Portal:Dark Tower:connections
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This is an attempt to clearly define the connections of the greater bulk of the American novelist Stephen King's work to his 7-part series, The Dark Tower.
Contents |
[edit] The Novels
[edit] The Eyes of the Dragon
A tale seemingly set in the Middle Ages, but takes place in a mythical world perhaps related to that of Roland. The main protagonist is the prince of a kindgom wherein the king's evil advisor, named Flagg, conspires to kill the king and cause anarchy in the kingdom. He imprisons the prince, but later flees to another world once his plan fails.
[edit] Salem's Lot
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'Salem's Lot is a 'when ' possibly somewhere along the path of the turtle-bear beam. The direct connection to the Dark Tower is the character Father Callahan, who will later reappear Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla.
In the novel, Barlow is a vampire. The concept of the vampire is expanded upon in the Dark Tower series. According to Pere Callahan, Barlow is a Type One vampire (there maybe be only 12 in the whole world because they are so rare and powerful), the only type capable of creating other vampires.
Straker is a henchman used by Barlow to protect him during the daylight. While Barlow feeds on the town, Ben Mears figures him out, and teams up with Susan. Mears creates his own ka-tet, consisting of Susan, Mark, and Callahan, to fight the vampires.
The climax of Pere/Father Callahan's relevance is at the home of Mark Petrie, the Type One finds them, they try to fight but the type one is too powerful. When the priest tries to use the cross to get rid of him at first Barlow shrieks and appears to be defeated, but then he tricks Callahan into dropping the cross. As he bends to Barlow's will he abandons his faith, leaving the cross powerless against the vampire. As Barlow comes at him Callahan thinks "god i need a drink" Barlow, reading his mind tells him to be careful what he wishes for he just might get it. Once Callahan is bitten he becomes marked, and he cannot enter a church because he is no longer pure, and vampires know who he is.
In the 'Wolves of the Calla' we meet Callahan again and find out that, in New York, he began to drink very heavily in an attempt to kill himself, but finding it impossible. He found that he could travel through worlds on secret highways, after some encouraging words he returns to the real New York to get sober and volunteer, he falls in love with his friend/coworker and when he discovers that a type three is feeding on him he kills the type three...then he kills a whole bunch of them to try and stop the blood sucking. But the low men start looking for him with the dog posters and he flees around different americas in different worlds. Eventually he is lured to his near fate by Sayre. Sayre plans on getting his vampires to bite him and allow him to die of a slow disease the vampires caught. Callahan fights his way to the window and jumps out of it. He wakes up in Midworld with Walter and eventually flees all the way to Calla.
[edit] The Stand
The Stand takes place in a 'when' similar to Eddie, Jake and Susannah's when, but is a different version of their world, one in which Coca-Cola has a different name, for example. A deadly virus known as 'Captain Trips', or the Superflu, is accidentally released from a top-secret Government project and kills the 99.4 per cent of the population. The Walkin' Dude, a.k.a Randall Flagg, a.k.a Marten from the Dark Tower books, is the villain in the book. It is insinuated in the Dark Tower series that the collapse of the Tower and the warping of good to evil may lead to such events as plague, and evil in general. The old woman in The Stand represents the power of the White, while Flagg, who uses the Crimson King's Eye sigul, represents the Dark. A ka-tet gathers around Mother Abigail in Boulder and it is the core of this group who make a stand against Flagg and eventually bring him down, although he does not die, but reappears in a distant land. It is clear that Flagg travels between worlds wreaking havoc and taking advantage of the collapse of the Tower, although what is not very clear is the timeline of his appearances in each 'when'. In 'Wizard and Glass', Roland's ka-tet disembark Blaine and end up in The Stand's 'when', after possibly coming though a thinny. They read a newspaper describing the latter stages of the 'flu and note the decomposing bodies, the piled up and stalled cars on the roads, the differences between this 'when' and the others, and most notably, signs for Mother Abigail and Flagg. They also see the Crimson King's eye sigul. The group decide this is another story, perhaps next door to theirs.
[edit] The Talisman
[edit] It
[edit] Insomnia
This was the first novel published by King which was not an actual part of the series, but was, nevertheless, unquestionably related.
The Crimson King and Patrick Danville are introduced.
[edit] Rose Madder
The world inside the painting is said to be that of Mid-World.
[edit] Desperation
The 'Skoldpada', a Can-Tah found by Susannah Dean and later left for Jake Chambers. It caused a weak mind to be extremely susceptible to suggestion. It is seen for the first time in Song of Susannah. The term Can-toi is also used, albeit in a different way than in the main series.
[edit] Bag of Bones
Number "19" of mythical importance in story in similar way as in The Dark Tower series.
[edit] Hearts In Atlantis
Ted Brautigan, the Low Men and the concept of 'Breakers' are all introduced. The Crimson King and Roland are both briefly referenced.
[edit] Black House
The Crimson King's plans and the roles of the Breakers are expanded upon. Roland's quest is mentioned.
[edit] From A Buick 8
A mysterious visitor drops off what looks like a car at a garage, but the vehicle instead turns out to be a portal to another dimension. The mysterious visitor in question was thought to be a Low Man, something that Bev Vincent mentioned in his book The Road to the Dark Tower.
