What's new

Khef, ka and ka-tet - Any Dark Tower fans excited over Book 5? (1 Viewer)

Hugh Jackes

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 13, 2000
Messages
758
Location
Anaheim. CA
Real Name
Hugh Jackes
Me again.

I was thinking over the book again and I realized that there was one plot thread that surprised me:

Much like the Saruman in the movie Return of the King (but not in the book), the story line about black 13 was left completely hanging. I know that it was in the World Trade Center, and thus lost in the rubble of the September 11 attacks, but what happened to it in the collapse of the tower? Was it possible to destroy it? If it was crushed to dust, was the dust hazardous? Did Jake tell Roland what he had done with it? If so, why didn't Roland advise the management of the Tet Corporation of the ball and its disposition?
 

Thomas Reagan

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 28, 1998
Messages
176
Real Name
Thomas
Hugh,

Thanks for the question about

Black 13. I was wondering if I was having a brain cramp and forgetting some plotline that explained it's fate.


Maybe it will be addressed if there is ever a third Jack Sawyer story.


Thos.
 

Sean Bryan

Sean Bryan
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
5,938
Real Name
Sean
Just finished The Dark Tower last night.

Wow.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 31, 1997
Messages
13,385
I held off reading the last 200 pages or so over the last 2 years. I know I'm not the person who followed this story the longest (those who read his short stories in various fiction mags before they were culled together for The Gunslinger can lay claim to that). In fact, I came into the game rather late, right around 1990, my senior year in high school.

Still, despite my late entry ;), I've devoted sixteen plus years of my life to this tale, and I couldn't bear to think it would end. It took me longer to read these last 200 pages than it did to read two complete books of this saga. I trudged through it 5, 10, 20 pages at a time, weeks, months apart. I felt like Charlie Bucket, tearing only a small corner of the Wonka wrapper off and nibbling on the bar in tiny amounts.

Finally tonight I "sac'd" up and read the last fifty pages. Wow.

I can see how some may not like the ending. Personally, I loved it. And hated it. But mostly thought it was appropriate. And something else crept up into my head:

I think those that took the journey with King for a long time might find the ending more fitting than those who came into the game late. I can see if someone picked up the Dark Tower series recently, and finished the books in a couple of years, might not be happy with the ending.

But having been on the journey w/ King for sixteen years, the ending seemed...fitting. Nearly moved to tears, and I don't cry easily.

So now I've come to the end of the Dark Tower. Perhaps not the greatest long saga I've read (that would probably have to go to The Lord of the Rings) but in many ways more personal, simply because King is my contemporary whereas Tolkien passed away before I was born. As a huge King fan, I saw him struggle to find the keys to this story (even spoke to him once very briefly about it when I got to meet him at a signing for Bag of Bones) and I guess the journey became more personal to me. I almost feel like I've been beside Roland all these years, and the ending was...
...fitting. I know I keep using this word, but it's the right word to describe it.

What I dreaded more than anything was the story ending, and in essence, it hasn't. I can go back to Book 1 and start over. Yes I know he now has the horn, and things could go differently this time around, but I got the sense that he's done this many times, a hundred times, a thousand times before. The Gunslinger is doomed to repeat. That is the hell he finds himself in, because he always will sacrifice his friends, his family, for the tower. I think the only way he really ever gets himself out of the loop is to renounce the Tower, which he never will.

Ka is a wheel, and his keeps turning and ending up in the same place over and over.

On a side note, I know there's talk between King and J.J. Abrams to make this into either a movie(s) or a TV series. Whatever happens, the first lines have to either be a voiceover or screen text saying "The Man In Black fled across the desert...and the gunslinger followed." If it's anything other than that, I'm not watching. :D
 

Brent T

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 13, 2004
Messages
279
Carlo,

Huge DT fan here and like you, I started reading the series in the late 80's-early 90s. At first I wasnt thrilled with the ending but after my second reading I came to believe its the only way to end it. I honestly do not think King is done writing about Roland and his friends.

As a side note, I suggest picking up the DT comic that just came out last week. The artwork is great and yes ... The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed
 

Bob McLaughlin

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 14, 2000
Messages
1,129
Real Name
Bob
I loved the ending, although I can see why some people might hate it. My brother was frustrated by it, but after much discussion about it, he came to see that there was simply no other way this tale could have ended. What could Roland have possibly found in the tower that would have satisfied everyone, or anyone? King has written an ending that transcends endings altogether.
 

Chu Gai

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2001
Messages
7,270
Yeah, if you're a Buddhist it does. To me, this was one of those books (series) that cried out for a different ending.
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 31, 1997
Messages
13,385
Sweet, I'm a buddhist! I need to let my pastor know ;)

j/k

On a more serious note, I'm one of those who has had multiple issues with the way King has ended some of his books. This one, however, no issues whatsoever.

I agree with Brent and Bob's sentiments (fellow buddhists must think alike!) :D

I'm heading out to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in hopes that they have the comic!
 

Brent T

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 13, 2004
Messages
279
I love the ending for one reason

It gives King the loop hole to write more Dark Tower stories, I can never get enough of them :)
 

Jeff Pryor

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 5, 2002
Messages
653
I was disappointed in the ending at first, but I've come around. The last book in the series was awesome and I believe I will read the entire saga again before I one day pass from this world.
 

DanielKellmii

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Messages
523
Hmmm..... the ending. I really didn't like it. But, I don't think that King had a choice. The series wasn't exactly planned, and he wrote himself into a "hole." Maybe, with a lot of work, he could have figured something out. But that would have looked too forced. Personally, I like to think that the ending just came out easily for him. It sure read that way. I am afraid that anything else would have been terrible. At least there was some sense of accomplishing some tasks.


FYI, all of the books are on tape/cd. They are well done. If you have a commute, try listening. It helps pass the time.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,629
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top