New Theory About the Dark Tower Books [SPOILER THREAD]

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HerbziKal

Member
Aug 9, 2019
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There are few things that divide human kind quite as much as the ending to the Dark Tower. Love it or hate it, you have to admit it was unexpected and then, likelier than not, go on to ask a question... why? Why did it have to be that way? Why the deaths of Jake and Eddie? Why the breaking of the Ka-tet? Why the apparent failure of the quest, with Roland realising the nature of his eternal torment just that bit too late? Why the meta Stephen King plot line? Why was it so important for Roland's Ka-tet to save King in the Keystone Universe from his car accident so he could write the books, when in our own universe King got hit by the car in 1999 and wrote the books anyway? I would like to suggest an answer for all of these occurrences, one that I haven't seen discussed elsewhere online, and for that answer first we have to put down the books and look at our own reality.

It is important to first make clear- our world is not the Keystone Reality in the books. There are too many deliberate differences, from the location of Co-Op city, to the lack of a Tet Corporation in New York. A major difference is that in our world King was not shoved by Jake in 1999, he was in fact hit by the car with no rescuer. This means that our King is not of the same timeline as the Keystone Earth King. And in our world, the one where King was hit by the car alone, we ended up in a reality where he writes that everyone dies and Roland seemingly fails. Like it says in the books, by writing that reality, King creates that reality. In our world King gets hit by the car alone and creates a reality where Roland apparently fails... but also where, unlike in our reality, Keystone King is touched by Ka and helped by Jake. A reality is created where Keystone King still goes on to write the books, only who's to say he writes them the same as he did in our world? Keystone King has met his own characters, saw that they were real and living, and they did something amazing for him- as far as he knows they saved his life. It seems to me that something like that would influence a writer to change his original, more macabre, ending plans...

It is my theory that the Keystone King in our books, the one who experienced the attempted rescue by Roland and his Ka-tet, wrote a different version of the Dark Tower- he created a different reality. Thanks to Roland and Jake mounting their rescue, Keystone King was touched by Ka and created a reality where Roland succeeded in his quest and none of his Ka-tet died. This means that, in Keystone King's books, Jake wasn't there to give his life in an attempt to rescue the King in his story, there was no need for the Tet Corporation to protect the Rose as the Tower was rescued, and the books still got written by the Keystone King's version of King only following his car accident and without the assistance of Roland and his Ka-tet. And if you think about it, this sequence of events is pretty familiar, because it is the sequence of events as we see them in our universe. Keystone King from the books writes our reality, and in our reality Roland, his Ka-tet and the White, won. That is why it was so important for Roland and the team to rescue Keystone King and have him finish his version of the books.

If you thought it was complicated so far, this is where it gets really mind bending. In Keystone King's books (the books within our books) Roland succeeds and our own reality is created in which the Keystone King's version of King (our King) writes the story of Roland's penultimate loop- the books as we know them where Roland fails and the Ka-tet is broken. But by creating that "bad ending", the Keystone King's version of King (our King) also creates the Keystone Reality as it appears in our books, where the Keystone King was helped by his friends during the accident, saw they were real and living in a highly visceral way, and went on to write and create our own universe where Roland succeeded. It is a never ending loop, a cycle of each hand drawing the other. It sounds impossible, it sounds like kaka, but then they do say Ka is a circle.

To put it another way- as it says in the books King writes and creates the multiverse, but the next loop is always the one that the King from the previous loop writes out. Roland can never change his own loop, but can alter the next by his varying interaction with King. In the loop that sees Roland's Ka-tet broken, King gets touched by Ka, there is an attempted rescue and events are as we see them in the books (the Keystone Reality). In the loop that sees Roland's success, King does not get touched by Ka, but hit alone by A car (excuse the pun), and events are as we see them in our reality. Our King creates the books King, who creates our King, who creates the books King, and it goes on and on.

This theory also explains the apparent changing authorship of "Charlie the Choo Choo". We know Jake is from the Keystone World, as he discovers the Rose growing in the vacant lot, a Rose that only grows in one reality- the Keystone Reality. When Jake finds "Charlie the Choo Choo" the author is listed as "Beryl Evans", however later on in the Keystone World the author is listed as "Claudia y Inez Bachman". In my theory it is "Claudia y Inez Bachman" who is the actual Keystone author of the book, and this is actually a pseudonym for the Keystone King who was touched by Ka. "Beryl Evans" appeared as the author on the copy of "Charlie" that Jake found in his bookstore because this copy came from a different universe, and was placed there by Ka order to help Jake later on. This is why, in our world, "Charlie the Choo Choo" is not written by Bachman, as our version of King wasn't touched by Ka but A car, and wrote the "bad ending" version of the books after his accident. Keystone King on the other hand was touched by Ka, and therefore took the place as the conduit to write Charlie as well.

All in all, this means the reality where Roland succeeds can never contain the story documenting that success. In our world Roland succeeds on his quest, but without the story as we have it, that success could never have been reached. If we wanted to read the story of Roland's success, the story of our own world, we would have to go to the Keystone Reality where Kings creations attempt to save him during car accident, but also where everyone else dies and Roland fails.

I for one am happy here, with the ending we may not want, but the one we need.
 

wolfphoenix

She-Wolf finally Risen and Strapping On.
Apr 24, 2019
2,919
17,451
57
There are few things that divide human kind quite as much as the ending to the Dark Tower. Love it or hate it, you have to admit it was unexpected and then, likelier than not, go on to ask a question... why? Why did it have to be that way? Why the deaths of Jake and Eddie? Why the breaking of the Ka-tet? Why the apparent failure of the quest, with Roland realising the nature of his eternal torment just that bit too late? Why the meta Stephen King plot line? Why was it so important for Roland's Ka-tet to save King in the Keystone Universe from his car accident so he could write the books, when in our own universe King got hit by the car in 1999 and wrote the books anyway? I would like to suggest an answer for all of these occurrences, one that I haven't seen discussed elsewhere online, and for that answer first we have to put down the books and look at our own reality.

It is important to first make clear- our world is not the Keystone Reality in the books. There are too many deliberate differences, from the location of Co-Op city, to the lack of a Tet Corporation in New York. A major difference is that in our world King was not shoved by Jake in 1999, he was in fact hit by the car with no rescuer. This means that our King is not of the same timeline as the Keystone Earth King. And in our world, the one where King was hit by the car alone, we ended up in a reality where he writes that everyone dies and Roland seemingly fails. Like it says in the books, by writing that reality, King creates that reality. In our world King gets hit by the car alone and creates a reality where Roland apparently fails... but also where, unlike in our reality, Keystone King is touched by Ka and helped by Jake. A reality is created where Keystone King still goes on to write the books, only who's to say he writes them the same as he did in our world? Keystone King has met his own characters, saw that they were real and living, and they did something amazing for him- as far as he knows they saved his life. It seems to me that something like that would influence a writer to change his original, more macabre, ending plans...

It is my theory that the Keystone King in our books, the one who experienced the attempted rescue by Roland and his Ka-tet, wrote a different version of the Dark Tower- he created a different reality. Thanks to Roland and Jake mounting their rescue, Keystone King was touched by Ka and created a reality where Roland succeeded in his quest and none of his Ka-tet died. This means that, in Keystone King's books, Jake wasn't there to give his life in an attempt to rescue the King in his story, there was no need for the Tet Corporation to protect the Rose as the Tower was rescued, and the books still got written by the Keystone King's version of King only following his car accident and without the assistance of Roland and his Ka-tet. And if you think about it, this sequence of events is pretty familiar, because it is the sequence of events as we see them in our universe. Keystone King from the books writes our reality, and in our reality Roland, his Ka-tet and the White, won. That is why it was so important for Roland and the team to rescue Keystone King and have him finish his version of the books.

If you thought it was complicated so far, this is where it gets really mind bending. In Keystone King's books (the books within our books) Roland succeeds and our own reality is created in which the Keystone King's version of King (our King) writes the story of Roland's penultimate loop- the books as we know them where Roland fails and the Ka-tet is broken. But by creating that "bad ending", the Keystone King's version of King (our King) also creates the Keystone Reality as it appears in our books, where the Keystone King was helped by his friends during the accident, saw they were real and living in a highly visceral way, and went on to write and create our own universe where Roland succeeded. It is a never ending loop, a cycle of each hand drawing the other. It sounds impossible, it sounds like kaka, but then they do say Ka is a circle.

To put it another way- as it says in the books King writes and creates the multiverse, but the next loop is always the one that the King from the previous loop writes out. Roland can never change his own loop, but can alter the next by his varying interaction with King. In the loop that sees Roland's Ka-tet broken, King gets touched by Ka, there is an attempted rescue and events are as we see them in the books (the Keystone Reality). In the loop that sees Roland's success, King does not get touched by Ka, but hit alone by A car (excuse the pun), and events are as we see them in our reality. Our King creates the books King, who creates our King, who creates the books King, and it goes on and on.

This theory also explains the apparent changing authorship of "Charlie the Choo Choo". We know Jake is from the Keystone World, as he discovers the Rose growing in the vacant lot, a Rose that only grows in one reality- the Keystone Reality. When Jake finds "Charlie the Choo Choo" the author is listed as "Beryl Evans", however later on in the Keystone World the author is listed as "Claudia y Inez Bachman". In my theory it is "Claudia y Inez Bachman" who is the actual Keystone author of the book, and this is actually a pseudonym for the Keystone King who was touched by Ka. "Beryl Evans" appeared as the author on the copy of "Charlie" that Jake found in his bookstore because this copy came from a different universe, and was placed there by Ka order to help Jake later on. This is why, in our world, "Charlie the Choo Choo" is not written by Bachman, as our version of King wasn't touched by Ka but A car, and wrote the "bad ending" version of the books after his accident. Keystone King on the other hand was touched by Ka, and therefore took the place as the conduit to write Charlie as well.

All in all, this means the reality where Roland succeeds can never contain the story documenting that success. In our world Roland succeeds on his quest, but without the story as we have it, that success could never have been reached. If we wanted to read the story of Roland's success, the story of our own world, we would have to go to the Keystone Reality where Kings creations attempt to save him during car accident, but also where everyone else dies and Roland fails.

I for one am happy here, with the ending we may not want, but the one we need.
Mandela Effects abound, and get explained. :)
I like your closing line there, reminds me of what Michael the Archangel said close to the end of the movie "Legion",
and I like your post here, very much.
 

HerbziKal

Member
Aug 9, 2019
7
38
32
England, UK
I've always believed in the idea that the world, whether ours or Roland's, has move on. Meaning there are more worlds, hence different histories. Either that, or Mr. King has been spiking his morning juice with Stolichnaya and Galeano Gold. Fine post, by the way.

Thanks for your thoughts :) I couldn't agree more, without a doubt there are other worlds than these.
From my perspective there are three distinct tiers of realities in the Dark Tower books, and they can be described as Timelines, Worlds and Loops.

Timelines are at the base, and as such a single World can contain multiple Timelines, for example when Roland stopped Jake from being hit by the car and created a split Timeline within each of their single Worlds. The different versions of people you may find in different timelines are all essentially the same individual, only some single event diverged in their histories to create two separate versions of themselves and all that goes on around them.

The next tier are the Worlds, and as such a single Loop can (and does) contain multiple Worlds. Between worlds is where you see different versions of things, or twinners. You get different authors writing the same book, different company names and brands, cities located in different places, and if you find two people who are seemingly the same, they can actually be very different. Thing's between Worlds can be twinned, but they are not identical versions- unlike what we see between Timelines.

Lastly you have Loops. This is where all the fan theories really come into their own, as we are given very little in the books to describe what a single Loop actually is, why it happens, or how each one differs from the next. All we know is the Dark Tower causes it, and Roland appears to be the connection from one to the next. This is where my big ol' crazy theory from the first post comes into play, and I believe each Loop is created by the Stephen King from the previous Loop, and a cycle between our world and the books has been created in order to both maintain the Tower with endless sacrifice in one, and give Roland the peace and happiness he deserves in the other.

I really like how GNTLGNT puts it; "spiraling realities as one begats the next" :D
 
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HerbziKal

Member
Aug 9, 2019
7
38
32
England, UK
Good post mostly. I couldn't read it all due to the overlap. I have an old browser. What I did read was damned interesting. Thx, mal

Ha ha thank you :) The fact it overlaps is oddly appropriate. I wish I knew a way to help you read the whole thing... it is rather long... :blush:
Perhaps if you let me know where you can read up to I can PM you the rest or something? Only if you'd like.

wolfphoenix Thank you for your kind words. I have always thought of the "Mandela Effect" from a Dark Tower perspective :laugh: Now I am going to have to watch Legion...
 

wolfphoenix

She-Wolf finally Risen and Strapping On.
Apr 24, 2019
2,919
17,451
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Ha ha thank you :) The fact it overlaps is oddly appropriate. I wish I knew a way to help you read the whole thing... it is rather long... :blush:
Perhaps if you let me know where you can read up to I can PM you the rest or something? Only if you'd like.

wolfphoenix Thank you for your kind words. I have always thought of the "Mandela Effect" from a Dark Tower perspective :laugh: Now I am going to have to watch Legion...
You are welcome :)
Enjoying your thread, and will post more later.
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Ha ha thank you :) The fact it overlaps is oddly appropriate. I wish I knew a way to help you read the whole thing... it is rather long... :blush:
Perhaps if you let me know where you can read up to I can PM you the rest or something? Only if you'd like.

wolfphoenix Thank you for your kind words. I have always thought of the "Mandela Effect" from a Dark Tower perspective :laugh: Now I am going to have to watch Legion...
Thanks for the offerHerbziKal but I was able to read the rest based on someone else's reply. I like your theories. I see the sense in a multi-verse although if I'm honest with myself I think we are a singularity. I've always seen the revolution of the Dark Tower as similar to Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence. I've read that series 4 times already and foresee a fifth, sixth, and seventh...if I hold out that long!! :)
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I've always seen the revolution of the Dark Tower
Revolution or evolution?

Don't tar and feather me but I am one of those odd ducks who has not read the full series yet (shame!)

I got as far as Wizard and Glass (I think)

The very first book I read was actually The Wind through the Keyhole and this was before I was even aware of the Dark Tower series.

I did enjoy TWTTK a lot, even not knowing it was part of a series.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
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Just north of Duma Key
Revolution or evolution?

Don't tar and feather me but I am one of those odd ducks who has not read the full series yet (shame!)

I got as far as Wizard and Glass (I think)

The very first book I read was actually The Wind through the Keyhole and this was before I was even aware of the Dark Tower series.

I did enjoy TWTTK a lot, even not knowing it was part of a series.
Read on Neesy . In context, it can be revolution as well as evolution!!
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Thanks for the offerHerbziKal but I was able to read the rest based on someone else's reply. I like your theories. I see the sense in a multi-verse although if I'm honest with myself I think we are a singularity. I've always seen the revolution of the Dark Tower as similar to Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence. I've read that series 4 times already and foresee a fifth, sixth, and seventh...if I hold out that long!! :)
I start the journey again just about each year on the last day of November. The end of H season and a new quest to the DT. Are you still finding little things you may have missed on previous reads?
 

HerbziKal

Member
Aug 9, 2019
7
38
32
England, UK
I start the journey again just about each year on the last day of November. The end of H season and a new quest to the DT. Are you still finding little things you may have missed on previous reads?

Every time I read I discover new things! Only today I finished Book 4 and twigged onto something I had always missed before regarding Caprichoso the mule's name. I had realise before that caprichoso is Spanish for capricious, which makes a lot of sense for a mules character, and of course Scheemie, his mentally disabled owner, calls him "Cappie".

However, I never twigged before that when Roland and his Ka-tet arrive at the Emerald City they discover each of them has a pair of custom made Ruby Shoes waiting for them, and the physically disabled Susannah calls hers "cappies". Roland even asks about this, "You call them cappies?", but the point is never rubbed in our faces to the point of being obvious.

Just another subtle example of Ka acting as a whee and King's genius as an author. And as someone in another message board pointed out, it's just like Roland to not explain why he is curious about the name. He'll ask to get information he wants but he's not going to waste time explaining why he wants to know.
 
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HerbziKal

Member
Aug 9, 2019
7
38
32
England, UK
Revolution or evolution?

Don't tar and feather me but I am one of those odd ducks who has not read the full series yet (shame!)

I got as far as Wizard and Glass (I think)

The very first book I read was actually The Wind through the Keyhole and this was before I was even aware of the Dark Tower series.

I did enjoy TWTTK a lot, even not knowing it was part of a series.

Having just finished Book 4, I started 4.5 (TWTTK) again today. It is such a great stand alone story, and I like to listen to the audiobooks where this is the only one on audible that is actually read by King himself, which makes it extra cool.
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
4,714
27,243
61
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Revolution or evolution?

Don't tar and feather me but I am one of those odd ducks who has not read the full series yet (shame!)

I got as far as Wizard and Glass (I think)

The very first book I read was actually The Wind through the Keyhole and this was before I was even aware of the Dark Tower series.

I did enjoy TWTTK a lot, even not knowing it was part of a series.
I meant revolution but evolution could be applied as well. :)