by Bev Vincent
Mia has decided to call her baby Mordred, a name she plucks from Susannah’s mind. It is appropriate, because she believes her child will fulfill a legend and slay Roland, his father, just as Mordred did in the tales of King Arthur that Susannah studied. This is all news to Susannah—she has no idea how Roland could be the baby’s father. Mia traces the baby’s conception back to the Speaking Ring of the Oracle, where Roland traded sex for information. Instead of an Oracle, though, he was consorting with a demon elemental, one of six that represent the Beams. These demons have both sexual aspects. This one inverted itself to become male and transmitted Roland’s semen to Susannah in the Speaking Circle where Jake returned to Mid-World.
Mia gives Susannah a lesson in Mid-World history, going back to the time of creation. Roland, she says, cannot prevent the Tower from falling. The best he can hope to do is to delay the inevitable. The Crimson King seeks to hasten its decline, believing he will be the lord of the resulting chaos.
In a subsequent tête-à-tête, Mia tells Susannah how she was a disincorporated spirit, wandering Fedic and coveting a rare healthy human child born to a young couple in the then-vibrant town. Centuries after the Red Death killed most and drove the rest away, Walter o’Dim saw her and perceived her need, making her an offer she was created to accept. She gave up her immortality as a demon so she could bear a child.
The transformation took place in the Fedic Dogan—the same place where the twins from the Callas were ruined. However, she was sterile, so the only way she could bear a child was to steal Susannah’s, which is being slowly transmitted to her throughout the pregnancy. Mia knows that Mordred will grow quickly and believes she may get to raise him for only five or seven years, but that will be enough to fulfill her imperative.
Their palaver is interrupted when Richard Sayre, the man whose name Eddie saw representing Sombra Corporation on the memorandum of understanding with Calvin Tower and who presided over the meeting where Father Callahan died, calls Mia to supply her destination: the Dixie Pig, a name the ka-tet saw while todash in the vacant lot.
On the way to the restaurant, Susannah exposes Mia to some details from her life to show her what she’s given up. She will be a mother without ever getting to experience all the things that make motherhood wonderful. While Mia is distracted, she tosses the scrimshaw turtle aside so that someone else might find and use it. Her mental Dogan can no longer hold the pregnancy back. She goes into full labor.
The scene inside the Dixie Pig is something out of Hieronymus Bosch. Waiting for them are vampires, low men and taheen. The restaurant has been catering to flesh-eaters for centuries, and the meat cooking in the kitchen is baby meat, not pig. Richard Sayre presides over the scene. Susannah’s Detta personality tries to assert itself, but Mia is in charge now—of the body, at least. Sayre has no respect for her at all and humiliates her in front of his minions.
Mia and Susannah have one more hasty meeting on the ramparts of Castle Discordia. Mia finally accepts that she’s been misled. She wants Susannah to help her escape with her son. Failing that, she wants Susannah to kill them both.
Sayre and his henchmen drag Mia beneath the Dixie Pig to a doorway that crosses over to the Fedic Dogan, the place where Mia was made mortal. Susannah and Mia separate physically but are connected by headsets to finalize the transfer of the fetus to Mia. This part of the story ends with Mordred about to be born.
Sayre told Mia that Eddie and Roland had been killed in an ambush. Mia had supplied him with information about their intended destination, so he had Jack Andolini and a small army of thugs waiting.
It was a good thing that Jake and Father Callahan didn’t arrive in 1977 as planned. A gunslinger apprentice and a priest would have been no match for Andolini’s men. Roland was built for this kind of situation, though, so he drags Eddie out of the line of fire into the general store, where they meet an unlikely ally—an old-timer named John Cullum who can handle himself in a dangerous situation. Roland and Eddie kill almost all of Andolini’s men (many of them for the second time, though this is a decade earlier than the shoot-out at Balazar’s headquarters) and escape in Cullum’s boat.
Cullum is a cottage caretaker, so he knows the locals and outsiders. He knows where Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau are staying and agrees to take them there. After some tense negotiations during which Eddie feels like killing the stubborn bookseller, the deal is struck. They tell Cullum to leave town for his own safety and seek out Tower.
Eddie asks about Stephen King and learns that the author moved to the area recently, at about the same time as walkins—mutants and other strange creatures—started appearing. While Roland is removing a bullet from Eddie’s leg, Eddie starts to get a sense of the true nature of their existence. He realizes the similarity between their adventure in Calla Bryn Sturgis and The Magnificent Seven. This, combined with Father Callahan turning out to be a character in a Stephen King novel, makes him eager to meet the author, who may be his and Roland’s creator.
The closer they get to King’s house, the stronger their sense that they are approaching something profoundly important. Eddie theorizes that King and the rose are twins—that each of them represents one of the two surviving Beams supporting the Tower.
In 1977, Stephen King hasn’t thought up Eddie yet, but he recognizes Roland for what he is. He’s dumbstruck. Eddie and Roland are less awed by King. For one thing, if he’s their god and creator, he’s been responsible for the deaths of a lot of people they knew and loved. For another, he’s marked by a black aura. Under hypnosis, King reveals that the Crimson King has been trying to kill him or stop him from writing the Dark Tower story for decades. Among those who stepped in to help him at an early age were Cuthbert and Eddie.
The Dark Tower stories are moldering in a box in the basement. Fear of the Crimson King, who seems to see him every time he works on Roland’s story, coupled with a growing dislike for Roland as a character, has kept him from writing more or from publishing what he’s already written. At first he says he caused Roland to drop Jake, but then he recants and says it was Roland’s decision.
For Roland, King is Gan, the creative force, channeling ka through himself but not creating it. The story blows into him (like the wind through the keyhole, perhaps). He doesn’t always like what he is inspired to write, but he has no choice. It is crucial for Roland that King resume the story, but they have to keep him safe from the Crimson King and the low men. He plants a posthypnotic suggestion that will allow the author to pick up the story from time to time but put it aside for long periods, too. Under hypnosis, King knows much more of the story. He tells Roland that Susannah’s baby is dangerous to her, and that Black Thirteen must be destroyed. He also allows himself to send a message to Jake in 1999—this is ka in action at its most basic level.
Jake and Father Callahan arrive in New York half an hour after Susannah left for the Dixie Pig in a taxi. Their sudden appearance on a busy street causes a momentary stir and a confrontation between Jake and a taxi driver who narrowly avoids running over Oy.
They meet Reverend Earl Harrigan—Henchick of the Manni’s twin—who tells them that Susannah left a message with him, instructing Jake and Callahan to go to the hotel. Black Thirteen is still in the safe, and if the low men get it there’s no telling what will happen. Before they go to the hotel, they check out the rose in the lobby of the Black Tower and see its subliminal effect on people.
Stephen King’s message to Jake is in the form of a room key. Black Thirteen, probably sensing what Callahan has in store for it, tries to exert its power against them, but they are able to resist, which restores Callahan’s faith in God. He thinks he’s finally getting his chance to redeem himself for the loss of faith that tarnished him in ’Salem’s Lot. They leave Black Thirteen in a coin-op locker in the basement of the World Trade Center with enough money to last three years and then follow Susannah’s trail to the Dixie Pig. Both of them think they may die at the restaurant. Callahan gives Jake the last rites. Their unexp
ected weapon comes in the form of the scrimshaw turtle that Oy finds in the gutter where Susannah threw it.
The coda section of the book presents Stephen King’s journal from the time of Eddie and Roland’s visit until the date of his accident a couple of weeks after Susannah arrives in 1999. In these entries, he discusses returning to the Dark Tower series, getting the first installments published, and how the story comes back to him time and time again over the years.
He also discusses fan reaction to the series—their demands for the next installment, how they howl at the way some of the books end as cliffhangers, and pleas from dying people to know how it’s going to end.
Writing Roland’s story feels good, but it also feels dangerous. He worries that he may die of a heart attack while writing and leave behind an unfinished series. His wife worries about his daily walks on the country road near their new house on Turtleback Lane. The journal ends with a clipping about King’s accident on June 19, 1999. In this version of reality, he dies.
Characters (in order of mention): Roland Deschain, Henchick of the Manni, Cantab, Manni, Eddie Dean, Jake Chambers, Oy, Benny Slightman, Margaret Eisenhart, Susannah Dean, Rosalita Muñoz, Father Callahan, Mia, Vaughn Eisenhart, Wayne Overholser, Sisters of Oriza, forgetful folk, Frank Tavery, Crimson King, Maturin, Cuthbert Allgood, Alain Johns, Jamie DeCurry, Ben Slightman, Henry Dean, Enrico Balazar, Lewis, Thonnie, Elmer Chambers, Calvin Tower, Aaron Deepneau, Hedron, Trudy Damascus, Paul Antassi, Mitch Guttenberg, low men, vampires, Andy the Messenger Robot, Mordred Deschain, Detta Walker, Odetta Holmes, Beryl Evans, Claudia y Inez Bachman, Ka-tet of Nineteen, Mathiessen van Wyck, can toi, Blaine the Mono, Maerlyn, Breakers, Arthur Eld, Guardians of the Beam, demon elementals, Talitha Unwin, Topsy the Sailor, Richard Sayre, John Cullum, harriers, Chip McAvoy, Jack Andolini, Tricks Postino, George Biondi, walkins, slow mutants, Sylvia Goldover, Henry Dean, Jane Sargus, Stephen King, Teddy Wilson, Donnie Russert, Stefan Toren, Alaric, Roland of Delain, Hitler Brothers, Cort, John Sturges, Andrew Feeny, Jack Mort, Bango Skank, Walter o’Dim, Amos Depape, Roy Depape, Eldred Jonas, Michael, Earl Harrigan, Moses Carver, Gasher, Hoots, Tick-Tock Man, Susan Delgado, Tabitha King, Dave King, Owen King, Joe King, Brown, Nort the Weedeater, Richard Bachman, Allie, Hax, Gan, Steven Deschain, Wayne D. Overholser, Ray Hogan, Officer Benzyck, Kurt Barlow, Mark Petrie, Rowan Magruder, taheen, little doctors, Jey, Meiman, Queen Rowena, Tian Jaffords, Zalia Jaffords, Haber, Dr. Scowther, Alia, Aunt Ethelyn, Uncle Oren, Naomi King, Charles McCausland, Bobby Garfield, Ted Brautigan.
Places: Calla Bryn Sturgis; ’Salem’s Lot; East Road; Redpath Kra-ten; Tempa; Mid-World; Borderlands; the Dark Tower; Thunderclap; End-World; Devar-Tete Whye; Topeka, Kansas; Dogan; Doorway Cave; Dennis’s Waffles and Pancakes; Chew Chew Mama’s; 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza; U.N. Plaza Hotel; Castle Discordia; Discordia; Fedic; Morehouse; Dutch Hill; River Crossing; Dixie Pig; Took’s General Store; Western Sea; Keystone Earth; Jericho Hill; East Stoneham General Store; Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind; Leaning Tower; Keywadin Pond; Dimity Road; Bridgton, Maine; Turtleback Lane; Lovell; Kezar Lake; Garlan; Turtle Bay Washateria; Co-Op City; Bahamas; Oxford, Mississippi; Columbia University; Christopher Street; Eluria; East Downe; Fedic Station; Arc 16 Experimental Station; Mejis; Fedic Good-Time Saloon; In-World; Gilead; Tull; World Trade Center; Blackstrap Molasses Café; the Hungry i.
Things: ka; Black Thirteen; ’Salem’s Lot; kaven; glammer; khef; lobstrosities; North Central Positronics; docker’s clutch; todash; Beamquake; sigul; Beams; Watch Me; Wands; Unfound Door; molly; ka-tet; seminon; oggan; sneetches; the Over; the Prim; kra; can-tah; coffs; dinh; commala; twim; rose; Guttenburg, Furth, and Patel; Orizas; skölpadda; Charlie the Choo-Choo; Sombra; Forge of the King; pokeberries; slo-trans engines; dipolar engines; High Speech; dry twist; ka-daddy; roont; gunna; dan-tete; The Dogan; Jaffords Rentals; dead-letter; Holmes Dental; Tet Corporation; Takuro Spirit; The Magnificent Seven; astin; Path of the Beam; Microsoft; Nozz-A-La; charyou tree; collum-ka; Red Death; Devil’s Arse; magic doors; todash darkness; Old Star; Old Mother; stem; scrip; Fair-Day Goose; Zoltan; lobstrosities; Voice/Song of the Turtle; Guardians of the Beam; todana; “Man of Constant Sorrow”; ka-mai; cozened.
Crossovers to Other Works: The scrimshaw turtle is reminiscent of the can-tah found near the mine in Desperation. Susannah’s mental Dogan is similar to Jonesy’s storage room in Dreamcatcher.
THE DARK TOWER: RESUMPTION
The Dark Tower was published three months after Song of Susannah, on September 21, 2004, Stephen King’s birthday. It is dedicated to the Constant Readers who have listened to the Song of the Turtle as channeled by King.
The book covers an impressive amount of time and distance, both in Mid-World and in Keystone Earth. So many things happen that it’s sometimes hard to believe they all took place in one book. It is also the most brutal book in the series. Several major characters don’t make it to the end.
In brief, the novel relates the story of Jake and Father Callahan’s battle at the Dixie Pig and Jake’s return to Mid-World; the birth of Mordred Deschain and its aftermath in the Fedic Dogan; Eddie and Roland convincing John Cullum to help form Tet Corporation; Roland and Eddie’s return to Mid-World; the showdown between Mordred and Walter o’Dim; the battle of Algul Siento; the trip to 1999 to save Stephen King; Roland’s meeting with Tet Corporation; the harrowing passage under Castle Discordia; the long trek through the Badlands; the encounter at Le Casse Roi Russe; the long trek across Empathica; the encounter with Joe Collins; Susannah’s return to Earth; the showdown between Roland and Mordred; the showdown with the Crimson King and what happens when Roland reaches the Dark Tower.
The battle at the Dixie Pig is mostly about Father Callahan’s redemption. When Barlow challenged his faith in ’Salem’s Lot, Callahan faltered. He’s had a lot of time to consider his actions and their repercussions. Now that he is a member of Roland’s ka-tet, he is prepared to retake that test. Armed with Jake’s Ruger and the scrimshaw turtle, he confronts a room full of low men and vampires. His life is disposable by now—he’s already died once. Callahan is to serve as a distraction so Jake can escape—as he and Jake learn through the voices of Roland and Eddie—and he relishes the role.
This time, when challenged to throw away his cross, Callahan is prepared. He won’t throw it away, but he does put it away. His faith is renewed and the power of the White runs through him. When the smell of blood draws the vampires, he shoots himself, satisfied that he has done his job and fulfilled his duty. Jake slips into the kitchen and through a secret door in the pantry into a tunnel that runs beneath the restaurant, past a mind-trap, to a North Central Positronics door to the Fedic Dogan, where he and Oy are reunited with Susannah.
Roland and Eddie need a way to get the title to the vacant lot to Moses Carver. Aaron Deepneau is too susceptible to Calvin Tower’s wishy-washy behavior. Their go-to guy is John Cullum, who didn’t leave town like he was supposed to and is ready to answer their call. He believes their story and takes Aunt Talitha’s cross with an embedded message containing a secret Susannah revealed to Eddie to convince Moses Carver to join up. The newly established Tet Corporation, financed by Holmes Dental’s assets, will have three purposes: protect King, guard the rose in the vacant lot, and thwart North Central Positronics in every way possible. Eddie and Roland travel to the Fedic door beneath the Dixie Pig via a magic door that opened up over Kezar Lake near Stephen King’s house, kill the posse that followed Jake, and reunite with Susannah, Jake and Oy, the first time they’ve all been together since the battle in Calla Bryn Sturgis.
Susannah has her own story to tell. No one—not even Richard Sayre—is prepared for the creature that Mia births in the Fedic Dogan. Moments after Mordred is born, he turns into a were-spider and sucks the life out of his mother. Susannah is sufficiently startled that she misses the opportunity to kill the creature, though she does wound it. She kills almost everyone else in the Dogan, including Sayre. She also blinds the Asimov robot, Nigel the Domestic, who rem
inds her of Andy, though Nigel is mostly harmless.
Mordred gets away, though he can stay in spider form for only a short period because of the amount of energy it requires. As a human, though, he’s only a baby, so he forces Nigel to bring him food. Walter o’Dim shows up in the Dogan’s control room, intending to kill Mordred and take his foot, which bears the mark of the Eld that provides access to the Dark Tower. Throughout his long existence, Walter has underestimated people—especially Roland—but none so much as he underestimates the babe in diapers, who literally has Walter for lunch.
The ka-tet turns their attention to freeing the Breakers, which will save the Dark Tower. They pass through the same failing scientific door the Wolves used to raid the Callas and end up in Thunderclap Station, where a trio of Breakers led by Ted Brautigan waits. These renegades now know what they are breaking at the prison camp, Algul Siento, and they’ve decided to assist the ka-tet in ending this destructive work. They also suspect that the Calla raids had something to do with them.
One member of the trio is Roland’s old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, whose special talent is creating doorways—another way of describing teleportation. Ted, Dinky Earnshaw and Sheemie used this power to amass an arsenal in a cave outside Algul Siento and explain the compound’s security features. It’s up to Roland to come up with a plan of attack.
Their time line is complicated by one fact Ted reveals: ka is fed up with Stephen King because he has decided to stop working on Roland’s story. The Ka of Nineteen and the Ka of Ninety-nine will collide on a country road in western Maine. They have to save the Beams first, but as soon as that’s done they have to get to Maine in time to save King. Roland’s aches aren’t from arthritis—they’re sympathetic pains that mirror the injuries King will suffer in a fatal accident.
The battle of Algul Siento—and the lead-up to it—forms the novel’s centerpiece. The battle—like most—is over in minutes, but it has a profound effect on everything that comes after. The ka-tet had a sense that something bad was going to happen to their tight-knit group and something does—the first of their core group ends up on the wrong end of a gun barrel. Though the battle is a success—the work of the Breakers is ended, the Beams are saved and can begin to renew themselves, and the prison camp is dismantled—the cost is high. Gran-pere Jaffords’s prediction about Eddie Dean’s fate was proved correct. Worse, it’s not a quick death, but a long, drawn-out affair that delays Roland and Jake from their appointment with King.