The Dark Tower

Roland’s bad hip causes him to slip. Jake leaps past him, throwing himself at King and placing himself between the author and Smith’s van. King is thrown to the side of the road while Jake takes the force of the blow. Roland looks at King, hoping that King is dead rather than “[his] boy.” Oy tries to pull Jake from under the van. Roland tries to assure himself that Jake’s wounds are superficial, but they are not. Jake urges Roland to check on King; he knows that he is dying based on prior experience. Roland is furious with King, but he wants to be sure that Jake’s sacrifice is not for nothing. He knows that there is no way for Jake to come back this time.

In the meantime, Mrs. Tassenbaum points Roland’s gun at Smith and tells him to move his van. He does not even know that he hit a boy. Roland looks at King’s wounds: He has many injuries but will probably live. King recognizes Roland, who explains that he lost Eddie and may lose Jake because “one lazy, fearful man stopped doing the job for which ka intended him” (369). He blames the cowardly King for failing to finish his books. He puts King under hypnosis and instructs him to finish the books. As Roland turns, King tells him that Susannah will need him and that Roland must “finish the job” (373). Next, Roland hypnotizes Smith and makes arrangements for everyone to forget what happened and for medical help to be brought for King. By the time he turns back to Jake, Jake is dead. Roland cradles Jake’s dead body and then receives a message, passed from Jake to Mrs. Tassenbaum, in which Jake tells Roland that he loves him. There is more to the message, but Roland needs to focus on the present. He gives her the option of leaving, but she agrees to circle back to collect him soon. When he is alone, Roland buries Jake. Oy howls. Meanwhile, Smith and King talk amiably. Neither of them remembers what happened. Mrs. Tassenbaum returns home but, relishing this recent exciting break from her monotonous married life, goes back to Roland. As the medics deal with King, Roland weeps for Jake. Returning to the road, Roland gives Oy the option of staying with Jake. The billy-bumbler joins Roland, and Mrs. Tassenbaum collects them both.

As they drive away, Roland asks her to return later and plant a rose on Jake’s grave. She reveals that Jake asked her to take Roland to New York City, where there is a door that he can use to return to his world. Roland is quiet on the drive. Mrs. Tassenbaum is attracted to him, and he admits that he is afraid to sleep in case his dead friends come to him, as “seeing them will kill [him]” (391). He falls asleep beside her in a cheap motel. The next night, they stay in another motel. This time, they have sex. She dreams of the Tower and hears his lost friends singing in chorus. Soon, she knows, she will see Roland for the last time.

Susannah rides on a train to Fedic. She senses that someone has died. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tassenbaum drives Roland into New York City. He refuses her offer to buy him new clothes. Instead, he must visit the Tet Corporation, located in a skyscraper that represents the Dark Tower “in this Keystone World” (396). Mrs. Tassenbaum goes with him to the small park opposite the Tower. They hear voices as they sit beside a turtle statue, where he asks her to wait for him.

Roland enters the tower, where he is met by a familiar face: Nancy Deepneau, the granddaughter of Aaron Deepneau’s older brother (Aaron Deepneau was a founder of the Tet Corporation). The Tet offices feature photographs of him, as well as of John Cullum and Moses Carver (another founder, and Susannah’s godfather). Nancy explains that John and Aaron are now dead but that Moses Carver is alive. Moses himself then appears, old and good-humored. Roland drops to one knee before him. Moses introduces his daughter, Marian Odetta Carver, who is now president of the Tet Corporation. Roland shows off his guns to prove his identity. A plaque in the lobby of the building, Marian explains, has just changed: It is now a memorial to Eddie and Jake. She further explains that Tet has its own psychics, similar to the Breakers, and that these psychics believe that Eddie told something to Jake that Jake then told to Oy or Mrs. Tassenbaum. Tet also has a group of people who meticulously study King’s books for any insight. Marian hands Roland a copy of Stephen King’s Insomnia, in which the Crimson King tries to kill a boy named Patrick Danville. In the story, Danville is an artist who draws a picture of Roland and the Dark Tower, with the Crimson King imprisoned in the Tower.

Roland receives a gift: a pocket watch inscribed with a key, a rose, and a tower. Roland becomes emotional. Moses makes a final gift, handing Roland the cross that was used to prove that Susannah was alive. Roland promises to lay it at the foot of the Tower. Once back outside, Roland speaks to Oy. He reads Oy’s mind, receiving Jake’s last message: “[W]atch out for Dandelo” (423).

Mrs. Tassenbaum takes Roland and Oy to the Dixie Pig in a stretch limousine. They share a drink. At the Dixie Pig, Roland shows his guns to a security guard and is granted entry. He bids farewell to Mrs. Tassenbaum, giving her the copy of Insomnia, as it makes him uneasy. Inside the club, Roland feels the echoes of the gunfight. Oy leads Roland along the secret passage, thinking about a responsibility that Jake entrusted him with. As Roland prepares to pass through the door to Fedic, he thinks about how many people he has lost on his journey. He hopes Susannah will join him on the final part of his quest and then passes through the door.

Fedic has changed a lot. Susannah is waiting there for Roland, and when he arrives, she notices that Jake is not with him. Oy rushes toward Susannah and knocks her down. When Roland offers to help her up, she briefly considers refusing his hand but then accepts. She wants him to understand that she is “in to the end” (433).

While exploring Fedic, they restock their supplies. Roland tells her what happened to Jake, and Susannah shares her own bad news: Stanley died of an infected wound, speaking of Susan Delgado and Roland. When they reach the Dark Tower, Roland says, they will speak the names of their dead friends. Susannah also tells Roland how her train nearly crashed on the way to Fedic; however, she managed to escape with Ted and the other Breakers (who have now gone to New York). She hopes that the train ride may at least have put distance between them and Mordred. Roland is less sure.

Just outside of Fedic is the Castle Discordia, and Roland and Susannah must pass through the passages beneath the structure into Discordia beyond. Ted sensed monsters in these passages that are sentient and telepathic, though not necessarily on the side of the Crimson King. Roland wonders whether the monsters might slow Mordred when they finally burst through from the catacombs below. When Roland mentions the word Dandelo, it means nothing to Susanah.

In 2002, Stephen King awakens from a dream of Fedic. He is in his house on Turtleback Lane, where he spent the morning writing about Roland. He has just written Jake’s death, and he worries about how readers will react. Thinking of his own accident, he is sure that Jake was not there when he was hit by a van. All he can do is listen to the song in his head—originating from the Beam—and write the story as it comes to him. King was surprised by Jake’s death because, according to all his notes, Jake (and the others) were “supposed to be around until the very end” (442).