demon child because it was not said whether she missed a period after she made love to Eddie. Time is also wierd in Roland's when, so it actually could have affected her periods.
I think that the impurity which Jake said was affecting the rose (in bok three) is Stephen King's blindness affecting his writing ability. This blindness could symbolize the "DARK" Tower.
I think that only Stephen King will have all the answers, even if he claims otherwise in the arguements and afterwords in his books. I thinks Mr. King has done better than he realizes, and he could never do better :)

!......

Samuel writes:

A few stray thoughts:

I disagree with those who think the Ka-tett will meet dead characters around or inside the tower. I haven't read all of Stephen King's books yet, but it seems like the two that give the clearest glimpse of the experience of death in his universe are "Insomnia" and "Bag Of Bones". In BOB it seems like the spirits of the dead are pulled somewhere else after death, unless they have major unfinished business in the material world, and even then it takes a great act of will (or outside assistance) to remain on earth. The corredors that Noonan used to return from the turn of the century are perhaps the same passage ways that the ghosts of the crying child and pain racked wife traveled down when he heard their vanishing cries. Jo's spirit seemed to know how to help her husband navigate through them. There were many branches that he wisely did not explore. In "Insomnia" the long timers don't know what happains to short timers after they die. Wouldn't you think they would know if dead short timers were hanging around outside the tower or in its lower levels? "Insomnia" may give us our clearest understanding of the Dark Tower to date, and there is no mention of it being populated by human spirits. On the contrary, the two "order" long timers did not seem to know of even a single dead person remaining in their universe.
Has anyone else remarked on the similarity between the creature in the thinney at eyebolt canyon and the one in the short story "The Raft"? Both are liquid beings that appear beautiful and multi colored. Both are capable of hypnotizing their victim, and both strip flesh from their victim's bones. My thought after reading the story of Eyebolt Canyon was that the puddles were something that came through the thinney, and not part of the thinney itself. If so, other thinneys might be safer to pass through, if they don't lead to quite so robust an ecosystem.
The theory that "The Fog" was an opening into the wasteland outside of Lud is interesting. My question, though, is where did the fog itself come from? I don't think it was especially foggy in the wastelands.
All of Stephen King's books seems tied to the Dark Tower. After the great battle between random and order is over, who do you suppose is going to come forward and claim that they were responsible for the "Chattering Teeth". Maybe there is a third power exists, that of sillyness? Maybe in the end, as someone else suggested, only 'oy will live to enter the Dark Tower. Then Sillyness will have the final laugh.

BigDum0xx writes:

Just a few thoughts from a long time King fan. On the issue of Susannah's pregnancy, I think there might not be a child inside her, but a demon growing that will change her into something else, perhaps possesing her. This would cause either Roland or Eddie to have to kill her, and be a more fitting end for one of their ka-tet.
    On the subject of King publishing the grand finale' after his own death, I seriously doubt it. While this would be a great statement, it would make it AWFULLY hard to cash the checks. I also doubt very much that he will stop writing after this, what good is a writer that doesn't write?
    He may change things a bit, like after Needful Things he stopped writing about Derry, mainly because it's gone, hehehe. I hope to see more books from Roland's world, maybe dealing with his childhood, earlier problems with the tower, or stories of his father and Cort's adventures.
    How about Cujo as the Beast? And shouldn't Christine show up somewhere chauferring Carrie and the little girl from Firestarter around? I don't think ALL books can be linked here, but certainly a lot of them. I also don't think you have to read all of the books to get the point of this series.

peter writes:

The Dark Tower will never be relieved to us the readers because it is the one great fear. If not fear than the mixture of love, hate, fear, awe and wonder. The tower is the essences of Roland and all of mid-world. How could we ever come close to knowing, It's like questioning God.

zazoj writes:

I love the Dark Tower Series and I have some of my own theories about how it will end. After reading "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," by Robert Browning, which this series is somewhat based on, I decided that if King ends the DT series the same as the poem--then Roland will reach the Tower alone. I think this poem is what will happen right before the end. I think everyone should die somehow or another and Roland continue his quest--and right after his ka-tet is said and done with, then he will meet that hoary cripple with malicious eye, and the story will be the poem from there on out. Therefore if I read the poem correctly in less than 2 days he will come to the Dark Tower after turning off the safe road, which I presume to be the beam, and when he gets to the Dark Tower, he will see all of his lost adventurers and companions--Susan, Cuthbert, Cort, his mother, etc. and he will have found the slug-horn (which I do not think will even have to be a horn as we think of horns) along the way and he will blow it. In the poem it says that he sees all his friends for the last time--therefore I think he will save the Dark Tower by his life force alone somehow. Like when he uses the horn his own energy will fix the problems within the Tower and when the Tower is fixed--he will be dead. I think that is a possible ending at least. It is not too happy or too sad so I think the ending will be something like this. It seems so Stephen King-ish to me. I think Roland will certainly reach the Tower however it ends. I also think that the possible demon child will be the end of Susannah and therefore Eddie (because he would die without her I think--which is part of the reason why I think Roland's life energy or whatever you want to call it will end the Tower's corruption--any man who can suffer all the things Roland has and still keep getting up everyday and still remembers their goals will have a major life force or whatever just from their determination if nothing else) I think Jake will be lost shortly thereafter as well and we already have a prediction as to what will happen to Oy. I would also like to say I hope it is a long time before the end of this series--and when it is done I hope there will be a movie-or not-because if there is a movie it must follow the book almost exactly or it will be no good. Also sometimes a movie can totally ruin a story..

Reslayn writes:

I've read all of the Dark Tower books and am very anxiously awaiting the fifth installment. However, now that I've read all the theories on this page and know about the thousands of connections there are between this and King's other books, I now see that I have a lot of reading ahead of me. Maybe when I've finished all those books I might have a more informed theory but based on what I already know, this is my current idea as to what is happening and what will unfold.
    I liked the idea that Stephen King himself awaits at the top of the tower but I think that is unlikely. First of all, the last I heard, King isn't dying from old age and he seems healthy enough to write the last two books. Second of all, how would a character in a book fight the writer when the writer could simply write him out of existence? But who knows? The ideas presented in DT seem a lot like those in the game Mist or Riven, which suggests that whenever a person creates a world in his/her imagination, i.e., a writer, that world becomes real in the multiverse. This is also a popular idea in modern physics. What makes this book so great is the fact that it delves into all the known possibilities of existence. Roland isn't trying to save the world but all the worlds. If you'll recall, the man in black told Roland about this after showing him that the entire universe he lived in was contained in a single blade of grass. And when Jake looked into the rose he saw thousands of suns- a microcosm. I think the field of roses around the tower is in fact all the universes and the Tower is the metaphorical center of the multiverse where all the words meet. It makes sense that it would be located in Mid-World. I think the Tower is what holds the universes together and the fact that it's falling apart is causing the other worlds to tear apart as well although it isn't as apparent in Jake, Eddie or Susan's world as in Roland's. This is probably due to the fact that Roland's world is closer to the Tower.
    As for how it will turn out, I think Roland and company will reach the tower. But I agree with most of the theories on this page that Oy will probably not make it. I doubt seriously that IT ranks higher than Randal Flagg. C'mon! He's and idiot and he was killed by kids! IT will probably occupy Roland's Ka-tet for about a minute. Jake will kick his ass and they'll move on. Flagg will be a little tougher, possibly the main villain. I think that Mearlin will team up with them along the way and together they may have the power to defeat them. They may not have an A-bomb but who knows
    This, in my opinion, is the greatest fantasy/sci-fi novel ever written and I can't wait to see how it ends...

Betelou writes:

I think maybe we are over analyzing things a bit. Every novel Stephen King ever wrote is tied in to another one, but it is not because of any minute planning but simply because Stephen King has his own world spinning inside his head just like the rest of us, true his is more defined and vivid than yours or mine may be, but the important thing is that what goes on inside us is more real to us than any outside perceived reality ,and if you think about it those things are always connected in some way. We leave bits and pieces of our hearts like forensic evidence every time we express ourselves. Stephen King is not a best selling writer because of his genre, but because to each of his characters he gives real life, each person in his stories starts out just being normal and getting through life the best they can. He uses the horrific elements in his novels to strip away that normalcy and bring the valiant essence, which lies dormant in all of us until we are called on by crisis to achieve. Which brings us to my prediction about the final chapter of the dark tower saga, the quest in one way or the other will succeed, but the victory will be bittersweet for it will not be without sacrifice and evil will not be permanently vanquished only a battle won, for evil is necessary. Without it there would be no measure for goodness and we would never know the best of ourselves. That is what he has always been trying to say....

Patrick writes:

My theory is that Roland, the last gunslinger will obvoiusly die. All through the novels hes facing odds which turn against him then favor him on his quest for the Dark Tower. Then the odds miraculously turn to his mercy. This is the writer that brought us the desrtuction of half of the United States (The Stand) and a that seems welcoming on the inside but is truly devoted to destroiying a town slowly (Needful Things) surely Stephen King is not afraid to kill of one of his main charachters. In the Drawing of the Three, Dark Tower 2, he (Stephen King ) states that Roland is clearly dying and might not make it to the Tower. My opinion is not against the series of The Dark Tower but predicting what the future coyuld bring. Who knows, maybe The Gunslinger will make it to his destination with one or two casualties and many injuries, but he could die and , with the great powers of Stephen King, might be brought to life by , who knows maybe Randall Flagg? Its true that anything could happen like The Dark Tower one to three it could be action all the way to the last book and the last book, which I predict will have up to one- thousand pages, might be a complete romance like Wizard and Glass. After all, weren't Susannah and Eddie pretty close at the end of Wizard and Glass?
As a completely different approach to the last Dark Tower novel, which will not be soon I hope, Roland might live to the very end and Roland Flagg might have been completely destroyed in the , say, sixth or fifth novel. If anyone important dies in the adventure to the Dark Tower, Like Oy or Jake or Susannah, ( cannot be Eddie who dies because he was pulled into the world strangely depicting ours after his formal body was destroyed in our world , and my idea won't work) and Roland could do what happened with Jake in The Wastelands, though it will be much harder with no help as it was with Jake. In other words, their life would completely be confusing, I could take it being pulled into a world with Slow Mutants (Dark Tower One) and the Lobsrosities,(The Drawing of the Three) once, but the creature that tried to block Jakes way when he was pulled through with an amazing reunion with Roland, would surely be tough to handle. So, back to my idea on Roland making it to his destination of The Dark Tower. Roland of Gilead will become king of the Dark Tower and the last book could be what happened after, like a sequel to a sequel. Who knows, maybe a new seiries will erupt and Stephen King will start another Dark Tower series. Roland will rule with the newly inducted Susannah, Jake, Oy, and Jake. If Roland can be tough enough Randall Flagg may have to quit as a world dominating magician and become a kitchen dominating slave. But there comes a new story of rebellion in Rolands domain. Sounds like the Eyes of the Dragon, Randall Flagg kills the king, who happens to be named Roland, and frames Rolans oldest son. Maybe The Eyes of the Dragon took place after The Dark Tower was completed. I can see Roland, the last gunslinger married with children.
As you can see there are many different conclusions you can draw from this miraculous and compellingly written series. Nobody can tell the future exept for Stephen King, The king of all writers.....

Guillaume writes:

All these theories seem very interesting...
    i think King will finally not conclude this DT story. Even if he'll have enough time to do it, i think he'll prefer to let all the readers imagine a possible end of it. The dreams we have all our life long will purpose a different end for everyone
    But Roland will certainly approach the tower very closely, maybe die or just stop his quest in front of it... I also imagine lots of new connections with other books. Indeed, we can find lots of similarities, with, in example,the talisman : different worlds, linked to each others...
    Let's have pleasure in dreaming while reading such a novel
        Diem......

Ben writes:

A lot of these theories I found interesting, a lot of you sure saw things I never did, but some of you I think miss-interpreted a lot. I have not read everyone of King's books, but I don't think everyone of them is centered around The Dark Tower. King's books are based upon Browning's poem and he couldn't have had the idea for these books before he started writing to somewhat base every single one on them. I think that there are quite a few of his books not having anything to do with the Tower, just great stories King wrote. It now seems that his recent books are pulling things from the Tower but I wouldn't go as far as reading every King book to look for links. King is human and I know he makes mistakes, some things said in earlier books may have been changed because King forgot he displayed them that way. We can't assume anything other than King made a mistake. With the idea of Susannah bearing a human child and naming it Roland, I would have to add that Browning's poem title is Childe Roland, saying maybe that Roland is a child when he reaches the Tower. Or maybe he was just speaking metaphoricaly meaning Childe in another way, not age. Also for any of you who have stopped to read the poem might notice in the second-to-last stanza it talks about all of Rolands friends gathered around the Tower crying his name after he has stabbed a beast (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this but Browning's writing is somewhat strange because of the speech of his particular time). So if King chooses to follow the poem we may see all the people Roland sacrificed. Whether or not all of the ka-tet reaches the Tower (I'm not sure Oy will reach the Tower, I think he play's some big roles but a tarot card wasn't drawn with a small billy-bumbler exclaiming "Oy!" on it) is questionable, I just hope none of you hard-core theory writers become somewhat dissapointed by the ending because you've come to believe in your own theory being correct. King is the writer of these books, no one else. I also hope he doesn't check this page out and become somewhat influenced by others ideas. I'm hoping the ending is as unique and as incredible as his previous books.......

Chuck writes:

A little personal theory of mine goes something like this... Stephen King was an avid reader of the fine author H. P. Lovecraft as a childe so perhapse it goes in this way. Flagg/Randall Flagg/Richard Farrin is described as "The Dark Man" this goes along with a character in Lovecrafts work named Nyarlathotep or "The Dark Man or The Black Man". Nyarlathotep has many a being that works for him, one of them named, The Tick-Tock Man, strangely enough one of Flagg's workers was named The Tick-Tock Man. Also Nyarlathotep is a servent on the Azathoth, the "Blind Idoit King" or a "Seething Nuclear Chaos" and is pictured as red or Crimson and is located at the canter of reality. Could this be relating to the "Crimson King"? I can't tell you.

Xupa writes:

I, as I am sure a lot of people have done, have read all of the four DTs at least twice. You always catch stuff that you missed the first two times. For one thing, when King refers to the 'second most agonizing decision in Roland's life as being when he has to kill Jake under the mountains, a lot of people wonder about the first most agonizing decision. Well, it's not a shrouded mystery anymore. It's when Roland chooses the tower over the life of Susan. He states that he could have had a life, a family, had he decided to save Susan's life, but instead he chose the tower. That seems like a pretty tough one there. Also, Roland has a good chance of dying with the Tower just over the horizon: "life, but not for you..." as read by Walter. The boy fom Insomnia very well might save Jake and Eddie's life from Flagg, victorious in battle with Roland. I doubt it, but there is a chance. There is a good chance that Suzannah will die in labor with the child of either Eddie or the demon (we still don't know who's it is). All in all, it may be Eddie and Jake (let's not forget Oy) who reach the tower and breach it's walls. Still, Roland is a king too, he just doesn't know it; and I personally think that there is no chance that King will kill this epic character unless he is really going by the book. I'm just stating a few different facets that I have pondered over the years.
I'm almost sure that Cuthbert will be strangled to death, Alain will be shot down by both Roland and Cuthbert, and this Jamie de Curry character... who knows? Who knows what is gonna happen with Sheemie either? Shadowy places along the plot line. But the first two assumtions I am almost positive about. Roland himself stated that Alain fell under the smoking guns of him and 'Bert while the poem written by Browning states that cuthbert is strangled or choked to death. There are hundreds of different possibilities for this, but the new ka-tet meeting up with dead characters is, strictly speaking, ridiculous.

Goldfish writes:

First off, congrats to Jamez who seemed to have the only theory which included Rose Madder. The world inside Rose Madder's is Roland's world, of that I'm sure. And let's not forget the most obvious connection which is in the title itself. Rose Madder is the name on the back of the painting. We all know what Roses represent to Roland.
I've read all the theories on this page as well as all of King's books. I don't have any theories on how the Dark Tower will end, if it ever does, but I do want to mention a few things.

The brown skinned woman in Rose Madder, is it possible that this is Susannah, sick and dying from what the Demon has done to her or from Captain Tripps, unable to continue on the quest? Maybe the baby is Eddie's, but the Ka-Tet had to abandon her and the child when she became too sick to go on.
In all the books that are related to the Dark Tower, there is a feeling of unfinished business at the end. Such is thre case in Salem's Lot, where we never find out what becomes of Father Calahan. In It, who knows if the beast has been defeated for good, remember, it was the second time they defeated It. In Insomnia, we know that the child will save two men's lives, but whose? And how will he cross over into Roland's world? By death? I don't think so because the whole point was to save his life. In The Stand, there is the last page where Flagg is talking to what apear to be Cave-men of sorts. In EOTD, Flagg vanishes, only to be pursued by Thomas and Dennis. And so on and so forth. I'm sure that all these loose ends will be tied up as the story of the Tower unravels.

As I said before, I have no real theories as to how the story will end, if it does. I think King will surprise us all as he often does.

JReyn writes:

I will not really state a fully organized theory for I think that there one to many ambiguous endings. Ill will just state what I think must be told as of now. I have heard varioius doubts about the setting in "The Eyes of the Dragon" not being the same as the one in the Dark Tower Series. I myself, beleive they are the same. The most obvious reasons are because of the character Flagg. Though this evidence is not substantiate because they do not mention his first name, I still think it is the very same villian. Second of all, Rhea of the Coo's is mentions early in the book as being an old wifes tale. And just incase your memory doesnt serve you right, Rhea is the witch in the DT4. These are my postulations about these common lands. Also, near the end when Flagg is defeated (I dare not give details for I might spoil the tale for others) Peter or Thomas refer to the magician as IT. I dont think Flagg is IT, just a loyal servant to it.
Now, I have brought the topic upon IT, who many have said are The Crimson King and the Beast. I myself beleive this. For those of you who own Insomnia can turn to page 600 and read the last paragraph. For those of you who don't own it I will copy it now:

"Yes, of course he did...but the real Kingfish had never been on Amos 'n' Anday, and it hadn't really been a kingfish at all. The real Kingfish had been a queenfish, and it had lived in the Barrens."

Most of this paragraph is meaningless besides the sentence where it states the Crimson King had lived in the Barrens. Im presuming that after the deafeat of IT, it fled the Barrens. Even though the losers club defeated IT, it is still alive. I dont recall that clearly for I read the book years ago but I vaguely remember IT stating that it can not die because it is the eternal evil. If this is so how will Roland or whoever faces the Beast defeat it?

Mr. Awkward writes:

Ok when I was reading Wizards and Glass I was wondering if they came down with a bad case of the captain trips
I mean look at it like this...They were sneezing (First sign) Rolands forehead steamed when water was poured on it (Fever) And didnt Jake have a sore throat...I may have forgotten but I believe that's what happened Anyway I think somehow they'll be cured...theyre going to need advanced technology to do it...but I think while the cure is administered They're also going to fix Roland's hand and Susannah's legs...Both might hinder them in the huge climax and theyre going to need all the help they can get... That's my theory and Im sticking to it.

Neo writes:

"The Stand" has a lot of information on Flagg especially the chapter where he is walking and thinking. I think that all the Flaggs in the books are the same, but different. In "The Stand" Flagg thinks about how he is unable to remember past a certain date, so is it possible that if there is force above him that it places him in a life without longterm memory. Also in "The Stand" you'll notice how his magic sorta wans and in one part he thinks about how the powers were given to him. Another thing to take note of is that in EotD he ages, slowly, but ages none the less.
I do believe Oy plays a large part in the story, but what of the time in the pink globe thing that Roland spent when he saw a billy bumbler impaled on a tree shaped like a hand or claw
"It is the story, not he who tells it....."

Jeff writes:

Alright this the 2nd time i've tried to write this theory, the first time i got crashed before i could send it, so lets begin. First off lets deal with Flagg Shall We? EotD Flagg Is The Same as Marten/Flagg because in DT4 flagg says "You Saw me, after the Fall of Gilead Although you didn't Know it was me" Didn't Roland Mention he saw a creature named Flagg after the Fall of Gilead? Yep. 2nd Flagg is John Farson. Period. It says so right in the First book. Roland asks his father if he know's who The Good man is and His Dad Says " Yeah, I think I do" on the Next Page after That it says "Marten, Known in some Quarters as the Good Man" see that?
    Next off, Who's runnin this Whole Tower thing Anyway? well Walter was Put in charge of the Short Timers, and Flagg is in charge of the long timers, and it seems the crimson king is in charge of the All-Timers, But who is the Crimson King? none other Than IT. But isn't IT dead? not at all. IT's Physical form might have been killed by the Kids but The Deadlights are still alive and well. You can tell by The end of Insomnia where The Crimson King Says "Shape Changing is a Time Honored Tradition in Derry" and "I've done too much work here in Derry to have you screw it up" Plus King Says something Very Odd when Describin the Catfish Little Ralphie was Scared of " There Really Wasn't a Kingfish at all...There was Only a queenfish and it lived in the Barrens" get it? There is No Kingfish(Crimson King) Only IT(IT was Female) and it Lived in The Barrens.
    So who does Roland have on his Side? Well Theres The Green Man From Insomnia Right? and The Theres The Other from IT. Bill Says That The Other is The Author of everything in Every Universe. and He said That The Other Created IT wich only Ate and The Turtle wich only Watched.
    So think About this, The 2 Sides Are Random and Purpose Right? The Head of The Random Is IT. The Head of The Purpose Is The Green Man. But There is also Something Above Them. The Other. During Walters Speech In the First book He says that in the Tower There is a Room Outside of Eternity, the God-head itself, and suppose IT keeps trying to get in there. There Also seems to be a set of rules at the Tower. IT Broke These Rules By Sending a Physical form of Itself (The Clown/Spider) Down to Earth and Killing Kids for There LifeForce. This Pissed off The Other Who then Invested Bill and The Others Kids With The Power To Destroy it, thereby doing it's work for him. IT is Scared to death of the Other but He's not sure that The Other Even Exists, My Theory is that Like In Insomnia Creatures on The Bottom Levels Can't See What's Above Them Thats Why IT isn't sure if the Other even exists. But For SOme Reason The Other has Disapeared and left the Room empty (Or at least thats what Roland Thinks) and IT Keeps trying to worm IT's way in and take over.

Interesting Things:

Roland Thinks the Rose Might Just be The Dark Tower.
The Rose's Disease Is Caused By IT slowly taking over ( My Theory)
Rolands World is Part of That Purple Grass in NYC Right?
What The Hell is Up with that Rose Anyway? I though The Tower was in End World Isn't it?
Eddie is from Our World Cause he has seen the Movie the Shining, but Dick Holloran from the Shining used to Live In Derry
I think Jakes World is also the world Of Derry
in The Stand Flagg Says Mother Abagails God Could Be Dead, Maybe Thats Why the Room is Empty?
King is Smarter than Everyone thinks. He Created Alternate Worlds In the Stand and The Stand Complete And Uncut. That fits in with the Story of Different worlds in DT4
In the Prolouge of DT4 Blaine Says "THERE IS NO HEAVEN, EDDIE OF NEW YORK"

Kathy writes:

Since reading King novels for over 14 years it does not surprise me that the D.T. series lapse's with characters in other King novels. Stephen has done this before with many of his books, such as the Castle Rock town books (The Dead Zone,Cujo, Tommyknockers, The Dark Half and the destruction of it in Needful Things).He also linked the three women together from Geralds Game, Dolores Claiborne and Rose Madder by using the women having visions of the others women in their novels.
    So since King started the D.T. while he was in college it will undoubtedly have several links with his works, many may be coincidental and King not even realising it himself.King has stated many times once he get in his writing zone the pages just fly out like Tad from The Dark Half.
    With the D.T being wrote in the very beginning of his career I feel it could well end with the great writers own death or being released after it anyway, as he is always hinting in the books (I hope I get the chance to finish what I have started). Thus sealing Kings own KA or winds of fate for many years to come making this his last crowning as king of horror. I think Rolands tales and his life endurance are a reflection on Kings own trails and life as a writer, husband, father and last of all of course son.
    I hope Roland does make it to the tower I believe KA will have it no other way. I think the tower is some how connected with Rolands mind and will make him face the sacrifices he made to get there e.g. Cuthbert, Alain,David,Susan, his mother and properly Eddie, Susannah, Oy and properly Jake again. I also feel to repair the tower is to face his conscience and repair his mind and soul so he can bear to live as himself.
    I don't know if IT is the beast in the tower but if IT is who are we to say a child must destroy it, as in the book IT the losers club are adults when they finally defeat IT.
    None of us could ever hope to grasp the true ending of this epic tale except for King himself and as for King being the Crimson King in the tower. WHY not he has appeared in many of his films why not a novel. So happy adventuring fellow avid readers and may we all be exhilarated in the ending of the DARK TOWER.

Ron writes:

I don't know how the Guardians relate to It or Insomnia or other books by King. They seem entirely apart. However, I do believe that Roland will not enter The Dark Tower. Just as God forbids Moses from entering the Promised Land, so is Roland cursed. He will be left at the gates of the Tower, prohibited from entering, since he has damned his soul in his quest, not once but several times. Wether Eddie, Suzanna or Jake will survive the quest I cannot tell. But in the end all the ghosts of Roland's past will rise. The Main in Black, the Tick-Tock Man, the town of Tull, Alain, Cuthbert, they will all rise and Roland will not be able to face them. The success of his quest inevitably means death for Roland, and he will not live to see his land full of love and light again. But a great many wrongs will be undone. And Roland's damned soul will rest in peace. Seek the wisdom of the ages but look at the world through the eyes of a child.

Melissa writes:

Well, I read all of the theories & was intrigued my many. Gave me a lot to think about. However, I noticed only 2 people mentioned Rose Madder. I had thought about the fact that Dorcas might be Susanah, but somehow I don't think so. She said the baby wasn't hers anyway.
    What surprised me was that no one mentioned "Rose" herself. Did anyone even wonder about the beautiful blonde monster who hates men? Did anyone even wonder if it could be Susan? What blonde woman in Roland's world has a better reason to hate a man than one who's lover allowed her to be burned alive while he watched in a crystal ball? Also, didn't the baby have faded blue eyes? (it's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure) It doesn't matter that she died because "there are other worlds than these". What doesn't compute however, is that the baby isn't hers either.
    I think it's probable that Flagg somehow got to her and maybe told her of Roland's "most difficult decision", and even though he didn't think he was leaving her to die, Flagg would have most certainly left that part out.
    Who knows what her next world was. In the world of Stephen King's tower, she could very well have ended up someplace in which she could have contracted the "Whore Blossom" disease and became very bitter about her lot in life. She could have become a monster.
    I also think it's possible that she could be the one to kill, (or try to anyway) Roland out of revenge. Mind you - my theory is not set in stone by any means. It is only ONE of my theories. This story could take on so many turns. It may not even be her, but I think this "Rose" will meet up with our little "Ka-Tet" regardless. (She needs to give them the baby.) It remains to be seen if she will be friend or foe.
    Also, what of the baby? Could this be the "Childe Rolande"? Time will tell, but the Tower is closer.

Dome writes:

All the theories above are very interesting and suggest a lot of things i'd missed. however, i think its a mistake to think that every king story is part of the dark tower narrative, exept in the very loose connection that they all come from the mind of king, which the TDT may be a metaphor for. Some (IT, EOTD, Insomnia, The Stand) clearly are, but the bulk of his books and stories clearly aren't. i'd be very suprised to see a big party at the tower with the prisoners from Shawshank, the tommyknockers and the girl from firestarter there. King is building a very subtle piece of work in this series, and such a heavy-handed suprise twist ending would probably be more funny than anything else. that said, here are some of my thoughts on the future of the ka-tet

besides the ones already talked about, there is another source that are very relevant to the series: the books of H.P. Lovecraft, which someone else mentioned in passing. king has often cited lovecraft as a main inspiration of his, and he has very obviously drawn from him in the short stories like The Mist and Crouch End, and who can be seen in much of the rest of king. for one thing, lovecraft talks a lot about the Elder Ones, who existed in our world before we did, left a strange legacy behind and may rise again one day when the world decays. I think we will see the old ones again in TDT -- after all, time has collapsed. Also interesting is Tolkien's lord of the rings trilogy; the good man's sigul, the lidless, red eye, is also the flag of Mordor.
I don't think we'll see tak. if he fits into TDT world, it is as a minor agent of Random; he has not the power or wit of major players like Flagg or It or the Crimson King. he is a minor demon.
There are obvious autobiographical touches in TDT; lots of KINGS for example. but i don't think the series is even close to as literally autobiographical as some have suggested. It would be cool to have King himself perched atop the dark tower, but it wouldn't be a very good story. It is the tale, not he who tells it. I think we'll see auras again. It is difficult to separate the major evil entities. John Farson is the good man, the good man is Marten, and i think they (he) are either short or long timers. As for the all-timers, i think that flagg, It, and the crimson king may in fact be faces of one evil, unnameable beast lurking in the deadlights, as they are all intertwined all over the place.
As for who reaches the tower; i think it may just be roland. it is his quest, and he is outside of the ka-tet of the others. oy will be impaled on the tree as seen in the grapefruit (by which i mean the pink one). susannah will die as a consequence of pregnancy; i think eddie will be forced to kill her, and by betraying her damn himself like roland. As his salvation, i think Eddie may sacrifice himself to save the other two. I feel eddie will die while defeating flagg for some reason. this leaves jake and roland (remember, the child in Insomnia had to save 2 men, one of whom would reach the tower, and he drew roland). i think roland will again let him fall; remember his doubt when he promised jake never to let him fall again. i don't think that roland can enter the tower; he is too stained, and remember the profecy that though he reach it, and sacrifice all his friends, the door will be shut against him. This leaves me in a bit of a sticky spot; i think roland may purify it from outside in some kind of self-sacrifice, or another character may enter (Callahan, Alan Pangborn, a ka-tet of those who died for the tower, the prince from EOTD, Ralph Roberts). I think whoever reaches the tower will stand and be true. or, possibly: (see below)
it may be a mistake to assume that Random is going to be defeated in the end. king is in a way an agent of random himself, and has always embraced in his writing that which is unknown or random -- things which, as he says in Rage, have all the logic of a razor blade in a halloween apple. I don't think Random will triumph; but i'm not assuming it won't. And even if Purpose wins the day, i can't believe that Random will be destoyed; it is a necessary counterpart, which even Clotho and Lachesis didn't deny.

Ka like a wheel.

Thomas writes:

First excuse my english, I´m from austria and I don´t speak english very well.
    We know there are more worlds than these and one door between the worlds is death. So I think, Roland will meet all the people who died in the past again. Perhaps he will meet Susann and Cuthbert and Allen again and perhaps Susann and Cuthbert are in love.
    But that´s not so important, we know, if someone dies, he will be transfered to a other world. Now remember, when Susann died in the fire, she wasn´t the onlyone dieing. Her unborn baby, rolands child, also died. So perhaps the baby was transfered into a other world into the body of a other woman. This leads us to Pat, the boy from Insomia. I think, nobody of you has allready read this part of the book, but as Ralph saw the boy the first time in the park, he thought: "His name is Patrick, but the call him Pat. It was the name of his grandfather." Does it make ring? The name of Susanns father was Patrick Delgado, but the called him only Pat. So for all of you who even don´t know what I want to say: "PAT, THE BOY FROM INSOMNIA IS THE SON OF ROLAND FROM GILEAD!!!" I think, nobody else even saw this link so I´m the first one. I´m the winner, kiss my feet.
    More surprising theories will follow soon..

Jeff, who admits to having too much time on his hands, writes:

Many of the above theories have talked about IT being the Beast as established fact. I don't see much of a connection. IT was the annoyance of one small town in Maine, who happened to be opposed by the far reaching, but relatively powerless, concern of the Turtle. The Guardians of the Beams could have many responsibilities, especially one that is supposed to carry the whole world on his shell (according to Roland's little poem about the Turtle). All IT really did was kill some children and incite violence every once in a while. Does that sound like the powerful Beast of Dark Tower fame? I certainly don't think so. It is far more likely IMO, that the Beast is the Crimson King is no one else. Flagg (aka Marten, Maerlyn, the Ageless Stranger, the Walking Dude,) works for forces of Chaos (Random), and wants to stop Roland from reaching the Tower, because Roland might just be able to restore order to the decaying universe.
    Walter in book one says that Marten is below him in position, and that Walter is below the Ageless Stranger. Book 4 says Marten=Ageless Stranger. I think good ole Randy Flagg just duped Walter to keep him from knowing too much
    As to what is at the heart of the Tower, or top, I really couldn't guess. I do know it won't be Stephen King. The series he's worked on his whole literary career would turn out to be a huge waste of time!
    I also don't think we'll see any main characters from other novels come in to save the day at the end. It would kind of defeat the purpose of having the first however many books if someone from Insomnia or Eyes of the Dragon popped in, saved the day, and then went home. The boy from Insomnia will show up, and likely die saving Roland and Eddie, (but he wasn't a main character, now was he). I think Susannah, Oy, and eventually Jake will all bite it along the way, until just Eddie and Roland reach the Tower. Once there, Eddie will hop, skip and jump into the clearing at the end of the path, living Roland to finish the story as it was started, alone.
    Sure, we've heard that the Tower will be shut against him, but perhaps with the qualifier if he sacrifices everything he loves. I think he will be absolved, because his second ka-tet will sacrifice themselves. I don't think Roland will die, because its his quest, his world, his obsession, and his story. King realizes no one reads the books to hear about the adventures of Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy in a screwed up world. The first installment was called "Some kid who died in New York," The Gunslinger will see the story through.
    That's not to say he won't die, but I think he'll make it right to the end, alone, and probably get 99% killed on the way there. After the quest is over, and everyone he's every cared about is dead, what would he have to live for? His tremendous will would finally surrender, and Roland would die.
    Not very happy, is it? Well, the universe will probably be saved, and King never promised us a happy ending.

Michael writes:

A few thoughts/theories after reading everyone else's theories

A clarification. The Childe in "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" does NOT mean _child_ in the sense of being a baby or kid. In this context it means someone who wishes to become a knight. The Roland in the poem is not a knight, but a knight in training/apprentice. This is a point where King diverged from the poem, as Roland is a full gunslinger when we meet him.
Will Susan die? The baby she is giving birth to will not be Eddie's child with a normal delivery. It would be too unKingish for it to be that simple. Someone posted to the Stephen King newsgroup that King gave a talk where he said something to the effect that, Susannah is pregnant, but it doesn't look so good. The "thing inside her is reallu pissed off". Sounds like she's a goner.
Will Roland die? There seems to be a lot of evidence for it -
- Walter tells him that "the Tower will kill you half a world away"
- The Turtle tells him that the Tower will be pent shut against him.
- In the Afterward to DT1, King tells us to prepare ourselves to understand that Roland may not be the one toreach the Tower.
Evidence against:
- One of the two people Patrick Danville(Insomnia) will save is Roland. We do not know, however, if Roland is the one who "must not die".
- Patrick Danville drew a picture depicting Roland facing the Chrimson King at the Tower, seeming to forshadow that Roland will at least make it to the Tower.
- This is Roland's story. Not Eddie's, or Oy's or Jake's, or Susie's. For King to kill off Roland would ruin the entire thing.
- If King follows Robert Browning's lead, Roland will reach it alone.
Verdict: If Roland does die, it will probably be in the last book.
If Roland(or whoever) gets to the top of the Tower, only to find Stephen King, I think I would scream. It wou ld turn one of the greatest epics ever into a piece of egotistical metafiction. Steve! If you hear me.....don't do it!!!!
If King decided to publish DT7 after his death, he would be trampled to death as soon as it was done, by hordes of DT fans.

Cameron writes:

I think Roland will die at the Tower by sacrificing himself for the new Ka-tet, or what's left of it. Probably only Eddie and Jake. This will be how Roland finally gets into the Tower. He won't be allowed in while he's still alive because of everything else he has done or because you just might have to be dead in order to enter. I think Browning's poem is an entire journey of someone who is dead but is now re-living or re-seeing everything he has done in order to get to the Tower. At the end all the dead are awaiting him at the base of the Tower. Also I think the final battle with Roland will not be a gun fight because Roland became a Gunslinger by defeating Cort with the bird not a gun. I think he'll go out without using his guns as well.
    The bird at the way station was named Zoltan...right, If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but what was the name of the bird in Shawshanke? Did the old man name him Zoltan as well?
    I think Pat is Roland's son as well but if so then there is not just one evil presence in the Tower like most believe(including those who think King will be there) but also a good so as to make these changes that end up helping Roland and the ka-tet.
        later
        Cameron.

SharppZFR writes:

I havn't had the pleasure of reading INSOMNIA or IT yet but i have read EotD and the dark tower books. I think that one way or another either the world in EotD is the future of Rolands world or the far past. I personally believe that was far into the past of Rolands world. Here are some of the similarites between the DT series and EotD.

First and most easy to recognize is the name Roland. Now, yes, anyone that has read both can tell its not one in the same. But everyone knows the imagination of Stephen King....to allow two main characters to have the same name by coincidense just seems to unlikely. I believe that the name Roland could've been passed down. Many families pass down names espically noble families. Therefore I think that Peter, Thomas, and King roland in EotD are the great great great desendents of Roland....but thats not to say they could never meet.
In both paper was a rare item that was valuable.
In both the termanalogy of DIM was used...true it could be a simple thing King came up with but both worlds contained the ability to turn ones self dim. M
In EotD they had the High letters which were nothing more then normal English letters. In the DT series there is the High Speech which is basically good english.
This one also ties the stand in a bit. When the gunslinger and his Ka-tet were aboard Blain they crossed over a desert and if i remember correctly one of them said something about breathing the sand down there could kill them. Maybe not exactly that but along those lines. Now remember the sand Flagg used to kill king Roland. It said he got it from a great desert that you couldn't breath the sand in. It seems very similiar. Also, this desert could be like this because of high radioactivety....say from a nucleor blast.
Finally, remember how Flagg first came to the conclusion of how Peter was to escape. He commanded a stone to show him peter and it allowed him to see. This could be one of the wizard stones.

These are just a few theories. I don't honestly know if they'll all correct and its been a while since i read EotD but i think there is a close relationship between them. Also i believe that, like the tower is the center of all worlds, that the DT series is the center of all Stephen King's books or at least most. I think, maybe not in large ways, but in some ways many of his books will have something to do with the series. Also, of the matter of flagg, i don't understand how he could be second to anyone, for he is basically "the devil." I believe though that flagg has been there thoughout the DT series. Now i'm not quite done with DT4 so if this is already stated sorry. First, i believe that there is a good chance that Flagg is Marten. He also could possibly been Walter, the man in black. If you remember, there is no true proof that Walter was dead. Finally i also believe flagg could be Fannin, the man who saved the Tick toc man. Instead of showing himself straight out i think Flagg is using other identities to further the plot of the gunslinger so that when the time is right he can stake revenge on Roland for what happened to him long ago by Roland descendents, who i believe is Peter and Denis. Just a though.

Brendon writes:

Well, I have read nearly all of the theories and as monumental as The Dark Tower is, I do not look as far into the connections of the Dark Tower and Stephen King's other books are. There are connections all over the Stephen King universe almost novel to novel. I do not think, and I could be wrong, that this series should be treated as something special in this case. King just likes to use similar names, settings, and characters. It spurs us on to look beyond the obvious and look deeper into his mind, and by doing this, we will be lost. Now, I've been reading his novels for a good ten plus years and I've read the series 4 times so far. King probably, as he has hinted before, will retire after the last book is (or if) completed. Get this, what if he has finished or almost finished the series? To save us the reader of agony of how the series would end if King's death occurred. Now the big mystery: What will the Dark Tower be like and will Roland face it and succeed? I think of Dante's Inferno for some reason, but I believe the Tower is the key to Roland's world, Roland's world is a separate reality than ours. The ka-tet will have to be sacrificed in order to reach and enter the Tower, and Roland will probably die. But, unlike all gunslingers before him, he will succeed where they failed, and by his doing, he will bring the Tower and all of his world down with him. And if King has a heart for Roland, which I don't think he should, may be he will be born into our world or the world he once knew will come back. I still haven't finalized my theory, and no one else should, for were just past the half way point and I'm sure King himself has little idea of what Roland's fate will be. I don't think Stephen King himself will be inside the Tower, that sounds too H.P. Lovecraft and a little corny. Aspects of his other novels, especially Insomnia, Eye of the Dragon, and It are very important. More connections to other weird phenomena like The Wizard of Oz, The Man in Black, New York, old epic-poems, pseudo-Chinese philosophy, Beatle songs, etc. will appear again. Who's right? Who knows, King knows and we'll find out in about 20 years. See you then.

Sam writes:

This isn't so much a Dark Tower theory as it is a theory of Flagg's identity. For reference I will be refering to five different books. 1)DT IV 2)The Stand 3)Insomnia 4)Eyes of the Dragon and 5)Pet Sematary.
    I belive that somehow Marten and Flagg are the same entity and that is the concept of death.
    Point 1) In PET SEMATARY, Louis Creed puts a face to the concecpt of death. That face is "Oz the Great and Terrible."
    Point 2) At the end of DT IV, the ka-tet meets Oz the Great and Terrible, who turns out to be Marten.
    Point 3) At the end of DT IV, when they are in Oz's throne room, Marten is described as "wearing jeans, a dark jacket that belted at the waist, and old, rundown cowboy boots. On his jacket was a button that showed a pig's head with a bullethole between the eyes."
    Point 4) In chapter 23 of THE STAND (UNCUT), Randall Flagg is described as wearing rundown boots, fadded, pegged jeans and a denim jacket. "There was a button on each breast of his denim jacket." "On the left, a pig wearing a policeman's cap. The legend was written beneathe in red letters which dripped to simulate blood: HOW'S YOUR PORK?"
    Point 5) In chapter 18 of INSOMNIA, Clotho (Little Bald Doc) says, "Short-Timers and Long-Timers live in overlapping spheres of existence-on connecting floors of the same building, if you like-ruled by the Random and the Purpose. Above these floors, inaccessible to us but very much a part of the same tower of existence, live other beings." "These beings might be called the Higher Purpose and the Higher Random."
    My findings) Flagg and Marten are the same being. That being is the higher random. A higher random than the Little Bald Doctors. But the higher random isn't the top of the tower, it is the second floor, so to speak
    That is why Flagg is able to interact with short-timers like Roland, Peter and Thomas. It seems the higher up the tower you go the less interaction there with the short-timers. Flagg is the higher random, which means he is just as much a lunatic as Atropos, (the little bald doctor from INSOMNIA), if not more so because he is further up the tower. And the random causes random death, perhaps the higher random causes higher random deaths, like entire planets, universes, existences?

Thomas writes:

Hi Fans, it's me again. I want to tell you some more of my personal theories.
    First talk about Susannahs Baby. I think, nobody really believes that it would be a normal baby. It's a fact that she is pregnant of the demon of the talking ring, anything else would be "unkingish." I read the theory of a human-demon-mix like "Blade", nice but I don´t think so. There is a 100% pure demon inside of here but who ever told that this demon has to come out like a baby? I think the demon would grow inside of here and then overtook her and transfer her into a full demon. After she is a demon Eddie will have to kill her. That sounds more kingish.
    On their journey to the dark tower Oy will die like Roland saw it in the glass. Perhaps they will try to avoid it but they will fail. You can´t change things which are already set.
    When the remaining (Roland, Eddie and Jake) will reach the tower, they will face the animal. It wont be It or Tak. They are both to weak. By the way, Tak was just a little demon like the demon of the talking ring or the demon of the mountains. (Or the Susan-Demon.) I think, the animal is the animal of the bible. (Johannes 13. chapter) Has nobody of you ever read the apocalypse? The animal with 7 heads will come out of the sea and so on ... They will start to fight against the animal but then Flagg or the red King will appear and tell Roland to leave his Katet and enter the tower, while the animal is busy with Eddie and Jake. Deja vu. It´s like in the mountains as Walter tells Roland to leave Jake to get him and Roland will do it once again. Roland will leave his Katet and try to enter the tower but he wont get in. He isn´t the chosen one to enter the tower, the chosen one is Jake. He was never a part of the Three, he was a part of the Dark-Tower-Story from the beginning. Roland was only chosen to guide Jake to the tower and the other Three were only chosen to help him. Mort of course was only a trapp of Walter to avoid that Jake will get into Midworld. Not the Random killed Jake through Mort in New York, the Purpose killed him to get him into Rolands world. Walter used Roland to kill Jake once again but he came back. Now Jake will die once again and so also the only way to enter the dark tower will die. This would explain Eddies dream of Roland turning against them and trying to kill the rose. When Roland will realize the true it will be too late, he will get caught be the ghost of all people he ever killed. (And this are a lot.)
    Luckily Pat, the son of Roland as we know (and perhaps the little baby from "Rose Madder"), will appear and will help Jack to either kill the animal or at least to run away. In doing so he will save the life of two men. Not the life of Eddie who will die through the animal but also the life of Roland who will get saved through Jake. Pat will die of course.
    At the end Roland and Jake will stand in front of the tower and Jake will be able to enter it. Inside he will do whatever he has to do. But this is another story, which I will tell you another time. So look forward for my next mail. Yours Thomas

racapri writes:

I have to agree with Thomas. King dropped a lot of hints in Rose Madder. I was sure there was some central link to the Dark Tower series but I could not quite grasp what it was. I grasped the connection after I finished the book. I think we all kind of believe that Roland's world is the future of our world. Or more correctly our world after the events in the Stand. Or one of the Stands (I think DTIV leans toward it being the Stand "classic"). DTIV and the unabridged Stand purposely show Flagg's determination to destroy civilization across ALL plains of existence and when you add the thinnies I don't think it matters anymore because all world's are basically the same now. But anyway, I always thought that was the vital connection because Rose plants the seed in our world so that it will be a tree bearing fruit when she needs it later in the picture world/Roland's world/whatever (this fits in nicely with King's recurring theme of the "wheel"). Ok so that world is the future of ours and King finds it necessary to make it somehow relate to the Dark Tower. The influence of Roland's world is there. Maybe it is the future of the world in the unabridged Stand. These worlds are just a hair away and seems logical(?) that for Pat Delgado (Danville...P.D.) to pass through that world - kind of like a weigh station - on his way into our world-present time. Much in the same way Jake was birthed into a weigh station from our world the first time. In my last post I said something about Jake being the one to enter the Tower. Glad to see Thomas agrees. I've always thought in a way the whole story was about Jake. That's what Roland's real job was...to bring Jake to the Tower. Anyways thanks to everyone who posts theories for me to read..later.

LucasBuckX writes:

Hi Upon leafing through my Dark Tower books I stumbled on a surprising thought...what if Roland is Flagg's son...we are led to believe that Flagg had sexual relations with his mother...why not Roland being his son...it would fit well in King's irony to have the one meant to destroy flagg be Flagg's blood. Also, I'm not so sure Maerlyn could be Flagg...I was under the belief that he could only assume names that had the RF motif...and lastly a poster noted that King Roland from the Eyes of the Dragon may also be related to Roland...well wasnt the man who owned Christine Roland D. Lebay...just a thought and thank you for reading.

Keith writes:

I'm thinking that we assume that Patrick Danville will just show up one day in the Dark Tower series because of the Insomnia proclamation that he will save two men, one of which has to get to the tower. What if Patrick Danville is not a separate person, but some one we already know, such as Jake. perhaps it already happened, in DT 1 when Jake made it possible for Roland to live to meet the Man in Black. Stephen King is no stranger to past lives and parallel worlds.

racapri writes:

Some stuff from Eyes of the Dragon: In segment 141 when Flagg is "killed", his body disappears leaving his clothes to retain a humanoid shape for just a second before they fall to the floor....this is what happens to Randall Flagg in The Stand right before Trashy's warhead goes off...Also somewhere in the last hundred pages King refers to Flagg as "It" (capitalizied) much in the same way as Walter refers to the Beast of the Tower as "It" at the end of DT1 (It's there in EOTD - I promise - I can't remember the page number because I wound up reading the last hundred pages on a plane ride and failed to mark it down-I'm looking for it though and I'll post it when I find it.) Also some of Flaggs alias are mentioned like Bill Hinch which for some reason sounds much more like one of the aliases that Pennywise used in IT. Not all Flagg aliases have to fit the R.F. pattern I'm convinced....For instance after DT4 we know that Marten Broadcloak is an alias of Randall Flagg as well as John Farson as Marten is mention as being the "Good Man" in DT1....This fits well because in some of Flagg's interludes in EOTD it basically says that through all his incarnations, regardless of name, his sole purpose is to wreck the balance of civilization... He is defeated as Flagg, but apparently comes back as John Farson, purveyor of democracy, foe to the oligarchy created by the gunslingers. He finally found a strategy that worked...being a politician..past roles kept him in a place of advisor, and it seems he has finally decided to step things up......also Garlan is mentioned wich is a province mentioned in DT books...and the whole thing with Thomas and Dennis fits too nicely for me.... What I'm trying to say: I think that essentially all of these Flagg characters are the same.....The Beast resides at the top level of the tower (along with the Turtle/Green Man/whatever) and is constantly converting his evil "crimson" power to that of a short-timers guise to reak havoc and tilt the scales to the side of the Random...each incarnation survives a different amount of time and this explains the various levels of power each seems to hold. Flagg had been in Delain for quite some time and had thus learned quite a bit about himself and had become fairly powerful......Each Flagg is essentially a new "antichrist" bent on chaos and destruction through different planes of existence. The most powerful being the Marten Broadcloack/Flagg at the end of DT4 as their plane is closest to the Tower and his power source.....I'm pretty sure that they are all one in the same....In the Stand Tom Cullen calls Flagg "Legion" (a biblical reference that is just one of many in that book)..now I didn't see Storm of the Century but I read the screenplay and Andre Linoge reveals himself to be Legion (the blocks unscramble Linoge=Legion) Linoge is looking for a new apprentice, the boy Ralphie who has an odd shapped scar on his nose that mirrors the scar on the nose of Ralph from Insomnia (anybody have any ideas about this coincidence? are they just short-time antithesises of each other?) Anyways, the armies certainly seem to be amassing for the final battle....I still think Roland will die and Jake will enter the Tower....he will stand true to the Beast (who , after the fall of the Turtle has little in his way from keeping him from the penthouse level of the Tower) but will probably be defeated but live long enough to see the Beast defeated by the Other...The Other who I believe to be the one true God...King's God (who is the ultimate master of both purpose and random) doesn't make many appearances but a couple spring to mind.....Desperation and The Dead Zone...Johnny Smith is given a power that ultimately allows him to destroy another short-timer antichrist, Greg Stillson .....King's God appears in Desperation and once again strikes a bit of a deal by allowing Brian to live so that David will owe him the defeat of Tak....Marinville winds up being the martyr but David really set the whole thing up and after playing his part is "excused" by God...Yes I believe that in the end the Other will finally step down and smite the Beast (as Jake lay defeated and watching in awe) and the Tower shall crumble....As Tolkien as this epic is it makes sense...for at the end of Lord of the Rings there is the fall and magic and glamour fade into the past as man and civilization move on (this is also similar to the final stories in greek and roman mythology with the gods destroying themselves in the midst of the emergence of the one true God) the white comes again and all the realities are restores to the one true reality .....and to me this makes sense because in Rolands world they already say that the world has "moved on". This completes the cycle and once again complements King's ever-present theory of the wheel....for even with the destruction of the Tower and the completion of the saga of King's universe, it only takes one of us to pick up The Gunslinger and start the whole thing over again.......

Austin writes:

I'd have to say that Sam has a point on his theory about Flagg, but I think there are things to consider:

first of all, King refers to Flagg as the Ageless Stranger (in the afterword to DT3, he says that the Ageless Stranger would appear in DT4), so Flagg cant be the Beast (who is theoretically the Crimsom King).
second of all, Tom Cullen from The Stand calls Flagg "Legion". Though I havnt read much of the bible, I hear that Legion in the bible is supposed to mean "one made of many" (ironically like the ka-tet). This seems to go along with the fact that Flagg has so many different names. I also heard that Legion is supposed to represent Satan in the bible; this could also mean that Flagg is not the anti-christ like many have said, but possibly Satan himself.And isn't the anti-christ supposed to be the son of Satan? Maybe Flagg was trying to bring the real antichrist into the world when he tried to have a baby with Nadine Cross in The Stand. And what of that baby? Everyone talks about Roland's son (possibly Pat from Insomnia), but nobody mentions Flagg's son.

I personally dont believe that Marten and Farson are the same person, since both are called the Good Man, but none of the gunslingers even bother to kill Marten so that the war will end. Thus, I think that Farson could possibly be the son of Flagg; its a weak theory, but it seems better than the Marten-is-Farson theory. I could be wrong, so i'll let someone else take a shot at this theory........

Jeffrey writes:

This is more of an opinion than a theory, but here it goes. I think Roland is the only one who deserves the Tower, but I don't actually think he will be allowed in. I don't think any of them will be allowed in becuase they are Short timers. I think that theory about the boy from Insomnia being Roland's son is interesting, and could make for an interesting twist. I really don't think Marten(Flagg) is Farson. From the fourth book I didn't get the impression that Farson was an all Powerful magician. Although I doubt that the last Dark Tower book will be King's last, if it happens to be, I think King should destroy the Tower since it is the center of his universe. Even though it is not mentioned in all his books, he made it clear to atleast me in Insomnia that the Tower was what kept his world together(the Green Mile may be an exception). I have no idea how this series will end, and I can't wait to read the next installment. I do hope Roland will make it to the Tower because it is his story. I am also hoping maybe Roland and his ka-tet will run into Vampires agian(Little Sisters of Eluria). Delian the place from Eyes of the Dragon is also mentioned in this story. Off the subject Bag of Bones won the Bram Stoker award for best horror novel. That is all I can think of saying for now.........

Tina, keeper of Jack's Signature, writes:

Of course, Jack Sawyer's Black Hotel and Roland's Dark Tower are the same thing. That's obvious. But what is the Dark Tower? Remember in King's Desperation, he pretty much establishes the fact that God is cruel, and as a matter of fact that is one of the name's for one of the parts; God is Cruel. I think that the Dark Tower is heaven, and the reason King displays it as 'dark' is because God is dark and cruel.That could explain why the biggest 'foe' is called The Beast, because God is a beast. I also believe that the Crimson King is some sort of keeper of time. Remember that all of the paintings and drawings are "All Hail the Crimson King". Why would Roland Hail the Crimson King when he is apparently trying to defeat him. This could explain the worlds moving on, they are hailing the king.
    I think that Roland's world is where everbody goes after they die. Eddie could have died from ODing on heroin, Susannah by her other half driving her crazy and to death, and Jake by the car. Roland is already dead from earth and searching for a way into heaven, the Tower. All the people in Roland's world that die go straight to the Tower, and that's the only way you can get into it, death.
    I think that the theory of Flagg being Roland's father is perfect, very Kingish. The vampire thingy only fits in, it will happen. Roland and his Ka-tet will fight vampires and Father Callahan will be the master.
    On how to get to the tower, I think that's how Roland and his Ka-tet will all die in battle. Or maybe from God's--or even Randall Flagg's--fire from the sky. They just overlooked how to get into it and, that could be a riddle in itself.
        --MOLECH.........

Thomas writes:

Hello and once again it´s me, Thomas. First of all I want to thank all of you whom are agreeing to my theories.
    I read the theory of Flagg being a higher random. But if he is the higher random why doesn´t he know it and why is he afraid of death? Perhaps the higher random is a little bit "higher crazy". But I agree that he is the higher random. I also think that the green man must be a higher purpose. I´m not sure about the Crimson king. Is he just a higher higher ... random or is he something devil-like? We know that there is something god-like in insomnia. (Nitschke was wrong.)
    I also read the theory of Roland being Flags (=Martens) son. Sounds like somebody watched too often "Starwars". But I also agree to this theory as you will see in the following. If I remember correctly Flagg tried never to kill Roland, only to stop him. And we know that Flagg could kill with one look of his eyes.
    But now I will continue where I stopped last time. Jake and Roland are entering the dark tower. But before we can go on with these story we have to go back in time to the beginning of the dark tower. The real beginning.
    There once was a world, a world like ours. Perhaps the world next to us. A very intelligent man was living in this world. He was so intelligent that he planed a time-and-dimensional-machine. He build his tad-machine in a big (dark) tower. This tower was so build that he could not be influenced by time or space. This tower was constant in time and space which means that he exists everywhere and anytime. The power he needs was produced through 12 subnuclear powerplants (portals) which were protected through cyber-animals. (Guardian of the portal [Bird, Fish, Bear and Rabbit...]) The energy from the subnuclear powerplants was transported through something like a plasma-hyper-wire (beam) which was invisible but influences the nature a little bit. (Clouds and grass.)
    When this intelligent man, let us call him Walter, turned his tad-machine on, something went wrong. Some of the neuronal-net-processors (glasses) exploded and Walter became influenced by the time-and-dimension-radiation and was now able to travel through time and space and of course he lives forever. (Or at least nearly.) But the tower started to work wrong. The time-and-dimension-fields collapsed and the first thinnie was born. The tower produced more and more thinnies and needed to be stopped. Remember that the tower is a constant in time, so if someone destroys him in the future he would have never exist in the past. Of course the tower has a self-destruct but to enable it you need to pass a DNA-test with the genetic code of Walter. But Walter started feeling god-like and became crazy. (Perhaps he lived some years in the past as Maerlyn.) He would never destroy the tower because he needs the power of the tower to live.
    Now I want to tell you an interesting theory. If you took some cubes and place each letter of the alphabet on one side (you will get one cube with a,b,c,d,e,f and one with g,h,i,j,k,l and so on ...) and start dicing you will get some words after a time. So if you are dicing for an endless time, every word, every story and every poem must be told. (Nice job for a rainy day.) Now the interesting part: The periodic system knows 92 elements and every human is build with this elements. So if you wait for an endless time a human must be born with exact the same genetic code as Walter.
    The higher beings waited a long time for this chosen one. And after a long time a man was born called Roland. He was the son of Marten, the human form of Flagg, the higher random. Unluckily for Flagg his own son was the chosen one. He didn´t wont to kill him so he tried to stop him and killed all his friends and his love but Roland didn´t stop his mission. So Flagg send a monster which cuts of his fingers. (He could not enter the dark tower without his fingerprints.) When the higher purpose realized that their favorite Roland failed and could not complete it they send their big secret. The higher purpose found a second one with the same genetic code as Walter and Roland, Jake. They knew that Jake is to weak to make it alone so they killed him (trough Mort) and send him so to Roland who has now the mission to guide Jake to the tower.
    Flagg didn´t realize that Jake is the real chosen one. (Remember, he also realized what was going on behind his back in "The Stand.") But I think Walter knows (or feels) the true. He didn´t (or couldn´t) kill his own blood so he used Roland to let Jake die. Luckily he came back. The rest of the story you know. Now let us continue...
    Roland and Jake enter the dark tower. Before the could enter the highest room with the self-destruct they will face the Crimson king. Roland will tell Jake to do the rest alone while he will fight the Crimson king. Of course he has not much changes against him and will soon fail. But before the Crimson king can finish his job Flagg appears and turns against him. Somehow he loves his son and he would not let the crimson king kill him. This fight gives Jake the time he needs to enter the highest room and activate the self-destruct.
    Everything will be ordered new and the universe will be reborn. Now take a look at different times and spaces.
    There will be a world where a man tries to build a time-and-dimensional-machine. But one of the financiers thinks that this would be to critical and wants his money back. The machine could never be build and the man kills himself.
    In a other world, an unknown future where people live in peace and freedom, a man with blue eyes lives a happy life with his blonde woman and their child Pat.
    In a third world a young boy lives just a normal life. Sometimes he has bad dreams but he forgets them soon. When he is older he remembers this dreams and writes a story about them. It starts with the words :"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
    Now we zoom out of this world(s) and we start seeing a big purple grass. A giant man wants to cut the grass but then he realizes that it is to late to work and he ends his work. For this day.
    We zoom out more and now we could see a giant chess game. A white pawn throws a black tower.
    I think that was the last time that we heard.
        Have a nice day.

CitizenX writes:

The whole God is cruel idea would be okay, except at the end of Desperation it says God is Love and David agrees. I don't think the Tower is where everyone in King's world goes when they die. Just look at Bag of Bones. When King said at the end of Wizard and Glass that everyone has a place in Mid-world, I don't think he literally means they will all show up later in the series, but maybe he did I really don't know. I guess there is a good chance that Father Calahan could show up, but I will need a good explination of how he got there. My only theory is that maybe Flagg brought him there. I do think Susannaha will die, possibly in the next book. I believe that there is only one Flagg, I just don't see the point in having two charactors with the same name who are both all powerful ageless wizards, but that is just my opinion. The Town of Delain from Eyes of the Dragon is part of Roland's world(see Little Sisters of Eluria). Roland will reach the Tower because he has gone through too much not to(even though it doesn't seem like King's style). I just have one question what color was Susan's hair, I know it is stupid, but I always pictured her as a blond, but someone told me she had red hair. That's all I've got to say for now.

CitizenX adds:

I have a theory on what the Beast might be. I think the Beast is Legion, but when I say Legion I don't just mean Flagg or Linoge. I think Legion might be many evils combined such as: Flagg, Linoge, Tak, It, The Crimson King, and so on. I started to think this after reading many of these theories and while reading the Stand. The part in the Stand that made me think this was on pg 806 of the complete uncut edition when Tom Cullen said about Flagg that "He has the name of a thousand demons.....His name is Legion." So I was just thinking that maybe Linoge and Flagg aren't the exact same being, but rather are each a part of this Legion. Plus, in the Bible doesn't Legion say something like "We are one from many". I am probably way off on this, but I thought it was sort of an interesting idea. Also most of those evils in King's books end up getting beaten pretty easily, so I thought if they joined together they would be a lot tougher. Well that's all I guess. Let me know what you think.

Captain Fett writes:

This is the end as I see it:
Roland and Oy make it to the top of the tower. There, in some knd of throne, is The Crimson King (Satan). In front of him are Flagg, Linoge, and the guy from Needful things (sorta lke knights). Crimson and Roland talk. As roland thinks about suicide, we cut to the King's son mowing the lawn. He mows the blade of grass containing Roland's world. Bada-bing-bada-boom story is over. Thankie-sai.

Colin writes:

One quick suggestion:
Roland's world is expanding and we know that the doors between the worlds are getting thin. Picture a bubble or balloon, as it expands the wall between the inside and the outside gets thinner. Also did anyone catch the interesting quirk in the drawing of the three, Roland walked to the West to the sea in pursuit of the Man in Black and then decided to walk North, but the sea is said to have been on his RIGHT SIDE. (perhaps one of King's common mistakes in technical merit, but perhaps not) I believe that Roland's world is the inside of the balloon and that ours is on the outside which gets distorted as it expands. Is the Dark Tower at the center of a sphere and not a circle?

Elly writes:

And after 47 very interesting pages, I must say that I am impressed. Let's see, what do I think? I agree with some that it will be Jake who is left to enter the tower, although Roland will live to see it. I think that whether Susannah's baby is from the demon or Eddie isn't important, they will both die. I think it's more than coincidence that she's pregnant, and we just learned of poor pregnant Susan's fate. I do not think that Susannah is the woman in Rose Madder, although they clearly share the same world. I also think that Eddie will be sacrificed, someone earlier said because he is so much like Cuthbert, and I agree. Oh, and Patrick from Insomnia being named after his grandfather, maybe Pat Delgado? That is a very interesting connection, Thomas. I can't believe I didn't remember that from Insomnia.
But I think that some people put too much thought into all the connections in other books. King started The Gunslinger in college and it sat there for years. Maybe it was in the back of his head, and I think that a lot of the connections (i.e. IT, The Talisman, EOTD...) began in those books and he carried the ideas over into the DT. Hence the black hotel and the badlands (wastelands) in the Talisman, Roland the king in EOTD. Let me put it this way: Randall Flag originated in The Stand, then when King decided that he liked him as a bad guy he tried him out in EOTD, and since then, he's evolved to be so much more than The Walkin' Dude in Las Vegas. As for that Legion reference in SOTC, I never would of thought of that. (years since I read the Stand last). But that is something to think about.
For people who think that all King books are tied to the DT, you haven't read all of his books, have you? That's ok, I'll know you'll get to them eventually. I guess the only thing left to say is that I trust that Mr. King will let Roland, Jake, or whoever see that Tower so that we may learn all about it, and until then, speculate is all we can do.?

LucasBuckX would like to add:

Hi Im back again
    I was thinking that the reason Eyes of the Dragon and salems lot are going to tie in is because Eyes of the dragon is a loose end and King did want to write a sequal to salems lot...so maybe this will be kings book to tie up all his loose ends...
    I also agree with the Legion theory...Though I have a new theory
    I believe the deadlights are the top level of the tower and that there are two flaggs as there were two It's a physical being and an energy sort of creature...Randall Flagg is the top of the towers physical entity but the crimson king is the flagg who lurks in the deadlights and maybe that will be where Roland will have his final battle with flagg like the ritual of the chud Thanks for listening.

Jackie writes:

I think that the turtle is supposed to be God, and God knows everyone's fates and warns us, but let's everyonedecide for themselves what they want to do, so that they can go on and carry out their fates, or "ka". What the turtle told Roland is that he would be powerless against the dark tower. And I think he is. Would the dark tower contain everything that everyone here says it does and and not be able to stand against a mortal man like Roland? I don't think Roland will live, but perhaps the remaining Ka-tat will. And who in that ka-tat will survive? I also believe Susannah will die, just because. Have you known any book in which there is a legless, african american, femaleas any kind of heroine in the plot? I know she is one tough cookie, but the odds are against her.
I don't know much about physics and different planes of existence. But I do know that if the turtle is everything he is made out to be, then he probably knows what he is talking about when he says that Roland will die.

Tina, keeper of Jack's Signature, adds:

First, in the Bible, Legion said "we are many." And second, how about that scare with King getting hit by a car? I almost thought that these theories would be as pointless as saying Roland won't reach his tower.
    Roland wil reach the tower, that's a promise. In King's afterward he say's that Roland will come to his tower under a purple sky made for romance winding his horn.
    Think about Flagg for a second. Nobody has killed him yet. In both The Stand and EOTD, he disappeared before he could die. Maybe that arrow that Thomas plunged into Flagg's eye killed the physical part because the locket on the tip of the arrow was silver wasn't it? IT was hit in the head with those silver chunks, and that killed his physical side so maybe it did the same with Flagg.
    I insist, the Crimson King is a keeper of time and every thing is hailing to his power to skip through time. I'm beginning to think It, Pennywise, is the ruler of the tower. In the near end of DT1, Walter calls the Beast "IT", using a capital letter. And think, at the end of It (the movie--which wasn't near as good as the book), It looked alot like a Beast.
    I don't know, I'm kind of thinking that Eddie or Susannah will get biten by one of the vampires sure to arrive in the story, and one of them will get a peice of Roland. Not so much to where he will become a vampire right away, but he will become ruler of the Tower and the Vampirism will kick in. Things will be just as evil as they were.

"The" anakin00 writes:

Hello out there. First of all, let me say that I've only read the DT series once (and I skipped the Drawing of Three but went back after Wizard and Glass), so I'm not quite the "expert" some of you others might be (I'm using the ""s 'cause it is King's mind so what the hell do we know right?). Anyway, I'd like to address Susannah's baby. From what I've gathered there is a hint of Aurtherian legend in Roland's world (Arthur Eld I think his name was and of course Maerlyn aka Merlin). In some versions of the tales Merlin is part mortal and part deamon/immortal (depending on which version you read), and he AGES BACKWARDS! Sound familiar? Kinda like the Ageless Stranger? One of my theoryies (i've got alot 'cause I don't truely believe I know what King has in store) is that Roland (with or without the help of the Ka-Tet) will kill Flagg. But he will be reborn as Susannah's child. What happens there is anybody's guess.
Lets assume that Flagg is the Ageless Stranger and perhaps he inhabits the different worlds in different bodies (one for Flagg, one for Maerlyn, one for Farson). And when he dies he simply take on another form.
Then again what the hell do I know? Just thought I'd throw out something to think about.

Hi, once again it's me (am I annoying yet?). These are the last of my theories (at least the ones that are coherant enough to write down).

This Ka-Tet will reach the Tower. King has spent four books building this one up and he says he's only going to do three more, that's not enough to introduce a whole new set of characters to replace the old ones as far as I'm concerned.
The Ageless Stranger is Evil. That's evil with a capital E, as in the noun not the verb. Evil exsists everywhere at all times. Flagg, Marten, and all the other Lenoigs are incarnations of The Ageless Stranger but not the real deal.
Roland will have a chance to kill The Ageless Stranger, but will recognize that without Evil there is no Good.
After we learn everything about Roland's past he might start to go insane (but only slightly) perhaps being haunted by the ghosts of Cuthbert, Allain, and the rest of his dead loved ones.
Roland will probably die saving Jake's life thus redeeming himself for all the lives he sacrificed to reach the Tower.
Although I don't like it Oy will most likely be killed by impalement via the vision Roland had in Maerlyn's Grapefruit.
I'm 95% positive Jake will reach the Tower (King doesn't like to kill off kids, though dogs are fair game), and I hope everyone else will too but I've learned that just doesn't happen in King's books (although this series is like nothing King has ever written before so...).
Mr. King has more of the series written then he's letting on. In Bag of Bones he talked about how writers some times put books away for "a rainy day". Perhaps he's done that with the Dark Tower series, or perhaps not, but I do think that the series has influenced most of his other works.
We may or may not see Father Callahan in Thunderclap but I don't really think we will. When Mr. King said at the end of IV that Callahan ended up there I don't think he meant we would meet him in another book. I think he meant that that's where most of the characters in his books end up.
My last theory is that King is reading all of these theories and will make sure that he puts enough twists in the next books to make sure we're all surprised. He's like that you now. :)

I'm done ranting for now. :)

Eric writes:

ok, like the 'Wizard's Rainbow', are too much like the 'Palintir' in Tolkien's L.O.T.R, given Kings penchance for slipping a Tolkien reference in almost every book or strory I've read of his...could it be that R.F is also Maerlyn and is also Sauron, bringing Tolkien's World into King's own....didn't Walter mention the name of Sauron during Roland and Walter's palaver at the end of DT I?....hmmm, wonder who's at the top of the tower, really like to find out that Flagg is just a minion and not as omni-potent as he seems to be in 'The Stand' and DT III and DT IV, like to see him lose his smile... just somethin' to think about, prolly rediculous, but oh well
peace
e

Randy Flagg writes:

My first entry, hi, how are ya. I've seen a lot of speculation about people who have died yet could possibly come back, ala Jake. I've also read with mixed amusement and agreement that It/Pennywise figures into the hierarchy of the Tower in one way or another. Well, suppose for a moment, that Eddie Dean is Eddie Kaspbrak. Kaspbrak died fighting It, as many people seem to think Dean will do (die that is, not neccesarily die fighting It) once the ka-tet reaches the Tower. Eddie Dean is/was a heroin addict. To paraphrase a movie about heroin addicts, Eddie Kaspbrak "was, in his own domestic and socially acceptable way, also a drug addict." Can't remember the exact words, but there's a whole paragraph or 2 about adult Eddie's medicine cabinet. Perhaps the Dean manifestation decided he needed a more powerful crutch than the medicine flavored water that served as Kaspbrak's asthma medicine. In any case, the Other demanded a sacrifice to kill off It's earthly form, perhaps Eddie will be sacrificed again to kill off It's larger form, if that is indeed the case of the Crimson King's identity. I also had something going through my head about Henry Dean being Henry Bowers but it's gone now. Eddie Dean and The Mansion have always reminded me of Eddie Kaspbrak and 29 Neibolt Street. Since Derry doesn't exist except in the world of Insomnia and It (and Tommyknockers) and since the Crimson King definitely knows of Derry, perhaps Thunderclap IS the New York of Dean's world and the Derry of Kaspbrak's. I need to read Insomnia again I think. On a different note, I'd like to quote a bit from Lord of the Rings : "But last night I told you of Sauron the Great, The Dark Lord. The rumours that you have heard are true: he has indeed arisen again and left his hold in Mirkwood and returned to his ancient fastness in the Dark Tower (!!!) of Mordor. That name even hobbits have heard of, like a shadow on the borders of old stories. Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again." I don't know about you, but this sure sounds a bit like both our friends Flagg and Pennywise, and there is no doubt in my head that, just as our ka-tet came upon some weird hybrid of Oz and Kansas, they will sidestep into Hobbiton or somewhere nearby in one of the forthcoming volumes (Mid-World? Middle Earth? Ring any bells?). After all, what is a ka-tet but a Fellowship? Think of Roland's ka-tet as a Fellowship of the Tower instead of a Fellowship of the Ring. I wouldnt even put it past King to have a character or characters from LOTR show up or even play important roles in the books to come. If Flagg can be Merlin and Oz, then heck, maybe Gandalf can show up too. Some food for thought. Until next time...

Joeskapunk writes:

Ok, I read almost every entry on this page to look for any mention of Lord Of the Rings tying into the Dark Tower. Finally at the end I saw it. I believe King is tying all literature into his Dark Tower. We've got Oz already, that's definite. I believe Sauron is part of the Random's heirarchy, if not Flagg or the Crimson King as well. Wasn't Sauron's symbol an open eye? And other literature could tie in. The Chronicles of Narnia maybe? It's been forever since I read them all I really remember is the witch and that the one who aided the kids was a lion. A lion is one of the twelve Guardians in the Dark Tower. Arthurian legend ties in greatly to Roland's world. Not only does King tie all of his books to the Tower, but he's connecting all books to it. Who knows, we may see Holden Caulfield or Don Quixote in Roland's travels. I wouldn't be surprised.
And to react to the theories of others: Saying Roland is at the top of the tower, watching the endless circle is frightening. King would do something like that, and totally blow everyone away. As to the Crimson King being Satan, it's obvious. But maybe he isn't Flagg. Flagg is a great mover and shaker, manipulator, but he's not really Satan. I don't know. It's late, and I just sat here reading hundreds of theories, I can't remember my own any more.

Chuck writes:

Alrighty folks, let me set you straight (in my mind that is). Randall Flagg is the Ageless Stranger who works for the Beast of the Tower who works for Higher Random who lives outside of time (IT). The Spider beast in IT is an avatar of Higher Random, and therefor able to be killed by the losers. The Kingfisher in INSOMNIA is most likely another incarnation of Higher Random (Bob Gray calls himself the Kingfisher while he is on the phone with Mike Hannalon in IT) and can also be killed, hell, Ralph Roberts poked his eye out with an earring in INSOMNIA. What you will find at the top of the Dark Tower is Higher Purpose, which the Turtle in IT was an Incarnation of, which is why it could be killed. As for who will make it to the Dark Tower and what Susannah's baby will be, I don't know about that Soap Operaish stuff... yet.

CthulhuTak writes:

I'm back again with even more sense for you. According to INSOMNIA only Roland and Eddie (unless they pick someone else up, in which case all bets are off) will survive to reach the Dark Tower (pg. 620) with the aid of Patrick Danville, the four year old boy with the scar on his nose, who will be 22 when the time comes for him to lead them to the Dark Tower (See pg. 574 "And a little child shall lead them"). At first logically I thought of Jake, but he really isn't a child, and it says that two men will be saved. To add to the debate of The green man and the red king, more logic. Clotho and Lachesis leave green-gold trails, Atropos leaves a red trail, The Crimson King is actually a lower level of the Red King (notice the red here folks) is surrounded with red when Ralph Roberts fights him. The weapon that Ralph uses in his arm to banish the Crimson King is green in color. I believe that Green is the Color of Purpose and that Red is the color of Random. Another little tidbit, when Ralph meets his mother/crimson king on the walls of the kitchen are roses in jars, roses of course surround the Dark Tower and THE ROSE is another important (but yet to be explained) part of the story.

JBuflod writes:

What is certain is that all of Roland's companions will die before he reaches the Dark Tower's rose fields. In Robert Browning's poem, Roland is alone at the end of his journey. Susannah will die as the Demon child kills her, and Roland will blame himself for it. Remember, Alain was killed by Cuthbert and Roland and it was Roland's decision to use Susannah against the demon. Eddie won't commit suicide though, and neither will Roland, both are gunslingers and too strong for that.

Austin writes:

I like the idea of King incorporating all literature ( or at least all fantasy literature) into the series, but I doubt that it will happen with only 3 books left; besides, King is probably more interested in using his own literature rather than that of other writers. BTW, there is an old superstition that red shoes are bad luck; I wonder if that will come into play, since the ka-tet wore them in the 4th book. Speaking of shoes, I'm surprised that nobody has yet mentioned Rainbird from Firestarter, who owned a collection of shoes which he kept in a house in Flagstaff. Maybe it's just a coincidence that he keeps shoes in a place with the word flag in it, but I wouldn't be so sure.

Joeskapunk adds:

Dark tower is the pinnacle of literature. All books become realities, in other worlds, and the dark tower connects them all. But now it is fading, and the worlds are dying or mixing together (like wizard of oz on Roland's world). At the top of the tower is a kid, god, but a kid. Who else could have the imagination to make these worlds, believe in them. King is big on fantasy and belief. But the kid is growing up, losing his creativity and imagination. As all kids do as they become adults.
The Langoliers are part of the chaos, or random I think. Or maybe they're not. Maybe they're what ails the dark tower. They aren't even what Toomy thought they were, they're not the creatures from his dad's stories. They''re the representation of what is destroying the world(s). They ate the world in the book to nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that's what's happening all over. Various worlds are being destroyed, aten and demolished as people forget about them, as kids with imaginations no longer believe. Creativity and belief are what keeps all of these worlds alive and as they die, it weakens the tower, begins to hurt all the worlds. And the rip in the space-time that took the plane through, that's what creates the thinnies in Roland's world.
Or at least, that's what I think King is doing.

Dome writes:

Hi, me again.
    I think it's a mistake to assume, or expect, constistency of any kind from king. Because he has taken some elements of his story from "Childe Roland", LOTR, Wizard of Oz or any other work doesn't mean we can predict what comes next with any certainty by citing them; i think that it makes much more sense to look at the dark tower as king's great, overarching masterpiece, in which he pays homage to some of the great works of fantasy, but obviously isn't copying them. The same goes for his own writing; if every one of the hints he has given in TDT series, forewords and afterwords, and other books is to be taken literally, then every ending has been already ruled impossible. Keep in mind that this work has evolved over decades, and i believe king when he says that he sees glimpses of roland's world only darkly and in glimpses, and still doesn't know how it will all end.
    One other thing which has been bothering me is the strict parallels some posters have drawn between king's tower and christian beliefs. King is very deliberately creating a mythology here, not a religious parable, and has been very careful never to associate it with the christian orthodoxy; for example, never uses the terms 'gods', 'sins', 'holy', 'good', 'evil', or anything else. The only exeption is the way flagg figures in the Stand, which is pretty closely tied to christianity, and this is only because king wrote this book very early in his career, before his ideas of flagg and TDT had crystalized fully. Only in the Stand is Legion mentioned at all, or is any other strictly christian symbol. The crimson king is not equal to satan, although the color scheme is the same. It is important to remember, too, that the tower is very specifically not about good and evil, but discord and harmony, which are very different.
    Thankee-sai

Betty writes:

Roland lost his original companions, (We'll find out how in the next book. I hope!)
    I believe Susannah is Alain reincarnate.!)
    Eddie is Cuthbert.
    Jake is Susan (The lofe of Roland's life, first lover, then father.)
    Oy is Sheemie (Loyal to Jake, Loyal to Susan.)
    The simularities are mentioned in the books.
    It's just my opinion, for what's it's worth.

Veit writes:

HI; I'm Veit first, sorry for my bad English, I come from Germany. I see foe understand me!! My Theory: I think that Derry will play a big roule in TDT, because in INSOMNIA Ed DEepneau mentioned:"BEcause Derry is different. All "Energie-lines" or "Force-lines" meet or convergein Derry." (Very free German to English translation) And Roland often said, that all energielines converge in the Dark Tower. But where in derry could be the dark Tower?!)
    Maybe Derry is Point Venuti in the Region, and the Black Hotel is one "FAce" of the DArk TOWER. Only Speculations. Maybe the earthquake at the end of IT, is the same as in Point Venuti(TALISMAN) The Time would correspond/fit: 1986!)
    But of cozurse I could miss some important aspecs which could dismiss my theories.!)
    Maybe Flagg will kill by Dennis and Thomas from EoTD. Because at the End of the Book stand, that dennis and Thomas would hunt down Flagg. Only speculations. Thanks for Listening. I hope you could read this broken english.!!

AWolfden writes:

I would just like to say: if you can remember back to the 1st book The Gunslinger, Walter tells basically how the story will unfold.

The Hanged Man--shows that Roland is cursed with the quest for the tower and it will cause everyone he knows to die like it did Jake, Alain, Cuthbert, Susan, etc.
The Sailor--was Jake who died when Roland abandoned him.
The Prisoner--Eddie, cuz of heroin.
The Lady of Shadows--Odetta/Detta/Susannah
Death (but not for you)--was that Mort? or has that card not been played yet
The Tower--placed on the hanged man..Roland WILL GET TO THE TOWER finally
Life (but not for YOU)--does this mean Roland will die to save the tower and save the worlds from moving on? I believe Roland will die as will everyone else. That seems to be his curse and after he loses everyone, he will betray himself and die. But for whatever reason even if the tower is destroyed and chaos wins, Life will somehow pull through.

As for people crossing over, I don't believe too many will. Patrick Danville will have to and maybe Father Callahan, but I don't think Peter, Ralph, etc are all going to show up. Just because the books cross, doesn't mean we're going to see them. I think King would rather have us read his books and find connections then directly link them.

Brad writes:

Hello, name's Brad. I have a few things to say.

Roland will reach the Tower. That much is for certain. It has been told by Walter in The Gunslinger. Wether he survives the ordeal or not will only be told in the future, although it seems doubtful. Besides, if Roland were to die before getting to the tower, why would he be the main character anyway?
The tower is not a center of Evil. The Dark Tower is the nexus of all dimensions, height, width, depth, time and space. It is the center of all Good. But there is an evil influnce in the Tower, probably The Crimson King, which is causing all the trouble in the world. The thinnys, the doors, the distortion of time and space. Roland's quest is to stop the evil. Duh.
It would seem odd if all characters from King's other novels would suddenly appear from seemingly nowhere. IT is dead. The only character that would show up, if any, is Patrick Danville. To say that Flagg is the one from The Stand and other novels is not true. That is just a name he used to try and scare the ka-tet. Just like using Oz. Flagg is The Ageless Stranger. A person who has gone throught time and created all sorts of evil. That he uses the name Flagg is only a ploy. You will remember that when he makes his first appearence in The Wastlands, he goes by Richard Fannin. But he says that "that isn't right either, but it will do for government work". Just like when he says his name is Flagg. Roland said, "Marten, or Maerlyn, or whatever you call youself now..." And The Ageless Stranger replied "Flagg, actually." It is obvious that he is only using other names as a ploy. Oh, and Roland will kill Flagg, it has been fortold in The Gunslinger.
Flagg is not The Crimson King. He is just a minion of him. The Crimson King is whatever is causing the decay in The Dark Tower. And The Crimson King is not The Beast. The Beast is the last guardian before Roland can enter the tower. And Roland will kill The Beast. It has been fortold in The Gunslinger.
Everything that I have said, with the exception of the first part of 3 is all true and not theory. Everything is in the series. There are some discepencies. Such as how Walter and Roland talk about Marten and how Roland killed Marten three years after his return from Hambry and Mejis. But when The Ageless Stranger appears at the end of DTIV, he is Marten. So that means that either King made a mistake, or that Roland didn't kill Marten the first time, because it wasn't the right moment. But Roland will kill him. From here on out, all things said are just my theorys.
That Thunderclap is NYC is not true. In the afterword, it says that there will be (probably) three more books, one set in NYC dealing with the rose. So that means that Thunderclap is the place of the dead, just like the vision in the Wizard's Glass. The theory that it is infested with vampires and Father Callahan is there is very probable, but of that I would be surprized. I would say that here we will learn most of Rolands past, and he will come to terms with it. The ghosts of Susan and Cuthbert and Alain will be there, along with Roland's mother. And they will finally convince Roland that their deaths were not his fault, only the fault of ka.
The book on NYC and the Rose will probably be book #6, and will deal with saving Eddies and Susan's and Jake's world from moving on. How is anybodys guess.
The last book will be the final journey to the Tower, and the saving of it, if it comes to that. If I had to wager on whether Roland is alone or with his ka-tet, I'd put my money on him being alone. Althought it could go either way. Remeber the seventh card, which is life. That may be for the rest of the ka-tet, or for the Tower itself, or for life in general. Who can say, except King himself? Any way it goes, the end to the Dark Tower series will be the masterpiece and centerpiece of King's career. I wouldn't be surprized if the end isn't relesed after his death or retirement. Not surprized at all.
In the end, Roland will somehow save the Tower and all exsistance with it. But it won't last. Because The Crimson King, whoever he may be, is not the last or only evil in the world. The Tower will come under attack again, and there will be need for another Gunslinger to save it. Ka is a wheel, you know...

Sean writes:

These theories are amazing. I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but this is my theory:
    I think that Ronland will die, but death will only send him to the tower. Didn't the bald guys in Insomnia say that in the upper floors there was a big battle going on? That floor will be like a whole other world, and he will meet up with his old ka-tet while Eddie and gang will trek to the tower on foot.
    Something interesting: I have had many debates with science teachers, etc. about millions of worlds in each atom, and that we were just a sub-atomic particle for other worlds.
    I'm 15, and havn't read alot of old King, so I can't coment on that.

Scott writes:

I like the idea of the boy Pat from "Insomnia" being Roland's son, but I think King will have a tough time explaining how it came about that Pat travelled into Roland's world.
One thing I noticed while reading DTII: the directions (North, East, South, West) are messed up. While walking north on the beach, the sea to the west is to Roland's right, and the hills to the east are on his left. While walking north, the sea (west) should be on his left and the hills (east) should be to the right. Just another example of his world really moving on, I guess. Or maybe, because King repeatedly mentions the directions, of his world being a mirror of our own.
I've had some thoughts about the cards with which Walter showed Roland his future in DTI. Three have obvious implications (Jake, The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows). Regarding the rest: I'm thinking of the play "No Exit" by Sartre, where the characters "die" and are doomed to spend eternity in a kind of pergatory for their sins. Walter covers Roland's card with the Tower card, implying that the Tower consumes him. Walter draws the Death card, "but not for you," and the Life card, again "not for you." My thought is that when/if Roland gets to the Tower, he will need to sacrifice himself to fix whatever is wrong with it. It will draw from his life-force, thereby taking his life but not actually killing him. He will exist in a kind of eternal pergatory to allow others to exist and have the life that was not for him.
Regarding Flagg and Marten: In DTI, I don't think King had much of an idea what was going to happen next or who Marten or the Good Man actually were. I think eventually they will end up being the same person, but not because King envisioned it that way, but just because that's the way it turned out. There are too many inconsistencies between the books for him to have done it on purpose.

I have lots of ideas of what may happen next in the series, but I'm sure they're wrong. King's imagination runs much deeper than mine. I don't like the idea of Roland's ka-tet fighting hordes of vampires though. Much too corny. The idea of King himself heading up the DT is interesting, but would be a great disappointment. Anyway, that's my two cents. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's theories. Keep them coming.

Jonathan writes:

Anyone who has read all King's works will at once recognize the pivotal and important role they play in his works. King NEVER lets kids die in his books in which he has really become invested. Although it seemed that Jake did--King couldn't actually allow it to happen, and brought him back. For other examples see Gage in P.S., Kyra in Bag of B, and the kids in Regulators and Desp. King just doesn't have the ability to actually let the kids die--probably stemming from his own experiences w/ Tabitha. If you can't feel the love he pours out in Bag, you better re-read it. Same goes for Jake.
Therefore, you know that Jake is going to continue to the Tower in any work that King really feels passionately about. And I think that after DT3, where the machine people threaten to molest Jake, and KIng basically leaves them to a fate worse than Sodom and Gomorrha, we can conclude that he is invested in this one too.

bjmosl writes:

I am an extreme King fan and feel that the DT series is most definately King's greatest work. All other novels basic offshoots, supporting, and giving small details into the mystery of Roland and his quest. I feel that King himself is on a quest to his own dark tower, obviously, the end of the saga. I feel that Flagg is the same wizard form Wizard and Glass, the one who killed King Roland. And it is the other son, (name escapes me) who has taken his father's name sake and is out for vengance. Its in my opinion that King is simply writing one giant novel, all of them connecting through Ka-tet. When Roland reaches the Tower "alone"(he will have to choose between his friends and the tower, and he will choose the tower), only King knows what will happen. But I definately agree with the notion that all of King's novels will be wrapped up at the end. So when King decides what his own "Dark Tower" is and how he will reach it, Roland will also. Basically, Roland is King. King Roland.

Kevin writes:

Ok, this is my first posting.. I'm not exactly an expert, but I've told this theory to a friend of mine, and he said it made alot of sense... Lets talk about Randall Flagg. Some people say he may have been human and give his power by the Crimson King, but most people agree he is under the Crimson King. If Flagg used to be human or not though, he still thinks on his own. All of the "evil" in Kings books seem to want death, destruction, horror, whatever, but there is one thing they don't want, there own death. They want to survive.. So why would Flagg, being able to think on his own, want to help the Crimson King in destroying Roland and The tower. If the Tower goes, so does the world, so does Flagg. He has fought so hard to stay alive, so why would he aid anothers plans for destruction, when he would die from it.
My theory, Flagg is a puppet master. People say he is Rolands Father. He gave birth to the person who would fix the tower. Could Flagg actually be plotting against the Crimson King? Why not, who could Flagg take out easier, The crimson King, Or Roland? He could even assist Roland in defeating him and saving the tower. And even If Flagg didnt' kill Roland, Flagg would live.
Then again, Flagg wants to rule, not be second, he wants it all. The Plague in the stand, and all the other things he has done, has weakend the tower, and his possible son is going to fix it.. Has he planned this all out, is he pulling the strings. One big distraction to take over? Stephen King loves ironry, and what ironry it would be to have one of his most hated and evil charecters save the tower from the Crimson King, and save the world, jsut so he can rule it.....

sith25 writes:

Hello Constant Readers,
    I have been reading through these theories and I've found some of them to be quite good. However, I must correct one misconception that appears in many of these theories. FATHER CALLAHAN IS NOT A VAMPIRE !!!!!!!!!!
    Barlow made him drink his blood. He never bit him. By drinking Barlows blood Callahan became off limits to the other vampires. He was the Masters prperty. Barlow even said "You would welcome the oblivion of my death now, I think. There is, perhaps, a more fitting punishment for you false priest." The only way Callahan could be turned would be if Barlow claimed him. Since Callahan left town before Barlow could do that he can not be a vampire.
    I do agree that Thunderclap will be inhabited by vampires and that Callahan will be there as well. I think the reason that Callahan is there is to help Roland and his Ka-tet reach the tower by aiding them against the vampires. Not only will Callahan help to save the Tower but he will also be redeeming himself by re-proving his faith in the White. That is the only way Callahan can obtain spiritual peace and a release from his purgatory.
    As for who will reach the Tower, I think only Eddie, Roland, and Jake will survive the quest to reach it. Susannah and Oy will not. I think Susan is going to fall victim to the vampires. Much like Susan Norton did in Salems Lot. I don't know how Oy will die.
    Who will enter the Tower is another question entirely. I think only Jake will enter. I think Eddie and Roland will die at the door. Probably in a battle with Flagg. Jake will best the Beast (It will not be IT ! Sorry, SK is not that lame. That is more of a Dean Koontz trick !!) and enter alone. Will he conquer? I don't know.
    If Jake is pure and stands tall he may defeat the Crimson King. (i picture the Crimson King as a Force, like Sauron in LOTR) He may not. We'll just have to wait and see.
    Please keep in mind that I could be wrong. I'm not the author so I don't know what will happen but this seems right to me.
    And remember, The Tower is closer !!

Joshua writes:

I agree that the Beast is not It. That wouldn't be all that King-ish. Admittedly, Walter calls the Beast It with a capital i in DT1, however, i believe that Walter only capitalized It because the Beast is a higher power like God and Satan and the Crimson King. And whenever higher powers are referred to in works of literature, their names are always capitalized. Kind of like referring to God as He or Him. Furthermore, i also agree with the theory that Roland WILL reach the Dark Tower alive. But i don't think he will have to spend eternity in some sort of purgatory so that everyone else will live. Roland's life has been nothing but pain. He lost his family, his friends, his one true love and everything he held dear. His LIFE was purgatory. Just my opinion.

werewulff writes:

I believe that I have found an important connection between the Dark tower and one of SK's other stories, A short in 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' called Crouch End, in which an American couple in England stumbles into a dark suburb of London, where they meet numerous monsters, including a deformed little boy who refers to ' The Eater of Dimensions' (aka "It'" the Eater of Worlds").
    At the beginning of Crouch End, a London cop refers to the world being like a big leather ball, being rubbed and scuffed until thin and even non-existent in some places. Sounds sort of like a thinny, huh?
    I believe that Crouch End may play a major part in DT 5, 6, or 7. I believe that Crouch End exists in our world, the world from which Eddie, Susannah, and Jake were drawn, and in which Eddie remembers watching the movie, "The Shining". I believe that it is the site of a major thinny, right here on our world, and that Roland and his ka-tet will find themselves there sometime in one of the future DT books. I also think that it is there that they will face It.
    I also find it interesting that death is a way into the gunslingers world. This means that anyone who's ever died in a King book could turn up. At any moment the ka-tet could encounter the Trashcan Man, Jack Torrance, Stanley Uris (from It) Harold Lauder or Nick Andros.
    But the most important bit of advice I can think of for Roland was spray-painted on a sign on the downwared slope of the Kansas turnpike, somewhere, somewhen: WATCH FOR THE WALKIN DUDE.

Trix Rabbit writes:

Melissa writes:

Just a couple of corrections on some of the theories I have read here:

King DOES kill children. He doesn't have a problem with that at all. (Gage-Pet Semetary, Tad-Cujo, "Pie"-Desperation, Georgie-It, -- the list goes on & on) I heard King say once, (many years ago) that he writes about bad things happening to children so nothing happens to his own. Just wanted to point that out.
Oy will be impaled on a tree. Roland saw it in the wizard glass.
Suzannah will die giving birth to a demon. King said that in an interview. He said, "that thing inside her is pretty pissed off & it just 'aint gonna let her live".
Roland "will kill every one and every thing he has ever loved".
He will reach the tower alone and it will be shut against him.

These are not theories. These are right there in the books. As for the rest of the theories, many sound entirely plausible, and reading them is helping me wait for the next one, (which, by the way won't come out until 2001!!) Well, that's all I have for the moment.

Starfisher writes:

Personally, it was scary as hell to hear "Call me Walter. Good old Walter, that's me." He and Jonas beging to Palavar much as Walter would some fourty years later with Roland on that beach before he lost his fingers. And the glass, the "grapfruit", is part of Mearlyn's Rainbow, the Wizard's Rainbow. Marten also has been know as Mearlyn, though he doesn't deny being called that. he even admits it to Andrew Quick, the supposed grand son of Lord Perth. Calling him self Flagg was equally terrifying, for Eyes of the Dragon was the first book of his that I've ever read. He wrote it for his daugter for her thirteenth birthday, and seams the most fairytaleish of all his stories. My father gave it to me to read after I turned thirteen as well. I've been hooked on it since.
Now for the good stuff. Did no one else realized the connection between the fourth book and the Wizard of Oz? It not only screams at you when Marten screams it at the ka-tet, but it does it in far simpler ways as well. Roland's ka-tet is the same as Dorthy's ka-tet in the Wizard of Oz. Despite what you might think and what Eddie says about Roland not looking much like Judy Garland, Roland is Dothy none the less. He wants to go home. Oy is the only obvious answer in being Toto. Eddie fits the persona of the tin Woodman who is at first all buisness and who can chop down doors in the Witches Castle(aka the Dark Tower), but trully had an extreamly sentimental heart. He nearly cries any time that he talks about his brother. He almost takes his head with his after the shoot out at Balazar's. Susanna is the Cowarly Lion. A split personality if every there was one. Trying to cover up their courage with cowardlyness covered up wtih courage. Susanna covered up with Detta covered up with Oddeta. Jake is the Scarecroww. "But Roland met Eddie on the beach first" you say. True. But he met Jake first, out there in the desert before he even knew that he would ever meet Eddie. Doesnt' Dorthy meet the Scarcrow first? Seamingly full of goodspirits and a little absent minded at times, they both pull it together when they nead to. the Scarcrow inside the Witches Castle, and Jake when he shoots the Tick-Tock man. (There is also a whole book writen about the Tick-Tock man of Oz. Yet another creapy as hell connections that the Master has made for us.) Scarcrow falls apart when he's set on fire,(and pulled apart by the flying monkeys). Jake when he sees Tick-Tock alive, not necissarily well. And, of course, the red shoes. they all get red shoes for Steven is right(also notice, Steven is Roland's father's name), they all really want to go home in a sence, but Roland more than the others because he never really can. He was never able to go home again once he saw that his mother and the Wizard, for that is really what Marten is, were in the sac and not looking for hay. The Oz theam may continute on, but it seams athat it may be only in that book. Besides, I don't think we're in Kansas any more Oy. Or Mid-World for that matter. We may never be again. I'm just waiting for Susan to show up again with Roland's child. "There are other worlds than these."

Brian writes:

I like the idea of the only way to get into Roland's world is death, but I don't lke the idea of Roland's ka-tet fighting vampires with Father C. from Salem's Lot. I justed completed Hearts, and that book throws a new tist in the epic saga. The " low men" need Ted's ability to use him as a " breaker " for the Beam. Ted doesn't want to go with them, but he fears they will also take his young friend Bobby, who has dreams of the Tower, with them also. Ted offers his help with " breaking" the beam and giving information on a gunslinger and his friends. This might bring a new obstacle to Roland. The saga is too complex for anyone but King to give a theory, but I have enjoyed reading everyones.."

James writes:

I have read many of the theories on this site, and they have given me much to think of. I agree and disagree with many of them. I do agree about the vampires infesting Thunderclap. Not only with the Salem's Lot connection, but the Eluria story as well (the fact the sisters had the sign of the Tower on their uniforms gives that away). The point that young Patrick of Insomnia will play a part during the climax of this story is also for certain.
    But I'm still trying to figure out the character in Storm of the Century.
    Is this 'Legion' character Flagg? Is Ralphie like a new secret weapon against Roland's ka-tet? I think RF's fears Roland and is getting desperate and recruiting a new dark wizard to fight the battle to come.
    According to SK's people, Dark Tower V is coming out 2001 if 'all goes well'. I'm hoping this comes to pass, because the world continues to 'move on' and King isn't getting any younger.
    I know that some of the ka-tet will die, but whoever's left will stand and be true... and I hope I'm there to see it!

David writes:

Here is a theory:
    In the fourth installment of the Dark Tower series as Roland recaps his past he mentions that the demon [wizard, man...whatever] had, "sharp cunning little teeth". The same can be said of the master vampire[ that big white thing with the sharpe teeth ] in the book "Salem's Lot". So, I believe that whatever is waiting for Roland's Ka-tet in the land of Thunder Clap shall be somehow related to this master vampire, [ I'm to lazy to reread the book ] and that father Callahan shall be the one to warn Roland's Ka-tet of this evil being [ possibly Flagg himself ] in the land of Thunderclap. In other words, Callahan is waiting in Thunderclap to warn Roland and company of the evil awaiting them.
    Also I think that This being Flagg is controlling the destiny of Roland. When Roland arrived at the desert dwellers hut there was this bird, Zoltan. Zoltan kept on repeating tha sound... "Tak". As you all know the evil force [ spirit, whatever] in Desperation was called Tak. Tak [ Flagg ] in the form of this crow Zoltan saw Roland and set a very sly trap by transporting into our world and taking control of the Pusher [ preist ]. He then killed Jake so that Jake could come into Roland's world and...alas! A pawn. Knowing Roland's romantic nature, Flagg knew that Roland would soon grow to love the boy, thus this sets up the next trap. Flagg would lead the man in black into the mountains were he could set up the boy's death. Giving Roland the choice between the boy and the tower is something that would destroy Roland, but in the end Roland would always choose the Tower. Not only is Roland feeling like a piece of crap... but this is another of many companions lost during his quest for the Dark Tower. But that's not all, this sets up for the next trap. Flagg sets three doors on the beach and gives Roland three more companions: The Prisoner, The lady of Shadows and the Pusher. More love and death for Roland. But the worst trap of all is that the Pusher is the man that killed Jake so Flagg puts Roland in a time just before Jake is killed. Gee, I wonder what Rolands' gonna do...kill the boy again??? I don't think so. Once again Flagg thinks of Roland's romantic nature and makes the correct assumption, Roland saves the boy. Roland's setting trap after trap for himself. Now not only is Roland going crazy but so is Jake. Was there ever a Jake? Why do I remember him then? Flagg is just slowing Roland down because....Here it is the most important thing of all... Flagg WANTS THE TOWER TOO!!!! Roland may get there first so Flagg is slowing him down but in the mean time Roland is also showing Flagg the way to the Tower. It's been like this since the begining of Roland's existence. Flagg started the whole trip west when Roland was fourteen by controlling Marten. Roland then met Susan who caused Roland to mess with the Ball [ The Wizard's Rainbow ] in the first place which started the whole Damn trip to the friggin' Tower!! ROLAND HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT AN INSTRUMENT HIS WHOLE LIFE. A DEVICE TO FIND THE TOWER!!!! A PAWN!!! ROLAND'S WHOLE LIFE IS BASED ON FLAGG!!!! ROLAND IS FLAGG'S PUPPET!!!! Roland has loved but only cuase Flagg want's it. Roland has felt pain cause Flagg wants it.
    The final battle at the tower will be Flagg and Roland; God versus Lamb; Puppeteer versus Puppet. And thats were Callahan must step-in and warn Roland.....TOODLES

Lady Jaguar GoldenEyes writes:

After many years of following this ****ing thing (I started reading when I was 10), it looks like the end is finally in site, so I'm theorizing while I can. I'm pulling from everything I've read, which is all the DT books so far, Insomnia, The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, and Hearts In Atlantis (no I haven't read Little Sisters of Eluria, my friend won't let me have his copy :( ).

If Roland, as he swore, takes down the Dark Tower then the world is doomed, dead, where am I going and why am I in this handbasket. I'm guessing this is so because of what Brautigan said in Hearts in Atlantis (read it, it's sad, it's depressing, read it anyway). He said that there was a gunslinger who had reached the beginning of End-World, presumably Roland and Co., and that the low men in yellow coats, the Breakers, presumably the bad guys, were trying to destroy the Tower. Whups.
I think Flagg, and the Tick Tock Man, and various and sundry others, maybe even Walter, are trying to goad Roland into doing their dirty work for them because he and his friends might actually be a threat.
I think Susannah's going to die. They've already killed off one Susan, and it would probably turn Eddie into something like Roland, which might not be such a bad thing in the long run.
Don't believe everything you read in the books. It can always change; since our own future is malleable, why should their future be any less?
People like Walter and Brautigan (are they the same person? Their stories are similar, they worked for the baddies and now they seem to be free-lancing. Oh well.) are going to make the difference. Not Roland and his band, and not Flagg. It's the little things like Walter egging Roland on with the Tarot, and Brautigan going back and escaping the Breakers a second time, that are going to tip the balance of power one way or the other. Like in The Stand, where the Trashcan Man sent everything wrong.
Life, but not for you, said Walter. If this is true, then I think everyone's going to die by the end of the book, leaving Roland essentially an empty, emotionally dead shell. That's not any sort of a life I'd want. Life, but not for him.
Yes, Susannah's baby is a demon. After all this it'd just be anticlimactic if it weren't.
I dont' know what's going to happen to Jake, but wouldn't it be damn ironic (and really morbidly funny) if Eddie were the one to drop him a second time instead of Roland? If Eddie loses Susannah and turns into a second baby Roland like I theorized above, it becomes quite possible. That'd be sick, twisted... and somehow I can see it. I wonder if SK can.

And just a whine: Am I the only one here who wants to see more of Walter? He was cool, dammit! :)
That's all for now... holding my breath till 2000 or so when DT5 comes out!

Werewulff writes:

Okay, its me again. I've been thinking, and I've come up with a few theories.

In 'It', the Gardener family is supposed to have some connection to It. It is a Gardener that first finds Georgie, and a Gardener that discovers Its first victim when It comes back. Now, this is just a shot in the dark, but has anyone considered that Jim Gardener could show up to help fight it? I mean, we know that The Tommyknockers happened in the same world as It (Haven is mentioned several times). And doesn't Jim talk about seeing a clown in the sewers when he was a kid? I'd also like to point out that 'It' happened in the same world as The Dead Zone and The Shinig (Mikes father knew Dick Hallorann; for the details, read the part about the Black Spot).
The ka-tet has contracted the superflu!
As for villians that might show up, what about the mysterious managment from The Shining? The thing that Dick saw in ' the shape of a huge, obscene manta'? Then theres always He Who Walks Behind the Rows.
I've heard speculation that rolands world is the same world as The Stand in the far future. This cannot be since there is no mention of future technology (like Blaine) in The Stand.
I'm pretty sure Mother Abagail wil show up somewhere. After all, Roland says that they may have business with the 'old woman' and the 'dark man' yet. And since it turns out that they do have business with the dark man, it only stands to reason.
The crow, Zoltan, in the first DT book, was none other than Flagg.
Linoge is NOT Flagg!

Thats all for now.

T N T writes:

Thought you might like to know: In the version of Childe Rowland I was able to obtain, Rowland's sissy or somebody gets captured by the faeries and taken to the Elf King because she ran widdershins around a church. His two older brothers go and they get don't come back. So the kid gets daddy's sword and is told by Warlock Merlin to kill anyone he meets on his way to the dark tower and not to eat anything. He asks these 3 people in turn for help on the way and kills them after they tell him where to go. When he gets to the place of the dark elf, if it pent shut against him. He went round 3 times saying the little chant and the door closes with a click behind him. He sees twilight or gloaming inside, and weird rocks. Rowland fights and fights with the Dark Elf, beating him to begging for mercy. The Elf King then lets Sis go with a few words and anoints the ears, eyelids, nostrils, lips and fingertips of the two "soul-departed" bros. Then they all go home to Mom the Queen.
    Oh yeah. There are a lot of things mentioned in Dark Tower I (my personal fave of them all) that were never mentioned again, our almost completely contradicted in later books. I hate to expose errors of my favorite writer, but he is just a guy. The continuity of his books is kinda going to crap. What ever happened to the fifth khef or eighth khef mentioned in the first book, or the wind chimes? I think some of the names have changed too, Allen, Alain? I think Mr. King was just having a blast ripping right through the allusion-candy and only later considered actual continuity... I bet making all this stuff fit is a really big pain. Oh, not sure but I think the thinnys are kinda like the dead lights. The Beast guards the Tower, and there is no bigger baddie. Flagg is to Beast as Walter was to Flagg.
    Another interesting note: all evils in King books seem to come back after or linger after defeat. But if the Dark Tower series is the Story to End All Stories, I think King should pull out all the stops and close the darn wheel if he's gonna kick the bucket.
    The Dark Tower, as mentioned in the first book was a nexus of Size (of course, that Walter guy could have been wrong). But later, it seems to tie more of dimensions and times together. And everything is going to crud. I think that God was kicked out of the tower by the evils existing (and the evil is just really promoting chaos, much like modern teens) with a little help from the bumbling interference of the Great Old Ones (like the Tower of Babel, y'know) and now Roland, who has roared with the voice of a king from time to time, is up to get evil out and restore his world of "order, love and light." to come in. Great reading!!

Krytyn writes:

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!!!!! Why can't there ever be an ending to a Dark Tower book that can at least slake your thirst for the next book until it comes out?!? I just finished The Dark Tower IV and I'm so depressed. Anyway, I just have a couple of thoughts, but I'm not sure have been stated or not. If they have, cry your pardon.
    Okay, first off in book one Roland calls Marten the good man. And we know that Marten Broadcloak= Flagg (R.F. Now, the Good Man is called John Farson in book four, which indicates either that not all of his alternate names have to have the initials R.F., or that there are two Good Men). Now, he said that he is not Maerlyn, and when he said that he was described thusly:
    "The stranger standing in front of the hatch wore a short, dark jacket belted at the waist, faded denim trousers, and old dusty boots." And he calls himself Fannin; Richard Fannin (not exactly right, but I reckon it's close enough for government work).
    But then in book four Roland asks him what he calls himself
    (But i think I will, Marten...or Maerlyn...or whatever you call yourself now...)
    now and the creature says, "Flagg, actually." At this time he is described: "He was wearing jeans, a dark jacket that belted at the waist, and old, rundown cowboy boots. On his jacket was a button that showed a pig's head with a bullet-hole between the eyes." Now, he is not Maerlyn or Merlin but doesn't deny being him, and if he is the same Flagg from The Eyes of the Dragon (which I believe he is, because even if they are not the same worlds, there are doors), then he has had many, many alternate names, with Bill Hinch being one of them, proving that not all of the alternates have to have the initials R.F. Now, I did have one interesting thought: what if Flagg has a twin brother? Perhaps one that is not evil like him; almost like the little Blaine that coexisted with big Blaine. Now, this twin would have to work behind the scenes, because if he was caught by his brother it would almost certainly mean death, and he would have to become slightly evil himself, to know how to think like his brother. What if this good twin is the one known as Maerlyn?
    This good twin would follow behind his brother, attempting to set right some of the things his twin wronged. And that would include setting in motion some of the things which are happening in the story, like bringing the boy to the way station. This line of thought has you rethinking some of the preconceptions that you hold, does it not? And if he has Flagg's ability to change his face, as did
    (the Man In Black)
    Walter, what would keep him from pretending to be Walter? And why would he have died after the palaver in book one? If he is Flagg's twin, then he is also Ageless.
    Okay, enough about those people or that person or whatever. On to the Tower.
    First off, I think that the Great Old Ones are us slightly in the future. Walter says that the Tower has always been, but the odds of that, even in a fiction universe, are astoundingly against that happening. So the Tower is a thing that was not intentionally built as a time machine, but existed in all time once it was completed. The Old Ones realized the threat of possible alternate universes and times and realities seeping through the Tower, and so built Portals that supply the necessary power to keep that from happening. And to protect the Portals they built Gaurdians. Because if someone can destroy the Portals enough to get in the Tower, that person would have access to all time and space. That person would rule the universe indefinately. So the Old Ones put more nasty little surprises in the Tower. A Beast. A Crimson King. The ghosts of all the departed of that world, hoping that that would deter anyone from entering the Tower.
    But to keep these forces in check was difficult. They started to seep out of their containment, and to weaken the devices which kept the Tower from ruining the world. Because, as King said in EotD, all things that are evil want only to cause mischief and destroy.
    I'm afraid that that is all that is coming to me now. I may post another theory later. I have only had the benefit of reading EofD and TDT series to help me, as well as reading a few of the theories here, so please don't become overly angry with me on anything I may have missed because of another book. TTFN

Karl writes:

As you may have noted the title of the poem King bases the whole series on ( and maybe all of his writing on) is Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came. Is it not possible that when the demon baby is born that somehow our beloved Ka-tet turns this baby to the good side? In this battle Roland might die and the three humans left rename the baby Roland in honor of our original Gunslinger. Then the new Roland is brought up on the quest of the remaining Ka-tet members. Finally they die in the confromtation just before the Tower and Roland remains and reaches the Tower alone. This comes from the part of the title of the poem that says Childe Rolland. By no means is the original Roland a child anymore and King is very faithful to that poem.
Another thing, in the book Hearts In Atlantis there is a story called Low Men In Yellow Coats. In this story there are two sides of the Tower, the Beamers and the Breakers. These don't come up in any of the Dark Tower books. Could it be that Roland has been sent to reunite the Tower between the Beamers and the Breakers. Ted Brautigan in Low Men does say '' There is a new Gunslinger admsit us''. I wonder if that was one of the Rolands, most likely the new Roland.
One of the other theories on your page suggests that King has already written DT5. I think King will not release the last books until after he dies. He sure came awfully close this year.!!

A. Whymsicality writes:

Ohkeigh..... so i didn't actually read every one's posts, so i may be reposing but shucks little trail hands, if you've read all the books at least twice ya may as well read one or two theories from this tuckered out pardner.....
    Oh me oh my though.... what if MY theories turn out to be spoilers?
    Wouldn't that just be sad..... wouldn't that make me a baaaad little boy?.... and you KNOW bad little boys must be punished.....
    Ah.... there.... i vented a few of those fabled connections to other books..... why... you might even call them BEAMS if you were so inclined mightn't you?...
    And SPEAKING of beams..... doesn't ever single little one of those beams have a guardian animal of some sort? Why i seem to remember a turtle mentioned... and there was a nasty cyborg ugly bear to play with..... but the bear was bad and the turtle is good (balance much?)..... though both fairly... well.... easily beatable.... of course they just didn't seem to be in charge of anything important.... i mean, the bear was guarding a clearing in the woods... and the turtle... well it's name isn't exactly a renaissance artist's now was it? But imagine for a moment another little beam... that intersects someplace IMPORTANT..... like a place where several powerful and good children live.... say... Derry for instance.... mightn't one of those big scary animals be... oh i don't know... a spider type beastie?
    And the sarcasm ran rampant in the streets..... it was rather sad really..... that cute little sarcasm biting people's ankles off.... until somebody thought to step on it.... it was a kid actually... grown-up's never remember to fight the REAL monsters.... they get lazy after only having to fight with management and mountain dew addictions....
    But of course good old Roland will make it to the tower alone.... even though Eddie, Susannah, and jake are ALL children to HIS world.....
    Ah well.... ask the ancient one..... if they actually care whether or not they care anymore.....!!

racapri writes:

Haven't posted a theory in a while; there haven't been many new clues......However-just finished Hearts in Atlantis.........OK, apparently the Crimson King ("All things serve the King") has in his power a group of individuals who have the ability to traverse time and space and manipulate reality accordingly; they are called "Breakers". Some, like Ted in "Low Men", are forced into this occupation against their will...Their job is to "break" the "beams" that radiate like spokes from everyones favorite nexus-of-all-realities the Dark Tower. By unbalancing the beams they can apparently cause the Tower to fall. Now what this means to the Crimson King's agenda is unclear....but I think it relates to the idea (and I think someone above mentioned it) that Roland may be being goaded by some other force into reaching the Tower. Roland's mission is definitely to save the tower though, not to bring it down.
Now.....that seemed to be the only bit of new Dark Tower information in King's new novel (which on it's own is really a pretty good book).....however.....if you read a couple of parts very closely.......you'll find a few more pieces of the puzzle are fleshed out......When Carol Gerber leaves school and later takes to the life of guerilla-hippie, she falls in with a militant activist group....This group bombs a campus building that was supposed to be empty but it detotonates at the wrong time killing some people. A witness later remembers seeing Carol in the auditorium before the bomb went off.....Carol was supposedly in tears and being made complacent by a dark young man with long hair....we later learn that man is the leader of Carol's group....we later learn that, after a shoot-out, all the members of this group are dead save Carol and this young man....a man whose name we later learn to be Raymond Fiegler!....Yes it looks like Bobby Garfield's childhood girlfriend spent the latter half of the 60's and most of the 70's and 80's running around with our good buddy Randall Flagg...The RF similarity isn't the only one though..at the end of the book Carol thinks to herself about how Fiegler taught her the art of being "dim" which is like invisibility but not quite.....what other practicer of the art of "dim" do we know?...why Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon, of course....I think this helps to put that debate to rest as to whether or not the Flagg of the DT was the same as EOTD...I think Steve King put that in there for us to make that indirect connection....I also think the way some of the way this information is presented also points to the Crimson King and Flagg being two different people as well......"information" seemed to be a big theme in HIA.....which reminds me......does anyone know what that little equation (heart + peace = information) is supposed to mean and why Carol cries when she reads it?...I have yet to really figure that out.....somebody post a theory.........!!

babsy writes:

hallo, mein name ist babsy, und mit viel Ineresse habe ich versucht die Theorien über die zusammenhänge des Turm und den anderen geschichten zu lesen. Leider ist alles in Englisch, und obschon ich mir ein Übersetztungsbuch gekauft habe, komme ich nur schwerlich mit der Übersetzung voran. gibt es das denn nicht in deutsch??.
Aber nun kurtz zu meinen persönliches entfindungen. Ich galube fast daran das Roland seinen Turm mit seinem Ka-tet erreichen wird. Möglich, das es wunschdenken ist, doch bin ich auch der meinnung, das er einen viel zu wichtigen Teil in dieser geschichte spielt. Schließlich un endlich dreht sich doch alles um ihn. Die tatsache das er sein erstes ka-tet verlohren hat, ist für mich eher der beweis, ds er auf sein zweites besser aufpassen wird. Und sagte er nicht auch zu jake, das er ihn nie wieder fallen lassen wird, auch wenn sein herz verzagt. es kam in einigen Theorien die Frage auf, was er den tun würde, wenn er den Turm erreicht, aber was dann? warum sollte sein leben damit beendet sein. Wieso sollte er nicht doch noch eine Frau finden, sie lieben und nach dem erobbern des Turmes ein schönes und erfülltes Leben haben. ich glaube, das auch eddi und susanna alt werden können, wenn auch nicht in entwelt, so doch aber inànderen Welten `denn wie wir wissen, gibt es davon eine menge. Warscheinlich wird der Turm eine art Richter sein für Roland, den er wird dort sicherlich alle , die mal eine Rolle gespielt haben in seinem Leben wiedertreffen. Wie das Urteil aussehen wird weiß ich nicht. Aber der Weg zum Turm ist ein konstantes Lernen für ihn. Und die tatsache das er wieder bereit sein kann zu lieben, macht das Urteil hoffendlich milder. Ich hoffe und glaube auch, das an der spitze des Turms steven King zu finden ist. ich denke, er wird zum schluß, alle antworten geben, die noch ausstehen..
babsy

Ignitowsky writes:

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." And, as we all know, the Gunslinger had traveled this desert for two months as the first book opens. We also know that the Gunslinger the only available source of fuel that the desert had to offer- devil grass. "The Gunslinger did not see, he slept........The wind moaned. Every now and then a perverse downdraft would make the smoke whirl and eddy toward him, and sporadic whiffs of the smoke touched him. They built dreams in the same way that a small irritant may build a pearl in an oyster. Occasionally the Gunslinger moaned with the wind." Apparently, Roland has been involuntarily smoking the devil grass every night for two months. Perhaps not every night, if the air was still, but probably on most. All of this leads me to a terrible thought. How can I believe anything that follows if Roland may be in the grips of a devil grass induced dream? Is he lying in a bed somewhere, perhaps being "nursed back to sanity" by Brown, the farmer he is soon to meet. Is the entire tale, from beginning to end, a hallucination, a dream? Unfortunately, the only way to know this would be to have King himself either confirm or deny this, either by clarifying in a later book, or by public statement. I love the series- I am finishing my fifth reading of the four books- and the possibility that I may be correct disturbs me greatly. I hope I am wrong.

Krytyn writes:

Okay, I had another thought about the entities—and I speak of everyone in the books now, not just Flagg/Marten and Maerlyn. Okay, I think this has already been proposed, but what if all of the people are just chess men in a game between Chaos and Order? And the Tower was actually a broadcasting tower that sent the thought impulses to them to do things? Now, imagine that one of the players is bored with the game and wants it to end forever. What would he do? Why, get one of the chess men to destroy the Tower, of course. And who would they get to do this? Well, who better than Roland?
    The Turtle tried to prevent him from destroying the Tower by killing him inside of the Wizard's Glass
    ("You will kill everything and everyone you love, and still the Tower will pent shut against you."
    "NO! IT WILL NOT STAND! WHEN I COME HERE IN MY BODY, IT WILL NOT STAND! I SWEAR ON MY FATHER'S NAME, IT WILL NOT STAND!"
    "Then die," the Turtle says, and Roland is hurled at the gray-black stone flank of the tower, to be crushed like a bug)
    and that raises an interesting question: wasn't his thought supposed to always be kind? Because I don't think that trying to kill someone without even really touching them is a very nice thing to do. So if there is a contradiction like that, what other contradictions might there be?

Funniest Man writes:

Alright, my brother ( Racapri ) got me hooked on Stephen King about two years ago with the first dark tower book.( I was then 13 ) Since then I have read, IT, Stand, Bag of Bones, EOTD, The Green Mile, The Shining, The Regulators, and am currently reading Hearts in Atlantis.
I have read everyone's theories so I guess I'll take my own crack at it now. First off, I am thinking about the theory that, at the top of the tower, will be Stephen King himself, and that he is the death of the tower as he moves further along into older age. While obviously I can't discount it, I would think that to be the most disapointing ending to an absolutely epic series. I personally think that King has been intertwining all of his stories, and much to his readers delight, he has done a damn good job at it. What I really think is interesting is the story in Hearts in Atlantis, about the breakers. The " low men in yellow coats " I think are actually minions of the Crimson King. I also agree that the Crimson King and Flagg are two different entities all together. In fact, in Hearts In Atlantis, it is said that the beams are protecting the tower, now why would the Crimson King be trying to get rid of them if he is in the tower? ( unless he is nuts and is under a " higher power's " command to destroy the tower ) Perhaps the Crimson King is an outside force, maybe he represents the destruction of the tower. Perhaps the Crimson King is what is actually breaking the tower down, and is actually not a force of Order nor Chaos but maybe outright evil, so along with the battles inside the tower ( was it Walter who said that the real battles were going on in the upper floors between order and chaos, I have forgotten who exactly said that ) the Tower, and all the dimensions in holds will come crumbling down unless Roland ( or someone damnit!! ) can stop the Crimson King and then stop whatever is going on inside. I hope that the breakers are mentioned maybe in the next Dark Tower novel. I think that Roland might even have to fight the Crimson King's minions before he can arrive at the doors of the tower, he will have to stop the outside influence before he can handle the inside. But, I also think that it is Jake, not Roland, who will be the actual hero of the tower.
Alright, I've said my peace I'll post at a later time after I finish with Hearts in Atlantis.

Tor writes:

I have seen many King movies and read a few novels of his, including the whole Dark Tower series so far. Anyways I have noticed that it all comes down to fate or Ka. The stories always want you to think something is random, when it is actually predetermined. I have noticed that the villain or someone else always gives the main characters a choice or a task to reveal who will be the chosen one or whatever may be the consequence. This is shown in EOTD when the judges for the trial are determined by the black and white stones, in The Storm of the Century, the stones appeared again with a much greater consequence, Lenoge took the child he wanted, and of course Lenoge culd just be another alias of Flagg, or could be one of the great "wizards" such as Flagg. Alos in IT when they chose who went into the smokehole, and the burnt match had dissapeared, making all go into the hole. And it is this thing called fate which has already been layed out for Roland by the cards shown by Walter. I also believe that King loves his Rock n' Roll. I alos belive he gets many of his ideas from these songs. One song that caught my interest in Wastelands, if I'm not mistaken, was Paint it Black. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, it seems as if everything is laid out for you. The obvious one is the color, black. Everything is black. The lyrics that caught my attention were "..with flowers and my love both never to come back", which I belive is Susan Delgado, and the rose. "answer my riddle..",I believe gave King the idea fo Blaine and his game of riddles. "I could not forsee this thing happening to you", this one I caqn not really explain clearly enough, I just believe that whatever happens to Rolands Ka-tet is unforseen by him, but not by a higher power, not Flagg, but perhaps the tower itself. This song was playing when Eddie had the dream about (been awhile since I read Wastelands) the druglords henchman who was killed by a lobstrosity. He was driving a bulldozer toward the rose, and King said the rose was in trouble. And what color is the rose? RED! " I see the red door and i want to paint it black.." The rose is the door, or key to the dark tower, if the rose is destroyed, they will never make it into the tower. But once again only fate (King) will decide that. Any comments welcome, I'd like to know waht you think the rose could mean.

Stephen writes:

hello.
    my name is stephen stanisic and i am an avid fan of stephen king. i check these theorys every week and have a print out of all of them which is about seventy pages long. anyhoo, i thought i would finally put in my own theory, which has probably already been mentioned, but i recently did an assignment at school on the dark tower and writing it down really clarrified things for me.
    some of this crap is probably wrong, but after reading hearts in atlantis i made a lot of assumptions that i hope are correct. here goes.
    the dark tower, that is, the nexis of all time and space, was made by the Great Old ones at the beginning of time. holding it together are twelve "beams" which all intersect in the middle, which is where the tower is located. atop of the tower resides a "beast", who, after careful consideration i have come to believe is NOT It. It landed in Derry when the world was just a blob of land. the beast has been the keeper of the tower for all eternity, and is infinitely more powerful than It, whom was beaten by a group of middle aged men and women who were all suffering from some mid life crises or another. so cross It out of the equation. THE BEAST is the keeper of the tower, and therefore rules all time and space. the "higher beings" who lachesis and that other bald doctor refer to in "insomnia" ARE high beings, but they are only higher than the bald doctors, NOT the beast. The beast is at the top. there are different floors in the tower, and other beings reside in these, each with their own job. that is the background of The Tower.
    NOW. A certain, sly character who we shall call THE CRIMSON KING is slowly taking over the Tower. it wants control of the tower so it can have control of the universe. to take over the tower this crimson king has recruited an unwilling band of characters( old ted brautigan among these) who have the rare ability to "break" the beams of the Tower. when the beams are broken, the King can rebuild the Tower as he sees fit, helped along by his minions, The low men(in yellow cots). unfortunately for him, he still has to reckon with the beast. that is the deal with the crimson king. and so we move on to a favourite character of mine. i sometimes strain to see his face but i never quite can make it out amongst the shadows that always seem to be dancing there. he is of course the ageless stranger. the walkin dude. maerlyn. richard fannin. but lets us just call him...flagg. flagg. the flagg of the dark tower, (that is, the ageless stranger, fannin at the end of the wastelands and the flagg in wizard and glass) is the same flagg that appears in the eyes of the dragon, the stand and as that "dim" character in hearts, who young carol stupidly becomes aqquainted with. his purpose is not yet clear to me, i am sorry to say. he does not want roland to reach the tower(yes, i finally mentioned roland), because roland is looking to stop the crimson king from breaking the tower and controlling the universe. therefore, flagg must be working with the crimson king(i say "working with" because i don't like to think of flagg working "under" anyone). flagg must have his own reasons for this, as he does not do anything for anyone as a favour.
    now i regretably leave our friend randy and move on to walter. what is the deal with this guy? roland chases him, and when at last he catches up to him, walter tells him everything with no hesitation, therefore HELPING roland. he is kind of evil(what with the unfortunate jake falling off the cliff, he wasn't too sympathetic there, eh?) but i can't believe that he is working on the side of the crimson king, and flagg. no, walter, snivelling weasel that he is, is working for the beast. you see, the beast wants roland to go the tower to STOP the crimson king, and the beast got one of his minions to tell walter to steer roland along the path to the tower. now, finally we reach roland and his merry band. not much to tell here, suprisingly, that actually has something to do with the tower. the beast is getting roland to go to the tower to stop the king. along the way he has to pick up his buddies( eddie, jake, sussanah and oy) to help him along the way. why? because when he reaches the tower or at least gets close, he may have to sacrifice a buddy or two to save the universe, harsh as it may sound. it has to be roland because......i don't know.
    let's just call it ka.
    and so, that is my take on the sordid little world, or rather, huge spanning galaxies of the dark tower. feel free to comment on any of my thoughts.
    thanks for giving my opinion your time.

Sshelby writes:

I think that it is amazing that nobody compares our world to the world of the dark tower, other than the references to NYC and other towns in the United States. King uses a lot of literary references in his work. One of the comments mentioned OZ. It is so obvious in the DTIV that they come to Oz, and Flagg sets himself up as the wizard. And the whole bit with the red shoes, for all of the ka-tet. What's that about? Also, I saw only one reference to the Tick-Tock man from DT III. He is going to make another appearance. Flagg comes to him at the bottom of the city, and tells him that they have a lot of work to do, and that they should get going. Tick-Tock should be more important than any crimson king. And all that refernce to IT, as the head of everything, that is bunk. Flagg is the head of it all. Flagg is the Anti-christ. He appears to Tick-Tock in the same kind of clothing he wears in The Stand, and he is wearing the same clothes in in DT IV. Now for our world vs. DT world. The Mayan religion believes in a Tree of life, that is protected by a snake. This tree of life stands at the center of all existance, and reaches into heaven, as well as hell. The Mayans also believed in the sacared power of animals, the Jagaur especialy. We haven't seen the appearance of anything like that yet, but I wouldn't be suprised. Also, I talked with a person once who said that the whole DT wheel with the animals is based on a religion from central america. I haven't found one more similar than the Mayas. As for literary refs.: King borrows from T.S. Elliot's Wastelands, E.E. Cummings, and others. Also, I think the band the Doors heavily influences Kings works. The song The End could describe the whole story, in a nut shell. It even has a ref. to everyones Crimson King, Kings Highway. The character who walks on down the hall is roland, who kills his father. The hall is the path of the beam. Its all so jumbled though, its hard to put all down. Anyway, those are my rambled thoughts.

Veit writes:

Hi, Here's Veit again. Right here from Germany!
    roland must save the Rose. The Rose is the entrance to the Tower. Even more, the Rose is the Tower. So it mentioned in DT3. I think the ka-tet will reach the Tower (Optimistic, or??). But who`ll survive at the end??? I can't say. Maybe only Jake!!!!!!!
    But I hope for a Happy End. Maybe Roland will die and wake up in a NEw World or on the highest Level/Floor of the Tower itself.
    `Cause remember: There're more Worlds than these??!!?!
    A rather dark aspect would be, if Susan D. (Roland's first and only Love) would be turn to the other Site. maybe after her Death she wake up in the court of the Crimson King. But I think its unprobable!!! But who knows??
    Thankee-Sai for listening or like we say in germany "Danke-Sai2 fürs zuhören. Ach, und ich bin für den Vorschlag von Babsy eine deutsche theorie-Seite anzulegen!! Tschüß Amerika

Dorthi writes:

Hey it's me Heavenly117!!!!!
I just wanted to say that i read over half of the theories placed on this page. Some poeple tore the book apart and looked for a deeper meaning. Well I have always believed that Stephen King's book are meant to read and enjoy. Not to be torn apart so see what might happen next. Just from reading and not analizing i have guess what most of you haev guessed. Roland will reach the tower but i have a feeling that will be two or three books away. He will be there with the rest except maybe Oy. i think he will be gone by then with Jake being furious at Roland for not saving him. Upon reaching the tower I think most will die and only Roland (maybe Jake) will be left. After the tower I think Roland will die and Jake will be left with a normal life. I also feel that Flagg (Marten) will reappear throughout the whole book but never will he die. He will live following Roland hoping that one day he can get revenge. When Roland dies I think that Flagg will die slowly.
Well i know you all feel different but that is what i think will happen to group. Like someone else said Ka is like the wind. And the funny thing is that i am also starting to believe that Ka is real. Well I hope to finish reading these so i'm off.

Krytyn writes:

Okay, I just finished reading INSOMNIA and all this talk about Short Timers and Long Timers—and of course, the All Timers—makes a lot more sense now. I feel capable of making some small pontifications about these things and others.
    Flagg is not an All Timer. If you read closely in EotD, it states that
    (Was he ever suspected?
    Yes, by a few—by historians and spinners of tales like me, mostly. They suspected that the man who now called himself Flagg had been in Delain before, and never to any good purpose. But they were afraid to speak. A man who could live among them for seventy-six years and appear to age only ten was obviously a magician; a man who had lived for ten times as long, perhaps longer than that... Such a man might be the devil himself.)
    very clearly. Long Timers live for centuries, but All Timers live so long that they appear not to age at all—or actually are immortal—to both Short and Long Timers. Flagg does not appear to be immortal, merely long-lasting. Hence, a Long Timer.
    When I was looking in my book for that passage (page 62. Or that's what it is in my book, anyway) I noticed something rather interesting, that I think should put to rest the argument over whether or not Flagg from EotD is the same one from TDT series. On page 66 in my book, it says that Peter's teachers welcomed him because he was an intellectual, and because he was brave, and because in him they saw the coming of the White. Capital "W" on that White. What other books have we seen "White" with a capital "W"? Why, The Dark Tower III, of course. Flagg is there, I think we all agree on that. Anyone who doesn't should reread the third and fourth books in TDT series, or post a theory explaining why they don't think that.
    Anyway, in The Wastelands the old woman in the village just outside Lud said that Roland and his band were the coming of the White. The good. "That ancient, resiliant, yet humble force that has redeemed humankind again and again and again."
    Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos have not made their last appearance, I think. Neither have Thomas and Dennis. Even if they only appear to stall for time, I think that each of these entities will show up again in the quest for the Tower.
    Roland will be the only one to reach the Tower. Everything King has written and is following seems to suggest this. In the poem, Childe Roland is the only one to reach the Tower. In the drawing that little Pat made, Roland stands in the field of roses around the Tower alone, with both guns on his waist. Obviously this means one of things: (1) Roland and his band get "patched up," and then the others are killed, leaving Roland to collect his guns and move on. (2) Roland decides that the rest of the trip is too dangerous for his mates and that he must go on without them. He takes his guns with him. (3) The band is killed, sparing only Roland. Roland "plods ever onward," as The Man in Black said he would, pausing only to collect his guns. (4) The rest of his band becomes afflicted with a strange case of insomnia, and they eventually disappear. This would have to happen some place a lot closer to the Tower than they are now, because even though time passes faster on higher levels, people can't stay on those levels for too long. I like this explanation the best, but there are many more. The limit is your imagination. However, I feel it is important that Roland has both guns, as he did in the drawing. As for the other figure in the drawing, the Red King, could he be the two red eyes in the dark cloud that was in Eddie's dream? Is he the Crimson King, or is there another king called the Red King? This would be a clever deception if that is in fact what King did. But that part is a fuzzy area. The picture did show fear on the Red King's face, though. Fear of Roland, the last Gunslinger. Fear of his intentions for the Tower.
    What are Roland's intentions for the Tower? Is it really to save the Tower? Or he is running a suicide mission similar to Ed's? After all, he doesn't have much to live for anymore. Not much at all. This isn't a particularly pleasant line of thought though, so I won't venture down that alley any farther. I think we all prefer to think that his intentions are good and that he will win.
    At any rate, I have written enough for now. I just have one further thing: I think Old Dor from INSOMNIA might be Maerlyn. Well, anyway, TTFN.

Rob writes:

Hey there--
    I, too share some of your confusion about the Flagg from the Dark Tower and the Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon. My gut belief (the belief I held right after reading Wizard and Glass) was that Roland had misidentified Flagg as Marten when they met at the end of Wizard and Glass. When Flagg responds to Roland's calling him Marten Broadcloak, Flagg never lays claim in an absolute negative or positive. He just says,"Flagg, actually." To me, upon reading this, it seemed that Roland was a bit hasty to call the wizard that stood before him Marten. Which may seem strange becaue this was a guy who had seduced his mother. The familiarity that Roland should have had with this man (or whatever) seemed more akin to the Flagg from EotD. Flagg mentions, as you say on your web page, that Roland had seen him (turn a man into a howling dog, in fact) and that Flagg had taken special note of Roland. This would almost seem to be a redundancy because we already know that Marten wanted Roland to fail as a gunslinger early in his career. This type of statement from Flagg makes it seem as if they are in fact different wizards and as I mentioned earlier, Roland was a bit hasty to call Flagg Marten.
    Another argument would be that if Marten, as Flagg, was aiding in the end of Roland's world then how the hell could he be off in Delain bringing about the end ofThomas and Dennis' world. I guess the easy answer to that would be that he travelled between the land and used the guise of Marten in Gilead. If you go to Jordan Lund's Dark Tower FAQ web page he makes mention that Marten, Flagg, and John Farson are all the same person. Oh well. I guess we'll have to wait until Dark Tower V comes out. Hopefully we'll learn a little more about the collapse of Roland's world where a lot of these events come into play.
    I'd love to hear your response to what I have just written.

muletuck writes:

Roland will make it to the tower. the katet will enter together. Roland will make a great sacrifice that enables the others to save the tower and the universe. The great evil will be a total of all the evil that king has made. the baby will be part human part demon. roland will return to his friends of old.the world will return to a king-like state of normalcy. The last dark tower novel will be the last king novel. that is all.

Tom writes:

I just spent a couple of hours reading the argument and many of the theories posted and was quite intrigued. I have read every King book, but until recently I just enjoyed the story in and of itself and then put the book on a shelf. The Dark Tower has changed that as I have begun to see all sorts of the parallels between many of his works. That said, my theory is this:
Stephen King's mind is the location of the Dark Tower. The brilliance and complexity of his work make analysis futile (however interesting and addicting the process may be). I seriously doubt if even King himself has all the explanations. King is writing his way to his own Dark Tower, discovering things about himself and his many worlds along the way. I believe that the end of the last book will suprise him as much, if not more, than any of us. And what ever that ending may be, the journey for him and us, will be at times frightening, funny, enlightening, and real. I can only hope that I complete the ride. Enjoy the trip!!!!!

Craig writes:

There is much incite and speculation on the Dark Tower. Is it another diminsion? Universe? Way station? What is it? I believe the dark tower is time itself. Time being the one constant that "changes" things. Time distorts what is normally perceived as reality. Many of King's works make references to time, bending it, tearing it. As for time going askew, i believe a celestial change has caused it. It is evident That roland and his mates are on earth. There are many hints to it. The newspaper rack, Topeka, gas pumps and so on. However, we also have mention of an alien starscape, lobstrosities, cyborgs and exotic supertrains. In that we have remnants of our own time and world, we have remnants of the near future, the distant future and the extreme distant future all crashing together. Extreme distant future is tens of millions of years in the future, as it will take that long for earth to navigate the Milky Way enough to actually alter our night skies. Therefore, time has obviously gone wrong, whether by nature or design has yet to be determined. The Tower will tell. And when Roland reaches the Tower--and he will as he is the chosen one--either he will right a wrong or it will be the end of existence. His fight with the dark man will determine who will possess the Tower and what they will do with it! Destroy it or realign it. I believe King will save this world, because if he ends this world he ends the dark man, and we can't have that!

Krytyn writes:

First off: tak. I remember reading on this board that Tak is the name of some creature, I think it was in Desperation. It is also the sound that Zoltan makes in The Gunslinger when he walks on the roof of the hut. I don't remember if this is on the board or not, though, so I will post it just in case. Tak is the noise that It made when It was walking on the smokestack in the form of the bird.
    Second: the number 13. Remember, this is the number of the Dark Tower and the Black 13, as Roland's father (I think it was him, anyway) called the black one of the Wizard's Rainbow. Or he might even have been referring to the Dark Tower. When everyone met the Werewolf in the house on Neibolt Street, the number 13 was on Its jacket. Also, the church bell rang 13 times on or near the time of Its defeat.
    There have been a lot of posts about whether It is the Beast that guards the Dark Tower. The number 13 seems to indicate this. A beast that could change its shape into your worst fear would be a pretty formidable foe indeed. Also, It says that It is the Kingfish. It is de Kingfish in Derry. And dat's de troof. Except, of course, the Kingfish is really a Queenfish. And the Queenfish is pregnant. This leads me to believe that the Crimson King is just another incarnation of It, of the Creature that lives in the deadlights. I don't think that It is dead.
    About the ka-tet, just because I don't think that all of them are going to make it doesn't mean that I think they will all die. I just don't think they will ultimately need to go to the Dark Tower. They each have some other purpose.
    One last thing before I go: remember the part of IT where Bill tells them that you had a joke and riddle contest with the taelus in the Ritual of Chud? Roland's ka-tet did something similar to that when they had the contest with Blaine, didn't they? Interesting . . .

Mike writes:

It's been my understanding that the Breakers in Hearts in Atlantis aren't trying to destroy the Tower, exactly, but maybe just trying to break the Beam Roland & Co. are following, if only just to buy some time so Flagg and his thugs can do their work (namely killing Roland & Co.). I don't know if the Tower could still stand with one Beam missing, but it doesn't make sense to me that the evil forces would want the Tower to fall (at least not right away; it seems a collapse is inevitable). The Doctors in Insomnia said that such a fall would be beyond anyone's comprehension, which seemed to me to be a bad thing for both sides. The Crimson King et al. only want to keep Roland from overthrowing their rule of the Tower.
On the other hand, the Tower's collapse may be the C.K.'s ultimate goal; it was never very clear exactly what the Tower's destruction would entail.
Maerlyn (Flagg) is a Long- or maybe an All-Timer, and Walter was a Short-Timer, albeit one who was infused with power from Maerlyn. He even says, in DT1, that he was just a normal guy living in England "when the old ones had yet to cross the sea" (15th or 16th century?) when Maerlyn came to him in a dream. The reason Maerlyn did this, I think, is because, as the Doctors say in Insomnia, Short-Timers are very powerful in that only they can oppose the will of the higher forces of Purpose and Random. It was for this same reason that Maerlyn/Flagg later recruited the Tick-Tock man; in the end of DT4, I believe Maerlyn/Flagg would have just struck Roland & Co. dead as soon as they entered the glass castle if he could, because he obviously didn't know that any of them had a gun that could hurt him until Roland drew Jake's dad's Ruger.
I don't think that It is the Beast, or even a major player at all. In It, King writes about how the spiritual side of It lives in something called the macroverse, which lies on the edge of our universe; but, as the DT books have told us, there are an infinity of possible universes. Concerning the fact that It and the Crimson King (in Insomnia) have "deadlights" in common, I think that those "deadlights" are just a common trait of the more hideous entities higher up on the Tower. One could even go so far as to say that there is a whole race of Its, scattered about different worlds (and universes). After all, all It did was eat and sleep. Perhaps the one in the book It had the power to mirror the kids' fears and change shape, etc., because its physical form happened to have been deposited in Derry (see below for more about this).
In our world (or at least the world of It), Derry seems to be the Earth equivalent of End-World, where the Tower stands. In Insomnia, Ed Deepneau said that Derry is where "all force-lines converge" or something close to that, and the Crimson King said that "shape-shifting is a time-honored tradition in Derry", which might have something to do with the lines (Beams??) converging there. Also, in It, when Mike Hanlon encounters the giant bird, King describes the Standpipe exactly as he does the Dark Tower, with spiraling windows and the such. Roland said in DT3 that the Tower is in all worlds, but not accessible from all worlds; maybe Derry is somewhere between those two.
I've begun to think that maybe the Standpipe's collapse at the end of It was the beginning of the end for that world, and maybe even the whole spectrum of Earths (as opposed to Mid-Worlds--and there does seem to be a fundamental difference between the two); perhaps the superflu of the Stand, which was released just by chance in one possible world, was allowed to spread into the rest because of the collapse of the Standpipe, which served as some kind of mini-tower. The alternate Kansas (which had been emptied by the superflu but was clearly not the same world as in The Stand, due to the weird cars and the later date of infection) that Roland & Co. find at the end of DT4 supports this idea.
Crazy, I know, but these five- and ten-year breaks between DT books is killing me!
The Crimson King and the Red King Patrick Danville spoke of are most definitely the same entity. Patrick only called him the Red King because he's just a little kid. Besides, if there was another King, Stephen would have come up with a cooler name than "Red".

Krytyn writes:

Yikes, I forgot to mention the Standpipe. I too think that it is a version of the Dark Tower (because Derry is a place of convergence for the lines of power, or whatever Ed said in INSOMNIA; and, like Mike on the board--”not the one in the book--”said, the Standpipe was described strikingly like the Tower was decribed) but I think its collapse was actually a kind of prophecy about what will happen if/when the Dark Tower falls. Some worlds (or alternate realities, or planes of existence) would be like the houses that were carried off intact; everything would be whirling crazily while the place was still pretty much intact, and then it would hit the end of the line. Others would be like the buildings that sank slowly into the ground, and others like the buildings that straight-out collapsed. But otherwise, the main plane of reality (ours? a higher plane? the macroverse?) will be unharmed. But that's not much of a consolation for all those other worlds, is it? No, so the Dark Tower still needs to be at least preserved until someone else can save it, if Roland can't save it.
    Second: Let us not forget that, although he is a child, Patrick Danville is a prodigy. So he probably knows what colors he is talking about. And besides, I find it odd that if he can know Roland's name that he can't divine the name of the picture's other resident, the one who stood on top of the Tower.
    Third: The Thing in the deadlights. This seems to be only one entity, a massive, insane orange light. King himself says that in the beginning there were only two entities (granted, after a while he did say that there was Another), so the thing in the deadlights (or that is the deadlights, or whatever) can only be just that: one thing.
    I have been rereading the end of the first DT book a little, and something puzzles me: why didn't Roalnd see either the Turtle or It when he was taking his little tour of the universe? He did, after all, come to the edge of reality. If he didn't go into the place where the Turtle was, how could he have seen the blade of grass when he was breaking through? Odd . . .
    Disclaimer: Some of these views come from taking a logical look at King's work, a view which kind of clashes with some of King's things. The Standpipe one was at least a metaphor.

Sherri writes:

Roland is not just a man but a king. Alain says in part IV "No, that was the voice of a king." Also, the little boy in Insomnia says to his mom "His name is Roland mama, I dream of him sometimes; hims a king too." A number of people have been saying the ka-tet will fight vampires in Thunderclap and that Oy will reach the Dark Tower. I would just like to respond to these arguments by quoting page 595 of the Dark Tower part IV:
    Voice of the Turtle:"Gunslinger, this is Thunderclap"
    "Thunderclap" he says
    Voice of the Turtle:"Here are the unbreathing; the white faces."
    Roland:"The unbreathing, the white faces"
Yes, he knows that somehow. This is the place of slaughtered soldiers, the cloven helm, the rusty halberd; from here come the pale warriors. This is Thunderclap, where clocks run backward and the graveyards vomit out their dead.
    Ahead is a tree like a crooked, clutching hand; on its topmost branch a billybumbler has been impaled. It should be dead, but as the pink storm carries Roland past, it raises its head and looks at him with inespressible pain and weariness. "Oy!" it cries, and then it, too, is gone and not to be remembered for many years. If the description fo unbreating, white faces, pale warriors and graveyards vomiting out their dead does not suggest vampires, I don't know what does. My conclusion, Oy is a dead bumbler and I think only Roland will reach the tower because in Insomnia the little boy draws only Roland standing facing the tower with the Crimson King on top. Neither Eddie, Susanna, or Jake is in the picture.

Dave writes:

I haven't read all of the theory's one the page, so I dont know if repeating any. Anyway, here is what i think:
    Jake will send Oy to his death to save himself/the group. This will be similar to way that Roland send his hawk David to his death so that he could defeat Cort.
    Susannah will be have to be killed because of the child. There are clear similarites between Roland's ka-tet of Book IV and the ka-tet of Books II and III and that Susannah and Alain play the same role (in Book III he tells Susannah that she reminds him of Alain). Book I tells us that Alain goes mad and must be killed by Roland's own guns. Susannah will also go mad, driven so by the demon baby. She will have to be killed, probably by Eddie.
    The three to make it to the tower will be Eddie, Jake and Roland, but Eddie wont make it inside. Something will happen, maybe like the slow mutants, such that Eddie and Jake will be in danger that Roland will need to shoot them out of. However, the fingers he lost will come back to haunt him because he will only be able to help one of them. Eddie will say that he has what he wanted, a view of the tower, and that Roland should save Jake. Eddie will then die with a smile on his face, just as Cuthbert did.
    Inside the tower Roland will fight whatever battles are needed to win the tower, but it will also cost him his life. The series will then end with Jake taking Roland's guns and assuming his position as the world's last gunslinger.

Rick writes:

Hi,
    First off, Susana's baby will not be named after roland after roland dies because the poem went childe roland to the dark tower came. Childe and child both meen "one strongley influenced by another or by a place or state of affair" This is what the poem's author, (who's name excapes me) ment and king knows this.
    Next, Roland will get to and into the tower. With or without his current Ka-tet or not. One person who I think will be at the tower with him is Father Callahan. The other is Jake. Callahan will sacrafice, or dare-say maryter himself, therefore absolving Roland's damnation to himself, sort of like the guy from "The Exorcist". The doors of the tower will open. Roland and Jake and whomever else is left, minus Susanna, saidley her child is a demon and they with both die, her doing the most nobel thing in killing herself. Eddie will become cold like Roland. Jake will become that way when Oy is killed, (that little thing was cool). There will then be three gunslingers. They all whoop ass to the upper levels, just like Roland did in DT1. The upper levels contain great battles. Present will be Ralph from Insomnia fighting the little yellow guys. The third to last level will have guys like Tak, Jack Torrence (the shining) the Tommyknockers and Pennywise (that clown kicked so much ass he has to be in it) and all the other lower evils. Fighting here would be the members of Roland's former Ka-tets. Aka Alain, Cuthbert,Oy Susan, Shemmie, and the recentley departed Susana. Eddie would stay here with her. The second to last level will be like the seventh layer of hell or whatever Dante's last ring was in the Divinea Comedia. In the last level there was Satan, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. All of them down there for betraying there master. In the tower the ones that occupy the second to last level will be there because they are the most powerful. They will be The Crimson King-Satan(Chaos personafied), Flagg-satan's right hand man, and possibly the guy from needful things, even though he was Satan. I would like to see a new Ka-tet formed here Roland, Jake, Nick Andros (I never saw anyone mention him.), old Eddie(from IT) and possibly Roland's father. The battle would be like the battle from IT, chud. A battle of will, in which of coarse Roland would definatly triumph, he is will personified, killing his friend and loved ones in the name of the tower. Crimson King defeted but not dead, leaving the tower to sleep. And only one bullet would be fired. Roland fires a silver bullet, molded from the cross from the religous women in Tull or whatever the towen in the gunslinger was, into Flagg's head. He will then vanish like in eyes of the dragon, which I will get to in a minute. Roland will die of just pure joy and relief and since he has fuffiled his fate and his purpose he will then be absorbed into the tower, (the Tarot card in DT1. Things will be set right (for now). These are the mumblings of me, which are way far off, but the next part is what I think is the truth.
    Know, the Eyes of The Dragon. This story takes place AFTER the Dark Tower series. The world has moved-back. Not immediatley to the past, but stuff is less screwed up. Jake servived the Dark Tower and the events after. Instead of returning to his New York, superflu free and living a normal life (that is way to sci/fi for King) Jake winds up ruling a kingdom and has a family. He names his son Roland. Jake dies and Roland becomes King Roland. catching on? He than has two sons (I forget there names, the two Princes from EoTD) He also has a counciler named Flagg. Years have past since the dark tower so the name slips peoples minds. He kills king roland and the rest is the story of EoTD. The book even sayes he tried to commite Chaos in the past and all this other stuff I can't remember. Flagg tries to commit enough evil to rupture the tower to start the world's demise, no he wants to rule the world and all the worlds, I'll go with: he wants the crappyness to start in again. Once again, the rambling of a dumbass, but thank you for reading, Rick.

Mary writes:

I think roland will reach the Dark Tower alone, having sacrificed all his companions to get there (that whole kill all you love, but tower will be shut to you thing). I think when Roland gets to the tower and finds is closed to him, he will see for the first time what it has cost him to get there. Roland will sacrifice himself so that the other dead heros can be reborn (life, but not for you gunslinger), and it is these reborn heros who will retake to tower from the crimson king and prevent the towers destruction, thus "saving" the other worlds. To me the tower is the central support for the universe, and the crimson king is trying to destroy the tower by using breakers like Ted from H.I.A. As the tower weakens, reality is altered. The damage that has been done to the tower already is what is causing the world to move on, create thinnies, etc....It is this decay of reality that allows travel between the worlds to be possible (besides the use of doors), this allows the random side to "invade" other worlds ex: the creature from it, the vampires, etc..Once the tower is destroyed, all order in the universe will end (a victory for the Random). That's my take on everything.

Pickmanschela writes:

first, i want to send out congrats to some brilliant people who wrote some brilliant theories. i am a huge thomas fan. i was hooked since your "pat" theory. you have me sold. jamez, who brought rose madder into this. david, for his physics evidence. and sam, who tied alot of flagg's alias's. (or alii? alias plural) well, i didn't write to be a commercial, so i'll carry on.
    the crimson king could be flagg. (i don't have EoTD or Insomnia, so i can't check, but...) ralph roberts wounded the crimson king in his left eye (if i remember right). flagg awoke from hunting the rebels clutching his left(???) eye, the dream already fading which caused his worry. could he have been dreaming about his previous failed mistake, taunted by this new one? the only other time we know that flagg was wounded there was by peter at the end.
    also a note on the reason flagg is in this world and is the higher higher chaos of the tower: david, aforementioned, spoke about an object casting a shadow that is one demension less than the object itself. a human hand is 3d, but only casts a 2d shadow. if there was a being on the fourth demension (commonly thought of as time, which flagg is known to have power in), it could cast a three demesional shadow that it could "manipulate as easily as a hand could make a shadow-duck or -dog or -bunny." (sorry if i got that wrong david). what people seem to miss is that flagg could look like damn-well whoever he pleased if it suited him, which is why roland didn't recognize that flagg was marten when the latter was fleeing thomas and his butler. (also explains how flagg bleeds black, and that creepily fast way that he climbed the stairs at the end of EotD; his legs grew, or something)
    sorry about those who think that it was the crimson king, but it came here in its temple and is more of a physical entity than the spiritual entity of the crimson king. yes, spiritual, ralph himself was spiritual when he fought the king. the kids were mostly physical when they were fighting it, (apart from the ritual of chud, but the point is the king was ALWAYS spiritual, and it was always partially tied to the physical plane.)
    so, it isn't the crimson king, and i don't believe that it is the beast. Stephen King is too bright to use something so base as it for the originator of all glammer. maybe those lovecraft theories about flagg being nyartholetep are kosher. the beast could be nyartholetep's boss. who knows, maybe the "goat with a thousand young"? that one lovecraftian beast from crouch end? 'to speak of the beast is the ruination of one's own soul' (dt1), and ruination comes also from knowing the goat with a thousand young, the blind piper, the eater of dimensions (crouch end)...this beast's names are also endless, just like flaggs. a good sign of power is usually a lot of titles. it makes a bit of a click, though. the mark of one beast, and your soul is condemned seek out the dark tower, the mark of the other beast and it seeks out your soul. if you look at it poetically, there isn't a difference between the two.

Johnson Todd writes:

I found this page not long ago and have been reading a lot of the theories posted here. It has made for a great read with some wonderful theories posted. I Thought I would drop my 2 cents in. I just don't feel Flagg is as high up the chain a lot of people have seemed to suggest. He seems to be more of an agent being controlled by the random. Much as Roland is an agent of the purpose. When Flagg shows up in the Stand he seems to have no recollection of where he came from as well as at the end when he wakes up on the beach, He has a vague sense of who he is but that's it. Flagg's job seems to be promoting the random.. He does not seem to have the ultimate power of The crimson king or the beast. Now maybe he inhabits Marten/Walter/Farson and all the others but I think it is something that is inhabiting Flagg as well and that thing (IT, Tak or some alter presence) that can leave whenever it wants, leaving the host to be shot (marten) or turn to bones (Walter). So the body of Flagg can be "killed" hence his being afraid of Jake's pistol. I feel Roland will take care of Flagg in Thunderclap. He does have others in his path to the tower though. I think Roland's simple sense of purpose is the support the tower needs to stop from falling apart, so he will see the tower and his Ka will balance out the rift between the purpose and the random. As to who will make it to the tower with him, I feel Eddy and Jake will. They both seem to be connected to the tower with dreams and visions, Eddy more so of all. Susana will not make it past child birth, which will be both her death and the birth of the true last gunslinger...not the demon but Eddy. I don't feel Oy will be sacrificed but will sacrifice itself to save Jake. The random will continue to use Jake against Roland to slow him down. I do love how King has interwoven such a great story...until we reach the clearing at the end of the path...the tower is closer...

Mike writes:

Two of the phrases that turn up constantly throuought the series are 'Go on then...there are other worlds than these' and 'the rose is the key.'. Steven King mentions them frequently in his arguments. So it's fair to say that Roland's ka-tet will encounter a rose, and when they do, it will be a key (sorry) event in the books.
    The rose is the key - it definitely has some close connection to the tower. Maybe, the rose IS the 'Crimson King'. It's pretty much got that feeling of finding out that 'Linoge' is an anagram of 'Legion' (SK - Storm of the Century).
    There are other worlds than these - well, in IT, the turtle existed in the multiverse, and there's clearly something interdimensional going on here. SK is also bringing in his older novels, 'The Stand' and 'Salem's Lot'. (Don't be too surprised if Roland and the gang meet a rabid dog, drive a Plymouth Fury and spend the night in a creepy hotel with a funky janitor) Anyway, maybe the rose that Jake has seen is a link from the tower to our universe. If, however, the link should be endangered, the Tower will do all that it can to eliminate the danger. (The rose must be protected at all costs.). So suppose, say, someone wanted to build an apartment block over it, the rose would be threatened, right? In return, the tower (or someone in it) protects the rose by eliminating any threat - maybe just by destroying our world. No labourers to build the apartments, no-one at all!
    Eddie and Jake have envisioned the rose, either in ther dreams or concious, and they know that the rose must be protected at all costs. Assuming that the rose is the crimson King, who'se side would they be on? Who's ka-tet would be stronger?If Eddie and Jake turn on Roland, the Gunslinger would kill them both, and it would probably be the 3rd most agonising choice in Roland's life, but he will choose the Tower As for Susannah Dean? If she doesn't die in childbirth, then she falls out of the ka-tet somehow... maybe she stays put to raise the child. If it turns out to be a demon, it will kill her, and maybe pursue Eddie, while the Ageless stranger, whatever his name is, pursues Roland. It's great to be able to get some of this down. It's a great feeling to just be able to sit back and create a plot. SK must love his job! Personally, I've got to admit, this site is a great idea. There are so many alternate endings here, that I can envision whilst waiting for the next book. Keep up the good work.

Jamal writes:

- Here is a nice short theory: Susannah will give birth to the demon -child. She will not die from this. The child will look like a regular baby. -However, it will actually be Flagg's second child ( the first from The -Stand). Oy will be the only character to know the child is evil. Oy will -attack the child, underdeveloped as it is. It will still have great strength -though, and they will battle to the death. Jake - symoblizing Oy's father- -and Flagg - symbolizing the demon-childs father - will fight over their two -lost sons. Jake will kill Flagg with his good virtues. That's all I know..

Chris writes:

The theories I've read so far are pretty interesting, especially the ones that make links to other books. I think Eyes of the Dragon is connected greatly as the King is called Roland and in DT4, after Roland looked in the crystal ball, Cuthbert and Alain say that Roland's voice sounded like "the voice of a king" or something. Flagg is still alive in EotD which leads me to believe that Roland might not totally defeat him but still saves Mid-World in the short term, although in DT4 the turtle says the tower will stand or something. There are other interesting things to note too such as the fact that the kingdom in EotD is called Delain (similiar to Roland's surname - Deschain), Sasha came from the "Western Baronies" (I'm sure that that is a kingdom mentioned in DT4!) and somewhere near the beginning I think King says something about Flagg having 5 crystal balls, I dunno maybe its set long before DT series but the similarities are there. Also all this stuff about travelling from one universe to another, does that mean that the world of the "Langoliers" (from "4 past midnite") is in some way connected, remember the passengers mysteriously travel (through a "thinny" perhaps) into a world devoid of all life where they note that everything seems to be old or used up, for example the beer tastes bad and matches won't light and Dinah Bellman keeps saying "something is very wrong here" .In Rolands world everything has "moved on" which seems kinda similiar. I like the idea that the tower is the reason why we see echo's of our world in Roland's world, i.e the whole Western thang and "Hey Jude" etc. It would explain why stuff like this and all this medieval type technology is found alongside nuclear powered trains, Citgo pumps and Nazi ("notsee") warplanes. I think that the idea that the tower is man made is totally wrong though, it is depicted too mysteriously and all these references of beasts and being "struck down from heaven" (Man in Black, DT1) suggest clearly that it is some kind of spiritual nexus.

Nitetrain writes:

On death but not for you gunslinger/ life but not for you gunslinger, with all this talk of vampire's in thunderclap could Roland be vampirized this would be a good description of one of the "undead" anyone else have a thought on this subject also Roland will make it to the tower I don;t think anything will stop him even death. It as the beast of the tower does not scare me it was killed by a bunch of kids thought when I think about it It would be affective against roland because he has lived on confortable terms with magic all his life and would "believe" any thoughts on this?

Christine writes:

Ok, I don't have a lot of time on my hands, but I read about 1/4 of the theories posted on this site. I agree with most of what I've read.
    In "Storm of the Century", (I read the screenplay, but I haven't seen the movie) there was a picture of Andre Linoge. How curious that his face was covered with a cloak, and that he had claw like hands? The picture is almost exactly like the picture of Flagg climbing the Needle in "Eyes of the Dragon". Curiouser and curiouser.
    I haven't read "The Stand" or "Insomnia" yet, but I own them, and you can believe that after reading all these theories, that I'm going to read them ASAP.
    I haven't read "The Talisman" since I was 11(I'm 14 now), so the details in my mind are foggy. But I do strongly believe that that book is connected, and that the world that Jack "flipped" to, was Roland's world before it moved on. Also, the talisman itself was a glass ball (I think), perhaps even part of Maerlyn's Rainbow. Hey, it's just a theory.
    Isn't it funny how many of the boys(young hero-ish ones) in his books are blond?(Just a stupid connection on my part)
    Ok, refering back to "Storm of the Century", Linoge said something along the lines of "I'm not immortal, and I need a student to take my place when I die." Perhaps Roland and his ka-tet will have to face an older Ralphie Anderson. I don't know though.
    Maybe even Tak is the evillest being, It may be his spawn or something, and Flagg the third in command.
    Oh, and in "Hearts in Atlantis", Ted Brautigan is from Roland's world, and he speaks of "The Gunslinger and his ka-tet get closer to the tower as we speak."(to the Low Men in yellow coats) (Also, (I don't know if it's connected or not) there was a guy in "Storm of the Century" whose last name was Brautigan(sonny I think).)
    Well, those are my theories so far, but after reading "The Stand" and "Insomnia", I'm sure I'll have more. I also have to re-read "Rose Madder" and "The Tommyknockers" and "'Salem's Lot", since it's been almost two years since I read all those, and i read 'em before even considering reading the Dark Tower series.

Thunderic 1 writes:

Does the Crimson King want to actually break all the beams so that the Tower falls, or does he just want to control it? If he topples the Tower, wouldn't all of existence--including himself--cease to exist?
Also, in Eyes of the Dragon, right when the church gets knocked over toward the part where the one son is freed from captivity, I think there is a moment where Flagg screams (I can't remember exactly) but King puts in a line to the effect that "people remember that day even more than when the Tower fell..."
What are people's opinion on this?

chelsea writes:

It is my opinion that Stephen King's immense saga is a parallel reality to our own. Unbeknownst to him he is channelling a spiritual story that can be compared to the many different books and stories related to any organized religion ( the bible ect..). Stephen King is a modern prophet and only through our universe and our own spiritual growth can Roland's and our world be saved. It is Ka and we all are Ka-tet. IMO:)))
Peace & Love, Chelsea

C.J. Flesher writes:

I just read the "technology in reverse" theory and I think it has some merit. If you remember, technology, along with some help from Flagg, led to the death of 99.4% of the people in the world, in The Stand. In a way the world of The Stand had moved on and could have led to something much like Roland's world with a distorted view of the modern ideas behind God and religion. Glen Bateman in The Stand talked about how views would change after the virus. Man's dependency on technology was a key theme in The Stand and many people who survived the plague still died in the aftermath due to lack of preparation and "grit." As far as Flagg is concerned their is no doubt in my mind that King uses the same antagonist in different forms in most of his books. Flagg works for the Crimson King. I am not really sure if It is Flagg or the Crimson King. As for Flagg being mortal I beg to differ. He survived a nuclear blast in The Stand and has no recollection of his past prior to his coming to power. I believe he is an undying (I don't use immortal because I don't really know if he can be killed) character who comes to power in cycles. Don't take this stuff to heart I am not a King expert and don't claim to know what he is thinking.

Jessie writes:

I believe that Flagg (a.k.a. Marten Broadcloak, Merlin, Maerlyn, The Ageless Stranger, etc.) is not the Crimson King, but a lesser agent of this evil force. This brings up an interesting notion as to the nature of Walter, the Man in Black. Exactly who does Walter serve? He was a member of Marten's entourage in Gilead, and worked as John Farson's "underliner" (though Marten and Farson are most likely one and the same), so it first appears that he serves the Crimson King. If this is the case, however, why doesn't Walter kill Roland when they meet in the Golgotha? He certainly had the power.
    As to the nature of the oft referenced Crimson King... I believe he is the Unformed (a.k.a. Tak from Desperation and The Regulators). He is the personification of chaos, known as the Random in Insomnia. He is unable to assume a solid form himself, but can influence the forms of others. I believe it was he that set about twisting Ed Deepneau into a kamikaze pilot with the sole intention of killing Patrick Danville, allowing his minion Flagg to come out on top during the confrontation at Thunderclap. He is the mastermind behind the plot to break the beams and send all of existence plunging into chaos.
    The Beast is the guardian of the Tower. It is possible, as some have stated that this Beast is indeed the creature from It. This seems likely to me, as It mentions the Turtle/creation idea. I don't believe that the Beast is a conscious entity exactly; it just wants to "sleep and eat and then sleep again". This is an adversary Roland will not be able to shoot down (as I believe he will slay Flagg, in open combat, with guns blazing). Perhaps a sacrifice in the form of Jake will allow Roland to enter the Tower? After all, we know the Beast/It is fond of children, and Roland has let Jake die in the name of the Tower before... though I doubt Roland would be able to carry this sentence out on his own. Will Jake be called upon to make the decision between life and death for himself, and choose the Tower and death? Interesting possibility.
    As for who is in the spire of the Dark Tower, well, who can even extrapolate a hypothesis?
    P.S. Regarding Thunderclap being inhabited by vampires... Well, it has been referred to as "a place where the sun does not shine".

Don writes:

So here's my theory...
    I've read the series before as well as a bunch of King's other books and noticed a lot of tie-in's between the stories. I've also read all of your theories, very intriguing, I must say. Anyway, here's one that jumped out at me after I reread Insomnia and Dark Tower 1. I'm currently rereading Dark Tower 2.
    At the end of DT1, when Walter is giving Roland the vision of the universe with the many "let there be light" lines and also after Roland has held pavalar with Walter and wakes up the next morning, 10 years later, he thinks the following line to himself, "He saw that there was light and thought it was good." That's not an exact quote, but he didn't think the exact same line to himself each time either. That line, or something very close to it, is used in the bible as God is creating everything.
    Okay, that was background, this is my theory...what if the being who ruled the tower before the world moved on is sick or dying or dead and Roland is being "groomed" to be that being's replacement? The reason the world has moved on and the tower is in danger is because the highest purpose being (remember Ralph got the impression in Insomnia that at the highlest level it could all be purpose, even what is random on the lower levels), the ruler of the tower isn't there anymore (dead or whatever) and a very high random being, The Beast or the Crimson King or whoever, has begun to take control, or is trying to wrest it from a dying being. Roland's journey is at the same time a test to see if he is worthy to rule the tower, (more about that in a bit) as well as training to prepare him to rule the tower. The dead or dying being could be the Turtle or the Green Man (who spoke to Lois in Insomnia).
    So Roland is being prepared by this journey to assume the leadership of the tower, after he defeats the evil inhabiting the tower with the help, or sacrifice, of those with him. That brings me back to his journey also being a test to see if he is worthy. I wonder if all the sacrifices he's made throughout his life, all the people he's killed and let die in his quest for the tower isn't a test to see if he will, in the future, when he is ruling the tower, put the tower, and what is right for the tower, before all else, regardless of the consequences to whatever creatures inhabit the different levels of the tower.
    Perhaps he'll die when he reaches the tower, as some of you have suggested, but if he does he'll continue to the tower and rule the tower as a non-corporeal being, like God. Perhaps it is only a "short-timer" who can rule the tower, because of our power of choice and our passion that Clothos and Lachesis were so in awe of in Insomnia."

Adrian writes:

Simply this, Randell Flagg (obviosly a villin in other King novels as well) can and must be killed in order for Roland to reach the Tower. Therefore it is written that the Timeless Stranger can and will be killed and Roland will reach the Tower. The boy from Insomnia is told he will play an important part in the lives of two people. He is told he must save the lives of two men who must not die, which are Roland and Eddy, and must reach the Tower. This means Roland will not die before reaching the Tower, but as for Susannah and Jake, I believe that the unborn child Susannah is carrying is the demon's child, and will infact kill her upon birth. As for Jake, Roland did promise not to let him fall again, but is it safe to say Roland would infact keep that promise over the Tower? Doubtful. As for the theories of other Towers and Roland being from a different world altogether, remember what the Tower stands as, a nexis of all time trapped inside. The world that Roland lives in is infact our own, as Walter hints to him by speaking of life as we know and live as a time before Gunslingers and magic, by speaking of cars and the defeat of cancer and the world moving on to how it exists as they speak. How this series will end I truly do not know (then again no one does) but I do believe Roland and Eddy will reach the Tower and kill the Timeless Stranger (as Eddy's significance in living may well be to save Roland during this or the final battle) and as the reach the beast it will be one of two things....

Not a beast at all but Roland himself (maybe as a greater being?) , which would explain why Roland must not die for if this happened time itself would be destroyed. or
Roland's unborn child, which could be the boy from Insomnia, there waiting for Roland w/ all of the people Roland knew and cared about, this could simbolize Roland's death and arrival in Heaven, or something totally different.

Which or neither I cannot say, but I'm confident Roland will reach his goal, only unsure of what will happen after that.

Azrael writes:

Having read the theories on your site, one thing springs to mind more than any other. Stephen King has given his 'constant readers' a great gift, and that gift is a text (The Dark Tower) that allows us for however brief a span of time to think about very complex theories surrounding the nature of existence and reality that we might otherwise never consider. Consider for a moment the genius of the man as an author. He has managed to achieve in my opinion, what no other author has ever done. The sheer depth and magnitude of The Dark Tower, and all the other fictional stories that are linked to it, is breathtaking. The ability to cross-reference and link novels like The Stand, Insomnia, It, Rose Madder etc. etc. (all wonderfully creative stand-alone novels in themselves) into one gigantic story, that of Roland's trip to the Tower, is incredible. King has often sited Tolkein as an influence on his work, but I believe the great fantasy author would pale at the prospect of writing a piece with the depth and scale of King's Dark Tower. And that is the best compliment I can pay to the man from Bangor.
I think it is important not to try and overanalyse the connections that spring up in King's novels too much. Much as we all would like to think that King has some grand master plan where all his novels intersect at some level, I think this is going a bit too far. What I do believe is that King has a very definite philosophy on the subjects of evil, good, creation, destruction and the 'nature of being', that he interweaves into his writing at evry possible chance. Its obviously a philosophy that we can identify with, hence the huge success of all his novels, and the conjecture surrounding The Dark Tower. Like the rest of you, I cannot wait for Roland to reach the Tower. If King can weight this arrival with the same sense of magnificence and awe that he captured at the conclusions of It (Stuttering Bill in the deadlights) or The Stand (the hand of God), then it will truly be a climax to beat all others. I believe that ultimately, Flagg, The Crimson King etc. will be revealed as one and the same. King has the ability to present us with an image or a character. and then sweep our expectations aside and present us with something totally different. Eventually, I believe this is what he will do with his 'ultimate bad guy'. And who is the 'ultimate bad guy' when you get right down to it? Who had worn more faces and had more names and told more lies than any other? The Devil of course... When King shows us the shadow at the end of existence, I will hold his hand VERY tightly. The Tower is closer....

Nicholas writes:

Although many clues are provided throughout the books in the Dark Tower series, it seems as if we should make no conclusions due to the frequent inconsistencies throughout the series. For example, Walter at first says that he is more powerful than Marten; later, however, that is rebuffed. Perhaps Marten was simply fooled into thinking that but it still shows that King is perhaps changing directions throughout the series.
    Moreover, people are constantly trying to decide if Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon is the same Flagg in the Dark Tower Series. It seems apparent that the two people are the same for a simple reason: In The Drawing of the Three Roland makes mention of a man named Flagg being chased by two people named Dennis and Thomas. Dennis and Thomas were the same people who sought after Flagg at the end of Eyes of the Dragon. I only noticed this after reading through the Dark Tower series for the second time. This said, there can be no doubt that both Flagg's are the same.
    Is Flagg the wizard Marten, is Marten the wizard Maerlyn...these questions are fun to speculate on, but impossible to answer. Anyone who claims to know the mind of Stephen King is delusional. As mentioned above, there ARE inconsistencies that occur throughout the books, so it is impossible to speculate further. However, Roland seems to think that Marten and Flagg are different people. This thought process is shown in Drawing of the Three in the same spot where Dennis and Thomas are mentioned.
    Some of the theories mentioned on this page are possible, but others go on too many assumptions. My advice is to re-read the books and approach theories a way a lawyer would: that is, not making too many assumptions. That is the problem with some of the more ludicrous theories on this page. Roland addicted to devil weed? C'mon...get real. Don't overanalyze everything and don't presume to understand the depths of King's imagination...

Geoff writes:

This is just something that ran through my mind, what if Roland is on the quest to save all worlds from moving on. When he reaches the tower suppose he is the key to lock all the doors of the worlds even the thinnies. He is the ultimate Holden Caulfield who yearns for the world before it moved on. I also think Marten is his only equal rival and that Marten has caused the worlds to move on and knows that Roland is his only rival. I believe Marten knows what ka has in store for everyone only up to a certain period of it. did that make any sense?

mezrobian writes:

Looking into the dark tower series it strikes me as odd that second only to his quest for the tower, Jake is the object of Roland's devotion and affection. Why is Jake so significant to Roland? Friends, lovers and family have fallen before Roland's eyes yet Roland is able to continue. It seems as though the most important person in his life, ever, is Jake. It seems that way even compared to Susan. After seeing into the pink glass, Roland openly admits to Cuthbert and Alain that he will leave her for the tower. When Roland gets Jake back his mind questions his devotion but his words to Jake, Eddie and Susanna say that he will never under any circumstances let Jake fall again. Beyond being required to restore Roland's sanity in the Waste Lands and beyond being a part of the "ka-tet" (a tool to reach the Tower), Jake is essential to Roland. Why is this? Why does Roland love Jake more than anyone else that exists or has existed in his life?
To me the answer to this question is that Jake is Roland's son, born from Susan. I hypothesize that at the time of her death, Susan is taken to another world (as jake is taken to another world when he dies) she bares Roland's child who is then raised by Elmer Chambers and his wife. The fact that time has no meaning in Roland's world would compensate for any time paradox between Jake and Roland's ages. Both Roland and Susan acknowledge that their love may have gotten Susan pregnant. Jake goes in and out of Roland's world as an instrument used by Marten or Marlen or Walter (or who ever) in order to complicate or inhibit Roland's progress to the tower; Jake's role in Roland's life is controlled by someone with magical powers. When Roland and Susan were together Rhea of the Coos (another person with magic powers) was ever present. She was instrumental in the death of Susan and yet still vowed further revenge on Roland, why would she not perpetuate her strangle hold on Roland's heart. She probably had the means and may have worked with Marten to orchestrate this act of vengeance. To me being Roland's son fully explains Roland's unprecedented devotion to something other than the tower.
I won't make any speculations as to the future of any of Roland's group and as to whether or not any of them reaches the tower I'm the type that would leave it to the experts such as Stephen King. However, I did want to put forth this theory. I would love to hear statements based on the four books that currently exist that would contradict this theory.

Dave writes:

My theory is that Eddie,Susanna and Jake are not really physically in Rollands world.I believe that the doors that Rolland pulled them through where actually just doors through there minds.I believe that whens its all over they will all return to there own times and have no reconition of what happened.Rolland will remember them but they wont remember him or each other,there lifes will pick up right where they left them when they where pulled through.I think that the first time that Roland met Jake that Marten had actually pulled him into Rolands world to test Roland to see what he wanted more.Thats why they where able to pull Jake back through,because he never physically died.He remembered Roland upon his return,but I think at the end there memories will be wiped clean.I think that Flagg will try to test each of Rolands ka-tet with things that they desire,Eddie with heroine,Sussanna with the ability to walk,Jake with maybe Oy or his parents.I dont think he will even try with Roland,he'll just try to stop him.I think that the world that Roland lives in will die but I think it will come back,remember that time moves at a different rate where his world is,one day to us could be ten thousand years to his world,and we all know that grass dies and comes back.I think that Roland will once and for all put an end to Flagg but there is no way to defeat the Crimson King.That would be like saying that Roland was going to destroy all evil as we know it.I don't think that King is going to wait til after his death to release the last book,but I do think he will retire after his lives work is complete.

NetWulff writes:

I have read most of the theories posted here, and would now like to add mine own:
    I was browsing some books about time travel at my school library, when I discovered something very interesting. One proposed theory was to build an enormous (galaxy spanning) cylinder or TOWER(!!), then set it spinning in space at unmeasurable speed. I don't know how that would work, but I was never real great at physics.
    Another thing mentioned was paradoxes. When you mess with the past, you create other universes ( i.e. if you went back and stopped the extinction of the dinosaurs, then they never went extinct, so humans never evolved, so you never existed, so you couldn't have gone back to stop their extinction, but you did, so the world you originally started out from must exist in another dimension).
    So what I think is that the Tower was the Great Old One's time machine, and the other worlds (ours included) are the paradoxical universes they created by messing with their own history.
    Now the Tower, which held all the worlds together, is falling apart, and thus the worlds are started to come unraveled!
    It's weird, but it's an idea.

Ashley writes:

Glad to join you all, I'm 18 and my name is Ashley Lord.
    I haven't read the original version of the STAND, only the 'complete and uncut version' so I can't fully understand this, but it seams that when Roland and his Ka-Tet cross Kansas in DT-IV they are in the world of the original STAND (the newspaper reporting the superflu says 1986 - and this STAND is 1990.) So make what you will of that... (I live in England and it's hard to get the original version now)
    Also in Desperation, 'Steve' mentions the town of Arnette, Texas. This is where Stu Redman is from in the STAND (but obviously it only exists in the world(s) of Stephen King) so I argue that these worlds are either the same or, in the words of Eddie Dean... one of the "worlds next door". In the same respect, remembering in DT-IV when Eddie and Jake are looking at various cars and they come across one that is not from any of their worlds (I'll be damned if I can remember it's name, It began with a T), well I was wondering if anyone had seen the name of that car in a different SK book... I'm still looking.
    'JReyn' wrote how he thought Randall Flagg's Ka was in Zoltan the bird in DT-I. I think it was actually Walter then in Zoltan watching the gunslinger, after all he wanted that meeting to take place in the mountains, he never wanted to kill the Gunslinger, that was Ka.
    Also people have been talking about the 'Crimson King' and the 'Ageless Stranger' as if they were different beings... However to me it seams fairly obvious that... Randall Flagg, Richard Fannin, John Farson, The Ageless Stranger, The Crimson King, the Dark Man, The Walkin' Dude, Maeryln and (Marten - Though I'm not to sure about that!) are all indeed the same person (He likes his R.F. initials!).
    ...But there's some real good stuff written up here, and I might be talking crap, I still have to read IT, Little sisters of Eluria, Eye of the dragon, Nightmares and Dreamscapes and Hearts In Atlantis, and about 1/4 of Desperation left to go...(I think I've read the rest reguarding the Tower) So feel free to tell me where I'm talking crap.

Evan writes:

Roland will most definitly die, but not in the way most of you believe. I think he will sacrifice his life to save and "fix" the Dark Tower, therefore allowing all worlds affected by it's weakening to regain normality.
Who of the ka-tet will survive? I believe Susanah will die during childbirth, leaving the child to be raised by Jake. Eddie will die getting Roland and Jake into the Dark Tower. This piont has been made in one of Eddie's dreams where he is in the field of roses and a dark force is decending upon him. He'll go kamikaze and let it die with him as he "lets his mind go." Jake will not return to his world, but will take Roland's guns and therefor become the last gunslinger. As for Oy, I don't know if he'll live or die, but if Jake survives his adventure to the Dark Tower he'll need someone to keep him company on a world he knows almost nothing about.
How will Roland defeat the Crimson King? Guns won't do anything, if the Crimson King is as strong as he's supposed to be. But remember, a true gunslinger does not shoot with his hand, he shoots with his mind.

Kim writes:

And I thought i spent to much time thinking about these stupid books. I'm sure anything I write is gonna have been said at least thrice by people above so I will just keep it simple.
This collection of books is a tragedy. Don't expect a happy ending. Roland will find his tower, but he's not nearly done paying the price he has to, to get his ticket to this dance. Was that poor grammar? Someone mentioned about susan popping up again in his life and that sounds like a really nasty little twist. I like it. I bet we see her somewhere very o so close to the tower, leaving roland to face his decision about leaving this one great love of his behind again. He may blink but money say's he walks right past her. Just a thought but roland is an old bandeetoe (sp?) now and uhhhh, looks kinda harsh after his many years of being "rode hard, and put up wet". (sorry could not resist that one) So susan may decide to just say the hell with it and go for that strapping you lad eddie after susanna dies with the daemon child. I'll keep that idea as a outside chance. If not save it for the movie version.
Sorry about that, but this is the wrap up of this leper quality post. One thing is true about this entire story. Ka and the wheel that it spins on. If kings ending deviates form this fundamental fact then the story is tainted. No better then your average good v. evil you get for $5.95 at barnes+nobel books. On the other hand if he remains true to this fundamental part of the story then this is one of the greatest works of fiction ever written.

Evan adds:

I've read all DT books to date and her is what I think of the "riddle" of the Timeless Stranger and The Crimson King

I think Roland is the Timeless Stranger. He has no real home, no world which he belongs in, and he has no time he belongs to
I also think that he is the Walking Dude, never resting, never stopping, always striving towards the Tower
He is also the "Turtle" in a sense. The fate of all worlds depends upon him. He holds the universe on his "shell"
He also represents God either as God himself or as Jesus, God's representative on Earth, the ultimate good
Flagg represents the ultimate evil
He is seen in many of King's books as a being of pure evil, either with the same name or something close
He is the Crimson King, Satan, or Satan's representative on Earth, he is Kaos
It is up to Roland and Roland alone to destroy him

Jeff writes:

I don't know much about Stephen King. I have only read four of his books outside the Dark Tower series (Desperation, The Regulators, Eyes of the Dragon, and The Running Man),and I know very little about the crossovers he has going on here. I am currently in the middle of The Drawing of the Three, so maybe my theory isn't worth kaka, but here it is: As King began this epic, there were many things floating in his head. One: The stresses of college and facing the "real world." Two: Somewhere in there was the lovable psycho, Mr. Richard Bachman, who many know as King's chance to write without a conscience. and Three: The story itself, so fronted in his mind that he could only escape it while writing The Stand. I believe that first criterion was expressed only in the supporting characters' minds; their unsurity of the quest as strong as Roland's surity. The second criterion is the most troubling, because not only is Odetta two people, but so is Eddie (druggie and withdrawal), and so is Jake (New York and Roland's world). If the foe of The Gunslinger (the book) is the man in black, and the man in black is also Walter, where is Roland's alter ego? Where is the man that doesn't want to know what the Tower holds? Or simply who doesn't want to see Roland reach the tower? I think we all know. Also, there is the third criterion: the book haunting King's mind just as the Tower haunt's Roland's.
Where is Roland's solace from his demons? Aside from death, what has he faced that has taken his quest away from him for any amount of time? King is Roland, that I know. But where is Bachman? We may not know until the tip-top of the tower, where Roland faces the force, King faces the anti-conscience, and we all face the end. Not "To Be Continued." THE END.
Like the man said in the very first afterword, he doesn't know what will be explained and what will not, but If the story doesn't end, that will be the only true surprise.

Strider writes:

I think the dark tower has got two meanings: On the one hand, it is a real building and it stands in the middle of the wheel that builds our universe. Like a wheels spokes, the Beams run from the tower to the different worlds in which the gunslinger and his companions fight their holy war. As discribed in "Hearts in Atlantis", breakers are forced by the small yellow men, to destroy the Beams. They are working since an undefined time and Ted seems to be their unwilling leader. Slowly but surely they give damage to the Beams and the worlds become weakened or even destroyed. The tower is the center of power in Steven King?s universe and in the top of it, the turtle and the spider fight their eternal war, and none of them is able to win without the help of Roland. I am not sure, which side Roland will get to, but there might be a third point of view which is neither light or shadow. Perhaps this is the absolute power in this destroyed and dying world: light and shadow put together, and formed to twilight! It could be a third, till now unknown, character, it could be a bodyless idea only, or it could even be Roland himself who stands over the tower. I am sure Roland will reach the tower after he battled the other 11 guardians. Of course the tower is reached by another door, which leads into a parallel dimension.
The other meaning of the dark tower is, that it is an image. It is an image, which stands for an ideal, that everyone of us is trying to reach. It is a metapher for the ultimate aim we all have, but we will never be able to reach. Only Roland will be able to fulfil his final wish.
And never forget, there are several other worlds than this one, gunslinger!

nweaver writes:

I have read all the DT books at least twice. I think that Roland is not a king he is just a lost soul looking for meaning. He searches for his tower and will never give up. I really hope that the full ka-tet will advance on to the tower, but i doubt it. If you remember from DT 4 oy was seen in the grapefruit dead on a tree. I believe sue will not make it. This demon baby worries me, i don't know if it will kill her or send her into a deepening madness. I believe that jake will also not make it, roland is not teaching jake enough on how to be a gunslinger without him. But roland and eddie will most likely make it, to the tower. What I really want to talk about is the rose in NYC I truly believe that this is where the Ka-tet will come to save the tower For some reason this single rose that is in our world seems to me to be the center of all of the DT. There may be a battle at the physical dark tower in Roland's world but i truly feel that the story will continue into our world to save that rose, it just feels like that rose holds the power. What makes me think this is in the DT 3 when jake told the Ka-tet about this adventure to see the rose and roland stated that the experience that he had was the most important thing he will ever experience in his life. Plus in the afterword of DT4 king states that 2 of the next 3 will be set in mid- world and 1 will be totaly in our world to save the rose. I am very excited to read the rest of the storys, and by the look of king's website we may not have to wait as long for the last 3 as we did for the first 4. DT 5 is slated for release in 2001 and 6 in 2002 and final in 2003. Anyways I dont know if any of this makes any sence but I guess we will all find out eventually.

Winter writes:

I believe that Roland will make it to the tower. Roland is the first character in the series, and it would be a big disappointment to see him die before he reches his tower. Roland is a bludgeoner and a plodder and will simply not stop before his task is done. I do think that by the time he reaches his goal, there will be no one left in his world to save, but that he will save the other worlds in Stephen King's novels. I think that whatever is at the Tower is someone we have never seen, and definitely not the spider from It. The spider was an alien that crashed to Earth in a meteor, if you read close. On the way to the top, I think we'll see Flagg and a few other familiars. Anyway, the thought that the last book will not come out until after his death sounds like something King would do. But if he writes the last book tommorrow, what about everything in between? Would he really write the end and then go back and fill in what hasn't been written yet? He doesn't really seem to know himself. I love this series and I am surprised how little people know about it, especially as important to King this series is. Roland will reach the tower as long as Stephen King lives, because King is Roland trying to finish the series and reach the tower.

El Youssef writes:

Stephen King is an amazing narrator, weaving a magnificently complex tapestry with, not one, but a dozen or more stories of fantasy and horror, each linked in some fashion to the others. It's magnificence is beyond comprehension, because, simply, King is a MasterMind. His recurrent Midnight Man of terror, the mysterious 'Crimson King' mentioned in a number of his more spell-binding books, is undoubtedly one of the most infamous characters ever created in fiction before. He is shrouded in mystery, and his own past is one which King himself never elaborates on. Roland is good, and he believes that his quest to save the worlds upon worlds infected and diseased by the Dark Tower, now collapsing in upon themselves, is to be successful, no matter the cost to himself or his followers (at least, we assume, until his encounter with a band of untoward gunslingers in the rough). However, this is where fact ends and theory begins: Randall Flagg is not the evil that the gunslinger seeks. Some may believe this is not true, but King's own evidence is clear. In all realites created by the Master of Horror (for that he is), even those where King never mentions the name of the 'Crimson King', and unspeakable, and often unrevealed, Horror lies beyond that which he mentions in the novels... almost, it seems, as if the Randall Flaggs of all timelines, all worlds, all universes are but puppets of the true 'evil'. Interestingly enough, Roland the Good of the Eyes of the Dragon doesn't appear to be the daring, swash-buckling, do-or-die-but-never-dies hero represented by name in the Drak Tower. Nonetheless, the similarities between the worlds are all there... the mention of 'Rhiannon of the Coos', a striking image of King's wicked witch of the west (which she does turn out to be after all!) and the mention of the lands of Delain and Garlan (Garland in the Dark Towers). Who knows, perhaps these cross-overs lay along the thinned segments of worlds collapsing upon themselves throughout the many different universes created by Stephen King. However, the great truth of them all in whichever universe he creates, thankfully, has been left untouched by the master himself... that Good always conquers Evil. And that, my friends, is the truth.
Before I depart, may I leave one more question unanswered for all to ponder... is the journey's end truly the source of all 'evil', a malevolent being attempting to destroy the fabric of all worlds? Or can it be that King has managed to provide Roland and his ka-tet with the 'evil' along the journey, only to find that the entity behind it all was actually...... 'good'?

Rickyboy writes:

Here is one I have not been able to get out of my head. The world of the Stand and Roland's world both seem to be full of dusty old mechanical skeletons. From The Stand,"thats the old way and that way doesn't work anymore.....God's seem fit to change all that." I think The Stand and the world of The Dark Tower are the same at different whens, doomed to repeat the same cycle of destruction until they learn God's lesson. I think this started with Stand, the world was wiped clean by some master plan. Then time progressed and the old ways were forgotten a paradise society like EOTH emerged not without the visits from Flagg though, you can't have good without evil. I think this world as it ages becomes Roland's world. Times is weird the characters change, shift, and combine. The world is moving on, these things I cannot explain. I am not a story teller just a captivated observer in the distant northern Barony of Michigan in some when that is yet to play a part.

Andy writes:

Things I have gathered... some of the theories here are very good, while others make me shudder...
    Roland is a king after all; his father was one and he proclaimed to be "Lord of all the ancient lands" to Blaine the Mono. Might King, in unintentional imitation of Tolkien's Aragorn, have Roland claim the Tower as his own? I do not think so.
    None of the theories on this page have anything to do with Low Men in Yellow Coats, the novella in HiA. Ted Brautigan is a Breaker in that book, the best one, in charge of breaking the Beam. It is also stated that the Crimson King, whom I assumed (probably wrongfully) was Flagg, was DESTROYING the Tower by breaking the Beams. Of course, the Beast is the King's master, and He is to It as Walter is to Flagg...
    Susannah's child is Eddie's, not the Demon's. She and Eddie have completed the act numerous times, while the demon only did her once. Also, soon after they draw Jake, they come across the old folks in Lud, and that is where Susannah realizes she is pregnant. Later it states that she's missed a period. I doubt in the time it took from getting to the old folks' place from the speaking circle it took over a month.
    I do not believe the Turtle in It is the same as the Turtle in the DT series, nor do I believe the Beast in the Tower is It. I think they may be symbols of the same being, but not the exact one.
    Flagg is no doubt the same in the Stand, EotD, and the DT series. Old Trashy is alluded to in DT III. In DTIV, he says he saw Roland once, but he didn't think Roland had realized he had seen him. Roland had seen him when Dennis and Thomas were in his pursuit, but didn't realize Flagg had taken notice of him. Another Flagg reference is made in Hearts in Atlantis; the leader or Carol's radical faction has a RF name and tricked them all.
    I believe there are really 3 King worlds. One has EotD and the DT. Another has the Stand, and a third has every other SK book I've read, (which is all of them besides Cycle of the Werewolf, which is impossible to find.) To strike a theory on the site, the writer alluded to in the Tommyknockers that lived in Bangor was most likely Gordie LaChance from The Body. Ace Merrill states in Needful Things that he lived in Bangor,, and LaChance himself reveals he is a famous author. Also, it may have been Bill Denbrough; no one knows where he lived after the events of It.
    I really didn't like the book Insomnia, I think that was the novel King may have written while under his admitted drug influence. However, the little boy there is going to save Roland and probably Eddie. And yet, the Tarot drawn was life... but not for the Gunslinger. He'll probably die, unless there's some dumb loophole King will use.
    I agree with the theory stating that the Tower holds all of the characters dead in King novels. In "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," Roland sees the faces of all his dead companions, then blows his horn.
    I don't believe there is ANY connection from Eddie in It to Eddie in the DT (sorry Rick). I do some writing myself, and I use a lot of names in different stories, Jack being the most common. It seems to "fit" a lot of different characters.
    The Priest from Salem's Lot is probably going to be only a bit player. He isn't exactly a vampire, since the only liquid he desired at the end of that book was booze. However, he isn't exactly human either after drinking of Barlow. I assumed he was going into that all time favorite career found in King's novels, drinking, at the end of the book.

Stephanie writes:

My theories on the subject of the Dark Tower are many. However, I think that one is the key as to how the series will end-- I believe that the 'doors' that opened Roland's and our worlds are not doors through worlds, but doors through time. I believe Roland's world is our world very, very far in the future. Consider the "Great Old Ones" that had some kind of a war. Doesn't that sound like something we would do? Also, all that stuff about the moon, artificial insemination.... not to mention that the vision Roland had of the universe was none other than our own solar system, based on how he described the planets. Of course I am not suggesting that our world is the only world, considering that Roland sometimes feels 'worlds reel above his head.' Also, I believe his ka-tet was in another world in DT-IV. They were in the world of "The Stand," as we all well know.
Also, I think that Eddie and Susannah will die on the way to the Dark Tower, Susannah perhaps in childbirth, Eddie perhaps at the Tower. Maybe it will be too much for him. It has been stated that Roland has a mind like no other in any of the worlds, so maybe he is meant for the Dark Tower, and him alone. However, I think Jake will at least make it there. It was symbolic for Jake to die, and it was symbolic for him to be brought back, and to let him die again would just be... a letdown maybe? I think maybe Roland will have to choose again between the Tower and his friends, and again he will choose the Tower, because Roland was made to reach the Tower, and I think it is ridiculous for anyone not to think so. He has the force of 'the White' behind him, and of course he will at least make it there. He will reach the room at the top, but who knows what he will find? God? Nothing? I don't think he will find nothing, that would be like saying that S.K. believes there is no God, but as we can see from the force that always wins in his stories, he does believe there is a higher power. Whatever he finds in that room--and it will be him, alone, that enters the room-- will be S.K.'a idea of God, his idea of what he wants to meet whenever he comes into the clearing where the path ends. Or maybe not what he wants to meet, but what he thinks he will meet.
Susannah and Eddie, they are doomed. Normally I would say, no the good guys always win, that is Stephen King's style. But that is what makes the gunslinger books so dramatically different, so endlessly fascinating. The fact that S.K. is finally acknowledging that sometimes the good guys lose that battle (Allie, Jake, Susan, Cuthbert) sometimes, and no one really knows if they will win the war. But I think that they will. To believe anything else would be contrary to my own religious and moral beliefs. I think that Roland will reach the Tower, and when he does, he will sing all their names!!

Thersch writes:

I don't believe that Roland will reach the tower. Perhaps just Jake or the child of sussanah will reach the tower, but only one of them.
As King Roland died in TEOTD and his son peter took his place. It is very difficult to isolate King's true foreshadowing. Take these two cases for example. Certianly he wrote that Susan Delgado would never see Gilead and this was true. He also said something to the affect of Alain being killed by a machine gun in DT2 however when he used a machine gun in DK4 to spill the oil tankers he did not die. I believe Alain AND cuthbert will die, in part due to Rolands obsession, but the machine gun instance will not be realized. Therefore, I can only say that I was not able to predict what was going to happen in the other books before I read them so I cannot say what will happen in the remaining three. The connections King makes in his books are either due to a very over-active, almost schizophrenic, imagination, or his literary genius. I would also like to say that Flagg is just King's "Bad Guy." He makes a very good one so why change. I don't have a clue what the Crimson King is, but I see no connection to Stephen King himself. The Guy who said we are all just junkies who read King's books to see if they have a connection to The Dark Tower was right.

Stephanie writes:

First of all let me say that I think that anyone who believes that Roland will not reach the Tower is crazy. Of course he will reach it!!! Second, I think it will end up being just Roland and Jake at the end. Eddie bears too much resemblance to Cuthbert and Susannah too much resemblance to Susan. They have to die. Roland and Jake will meet Flagg and the Crimson King alone, they will triumph, and they will cross the field of red roses. At the top of the Tower, they will come to a room. But I don't think everything in Roland's quest will come out like he wants it to. I don't think they will be able to set whatever is wrong back right again, simply because our world is moving on also, and to set the Tower right would mean that our world would have to go back to normal too. Which can't happen. So maybe what Roland will find out is that he cannot stop the world from moving on, but he can finally give up his quest and turn back from a loveless beast into the Roland he used to be. Also, Roland's world seems to be a mixture of our world and the Stand world, except hundreds of thousands of years in the future.
more later

Sam R writes:

I, like many others on this page, have thought endlessly about the Dark Tower saga. Here's some thoughts that I have concerning the Tower:

King mentions at the end of EOTD that Thomas and Dennis do in fact find Flagg and confront him, so I am pretty sure that these two will appear somewhere down the line.
I also agree with a previous theory that Maarten is not Flagg. Walter in DT1 says he served Maarten, but then also mentions that his true boss is the Ageless Stranger who he has seen only once in a dream, implying that Maarten and Flagg are not the same man. Also, when Roland identifies Flagg as Maarten, Flagg mentions that they had met once before when Roland had begun his journey. However, if Flagg was Maarten, then they would have had met many times previously. This leads me to believe that Maarten is just another minion to Flaag, like Walter is.
I do believe that the Guardian of the tower is It, since Walter does refer to the Beast as It, and King mentioned that the deadlights could never be killed.

I cant wait until the next book arives. Hopefully it will fulfill all our expectations.

Desmond writes:

First off i must commend you on your site. It is very thorough and interesting. I have some thoughts about Randall Flagg:
Personally I believe there is ample evidence that says that all Flaggs are >the same in King's universe.

The Flagg of EOTD must be the same Flagg of the DT series, since its mentioned in DT2 that Roland sees Flagg being chased by Thomas and Dennis from EOTD.
Randall Flagg from the world of the Stand is obviuosly the Flagg of the DT series since in DT3, while talking to TickTock man he mentions Trashcan man, and in DT4, the ka-tet end up in the world of the Stand and Randall Flagg.

Hence using common logic from these two points, Flagg must be the same entity in EOTD, the Stand, and the DT series. I do agreee with you that there is some confusion, but I believe more confusion stems from Maarten, not from Flagg. Is Marten Flagg? Thats the major question. Im personally of the opinion that either Marten is not Flagg, or that Flagg was able to take a different form to be Maarten, since Walter said he had only seen the Ageless Stranger once, yet worked for Maarten, making them appearinlgy mutually exclusive. Also, I dont think that anywhere it states that Flagg is bound to the R.F pattern. Roland belived Flagg was Marten when they met in DT4, but Flagg corrected him and stated that they had met once when Roland and his young friends started the quest for the Tower, again another point that Marten and Flagg are not the same creature, unless Flagg was able to take another form. Anyways, thats my rant. See ya

Jorge writes:

Hello. Having read most of the theories posted on the Dark Tower, it is clear that not all characters will make it to the Tower. I think Roland for one will probably not make it. He is a tragic hero after all and these kind of heroes seldom have happy endings. For those not too familiar with literature, I don't want to offend anyone so please forgive me, a tragic hero is someone who has flaws or faults and Roland does have his share of flaws and faults. His first love died, and so did Jake and several other people Roland has met during his travels both as a young man and as an adult. (Example: The Little Sisters of Euloria in the book Legends). He also seems a bit ruthless (like the Punisher if you read comics) and sometimes he uses other people to meet his own needs. As for the Turtle itself, I believe Asian mythology mentions that the world itself sits on top of a gigantic turtle. I also believe that we will meet Leland Gaunt from Needful Things, since he seems to have the same powers as Randall Flagg. Even Linoge (or his replacement) probably will make an appearance as Roland and his party reach the Tower. My theory as to who the robed figure at the top of the Tower is I'm going to say it is Roland himself. I know it probably sounds a little too far fetched, I just finished playing Ultima IX and the Guardian turns out to be all the evil that the Avatar is not. His 'dark half' if you will. It seems to make sense that Roland will fight the darkness inside himself in order to save the Tower. I believe that Jake will probably be the first of a new generation of gunslingers to protect the tower if everything is restored.

Rusty writes:

I have been a stephen King fan since i was like 9 and i'm 15 now. I have many theories and i agree with many of them on this page. I have more than one theory of what will happen to Roland and this is one of them. I am not saying that I00% believe in this but this is a theory.
Remember in the Dark TowerI when The man in black reads the final card? Life, but not for you he says. I think that Roland will reach the dark tower and fight the ultimate and last battle roaring his gunslinger battlecries for one last time. It is hard to say if he'll fight the battle by himself or all the character from Stephen kings books will take a part in this. I think that Roland ,and if he has allies or his ka-tet, will win this battle and restore the dark tower. But Roland will die after this,but he will give life to the worlds again. so this could be the meaning of the terot card that says "life, but not for you".
This is one of many theories so open ur mind to other theories, cuz we do not know what will happen.

Kopek writes:

Here are a couple theories of mine that I believe should be taken into consideration. First, the whole ka-tet will make it to the Tower. Why? This whole quest is Roland's quest to defy Ka, and he already has done so by not drawing Jack Mort. king even said so in the afterword of one of the books. He has lived his life as a slave to it, but will soon overcome it and create his own Ka. Second, the Dark Tower is supposedly on the Western Sea, which we all pretty much agree is the Pacific Ocean. What if the Dark Tower is none other the the Alahambra Inn from The Talisman? If so, will Travellin' Jack play a role in the series, possibly to help the ka-tet enter it? Small and subtle references have been made to the Territories in the series, so I am to believe that they will play some role later on. Thirdly, if IT really is the Beast guarding the tower, and is weak against children, Roland might do well to acquire the services of lil' Travellin' Jack, who has proven himself to be strong in the face of extreme evil. Jack and Jake went up the hill to go into the tower....Hehe, we'll just have to see, know won't we?

racapri writes:

Well, been a long time since I read over the books, but the tedium of a long summer got me into them yet again. Anyway, I could help but send in a theory to be poked and prodded by the readers of this fine website. Anyhoo, first off, I'll offer my stance on Randall Flagg. As far as I can tell, the Randall Flagg does not always need to meet the criteria of R.F (Isn't it in The Stand that the retarded character[lord I forget his name..been too long] when under hypnosis refers to Randall Flagg by many other names, including Legion, which leads me to believe also that the characters from Storm of the Century and Randall are the same as well.) However, my belief is that, Randall Flagg is the same through all books the name is mentioned. I don't think Stephen King would make it that difficult ( hell, I could be way off, he could be really screwing with us ) I also believe that, Legion ( thats what the blocks spelled out, but it wasn't his actual name used in the book ) from Storm of the Century is the same as our friend Randall. Alright, now here is where I am confused. It is clear that Roland is an agent of the Turtle, and that Randall is an agent of the Tower. But what is unclear to me is the nature of the Crimson King. I mean, when Roland speaks to walter at the end of DT1, doesn't he sort of get a hierarchy of the men of the Tower? I believe that the Crimson King is in fact mentioned ( and then something higher, The Beast.... and to speak of anything higher than him is unwise ) But, if the Crimson King is an agent of the tower, why is he clearly working against it ( Hearts in Atlantis clearly states that the Crimson King along with the "low men" and his breakers are working to destroy the beams [ the beams, remember the thing Roland followed in Wasteland and they came across the large guardian bear...] which seem to bring the tower down, which, being the nexus of all things, is probably a bad idea..) I believe that our pal King Crimson ( no pun intended... I wonder if anyone will get that..) is an agent of The Random, the other cosmic force at work along with the Turtle and It. Now, I'll address one other thing. As far as who will be the hero of the tower? I'll bet its Oy. I doubt Stephen King added in Oy for just kicks, he is going to save the universe for all time. Ok ok, no, thats not what will happen, I bet its Jake, or possibly ( contrary to the belief of so many of you pescismists who are convinced Roland will suffer the fate of all tragic heros like him ) Roland himself. Well, thats enough, I'm done, its late.....One last thing. I'm sure Stephen King has a look on these pages every once and a while... if he does, a messege to him "Mr.King, please, don't %&#@ up a wonderful series by ending it with you, being at the top of the tower punching out the last pages to your last book.... just a concern of mine.." Take it easy everyone and have a good summer?

Jeff writes:

Well, since there is more than one "Jeff" posted on your page, I'll start by saying that I am the one with the three criteria about King (college, Bachman, and the prominent story) I have read a few more King books since my last post, including DT3, DT4, The girl who loved Tom Gordon, the Long walk, and Skeleton Crew.
    Anywho, firstly I want to address the "All worlds lie in Rolands world" thing. Well, we all know that the thinnies connect worlds with worlds. My guess is that the tower, with it's many levels, controls the thinnies, or at least unleashes them where they show up and then lets them grow. Whoever the supreme evil is, it unleashes it's minions on the worlds in an effort to reek havoc. This is the plan of action for this post.
    Firstly: The minions are, I believe, It, the beast from "Tom Gordon," and the creatures from "The mist" (the mist and the thinnies are too close in similarity to ignore, even if the people in the supermarket never heard the man in central park playing the saw). There are more minions than that, but without having read all the books, I can't really name them all. Anyway, the tougher the situation, the stronger the minion. The mist creatures were accidentally brought in to our world by "Weird Atoms" so the evil being just chose a large number of smaller creatures to send through the portal.
    Secondly: The thinnies can be closed, but only by destroying the minion in or near it's thinny and sacrificing yourself to do that. Examples would be Johnny destroying Tak in Desperation and Ben Richards destroying the building in "The Running Man", which sort of works because I believe that Killian wasn't necessarily a minion, but still under the control of the Tower's evil.
    Thirdly: Many of King's books' heroes are 'minions' of the supreme good in the universe. For instance, "The girl who loved Tom Gordon" and Ray Garraty from "The long walk" both go through hell and survive, sort of. The shadowy man at the end of the Walk leads Ray on, and he finds the strength to run. Perhaps the stranger was an angel, leading Ray further along the Beam (the Long Walk route) to meet up with the ka-tet. The girl from "Tom Gordon" faced down the beast and survived. I truly believe that even if that hunter hadn't shot the "bear" she still would have triumphed. Perhaps she too will assist the ka-tet in some way. The toils and troubles of these characters (and others) are "tests" of the supreme good to show them the weaknesses of their evils. Perhaps whenever a character in a King story moves, it's always towards the tower. Even if it's two steps left and two steps right.
    Also: King himself said that no good writer follows an outline, so why should he follow "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came"? And one last thing ... with all the crossovers and connections, you can find one anywhere, in any story, obvious or not. (Like, what if in "The Jaunt" from Skeleton Crew, the scientist actually made an artificial thinny, and due to interference from the supreme evil, no one can go in awake and end up same?) Things like that. These are just the things I notice.
    Finally: (Whew) What if... just what if Flagg is the good guy in all of this. I hadn't mentioned him until now, but just maybe he is the supreme good? His plan in "The Stand" was to get all the worthy to Las Vegas and then pick a squad of followers to overthrow the tower evil. The whole EotD thing was one of his little tests for Peter, Dennis and Thomas. Before he could explain, or clear his name, Tom shot him through the damn eye. I know what you're thinking. If he is the supreme good, why would he kill and/or risk the lives of so many? Simple. Just remember Desperation. Cruel God.
    Is the Tower closer, or am I just whistlin Dixie? Riddle me this, riddle me that, fall off the Tower and your mind goes splat.

Unforgiven writes:

I really believe that flagg is flagg from EotD. And any other mention of Maerlyn is still flagg. He can go thru time and what not, so it has to be him. And then the rose. I believe that the rose is some how a gate way, (a door if you will). And that Roland and his ka-tet must somehow get to the rose to get to the tower, but must first go thru thunder-clap as stated in DT4. So i belive they will enter modern new york. I dont believe all will make it. I think oy will not, on account of Rolands "pink vision". I dont think susanah will either. Im not sure why i think that but i dont. I think that jake and eddie will make it. And i really do believe roland will make it. He IS the ultimate hero and i hope, i really do hope that king doesnt kill off the "last real gunslinger." The first book was all about him, and it is his dream of the tower, and his skill that gets them to where they are now. I believe that he will be "tortured" maybe by flagg on his painful past. Like susan and his mother and father re appearing. Maybe Eddie will meet with henry briefly. I think Roland will kill flagg with jakes fathers gun. Since it is not enchanted, i think there will be a shoot off and roland will undoubtedly win. (i think i should note that it is eddies dream that i think makes me believe he will reach the tower). The blade of purple grass i think will turn up in stephens last book, which will i think be the last dt book, the last before he retires. I think a big overlooked thing is that if a book were to be linked with DT series, we should look at desperation. Tak, is a very very bad thing. Im sure he has a part in the destruction of the tower, which i dont understand in the first place. It WAS good, but NOW its bad? Confusing if you ask me. I think Thunderclap will be a place of memories (yes, more) for roland. And if you remember in "Little Sisters of Eluria" the "sisters" chant sayings that i distictly remember from "Desperations", things that take said, something ......."can de lach.....Mi him en tow" roland heard this and thought this phrase "stood out" So maybe Tak is the ultimat evil, the Crimson king. After all in desperation it said his "red eye, the eye of tak." And all this john farson stuff with the sigul being the eye or whatever they called it. That makes a lot of sense too. Really, think about it. Tak is really evil. Any way..........I really believe that king will not kill off Roland, The Gunslinger, The coolest possible character ever. As far as other people from other books appearing, it could be possible, i dont know if king would do that or not. Maybe it could be some kind of super novel or something, tying together all of his books together some how, but i dont see that happening. Roland will get to the tower, maybe sacrifice susannah, eddie and jake will get there, rose is important, tak maybe crimson king, rose is a door, and thunderclap will suck.

Steff Ann writes:

I'm very surprised no one has paid much attention to Blaine "the Pain" here. After reading some of the theories, I started reading Wizard and Glass again, and saw three things that I must point out. If you turn to page 7, Blaine says, ". . . ANOTHER OF THIS TYPE (RIDDLE) , ONE TOLD ON THE LEVEL (note LEVEL) WHICH CONTAINS THE BARONY OF NEW YORK . . ."
    On page 27 Blaine says of another riddle, "IT IS REMARKABLE HOW HUMAN BEINGS PITCH THEIR MINDS ON LOVE, YET IT IS CONSTANT FROM ONE LEVEL OF THE TOWER TO THE NEXT, EVEN IN THESE DEGENERATE DAYS . . ." Blaine's first remark has led me to a strange, but possible conclusion: Roland and his ka-tet are already AT the Tower. Think about it.
    The Tower could be the center of the Universe, but encompass all of it. Jake's, Susannah's and Eddie's worlds are all "lower" levels of the tower, same as Roland's. I have noticed that the further their journey, the more things are "screwed up." Could it be possible that is because they are moving to higher levels of the Tower??? They are now at Mid World, but could Mid World possibly mean Mid Tower?
    Once they reach the top, could there be the "world" where the Dark Tower actually exists? I also find it ironic that Blaine is a "Barony" train? Could his job be to take Roland and his ka-tet out of the "Barony" levels, to the next level of the Tower?
    Another thing - I think the Crimson King is the Walkin Dude, aka Randall Flagg. On page 91 of Wizard and Glass, there are two spray paintings (grafitti) - one says "Watch for the Walkin Dude," the other says, "All Hail the Crimson King." Below each sign is a symbol of an eye. Sound familiar? Wasn't that the "symbol" of the Walkin Dude in the Stand? Remember everyone wearing those amulets that looked like eyes? I think Walter is an agent of the "Dude" not the Walkin Dude himself. In the book, he shows Jonas the eyeball-amulet-symbol thing.
    Someone earlier had made a reference about drawing a straight line from New York - Topeka and on. The straight line would end up somewhere in Arizona. One of the end destinations at the Topeka station mentioned Santa Fe, which is in New Mexico. Could that be the "level" of the Tower? But I'm inclined to think that tradition will follow, and since things seem to "stretch and bend" as things start to "come apart," that the actual level of the Tower is none other than Las Vegas, Flagg's territory.
    I've also read mentions of the Bad Man and the Good Woman - could the Bad Man mean Flagg and the Good Woman Mother Abagail? Could we see her, or an "agent" or her again?
    One last thought - despite a lot of opinions on this, I don't think that Roland ALONE will face the Tower, or Jake, Eddie, etc. If King is true to his Nature, the kids in IT faced the demon as a group (or ka-tet if you will), the same as in the Stand, except one fell by the wayside along the way (is this true of IT, too? There is a tickle in my brain about it, but I can't quite remember???) Anyways, I want to sum it up by saying I think that this website proves how much of a talented writer King really is! His books, and all the "connections" seem to be leading to some sort of climax, like the end of a story but more. It is fun to speculate about all of this, but it is a real honor to be able to take a "peek" inside of someone else's mind, and realize that there are very, very few of us who could captivate other people's imaginations like this in such a way. When I read about Roland, all and all of the "dimensions" King writes about, I feel as if they exist for awhile, until the book ends. If you are reading this King - don't quit now! You have a talent many people can barely hope for!!!!!

Vikram writes:

the only character to have suffered as much as Roland, the Gunslinger is.... Randall Flagg. While Roland has continued in his self destructive holy grail which is the Dark Tower, Flagg himself has featured in numerous other dimensions(The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia). One truth is self evident, Flagg is not only an agent of chaos, randomness but as far as we are concerned he is the ONLY agent of chaos in King's world as he has reincarnated, if you will, to fight order. While Flagg continues on to move from different dimensions or doors, Roland is bound by his burden to carry on until he is to perish on the way to the Dark Tower. My point is this, while Flagg may fit the role of the traditional villain that is mocked and destroyed at the end, he is also the purpose behind the chaos. Quite simply in all of King's stories the Wheel (beginning, end, time, Purpose, and chaos) all have to coexist because without one, all would collapse in a world of nothing. Flagg cannot die because unwittingly or not he is disorder and chaos. Unlike his counterpart, the Gunslinger, Flagg is prime, he is unique, and the only(who serves chaos) Whereas Roland has serves destiny, purpose, order, his destiny DOES NOT serve him. Who's to say the forces of order will not find another hero to suffer Flagg as in The Stand, or Eyes of the Dragon?? After all wasn't it the weak king brother of Roland who had served Flagg in Eyes of the Dragon who went on only to go on a journey to seek out the evil wizard after his brother had seemingly banished him? The truth is The Gunslinger is one of the many servants of order that have danced with the devil. But in every book Flagg has gotten away, not because he wants to, but because he has to survive to create disorder. I don't know if Roland will meet a similar fate to the other members of his party(who, I think will die before they reach the Tower), but I do know that Roland arrives at the Tower alone and alive, just like Browning's poem. It's a standoff, Flagg cannot perish and Nothing has stopped Roland so far.

sneakatack writes:

i just surfed in and in a few hours of readnig, im replying to the first 1/3 or so of the page i think roland will enter the tower, but maybe not alive. we talk about vampires in thunderclap, why not have roland undead? just because roland dies doesn't mean he cant still rumble in the tower. sounds amusing anyway. we talk about all his books connecting, what about *cuju and *firestarter, *geralds game, deloras clairborne, skeletion crew, *four past midnight, differert seasons. the stared ones are the ones i never read. what about the bachman books? you think maybe the bachman books are temporary reprive from the tower world? i dunno, am i the only one who doesn't see a place for mr. sheldon from misery. by saying all his books connect, are we saying they all influence the dark tower, or just have vague references? i really dont see how bag of bones fits in with roland, but a lot of books have had characters with the last name dean so im thinking a name ties in. and the regulators and desperation had that purple haired girl who i think was in the first story of skeleton crew, the mist, which ive always loved. what that has to do with roland, i dont know.
i didn't realize the tolkien king thing until recently, when i read the trilogy for the first time. isnt the thing that roland sees susan die in, Maerlyn's Rainbow, which is Rhea's crystal ball, the same palinter (spell check?) things that are used to see into in the lord of the rings books? doesn't tolkien talk of the world as moving on? isnt gilead a city? but maybe its just an influence on stephan king that shows up in stephan kings world. wizard of oz, for example.
i think roland will give up his life saving jake. i dont think he would allow jake to die a second time if he could help it. if your going to weight the value of mist heavily, remember hartford. if roland survives the tower and no longer has anything to do, i think hed make a wonderful dread pirate roberts. if you follow the course of tarot cards, they start with a magician (flagg, or the crimson king) and end with the fool (maybe roland). if we all were good boys and girls and studied up on our archtypes, i think we would know a little bit of what to expect. using archtypes, we can assume everyone has their own dark tower. everybody has thier own drives, everybody has their own quest; we are simply reading stephan kings search for his own. i think SK has written most of the story down. i think he knows how it ends. but hes gonna release them slowly to make it more enjoyable for us. i cant imagine anyone living happily ever after if the tower is fixed. thats one hell of an ego trip, and all other actions in life will never be meaningful for anybody. those bug things that paul coffey spits out are in sister of eulria (sp?), and a few others as well. they will ahve to have some importance. maximum overdrive soooo needs to be worked in.

sneakatack writes:

after three days and hours of reading, ive finally caught up. my second email wasn't posted, hope it got through. heres my third.

how can the random win anyway? without purpose there can be no random. just a thought to anybody who thinks there can be one winner. both sides will have to exist always. heres a funny ending, the tower falls and the rest of the book is blank pages...
if roland finds all the poeple in front of the tower as being the poeple he loved during the course of his life, then he would be entering thart "field" from roman mythology that i cant spell....like in the end of gladiator.
if all the worlds are collapsing upon each other, then at this point in the story if someone is killed, where do they go?
"The Jaunt" thing is a good idea. no one can go into one awake, like in the langoliers. i never thought of that. so is a thinny part of the technology run amuck? i dont remember how the jaunt ends for the guy who created it, but maybe he goes on to construct the tower, or someone uses those plans to make the tower... what was his name anyway...perhaps it was walter...i remember reading the back of skeleton crew and thinking, wow this book has everything...but they were seperate stories :( but now i think the stories are making more sense. those little things in the typewriter could be low men, and the processor of the gods could be the thing at top of the tower...that clapping monkey could be a minion. im stopping now. anybody have any more connections?

Wulf writes:

Let's open by talking about Flagg. I believe he is the same from Eyes/Dragon, and yet different. He's a pawn being manipulated. His mindset in Eyes\Dragon is severely different from his mindset in The Stand and all the other books that he's made appearances in because whoever is controlling him wipes his memory (as well as "governors" Flagg's powers) in fear of how powerful Flagg could become, if let off his short leash. Naturally, Flagg's new personality developed after he was put on Earth (during The Stand; what I believe was his first appearance after becoming a "henchman") explaining the gnarled twisted humor influenced by our current culture in the previous decades.
    Flagg was captured and put to work by a "power higher than himself" because it could not directly affect the lower levels of the tower and thus couldn't interact with short timers all that well. The higher power isn't any "one" but a thing an essence perhaps. It has no body because it doesn't exist in the tangible world...
    It is possible that Flagg could be the Crimson King, but highly improbable, remember we still have at least 3 books in which King (Stephen, Not Crimson) can develop a totally new refreshing personification of evil to be Crimmy... And Flagg is all ready half the entire population of the series so far. :) Reasons for Flagg being The Crimson King? Symbolic eyes and Flagg are no strangers, he uses a disembodied "eye" in the air to track and find Mother Abigail in The Stand. Remember that? And the stones that morphed into shapes...the eye is present there as well.
    Flagg's names can be classified into two sub-divisions: 1)The names he calls himself...Randall Flagg, Richard Fannin, Russel Faraday... and 2)the names others call him of which he does not deny being...The Man With No Face, The Hardcase, The Dark Man, The Ageless Stranger, The Good Man, John Farson and Marten)
    RF admitted that he wasn't Merlyn, but some people called him that and he didn't disclaim it. Roland has yet to meet this Merlyn. And while Flagg has been called an "Ageless Stranger" he isn't the ageless stranger in the prediction. If he's Marten (which has been proven) than he can't be Merlyn as well, the same powerful sorcerers wouldn't be known by two totally different names.
    My prediction is that the "Ageless Stranger" that Roland must defeat is..(drumroll)...Father Callahan. Callahan has to "walk the earth" like Cain did. That means he won't die, in turn meaning he is ageless. As well Callahan, who couldn't enter the church, probably took on the name of Merlin (Maeryln) upon reaching Roland's (medievalish) world, borrowing it from one of the few pagan mythologies still commonly known from "our" time. Most medieval legends and history deals with Christianity something off-limits to him now. I can see vampires being a subquest just as The Slow Mutants and even Blaine were subquests...it won't be "From Dusk Til Dawn," just a minor setback to the Tower.
    Other points worth stating:

The ending will be a bloodbath. So far I believe the only unremoveable characters are Roland and Jake. Jake being so important and special to King that he "had" to resurrect him. Again he doesn't know the direction of the whole story himself. Killing Jake was a "typo" that he rectified.
King realized that Roland was the ultimate badass, thus handicapped him immediately in the second book with the removal of one of his greatest assets...the gunslinging fingers of his dominant hand. Characters without flaws are boring and suck.
Roland will reach the Tower (must reach the Tower) if only to create the best climax possible for the ultimate finale.
"IT" has yet to actually be mentioned in the Dark Tower series...I think King is saving this entity for something special. Children specifically saw it because their minds weren't already closed to the fact that such a thing could exist. Roland and crew have pretty much seen it all, therefore they are fair game for the creature. And if King does place "IT" in the book, he won't come out and call it "IT" or Pennywise or anything directly as that's too sour and cheesy for even a horror writer. If indeed "IT" is the creature atop the Tower, you'll notice many undeniable similarities to "IT" without King's having Jake say, "Eh Gad, that's Pennywise! I saw him once in a dream, grab your silver and let's chud!"
There's more to Oy than meets the eye. He looks harmless, but he can't be. Either he's an agent of evil sent to spy on the Ka-tet or a mutated Guardian. Since they saw him impaled on a tree I think he WILL NOT die or be killed, because everyone is expecting him to die or be killed.
The only things we will see of Thomas and Peter will be their bones.
Just because we read about more than one person is a book saying "tak" doesn't mean that Tak will make an appearance. Tak is a word from The Language of the Dead (counter language to The High Speech perhaps?), it just means that Tak wasn't the only one who knew the language.
Ligone (sp?) is not Flagg. (C'mon people! Had Ligone been Flagg, don't you think King would have cast the same character he did for the villain in The Stand as both? Good grief!!! Who was creepier? The bald babbler or the evil man with long dark hair, smiling from ear to ear! I still have nightmares of R.F.) I believe that The Storm Of The Century was just something King made to feed our outrageous imaginations and throw us off track. Ralph with his birthmark just states that there's more than one person in the world with a facial birthmark. That's all.
Flagg is one of Steve King's favorite pets. We all know/see/feel that. I got the same vibes from Jonas in WizAndGlas. Jonas will be back, oh yes, he will. I can see him being reanimated because his hatred could be used to make him more dangerous to Roland than Flagg could ever be. And who will kill Flagg? Why, the exhiled reject gunslinger himself...

Ok, now I'd like to raise an interesting question/thought. Roland vowed that The Dark Tower shall not stand. The Crimson Kings is breaking the beams to destroy the tower as well. Do they want the same thing? Perhaps they are one in the same, a before and after picture if you will. Could Roland become The Crimson King by walking over some of the dead bodies of his ka-tet and becoming evil after he finds he's been locked out of the Tower? Ted spoke of another Gunslinger at End-world...we assume he spoke of Roland, but you know what they say about assuming...perhaps Ted actually spoke of someone else whose made the transition to 'Slinger, maybe...Jake. And wouldn't that ultimately make Flagg, whose trying to stop Roland, the Good Man?

Valen30099 writes:

My theory has to do with the location of the Tower. I've thought about a lot as I'm sure everyone else does and I haven't been able to come up with an answer. Then a couple of days ago I was reading Salem's Lot and I started thinking about the Tower and about how all roads seem to lead there. Suddenly a line from one of King's books popped into my head "Endsville, where all rail service terminates." This is how how George Stark refers to Castle Rock in the Dark Half. Isn't that basically what the Tower is, the end the place where all worlds meet. Then if you think about all the bad things that have happened in the Rock over the years Cujo, the serial murders in the Dead Zone, Thad Beumont's excised twin growing into George Stark, the incident with the poloroid camera and the dog in Four Past Midnight, and who could forget Leland Gaunt. Then moving out from there we come to towns like Derry, Haven, and Salems Lot which I think can be confirmed as existing in the same world as Castle Rock. There's a saying "rot starts at the center and moves out." Could it be that the corruption which runs through the Tower, which if I haven't made it clear I believe is in Castle Rock, has been attracting all these dark chaotic elements like moths to a bon fire. Just where to these other towns lie in relation to CR? I'm willing to bet the paths of the beams pass right through them. I think if you stood on the front lawn of the Marsten house and looked up you'd notice something about the clouds. In Derry look at the trees in the barrens are they growing a certain way. Now of course there is the obvious question. If the Dark Tower is in Castle Rock, don't you think someone might have noticed it? My answer. not necessarily. Did anyone notice a cannabilistic clown running running around eating children? No, because these things (IT, the Tower, the little bald doctors) don't fit into reality in a way that is easy to perceive. It takes a special mind set to see them. But I think people do know they are there on some base level. I bet if you look around Castle Rock you might find a little piece of land that no one has ever built on and no one has ever wondered why. I've also been thinking about what they will find when they reach the Tower and the identity of the person who has been trying to stop them. I think that it is none other than Roland himself. Hear me out. Consider Jake a boy who died yet lives becuase of a fluke in time and space. he is living proof that the past isn't always what you thought it was. Now go back and consider another moment of great importance. Roland facing his teacher Cort. As we all know Roland and his hawk defeted the old man and Roland became a Gunslinger. But what if, somewhere somewhen, Roland had chosen a different weapon, or the hawk was just a second slow or Cort a second fast, any number of things. In that moment the universe would be re-written and instead of becoming a Gunslinger Roland was sent west in disgrace. What might become of Roland then. Would his Ka remain the same, and his destiny still run the road to the Tower. If so, think about what this Roland wouldn't be taking with him. All the lessons he didn't learn. His experience with Susan, the knowledge of the Wizard Glass, the death of his mother, of his friends, the war against the good man, the chase after walter, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, Oy, Lud, the tick-tok man, and on and on. Would he seek out the Tower sooner as a man filled with anger and shame. What might become of a man who entered the Tower in such a condition, what might happen to the Tower. Perhaps this was Martins plan when he showed Roland his mother that day..
Well those are my thoughts on the subject, at least they are for the moment.

Sneakattack writes:

a few more things

i dont know if flagg is marten, is walter or whatever, out of everything i see that as the least important fact. we dont have enough information to be sure, and whatever information we have might "change" later on anyway. and as for leland gaunt, he does go "dim" in needful things when alan pangborn peers into the shop. whatever that means. i'd like to think flagg will do some good in one of the books. king likes him to much to keep him evil.
i always beleived the reason for the changing of the water's position in drawing of three was due to kings imagination. it was all about how he writing the pictured scene in his mind. if he put it down for a few days, wrote some more, the new picture might be a little different.
also, would everyone stop talking about death as if it mattered in terms of reaching the dark tower? im sure roland could make it to the tower dead, as well as alive.
hearts plus peace = information was the thing that carol and peter shared at college in the second story in HIA. ted was reminding carol about the love that carol had with peter, but while in the presence of bobby... i dunno.
at the end of "the mist" king complains about the "it was all a dream" ending and the happy "speilberg" ending. he called them cop outs. i dont think we will see either at the end of the tower. i cant remember any books of his that dont have an ending.

Jeff writes:

Its me, the Jeff with the criteria and the minions and all that crap. Anyway, since my last post, I've read The Green Mile, Insomnia, and a few others (not to mention a whole lot of valid, well-thought-out theories on this page) I really agree with sneakattack's ideas, and I will try my best to answer his request for more connections.
    Firstly, I believe that all Flagg's are the same, simply because none of them have really died and I don't think Mr. King would create more than one character that evil with the same name. That means DT 1-4, The Stand, and Eyes of the Dragon are connected in my eyes.
    Secondly, Insomnia and Hearts in Atlantis are obviously connected due to the mention of beams and the tower and so forth. I haven't read Little Sisters of Eluria, and wouldn't know where to find it, but I can't say I've really looked. But judging from the amount of posts that mention it, I would agree that it's connected. It might be involved, simply from the mention of deadlights during Ralph's meeting with the Crimson King in Insomnia. (Did anyone else fin it odd that the queen fish almost bit off two fingers from Ralph's hand?)
    I also believe that Tak is involved somewhere, but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. The Green Mile seems to be involved somewhere, but only in the way that Coffey's powers seem to be similar to those of Ralph in Insomnia. I think that if Tick-Tock really is dead, then maybe Flagg needs someone like Wild Bill from Green Mile.
    Now that I have some connections off my chest, there is one big thing that bothers me about the connection of Insomnia to the Dark Tower. In their discussion, Clotho and Lachesis tell Ralph that when someone dies, they advance to a world where neither Purpose nor Random have any concern? That makes me wonder how Jake ended up at the way station when there are obviously Random and Purpose at work in Roland's world.
    PS to sneakattack: You mentioned how all of King's books seem to have an ending. Well, I hate to be a wrench in the works, but The Long Walk has what I'd call an open ending, but maybe it was just a one-time thing for Bachman to leave fans to make their own assumptions on that one.
    Later, all.

Mike writes:

I agree with all of you that are hypothesizing that the dark tower is all encompassing of the rest of king's work. When one reads a lot of king's books one notices that he is very methodical, he likes to leave no stone unturned. But in how many of his stories is the evil the work of some mysterious stranger, i.e Leland Gaunt, or the work of some abstract force. I think king is a more logical person than he is regarded as, or even as he thinks of himself as. I don't think King is comfortable just using the term "supernatural" to describe the events in all of his books. However, I also think that there are king books that do not connect to the tower. However, all books where one is tempted to utter the term "supernatural" in it's description, these are the books that are effected by the tower, and the books that effect the tower conversely, I mean after all there are far too many connections to even try to explain. Hopefully the "supernatural" is not what king's work is going to be known for, if it is then our literary society has lost all ability to determine greatness, and are the victims of horrific typecasting. All of king's work comes down to the same theme of good and evil, but it is so broad and covers so many other themes. King has probably covered every important theme in literature. Which is what frustrates me when I hear him refereed to as "good old spookmeister Steve King" and I bet even Hearts in Atlantis got that classic review of "Scary as Hell" I believe that at the conclusion of the dark tower, king's work will take on a whole new meaning. The dark tower will be what lives on of king's, it is not just popular fiction (neither is any of his work), the dark tower may be the only important work of literature that has been published in the last 20 years, maybe not the best, but probably the work that will live on the longest. I don't wanna sound too preachy, and I know that I am making very bold statements. But hey kids, this is one sweeping epic am I right?

Valen30099 writes:

I just finished Rose Madder for the second time and I started thinking about the Tower again and connections. I know that a connection between these stories has already been made by way of Ka and Lud, but I think there might be a connection that was never thought of. Or it might have been, I'm not sure.
The gaurdians of the beams. We know that they are fantastic animals (a giant bear, a talking turtle) and they have been charged with gaurding gateways. In rose madder there is a fantastic animal. The bull. It gaurds a maze that can be accessed (at least as far as I can tell) by a large archway, much like the gate gaurded by Shardik. I think the bull is one of the gaurdians (one of the ones roland couldn't remember).
Also I have to wonder, is anyone else on the path to the tower? It's possible that others have found the paths of the beams and are currently on their way to the tower and maybe the don't all have the best intentions. Of course this is all just a somewhat amusing idea I tinker with to relieve bordom. It isn't based on anything.

racapri writes:

Just reread all of Dark Tower and it got me thinking on some things that seemed rather obvious but hadn't been mentioned ( or had been debated. )

in the book, Hearts in Atlantis, The low men are refered to as the agents of the Crimson King, and that he is Chaos.( I'll return to that point in a second..) Also, the Crimson Kind's Sigul is the open eye...but so is..*drumroll* John Farson's. John Farson is responsible for bringing great chaos into Roland's world. Since John Farson doesn't appear to have died ( at least it isn't mentioned ) perhaps he is the Crimson King as well..or at least under his control? Now returning to the point about Crimson King being Chaos, if he aims to destroy the beams, and thus destroy the tower he is not of the same force that Randall Flagg is. Walter says at the Palaver in the end of DT1, that Randall (Ageless Stranger) is an Agent of the Tower. Randall may just be fighting to perpetuate his own evil control over the Tower ( under of course, the Rule of the Beast.... the originator of all Glammer) Then Randall and the Beast are in fact evil... but the Crimson King is of a different force...? Of course, the only turnabout to this is, that Walter also says he is a minion of the Tower as well. But as we know, he worked for John Farson... So either Walter lied..., John Farson isn't the Crimson King..., or there is a damned good Paradox afoot!
Anyone who thinks Oy is going to be the Hero is nuts...(not just because the odds of that little bugger saving the universe are about as likely as me being the Queen of England) it also states in DT4, when Roland peers into the Wizard's Glass, that he sees a Billy Bumbler impaled on the highest branch of a tree...the bumbler calls out *drumroll* Yes...you guessed it..."OY!"
Rhea of the Coos' is a Vampire, and she is not out of the way yet. This is probably why the old woman from DT3 gave Roland the cross of Pure Silver (silver bad for undead..)
The Dark Tower has to be an actual place, for a few reasons. First off, if King is to follow the outcome of the Poem in any way, then Roland will stand before the tower in the field of roses and blow his horn. (meaning that they will actually enter the field and gaze at the tower, in all is dark splendor.) Also, I am reminded of King's use of the Emerald Palace from the Wizard of Oz in DT4... perhaps he isn't done taking from the Wizard of Oz. Think back oh reader ( undoubtedly tired of my rant. ) When Dorothy and company stand before the palace they must cross the field of beautiful flowers that surrounds it on all side. Now admitedly, they're not roses..but..some resemblance? Perhaps..or perhaps i'm nuts. Nevertheless, I believe that King will make the Tower an actually physical place.
In accordance with the previous point, I believe that Roland and company will actually climb the Tower...what they'll see and do on the way I trully have no idea. But, they will climb it, and they will reach the highest point, the final room..chamber...whichever, and they will find the Beast there. Now he's the discretion..., the Beast... I believe is in fact It from IT. In It, the children had to battle him using their imagination, and finally one of them went into the actual dimension of It, and saw the true nature of him. Now I wonder if when he gazed up on the deadlights in the book, he was looking at the Beast in his true form, found in the Dark Tower, or if at the top of the Tower, there will be a way for them to enter the true dimension of It. Pretty Confusing stuff eh?
And my last point is, which sort of addresses the connection between King's Books... is that Roland and his cadre find evidence that a plague ( called Captain Trips ) struck. Of further note, they find a piece of paper which reads ( something to this effect ) "Mother Abigail is the woman in Colorado, the Dark Man lies in Nevada" Once more, proof of some sort of cross into the World of the Stand.... OR perhaps the idea that Captain Trips has spread ( which is poised by Roland ) is true, and the virus does in fact infect these parallel worlds, and there is another Mother Abigail and another instance of Randall Flagg, but only in another time.

Well folk's you've been great, sorry took so long, but hey! this stuff seems to make sense to me....I have no ending for this..so i'll just take a short bow. *Bows and then runs off.*

NetWulff writes:

Some ideas and points:

In "The Wastelands", Roland comments on how "it may take a great many ka-tets to complete one story", or something along those lines. Anyway, Rolands ka-tet is not the first ka-tet that we've encountered in Kings worlds, and I think maybe we can get some idea of what awaits Roland & Co. at the Tower by looking at these other ka-tets: (1) Someone will fall by the way. In "IT", Stan committed suicide and It killed Eddie. In "The Talisman"', Wolf dies. In "The Stand", Stu suffers his accident, and Nick dies in a fiery explosion, although wether that was meant to happen or just a freak thing that happened thanks to Harold (a possible unknowing agent of the Random?) remains to be seen. (2) The one who dies will still play a major part (ala Nick; remember also that at the end of "IT", Bev saw Stan and Eddie's reflections in a store window, and how Bobbi Anderson's ghost helped save Gard's life in the "Tommyknockers").
We will probably see the boys from "The Eyes of the Dragon", as they were still following Flagg in DT II. I think there will be a sizeable gathering against Flagg, as there are so many who would be set against him: of course our favorite Ka-tet, as well as Nick Andros and any of the people he used or destroyed in other worlds.
The whole thing will probably be futile. The ka-tet will save the Tower from utter destruction, only to have the whole thing start over again. It's just too "King-ly" not to happen. It's happened before, especially in "The Stand". For instance, look at Harold. He had a chance to start all over, forgive and forget, but he dragged all of his problems into the brave new world with him, and it sealed his fate. And at the end of that very same book, the Free Zoners start rebuilding the very society that brought about it's own destruction. The last words of said book were something like "Can people change? I don't know." They may be able to stall the destruction of the Tower, but eventually, it'll happen anyways.

Jason writes:

People! When will you realize that the Crimson King and Flagg/Maerlyn/Marten/Farson are the same being. If you remember the end of It you know that it existed on earth and the macroverse simultaneously. Flagg is the earth version of the Crimson King. Flagg is almost certainly an agent of higher random. The failure of the Ka-tets from various books to rid the world of evil beings like him permanently is due to the yin yang relationship of good vs. evil. The good must ever vigilantly try to defeat the evil. The turtle is a creature existing on a higher level of the tower and exists in all times.

Scott writes:

At the end of "Talisman" Jack was climbing the floors of the "Dark hotel" Jack didn't have a twinner, his twinner died at birth. If for any reason, Jake, might have come close to death as a child, he may be a twinner. When Jack held the talisman, he saw millions of himself in other worlds.... if each path of the beam leads to a world, could Jacks' be conected to Roland's? If Jake was able to die, but still live, what about Jack? Is his "Flipping" like a death? Since Jake died, maybe he flipped. Jake could be Jack's twinner.... Maybe Jack starts to the dark tower from the east, while Jake is coming from the west.... The "Other world" in the "Talisman" is a lot like the end world of Roland's. It may be the other side of the tower. In the end of "The Talisman" Jack was the only one who entered... He got to the top. He got the talisman. Could the Dark Tower be the Dark hotel?? If Jake was Jacks Twinner, could the little boy from "Insomnia" Be Richard? Or another, Jake could die in Thunderclap, and Roland be the equal to Jack, and Ricard is Eddie.... Much differnet, eh? Say Wolf from "The Talisman" was equal to all of Roland's past friends? Died on the quest? Or such an ending as "The Stand" Maybe Roland is unable to continue, like Stu Redman.... and Oy is Kojack.... Eddie and the gang progress, only to die at the tower, maybe saving the world, freeing it of the ripping of space/time/distance fabric? Followed by Roland returning to Gilead? Of, course, I need to read the other books, "It, Insomnia, Salems Lot" before I give anything worth the time.... I think I did well for how much I have read.... and the fact I'm only 13...... Thanks for your time....

Desmond writes:

Near the end of DT 1, Walter states that he is a minion of the Tower, as is his master, the Ageless Stranger. Now, if Flagg is this Ageless Stranger, which many believe that he is, why would he want to destroy the Tower that he is a minion to? Also, the fact that Walter aids Roland in his quest makes me think that Walter and Flagg are actually aiding Roland in his quest for the Tower. Now, after reading DT IV, some of these statements may seem contradictory, since Flagg appears to be trying to get the ka-tet to renounce the Tower. But could he not be testing them? Assuring that they are the right ka-tet to defeat the Crimson King and save the Tower? Perhaps Flagg's allegiance to the Crimson King is analogous to how he seemed to be helping King Roland in EOTD but was deceiving him the entire time. Flagg has tremendous powers, so what stopped him from destroying the ka-tet at the end of DT IV? Many of these points may seem inconsistent, but many things about the Tower do.

Brandon writes:

First of all, in "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", Roland made it to the dark tower. To all of you who say that he will not make it are probably wrong. Its possible that SK may kill him to surprise us, but I very much doubt that he will.
Second, chances are Oy is gonna die...when Roland was "inside" the pink ball, he saw him nailed to a tree. I say only chances are because it also said that he was still alive on the tree.
I hope that all of them make it to the dark tower, but something tells me that its possible that only Roland will make it. Once again in the ball, he heard a voice tell him that he will kill everything and everyone that he loves. It would appear that he loves everyone in his ka-tet, so it is very possible that he will kill him. I know that he may finally realize that he is damned and try to redeem himself a little bit by sacrificing himself so that the others can make it too...either way though he will be ripped between the tower and his feelings...

Gra261 writes:

I stumbled on your site today--LOVE it. Got a couple small theories here. What great stuff everyone else has come up with!

The setting in "The Breathing Method" and "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" is none other than the Dark Tower. You've got lots of doors leading to strange places and some characters that know just a little bit more about the ins and outs of reality than the average bear. Sorry, I haven't read either story in several years, so I can't give specifics, but I've thought this for a long time now.
Don't think Roland is going to be the one standing at the end. I kind of think there'll be some kind of proving test, or purity test, or somesuch. Roland doesn't pass this, being the man with the sinful past. Eddie doesn't pass this, kind of for the same reasons, though I think maybe he's still got some major things to regret coming up in the future (maybe leave Susannah behind/kill her for the larger good), Oy can't do it (and here my theory is a little thin), though I think he's much more important than many give him credit for. I already think Susannah is a goner, long before the Tower draws nigh. This leaves Jake, innocent child with his world-knowing eyes and capable hands. Jake, the once-sacrificed lamb that leads all to salvation. I don't know, maybe my theory is a little too Christ-like Character-y.
A question: what was the point of leaving Susannah's wheelchair behind at the end of DT 3? It seemed so ominous at the time, and I just knew Susannah was history in the next book. Well, that sure didn't happen, and they even got her some new wheels as soon as they got to Topeka. So...what gives? If SK just wanted to get rid of her burdensome clunker, he was going to have them find a new one in his next book anyway. I don't know, it just seemed so important at the time. I don't really have a theory, but I wonder if its important that the Ka-Tet, or at least Susannah, lose another piece of hardware that originated from a world other than Roland's? Flagg seemed damn worried about Jake's gun from New York(at the end of DT 4). The precedent has been set for cross-world objects posing a threat to at least Flagg. Maybe to other enemies as well? Maybe its not important at all. Although my my copy of DT 3 does have an illustration of the left-behind wheelchair perched at the edge of Blaine's track. Sure its great imagery to draw, but shouldn't there be more to this?

Thats all for now. Love the site, love the theories(I've only read about half right now)

Michael writes:

The Dark Tower does not tie into all King's other stories; ALL of his stories are the results of the Corruption which has crept into the Dark Tower...It is simply one large story Mr. King has been working on his entire life.
One thing is certain: Roland must not gain control of the Dark Tower. He has shed far too much blood. He would only introduce a new type of corruption to creation. To date, Jake has not killed, and would be pure enough to bring Creation back upon an even keel. Only Roland can get Jake to the Dark Tower, but I believe his hardest decision will be to relinquish control, once it is won, to another.

Joe Z. writes:

Okay, here I go...
    First off, in response to everyone who thinks that Susannah will get an abortion, or that the baby will die, this will not happen. Speaking as a writer, why would King introduce this plot thread of her being pregnant, only to kill it. That would make the thread useless. It would be a pointless excursion into Verbal Diarrhea. This does not seem like kings style to me. The baby must have some importance to the story or he wouldn't have put it in. It's really that simple. I see two possible outcomes where the baby is concerned. One, that some of you are right, that it is infact a Demon baby, two, that when Eddie and Susannah leave the tower, they will name the baby Rolande and he will become the King in Eyes of the Dragon. Thusly nicely connecting the stories together and creating a huge loop of time. Since we really have no real proof that EOTD took place before the Dark Tower series. Further more, I think it's completely possible, that by traveling down the beam, they might be traveling down the timeline of Rolands own world. This argument is strengthened by the theory that some people believe that Rolands world is nothing more then the future of trashcan mans and mother abigals world in the stand. If they are in the same world, the fact that we find newspapers and the like referring to Captain trips would lead us to believe that we are traveling back. This is a theory that I must admit to not being fully comfortable with.
    I also want to say that I liked the idea that Roland is already in the tower. That all of creation lies in the tower.
    Personally, I think that Roland will make it to his tower. That being said, I don't think Roland will make it back from the tower. I think he is destined to die inside the tower. That's the way it has to happen, if he dies anywhere else that would just be anticlimactic. As for who walks out of the tower, I think that depends. If the baby turns out to be a demon, Susannah will die giving birth to it. If it does turn out to be a future Rolande or any thing else, then Eddie and Susannah will walk out holding the child, giving us a vision of hope. If she dies though, I think it will be Jake and Eddie.
    as for our little Katet meeting up with other King character, I think it is possible, just not very likely. Plus if they do, I doubt sincerely that they would join. The Katet is already formed, it will not grown, only shrink.
    But hey, that's just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

John-David writes:

As I've read all of the published parts of the "Dark Tower" epic, I thought I'd throw my two-cents in on all of this. It seems unfathomable that Roland will not reach the tower, based primarily on the Browning poem upon which the epic is based. That said, considering the fact that King Roland " from EOTD had a son who strongly resembled him, it seems quite reasonable that it will not only be Roland figuring in to the end of the novel, but Roland's son, the son he had with Susan Delgado. Reading Wizard and Glass, Roland only sees Susan's death in the Wizard's Glass, which doesn't necessarily mean that it happened, as he and his ka-tet left the barony of Mejis after the final battle with the forces of the Good Man. I believe ( or at least want to believe with all my heart after reading the novel ) that Susan Delgado actually survived the events and gave birth to Roland's son, and they will again meet later in the epic. Perhaps Roland will believe he has defeated the ultimate evil and be declared the king ( leading into EOTD ), while his son ends up taking his father's quest and discovers the true "Dark Tower". Any thoughts on this would be welcome.

Jason writes:

It's me again. John-David wrote about the possibility that Susan Delgado live through the events in Meijis. Despite the fact that this would be a great plot I don't believe it's possible. We not only learned of her death through the glass but through her mind as well. Plus, even if she was alive she would have died when Roland talked with Walter. He awoke on the beach after many years had past. I feel that Roland will probably die in or about the Dark Tower. The idea that the beast that the Ageless Stranger serves is It is interesting but why are the Crimson King, It and the Little Bald Doctors so concerned with Derry? Don't they have a world of which to take care? Like Walter, Flagg must have extensive shape-shifting capabilities like I refered to the last time I wrote in. He assumes so many identities and why is Roland's world the primary one through which Flagg does his plans? If you people remember, the idea! that Eddie and Susannah have a kid named Roland who becomes King is somewhat ridiculous. Roland mentions that he met Thomas and Dennis from Eyes of the Dragon, and in Eyes of the Dragon, it mentions the royal lineage somewhere. So this theory is probably wrong. Plus Delain is in Roland's world thus it is not a time warp somewhere. Thanks, i just posed some important questions.

Justin writes:

Hey I was just sitting hear and reading some of the theories and saw something that sparked a theory of my own, I just read a theory that reminded me that Jack in the Talisman had no twinner because his died before birth, I am reading The Dark Tower IV for the second time and so it just came to me that maybe Rolands unborn child was jacks twinner, and that is why he (Jack) is able to handle the dark towers wizard rainbow at the end of the story, and mayhap in the future DT series father and son will finally be united and stand true. Ooo well thats just my thought and I hope to think of plenty more, until then keep up the good work, and may your days be long upon the earth.

Wetzelr writes:

Alright here is my theory Rolands world is a place between all other worlds they explain it better in hearts in atlantis when they speak of the ring around the sun
    ted an escaped guy (a breaker hired by the crimson king to destroy the beams)
    they talk of parrelel dimensions that revolve around the same sun and is the same place only its different it is completely different than all other worlds (like the tv show sliders).Rolands world i think is at the center of these worlds where the Dark Tower awaits.Now all this talk of who is marten and maerlyn they are Flagg
    Randal Flagg is the person who created the world of the stand and created the virus that killed most every one there.Flagg is Maerlyn and Marten because he is the ageless stranger and changes his name every 1000 years.Now Roland must reach the dark tower to stop his world from moving on and Flagg is the one who by orders from the crimson king to kill or stop rolands ka-tet from reaching the tower.
    All the other books that go with the dark tower are the parrelel universes that has been created by either Flagg or Steven King (As the Burning daylight put it King is god in rolands world).But what is the rose in the construction site why can it not be touched why must it be saved only time can tell when king fineshes the next book in 2001.

shawn k writes:

I believe that patrick at the end of Insomnia, is rolands son. Susans unborn child. When he died, he was reborn into our world. The reason that i believe this is because if you didn't notice susans father was named Patrick Delgado. I think he will save roland and Eddie at somepoint. He will die as we are told in Insomnia. I think susan will be dead by this time, from her own childbirth. Will patrick be drawn into our world, or will susan give birth to him? That is up for you to decide. I mean why else the connection, besides for the dying with child factor.

depner writes:

Hearts in Atlantis is a recommended read of those who have read the DT series. Like all of Kings books this one has some tie in with them. Only in this one you don't have to read very far to realize that this is directly related. There are three stories in this book, each on set in different area, different worlds. We first meet Bobby a small boy in Connecticut. We soon meet Ted. As it turn out Ted is from Rolands world, he is a slave to the King, a breaker. Low Men from that world have chases him to Connecticut since he escaped into our world. They need him as a breaker to work the beam. At all costs they must keep Roland away from Tower. The Low Men remind us that all things in this world or the next serve the King. Another small theory I have about this book is about Bobby and Carrol. I believe that in some way these two are a version of Eddie and Susannah. Ted represents Roland by protecting them. I believe that since Ted left our world alone this means that Roland will also reach the Tower alone but he will get there. Eddie and Susannah will not get there but I think they will be safe none the less.
Another quick note, Rose Madder shows us Kings importance of the Ka and Ka-tet. The importance of other worlds and Gunslingers. Read it. Read Hearts in Atlantis if you haven't yet. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Matt writes:

Alright, here is my theory on the whole situation. I believe that, despite all the "connections" between the books, no characters will come from other books to help out Roland. This is because he either just mentions them to mention them (like in an advertisement, which u have to admit has worked considering a lot of you have read the other books just to look for connections) or he just likes certain names or runs out of names and keeps them. However, I do think that Roland is going to need a bigger party to battle at the dark tower, so he grabs Cuthbert, Alain, Walter, Susan (because he loves her and can save her through time,) and anyone else that has ever helped him. Oy and Susanah will most likely die on the sheer fact that they are pointless except Susanah's baby (who might be either good or bad, I'm undecided.)
The location of the Dark Tower is not New York. As horrible as New York is, it's also where our 3 travellers from earth came from, and the loaction of the rose. New York is actually where the opposite of the dark tower stands (the light tower?) because when you think about it, if you were to draw straight lines (beams) from the dark tower you would eventually run into those guardians, but they are only the half way point, if you keep going they all meet again on the opposite side where some balance would be....the rose.
Finally, as for R.F. I have no clue how he fits in, my guess is that he isn't as powerful as some say he will be, based on the fact that Roland almost killed him in DT4. He probably is the Ageless Stranger and is just a minion to the Crimson King. The Crimson King's finest servant is the beast who is at the top.

Storm Shadow writes:

This probably seems a little out of whack, but one theory I came up with is that maybe the Tower was a man made creation, (created by the Great Old Ones)perhaps created to hold together Roland's crumbling world (which may be our world far into the future), or perhaps it is merely some sort of portal used to travel through time or space, and as the tower becomes more posessed by the powers of the Random, its immense ability has caused time and space to blend in together, especially at the thinnies. Also, there are some interesting connections I have stumbled across. In DT 4, in some part it mentions how a traveling singer brings John Farson the glass orb, (or something along those lines) does this man sound at all like the traveling singer Browson (or maybe it was Bronson) whos guise Flagg mentions having taken in Eyes of the Dragon? Another interesting thing i noticed, in one of King's short stories (I cant think of the title right now, it was the one about the black woman who is a maid for a very good white writer and after an encounter with a gypsy and some other events she gives birth to a son who is a good writer and writes similar stories) the lead character stumbles across a 'mushroom' of the gypsy's, she says when she touched it, it screamed... does this sound at all like the kleffa carrot Flagg used to protect the dragon sand he kept within his desk? Interesting evidence to be sure... does it lead anywhere or affect the quest for the tower? Probably not, but I think it goes to show that perhaps Roland's world is connected with ours in some very subtle ways, keep reading!

Edward writes:

I dont know if im pointing out the blatantly obvious or previously said, but here goes. In insomnia the two little doctors mention three forces at work Purpose(good), Chaos(evil) and the mysterious Random. This links with The Stand as Mother Abigails people are the Purpose, Randalls the Chaos and the strange enigmatic Trashcanman the Random. This is evident in that Flagg senses a power perhaps stranger than his own. Throghout the book Tman seems not evil just twisted. I saw him from the start as a wildcard notto be trusted or catergorised as good or evil and in the end it is him that brings about the end of Flaggs reign in America. In the end of The Stand Flagg remains undefeated, is it possible that he will continue to cause havoc over and over again until the human numbers are dwindled to nothing. And more interesting is this what happened to Rolands world, were Rolands people once technologically advanced? then the world fell. There is evidence of this in the refridgerator and electric lights slowly becoming rarer. In the Stand they were living off super markets eventually the canned food would run out causing them to go back to farming and the like slowly build themselves up and then be decimated by the returning Flagg, just like Rolands world was eventually lost to Flagg
The Chaos within theTower is winning.......

Mike writes:

Though I've read the series twice, I don't claim to be an expert. The one idea I always enjoyed was the timeline of the book. Roland starts off in Midworld, correct? As Blaine crashes in EndWorld, we find the group in the Endworld, which is none other than the world following under The Stand's continuity. For all sakes, when the epidemic struck in The Stand, it was the end of the world. A few hundred (or thousand?) years later, you're in mid-world. Keep going farther into the future and you'll find the beginning world, which would be the end of time.
It's scientific fact that every couple of millenia (I think it's approximately every ten thousand years) the Earth's poles reverse. North becomes South, and vice versa. If they're going west, by our maps, they're headed east/north east...towards New York and Bangor, Maine (as proposed in earlier theories)

Michelle writes:

I think that Stephen King has had this in mind all along. All of his books exist in worlds that he has created and which tie into eachother, through several references. Therefore, King probably sees himself as either Roland (the one who can save those worlds) or Randall Flagg (the one who can destroy them). I support the theory that the final book will be produced only after King's death, that way it will be his final book, the one that determines for us what happened to all the characters of all the others. King has created a universe for himself, and we can only watch as Roland or Flagg triumphs, to please the real King.

Elise writes:

In response to a few comments about who will die and who will live:
I'm quite convinced he won't kill Jake again, a double death is too much anyhow, King loves using young boys as his heros. I don't think he'll kill Roland either, remember this is all based on "Childe Roland to the Darke Tower Came." I do think that Susannah and/or Eddie are doomed, especially Susannah. King always has a hard time writing dimensional women and I don't think he's very comfortable with Susannah. Anyhow, her death would introduce some tragedy for Eddie which would get us closer to his character. Also, I think Susan is still important, there's no reason she couldn't be resurrected in another world or another form. If there's anything Roland still has to fight on a personal level it will have to do with her. . . and I think he has a lot of personal development yet to go.
Well, there's my two cents.

Darktower979 writes:

There are so many theories here I could spend days upon days here! One thing I wanted to say was, I have seen a couple people say that Roland will not die because this is based on Robert Browning's poem. But if you look at the poem carefully, yes Roland arrives at the dark tower but dies when he gets there. "There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met to view the last of me, a living frame for one more picture!" But then it goes on to say that he sees everyone he's ever known. So if King does hold true to the poem, as much as I hate it, Roland will die. Also I just wanted to say that I do agree with the people that think they will be battling vamps in the near future. We know they definitely exist in Roland's world - he has already come across them in the short story 'The Little Sisters of Eluria' . I don't really have any real predictions for the future of the story, but I cannot wait to see how it all comes together.

Andrew writes:

Hey, just found your site. NICE!!! Everyone's thought's are great. I've read almost all of King's work and this is my theory. There are four powers

Life (sybolically Jake Chambers God in Desperation)
Death (TAK from desparation, regulators and in the little sisters of eluria)
Purpose (The green king, Roland's boss)
Random (Crimson King)

The purpose and random constantly war with each other but essentially they are a standard balance of Yin and Yang. Death is the opposite of both the purpose AND the random. all Tak desires is destruction. Nothingness. Random is bad yes even Evil but with nothing to rule what would be the purpose in defeating the Purpose??? (no pun intended) Life possibly the least mentioned of the four. God. creation. it creates then leaves us to our own devices. sometimes taking action if it needs to "God is cruel"

LIFE is ruled by God and hs very little to do with the day to day running of the place.
DEATH is ruled by Tak. the unformed "old one" (Cthulhu reference?) and Tak has his minions generally things under his control. - entragian, wolves, bats and in the little sisters of eluria Vampires...
PURPOSE - is ruled by the green king who chooses his 'workers' Ralph roberts, Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Rose Madder and countless others.
RANDOM - now here's one everyone seems confused about. I'm almost certain that the Beast IS the Crimson King but Flagg (Marten, Mearlyn, Walter, The Good Man, R.S.) is simply a minion to do his bidding while the Crimson King is overlooking the breaking of the beams. The destruction of the beams, and the tower, is causing all sorts of problems all over the place. (I LOVE the theory about the tower being in castle rock) Rabid dog's, Psychotic clown beasts, Deranged undead half symbiotic twin brothers, Demonic shop owners and people who'll 'go away if they get what they want'. these events are agents of the random without as much power as Flagg so they are trapped in one time and place wreaking havoc as they see fit. If the Crimson King could't defeat a bunch of kids how will he even hope to face roland??? a man whose actions are moving whole worlds. For this reason I maintain that IT is nowhere near high enough up the tower to be the Crimson King.

right that one outta the way. I think Mid-world was created by the great old ones as a kind of Mid-point between worlds. an intersteller train station as it were. this would explain the beams. and how Blaine could travel to other worlds when ordinarilly people who go through thinnies are... not exactly in good shape afterwards... this, intersteller train station would explain why things from other worlds could end up in Eddies world. Someone wrote Charlie the Choo Choo right?? and King Arthur?? Transportation is possible bacause that's what mid world is for. Roland remembers a world 'Full of love and light" a busy place it would seem. with people whizzing backwards and forwards across time & space it would be hard not to be.
    and finally. I'm convinced that ALL of Steven King's work is linked. Eddie himself has seen the film version of the stand. That puts him (close enough) to our world. People from the books run into each other. the books are linked but sometimes they are in "other worlds than these" Regulators and Desperation see a first attempt by Tak to gain some control and then an act of revenge in another reality where the same people existed but in a different form. Characters in Desperation have read books by the lead character in Misery, as has Rose Madder.
    OK REALLY finally. Linoge, Leland Gaunt, Flagg, IT, They call them legion for they are many. Agents of the Random who cause harm to living worlds to help destabalise the Tower for the Crimson King. And What of Tak. Purpose and Random, the two elements of life joining forces to destroy the ultimate evil? Can De Lach - Heart of the Unformed
                Cheers for listenin'

A. Fiore writes:

I have a theory... now before you throw things at me, consider the following: Tak and Flagg, could very well be the same... spirit. Think about it. Tak and Flagg in any timeline of any story that Flagg is in he looks different. But... with that same spasmoid grin. Now, Tak does the same, granted Tak also decomposes the bodies he raids but give a spirit a billion years and he'll prolly learn to control that fairly well... especially if he takes special bodies... wizards bodies. The Dark Tower - wizard. The Eyes of the Dragon - wizard. The Stand - something not nice I can tell you that. Also, they TITTER. I've never heard a titter but I bet it's not something I'd ever wanna hear. Tak titters, Flagg titters. And lets take this a step further, they both have an absolute PASSION for quoting westerns. Tak calling every one Pard, and Flagg just bein you average trail hand. NOW allow me to speculate FURTHER who else do we know that talks in Trail Handese that's was specificly in The Drawing of the Three? Complete with little Blaine? You guessed it... "Blaines a pain but we have to take the train" What if, in some fever of malicious frontal lobe quirk, Tak/Flagg invaded a train? In a world were everyone the Pilgrims meet is talking like a "squint" or a "cully" which sounds like Pirate lingo to me... where on earth would Wild Wild West speech patterns come in?

Adam writes....

Roland must make it to the tower and play a crucial role in the resolution to the problem (if there should be a resolution). He is the lifeforce of this entire epic, “the dinh of this ka-tet,” and it would seem ridiculous to eliminate him from the equation too early. There is too much greatness about him. He is the deadliest gunslinger of all time, a king, and most importantly, the chosen one. That’s not to say that evoking unexpected emotions or killing off the protagonist makes for a bad story, but Roland (or his death) must be a major factor in the story’s resolution, or the disapointment to the reader would be too great.
    Eddie will die standing before the tower in the field of roses. This is forecasted in his dream by the predominant feeling of dread. When he swears commitment to the tower, he makes it very clear that his one true ambition in the quest is only to stand there in that field and to see the tower as he did in his dream, not to actually enter it. Also, I believe that the connection that Roland makes between Eddie and Cuthbert in DT2 has a deeper purpose, possibly insinuating that Eddie awaits a similar fate.
    I also believe that Susannah will perish before the arrival at the tower. First of all, her character has not received as much attention as Eddie’s and Jake’s. The reader hasn’t attached as much emotion to her, and she hasn’t really demonstrated any sort of growth as Eddie has. King makes a point multiple times to illustrate Eddie’s maturation process, and it would seem foolish to waste such development on a character whose role is not major. Secondly, although I haven’t heard it myself but only from previous postings, it seems that King implied in a conference that her unborn child is in fact that of the demon, and the consequence will be grave. Finally, sticking with the idea of Roland’s current comrades mirroring those of his past, Roland mentions in DT3 that Susannah strikes a similarity to Alain, and we have already learned that Alain died before the smoking guns of Roland and Cuthbert (which would mean Eddie this time around, and that would make for an interesting twist).
    I don’t mean to insult Oy fans, but I think it’s highly unlikely to assume that Oy will be among the final pilgrims. There isn’t enough depth to his character, and the emotional bond that will inevitably be formed between the remaining heroes could never be achieved with an animal. In several instances it has seemed that Oy would become a sacrifice to save Jake’s life, and had that happened, I think his purpose would have been served.
    That leaves Jake. As was prophesized in Insomnia, Peter Danville will save the lives of two men when he is in his early twenties and just before his death. If King plans to adhere to the structure already put in place by this novel, I believe Jake and Roland will be the two men that are saved. Jake seems too special to not make it to the end of Roland’s ka-tet. He doesn’t seem to mirror any of the characters from Roland’s past, and that in itself gives him a uniqueness that must mean something more. Roland’s vow to never again let Jake be killed also speaks volumes for his importance. I found the theory about Jake being Roland’s son to be interesting. Whether or not it’s true, it’s obvious that Roland's unwarranted love for the boy is much stronger than his love for any other.
    Concerning Flagg: I, like most readers, want to believe that the Flagg from EotD is the same Randell Flagg from The Stand and The Dark Tower Series. (I think that it’s fair to say that the latter two Flaggs are the same based on Flagg’s comment in DT3 about how one of his most highly trusted henchmen—obviously Trashcan Man—betrayed him in the past. This comment was unnecessary to the plot and its only purpose, I believe, was to help us make this connection.) We want to make this connection between all three Flaggs because its too intriguing not to. I, for one, actually do think that all three Flaggs are the same being, based on Roland’s reference to his memory of Thomas, Dennis, and Flagg in the wreck of Gilead in DT2. But the Flagg in EotD just seems so less powerful than the others. He just doesn’t scare you as much; he doesn’t epitomize evil as much. The fact that he chases Peter down with an axe futily really disappointed me. The Great Flagg of The Stand or of The Dark Tower Series would have just turned him into a dog or singed his face off with a blue flame emitted from his finger (a la the poor cook in The Stand). It doesn’t make sense. Which brings me to another point concerning Flagg, and I’d be interested to hear what others may think. It doesn’t seem like Flagg, from any of the stories, can use his powers on anybody who is good. If you’ll notice, all the instances of him destroying somebody with shear magic are restricted to weak willed people. All of the strong hearted, good characters that vanquish—Nick Andros, Glen Bateman, Ralph Brentner, Larry Underwood—are all killed by human beings, under the control of Flagg, but not actually by Flagg himself. This would explain why Flagg hasn’t simply squashed Roland and his ka-tet under the heel of his boot. He obviously has incredible powers, but he doesn’t seem able (or willing?) to use them against the forces of “the white.” (Perhaps if he reduces himself to fighting physically—for example, with an axe—he is about to do combat these characters.)Personally, I don’t think that Flagg and the Crimson King are the same creature. Flagg is too schizophrenic. He just follows his chaotic instinct, but he never really has a grand scheme, like undoing the nexus of all worlds. It seems like he starts over with a clean slate every time that he has to flee his body (The Stand, EotD), and like we learn in The Stand, he has no memories of his previous existence. I don’t know, it just seems as if he is a puppet to a greater chaotic force—the Crimson King; “all things serve the King.” It will be interesting to see, however, how Roland and his comrades plan to battle something as inhuman and seemingly invincible as the Crimson King and his minions. The low men in yellow coats, for instance (Hearts in Atlantis), didn’t seem to be the types that could be gunned down, and I’m sure that the Crimson King won’t be. Perhaps they have the same handicap as Flagg. And maybe it’s not just short-timers that they can’t touch, but true-hearted, good short-timers like our beloved ka-tet. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Richard writes:

I believe that Roland's world is the future of The Stand. Roland's world seems to be the result of something apocolyptic. Now ask yorself this, what was Flagg doing in the stand in the first place? I think he was there to kill Frannie. I forget where it was, but in the book Frannie has a dream about beams. Perhaps the same beams that link the dark tower? She could be an ancestor of Rolands. Remember she did deliver the first baby in the new world. That is just something to think about. Now to Flagg. In The Stand, Tommy,while under hypnosis, says that Flagg's real name is Legion. Legion is the name of a demon Jesus cast into a thousand pigs in the Bible. In It, a girl asks the name of the voice coming from her sink. The voice respond "Legion". In Storm of the Century, Michael Anderson rearanges the last name of Andre Linoge to get Legion. In Needful Things, if you take Leland Gaunts name and just call him "Lee" (which at one point he sugests) you get Lee Gaunt. Now drop the t from Gaunt to get Lee Gaun. Pronounce the G as a J to get Lee Jaun. Now what does it sound like? Yes Legion. Flagg, Pennywise, Linoge, and Gaunt all have the same powers and characteristics. For example: shapeshifting, pure black eyes, mind control, able to enter people's dreams. In the Stand, Flagg wanted a kid. He was promised(by who?) Nadine to give him that. She killed herself so Flagg didn't get his kid. In Storm of the Century, Linoge is there to get a kid. He suceeds. I'm not saying that Flagg, Pennywise, Linoge and Gaunt are the same person. I'm saying they are Legion the servant of the Crimson King.

A.D. writes,

I like the theory about the stand representing some past version of rolands world. If you remember DT III when jake is in the bookstore the proprietor (whose last name was tower) is playing a game of chess with a man reading a book. The name of the book? The plauge. This bookstore was full of symoblism and I think this particular part represented a failed attempt at destruction of the tower. Tower says he plans to rip the other guys defense apart but doesnt do so well immiediatly. This could mean that some of the intended effects got through, i.e. killing off almost everybody so rolands world had to start over, the gaurdians being infected with some sickness. just some thoughts, great site keeps me thinkin about the book while I wait for the next chapter in the story, keep em comin!.

Mike writes,

In The Talisman, it is speculated that perhaps there are worlds other than Jack's world and the Territories. Perhaps Roland's world is a level past ours. And that our world is Roland's territories. Therefore:
    Roland's World -- Our World -- Territories.
When something small happens in the territories (small revolution) it results in something big happening in our world (ww2). So maybe a big event in our world, from one of kings book, was what caused Roland's world to "move on".
    I agree with the post that said that maybe Roland's son was Jack's twinner, but I dont'want to get into that.
    Perhaps, because Roland's world is a level above ours, he has the ability to flip back in time as well (Drawing of the Three).

Butterfly writes . . .

Hi i'm new to the whole Dark Tower series. But I know whats going on. you probably won't agree with my theories, thats upto you. But you also have to take into consideration that i'm only 15 and only started in the November of 2000 and have read D.T 2,3,4 but i haven't been able to find the first one in the shops or the library.
Anyway although Roland believes that his quest is to find the Tower, i think that he is only meant to guide the Ka-tet. In 'the drawing of the three' Roland says he may have to sacrifice Eddie and Susannah, i think that he won't but instead will take his own life. I don't think that all of them are meant to reach the tower, but only Jake. This is because although Jake is very young, he is also very smart and will be the only one who knows what he must do in order to put the worlds right again.

Yodastar13 writes:

I believe that, although it is constantly said that they are in different worlds, Roland's world, Susannah's world, the world devastated by the superflu, and all others are technically the same world. True, the superflu world is different from Eddie's 1986, but let me explain. I recently read "Timeline" by Michael Crichton, and it speaks of a multiverse. Time travel is impossible, however since at the quantum level is foamy there are bubbles (doors) leading to other universes. Each universe is different, depending on decisions, consequences, even atomic or cellular changes can effect large events. Therefore, there must be a world where you propose to a wife, a world where you decided against it, or even a world where you were born female. There would be an unlimited and constantly increasing number of worlds depending on choices, biological happenings, or whatever. What does that have to do with our favorite ka-tet? Plenty. Roland meets up with Walter who supposedly can do magic, and foresees Roland taking 3 strangers on a trip with him through reading tarot cards. I think that with a little help from magic, Walter found a way to set up quantum wormholes from his world to different ones. Didn't Eddie say that he remembered seeing Jake as his age in seminary school as wearing leather jackets, steel-toed boots, and being someone he wouldn't want to mess around with? Eddie was from a world where Jake never went into the mansion, and instead became a grungy tough guy. Likewise, Roland is from a similar world only vastly in the future. Didn't Eddie say Lud looked exactly like New York? That's because it was New York, only centuries after "the world moved on." As Roland himself said, the world was like a vast purple blade of grass, only he is living in it after it was plucked from the ground and is starting to turn brown (or maroon, whatever color a purple blade of grass would become when it rots). Roland lives about 1000 years after our time (I choose to think that Hey Jude would still be remembered and played on a piano in an old western-style town), however it isn't 1000 years after exactly our time. Back to the doors (let's break on through to the other side if you will). After the door is opened, one can see what the person sees (sounding suspiciously like being John Malcovich...) this is pretty much a TV screen into the person's mind. When Roland walks through, his mind (adding magic to the equation) travels through quantum foam bubbles into another universe into the mind of a person assigned to you by ka. I don't argue the existence of ka, I simply try to add fact to the magic. After all, who understands quantum physic.).

Adam writes:

Addressing the location of The Tower and the way directions work in Rolands world. First of all, before anybody attempts to get really scientific on this issue, you have to remember that this entire scenario was created by Stephen King, who I assume isn’t an expert in geophysics. Okay, the incidents in The Drawing of Three where King writes that, while walking north on the Western Sea, Roland remarks the land to his left and the water to his right. Naturally this seems backwards and you immediately want to accuse King of a great big mistake and win some sort of prize for finding it. And maybe he did just screw up, but I’d like to think that, because he does it multiple times, and because a lot of people proof read novels before they are published, it is intentional. Someone wrote about this a long time ago, but I want to say again that, on average, every 200,000 years the magnetic poles of the earth reverse and north becomes south and vice-versa. The last time this phenomenon occured was about 780,000 years ago, so we’re due. It takes about 1,000 years for the process to complete (but can be shorter) and it’s been said that Roland’s world is anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 years ahead of ours. Assume that the Western Sea (Pacific Ocean, probably) retained its name from the time of the Old Ones when the poles were as they are now. Now, flip your U.S. map upside down so that you’re looking at an upside-down earth and you’d see how Roland could have the Pacific at his right while travelling north. So, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but let’s consider the location of the tower first. Look at these two quotes:

“The Dark Tower, the place where all Beams, all lines of force converge.” Wizard and Glass, page 596, Signet Edition, in Roland’s trip through the wizard’s glass.

“This time it could be different. Because DERRY’S different. All lines of force have begun to converge here.” Insomnia, page 82, Signet Edition, Ed Deepneau to Ralph Roberts.

These two quotes, and King’s affection for Derry, ME makes me think that The Tower will be found there. In It and Insomnia, he really makes it seem like there is something really important going on there. Anyway, in The Wastelands, Blane tells the group that their route will travel southwest along the path of the beam. Check you inverted map of the States again, and you’ll see that Maine is as southwest as you can get in the U.S. From Wizard and Glass (p.648, Signet): “‘In the west,’ Roland said. ‘Dark man, Dark Tower, and always in the west.’” And if you start enough north (remember that the land has been stretched out somehow in Roland’s world) you can even draw little line from the Pacific to Maine that goes near New York, where a lot of people (me, included) think Thunderclap will be. Thanks for reading.
P.S. - Concerning whether or not Roland's world is that of the Stand, read this quote from Wizard and Glass (p. 673, Signet). Roland says this to Flagg while in the emerald palace in Topeka, KS in the world of the Stand: “‘You can enchant my guns, those of this world, I reckon.’” Roland's guns are from his world, yet he says they are also of "this world," the world of the Stand.

innitrah writes...

I agree with the theory that stephen King himself is The Crimson King (This is based on more than the fact that they are both 'Kings'). It is obvious that marten, maerlin, Flagg, The ageless stranger are one and the same as Flagg has stated himself on more than one occasion. But surely the Baddest of all the bad guys himself, the man at the highest level of the tower must be someone we've never heard of before, or more appropriately, the one man who links all the various King stories, Stephen (crimson) King himself. Or perhaps it is the Dark Tower itself that represents King, The dark tower exists in all worlds it is what links all King's books together, king's mind is like the dark tower, it is the common link between all the books. I also agree with the theory that as the world moves on, so does kings life, it is like a race, can the Ka-tet reach the tower befre its too late, this is a metaphor for King finishing the book within his own lifetime.

Tracy writes . . .

I have no doubt that It and the Crimsom King are the same entity. I have considered Tak, Linoge, and Leland Guant as a posslble part of that mix. Tak is too weak. So is Linoge. Leland Guant is Old Man Splintfoot, the devil himself, IMO. Flagg, in all his forms, is Marten. He is not as strong as the Crimsom King. But, what about Farson. Politically, he is more powerful than Marten. I think Marten is his advisor, like Flagg advised Thomas in EOTD, which I, BTW, just read today. He is the real power. What the hell is going on with HIA (Hearts in Atlantis.) Who are the low men, other than short-timers supporting the Random? What will Ted have to do with the DT? Will Roland's band have to kill him because of his powers? Actually, will they encounter him at all, since at the end he seemed to escape from the Crimsom King? Also, Carol is supposed to have died in a fire, but she was unaccounted for. The only other person not found had the R.F. initials, and Flagg, in one of the stories, mentions the fire.
I believe Roland will reach the tower. It says so in the poem, and King has an obligation to stay true to that poem. I understand about the turtle saying that the tower will remain pent against him. "The road you walk on has no end. The path you walk is paved with the corpses of your enemies. Their souls will haunt you forever. You will have no peace." Or something like that. That's from MGS-Metal Gear Solid, and Solid Snake is quite a lot like Roland. But is it his enemies that haunt him, or his friends. When he reaches the tower, he will be driven mad by his inability to face them, and the tower will kill him. But he will not betray his new-found friends. He has regained his humanity, and he will renounce the tower before he allows them to be hurt. Which means that he is weakening, and he can no longer save anything, protect anybody. Jake will defeat the Crimsom King, a.k.a. IT, because he is the only one with that ability. What's done when you're eleven can often never be done again. Oy will die, as Roland saw in the Wizard's Glass. Susannah's baby is indeed a demon, but it will not kill her. Maybe I just can't except that any of them will die. Because Roland's importance has faded, he is not the one that Patrick saves that 'can't die'. That's all I have. All but Oy, because his card was not drawn, will reach the tower. They will face their adversary, the Crimsom King, who has Flagg as his knight. Jake is the one that 'can't die'. If anything were to happen to him, anyway, it would destroy Roland. Eddie will forgive a lot in him, but the murder of his buddy Jake, not a second time. Eddie will kill him, if Jake dies. Their fellowship will be destroyed, no one will reach the tower, everything is gone. In the end, they all will reach the tower, Roland will lose his life to it, the final member of the old ka-tet finally meeting his ka. Okay, I've noticed this is not organized in the least, but only the incoherent ramblings of a bleary-eyes fifteen-year-old. So that's all I have to say. In the meantime, stand, and be true, and hope that the majoity of what was said in these pages doesn't happen. In the end, it's King's decision.

werpoodle writes . . .

I've got something to say about all those theories concerning the fate of Eddie and Susannah: I think that both will really suriveve to the end. I do not agree with the people who think Eddie and Susannah will die, simply because Cuthbert and Susan died. I guess it's just the other way around: Eddie and Susannah will survive, because their counterparts from the past died. In the end this new ka-tet is Roland's second chance and hasn't he changed over the times? He also got a second chance in the case of Jake and made use of it. So in my opinion all those who died the first time (Cuthbert, Susan, Jake) will survive the second time. Oy will almost certainly survive also - just because I don't think that Stephen has the guts to kill the sweet animal. And for those thinking that Oy might not belong to this special ka-tet - they're wrong. DT 3 tells us the thoughts of Roland and doesn't he think that Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy form their own ka-tet? Even if Oy doesn't really belong to any ka-tet, his existence can simply be explained like this: Oy is a gift from the RANDOM. The RANDOM hasn't always got to be the "bad guy", has it?
Something else: I've been reading the DT-series from 1988 or so on and I recently started to read the Discworld-series by Terry Pratchett. Has nobody ever reckogned that there are some crucial connections (the world on the back of a turtle)? I just wonder if anyone ever thought about that - not that I think there are any references between the two series, but still... another constant reader (from Austria)

xabaca writes . . .

There are so many theories here, and in some sense I believe they are all correct. I personally feel our universe (universes?) are many layered and infinitely complex, and that we have no more idea what goes on in the levels above us than an ant does about the world happening around him. Each atom may contain a universe, or each decision may cause the universe to split into two different directions. I believe that Stephen King has somehow channeled/tapped into this, and we sense it, and that is why this is so fascinating and feels so right. It is arrogant for us to say that something cannot exist simply because our understanding at the present time doesn't include rational explanations (such as ghosts, alternate realities, ancient civilizations, etc.) //// I think one aspect that has been overlooked (and I confess I haven't read all the theories listed here - too damn many!) in these theories about the Dark Tower is the implication of Desperation and The Regulators. I think this illustrates that in the multi-layered realities up and down the Dark Tower, several special "souls" are grouped together again and again (as a ka-tet) and are used as game-pieces to battle demon-like evil creatures as sport (or perhaps for some other reason) for beings higher in the Tower, for reasons we cannot comprehend or understand. After the contest, the souls are reshuffled, perhaps this time in a body of different gender, or that of a child, and the contest begins again, perhaps to be eternally repeated, or perhaps simultaneously, the ka-tet competing in different forms in different realities at the same "time". To me this is the simplest explanation of the differences between Eyes of the Dragon and The Dark Tower: Roland is the same soul in both realities, but in different bodies, different circumstances, and different events. This also fits with the occurence of 2 (or more) different Stand worlds. The original Stand occurs on one date, the Stand (Uncut) is set in a different date, and the date of the Stand-world in The Dark Tower also has a different date. Maybe the super-flu is released over and over, and the events play out a different way in each reality. This would also explain the revised ending, where Flagg reappears somewhere else, set down in a new playing field to play again against a new form of the ka-tet made up of Stu, Nick, etc. (And I wonder if the group of good guys from The Stand is really made of the souls from The Dark Tower, The Body (Stand By Me,) Desperation/Regulators, the kids from It, or any of the other numerous ka-tets that appear in Stephen King's stories.) /// I think that these stories resonate deeply on people because we sense that, although specifics about characters and plot are just part of published novels, there is a universe like the one described in these novels all around us, with infinite layers above and below us, beyond our perception, and beings of "good" and "evil" functioning there, doing things we'll never understand, just like the ant doesn't understand why we cut the grass and incidentally blow down his home - Our level is so far above his that our actions are inconceivable to him, and his discomfort is meaningless to us. This in no way conflicts with the Bible, or a belief in God. We cannot define God and the universe by our own tiny perceptions, or the imperfect human attempt to convey God in the books of the Bible. And if you think God is the only thing out there, read the early Old Testament - there are all kinds of beings out there (up there?) who were competing against God in the old days, playing their games, somewhere up on the Dark Tower (just read "Job" to see God and his opponent playing, using Job as a game piece.) I believe God is the ruler of the universe, but make no mistake, there is evil out there, right now, opposing Him, and it's a dangerous place for us, the little oblivious ants who build our homes on the playing field. /// I also think that what is "fictional" in our world is in many cases "real" in some other reality, and that authors here, believing they are writing fiction, are in fact only revealing shadows of the other realities (not always - some fiction is only bad fiction!) - and perhaps our lives are the novels of another reality. (For example, I fully believe Sherlock Holmes is real, somewhere, and that's why there is so much written about him here, and he seems so alive - And after all, Stephen King even wrote a story about him, so it must fit into the Dark Tower reality somewhere, right?) Other novelists besides Stephen King have tapped into this place, and one would do well to read these other books with the idea that they can add to the overall understanding of the Dark Tower concept: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (by Stephen R Donaldson) - an unwilling bitter man is "drawn" to another reality to be the agent of the "creator" in battling an evil force trapped in the creator's creation. // Also along these lines is The Wizard of Oz (mentioned in Wizards and Glass) - Here is someone "drawn" from her normal world (much like Thomas Covenant, Eddie, Jake, etc) and set to fighting an evil in a different world - Along the way she finds a group of "souls" to help her (her ka-tet, which coincidentally, in the movie version, has the souls very similar to people from her "real world," reshuffled into different bodies with different names, but otherwise much the same - See above explanation of Desperation/ Regulators) // Also, consider the Lord of the Rings, an epic quest - Tolkien himself described the Elves as beings show live in two worlds, ours and simultaneously in a higher reality - Kind of sounds like Ralph in "Insomnia," doesn't it? Tolkien was very in-touch with the shadows of the other realities, and adept at revealing them. // Another story to consider is the TV mini-series "The Tenth Kingdom" - not exactly the best cinema around, but again, you've got some people being "drawn" and grouping to form a "ka-tet." // This idea is played out over and over in literature, again showing that other authors besides Stephen King are excellent channelers of this universal truth. (There are probably tons of examples I'm forgetting or don't know about - I haven't read Robert Jordan's massive tomes yet - I'm waiting for them to be finished, though it's looking doubtful - but they look like they fit with the ka-tet idea too.) // And so enough about that. I hope someone finds something useful in this, and I hope you read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - You'll love them.)

Sean writes . . .

Hi. I didn't know whether you were still taking theories, but i figured it was worth a shot. It is my belief that the Crimson King has already taken control of the tower itself at the center of all unverses, that he is an agent, or the leader, of the Random, and that his purpose is to destroy the beams that hold al orlds to the tower, essentially throwing all existence into destructive chaos. Recall that, in "Low Men in Yellow Coats," Ted Brautigan is described as formerly being imprisoned in the tower. He is also called a breaker, which I believe to be a person of some psychic ability that allows him to brak down the beams themselves. I believe that many of the evil forces that have been described in Stephen King's novels have also been agents of the Random and the Crimson King.
    First, there is Randall Flagg, also known as Maerlyn and the Ageless Stranger. I do not think there is any doubt that this Flagg is the same Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon. Both are sorcerers, and, Flagg's symbol, the open eye, can be directly related to his defeat in Eyes of the Dragon, where he was shot in the eye by Thomas with an arrow.
    Secondly, there is Tak, from Deperation and The Regulators. I believe that Tak's layer beneath Desperation is one of many doorways between our world and that of the Dark Tower. It may also be another agent of the Crimson King. I also have strong suspicions that The Overlook Hotel from the Shining is a part of this. Many of Stephen King's novels center around children with amazing powers and abilities, such as Danny Torrance from the Shining, David Carver from Deperation/Regulators, and Jack Sawyer from the Talisman (whose crystal globe bears a more than coincidental similarity to the wizard's glass and whose passage in and out of The Territories is similar to the doors between ours and Roland's world), and Patrick Danville of Insomnia, even the loser's club from It. Each of these children is faced with a tremendous supernatural threat that seeks to either kill or control them. For Danny, it is his father, controlled by the Overlook (which is alive in much the same way that the Mansion in The Waste Lands is alive), for David it is Tak, and for Jack it is the evil forces he encounters on his cross country journey. I also believe that Jake Chambers and the child that Susannah is carrying are also children of power. These boys are important to the Crimson King, either because they are breakers, or because they have the power to stop him. I tend to believe the latter. Over the course of the next three planned Dark Tower Novels (or possibly the Talisman sequel), I beleive we will begin to see one if not all of these boys drawn into Roland's world to battle the Crimson King and his emmisaries. In the end, however, I think it'll be a shooting match, with the gunlinger on one side, and the Crimson King (or whatever evil he serves) on the other.
    Thanks for your time

Andrew writes . . .

I think everyone here is forgetting something. IF you remember in the Gunslinger when Walter gives Roland the Tarot reading, he says

"Death, but not for you gunslinger."

he says similar things about life. My theory is that Roland will not die to reach the Tower. Perhaps he will die afterward. But the Death will be for the world that has moved on. And the life will be the world after the evil in the Tower is banished. I am certain that Roland will restore his world. So where does that leave his ka-tet? If Thunderclap is New York like suggested then after the Towers destruction (or purification) they will just fade in ala Langoliers style. Remember the dream where they were all in New York but in their tattered Mid-World Clothes? Oh Well. It is just a theory after all.

Swann writes . . .

Whoever wrote that the beams were actually timelines made me do a lot of thinking on that subject. It is an interesting theory because for all you people who think that maybe Rolands world is the same world from "The Stand" ---only far, far into the future---then when the Ka-tet aboards Blaine and rides a tremendous distance, incredibly fast and ends up in Kansas in the "somewhere, somewhen" of "The Stand", that would mean they are travelling back in time. If the beams are timelines, and if by following them towards the Tower you would be going backwards in time, then the Tower would (metaphorically at least) lie at the beginning of ALL TIME and/or ALL EXISTENCE. (ALL universes, not just one) If the Tower is the nexus, what better a place is there, then, to access all possible realities but from the beginning of "everything"?
    Now to incorperate that theory into mine:
    I always thought that Blaine was made as a transportation device to travel into other worlds.(Universes, Levels, Dimentions, Whens, Alternate Realities, etc.) If the "Great Old Ones" (The Old People) finally figured out and created the technology to travel faster than light speed, and since nothing in this universe can travel FASTER than light, (186,282 miles per second, or the equivilant of that in ANY universe) then going even ONE mile per second FASTER might allow one to exit the known universe and enter another one at a different (but equivilant) speed.(Say ONE mile per second in THAT universe) Remember the loud sonic boom that was heard everytime Blaine departed? (When the wind was right, that is?) That "boom" was supposed to be the collapse of (or filling in) of air into an area where matter instantaniously exited reality, I think. Now back to the other theory: Put that monorail track along the path of the beam and not only could you enter other worlds, (parellel universes, and/or worlds WITHIN or BELOW worlds and/or worlds SURROUNDING or ABOVE worlds) but you could enter them at different TIMES as well. Remember, they had TWO monos, each going opposite directions.(Future/Past) "Go on in, Eddie, after all, there are other worlds than these and that bleeping train rolls through all of them."
RANDOM:     The "Great Old Ones" were smarter than they were wise. They realized they had the power and so created the technology to do things and so did them without thinking it through and without thinking about the possible consequences first. In other words, they discovered (through their intellegence) a power beyond comprehension, and unleashed (through their unwise foolishness) that power...and now their ancestors are paying the price and suffering the consequences. Hence, the Tower crumbling, the thinnies, the decaying of existence, etc.
ABOUT THE TOWER: LOCATION:     Someone named Matt wrote that everybody thinks the Tower is in NYC (where the rose is) but he thinks maybe the "DARK Tower" (or the evil side of it) resides in the west...(Black Hotel) maybe?...and the "LIGHT Tower" (or the good side of it) resides in the east...(The Rose) maybe?...Maybe the Dark Side has someone watching over it, (The Beast) and the Light Side has someone watching over it, (The Other). Who is the Beast and who is the Other? Are they two different beings? Are they two different SIDES of the SAME being?
    S.K. says "I am coming to understand that Roland's world (or worlds) actually "contains" all the others of my making." What if they ARE all "contained" in Roland's world (mid-world) except one. The LAST one.
    The one at the "top of the Tower".
    The one where the "Final Other" lives?
    In THAT world/level is where the Tower stands incarnate.
CHAOS: PURPOSE:

Dan writes . . .

i believe that we are all reading waaaay to much into the goings on of Roland's world. I have read all the books four times already, and each time King fools me. King never goes in the direction that you want him to go in. He never goes in the direction that seems most obvious. There is no possible way that any one person can come up with the conclusion to the Dark Tower epic. The fact of the matter is that King won't allow us to. Therefore, i will not be offering a theory of how the story turns out, but i will offer a theory about the feeling at the end of the story. I think, as much as i hope he won't, that King will end the story with more questions than answers. He will probably throw something totally new out right at the end which will cause us to be aching for more. I also believe that he will release the last book after his death so we will never get the answers and we will be left to decide things for ourselves, and what other way would King prefer? To me, this type of an ending almost suits King perfectly. I also believe, like others, that he has more written and knows alot more than he is letting on about. There are numerous hints in his books about future events, and we all know how he hates to predict things instead of just letting them happen, therefore he must know what's going to happen already and probably has them written down somewhere. No matter what happens though, I'll be there, in the end, with Roland, at the tower.

Jenny writes . . .

In my opinion the Dark Tower series all boil's down to a simple idea. In our world now we are decaying spiritually. We no-longer stand by what we were taught by our elders of write and wrong. We change the rules to make ourselves comfortable. In Roland's world that's exactly what happened to destroy it. According to Christianity we have one God and we have one satin. Since the ancient people of Roland's world "gave up on God', He gave up on them, which allowed satin to roam free to cause what ever destruction he pleases. Satin hasn't the power of God. but he is powerful and can choose to call himself what ever he wishes,whether it be Flag, Marten, It, of what ever. Most stories of the world all boil down to a moral. the moral of the Dark Tower: When we give up on God he will hand us over to satin and our world will be just like Roland's. I believe that Steven King being of the generation that he is, is trying to make a difference in this world with his God given talent.

Werpoodle writes . . .

First of all I'd like to comment on Valen30099 theories about the location of the Tower. I never thought about it the way she did - actually I was following King quite literally: take Roland's world draw 6 beams between the portals et voilá in the center stands the tower; in fact I still think so. Anyway, if the location of the Tower could be found according to Valen30099 I guess the Tower should either be in Derry's Barrens or the destroyed Standpipe - though I much more prefer the Barrens. Nothing has ever been built there (like the lot in NYC where the single red rose is still standing - hopefully). Furthermore, the Barrens have always been a place of mischief (compare "Dreamcatcher" where they find the retarded girl in the Barrens) and it was also a major place of power in "It". Still, I don't think the Tower will be there - but if it had to be somewhere in "our" world it should be there. In the end, it's not Castle Rock where all the power lines converge - it's Derry (so much more because of "Insomnia", which is, in my opinion, together with "Rose Madder" nothing but a disguised Dark Tower novel - only not named so, because our ka-tet is not actually acting in it). In my first statement I mentioned that Oy will not die because I don't think that King has the guts for it. Maybe I couldn't transport what I meant properly. After having read two thirds of all the theories (which are mostly great, by the way) I still think that Oy will survive. Just because Roland saw the animal impaled in the Wizard's grapefruit doesn't mean anything. Quite contrary: Oy will survive. Don't we learn in DT IV that the glass is nothing but fake? When Roland kills his mother he does so, because a mirror (nothing else but "glass") showed him Rhea of the Cooes. The line goes something like that: "The mirror (glass) tricked me the only way it could - it showed me something else". The grape is treacherous and maybe it is even afraid of Oy because he will get extremely important in the further run of things. So much for Oy.
I'm still undecided on Susannah - there ars so many pros and contras for why she should receive a demon's child, but I guess I go with the "normal" baby and the explanation that she missed a period - and the time between this recognition and the rapture by the demon of the ring is just to short. Ay, Roland will stand together with Jake and Oy and Eddie (and maybe Susannah). In the end it's HIS story and no one else's.
One last thing: having read all the theories and sisters of eluria I guess they will really meet vampires in Thunderclap and I'm desperately looking forward to that.

Darren writes . . .

I find that all of the theories before mine are quite interesting. However most of them are relying to heavily on the turtle as the center of there arguments. If you look back to "IT" I'm sure you will remember Bill's famous line as he hurtles tworads oblivion while engaged in the ritual of Chud "...the turtle is dead...", this is further strengthened by the the statement that "IT" made "...he choked to death on a galaxy...". As far as my theory goes I feel that Roland and his Ka-Tet will never make it into the tower. I think that they will make it to the tower and then parish in a battle that brings all of the other charecters mentioned in "The Stand" and "IT", and "Insomnia". These are going to be the ones to enter the tower. I may be wrong, but something tells me that its going to happen.

Stephen writes . . .

Ello friends.
You may remember a long piece of my mind about halfway oh, i forgot to mention, the fact that "PENNYWISE LIVES" is spray painted just like the graffitti in DT4 "ALL HAIL THE CRIMSON KING" may indicate that the perpetrator is a minion of the tower...

Adam writes . . .

I believe that the Tower is actually King's imagination and that Roland is a representation of King himself. Like Roland he wishes to reach the tower, and the conclusion of his journey so that he can finally bring it all to a close.
The beams are like threads or plotlines all leading back to one point from where everything in all of the books he has written started from.

M. Hodyl-Arnouk writes . . .

Randall Flagg (RF) is really Roland (what was his last name anyway, did it begin with an "F"?), probably his alter-ego, the reason I think this is because Flagg cannot kill Roland, he had many opportunities but didn't (unless he kills himself - ever see Fight Club?). Roland is both good and evil, stuggling in one man. Roland will come to the Tower alone (Death, "but not for you gunslinger") and will have to deal with It, the Beast, Tommyknockers, Langoliers, the Crimson King, the low men, et al. All these things are the same evil under different names. Roland will not defeat evil, because evil and good and part of the same circle (the wheel, dreamcatcher, yin/yan), and he will come to realize this. In order for the Tower to Stand, good and evil must be in perfect balance, not one outweighing the other. Without evil there cannot be good and vise versa. "all things serve the beam", meaning both good and evil ARE the beams and the beams holding up the Tower must be in perfect balance. JMO.
    Rose Madder is the "rose" from the DT series, delicate, fragile, beat up, like the rose probably will be beat up and trampled, but eventually will prevail in the end as she (Rose) did, thereby indicating or foreshadowing that the Tower will stand. In The Stand, evil (Captain Trips) flu overcomes our "good" viruses, but in the end all is well again forshading that the Tower will "Stand".
    The "western" sea is really our world (California coast), the globe tipped upside down, that's why the mountains are on the left rather than the right and why they're really travelling north as the book says with the sea to the right rather than the left.
    Thunderclap is at or near the place on Bmlaine's monorail track where the "sonic boom occurred. I think I remeber that the monotrack ends/begins in Topeka, Kansas. Interesting to note that very near Topeka on our maps today there is a small town called Manhattan. (look it up on Yahoo maps). Roland will run into Callahan at Thunderclap without his katet but something will happen to the rest of his katet (maybe they stepped thru a thinny without Roland and ended up somewhere else?) how else does it explain why Roland (aka gunslinger) was alone in Eluria without his katet.(was this before or after he drew them?, and if after-then they are most surely dead or gone thru a thinny).
    OK enough of my ramblings...And what was TAK, but part of "KA" backwards maybe in the hispeech?
    Could it be that Ka is nothing more than a bunch of ka-ka?
    Ka in Egyptian lore was the soul of the deceased, not destiny.

Unforgiven writes:

Ive often wondered how the turtle could be instrumental to Rolands voyage. Ive always thought, "Hes dead, so how can this be relevant to the Dark Tower." But then I awoke from my lack of thought and remember that "Time is different" and especially "There are other worlds than these" So i suppose he could be alive in Rolands time, if he SHOULD provide any help (i.e. if he SHOULD show up at all,) but since the gunslinger talked to him about "Thunderclap," i asume he will be instrumental in Rolands Dark Tower quest. And im curious to see how many theories are disproved when Black House (Talisman II) comes out. As im sure u all know, it will further reveal crimson king. So well see....

David writes . . .

Ok, here go my 0.02$: I really liked the theory of the guy who said Roland is going to encounter either himself or emptiness at the top level of the tower. As for my own theory, well, it works more from a mix of home-made psycho-analysis and exclusion. First off: Either King has only a very rough concept or no plans at all at how this is going to end. I don't want to disappoint all the people happily guessing away at how King is to explain his entire world in DTfinal. That would surmise that there is some sort of underlying concept, and I'm sorry to mention that, but for that King just doesn't have the scope or the focus. There are few writers who took the pain of first constructing a world and then staying close to it (Asimov comes to mind, or the "Dune"-series), but certainly not King. He's simply too fuzzy for that, and even if you put the DT series under close scrutiny, you are bound to notice the many, many inconsistencies. The Roland from DT1 (the one I liked best from style and scope) is so wildly different from DT2 & DT3 alone that I don't believe King will manage to encompass all his other works additionally. The only consistent element in King's novels you find is the good ole "Good vs. Bad" (DT, the Stand, EOTD), sometimes deviating to "average-turns-to-good in order to stand up to bad" (Tommyknockers, Green Mile).
King is a brilliant narrator, and therefore enjoys the age-old technique of scattering links by letting characters re-occur. However, "The Stand" and "DT" are, though both feature Flagg, virtually incompatible. "The Stand" features the old religious motive (see northern & christian mythology) of dividing mankind into two factions under two leaders two carry out a final fight, dividing all grey into only black & white. A nice whip is that since Flagg is re-born, this happens periodically (I won't go into the obvious "symbolizing your inner battle"-thing here). "DT" however is a quest, much like "Lord of the Rings". Is Sauron important in "Lord of the Rings"? No. Interchangeable. In that sense, there is not really a place for "real bad guy" in DT, which is why Flagg's appereances by far didn't live up to his TS-havoc-potential. The forces protecting the tower are NOT depicted as primarily bad, they are merely guardians. EOTD, now, is just a wonderful shot at a fairytale. But if you think Flagg has any real role in that you missed the point of the story. Flagg's appereance was more of a self-irony on King's behalf, since Flagg for King just symbolizes "greatest bad guy still human" (in difference to "too vile to be comprehended" as in IT, Desperation). EOTD is a direct analogy to "The Shawshank Redemption". It's about what it takes to stay human (this is why Tommy is so much more of a believable character than...ummhh... even forgot the name of the really good guy) and about hope in times of hopelessness (the chord that is woven with a child's toy - the tunnel dug with a tiny hammer). As for all the "links" King makes (Callahan ending up in Thunderclap, Thomas going to Gilead, Flagg reoccuring etc):

In the Stand, there is NOT A SINGLE LINK to DT. DT LINKS TO THE STAND INSTEAD! As explained above, entirely different story and universe.
Callahan ending up in Thunderclap: NO REFERENCE TO THAT IN THE BOOK ITSELF! For those who don't remember: King introduced this idea in a fore- or afterword not part of this book.
EOTD: As said above, it's rather a side-story.The focus is on something entirely different, and Flagg doesn't refer to DT but to the Stand
Flagg reoccuring: Flagg ocurred in DT only in vol. 3. Don't be fooled by his being mentioned as Marten. The Stand and EOTD were written way before DT3, so King found it convenient to re-label Marten as Flagg, since it seems to fit. I don't believe this was original intention
IT: Again, DT links (in a VERY vague way) to IT, not the other way round. IT is not a story of a fight, but about the loss of childhood, for the all-too-literal people out there. IT would be amazingly shallow and boring without the underlying theme of that rotten America of the 50's King depicts, and how you cope with your childhood by forgetting or glorifying large parts of it. IT symbolizes the nastiness of Derry itself, just as in "Needful things", not It making Derry nasty...

    As for the links in Insomnia, this novel collection bout the '70s: I believe there was a point of time in which King decided to link up various of his works to DT. Since then he's been placing links more conciously, but it's a late effort IMHO.
    As to what's gonna happen in DT: First of all, King's gonna finish it. The older he grew, the more the thing bothered him (otherwise he wouldn't have made this attempt at artificially creating links to his previous work). As for how: It will be highly cheesy: His favourite characters are clearly Roland and Eddie, just like Stu and this singer in the Stand, so either of them will make it. At this late date he can't afford to exchange his entire staff. Would be bad literary form, and King IS a good narrator. Susan, as said by many here, is a good death candidate (she's too similar to Eddie in construction. Her death would not be a loss in diversity to the story, and the ole Detta routine has been played to it's fullest, too). Jack may also die, since King didn't have any problems killing him before, and the one thing about Jack is his fear of dying. Otherwise, he's pretty expendable, too. Callahan WILL show up, and so might Tommy and his servant. However, neither of them will play an important role, since introducing new lead cast in part 5 of a seven-part novel just doesn't work. They might provide for some fun, though (nothing central). Mother Abigail will not show up, I think King is now finished with references to TS (were flimsy to begin with).
    This is I think as much as you can say, and I would also guess as much as King knows beyond Thunderclap. I wish you folks would remember that being a brilliant narrator doesn't mean having brilliant thightness and focus (go to Tolkien for that), and that having a certain world center of one's creation doesn't mean that each and every character will have to literally feature in this world. King meant it more in the way that the undelying fundamentals and the imagery of DT (since it's so much bigger than all his other worlds) allow for a lot of intersection. King had a lot of other fascinations, too (He loves Lovecraft, Stoker and so on; and he makes ample use of their universes that are pretty DT-incompatible).
    Don't be mad at me for this somewhat dis-illusionising rant: I love DT and I am tensed as you are for the next instalment. Just don't be disappointed if you DON'T find your "final answe" in that.
    Take care!

Brandon writes . . .

My personal theories include these

The Dark Tower is the Tower of Babel. When the Ka-tet reach it, they begin a long ascent to the top. Along the way they meet everyone from any other Stephen King novel on levels according to their status in the great scheme of things. When they reach the top they exit into the only place in the universe not contained within the tower: Heaven. Of course this heaven could be like Canaan and Roland, like Moses before him, will get to see the promised land but will die ere he enters. Of course he may not even make it to the tower, no one may make it and the universe will die.
Roland will see he is chasing an impossible dream and commit suicide, releasing himself from his endless quest. Of course if Stephen King does this it may not be portrayed in the same positive light as I would because he seems to be big on Christianity.
Roland is Cain.
Roland ascends the tower only to find a version of him on each level, which represent the 3 dimensional world, the four dimensional world, the five dimensional world, etc. The versions of himself are what cast the shadow that is the Roland below it eventually coming to the 3D Roland. As this 3D creature experiences these other worlds completely different than his own, he becomes deranged. He reaches the top and finds that the deranged three dimensional version of himself was actually the beast. Since time is different in the tower, he would actually be staring at himself, not just another level of himself. He finds out that the decay was caused when the 3D Roland entered the tower causing the universe to be unbalanced since there was still the higher versions of Roland but there is the missing link between 4D and 2D. Roland shoots his self which he sees before him and that causes a complete disruption of everything which causes the tower to collapse and Roland to be left alone in the universe, his own personal hell.

Branka writes . . .

First of all, I have no idea how the series is going to end (damnit! we have to wait till it's 2003!), but I do have some theories about The walkin' dude, The ageless stranger, Randy Flagg - that "cool bad guy" we all love to hate :) (I mean, ever read the Stand? Oh.. I forgot where I was, of course you've read the Stand :) *smacks forehead* I'm such a moron.) and I have some vague ideas of the possible ending of DT.
About Flagg, first I say we drop the initial thing: In the Stand he was always went by the initials R.F.; Randall Flagg, Robert Francq, Richard Fannin, etc. But I don't think he always goes by those initials, for instance, in DTIV he reveals himself to be Marten Broadcloak, and Walter calls him Maerlyn. So let's flush those two letters down the toilet ;) shall we? (But lets bette not do that because without the lette s " " and " " things look eally wei d when you type, I wouldn't even be able to w ite my own name)
I think that Randall Flagg is the Flagg from EotD. Just as Pyrite says:

"I feel the the "Flagg" of EotD is the same entity as Randall Flagg. The kicker for me is the trademark grin. Add in all the references to "Flagg" having a cloaked face in EotD and it seems pretty convincing."

Ok, so there are many Flaggs out there, and since we've seen that the initial thing shouldn't always be trusted, let's ask ourselves a question: "What is it, that links all the Flaggs/Bad guys?"
And the answer to that question is simple. It's Legion. In The Stand Flagg calls himself that (or