Line #31 YMMV/TheDarkTower


1	!!''The Dark Tower'' novels:
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3	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
4	** Is ''ka'' truly "destiny", or is it [[spoiler:Roland misidentifying his surfacing memories of his past times through the time loop as such]]?
5	** The FilkSong "Terror Train" by Music/DemonsAndWizards portrays Blaine as a pathetic PsychopathicManchild with an InferioritySuperiorityComplex, who is still a legitimate threat. The chorus: "No one really knows the pain I'm going through (My final ride is almost done!) / The world has moved on, now it's time to go (My final ride is almost done!) / Come lift my spirit up, I'm BLAINE!". [[SarcasmMode Aww]], he's ''[[TheWoobie lonely]]!'' But he's also batshit insane and suicidal, and [[TakingYouWithMe misery loves company...]]
6	* AntiClimaxBoss: Just about every important villain gets defeated in a CurbStompBattle, no matter how much they're built up as a threat:
7	** It's made to look like the Tick Tock Man will be the first villain to present an actual physical threat to the gunslingers, being a muscle-bound badass who might actually be ''faster'' than Roland himself. Nope, he's defeated by Jake once, then brought back just to get unceremoniously gunned down a second time without ever putting up a fight.
8	** [[spoiler:Randall Flagg]] gets killed by Mordred without putting up any significant resistance. There's even a momentary fake-out where it looks like [[spoiler: Flagg]] might have gained a small advantage, but the narration negates it in the very next sentence.
9	** In spite of getting an entire book to herald his introduction and possessing mind-control powers, Mordred doesn't do much after he's set free. For a long time he just follows behind Roland's crew, starving and freezing. By the time he finally attacks, he's dying from poisoned meat and does nothing but charge at Roland. Although he does manage to kill Oy, he's killed by a few well-placed bullets, just like any other mook.
10	** The Crimson King is some sort of immortal demi-god whose presence is felt through most of the series. By the time we see him, he's just a crazy old man with nothing in his arsenal but sneetches, which we've seen used several times before and present almost no threat to a gunslinger. He's defeated by Patrick.
11	* BrokenBase: Several.
12	** The ending, where the Crimson King, the main villain, turns out to [[spoiler:be just an angry old man with some clever technology]] and the result of the main characters saving Stephen King is that [[spoiler:he writes a boy with magic powers into the story so that that boy can defeat the Crimson King]], is ''extremely'' controversial. Some fans think it fits in perfectly, others think it ruined the whole series.
13	** The publication of ''Literature/TheWindThroughTheKeyhole'': was King just cashing in/flogging a dead horse/attaching an unrelated fantasy novel to the ''Dark Tower'' brand to ensure it would sell? Or was it as on-point as the series' other flashback novel ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'', and patched up a small OffscreenTeleportation plot hole between the former book and ''Literature/WolvesOfTheCalla'' to boot? Or, to TakeAThirdOption, was it a perfectly fine King novel in the vein of ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon'' that just didn't need to be so heavily interwoven with the ''DT'' series to work?
14	* TheChrisCarterEffect: King mentioned early on in the afterward to ''The Gunslinger'' that he had no idea where the series was going. By the end of the series, it gets to the point where numerous plot points are ignored, contradicted or {{handwaved}} as CanonDiscontinuity.
15	* CompleteMonster:
16	** [[GodOfEvil The Crimson King]] is the demonic offspring of Arthur Eld and the GreaterScopeVillain of Stephen King's multiverse. A sadistic entity who proclaims the glory of chaos, or "The Red", the Crimson King presides over a court of nightmare and slaughter while sowing evil and chaos across the realms. [[TheManBehindTheMan The being behind all the evil and destruction]] of [[Literature/TheStand Randall Flagg]]; the rampaging armies of John Farson; and agents such as [[Literature/{{Insomnia}} Atropos]] and [[Literature/BlackHouse Munshun]], the Crimson King has the nation of Gilead annihilated and its people slaughtered, while having psychic children known as Breakers taken to have them sucked dry so their powers may be used to help open the path to Franchise/TheDarkTower. The Crimson King's ultimate goal is to ascend to the top of the Tower and [[OmnicidalManiac consume all the multiverse]], ending everything that exists so the King may rule the primordial chaos that results. At last poisoning his own court to become undead and losing his mind and power, the Crimson King faces Roland while seeking to ascend the Tower and end all reality.
17	** [[SatanicArchetype Randall Flagg]] (real name Walter Padick) has lived for so long and accumulated so much power that he has become the emissary for [[{{Satan}} the Crimson King]]. Flagg earns [[TheGunslinger Roland Deschain]]'s [[ArchEnemy undying hatred]] for beating and sleeping with Roland’s mother, and for aiding the revolutionary John Farson in causing the destruction of the city of Gilead. Flagg also forces Roland to let his preteen companion Jake Chambers die, and drives a girl insane by telling her the trigger phrase which causes a formerly dead man to [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow recount the afterlife to her]]. Corruptive, treacherous and sadistic, Flagg's ultimate goal was to [[TheStarscream betray his master]] and climb to the top of the Dark Tower in order to become God of all.
18	* CreatorsPet: Susannah is often cited as [[TheScrappy the most disliked character]] of the Ka-Tet, largely due to her split personalities coming across as annoying to many. She's also the only one other than Roland who gets an entire book dedicated to her, and the only one that [[spoiler:gets an (arguably) happy ending]]. Of course, other fans (such as The Losers' Club, a Stephen King-centric podcast), frequently cite her as one of their ''[[EnsembleDarkHorse favorite]]'' characters.
19	* EndingFatigue: The series ends, then gets an epilogue for Susannah's ending, then gets a Coda for the actual ending. There's also an afterword.
20	* EsotericHappyEnding: Susannah goes into an alternate reality version of New York where [[spoiler:Eddie and Jake are still alive and in fact are brothers.]] She appears in Central Park at Christmas time, [[spoiler:alternate-Eddie greets her with a cup of hot chocolate,]] and it's clearly supposed to be her happy ending... except many readers feel that Susannah abandoned the quest and is now trapped in a world that isn't her own with a couple of ReplacementGoldfish who aren't really the people she loved.
21	%%* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Mocked in ''Literature/TheWasteLands''.
22	* NightmareFuel:
23	** The Tunnel Demon in ''Literature/{{The Dark Tower\|2004}}''. A giant albino worm chasing after Roland and Susannah through the tunnels between Fedic and the Badlands for God knows how long. They only survive because it is sensitive to light, but their Sterno (artificial fire) gets notably less and less in time. The light at the end of the tunnel comes as a great relief to both Roland and Susannah and the readers.
24	** The ''Charlie the Choo Choo'' book is an in-universe example; King definitely intends for his own readers to find it creepy.
25	** Mordred's birth.
26	* ReplacementScrappy: After being King's ubervillain since the 70s, King thought it was a good idea to replace [[spoiler:Randall Flagg]] with the newly-introduced Mordred as Roland's main antagonist for the last book.
27	%%* SeasonalRot
28	%%* {{Squick}}: Rhea examining Susan in ''Wizard and Glass''. In fact, Rhea in general.
29	* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree'', according to Creator/StephenKing. King even went back and republished ''Literature/TheGunslinger'' with some changes to bring it more in line with the rest of the series.
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31	!!''The Dark Tower'' comic books:
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33	%%* CompleteMonster: The vileness of John Farson is greatly expanded upon here.
34	%%* TheScrappy: Aileen.
35	%%* TearJerker: ''Fall of Gilead'' and ''Battle of Jericho Hill''.

Context YMMV / TheDarkTower