Walking backwards?

[nostrom]

-Spoiler Alert-
So I noticed this when Roland first came to the beach, that he was heading West to get to the sea, but then he turned North and all of the sudden the sea is now on his Right instead of his left, and the mountains were on his left. A few chapters later, after he rescued Eddie, or rather Eddie had spent a few days saving Roland, it happens again. Shortly after Eddie got through telling his life story you see this... "If a sign of progress was wanted, it could only be obtained by looking left, to the east." Maybe somebody could explain it in a way I'm not completely confused. Not saying that it's something that is going to ruin the book for me, just something that really stands out now that I've noticed it.

N
W E
S

[GNTLGNT]

If you had lobstrosities clamoring for your naughty bits, you might become a bit geographically challenged as well-DID-A-Chuk, DUM-a-Chum-Yum-Yum...

[TPG555]

I confess, I went through that several times in my head, too. I just figured since "time had moved on" maybe all kinds of things were out of whack and direction was not necessarily as it should be.

[shark]

I also picked up on this exact same passage in the Drawing of the Three and was wondering if there was perhaps a reason for it? To me it seems that the compass would look like this if everything was as described in the book:
..N..
E..W
..S..



Maybe there are strange electromagnetic forces at work........

[nate_watkins]

There could be a couple of reasons... One thing it's Roland's world, not ours. Some things could be different there. The second thing is how time and directions don't seem to be predictable. Southwest turns into southeast. ect...

[Ben E Gas]

That whole direction thing had confused me too while reading it. Best book of the series though.

[Pucker]

Anytime you bring up anything at all that could conceivably be construed as any kind of continuity error or geographical oddity that is not readily expainable, you're going to get the rote repsonse that "there are other worlds than this" and it may have been "a different level of The Tower." Personally, I view this as something of a convenient cop-out, but what Mr. King has effectively done with is parallel-worlds multiverse is made it effectively impossible for him to ever be called out for making a mistake. I guess that is either ingeniously clever, or perfunctorily lazy, depending upon how you look at it and what your ultimate opinion is of Mr. King's body of work.

[CErikson]

I have always seen it this way. The Tower is described at the end of Book I as the Nexus of Time and Size, the center point that holds those two things constant. Once the Nexus begins to fall and become unstable, so do Time and Size themselves.

Also, as a note of aid, I believe, if I remember correctly, that there are some rough maps in the DT Concordance, which may clear things up a little.

[Fergal]

I am happy I checked this thread, because the same thing had always perplexed me. Well, perplexed is perhaps to overstate. The sheer deliciousness of the story eclipses all. I wonder if it really has anything to do with things becoming unhinged in Roland's world. If it were, I feel it would have been given more reference by Mr. King by way of explanation. Perhaps it was a little 'easter egg' put in the story by the author to amuse those of us anally retentive enough to have let it bother us

Mr King, if you're reading this, I am profoundly grateful to you for the hours of pleasure and wonder these books have given me. In addition to reading it twice, the gunslinger keeps us company on our annual camping/road trips and listening to it has become a tradition during the long miles in the car and in the campsite when we arrive.

[blunthead]

Anytime you bring up anything at all that could conceivably be construed as any kind of continuity error or geographical oddity that is not readily expainable, you're going to get the rote repsonse that "there are other worlds than this" and it may have been "a different level of The Tower." Personally, I view this as something of a convenient cop-out, but what Mr. King has effectively done with is parallel-worlds multiverse is made it effectively impossible for him to ever be called out for making a mistake. I guess that is either ingeniously clever, or perfunctorily lazy, depending upon how you look at it and what your ultimate opinion is of Mr. King's body of work.

The phenomenon is explained in time as you read, if you read further. I do not distrust sK to somehow not have been aware of what he was doing, and so need to be in the habit of falling back on excuses. sK is not paranoid, has never hidden behind anybody, has always been genuinely prolific. Anyone who can conceive of the possibility that sK has ever been "perfunctorily lazy" seems uniquely detached.