The horn of Eld (Spoiler Alert)

[Moderator]

Hello everyone! I am new here, and this is my first post
I am not a native english speaker, so sorry for my english

I finished the story last weekend and actually I didn't like the ending. Not maybe HOW it ended but WHEN. I feel like having a lot of questions, maybe some things I did not understand and some things should be more or better explained in my opinion.

I start with the things I didn't like.

Spoiler

Why is SK spoiling the deaths of the characters? I think it's at the ending of book 1 or 2 where he writes something like "not everyone will survive"... but why?
Then I don't like the way he treats the villains. Walter Padick was just eaten by Mordred and then it was the end of the man in black. I expected MUCH more. I always thought he isn't just evil, that he knows much more, that he kinda tries to save Roland from the DK because he knew what happens there? He had the ability to travel through times? But nope, he was just evil and got eaten. Sad imo.

The big coffin hunters. Really nice exciting "mexican standoff" scene at this bar. I also expected much more. Eldred Jonas maybe in another book? 2 of them just got shot and thats it.
Andrew Quick, aka. Tick-Tock Man. Just shot down. Mordred. This super clever, strong monster was weakened by rotten flesh and had a tough time against little OY... then shot down....
Wolves of the calla. Just a short battle. How he dealt with the crimson king was just ridiculous. Actually the last pages, where they found Patrick Danville felt like SK had enough of the books and tried to finish it fast.

Now a thing that I do not understand. Why can they save SK in book 7? The books told me so many times that there are only 2 worlds where the time can only go forward. Roland's world and SK's world where Roland and Eddie met him. At the end of book 6 SK dies. I thought SK died in the fundamental world but it can not be because they save him in book 7.... or do I miss something?

And the ending? I was pretty sad when Susannah left Roland. I thought she had a bigger task at the ending. For me a better ending would be, something like:
Susannah would not leave Roland, they would never meet Patrick Danville, then at the fight with the crimson king Roland would sacrifce himself to save Susannah, because in one book there stand something like "he just loved one woman like Susan Delgado" or something like this, and this one woman would be Susannah, then when Roland dies also the crimson king would disappear because there can not be red without white in the world. Gan/ the tower would then tell Roland that he finally won against his obsession of the dark tower and is now free and he can meet his family and friend at the clearing at the end of the path. Susannah would then enter the tower and would split into 2 persons. Odetta and Detta. Detta would become the guardian of the tower in Roland's world and Odetta would go back to NY through a door and become the guardian of the rose in SK's world.

Maybe pretty lame for the most people here but I would like it.

Imo it's pretty lame from an author the leave the reader with something like SK did. People like to talk about the ending, tell what they think it means and so on but I think SK just didn't know how to end his story properly.

Welcome to the Board!

 

[Spideyman]

Hello everyone! I am new here, and this is my first post
I am not a native english speaker, so sorry for my english

I finished the story last weekend and actually I didn't like the ending. Not maybe HOW it ended but WHEN. I feel like having a lot of questions, maybe some things I did not understand and some things should be more or better explained in my opinion.

I start with the things I didn't like.

Spoiler

Why is SK spoiling the deaths of the characters? I think it's at the ending of book 1 or 2 where he writes something like "not everyone will survive"... but why?
Then I don't like the way he treats the villains. Walter Padick was just eaten by Mordred and then it was the end of the man in black. I expected MUCH more. I always thought he isn't just evil, that he knows much more, that he kinda tries to save Roland from the DK because he knew what happens there? He had the ability to travel through times? But nope, he was just evil and got eaten. Sad imo.

The big coffin hunters. Really nice exciting "mexican standoff" scene at this bar. I also expected much more. Eldred Jonas maybe in another book? 2 of them just got shot and thats it.
Andrew Quick, aka. Tick-Tock Man. Just shot down. Mordred. This super clever, strong monster was weakened by rotten flesh and had a tough time against little OY... then shot down....
Wolves of the calla. Just a short battle. How he dealt with the crimson king was just ridiculous. Actually the last pages, where they found Patrick Danville felt like SK had enough of the books and tried to finish it fast.

Now a thing that I do not understand. Why can they save SK in book 7? The books told me so many times that there are only 2 worlds where the time can only go forward. Roland's world and SK's world where Roland and Eddie met him. At the end of book 6 SK dies. I thought SK died in the fundamental world but it can not be because they save him in book 7.... or do I miss something?

And the ending? I was pretty sad when Susannah left Roland. I thought she had a bigger task at the ending. For me a better ending would be, something like:
Susannah would not leave Roland, they would never meet Patrick Danville, then at the fight with the crimson king Roland would sacrifce himself to save Susannah, because in one book there stand something like "he just loved one woman like Susan Delgado" or something like this, and this one woman would be Susannah, then when Roland dies also the crimson king would disappear because there can not be red without white in the world. Gan/ the tower would then tell Roland that he finally won against his obsession of the dark tower and is now free and he can meet his family and friend at the clearing at the end of the path. Susannah would then enter the tower and would split into 2 persons. Odetta and Detta. Detta would become the guardian of the tower in Roland's world and Odetta would go back to NY through a door and become the guardian of the rose in SK's world.

Maybe pretty lame for the most people here but I would like it.

Imo it's pretty lame from an author the leave the reader with something like SK did. People like to talk about the ending, tell what they think it means and so on but I think SK just didn't know how to end his story properly.

Hi and welcome.

 

[Slevin]

Thank You!

 

[GNTLGNT]

....Hiya Seveneleven!!!!......

 

[Auryn]

Hi guys, i'm new here and just started re-reading the series. I am interested in interpretations of the ending of the DT and the significance of the Horn of Eld. You've all provided a lot of interesting insights and i'd like to add my two cents.

I think that Roland is supposed to blow the horn at the tower. He is meant to do this.

The reason is found in Robert Browning's “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” which was King's inspiration for the series. In this poem, Roland blows his 'slug-horn' after acknowledging his lost peers (see below). In The Dark Tower, SK's Roland hears a horn after acknowledging his lost friends...but I think that's a missed cue, a missed line in our hero's quest. I think HE is supposed to blow the horn just like his counterpart in the poem:

Not hear? when noise was everywhere! it toll’d
Increasing like a bell. Names in my ears
Of all the lost adventurers my peers,— 195
How such a one was strong, and such was bold,
And such was fortunate, yet each of old
Lost, lost! one moment knell’d the woe of years.

There they stood, ranged along the hill-sides, met
To view the last of me, a living frame 200
For one more picture! in a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.”

I think the horn is a puzzle piece that is missing from the scene--the other part of our hero's excalibur along with his guns. In the last chapter, the Dark Tower compels and calls Roland to come to it, and not Roland specifically--it calls the entire line of Eld of which he is the last. That horn was passed down from Arthur Eld and fits the scene.

See this foreshadowing quote from The Gunslinger:

The gunslinger waited for the time of the drawing and dreamed his long dreams of the Dark Tower, to which he would some day come at dusk and approach, winding his horn, to do some unimaginable final battle.

As for what it will do when he blows it at the tower? Who knows, maybe it would help him defeat the Crimson King without the aid of Patrick's drawing. At the tower, Roland doesn't use Patrick's gift right away because of pride and 'he had wanted to kill the Crimson King, not merely send him into some null zone' which in the end is what he does. Maybe the horn does finally help Roland kill the Crimson King, perhaps Roland has done his penance and earned this final weapon in the next round which is why the book ends this way.

As for liking or not liking the ending or the last few books or wishing they were written some other way, I think those are futile thoughts. Mr. King wrote the books and they are written. They are complete. It always sounds funny to me when readers criticize the way a book ended, it's like they are saying they wish the sky was a different color or the earth was a different shape.

 

[Tery]

Welcome to the MB Auryn

That's great insight. I agree with you, too. I'm sure many others will also chime in.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...Hi Auryn...

 

[Spideyman]

Hi and welcome Auryn

 

[Nickj85]

In the first book he is on the road alone. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember many mentions of his old "happy" life in the Gunslinger. The tower is his only draw. There is no way he could have let Jake go so easily later in the series. He grows to love again, even in the end he wont force Patrick to grab a rose. He finishes with great regret.. I felt he didn't even want to see the top of the tower. However since Ka is what it is perhaps the horn will let him do it again "the right way".
Apologize for obvious grammar mistakes.

 

[FlakeNoir]

In the first book he is on the road alone. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember many mentions of his old "happy" life in the Gunslinger. The tower is his only draw. There is no way he could have let Jake go so easily later in the series. He grows to love again, even in the end he wont force Patrick to grab a rose. He finishes with great regret.. I felt he didn't even want to see the top of the tower. However since Ka is what it is perhaps the horn will let him do it again "the right way".
Apologize for obvious grammar mistakes.

Welcome to the site Nickj85.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Welcome to the site Nickj85.

....what she said!.....

 

[Spideyman]

In the first book he is on the road alone. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember many mentions of his old "happy" life in the Gunslinger. The tower is his only draw. There is no way he could have let Jake go so easily later in the series. He grows to love again, even in the end he wont force Patrick to grab a rose. He finishes with great regret.. I felt he didn't even want to see the top of the tower. However since Ka is what it is perhaps the horn will let him do it again "the right way".
Apologize for obvious grammar mistakes.

Hi and welcome.

 

[metallicalex777]

New to the forums here! Found this place via Google search and seemed to be a great corralling of shared likes/dislikes/theories of the Horn of Eld and a few other things. I've read through the series three times, and have done audiobook a full run through once. I'm on the second time through the audiobook and about half way through Drawing of the Three.

Regarding the Horn of Eld. I've come to the conclusion that anyone that blows the Horn of Eld out of a call for reinforcements simply dies.

"The Song of Roland" - French Poem that Stephen King has some inspiration from: There is a battle in the poem that shows some similarities to the battle we read/hear about with the Battle of Jericho Hill. In the poem, Roalnd dies when he calls for more reinforcements, from the struggle/effort/hard work of blowing the Horn of Eld.

Cuthbert Allgood: Died at the top of Jericho Hill, blowing the Horn of Eld.

Roland Deschain: We know at the end of the book that he wakes up in a fog of confusion (I take that as his memory being stripped away after running through the tower). Knowing that the movie is coming out next week, and we know the Horn of Eld has been seen in screenshots from the movie sets (if any of you have chosen to go down that path) as well as Stephen King tweeting a picture of the Horn of Eld, leads me to believe that through the movies we may actually see Roland Deschain DIE once he reaches the tower and blows the Horn of Eld once he reaches it.

Historically, I am most likely WRONG as hell but thought it was a neat tid-bit comparing the poem, Cuthbert, and knowledge of Roland in the coming movie all having their hands (and fate) on the Horn of Eld.

 

[GNTLGNT]

New to the forums here! Found this place via Google search and seemed to be a great corralling of shared likes/dislikes/theories of the Horn of Eld and a few other things. I've read through the series three times, and have done audiobook a full run through once. I'm on the second time through the audiobook and about half way through Drawing of the Three.

Regarding the Horn of Eld. I've come to the conclusion that anyone that blows the Horn of Eld out of a call for reinforcements simply dies.

"The Song of Roland" - French Poem that Stephen King has some inspiration from: There is a battle in the poem that shows some similarities to the battle we read/hear about with the Battle of Jericho Hill. In the poem, Roalnd dies when he calls for more reinforcements, from the struggle/effort/hard work of blowing the Horn of Eld.

Cuthbert Allgood: Died at the top of Jericho Hill, blowing the Horn of Eld.

Roland Deschain: We know at the end of the book that he wakes up in a fog of confusion (I take that as his memory being stripped away after running through the tower). Knowing that the movie is coming out next week, and we know the Horn of Eld has been seen in screenshots from the movie sets (if any of you have chosen to go down that path) as well as Stephen King tweeting a picture of the Horn of Eld, leads me to believe that through the movies we may actually see Roland Deschain DIE once he reaches the tower and blows the Horn of Eld once he reaches it.

Historically, I am most likely WRONG as hell but thought it was a neat tid-bit comparing the poem, Cuthbert, and knowledge of Roland in the coming movie all having their hands (and fate) on the Horn of Eld.

...glad you've joined us, and that is intriguing.......me?.....I just didn't delve that deep into that portion of the cosmology of King's Universe.....just liked the fact that old long, tall and ugly had another "shot" at it.....

 

[Tiny]

after the battle of Jericho hill or whatever, Roland had a DUTY to pick up the horn and save it,
he neglected this duty,
it wasn't that the horn is some kind of "tailsmen" IMO.
it simply represents one of his very few failures in his duty AS A GUNSLINGER

 

[metallicalex777]

...glad you've joined us, and that is intriguing.......me?.....I just didn't delve that deep into that portion of the cosmology of King's Universe.....just liked the fact that old long, tall and ugly had another "shot" at it.....

Thank you! Long days and pleasant nights, unless you prefer to chew on that devil grass and hang around the bars of Tull to pass your time.

 

[Dana Jean]

Thank you! Long days and pleasant nights, unless you prefer to chew on that devil grass and hang around the bars of Tull to pass your time.

welcome Met!

 

[metallicalex777]

welcome Met!

Much appreciated!

 

[GNTLGNT]

Thank you! Long days and pleasant nights, unless you prefer to chew on that devil grass and hang around the bars of Tull to pass your time.

....I will avoid Tull, unless I get a quick drink and move on....local legend has it that there is a Gunslinger that deals in lead.....

 

[L13 Fanboy]

Finished the Dark Tower today, first time poster, etc, etc

I enjoyed the ending, if for no other reason than I get to come online and read everyone else's thoughts/theories! I have nothing else to add to the countless ideas except which one I believe: as an eternal optimist I like to think that armed with Arthur Eld's horn this will be Roland's last journey to the Tower, where he will finally ends his quest and find peace/redemption/release. The main thing I thought upon finishing was how King eluded so many times to the struggles and challenges of being a writer, indeed he even tells you at the end that the story is in the journey, and he only puts an ending into his tales as that is the custom... only this time he doesn't! At the end of Volume 7 we are sent straight back to the beginning of Volume 1. The story is the thousands of pages of the journey, not the ending.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm headed over to the thread that recommends which novels to read next! Long days and pleasant nights.