The Dark Tower Book 7 by Stephen King - The end of the Series! Book Summary, Analysis, Review

Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get more people talking about books! Was there a theme or meaning you wanted us to talk about further? Let us know in the comments below! The path of the beam's ending? Stephen King did what with the "Dark Tower" series? What does the ending mean? Do we even call this Book 7 or is it just "The Dark Tower"? Let's talk about the finale of the Dark Tower series book culminating in an amazing conclusion to this series! Yes, we're going to spoiler chat for this one!
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[@wjamimah7772]

I’m regards to the note that Susannah found in the bathroom: it said what it said and it was signed S. K. So King def left it for her

[@jimmyallen8210]

The short stories “Low Men in Yellow Coats” and “Everything is Eventual” are wonderful additions. They both really help explain how and why the Breakers are willing to knowingly destroy the beams/reality/the universe they live in. Also, the suspense contributed by the Low Men is excellent. Ted’s journey could have been in Song of Susanna but the new character would have been jarring for the pace.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Perfect. Thanks for the recommendation

[@BirdTube83]

Stuttering Bill from "IT"

[@MoveBro]

Susannah didn’t walk into a fake world, there are thousands of worlds all are very real, there is only one keystone world.

[@BillyBong]

Yea, I don't know where that came from. All worlds are real.

[@kmosko7752]

I had also dropped out halfway through Wizard And Glass in my twenties, and only recently had gotten back into this series now in my thirties. Would watch your reviews after each one to dive deeper into the meanings, symbolism, and also just to see someone else excited about the series. You guys are great! Just finished the final book today and I know there’s mixed emotions but overall I thought this ended in typical King fashion, which I don’t mind at all. Keep it up guys!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Glad you enjoyed the series! It was a blast to make. Perhaps round two will be in our future

[@DAGDRUM53]

I've been waiting for this one. Excellent summation, guys, the best dissection/examination/justification of King's DT ending on the 'net. Personally I thought it a cop out, but y'all made me rethink it. Well done.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

What a kind comment. I’m glad we could get you to look at the ending differently.

[@piousmutilator4513]

Roland got cut by the rose because he plucked it from the ground, and that’s why Patrick didn’t get harmed because it was already plucked. Roland attributes this to ka continuing to work… if Patrick went for it first like a Roland originally wanted, then it wouldn’t have worked at all bc his hands would be too damaged to continue drawing/erasing. Keep up the great work, gents! Love your videos!!

[@piousmutilator4513]

Also, Stuttering Bill (the robot) is Bill Denbrough from IT in a different universe… or maybe the same universe bc it says he used to be a human and he missed many of his former friends, etc… wild!

[@hendersonbradshaw3098]

The eraser is mightier than the blood pen, which by the transitive property is also greater than the sword…and probably greater than the sandal wood gripped revolver. QED

[@smalltown2223]

You never mention Kings ‘secret’ book The Pasternak of Jerome Finch. It really loose ends all the ties up.

[@hankworden3850]

What book is this? What do you mean?

[@lukashanek7822]

In the ending I see a paralell to addiction. Roland finishes his journey to the Tower only if you are able to stop reading. If you are addicted to book, the journey never ends.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I hadn’t thought of that. That’s great. Thanks for sharing

[@acepc2]

Incredible analysis... I could write paragraphs and paragraphs but suffice it to say I've finally completed my Dark Tower journey (and began again???). Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us fellow fans along our journey.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for the kind words

[@BryannaHitchcock]

Late to the party, but here are some of my takes. Ka is a wheel means that there is no final cycle. Roland's destiny is to traverse every world and relive parts of his life. Eddie is Cuthbert from another reality; Susanah is Susan Delgado in another universe. The Breakers are the ones that want to destroy reality and end the continuous cycle of struggle, heroism, and death. Side note: Hearts in Atlantis is really good. It's part Dark Tower story and mostly Viet Nam era memoire with the King magic touch of small town life and wistfulness.

[@BryannaHitchcock]

Also, most of the big fights in the Dark Tower are based on westerns where there is often 2 hours of talking and 5 minutes of shooting at the end. Wolves of the Calla is like this. It all ends very quickly once the led and the graphic pens are flying. ;)

[@finalverdict2957]

Phenomenal review especially analysis on the ending was incredible

[@doggus47]

In my opinion, Susannah should have left after Mordred was dealt with. She didn’t wait because she felt she wouldn’t have the willpower if she waited. She was a gunslinger, even if the Ka-Tet was broken she should have stayed to help with Mordred.

[@spanishmeatball33]

I totally agree. Oy on the other hand... man.. what a good boy

[@MrTonyman79]

I disagree and I belive that the only fate for Susannah was death. Roland would have sacrificed her eventually, and she even said at one point the only thing left for her was death. Roland was willing to sacrifice everyone for the tower.

[@jaredcompton7747]

My personal interpretation is that Susannah's final world isnt a Matrix-esque fiction. I think that, just like Jake was reborn once, the heroes (aside from Roland) of the Ka-tet are born into another world. A Grey Havens to reward them for their sacrifice. The main reasoning for this theory is that when Susannah arrives, Eddie and Jake (who have already died a ways back) are there. Shortly afterwards (I think a day) King says that you have to imagine that eventually a dog with gold-rimmed eyes would join them. Oy died much later than Eddie and Jake. I think this is in keeping with King's LOTR tendancies, maybe just refer to this world as the White Havens (the force, as well as the presence of snow) instead.

[@greenman6141]

The harsh truth is...Stephen King doesn't "do" endings. He's a process writer. What he excels at is being able to write, every day, a considerable amount. What he has never done well with is ending novels. His short stories have better endings. I except because they are conceived as a whole, he doesn't have to come up with an ending after months of writing, and find himself thinking "oh crap. What'll I do. I used up the Big Hand ex machina damn early in my career. They'd notice if I did that again. Ah fuck it, I won't really end it at all." He missed his real calling. He'd have been ideal as a writer for a Penny Dreadful serial..something like Varney the Vampire. Bashing out wild and wooly narrative each week, with a large cast of eccentric characters, improbable events going off in different directions, for ever, serial without end.

[@Budgieboy4068]

He's an abhorrent writer and I don't get his popularity. The Dark Tower series was unreadable. He kept forgetting his characters names. Selina Dean became a Gloria Dean and Enrico Balazar became Emilio Balazar for no reason at all. Never explained in the plot. He just can't remember and wings it. Probably off of his face on cocaine and booze at the time. He's to literature what the Big Mac is to food. Never again will I touch his filth. I've got far better books to read by infinitely better authors.

[@greenman6141]

@@Budgieboy4068 The issue with names that you describe, amongst other things, that speaks to no one doing any proper editing at his publishers. Which isn't too surprising these days. I had to read the Harry Potter books, and by the 4th book no one was doing even copy editing on those things. It was painful. Though it is slightly more surprising that such mistakes go unfixed through multiple publications. My perspective is that of, well, let's call it a Literary Background. I have a number of literature degrees, for work in a number of languages, from a number of Universities, in a number of countries. This means I'd never come near anything written by King. But I had certainly read, and formally studied Gothic Fiction, from the 1700s to the 1990s. It can absolutely be proper Literature. It's hard to imagine Ian McEwan without the Gothic or Grotesque. Nor do I have any aversion to Genre Fiction. I've read a lot of it. Some just to pass time during a painful illness, some with proper respect for the writing talent...Raymond Chandler's prose is remarkable. But I'd never touched King. However, when I moved to the US a bit over a decade ago, I heard so many people saying he was an "important" or "great" American author, I thought I'd better have a look. Now, these comments were NOT made by Literary People, per se. And I'd guess they were not really Readers either.(indeed, I'm sure of that, now) More film making types. But, hell, they're allowed to have opinions, right? They could even be not stupid opinions. Oppenheimer wasn't a Literature Professor, but he was acutely interested in, & knowledgeable & insightful about proper Literature. Of course, he was smarter than most everyone else in existence, so he's not a usual person with whom to make comparisons. Nevertheless, I thought I should see what was up. I did try. Honestly. I had a serious go at trying to read The Dark Tower books. After the first three, even though it took about a day and a half to read one volume, I realized life wasn't long enough for this way of spending time. I noticed many many years ago that really great books usually make terrible films, while really quite bad books often make quite good films. Cutting things from good books, makes them worse, doing so from lousy books, almost always improves them. But, that said, overall. Reading is a Good Thing. As Sartre put it, reading causes a person to take part in a creative process. There's a reason dictatorships and authoritarian regimes always hate novels, poetry and plays. Well, Art generally. Look at the US today. One of the 2 major political parties, as expected, hates arts of all kinds. And history. And science. They never want people to Think. Reading involves a person Thinking. Using their brain to take part in the imaginative process that is part of reading. Especially fiction. So, Reading - A Good Thing. And not everyone wants to read the same sort of stuff. Or even are Able to. Not everyone has the fortunate background which provides them with ability to love The Wings of the Dove. Many people only read genre fiction. There is a lot of really very good genre fiction. And it is always better to read not great books than to read nothing at all. Sometimes it makes people progress to the good stuff, as it were. King does not write propaganda. He does expect the reader to participate. He isn't hectoring or lecturing. He does want his readers to Think. And, it is also well worth stating that ANYTHING written by Stephen King is infinitely better than anything written by that person who churned out that Fifty Shades of Shite nonsense. Compared with her....he's a god damned Genius.

[@sidnew2739]

@@Budgieboy4068 You know nuthin, John Snow.

[@Crossword131]

Awesome commentary, excellent recap, I'd forgotten so much but this romp through mid-world was a fun way to remember. Great work guys. One thing: Can we rant about the revisions made after 1999? I feel like King did exactly what Annie Wilkes was (rightfully) irate about....no shoddy deus ex writing in her cockadoody movie serials and there are no mulligans when you're 30 years deep into the Tower. Changed Roland's whole character, felt shoe-horned in, and, I think if I was just starting out in '99, I'd have possibly put down the book. 19, we get it already. It's my only* real gripe. New sub. Cheers.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for the kind words

[@CeeJayThe13th]

I'm not really down with the revisions myself either. The Gunslinger is pretty nasty and stripped down which is why it was my favorite but they stretched it out and fluffed it up a little and I don't much care for that.

[@Tuberiascaesar]

So if he lays down all the items horn included at the door, then what? On his final loop what will happen when he gets to the door with his name?

[@vinzclortho7462]

What about the wind through the keyhole? Wasn't there 8 books?

[@peteharper2687]

Patrick is epic, he was the one that the whole story of Insomnia was about.

[@jimmyallen8210]

Thank you both for all of you insights. I was eager to hear your thoughts on this final book. I liked the ending. Roland is not a hero. His (nearly eternal) life’s work is to find his way to the Dark Tower. The hint that maybe on one trek (of countless treks) he will eventually make better choices and not sacrifice everyone he loves for his goal is a fitting non-resolution. I think he could never change that much. I love that his redemption feels possible but unlikely. In a story so steeped in Biblical undertones, the idea that he cannot save himself is a beautiful touch (albeit hard to swallow). It is doubly powerful that Roland is willing to sacrifice everyone else but never himself. This is clearly the opposite of the picture the Bible shows of Jesus as the ultimate self-sacrifice. There is a human connection SK makes with Roland. We all feel like achieving some long term goal will change everything and it ultimately means very little. We just want more in the end (after the car is purchased or the interview is over and the job is ours or whatever). After everything is said and done, I will still be the same selfish person that I am. The irony is that our drive or selfishness feels like a purpose and leads us to dissatisfaction. There is no achieving our want of resolution. I want to feel complete. Achievements don’t complete me, forgiving myself and being forgiven by those I love for thinking achievements will complete me is what I need. And being forgiven for all the collateral damage I cause as I seek the next thing I “have to accomplish.” I need that too, because, as aware as I might be that goals can be self destructive, I (like Roland) am doomed to be pulled toward my next goal, forgetting all I know about the damage I can cause along the way. After all, this time…it will be all I need.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I hear you on the incremental element and hope for change

[@jonathanbassett3656]

What if each book of the Dark Tower is of a different Ka-tet but to us they are the same people oooooooooh cuz it's a multiverse cha-cha-cha changes oooooooooooooh

[@eightiesaddictone9063]

Great series, but the ending was a disappointment. I've made peace with it over time. Re-reading the series again.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

You’re not alone on that feeling

[@josdan19]

Study the concept of the infinite. The eternal Reoccurrence. Nietzsche, Jorge Luis Borges. This isn't Star wars.

[@rh5614]

I reread the books but never the last one. Once was enough. I keep hoping SK redoes it. Such a let down.

[@user-kr6jg6qb7l]

This series is one of the most poorly written, corny, hack pop-lit ever written. I enjoyed 1-3 a lot, 4 was boring, 5 was godawful, i hate the word "commala" and the slang in these books so much, 6 is just as terrible with more terrible rhyming poems, and i'm 2/3rds thru book VII and i regret wasting the last few weeks of my life reading this terrible series...

[@dustinasher9643]

Stephen King left Susannah the note in the bathroom, not Eddie. That dude doesn't know what he's talking about.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

That’s what I thought. I thought I had said that as the other dude in the conversation.

[@weregretohio7728]

Yeah and he had to deux ex machina them because Susannah is too dumb to figure out that the random guy in the middle of dead lands bordering the end goal is a bad guy. It's a terrible sequence that grants us another terrible deus ex machina for the end sequence.

[@dustinasher9643]

@@weregretohio7728 I agree. Patrick fuckin Danville...