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140-494: The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels written by American author Stephen King , which incorporate multiple genres including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. Below are The Dark Tower characters that come into play as the series progresses. Roland Deschain, son of Steven Deschain, was born in the Barony of Gilead, in In-World. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger,

280-612: A paradox . Since Roland (in The Drawing of the Three ) prevented Mort from shoving Jake into traffic, he never died, therefore he never appeared in Mid-World and was never left to die under the mountains. Jake and Roland, however, can remember both timelines, and the knowledge is slowly driving them insane. In the first half of The Waste Lands , Roland's ka-tet figure out a way to draw Jake into Mid-world, where he belongs (an action which finishes

420-481: A "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels. In addition to the eight novels of the series proper that comprise 4,250 pages, many of King's other books relate to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as

560-460: A Keystone world), having been given the chance to return to another form of Eddie and Jake in a parallel world. Jake Chambers is an eleven-year-old boy from the New York of 1977, and is considered by Roland to be his "true son". Jake's given name is John, but he prefers to be known by Jake, and is called "'Bama" by his housekeeper, who is far closer to him than his parents. In his home world, he dies at

700-505: A bad cold in his throat." Regarding Oy's appearance, by far the most frequently described feature throughout the series is his large, "bright" almost glowing, "intelligent, gold-ringed eyes", though King also frequently refers to the creature's "disproportionately long," "surprisingly graceful neck". The creature has "black- and grey-striped fur" and a "furry corkscrew tail". At the time of their meeting, Roland concedes that Oy may quite possibly be meant as another member of their ka-tet. This

840-417: A billy-bumbler who he calls Oy, who provides comfort for the boy on his quest. While crossing the desolate city of Lud, Jake is kidnapped by a deranged resident of the city. He allows himself to be taken in exchange for the rest of the group's safe passage, and Roland promises to come for Jake, despite having to abandon him temporarily. Despite the danger it poses, he rescues Jake with the help of Oy, reaffirming

980-762: A catastrophic brain injury in a motorcycle accident in 2001. The narration task then fell to George Guidall, who recorded the final three books in the series in quick succession in 2003 and 2004. George Guidall was also called upon to re-record The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, the first book in the series, in 2003, as the author made significant changes to that story to better match what came later. Confabulation Confabulation occurs when individuals mistakenly recall false information, without intending to deceive. Brain damage, dementia, and anticholinergic toxidrome can cause this distortion. Two types of confabulation exist: provoked and spontaneous, with two distinctions: verbal and behavioral. Verbal statements, false information, and

1120-504: A character until Song of Susannah , he is alluded to as early as The Drawing of the Three when Eddie recalls having seen The Shining in movie theaters. Stuttering Bill is a robot (full name William D-746541-M Maintenance Robot with many other functions) appearing in The Dark Tower . He plowed Tower Road all the way up to the edge of the white lands, where the snow ended and the roses began. He gave Roland, Susannah and Patrick

1260-406: A childhood head injury left her with dual personalities , which Eddie incorrectly labels schizophrenia . She is "The Lady of Shadows", the second companion predicted by Walter to be drawn into Roland's world via the mysterious doors. Initially, her dominant personality is that of Odetta Susannah Holmes, a well-mannered but priggish woman active in the civil rights movement. At times, however, she

1400-503: A complicated and intricate process that can be led astray at any point during encoding , storage , or recall of a memory. This type of confabulation is commonly seen in Korsakoff's syndrome . Two types of confabulation are often distinguished: Another distinction is that between: Confabulation is associated with several characteristics: Theories of confabulation range in emphasis. Some theories propose that confabulations represent

1540-623: A concubine, or "gilly", for Mejis' mayor, Hart Thorin. Although Susan is to be paid for her services, she is a recognized consort and any heir she bears to the heretofore-childless Thorin will be considered legitimate. Before consummating her relationship with Thorin, however, she falls in love with Roland and becomes involved in the young gunslinger's plans to prevent John Farson from using an oilfield near Hambry to supply his troops with crude oil. When Roland and his friends are framed for Thorin's murder and arrested, she breaks them out of jail and helps them escape Hambry. Before she can flee, however, she

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1680-467: A copy of Salem's Lot , after first meeting Father Callahan in the fifth book Wolves of the Calla . Roland and Eddie later confront King in his Maine home at a time when he has written 'Salem's Lot and The Gunslinger but no further Dark Tower books. Roland hypnotizes King and it is revealed that the author did not in fact "create" the characters of Father Callahan, or Roland, nor any others involved with

1820-460: A dog with "odd, gold-ringed eyes and a bark that eerily resembles human speech." Cuthbert is Roland Deschain's childhood best friend, and a member of his original ka-tet. Roland and Cuthbert are described as having been playing together since they were toddlers. Cuthbert, often called Bert, is first featured in The Gunslinger, but he does not play a major role in the series until Wizard and Glass,

1960-459: A free recall task, such as a self-narrative task. Participants are asked to recall stories ( semantic or autobiographical ) that are highly familiar to them. The stories recalled are encoded for errors that could be classified as distortions in memory. Distortions could include falsifying true story elements or including details from a completely different story. Errors such as these would be indicative of confabulations. Treatment for confabulation

2100-460: A hat, and that it would include the "lobstrosities" from The Drawing of the Three . In an interview with ComingSoon.net , Nikolaj Arcel confirmed that The Drawing of the Three would form the basis for the sequel, and that yet-to-be-cast actors who will play Eddie and Susannah Dean would appear alongside Elba, McConaughey, Taylor, and Haley reprising their roles as Roland, Walter, Jake and Sayre respectively. In February 2018, Amazon bought

2240-516: A homeless shelter. Callahan made it a goal to get even with the vampires for what they did to him and his friend, who contracted HIV after being bitten by a vampire. He is aided in this by his ability to spot the vampires; since Jerusalem's Lot (and the forced ingestion of some of the vampire Barlow's blood) he has been able to recognize vampires on sight. Like Jake Chambers, Callahan enters Mid-World after dying in his own world, although in Callahan's case

2380-507: A laboratory setting. However, provoked confabulations can be researched in various theoretical contexts. The mechanisms found to underlie provoked confabulations can be applied to spontaneous confabulation mechanisms. The basic premise of researching confabulation comprises finding errors and distortions in memory tests of an individual. Confabulations can be detected in the context of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm by using

2520-848: A language for his characters, known as the High Speech. Examples of this language include the phrases Thankee, Sai ("Thank you, Sir/Ma'am.") and Dan-Tete ("Little Savior"). In addition, King uses the term Ka , which is the approximate equivalent of destiny, or fate, in the fictional language High Speech (and similarly, Ka-tet, a group of people bound together by fate/destiny). This term originated in Egyptian mythology and storytelling, and has figured in several other novels and screenplays since 1976. The term also appears in King's short story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats", in which Ted describes its meaning to Bobby. While

2660-489: A man whose goal is finding and climbing to the top of the Dark Tower, purported to be the very center of existence, so that he may right the wrongs in his land. This quest is his obsession, monomania and geas to Roland: In the beginning the success of the quest is more important than the lives of his family and friends. He is a man who lacks imagination, and this is one of the stated reasons for his survival against all odds: he can not imagine anything other than surviving to find

2800-489: A memory for truthfulness after its retrieval. An individual recalls a memory, but there is some deficit after recall that interferes with the person establishing its falseness. Still others propose that all types of false memories, including confabulation, fit into a general memory and executive function model. In 2007, a framework for confabulation was proposed that stated confabulation is the result of two things: Problems with executive control and problems with evaluation. In

2940-407: A memory is based on an actual event or whether it is imagined). Some neuropsychologists suggest that errors in retrieval of information from long-term memory that are made by normal subjects involve different components of control processes than errors made by confabulators. Kraepelin distinguished two subtypes of confabulation, one of which he called simple confabulation, caused partly by errors in

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3080-497: A nutritional thiamine deficiency. Confabulation is one salient symptom of this syndrome. A study on confabulation in Korsakoff's patients found that they are subject to provoked confabulation when prompted with questions pertaining to episodic memory , not semantic memory , and when prompted with questions where the appropriate response would be "I don't know." This suggests that con­fab­u­l­ation in these patients

3220-416: A rate comparable to adults for unanswerable questions than they are to confabulate. Ultimately, misinformation effects can be minimized by tailoring individual interviews to the specific developmental stage, often based on age, of the participant. There is evidence to support different cognitive mechanisms for provoked and spontaneous confabulation. One study suggested that spontaneous confabulation may be

3360-516: A recent review article, another group of researchers contemplate issues concerning the distinctions between delusions and confabulation. They question whether delusions and confabulation should be considered distinct or overlapping disorders and, if overlapping, to what degree? They also discuss the role of unconscious processes in confabulation. Some researchers suggest that unconscious emotional and motivational processes are potentially just as important as cognitive and memory problems. Finally, they raise

3500-418: A recognition task, participants are rapidly presented with pictures. Some of these pictures are shown once; others are shown multiple times. Participants press a key if they have seen the picture previously. Following a period of time, participants repeat the task. More errors on the second task, versus the first, are indicative of confusion, representing false memories. Confabulations can also be detected using

3640-462: A result of an amnesic patient's inability to distinguish the chronological order of events in their memory. In contrast, provoked confabulation may be a compensatory mechanism, in which the patient tries to make up for their memory deficiency by attempting to demonstrate competency in recollection. Confabulation of events or situations may lead to an eventual acceptance of the confabulated information as true. For instance, people who knowingly lie about

3780-619: A ride on his snowplow for many miles, taking them closer to the Dark Tower. Stuttering Bill was also the nickname of William Denbrough , one of the central characters in King's novel It . Calvin Tower is the lease holder of the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore in the series. He makes his first appearance in The Waste Lands , where he sells Jake two books which later prove vital to

3920-401: A single illustrator only. Subsequent printings of each book in trade paperback format usually preserve the illustrations in full, except for books I and IV. Pocket-sized paperback reprints contain only black-and-white chapter or section header illustrations. The illustrators who worked on each book are: Bill Sheehan of The Washington Post called the series "a humane, visionary epic and

4060-399: A situation may eventually come to believe that their lies are truthful with time. In an interview setting, people are more likely to confabulate in situations in which they are presented false information by another person, as opposed to when they self-generate these falsehoods. Further, people are more likely to accept false information as true when they are interviewed at a later time (after

4200-487: A three-month follow-up and were found to generalize to everyday settings. Although this treatment seems promising, more rigorous research is necessary to determine the efficacy of SMT in the general confabulation population. Although significant gains have been made in the understanding of confabulation in recent years, there is still much to be learned. One group of researchers in particular has laid out several important questions for future study. They suggest more information

4340-603: A trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Sometimes, even the sun rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and age are unclear, although later installments shed light on these mysteries. For a detailed synopsis of the novels, see the relevant article for each book . The series has become a linchpin that is interwoven with, and ties together, much of King's body of work . The worlds of The Dark Tower are in part composed of locations, characters, events and other various elements from many of King's novels and short stories. Some of

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4480-451: A true magnum opus" that stands as an "imposing example of pure storytelling," "filled with brilliantly rendered set pieces... cataclysmic encounters and moments of desolating tragedy." Erica Noonan of the Boston Globe said, "There's a fascinating world to be discovered in the series" but noted that its epic nature keeps it from being user-friendly . Allen Johnston of The New York Times

4620-488: A way for memory disabled people to maintain their self-identity. Other theories use neurocognitive links to explain the process of confabulation. Still other theories frame confabulation around the more familiar concept of delusion. Other researchers frame confabulation within the fuzzy-trace theory . Finally, some researchers call for theories that rely less on neurocognitive explanations and more on epistemic accounts. The most popular theories of confabulation come from

4760-403: A week in a coma, being tended by two nurses. Cort was often rough handed with his students, using physical punishment and denial of food to punish mistakes. He also fancied calling the prospective gunslingers "maggots". According to Roland, he is murdered soon after Roland's class graduates. He acts as a sort of a spiritual guide to Roland throughout the series, his voice and teachings popping up in

4900-424: Is "domain-specific." Korsakoff's patients who confabulate are more likely than healthy adults to falsely recognize distractor words, suggesting that false recognition is a "confabulatory behavior." Alzheimer's disease is a condition with both neurological and psychological components. It is a form of dementia associated with severe frontal lobe dys­func­tion. Confabulation in individuals with Alzheimer's

5040-528: Is Calvin Tower's best—and only—friend. He serves as Tower's conscience, and steadily leads his friend to the gunslinger's cause. He later joins the board of Tet Corporation, and proves to be one of the rose's most ardent defenders. His grand-niece Nancy, a gunslinger in her own right, works for the Tet Corporation. Deepneau dies of cancer in 1992. Met Roland and Eddie during the ambush in Stoneham, 1977. He leads

5180-476: Is a continuation of the original Dark Tower story, following the war between the Tet Corporation and Sombra/NCP in New York, and it has been supervised by both Stephen King and Robin Furth . From the website: "Exploring the behind-the-scenes conflict between the two companies, Discordia introduces long-time Dark Tower fans to new characters and numerous mechanical/magical items developed by Mid-World's Old Ones. Over

5320-430: Is believed that the right frontal lobe of the brain is damaged, causing false memories. Children are especially susceptible to forced confabulation as they are highly impressionable. Feedback can increase confidence in false memories. In rare cases, confabulation occurs in ordinary individuals. Different memory tests, including recognition tasks and free recall tasks, can be used to study confabulation. Treatment depends on

5460-462: Is captured, brought back to town, and publicly burned at the stake as an alleged accomplice in the murder. At the time, she is already pregnant with Roland's first child. Roland is devastated by her death—not just because of his love for her—but because, when confronted with the choice of returning for her or setting out for the Dark Tower and thus saving all of creation, he chose the Tower, thus condemning her to death. Roland believes that Susan Delgado

5600-615: Is centered on developmental differences in source monitoring. Due to underdeveloped encoding and critical reasoning skills, children's ability to distinguish real memories from false memories may be impaired. It may also be that younger children lack the meta-memory processes required to remember confabulated versus non-confabulated events. Children's meta-memory processes may also be influenced by expectancies or biases, in that they believe that highly plausible false scenarios are not confabulated. However, when knowingly being tested for accuracy, children are more likely to respond, "I don't know" at

5740-523: Is confirmed in Wizard and Glass , when the ka-tet cannot enter "The Emerald City" until all of them -- including Oy -- are wearing ruby slippers. Later, in the 6th book, this is commemorated when the Tet Corporation forms as the association of "Deschain, Dean, Dean, Chambers, and Oy." Oy develops emotions and even a sense of humanity beyond that of his ability to replicate some words that the others speak. Oy

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5880-450: Is contrary to most forms of confabulation. Also, confabulations made by schizophrenic patients often do not involve the creation of new information, but instead involve an attempt by the patient to reconstruct actual details of a past event. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can also result in confabulation. Research has shown that patients with damage to the inferior medial frontal lobe confabulate significantly more than patients with damage to

6020-601: Is described most fully in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass , although he is first mentioned in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger . Also hailing from New York City, Susannah is a black woman (although as a woman of 1964, she prefers the term " Negro " over the term considered appropriate in Eddie's time, " Black ") with two major afflictions: her legs below the knees were severed in a subway accident, and

6160-438: Is due to damage in the posterior cortical regions of the brain, which is a symptom characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder in which confabulation is sometimes observed. Although confabulation is usually coherent in its presentation, con­fab­u­l­ations of schizophrenic patients are often delusional. Researchers have noted that these patients tend to make up delusions on

6300-572: Is encountered later by Susannah Dean; in this world, he and Eddie are brothers, with the last name Toren. Roland also notes that Jake strongly resembles Alain, another gunslinger, in his stable, reserved personality and talent with a psychic skill referred to as "the touch." Alain is described mostly by his time with Roland as a teen in Wizard and Glass . Oy is a "billy-bumbler," a strange creature found in Roland Deschain 's world. King describes Oy in

6440-410: Is killed in the last Dark Tower book. He saves Roland's life by attacking Mordred, who came to kill Roland in his sleep. Mordred snaps Oy's back and impales him on a tree limb while the bumbler is defending his friend, but Oy finds enough strength to lick Roland's hand one time before he dies. Stephen King hints that Oy will be found in the same universe that Susannah travels to and will be in some form of

6580-472: Is mentioned that he walks with the assistance of a black ironwood cane. His only known relative was his son Wallace, who played with Roland as a toddler; however, he died very young of an illness. Vannay would become one of the many victims to fall prey to the forces of John Farson in the battle for Gilead . Stephen King (as a fictionalized character) appears in the final two Dark Tower books. Roland and his ka-tet learn of his existence when Roland comes across

6720-482: Is needed regarding the neural systems that support the different cognitive processes necessary for normal source monitoring. They also proposed the idea of developing a standard neuropsychological test battery able to discriminate between the different types of confabulations. And there is a considerable amount of debate regarding the best approach to organizing and combining neuro-imaging, pharmacological, and cognitive/behavioral approaches to understand confabulation. In

6860-517: Is often more spontaneous than it is in other conditions, especially in the advanced stages of the disease. Alzheimer's patients demonstrate comparable abilities to encode information as healthy elderly adults, suggesting that impairments in encoding are not associated with confabulation. However, as seen in Korsakoff's patients, confabulation in Alzheimer's patients is higher when prompted with questions investigating episodic memory. Researchers suggest this

7000-418: Is often referred as the smartest bumbler that characters have seen since the world had moved on. Oy provides a much-needed shelter from the harsh nature of the quest for Jake, often playing with him or providing moments of lightheartedness to the ka-tet. His deep loyalty to his friend saves Jake's life several times, and he remains part of Roland's ka-tet even after the boy dies, as a final request from Jake. Oy

7140-412: Is quick-witted and sometimes has a way with words—his proclivity for words can be noticed as he often stops to repeat and muse over phrases he finds to be nice and 'round'. Physically, Cuthbert is described as being trim and tall with shoulder-length dark hair and dark eyes. During the battle of Jericho Hill, Cuthbert is shot through the eye by an arrow fired by Randall Flagg. In Song of Susannah, Eddie Dean

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7280-408: Is recalled intentionally by the individual to explain something confusing or unusual. Fuzzy-trace theory , or FTT, is a concept more commonly applied to the explanation of judgement decisions. According to this theory, memories are encoded generally (gist), as well as specifically (verbatim). Thus, a confabulation could result from recalling the incorrect verbatim memory or from being able to recall

7420-403: Is revealed to be a reincarnation, or at least a "twinner" of Cuthbert Allgood. Alain is one of Roland's original ka-tet , and along with the gunslinger and Cuthbert is evacuated to Mejis in Wizard, and Glass for safety, due to the ongoing war against John Farson . Alain is strong in the 'touch', which is the mid-world term for a combination of telepathy, precognition, and hypersensitivity to

7560-593: Is set around the time of the flashbacks in The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass . The first issue of this first arc was released on February 7, 2007. A hardcover volume containing all seven issues was released on November 7, 2007. The second arc in the series, The Long Road Home , began publication on March 5, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all five issues was released on October 15, 2008. The third arc, The Dark Tower: Treachery , began publication on September 10, 2008. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues

7700-465: Is somewhat dependent on the cause or source, if identifiable. For example, treatment of Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome involves large doses of vitamin B in order to reverse the thiamine deficiency. If there is no known physiological cause, more general cognitive techniques may be used to treat confabulation. A case study published in 2000 showed that Self-Monitoring Training (SMT) reduced delusional confabulations. Furthermore, improvements were maintained at

7840-600: Is taken over by Detta Susannah Walker—murderously psychotic, incredibly crafty, completely unbreakable—whom neither Eddie nor Roland can control. Neither Odetta nor Detta are aware of the existence of the other, and confabulate memories for the periods when they are not the dominant personality. Roland manages to resolve these personalities by forcing Detta to look through the third door while he himself looks out of it, forcing Detta and Odetta to see themselves for what they really are, and almost kill each other upon realising their presence. However, Odetta chooses to embrace Detta, and

7980-510: Is the psychic assassin from Stephen King's short story " Everything's Eventual ." He was hired by a man named Mr. Sharpton who was the head of a North Central Positronics subsidiary. However, when Dinky discovered what Sharpton was truly using him for, he killed Sharpton. Unfortunately, the low men captured him and transported him to the Devar-Toi, where he later met Ted Brautigan and Sheemie Ruiz. The three joined forces with Roland and his ka-tet in

8120-522: Is the topic of Principle 4. As a child develops into an adult, there is obvious improvement in the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of both verbatim and gist memory. However, during late adulthood, there will be a decline in these abilities. Finally, Principle 5 explains that verbatim and gist processing cause vivid remembering. Fuzzy-trace Theory, governed by these 5 principles, has proved useful in explaining false memory and generating new predictions about it. However, not all accounts are so embedded in

8260-408: Is trying to decide how much he can rewrite." The series is referred to on King's website as his magnum opus . In the story, Roland Deschain is a member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and the last of the line of "Arthur Eld", his world's analogue of King Arthur . Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with

8400-510: The American Old West but is also magical . Many of the magical aspects have vanished from Mid-World but traces remain, as do relics from a technologically advanced society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on", and it appears to be coming apart at the seams. Mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without

8540-432: The "Argument", or foreword, of the fourth book, Wizard and Glass —"Bumblers, which look like a combination of badger, raccoon, and dog, have a limited speaking ability". Elsewhere, bumblers are described as "a combination raccoon and woodchuck, with a little dachshund thrown in." At one point, Eddie calls Oy "a fucked-up weasel". Oy's voice is described as "low and deep, almost a bark; the voice of an English footballer with

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8680-506: The Battle of Jericho Hill he is a Gunslinger, like the rest of Roland's ka-tet. Jamie figures prominently in the novel The Wind Through the Keyhole , traveling with Roland to investigate rumors of a shape-changing "skin-man" that is attacking a frontier town. In this novel, his birthmark is described as being a deep red one on his hand, making it appear as if it has been dipped in blood, and he has

8820-531: The Choo-Choo is a "children's book" by Stephen King released in 2016, published under the pseudonym Beryl Evans. It is adapted from a section of King's previous novel The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands . It was illustrated by Ned Dameron. Several Dark Tower series arcs were published by Marvel Comics . A prequel , The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is plotted by Robin Furth, scripted by Peter David , and illustrated by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove , and

8960-651: The Dark Tower, but Stephen King is in this reality a channel (another servant of the Beam / ka / Gan) that records their ongoing quest. It is also revealed that at a very young age, the Crimson King attempted to claim Stephen King as one of his own. King fears death and retaliation from the Crimson King if he continues to write Roland's tale but the Gunslinger's hypnosis encourages him to continue. The eventual attempt on King's life that would end his chronicling of Roland's quest comes in

9100-640: The Deese–Roediger–McDermott lists. Participants listen to audio recordings of several lists of words centered around a theme, known as the critical word. The participants are later asked to recall the words on their list. If the participant recalls the critical word, which was never explicitly stated in the list, it is considered a confabulation. Participants often have a false memory for the critical word. Confabulations can also be researched by using continuous recognition tasks. These tasks are often used in conjunction with confidence ratings. Generally, in

9240-563: The Devar-Toi and enters the Connecticut of 1960, which is when the story of "Low Men in Yellow Coats" takes place. After his adventure in Connecticut, the low men capture and smuggle him back to the Devar-Toi via the Dixie Pig and Thunderclap Station. Ted meets Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series, and he, Dinky Earnshaw, and the newly revealed psychic Sheemie assist the ka-tet in

9380-582: The Doorway Cave. Stanley "Sheemie" Ruiz, introduced in Wizard and Glass , was a mildly mentally handicapped tavern boy at a saloon in Hambry. Sheemie assisted Roland and his first ka-tet in preventing the followers of John Farson , and more specifically, the Crimson King, from reviving the Great Old Ones' war machines, later following the group back to Gilead. Sheemie joined Roland's ka-tet briefly and helped

9520-471: The Gunslinger's mind every so often as Roland needs to reflect upon his training. Also known as "Vannay the Wise", he was the other primary tutor of Roland's ka-tet and of apprentice gunslingers. Known mostly for his wisdom and forbearance, Vannay's analytical method of instruction and pacifistic nature serve as strong counterpoints to the ruthless application of force and cynical thought process exercised by Cort. It

9660-456: The Ka-tet's efforts on several occasions. His eventual—and reluctant—decision to do the right thing comes largely thanks to the influence of his much more selfless, heroic friend, Aaron Deepneau. In the end, he sells the lot to Tet Corporation, and serves on the board for many years. With Deepneau, he saves Father Callahan from knife-wielding thugs. Tower dies of a heart attack in 1990. Aaron Deepneau

9800-602: The Ka-tet's survival of their encounter with Blaine the Mono. In later volumes, it is revealed that Tower owns the lot containing the rose, and is being pressured by mobsters to sell the property to the Sombra Corporation. Eddie saves Tower from a beating, and convinces Tower to sell the land to the ka-tet in the guise of the "Tet Corporation". Tower is an extremely reluctant recruit to the Ka-tet's cause; his selfishness and single-minded obsession with acquiring rare books nearly derail

9940-448: The Keyhole . King noted that this novel would likely be set between the fourth and the fifth books of the series. The book, titled The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole , was announced on Stephen King's official site on March 10, 2011, and was published on April 24, 2012. Each book in the series was originally published in hardcover format with a number of full-color illustrations spread throughout. Each book contained works by

10080-585: The Tower. Edward Cantor "Eddie" Dean first appears in The Drawing of the Three , in which Roland encounters three doors that open into the New York City of our world in different times. Through these doors, Roland draws companions who will join him on his quest, as the Man In Black foretold. The first to be drawn is Eddie Dean, a drug addict and a first-time cocaine mule . Eddie lives with his older brother and fellow junkie Henry, whom Eddie reveres despite

10220-425: The advantages and disadvantages of the process. Confabulations are often symptoms of various syndromes and psychopathologies in the adult population, including Korsakoff's syndrome , Alzheimer's disease , schizophrenia , and traumatic brain injury . Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome is a neurological disorder typically characterized by years of alcohol use disorder characterized by excessive alcohol consumption and

10360-480: The anterior or posterior communicating artery, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and encephalitis are also possible causes of confabulation. Confabulation is believed to be a result of damage to the right frontal lobe of the brain. In particular, damage can be localized to the ventromedial frontal lobes and other structures fed by the anterior communicating artery (ACoA), including the basal forebrain, septum, fornix, cingulate gyrus, cingulum, anterior hypothalamus, and head of

10500-512: The attack on the Devar-Toi and ultimately succeed in obliterating the low men and the taheen. After Roland, Jake, and Oy travel to the Maine of 1999 to prevent Stephen King from dying, Ted and his friends escort Susannah Dean to Fedic Station, and Ted, along with a handful of the other Breakers depart for the Callas, where they hope to first find redemption from the Calla folken and then return to America via

10640-473: The base of the Dark Tower. It was given to John Cullum to act as a sigul and was later returned to Roland by Moses Carver. When Roland came to the Dark Tower, he called Talitha's name among those of his friends and loved ones and laid her cross at its base as he had promised. Teacher of Roland's original ka-tet. Roland earned his guns by defeating him with the hawk David, who was mortally wounded in that battle. After Roland's challenge, Cort laid in his cabin for

10780-500: The battle of Jericho Hill, the last stand by the gunslingers of Gilead against Farson's men, Alain was accidentally killed by Roland and Cuthbert, who mistook him for an assassin in the night. Jamie De Curry was a member of Roland Deschain's original ka-tet. He grew up and trained with Roland under Cort and Vannay in Gilead. He was the first to discover Roland's plan to attempt to finish his training (by fighting Cort, their veteran teacher) at

10920-479: The can-toi (low men) and vampires. For the second time, Callahan kills himself before allowing himself to fall at the hands of the vampires. Patrick appears in Insomnia as a promising child artist, then again at the end of the Dark Tower series as a young adult artist with enough talent to shape the real world as he sees fit. As a young boy, he was prophesied to save two men in the future. He drew pictures of Roland and

11060-702: The caudate nucleus. While some recent literature has suggested that older adults may be more susceptible than their younger counterparts to have false memories, the majority of research on forced confabulation centers around children. Children are particularly susceptible to forced confabulations based on their high suggestibility. When forced to recall confabulated events, children are less likely to remember that they had previously confabulated these situations, and they are more likely than their adult counterparts to come to remember these confabulations as real events that transpired. Research suggests that this inability to distinguish between past confabulatory and real events

11200-676: The confabulated information months later. On rare occasions, confabulation can also be seen in normal subjects. It is currently unclear how completely healthy individuals produce confabulations. It is possible that these individuals are in the process of developing some type of organic condition that is causing their confabulation symptoms. It is not uncommon, however, for the general population to display some very mild symptoms of provoked confabulations. Subtle distortions and intrusions in memory are commonly produced by normal subjects when they remember something poorly. Spontaneous confabulations, due to their involuntary nature, cannot be manipulated in

11340-427: The corrupting influence Henry has had upon his life. Roland helps Eddie fight off a gang of mobsters for whom he was transporting the cocaine, but not before Eddie discovers that Henry has died from an overdose of heroin in the company of the aforementioned mobsters (after which the mobsters decide to chop off Henry's head). It is because of Eddie's heroin addiction that he is termed 'The Prisoner' (the inscription above

11480-524: The course of our adventure we will visit many locations, both those familiar to Dark Tower fans and others which we only glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels. While we may not see Roland and his ka-tet in this adventure, the development team has remembered the faces of its fathers. We have done our best to honor the original Dark Tower series while simultaneously mapping new and exciting Dark Tower territory." Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital adapted

11620-591: The death is his own doing; he jumps from a window to escape agents of the Crimson King, then arrives at the Way Station from The Gunslinger , shortly after Jake & Roland left it. He becomes a partial member of the ka-tet, assisting the ka-tet in the Battle against the Wolves and Susannah's rescue mission from 1999 New York, and sacrificing himself so that Jake may live in the final stand in The Dark Tower VII against

11760-492: The door Roland draws Eddie from). Roland also acquires medicine for his infection during the trip to Eddie's world, but this only temporarily quells the fever. Eddie passes through the door into Roland's world, and faces heroin withdrawal symptoms, but despite his suffering, he also shows an affinity for the way of the gun—and a good deal of what Roland calls 'steel'. Unwillingly at first, Eddie becomes Roland's companion through Mid-World, and he soon falls in love with Susannah,

11900-465: The ending "a valediction" that "more than delivers on what has been promised." Joshua Rothman of The New Yorker praised the series, feeling that "the novels were better and weirder than [he'd] hoped." Because it features several of his classic tropes, Rothman claimed, "If you really like Stephen King, you owe it to yourself to give the series a shot." The series has prompted related non-fiction books by authors besides King. Robin Furth has published

12040-505: The event in question) than those who are interviewed immediately or soon after the event. Affirmative feedback for confabulated responses is also shown to increase the confabulator's confidence in their response. For instance, in culprit identification, if a witness falsely identifies a member of a line-up, he will be more confident in his identification if the interviewer provides affirmative feedback. This effect of confirmatory feedback appears to last over time, as witnesses will even remember

12180-414: The executive control deficit, the incorrect memory is retrieved from the brain. In the evaluative deficit, the memory will be accepted as a truth due to an inability to distinguish a belief from an actual memory. Recent models of confabulation have attempted to build upon the link between delusion and confabulation. More recently, a monitoring account for delusion, applied to confabulation, proposed both

12320-474: The experience of her pregnancy with a demon-turned-mortal named Mia, resulting in Susannah housing yet another personality in her mind. Mia takes over Susannah's body (and melds with it, giving her legs for a short while) and runs in it to yet another when of New York, this one circa 1999, to give birth to the demon child. Susannah is the last member of Roland's ka-tet to leave him (and the only one to survive in

12460-435: The father-son bond that has grown between them. Like Eddie and Susannah, Jake shows amazing aptitude to the way of a gunslinger. Jake is the second member of the ka-tet to die, when he sacrifices himself to save Stephen King (as a character in the series) from certain death by putting himself between King and the van meant to take his life. By the end of the tale Jake has died a total of three times. An alternate version of Jake

12600-470: The field of neuropsychology or cognitive neuroscience. Research suggests that confabulation is associated with dysfunction of cognitive processes that control the retrieval from long-term memory. Frontal lobe damage often disrupts this process, preventing the retrieval of information and the evaluation of its output. Furthermore, researchers argue that confabulation is a disorder resulting from failed "reality monitoring/source monitoring" (i.e. deciding whether

12740-534: The final novel of the series and they helped to defeat the Devar-Toi's guards. Donald Frank Callahan is the "damned" priest who first appeared in the novel 'Salem's Lot . He makes his first appearance in the Dark Tower series in Wolves of the Calla , although his involvement in the series was hinted at in the afterword to Wizard and Glass . After being marked by the vampire Kurt Barlow , and therefore forced out of his church, Father Callahan spends time volunteering in

12880-411: The form of his 1999 automobile incident . Many elements of Stephen King's real life are presented through his character (such as his 1999 accident) but are further fictionalized; King notes in the afterword to The Dark Tower that he took particular liberties with the geography of Maine to obscure the real-life location of his home and preserve what privacy he still has. Although he does not appear as

13020-418: The fourth book of The Dark Tower series. She is a resident of Hambry, in the Barony of Mejis, where the 14-year-old Roland and his ka-tet have been sent for their own safety. Susan's father was purportedly killed in a horseback riding accident, which Susan later learned was a murder premeditated by the town's leadership. Shortly before Roland's arrival, Susan has been cajoled by her aunt Cordelia into becoming

13160-464: The fourth volume in the series. Cuthbert is characterized by his outwardly flippant, care-free view of the world. He constantly makes jokes, often testing the nerves of his companions. He is notably skilled with a sling-shot: it is said that he could 'take a bird on the wing at 50 yards' with it. This is a skill that comes in handy on many occasions in Mejis when the boys cannot openly carry their guns. Cuthbert

13300-558: The gist portion, but not the verbatim portion, of a memory. FTT uses a set of five principles to explain false-memory phenomena. Principle 1 suggests that subjects store verbatim information and gist information parallel to one another. Both forms of storage involve the surface content of an experience. Principle 2 shares factors of retrieval of gist and verbatim traces. Principle 3 is based on dual-opponent processes in false memory . Generally, gist retrieval supports false memory, while verbatim retrieval suppresses it. Developmental variability

13440-408: The guiding hand of Ka. Alain is described as being stout with blond hair. He is calm, reserved and often plays the role of level-headed mediator between ever pragmatic Roland and ostensibly care-free Cuthbert—particularly when Susan Delgado is seen to be interfering with Roland's decision making. After Mejis, Alain joined Roland, Cuthbert, and Jamie on their quest for the Dark Tower. Shortly before

13580-458: The gunslingers ward off the Crimson King's followers until he and his mule Capi mysteriously disappeared. However, while Roland assumes Sheemie is dead, he is not; he had been captured by the low men and taken to the Devar-Toi, the Breaker prison, because of his telepathic abilities, which remained unknown to Roland's ka-tet. He reappears in the series' final novel and assists the new ka-tet in defeating

13720-544: The hands of Jack Mort (who Jake initially believes is Walter ) and ends up in Roland's world as a result. The gunslinger and the boy travel together in pursuit of the Man in Black, developing a strong bond along the way. However, in order to reach the Man in Black, Roland lets Jake fall to his death. The person Roland allowed to die reappears in Roland's mind in The Waste Lands resulting in

13860-493: The idea was a new Dark Tower novel. King said, regarding The Dark Tower , "It's not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one long über-novel." King confirmed this during his TimesTalk event at The Times Center in New York City on November 10, 2009, and the next day King's official site posted that King would begin working on this novel in about eight months, with a tentative title being The Wind Through

14000-406: The inclusion of conscious and unconscious processing. The claim was that by encompassing the notion of both processes, spontaneous versus provoked confabulations could be better explained. In other words, there are two ways to confabulate. One is the unconscious, spontaneous way in which a memory goes through no logical, explanatory processing. The other is the conscious, provoked way in which a memory

14140-667: The information is false. Although individuals can present blatantly false information, confabulation can also seem to be coherent, internally consistent, and relatively normal. Most known cases of confabulation are symptomatic of brain damage or dementias, such as aneurysm , Alzheimer's disease , or Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome (a common manifestation of thiamine deficiency caused by alcohol use disorder ). Additionally confabulation often occurs in people with anticholinergic toxidrome when interrogated about bizarre or irrational behaviour. Confabulated memories of all types most often occur in autobiographical memory and are indicative of

14280-449: The low men and the taheen. However, during the battle, he steps on a piece of glass, causing an infection (accelerated by the "poison air" around Thunderclap). While escorting Susannah to Fedic on the train, he dies of blood poisoning. Although Susannah never learns this, she is indirectly responsible for his death, as it is her bullet that breaks the glass out of his window, causing it to be there for him to step on. Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw

14420-522: The major inspirations for the protagonist, Roland Deschain . King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language (High Speech), are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien 's work. A film serving as a sequel to the events of The Dark Tower was released in August 2017. Stephen King saw The Dark Tower series as a first draft, initially planning to rewrite it. However, after revising The Gunslinger , "he

14560-461: The monorail during their 'riddle' duel in Wizard and Glass . In the final novel, during the attack on Algul Siento, Eddie is shot and killed by Pimli Prentiss, the master of the establishment. Roland also notes that Eddie's character strongly resembles that of Cuthbert, a gunslinger of Roland's past, and one of Roland's greatest friends. The character of Cuthbert is mentioned in Browning's poem and

14700-462: The narrators. The French audiobooks are published by Éditions Gallimard and narrated by Jacques Frantz . In Russian, The Gunslinger , as narrated by Igor Knyazev, does not have any music or sound effects The first two novels in the series, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, were produced on audio cassette by New Audio Library (NAL) in 1988 and 1989 respectively. The Waste Lands, The Dark Tower Part III,

14840-419: The neurocognitive aspects of confabulation. Some attribute confabulation to epistemic accounts. In 2009, theories underlying the causation and mechanisms for confabulation were criticized for their focus on neural processes, which are somewhat unclear, as well as their emphasis on the negativity of false remembering. Researchers proposed that an epistemic account of confabulation would be more encompassing of both

14980-532: The next member of Roland's ka-tet . Eddie and Susannah consider themselves husband and wife, although they never formally marry. Roland and Eddie frequently clash due to their differing personalities; while Roland is often calculating and distant, Eddie is intuitive and emotionally present. Initially mistaken for a lack of seriousness, Eddie's frequent joking, emotional outbursts, and pop culture references irritated Roland; however, he earns Roland's respect by asserting his quick thinking and imagination to defeat Blaine

15120-516: The nickname "Jamie Red-Hand." Not much is known about Thomas Whitman. He is only briefly mentioned in The Gunslinger as one of Roland Deschain's childhood friends who studied under Cort. He is shown in several installments of The Gunslinger comic series. He is shown to have a lean build with short, black hair. In the Battle of Jericho Hill, he and several other Gunslingers are killed by a flamethrower. Susan Delgado appears in Wizard and Glass ,

15260-514: The pair to safety, ferries them to his home, and provides a vehicle for them to use. He also becomes a member of Tet Corp's board and tireless champion of the rose, and dies for the cause, assassinated by Sombra/NCP in 1989. The Dark Tower (series) The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King . Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy , science fantasy , horror , and Western , it describes

15400-947: The patient's unawareness of the distortion are all associated with this phenomenon. Personality structure also plays a role in confabulation. Numerous theories have been developed to explain confabulation. Neuro­psycho­log­i­cal theories suggest that cognitive dysfunction causes the distortion. Self-identity theories posit that people confabulate to preserve themselves. The temporality theory believes that confabulation occurs when an individual cannot place events properly in time. The monitoring and strategic retrieval account theories argue that confabulation arises when individuals cannot recall memories correctly or monitor them after retrieval. The executive control and fuzzy-trace theories also attempt to explain why confabulation happens. Confabulation can occur with nervous system injuries or illnesses, including Korsakoff's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and traumatic brain injury. It

15540-455: The personalities are integrated into a single, far more balanced individual, known as Susannah Dean, Eddie's wife, although they were never formally married. Susannah has access to the memories and personalities of both Holmes and Walker, and can call upon their skills and temperaments at will. During the drawing of Jake, she submits to sex with the demon of the doorway, in order to distract it, and afterwards, she becomes pregnant. Susannah shares

15680-766: The pilot, but production company MRC is shopping the pilot scripts elsewhere. In December 2022, director Mike Flanagan announced that he had acquired the rights to develop a television series based on the books and has plans for a multi-season release. Currently there exist five audio versions of The Dark Tower series – in English, Polish, German, French and Russian. The audio book in English published by Hodder & Stoughton features voices of George Guidall and Frank Muller and has neither music nor sound effects. The audio book in German published by Deutschland Random House Audio introduces Vittorio Alfieri and David Nathan as

15820-441: The posterior area and healthy controls. This suggests that this region is key in producing confabulatory responses, and that memory deficit is important but not necessary in con­fab­u­l­ation. Additionally, research suggests that confabulation can be seen in patients with frontal lobe syndrome, which involves an insult to the frontal lobe as a result of disease or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Finally, rupture of

15960-515: The principal books that are tied to this series, or that this series references, include It , The Stand , 'Salem's Lot , Insomnia , Hearts in Atlantis , Black House , The Eyes of the Dragon , The Shining , and Cell . The TV miniseries Kingdom Hospital takes place in a world in which Nozz-A-La is the most popular beverage in the world, possibly meaning those events take place in

16100-478: The question of where to draw the line between the pathological and the nonpathological. Delusion-like beliefs and confabulation-like fabrications are commonly seen in healthy individuals. What are the important differences between patients with similar etiology who do and do not confabulate? Since the line between pathological and nonpathological is likely blurry, should we take a more dimensional approach to confabulation? Research suggests that confabulation occurs along

16240-420: The real Drawing of the Three, Jack Mort never having been intended to join the ka-tet). Eddie is driven to whittle a key out of wood as they approach a Speaking Ring, where Eddie draws another door into the ground, this one guarded by an invisible demon. Susannah distracts the demon by allowing it to copulate with her, while Eddie perfects the key and uses it to open the door. On the other side, Jake has been led by

16380-477: The rights to The Dark Tower books for a series adaptation, though it was not made clear at first if anyone from the film would be involved. It was later confirmed that the series would serve as a reboot, with Sam Strike and Jasper Pääkkönen being cast as Roland Deschain and The Man in Black, respectively. In June 2019, Michael Rooker , Jerome Flynn and Joana Ribeiro were also believed to be cast members. In January 2020, Amazon decided not to move forward with

16520-402: The roses as well. In the Dark Tower series, he was kept imprisoned for an unknown amount of time by the psychic vampire Dandelo and was rescued by Susannah and Roland. Patrick draws a door that allows Susannah to enter a parallel world, and later draws and erases a picture of the Crimson King, causing him to disappear from the Tower so that Roland can safely enter it. Roland then sends Patrick back

16660-546: The same universe as books 4 and 5 are set. Along his journey to the Dark Tower, Roland meets a great number of friends and enemies. For most of the way, he is accompanied by a group of people who, together with him, form the Ka-tet of the Nineteen and Ninety-nine , consisting of Jake Chambers , Eddie Dean , Susannah Dean , and Oy . Among his many enemies on the way are The Man in Black , Mordred, and The Crimson King . King created

16800-589: The series for film. The film is directed by Nikolaj Arcel, and stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey , cast respectively as Roland Deschain and Walter O'Dim. The film was released on August 4, 2017. Critics panned the film with it receiving a score of 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film combines elements from several novels in The Dark Tower series, serving as a canonical sequel to the novel series. Stephen King has indicated that The Dark Tower film and television series will follow Roland's "last time round" to

16940-664: The series progresses. The series was chiefly inspired by the poem " Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came " by Robert Browning , the full text of which was included in the final volume's appendix. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger , King also identifies The Lord of the Rings , Arthurian legend , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's " Man with No Name " character as one of

17080-464: The series was declared finished with the publication of the seventh volume in 2004, Stephen King described in an interview in March 2009 an idea for a new short story he'd recently had: "And then I thought, 'Well, why don't I find three more like this and do a book that would be almost like modern fairy tales?' Then this thing started to add on bits and pieces so I guess it will be a novel." According to King,

17220-425: The spot which are often fantastic and become increasingly elaborate with questioning. Unlike patients with Korsakoff's and Alzheimer's, patients with schizophrenia are more likely to confabulate when prompted with questions regarding their semantic memories, as opposed to episodic memory prompting. In addition, confabulation does not appear to be related to any memory deficit in schiz­o­phrenic patients. This

17360-469: The temporal ordering of real events. The other variety he called fantastic confabulation, which was bizarre and patently impossible statements not rooted in true memory. Simple confabulation may result from damage to memory systems in the medial temporal lobe. Fantastic confabulations reveal a dysfunction of the Supervisory System, which is believed to be a function of the frontal cortex. Support for

17500-464: The temporality account suggests that confabulations occur when an individual is unable to place events properly in time. Thus, an individual might correctly state an action they performed, but say they did it yesterday, when they did it weeks ago. In the Memory, Consciousness, and Temporality Theory, confabulation occurs because of a deficit in temporal consciousness or awareness. Along a similar notion are

17640-495: The theories of reality and source monitoring theories. In these theories, confabulation occurs when individuals incorrectly attribute memories as reality, or incorrectly attribute memories to a certain source. Thus, an individual might claim an imagined event happened in reality, or that a friend told him/her about an event he/she actually heard about on television. Supporters of the strategic retrieval account suggest that confabulations occur when an individual cannot actively monitor

17780-418: The titular Dark Tower. In July 2016, director Nikolaj Arcel confirmed that The Dark Tower film would be a sequel to the novels as well as a direct adaptation, with Roland in the next cycle of his journey to the Tower. In a 2017 interview with Collider , Stephen King expressed hope for a sequel film in addition to the upcoming television series, suggesting that it should be R-rated , with Roland wearing

17920-507: The two-volume Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance , an encyclopedia-style companion to the series that she originally wrote for King's personal use. Bev Vincent has published The Road to The Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus , a book containing back story, summary and analysis and The Dark Tower Companion , which includes interviews and coverage of the Marvel graphic novels. Stephen King has endorsed these books. Charlie

18060-406: The underlying cause of the distortion. Ongoing research aims to develop a standard test battery to discern between different types of confabulations, distinguish delusions from confabulations, understand the role of unconscious processes, and identify pathological and nonpathological confabulations. Confabulation is distinguished from lying as there is no intent to deceive and the person is unaware

18200-402: The unprecedented age of 14. He is characterized by a birthmark on his face, leading some in Gilead to refer to him as "Jamie of the marked face." He was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Jericho Hill while pushing Roland from the line of fire. It's stated by Roland that as a child he excelled in archery—the use of a bow and 'bah' (crossbow)—far more so than Roland himself, although by the time of

18340-435: The way they came, instructing him to either find or draw a door that will lead him to America, but his final fate is not revealed. "Aunt" Talitha Unwin is a resident of River Crossing, near the city of Lud. When Roland Deschain came to River Crossing, she was 105 years old. She and the people of River Crossing provided food and shelter for the ka-tet while they were on their way to Lud. Talitha gave her cross to Roland to lay at

18480-425: The younger version of Eddie who lived in that when to a haunted house (indeed, Eddie has vague memories of the encounter himself), filled with evil spirits and a horrendous gate-keeper. Jake, with some timely assistance from Roland, fights through them to reach the door. Once the boy is in Mid-World again, Roland's and Jake's memories are merged and their descent into insanity abated. On the journey, Jake befriends

18620-503: Was disappointed with how the series progressed; while he marveled at the "sheer absurdity of [the books'] existence" and complimented King's writing style, he said preparation would have improved the series, stating "King doesn't have the writerly finesse for these sorts of games, and the voices let him down." Michael Berry of the San Francisco Chronicle , however, called the series' early installments "highfalutin hodgepodge" but

18760-541: Was produced on audio cassette by Penguin Highbridge Audio in 1991. Each of these early editions was narrated by the author. The Waste Lands includes musical accompaniment throughout. All of these editions were subsequently re-recorded in 1997 with Frank Muller as the narrator for continuity. Muller narrates the fourth book in the series, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. Stephen King selected Muller as his voice for all audio narrations at this time. Frank Muller suffered

18900-464: Was released in 2008, and The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead was released in 2009. All three books were written by Anthony Flamini , with Furth serving as creative consultant. End-World Almanac and Guide to Gilead feature illustrations by David Yardin. A five-issue adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Journey Begins , began publication on May 19, 2010. The collected hardback edition

19040-463: Was released on April 21, 2009. Following the completion of the third arc a one-shot issue titled The Dark Tower: Sorcerer was released April 8, 2009. The story focuses on the history of the villainous wizard Marten Broadcloak . The fourth arc, The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead , began publication on May 13, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 6 issues, as well as the Sorcerer One-Shot

19180-450: Was released on February 2, 2010. The fifth arc, The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill , began publication on December 3, 2009. A hardcover volume containing all 5 issues was released on August 17, 2010. Marvel Comics has also published three supplemental books to date that expand upon characters and locations first introduced in the novels. The Dark Tower: Gunslingers' Guidebook was released in 2007, The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac

19320-431: Was released on January 25, 2012. A third adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Way Station , began publication on December 14, 2011. The collected hardback edition was released on June 27, 2012. December 7, 2009 saw the release of a spin-off online game titled Discordia , available to play free of charge on the official Stephen King website. The game

19460-473: Was released on January 26, 2011. An adaptation of King's novella " The Little Sisters of Eluria ", titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Little Sisters of Eluria , began publication on December 8, 2010. The collected hardback edition was released on June 8, 2011. A second adaptation of King's novel The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger , titled The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Battle of Tull , began publication on June 1, 2011. The collected hardback edition

19600-656: Was the only true love of his life. Ted Stevens Brautigan was introduced in the Stephen King novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis . He is a powerful "Breaker", a psychic, whose extraordinary powers as a facilitator are sought by the Crimson King so he can hasten the destruction of the beams and Dark Tower. Ted arrives in the Devar-Toi , the prison camp where the Breakers are held, in 1955, and with help from Roland's old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, soon escapes

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