He Has the Horn, he Does NOT Forget it on the Battlefield,... he is Learning

My interpretation of the Dark Tower ending is that King is meditating on the nature of stories themselves, and how people consume them. Human beings have been telling each other stories for as long as we’ve existed, but we don’t just tell them once. We love revisiting old stories, we rewatch our favorite movies, we reread our favorite books. And back when stories were nothing more than spoken words, the storytellers would recite the most beloved stories time and time again to the recycled delight of audiences everywhere. King, like any good storyteller, loves his characters. He’s invented their entire existences and they were given life as his fingers danced across the keyboard and filled the pages with their essence. And when the reader experiences these stories, the characters live and breath once again for as long as we are engaged with the story; they are alive within our minds and their stories play out in endless repetition as new readers discover what old fans relive time and again. I think the Dark Tower is a meta narrative down to its core, going beyond just connecting the universe of King’s other stories, beyond simply having King himself be a character within the world of the series. I think its metatextual meaning extends to the very existence of the Dark Tower, both the book series and the titular tower itself. King knows these characters only truly live within the minds of his audience, just as he knows that same audience will be rereading this story until it is eventually forgotten by history, or until human beings cease to exist. That means the character of Roland Deschain, whom King clearly loves and cares for dearly, is doomed to live through the trials and tribulations and triumphant highs and devastating losses of this story over and over again without end, without knowing why or even that he is trapped in an unending cycle. This is why the series must end the way it does, warping Roland back to the beginning and leaving him to repeat the entire story over again. King even warns the reader in the author’s note before Roland enters the tower. He says you can stop reading right here, right now, let this be the final and ultimate conclusion to this story. Because there will be no coming back from this, there will be no way to unknow what you will know once you read the final pages. But King knows us as he knows himself. We are as helpless to stop reading as he is to put down his pen and let Roland be at peace. This is why I think the horn of Eld is such a brilliant addition to the ending. A small, seemingly insignificant change that potentially implies to the reader that things could be different this time, that Roland’s journey might come to some significant and true end this time around, somehow. But you will never read that story. That alternate journey can only exist within the readers’ mind, and if you choose to turn back the pages and reread the Dark Tower series, you will only find…the same journey you experienced last time. You can never accompany Roland on this new and more hopeful version of events. So what do you choose, intrepid reader? Will you let Roland finally rest, will you let him know peace at last? Or will you follow him once more, just as he follows the man in black across that desert, only to return again and again to the same fateful conclusion? A conclusion that is no conclusion at all, one that can only ever be a return to a story you can never experience for the first time ever again.

Just discovered your channel today and clicked as soon as I saw Roland. This book series was an anchor for me back in high school. The title of the segment in which Jake dies has stuck with me for more than a decade: In that haze of green and gold.

I think Stephen kings little talking to the camera moment at the end of the book was meant to turn the reader into Roland. Roland has multiple opportunities to turn away from the tower but he continues because he just has to reach the top just like the reader who reads on dispite kings warning

Good job 👍🏻. I’ve read the 8 books twice. The first time I read the ending I thought WTF!!! Then on reflection (Ka is a wheel), I realised how perfect the ending was. I still feel that a third reading will come. Mostly because I miss the characters. Always a sign of a great saga. 👍🏻

Thank you for mentioning what IS different at the end...he has the horn! SO many people I talked to didn't remember/understand that and to me it's everything. I hadn't thought about the story being essentially about addiction, but it definitely merits another read now that I know so much about addiction on a personal level at this point in my life. The horn to me is saying that when you're fighting addiction as Roland is with the Dark Tower, you may slip up, make the wrong choice. But the horn is everything you learned from this go-around you didn't know the last time. It will help you get farther this time. I'd love to hear your thoughts about what the significance of the horn is. First video of yours I've seen and I'm going to check out others. You do a good job of presenting your thoughts.

I enjoyed this video, thanks for sharing.

My heart skipped an elated beat, while reading the final Dark Tower book, when I realized Ted Brautigan was a part of its universe. "Hearts in Atlantis" is, in my opinion, one of Stephen King's best. When I finished reading the final Dark Tower book I wasn't quite sure what I thought, so I immediately reread the last portion of the book and decided I did. After watching all of your Dark Tower critiques I am excited to reread them with new ideas in mind. Thank you and Молодец!

I think there is a way to kill off without it being for someone's arc but it's very tricky and would be locked in to themes about how arbitrary death can be

First Video of yours that I've seen. Funny enough I was going for a run and went on Spotify looking for a dark tower playlist because though I read the series years ago it's just been on my mind for whatever reason (hence me finding this video) was caught off guard by the song segment at the end. Really interesting touch.

At first, despite the author's warning, I did read The Dark Tower with regard only to finish. I reread it with an eye to Roland's journey and I got it. Roland needed the Artist to defeat the "indestructible" Crimson King so he could "see around corners" like the riddle contest of Roland's youth. He couldn't, his ka-mates could. He could not enter eternity without these insights. The tower "looping him back" or moving him to the next level of the tower is profound. His final insight was to change his past, something we do in a similarly profound way by healing our trauma, altering our habits, and changing our behavior in the present (whether alcoholic or emotional demons). I understood the death of Mordred to display the Crimson King's glammer. Head games. Mr. King repeated, pounded that nail, so often it had to be bragging. If the Artist had "got a growth of years" like Jake might have he could have been formidable. When Roland didn't "cry it off" or be tricked like he was by Walter under the mountains by his "red father" the Evil One sacrificed Mordred like a pawn because Roland was coming for answers. This ending was for Roland alone precisely because he had already saved the beams and now had to avenge his mother, father, and everyone in Gilead, Susan Delgado and all the rest the Crimson King had thrown in his way. Remember he killed everyone in Tull because of Walter's spell, not by choice. And at the end he gets a redo on Jericho Hill, a great trauma reflecting the whole ending of civilization and that Roland picks up his Horn rather than closing his heart and becoming like he was when he first met Jake: dead inside living only for revenge. In that choice, picking up the horn, he may save Jake and still get answers from Walter. Without the feeling of guilt in his original attempt.

King has rarely been known to have story endings that tie up the loose ends, or "complete" the story. He has always left much to the reader to interpret. If you pay attention to the forwards and writers notes of this series, you now it started in late 60's and ran to early 2000's with only 7 original books (other materials are cannon but not concurrent with his vision). So, his thoughts and ideas changed over time. Just as 'Gunslinger' had to be edited for content after books 2 and 3 were published. However, once his accident in 1999 happened, King decided to finish the series to placate fans. This caused him to truncate 'Dark Tower' and finish "Rolands Tale" ; without finishing it. The reason it only took 3 years to publish final 3 books, but completed in 18 months

Just finished the 7th book. That ending left me feeling empty inside. I’d love to see how it turns out his next time around to the tower

Good song choices. I miss my Holy Diver CD. Someone stole it and a bunch of others out of my car several years ago.

Just finished the series today and ai still don’t know how I feel😑

I would also recommend "Breathing lightning" by Anthrax. Clearly inspired by Roland.

My favorite book series

Do you script your videos or do you just riff and improv? Either way your style is very engaging.

The ending was mind-blowing to my teenage brain.

when Patrick draws the crimson king, why was a second crimson king not created?

I believe King has gone on record saying that he feels Randall Flagg is the greatest villain he's ever written... well, then why did you do him so dirty, Steve? I almost stopped reading this book because of how unceremoniously King disposed of a villain that he had built up over several books; a staple main villain from one of his greatest earlier works, no less. I think we all expected there to be some final confrontation between the Man in Black and the Ka-tet, only for him to get completely overshadowed by another villain we were only just barely introduced to. Screw subversion of expectations, sometimes you need to give the readers exactly what they want or expect. He hadn't even interacted with the ka-tet since Wizard & Glass, and even that was hardly at all, at the very end of the book. He couldn't face off against the protagonists and do some real damage just one last time before dying? Like seriously, what was the point in including him in this series if he ultimately served no purpose to the plot or to the other characters? Utterly ridiculous.

You blew over Oy passing. If odetta/detta/susannah living, than Oy should have lived too. Or passed in Jake's time, running to save him.or similar circumstances 'ake, ake' Also he ached when Jake hurt The only reason he was there. Jake was Allian, Eddie was Cuthbert. Roland's first Ka-Tet Who were susannah? (susan) allowed to live Oy, mayby a new ka-tet member? This isn't the first or the last.

I think that you're right about the man in black, flag, or walter character. Ended up being nothing, and I didn't understand the bit about him being with Roland's mother or why he killed her. Maybe it's just me but I thought that there could have been more back story there and I missed something. Could be because I just listened to audiobooks while riding my bike. I liked the overall story but so often I would not know what the heck was going on because of it jumping around so.

Killing off Randal Flagg like that ruined the entire series for me personally

I think what you’re getting at is that there is a difference between a good ending and a fitting ending. The dark tower, the more you reminisce is a fitting ending, but if you only glance at it, the ending is bad.

Honestly I would go with the original Stairway for the beginning but the version by Heart from the tribute show for the actual ending as it is so damn epic.

I also think the ending is good, but explain to me - why did the Tower send him to the desert again?!

Considering what you think about the ending of the Dark tower and that you loved Blood Meridian. I think you'll love a book I'm writing. Can you give it a read and review when I'm done?

You kind of look like 1983 Dave Mustaine.

Patrick Danville spoiled the end for me, I’m also not a fan of causality loops. Unsatisfying

Visually speaking…not buying your rose garden title page ❌

..... What movie? 😐

Did anyone else feel let down with the Crimson King? The most underwhelming villain in any book I've read, i had zero sense of any threat from him and that last battle was ridiculous, throwing flying disks? Lol. Didn't mind the ending though, seems to me the Dark Tower was never at risk, it was all for Roland's benefit so he could transcend through improvements in his journey, almost like being in hell continuously fighting for redemption. Called Crimson King Scarlet King....if only CK had 1/10th the threat.