***Possible Spoilers*** Roland opened the door at the top....

[SleepingWarrior]

As for what Roland needs to enter and ascend the Tower safely I think it comes down to 3 things... The guns of the Eld, the horn and lastly but most importantly I think he needs Jake. Is Jake bound to Roland as a son in Ka's eyes and part of the perpetual quest for the Tower and final atonement that Roland is on? I tend to think yes but I may be wrong. In the end I think part of what is dooming Roland to his repetitious fate is having but one goal, that of saving the Tower. In his mind his only purpose in life is to keep the Tower from falling he thinks of nothing beyond the moment he opens the top room of the Tower thus dooming himself to repeat the task through eternity but if he has Jake when he enters the Tower he has something to live for after reaching the top of the Tower.

[Tiny]

I liked it. but also__I HAD NO IDEA!. It was a surprise to me. up untill i read it ...I had no clue what was "in there" for him. Some have told me they guessed it long before they read it (some were lying) I didnt guess at all. I loved it.I was floored.

[Wanderer From Ys]

I'm surprised to see that so many people didn't like the ending. It exceeded my expectations, and the made the entire story worthwhile. Really what other alternative could be at the top of tower that represented his life? At the end of his life was either going to be death, or a rebirth of sorts.

Ka just makes so much more sense as well. Why are things meant to happen a certain way? Because they already have. Things were meant to work in his favor because they have before, and they will again. He's already done it, and Rolands Gunslinger skill is his own curse. No one, whether human, or demon, or undead can match his skill, so he's doomed to immortality. As the saying goes curiousity killed the cat. Really after the breakers will stopped, there was no need to go to the tower. Although I hated Susannah for leaving Roland after all they had been through, she made the right decision, and she was rewarded by being reunited with her loved ones. Roland was just too obsessed with the tower, and he was punished.

[SleepingWarrior]

I'm surprised to see that so many people didn't like the ending. It exceeded my expectations, and the made the entire story worthwhile. Really what other alternative could be at the top of tower that represented his life? At the end of his life was either going to be death, or a rebirth of sorts.

Ka just makes so much more sense as well. Why are things meant to happen a certain way? Because they already have. Things were meant to work in his favor because they have before, and they will again. He's already done it, and Rolands Gunslinger skill is his own curse. No one, whether human, or demon, or undead can match his skill, so he's doomed to immortality. As the saying goes curiousity killed the cat. Really after the breakers will stopped, there was no need to go to the tower. Although I hated Susannah for leaving Roland after all they had been through, she made the right decision, and she was rewarded by being reunited with her loved ones. Roland was just too obsessed with the tower, and he was punished.

Very well put. Been trying to find a way to write it out as concisely as that.

Also goes in with my theory about what it takes to get to the Top without restarting the loop over again...

He needs both of his sandalwood revolvers, the Horn of the Eld AND he needs Jake to ascend with him. Jake (his son by Ka) would give Roland something to live for after securing the Tower. As it stands his life is the Tower so each time he gets to the top his purpose in life is gone so the Tower kicks him back to start it all over again.

Which is why I didn't enjoy the ending... it leaves me with too many questions unanswered and infinite scenarios going forward.

[DancingCorpse]

These two posts make a lot of sense to me, it's such a complex story!

[cloudsover31]

i think that it was the right way to end the book, i cant think of any other way it coulve ended. and i think, personally, that he should have gone through all of the doors of his life before reaching the top. maybe it wouldve turned out different...?

[Like_The_Wind]

[COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]I was pretty astonished at the ending of the Tower Series. I was confused and sad and definitely excited to tell anyone who listened!! I thought it was brilliant!! And also an ending of convenience ever since "The Artist" came into the novel. It seeemed like the seventh book went by really fast. All of the sudden The Man in Black is dead.. All of a sudden this guy Dandelo who was soooo important that eddie has to relay caution about him to Jake on his death bed, only for Jake to relay the same "Watch out for Dandelo" message to Oy on his death bed too.. but his coming and going was quick as a whip. They were supposed to watch out for this guy who they didn't even know but he was supposed to be such a terrible thing, then he's gone BANG just like that 2 shots and he's down. The same with Mordred. He was following his "co-mom" and "co-dad" for who knows how many miles.. all the way from Fedic. He's been bent on revenge since he basically popped out the womb! And look how he dies... Oy. Pretty much a miscalculation on Mordred's part. BANG 2 shots and he's down too. The long anticipation of Father vs Son.. Demon vs Gunslinger... Sorry folks, show's canceled, maybe next time. Personally, as upset as I have seen some people be about The Crimson King being "erased" instead of fought and defeated, really there was no other way. We already knew that the Crimson King killed himself first and therefore Roland's guns, or any other weapon for that matter, would render useless against him. So, really, what other way was there to kill the king? As far as the cleverly called "reset button" at the top of the tower goes... well, Stephen's been telling us the ending the whole time had we only paid attention...

"Ka is a wheel". [/COLOR]

[SharonC]

I must have read and re-read that last page of Dark Tower VII dozens of times. At first I thought "What the?". But on reflection, as pointed out by so many others here, Ka is a wheel. I shoulda seen it coming. I don't think we've seen the last of Roland just yet.

[Morrison]

It's a gimmicky ending that we've seen many times in many stories. There are creative and original ways to end books. This was not one of them. However, this ending fit this story line well, so you have to at least commend king for taping things together right.

[marjorie]

Starbucks, lol, that's priceless!