The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (10 page)

T
hough King promised in the afterword to
The Waste Lands
that the fourth volume in the series would appear in the not-too-distant future, years passed with no sign that he had returned to the series. Many of his other novels had Dark Tower tie-ins, though, so the series was clearly on his mind. As early as 1994, he expressed a plan to write the final four books back-to-back to finish the series.

The fans grew increasingly demanding. Every week, his assistants put on his desk all the angry letters he received demanding the next book in the series. One of the more creative pleas had a Polaroid of a teddy bear in chains, threatening to execute the bear unless King released the next Dark Tower book. At once. In 1996, he promised fans they would have to wait only another year or so. He simply had to summon his courage to start. Plus he had to review the first three novels, armed with a highlighter and sticky notes.

He started writing in motel rooms while driving from Colorado to Maine after finishing work on
The Shining
miniseries. Ads announcing the book's upcoming publication appeared in the back of the final four installments of his serial novel,
The Green Mile
.

The first two chapters of
Wizard and Glass
were released as a promotional booklet that accompanied bundles of his twin novels,
Desperation
and
The Regulators
. Though this delighted fans, there was some complaining, too, as many people had already purchased the books. King chastised the complainers in a harshly worded message posted by his publisher on the Usenet newsgroup alt.books.stephen-king. Penguin released the chapters on their Web site two months later.

King read from the novel at a conference in October, stating that the first draft was more than fourteen hundred pages long.
Wizard and Glass
, dedicated to his personal assistants and published in August 1997, proved to be
the longest book of the series. The Donald M. Grant limited-trade edition was the first book from a small press publisher to ever appear on the
New York Times
hardcover bestseller list. The trade paperback appeared a few months later.

The novel picks up where
The Waste Lands
left off, repeating the final section of the earlier book to bring readers up to speed. In terms of the contemporary action, the book covers a four- or five-day period, although there is some uncertainty due to the slippage of time when Roland is telling his story and because of an adventure inside a magical orb. The backstory set in Mejis spans a period of several months, from the day after Roland's test of manhood until he and his friends return from Mejis.

The first part of
Wizard and Glass
resolves the cliffhanger involving the suicidal Blaine the Mono. The second part finds Roland and his followers in Topeka, Kansas, in a version of America that is similar to the ones the New Yorkers came from, except in this reality a superflu virus has killed almost everyone. Before they visit a mysterious green palace that has materialized across the interstate, Roland needs to tell his companions a story from his youth. Then the
ka-tet
enters the palace and has a showdown with a wizard who goes by many names, including Marten and Randall Flagg.

As the monorail hurtles across Mid-World at breakneck speed, Blaine behaves like a petulant child. He hates being corrected or contradicted and demands to be entertained. When crossed, he metes out punishment, as when he amplifies the sound of the Falls of the Hounds.

Ka
has provided Roland and his followers with a couple of clues about how to handle Blaine. The book of riddles Jake got at the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind is a red herring—a fact hinted at by the missing answers section at the back. The real clue to cracking Blaine is in
Charlie the Choo-Choo
, and it is Eddie who figures it out. After watching Roland spend hours exhausting all the riddles from Fair-Day contests and after Jake tests Blaine with the hardest entries in
Riddle-De-Dum!
, Eddie starts zinging Blaine with stupid, illogical joke-riddles, shooting with his mind like a gunslinger firing bullets. Though Blaine knows the answers to many of them, it pains him to be forced to respond to these unworthy riddles. His circuits blow, his engines cease and the train coasts into Topeka instead of crashing into the barrier at the terminus. The train derails, but at a slow enough speed that the
ka-tet
survives uninjured.

They emerge into a version of Topeka, Kansas, that is different from the one known to the New Yorkers. They see unfamiliar automobile models, soft
drink brands and sports franchises. A superflu has decimated the population of America. They find a newspaper dated 1986, a year before Roland drew Eddie from New York, so they can't be in his Earth, but perhaps in a universe that is next door. They also find Gage Park, which has a train that must have inspired Beryl Evans to write
Charlie the Choo-Choo
.

They're no longer on the Path of the Beam. Equipped with a new, light, high-tech wheelchair found in the train station parking lot to replace the one Susannah abandoned in Lud, they head east on Interstate 70, where they encounter a thinny, a place where the fabric of existence is almost entirely worn away. It emits a sound that disturbs the
ka-tet
on a fundamental level. It also brings back a flood of memories for Roland, who first encountered a thinny shortly after he passed his test of manhood in Gilead. Thinnies have been increasing in number since the Dark Tower began its decline. Blaine may have passed through one to get them into this version of America.

In the distance, they see a shimmering green palace that seems to be floating above the lanes of the interstate. Roland knows it means trouble for them. As they draw near, he feels compelled to tell them the story of what happened after his father confronted him the day he beat Cort and won his guns, though the story is going to be difficult for him to face. To reach the Tower, he needs a whole heart and must put the past to rest as much as possible. Finally, he summons the courage to do so and, over the course of a night that seems to last far longer than a handful of hours, he tells his story.

Though young Roland is now a gunslinger, he is no match for the sly Marten. Certain that the wizard will try to kill Roland, Steven Deschain sends his son east to the Barony of Mejis on the Clean Sea, a place that resembles the American Southwest or Mexico both in geography and in lingo. Roland chooses two friends to join him, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns. Their cover story is that they're counting things that the Affiliation might need in a battle with John Farson. As a subtext, they are to imply that this is a punishment for rowdy teenage behavior. Little does Steven Deschain know that he is sending three fourteen-year-olds to a place where Farson has corrupted most of the town's politicians and landowners. Mejis has oil, which Farson needs to run the machinery of the Great Old Ones he discovered in the West. He plans to get this equipment running and lure the Affiliation forces into an ambush.

Before they even officially check into Mejis, Roland meets a beautiful girl two years his senior and soon falls in love with her. Susan Delgado's position is delicate, though. Her father used to be in charge of the Barony's
horses, but he stood up against the other landowners and was murdered to keep him quiet. Susan thinks his death was an accident but, regardless of the cause, the outcome is the same: she has no parents and is at risk of becoming destitute and homeless after their papers of ownership go missing.

Susan's greedy spinster aunt, Cordelia Delgado, coerces her into accepting an arrangement with the mayor, Hart Thorin, whereby she will become his “gilly.” According to the old laws, if a man's wife cannot bear an heir, he can take a woman on the side to serve this purpose. Susan rationalizes that she can still get married once she has given Thorin a son. Thorin is more interested in bedding a beautiful young woman than in fathering an heir, but Susan doesn't realize this until it's too late. Not until after the deal is finalized and she can't turn back does she consider the effect of this arrangement on Thorin's wife, Olive.

Meeting Roland—traveling under the alias Will Dearborn—complicates her situation. She is attracted to him, too, but she can't go back on her word. She feels bound to honor the memory of her father. The book's subtitle, “Regard,” comes from a look Susan gives Roland at the reception party at Thorin's mansion. It's all he needs for encouragement, even though he is furious when he discovers what she has agreed to do. He empathizes with Olive Thorin, who reminds him of his alienated mother.

The temptation of young love is strong, and the two eventually begin a torrid romance loosely modeled on
Romeo and Juliet.
They keep their affair secret from everyone except Alain and Cuthbert, who are dismayed by the way Roland is distracted. The boys (the locals dub them the Affiliation Brats) know that something is amiss in Mejis. The locals are too ready to declare their undying loyalty for the Affiliation when even Roland knows that the Affiliation is coming apart. The Outer Baronies don't see much benefit from the taxes they pay to Gilead. It is left to Alain and Cuthbert to keep up the pretense of counting things while they try to get to the bottom of whatever is going on, a daunting task for boys so young, even prospective gunslingers.

Cuthbert is especially vexed with his friend, comparing him to wet ammunition that might not fire when needed. He's jealous that Roland is always first at everything: first to get his guns, first to fall in love. He tries to browbeat Roland into waking up and conveying their findings to Gilead, but Roland ignores him.

Three mercenary “regulators” called the Big Coffin Hunters, led by failed gunslinger Eldred Jonas, are in Mejis on Farson's behalf. Farson needs horses, of which Mejis has many, and oil. Jonas, who was sent west after losing to
Cort's father, is savvy and skilled, but he underestimates the Affiliation Brats, even after they prove their mettle in a confrontation at the local saloon (where the piano player is Sheb, whom Roland will encounter in Tull) involving a mentally challenged boy named Sheemie. Jonas worries that the “Little Coffin Hunters” have been sent to disrupt their plans, but he thinks that keeping them out of the way while they complete their mission is sufficient.

Thus begins a game of Castles that lasts the rest of the summer. In Castles, each player begins with an army hidden behind a hillock, which prevents him from seeing how his opponent is arranging his men. The crucial point in the game comes when one player emerges from behind the hillock, leaving him vulnerable and exposed if he hasn't planned wisely. Roland and his
ka-tet
and the Big Coffin Hunters are all aware that the other side is up to something, but neither group wants to show its hand too early. Jonas tries to provoke the boys by vandalizing their living quarters. Cuthbert thinks Roland isn't playing the game at all, which leads to a showdown between the two boys and an awakening for Roland, who believed that his falling in love had nothing to do with the game they were playing. That it would somehow lift him above
ka
.

Jonas and his henchmen make the first major move, framing Roland, Cuthbert and Alain for the murders of the mayor and his chancellor. With the boys out of the way, Jonas gets ready to deliver the oil to Farson. He doesn't count on the resourcefulness and strength of Susan Delgado, who, with the help of slow-witted but faithful Sheemie, frees Roland and the others from jail. Susan and Sheemie become full-fledged members of the
ka-tet
, and Susan becomes a de facto gunslinger after being forced to use Roland's guns during the breakout.

Now that Jonas's intentions are exposed, the game of Castles turns deadly. The
ka-tet
destroys the oil field, thus cutting off Farson's source, and attacks the convoy, killing many corrupt local ranchers and scattering the rest. Then they attack and destroy the tankers. They lead the rest of Farson's men into the thinny to their deaths. This will be a major setback to Farson's plans—though ultimately it only delays his victory over the Affiliation.

The wild card in Mejis is a pink glass ball that is part of Maerlyn's Rainbow. Farson uses this glass to monitor the Affiliation's movements. It has allowed him to launch surprise attacks and to avoid capture. There is danger associated with using the glass, though, so he sends it away when he doesn't need it. The Big Coffin Hunters assign it to a local witch named Rhea Dubativo, who uses it to spy on the people of Mejis. She knows about Susan's
affair with Roland and is enraged when Susan thwarts her plan to play a prank on Mayor Thorin. Roland also attracts her ire when he warns her to stay out of their business and kills her pet snake.

Rhea becomes addicted to the orb and to the idea of getting back at Susan. When the Big Coffin Hunters take the orb away from her to return it to Farson, Susan—who is pregnant with Roland's child and a captive in the mayor's mansion—is the only person available for her to get back at, so she exposes Susan's infidelity and raises the townspeople against her during the Reaping Night festivities, a time when, historically, a person was burned in ritual sacrifice to appease the gods and seek blessings for their crops. After the terrible losses the town suffered, the people are ready for blood, and Susan pays the price.

Roland learns of her fate through the Wizard's Glass, which he took from Jonas during the battle. The glass shows him many things, most of them hurtful. It reveals how foolish he was, exposing his teenage bravado as stupidity. This explains how he is able to tell parts of the story that happened when he wasn't present to Eddie, Jake and Susannah. The glass misled him into thinking Susan was safe after she was captured by Jonas.

From it, Roland also learns about the Dark Tower and its peril. By the time he returns from his journey inside the glass, he has adopted the quest to find the Tower and save it as his mission in life. While he had once believed he could live a quiet family life with Susan after Farson was defeated, he now realizes he will have to sacrifice any happiness in his life for this cause. He also understands why the gunslingers of Gilead are ignoring the imminent threat to the Affiliation: none of it matters if the Tower falls. He inherits their fatal flaw, sacrificing all short-term concerns in the name of the long-term goal of saving reality. Even if Susan hadn't been killed in Mejis, he wouldn't have stayed with her.