A few details for Stephen King nerdos: - The choice of 13 differently-colored elements is a reference to the Bends of the Rainbow, the crystal balls from the Tower universe. - It's deliberate that Flagg and Roland are in opposition on the circle, as are the Crimson King and Maturin. I also tried to evoke opposition in Derry and Mid-World (two Tower-centric locations) and Callahan and Low Men (there's a memorable clash with them in the opening of the seventh book). - My original hope was that every line would be continuous; that wasn't achievable due to friggin' Castle Rock, but "Needful Things" being its own little cul-de-sac worked out since that book was originally supposed to be the Last Castle Rock Story.

That last shot of the map made me smile bigger than anything. Ka is a wheel, after all

"See the turtle of enormous girth; on his shell he holds the earth. His thoughts are slow but always kind; he holds us all within his mind."

That was a great analysis, however one connection which you may have missed involves "Pet Sematary" and "Insomnia". In "Insomnia", the bad little bald doctor, Atropos, would collect little trinkets from those who he "killed". Once such trinket was a shoe belonging to little Gage Creed, the son of Louis Creed. It is a "blink and you'll miss it" reference, and may not even qualify as a thru-connection to The Dark Tower, but I thought I'd mention it.

One of the coolest things as a huge SK fan was when reading 11/22/63 when two kids from IT showed up as he went through Derry. I had no idea it was going to happen and was so excited.

This was a fantastic way to illustrate the universe through digital info-graphics. We done my man!

For me the best part was coming across these connections and feeling like an old fashioned detective putting the clues together. The dark tower series is truly a treat to read.

I like your point that there is no master plan but rather the connections grew organically from King's whims of imagination. It was a big part of my enjoyement of the Dark Tower serie since i felt rewarded for catching a reference but didn't felt like i was missing on something when seeing what was clearly a reference to a book i hadn't read. And later i didn't felt obligated to pick up other King's book just for the sake of having them connect to the dark tower. Instead i keep reading old King's books at random and i'm delighted to stumble upon an unexpected name that throw me back into the adventures of Roland in mid-world.

What a perfect description of the universe with absolutely no spoilers! Good job

When you hear the song of the turtle, you must listen.

I like it how technically almost every Stephen King book is apart of the Dark Tower universe it’s like a whole comic book

I’m sure people have already commented on this but both the shining and Dr Sleep have some major connections with the dark tower as well . Dick Hallorann in mentioned in the book IT .And the psychic vampires can since Black 13’s presence under the Twin Towers . Also the ability to Shine and the Touch I think are different words for the same power.

This is late but whatever. The Gunslinger is my favorite book of all time. All of these are great but that book made me a dear and constant reader!

Interesting how your plot path creates the beams that anchor the worlds together. Which anyone that has read the Dark Tower saga will recognize. It's also interesting that your diagram also makes a native American turtle shell design.

"The Regulators" and "Desperation" are connected as well

the tower trembles...the rose feels a chill

"Wind Through the Keyhole" further cements the kingdom of Delain from "The Eyes of the Dragon" being in Mid-World, and gives some insight into how long Flagg has been up to shenanigans in two universes. And one of the characters may well be the creator of the Wizard's Rainbow.

Fun connection I realized a while back. Towards the end of Insomnia a character being influenced by the Crimson King attempts a terrorist attack. It's partially thwarted by the protagonist and is mentioned the important person being saved is a young boy who years later will save the life of a man very important to existence. That boy is who is found captured in the house of Dandelo in The Dark Tower and who uses his ability to draw things into existence to erase the Crimson King from it.

The Dark Tower universe grew organically, rather than being planned. It's not an artificial construct, but a very real world which one can believe actually exist. I'm convinced. Right now, I'm in the process of reading The Dark Tower VII. Finding this video is either a synchronicity, or the algorithm seeing what I'm reading, and what I'm searching for online. I read Song of Susanna several years ago, so I had some questions catching up.

Just wanted to add something. You can tie in Cat's Eye to this too because General the cat is chased by Cujo at one point. This would also allow for a tie in to Quitters Inc and The Ledge since general passes through those stories. I realize this is the TV version which differs from the short stories but still King was behind it all and Cat's Eye is often forgotten.

I loved the way King tied his stories together.

I'd suggest that The Institute is at least peripherally tied in as well, possibly as a current day origin story for the breakers. (Psychic kids are kidnapped and abused in order for an organization to use their powers, all in the woods of Maine.)

I read the entire series once every year... and every time, EVERY TIME I finish it... an unfillable hole enters my life for months.

I love how there’s gaps likely to be filled. Thanks for this.

The dark tower is unlike anything else Stephen King is ever written it is by far his magnumopus and I love every book and every character in this series

I have never read these books. My dad liked the dark tower series. This video lived up to they hype in the comments. Even as someone who hasn't read any of the books I can tell that this is a very concise well made video. My compliments.

Unpopular opinion here: What you so succinctly described is the reason I stopped reading King's books in the mid 1990s. I never saw it as Stephen King's "universe," but as an author who leaned heavily on his previous writings for lack of inspiration to create something or someone new. I always found it a little disappointing when his stories led back to a place we've already visited to meet characters we already know. I'm pleased to see that there's an audience for his work, even in the present-day.

Holy wow. I was captured by the dark tower way back when we were waiting for Wizard and Glass. You’ve remembered the face of your father, whose guns I’ve no doubt you wear.

Well damn it… now I have to read alllll of his books now…..

I so enjoyed that you put "Everything's Eventual" in the story line, as it does tie in. But there is another story in the novellas of same titled book called "Little Sisters of Eluria" that is in "The Dark Tower" universe. I was wondering where its part in this was cause from the time I first read it to now, I always felt like if King's world's connected, that novella would have a place.

I always thought the dark tower series was kings magnum opus for the reasons youve listed here, fantastic vid

Was not expecting a Jonathan Hickman chart, what a twist lol

I would love to see more videos tackling the lore and complexities of the dark tower books

"Making connections as he found them" is a beautiful idea... because King has alluded to (in real life, and of course in the Dark Tower books) that he's less a writer... and more of chronicler... That he didn't write the stories... merely was a conduit for them.

The Stand is one I reread all the time.

My favorite King short story is Low Men in Yellow Coats. It expertly nails the dread within the calm before the storm.

It's so strange to see these in order, because I kinda just read them as I bumped into them. So I had this idea that Insomnia was much more recent than Wizard and Glass. Or that Eyes of the Dragon was published after Roland's tale was complete.

I'm currently working my way through Fairy Tale, which rekindled my appreciation for King's fantasy novels (having read the Tower series and the Talisman). Picked up Eyes of the Dragon and Black House to read next, and watching this just makes me that much more excited to dig into them.

The song at the end ... perfect..

Dude…. The mayor of imagination land was an amazing touch

Oh man, this was SO COOL! What an amazing use of infographics/animation. I was fully immersed and as a constant reader, this was such a treat. THANK YOU

Also worth noting his screenplays, Kingdom Hospital, which explored parallel dimensions after an artist gets hit by a blue van while jogging, and Storm of the Century, which features a "lowman" with yellow gloves, bent on kidnapping a special child... which ties in Doctor Sleep, which makes the Shining part of the Dark Tower story as well.

While at the time it was frustrating, the glacial release pace of the DT series really added to the feeling of it being a real world. So much happens in between DT books that is relevent, if only tangentially, that it feels that much more expansive.

The reveal of that... er... timeliness I guess, was beautiful!

Stephen King’s Later has some IT references as well relating the Deadlights.

A story so good, it could never be made into a proper film 😢

This is a very lofty title and goals trying to understand Stephen King's story world

I've always thought that "Project Arrowhead" from "The Mist" was the military messing around with the "Buick 8" myself. Its been many years since I travelled with Roland Deschain...I might have to dip into the DT again.

Even this misses little details like how in Salem’s lot chamberlain is directly referenced when Ben is thinking of bailing going back to Jerusalem’s lot at the beginning of the book. He thinks to himself that perhaps he should just go to chamberlain for some gas. Salem’s lot takes place in 1975 while Carrie takes place in 1979. Making Carrie apart of the dark tower also. You could probably do that with all his books with the little bit references here and there. Although this video is a good visualization for new comers, it helped some friends of mine.

So, the most recurring character in all of King's stories is Randall Flagg then! I really liked his version in the 1994 film.

I read I1/22/63 and when he bumps into the two kids from It was amazing

The closing ost was great

This was incredibly well done, thankee sai!

“other worlds” and “wheres” and “whens” feel so incredibly organic and true to the original dark tower novel while introducing some major sci fi elements. just finished the 6th book and it reminds me so much of the film Adaptation. definitely check it out if u love the king writing about himself antics

Sheemie was my favorite hero. A handful of good hearted simple people is what keeps the cycle of existence going.

You sir, have a memory like a steel trap. Thanks for breaking it down for us.

Masterfully done. I’ve been wondering about Kings Dark Tower. Thanks for talking about the Paths of the Beam that way.

Fantastic! You connected all the dots perfectly. It might all sound like gibberish for most people, but for me, who read all those books and short stories, everything is crystal clear. Thank you.

'The Shine' and 'Breakers' connects The Shining, Doctor Sleep, Carrie, Firestarter, The Stand, Dead Zone, Hearts in Atlantis, IT and Green Mile. 'The Shop' connects Firestarter, Golden Years, The Lawnmower Man, The Tommyknockers, The Stand, The Langoliers, The Mist.

Nice summary! I admit that I lost the trail for this interwoven narrative a couple of decades ago, when my eyesight deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t read books anymore. I was a devoted King fanatic from the late-‘70s on through around the turn of the millennium and I LOVED how everything was becoming more and more bound together. I’d devour each new novel and short story, looking for those connections. I bought each of the Dark Tower novels in their hardback first editions. Then my eyesight started to go and reading got to be more of a chore than a pleasure. I tried audiobooks, but I found that my mind tended to wander due to the slow pace of the spoken word; I could always read very quickly, so having to wait for the information to enter my ears at a slower rate made it harder for me to concentrate. I’ve listened to some of his post-2000 books, but probably fewer than half of them. I gave up my purchases of each new book, too. I’ve got first-edition hardcover copies of everything from ‘Salem’s Lot up through Dark Tower VII, but almost none since then. All that’s to say I’m glad to hear your description of how everything has continued to connect up over the past two decades. Someday I’ll have to delve deeper into it all, but only after I go through and listen to more of the books I’ve missed. I just wish Audible’s sound quality wasn’t so awful. I hate low-bit-rate audio, even for spoken-word audio…

I have read that Stephen King was inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales before writing The Dark Tower series. I have read the first Gunslinger book and thought it was a genre blending story. What a great storyteller!

It's been nearly a decade since I've read it so my mind has very likely blended things together but I remember high school me; after marathoning through most of King's books; theorizing the "demon" from The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon being or being somewhat related to Tak. With it being up to interpretation if there was even a demon or the girl hallucinating I thought it'd be a cool possible connection.

You could also have tied in The Shining and Doctor Sleep since Jake has a shine, Roland calls it the touch

I remember reading both the unabridged version of the stand and the reading eyes of the dragon back in high school in the early 90's. I knew they were connected after reading them. Thanks for this cool breakdown.

Thank you for creating a cool video that encompasses kings work without spoiling any of the books

Cycle of the Werewolf takes place in Tarker's Mill, which along with Chester's Mill, are referred to as the Twin Mills. Chester's Mill is where Under the Dome happens. Danny Torrence's ability to Shine is also referenced in the Dark Tower novels. Danny also uses the same phrase as Jake Chambers. Jack Sawyer from the Talisman is also connected to Jake Chambers from The Gunslinger. There are many more if you go looking.

Thank you for not spoiling anything got most of the way through the dark tower series and need to pick it back up again might just start over

Love your visual mapping here! Really helps to see how all of these stories are linked in various ways!

What a beautiful, economical and effective model you made. The video is subtle and let’s the model largely do the talking, sprinkled with clips and humor. This isn’t merely informative, my friend; you have created high craft. Really something wonderful here.

Dude, that friggin KILLED ME!! End the video with the imagination song! LOL!!!!! (...no it goes up there. Imaaaginaaatiiiooon...)

Its cool that the final picture kinda represents de Dark Tower and the Beams that hold it

Wow, it's awesome to see all the connections laid out this way. It's so cool to me how he stitched it all together.

How the hell do you have less than a thousand subscribers? Great work. Would love to see more like this.

First time I've ever subbed a channel on the effort alone.

Love this visualization, one of the best DT videos I’ve seen on here. Great pace and clarity for such dense info. Well done.

Great analysis! Also Jack Sawyer from The Talisman made a brief appearance in The Tommyknockers where he mentions that his mother was killed by a drunk driver after everything he went through to save her.

To add on to this admittedly impressive diagram, I think the concept of Shining also connected. It starts with Dick Halloran in the Shining, who saved Mike’s father from burning alive in It. This connects the Shining, and the ability to shine, to literally everything else. There are also theories that Ellie from Pet Sematary also has the ability to shine (at least in the movie) since she was having constant dreams of what was occurring with her father. There’s not much else that I can add, since I haven’t read much of his books. But these were just a few things I picked out 🤷‍♂️

I’m going to come back and watch this once I finished reading every single Stephen King book.

Your outro music is sublime, bravo.

What an incredible mapping! Bravo!!!

I’m a fan of using visualizations to augment learning like you did here. Nice!

Well, I'm not too proud to admit when I'm wrong. When I first saw this video title, I was like "Yeah. Right. No freakin' WAY you can summarize all that in seven minutes." Granted, this is a skeleton overview, but even so you did it far more efficiently than I could have. (Side note, as an obsessive color-coder and charter of things I really enjoyed the visual, too.) Great job!

I cannot BELIEVE you managed to visualize this

Cool how you got Lorde to sing at the end there for your video.

And of course there’s now Gwendy’s Magic Feather and Gwendy’s Final Task to add to the list! This is absolutely brilliant though, thanks for creating it. :)

I also like that you can read all of these stories without needing to read any of the others. Connected but not reliant on each other.

Great presentation. There are definitely some books I need to revisit. This is a great work of art and the amount of work you put into this is outstanding

Bro please do a series, following each characters journey. Love the content and wish you the success you deserve 🙌. Clearly a passion project and handled with care, my compliments

This was a really good description of the connections between King stories and so concise. I've tried explaining to friends and most are not constant readers. But when I do, the connections meander because I've always tried to be linear rather than this nice web. My only complaint is that you didn't make it 6 beams.

That ending earned a like

I'm glad I didn't start reading the Dark Tower series until Song of Susannah was released. My mother started reading the The Gunslinger when I was two and never finished the series.

Nice job! Wouldn't mind some more Dark Tower videos!

Was it an oversight missing the Shiners, Danny Torrance, Carrie White, and Charlie McGee connecting Hearts in Atlantis, The Green Mile and Dead Zone?

ive had this saved in my watchlist for a year its about time i watch it "Life for your Crop"

I would also link Salems Lot to Carrie, as a raging fire that took out a nearby town is mentioned early on. A subtle reference but could be the first instance of King flirting with the idea of connecting his works.

At our July 4 picnic my nephew and I were talking about this very topic! We were noting the connective tissue which holds much of Stephen's work together and (much like the beams) works together in service of the Tower. And here, not even 12 hours later, I stumble across your video. Ka. I love the imagery in your vid. I see the 13 colors of the wizard's rainbow. I see the shape of the wheel that is Ka. Great stuff! Without re-watching this, I'm unsure if you mentioned "The Wind Through the Keyhole". I might have just missed it.

A fascinating list of connections. Did you know that the series Castle Rock also added Misery and Shawshank Redemption to the related books? But then by the end of the video, it sounded like you were already in misery. 🤓

Wow. Amazing work on this videos! Thankee Sai!

I've needed this explanation for years... I started the first books then gave up because I was so confused. 😅

Great, amazing job. I've read some things of Stephen. Loved the short stories, but what blows my mind are the kind of stories like The DT. I've read the DT like 10 years ago... But I really don't know why, I stopped after the sixth book. This year I began again. After 2 months I've juist (literally) finish the 6th book. I have some trouble to find the last one. Apparently they have stopped to print it in Spanish. But I have it second hand. I can't wait to begin. I think that e next one will be salem's lot. You did an amazing job explaining all this universe, and of course, Stephen is some kind of amazing crazy nerd-freak who has created it.