The Dark Tower Ending - I HATED IT! **SPOILERS**

[livaudaisk]

I do not have a problem with Roland repeating his quest. Ka is a wheel, after all. My problem, and it is a big one, is that King cheated. As an English teacher and avid reader, I have followed King's stories for most of my life. I even considered writing my Master's thesis on The Dark Tower series - and this was before the last three were written. I spent many an hour tracing all of his books to the Tower. King was brilliant. He is a modern Dickens or Poe, I do not doubt it. All of that said, I was disappointed and let down with his ending. I never wrote that thesis. And why? Because we knew all along that all Frodo had to do was toss the Ring in the Mount of Doom. Frodo was never supposed to battle Sauron himself. But SK re-created Sauron in the Crimson King, and the CK cannot just be erased. The low men, Walter o the Dim in his many guises, Pennywise (forerunner to Modred, say true), these were scary bad guys who in turn went in fear of CK. It is almost a deaux es machina. Erased and that is all? The CK came off as ludicrous, not scary or evil. No, this ending is not the true end of this story. Roland of Gilead, last gunslinger, may have thought he faced the Crimson King, but he has not yet. I wonder if our wordslinger wil find it within himself to write the true end. Will you, sai King, be true to your charcters? to your CRs?

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

With the greatest respect, I disagree, livaudaisk.

Ka is a wheel, not a straight line.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Lencho_of_the_Apes]

I agree that CK came off as ludicrous in that confrontation at the Tower. (I think some L Frank Baum leaked its way up to the surface of Sai King's brain; rustle yourself up a copy of Dorothy And The Wizard Of Oz for a possible precedent. EEEEEEEEEEEEE! )

Howver, I strongly suspect that that was NOT the final confrontation with the Gno... I mean the CRIMSON King; consider, if you will:

CK's sigil, since forever, appearing all throughout King's books, has been a pair of red eyes, yes? Seen in The Stand, seen... well, I know not where-all... And when Patrick erased him, he removed everything EXCEPT that pair of glowing red eyes.. Is it not possible that what Patrick did was to help CK attain his final (predestined) form? As a mostly-disembodied spirit, he could still be plenty adversarial.

We all float down here...

[Stockfish]

Hi all, I've just finished reading this wonderful story. It was my long journey through all of its parts. But the ending really amazed me and make me to think. For it is the best kind of ending, the think-maker. So if You dont mind I will share my thoughts about this ending, when Roland took his step from salvation to damnation.
First off all it is not first time Roland is coming to the Dark Tower, Robert Browning wrote this story before (much before)

For me the Dark Tower it is a goal I want to reach in my life. But from DT I know that there are much more important things that my goal, like goal (Susannah choose love and she succeeded). I hope one day Roland will realize, that the DT is not worthy to be reached.

Thanks for reading and sorry for language mistakes

[Mary Strickland]

I love the Dark Tower series and they are my favorite of all the rest of the books. It had to end some way. King explained in print that it is the "journey", not the final page. The ka-tet had a very special bond and I loved they way they interacted.

[Patricia A]

I remember when I finished the last book I just sat and stared at the book with my jaw slack and thought OMG WTF!
I was stunned! I didn't feel as though it was a betrayal of my trust in the author to 'do the right thing' though.
On the second read I saw it coming from a mile away, there were lots of signs along the way that it couldn't have ended any better way.

[wisewitch]

I believe the point of that kind of ending was that there are some other valuable things beside the Tower (such as love, friendship...) and Roland needs to understand that. I liked the ending because it doesn't end Roland's journey, it gives him a new chance to do it right, not to hurt or abandon anyone, not to let Jake fall...

I hope you understood, my English is pretty bad...

[Patricia A]

I believe the point of that kind of ending was that there are some other valuable things beside the Tower (such as love, friendship...) and Roland needs to understand that. I liked the ending because it doesn't end Roland's journey, it gives him a new chance to do it right, not to hurt or abandon anyone, not to let Jake fall...

I hope you understood, my English is pretty bad...

Your English is fine. Better than some who speak English as a first language as a matter of fact.
You made a really good point too.
I kind of saw the ending as a new beginning, a second chance in a way.

[yog-sothoth]

Here's why I LOVED the ending:

Roland repeats his quest. Why?

Because we CR's by picking up The Gunslinger for the thousandth time repeats his quest with him. Roland keeps cycling his path because we CR's take him back on his quest every time we reread the sentence

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

He will forever be on the Path of the Beam. He has no choice. We put him there.

[w111ser]

I like the way you put that. He will be on the path of the beam forever. I think it fits.

Its been a while since I finished the series, but if I remember correctly, King did warn us! He wrapped everything up in a happy ending, then warned us that we may not want to finish the last few pages where we learn of Roland's real fate. I know I couldn't resist! I can honestly say that I liked the ending. I was sad that the series was over. But, I liked the ending.