The Dark Tower

Mordred watches Susannah’s departure through binoculars taken from Dandelo’s cottage. He wonders whether he might be able to take Patrick’s talent by eating him. Though Mordred has found clothes, he is “a-sick, a-sick, a-sick” (609). He vomits and defecates constantly, writhing in pain as he remembers the rotting flesh he has eaten. He plots to kill Roland; with no one else to stand watch, Roland will need to rest. Mordred resists the urge to take his spider form, fearing that this will accelerate his sickness. The Crimson King speaks to him, urging him to kill Roland so that they can “rule the darkness together” (612). Mordred thinks of the irony that a long-prophesied, powerful being might be killed by eating rotting horseflesh.

Roland moves slowly. He knows that he will reach the Tower as the sun sets the following day. Feeling lonely and disheartened, he is unsure what to think about the end of his quest being so close. He sees a rose and knows that they will see more as they approach the Tower. When Oy again refuses to eat, Roland allows his impatience to show, only to regret this and apologize. Feeling exhausted, he tries to sleep, but Patrick soon wakes him, and the group resumes their journey. They eventually stop in a field of roses. Roland is more exhausted than ever; he knows Mordred is nearby, so he tries to explain that Patrick needs to stand watch. However, he struggles to communicate this to Patrick, so he encourages him to draw instead, hoping this will at least keep Patrick awake. Roland himself must sleep.

Mordred watches as Roland leaves Patrick to stand watch. Mordred feels sicker than ever; he is unable to maintain his human form and feels as though he may only be able to change one last time. Nonetheless, the Crimson King urges him to be patient. Using his powers, the Crimson King lulls Patrick to sleep, giving Mordred an opportunity to kill the sleeping Roland. Mordred changes into a spider and attacks.

Roland is woken by Oy’s barks. He sees Oy wrestling with the spider; Mordred had forgotten about Oy’s presence. Roland offers to let Mordred live if he spares Oy’s life, but Mordred fatally wounds Oy. Mordred then turns to attack Roland, who shoots him. The spider falls into the fire and burns. The Crimson King wails that Roland has killed his only son; Roland responds that Mordred was his son, too. Roland goes to the dying billy-bumbler and listens as Oy says “Olan”—his pronunciation of “Roland”—and then dies.

The next day, Patrick wakes to find Roland burying Oy. Roland feels no need to hurry; his plan to outflank the Crimson King is scuttled, as the Crimson King knows that they are coming. Patrick is not in danger, Roland suggests, because Roland “only [kills his] family” (626). They bury Oy and set out for the Tower.

The story is drawing to a close. Roland pushes the cart through a field of roses, taking care not to crush any. Patrick walks beside him and occasionally rides in the cart. They pass old ruins and stone circles. Then, Roland sees the Dark Tower at last. With Mordred’s binoculars, he glimpses the Crimson King imprisoned on the balcony. He thinks about the Tower as his “destiny, the end of [his] life’s road” (631). Roland offers Patrick the chance to stay behind, but Patrick refuses, so they continue toward the Tower. They hear the singing voices of the resurgent Beams. Without Patrick in the cart, Roland knows, he would run straight to the Tower, only to be taken down by the Crimson King.

Hours later, they reach a steep hill, and the Crimson King launches an attack. They duck for cover behind a pyramid as the Crimson King flings explosive sneetches at them from the second-level balcony. Roland shoots the sneetches from the air as the Crimson King mocks him. This stalemate continues, with the Crimson King willing to wait for his opportunity. At sundown, Roland knows, he will emerge from cover and walk toward the Tower, as “no power on earth would be able to stop him” (637).

For hours, the Crimson King taunts Roland, who feels the pull of the Tower growing ever stronger. Eventually, when the pull is almost unbearable, Roland produces a plan: Patrick will draw the Tower with the Crimson King on the balcony and then erase the Crimson King. Roland protects Patrick while he draws, but the drawing takes time. To complete it, Roland must fetch a rose from the field. The thorns scratch Roland to the point that he nearly loses his remaining fingers. Patrick mixes the rose petal with Roland’s blood, making a red for the Crimson King’s eyes. When the drawing is complete, Roland is taken aback by the beauty of Patrick’s work. He gives Patrick the eraser and tells him to erase the Crimson King “from this world and every world” (647). Patrick does so, but the eraser runs out with the King’s eyes still remaining. The painful cries of the Crimson King vanish to nothingness. Only the red eyes remain, glowering on the balcony.

The sun is setting, and Roland can resist the Tower no longer. He gives Patrick instructions on how to travel safely back to New York via Stuttering Bill and a magic door. Roland’s family is dead, so he must continue alone. He approaches the Tower, calling out the names of his loved ones. The door opens, a horn sounds, and Roland enters the Tower. Then, the door closes. Patrick waits a while after Roland enters the Tower. He returns to the road and finds Roland’s watch, now moving forward as time resumes its normal flow as he walks away from the Dark Tower.

Susannah passes through the door on her electric cart. She is in New York in winter, 1997, and she hears Christmas carolers. In the crowd, she spots Eddie Dean. He is holding a cup of hot chocolate, just like in her dream. For a moment, Susannah worries that he will not recognize her. She also worries that this version of Eddie may still have an addiction to heroin. Susannah examines Roland’s gun, which is now old and faded, as though it has not been used for a long time. She dumps the gun in a trash can.

Then, Eddie sees her. Immediately, she knows that he does not have an addiction. He does not know her, he says, but he has seen her in his dreams. All he knows is that her name is Susannah and that—somehow—he is in love with her. Susannah realizes that she will kiss Eddie again “for the first time” and that they will then enjoy many first times all over again (655). They talk about politics, showing Susannah that this is a different world than her own and a different version of Eddie. This time, however, she feels that “ka is working in her favor” (657). Eddie explains that he lives in New Jersey and has brought his brother to the city. He calls out for his brother—for a moment, Susannah fears that she will meet Henry Dean, who had a notorious heroin dependency—and Jake appears. Jake is Eddie’s little brother. He has also been dreaming of Susannah. Their story ends with them living together.

The narrator of the story is pleased with the ending but acknowledges that the audience may wish to “follow Roland into the Tower” (661). Roland approaches the Dark Tower at sunset, feeling a sense of déjà vu. The voice of the Beam that the ka-tet saved is speaking to him, he realizes, telling him that he should have picked up the Horn of Eld—a relic of Arthur Eld, All-World’s legendary heroic ruler and Roland’s ancestor—on Jericho Hill. He passes through the door, feeling as though he has been here before. From the second-level balcony, the lingering red eyes glare at him. He places his gunna (the sum total of what he carries) on the floor, turning the word above a closed door from UNFOUND to FOUND.

Roland is welcomed by the Tower, which itself is a living thing, a manifestation of Gan. Roland ascends the Tower. On each level, the walls are carved with familiar faces; he detects old smells and remembers old acquaintances. Each time he climbs a level, Roland climbs 19 steps. On the second landing, he passes the eyes of the Crimson King and Mordred’s lonely face carved into the wall. He moves past them. Each floor is a formative memory from Roland’s past, including his parents, his pets, and his friends. He continues up the Tower, finding more levels than he expected. One floor continues the charred stake at which Susan Delgado was burned. This is “a place of death” (668), he thinks, to which the Tower responds that Roland’s life has made it so. Roland continues up the Tower.

By the 200th floor, Roland knows that the interior of the Tower bears no resemblance to how large it seemed from the outside. Though he knows that the Tower defies logic, he continues to ascend. He reaches a floor that reminds him of his first meeting with Jake and then passes through the rooms of more recent memories. As sunlight pours into the Tower, he reaches an unopened door at the top. The name “Roland” is carved above it. Roland enters and finds himself in a desert—the desert in which he first appeared, he suddenly understands. He has lived this loop many times, repeating the same cycle. Roland feels drawn through the door into the desert, and his memory fades, feeling again like this is the first time. He touches his hip, where the Horn of Eld hangs. He remembers picking it up on Jericho Hill. He remembers the words of Cortland “Cort” Andrus, one of his instructors. A voice whispers to him, promising him that things may be different and that there may be rest and even salvation, so long as he stands and so long as he remains true. Roland begins to walk, resuming his journey. The novel ends with the same sentence with which the first novel began: “[T]he man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed” (672).