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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thewind_through_the_keyhole_artists_edition.jpeg]]
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3Preceeded by ''Literature/TheDarkTower2004''.
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5''The Wind Through the Keyhole'' is the eighth novel in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' series. It is an {{interquel}} that takes place between ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'' and ''Literature/WolvesOfTheCalla''.
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7Whilst sheltering from a deadly storm called a "starkblast", Roland tells his ka-tet a story about his past; months after his mother's death, his father sent him and his ka-mate Jamie [=DeCurry=] to the small town of Debaria to investigate a "skin-man", a shapeshifter who has been terrorizing the villagers.
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9Also told, as a story within a story, is a legend of Mid-World about a young boy named Tim who goes on a dangerous quest through the Endless Forest to save his mother.
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11To see the character sheet for the whole book series, go [[Characters/TheDarkTower here]].
12----
13!!''The Wind Through the Keyhole'' provides examples of the following tropes:
14* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Ambush Arroyo is not an arroyo. The locals just like the way the name rolls off the tongue.
15* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Maerlyn is trapped in the form of a 'tyger' and imprisoned in a cage for years. He returns to normal after Tim rescues him, however.]]
16* AnotherStoryForAnotherTime: Said several times in regards to other adventures of Tim.
17* ArcWords: Present in other Dark Tower books but particularly prominent in this one: "There will be water if God wills it".
18* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Subverted twice with Tim's teacher and one of the women at Serenity; both were once beautiful but now suffer from hideous disfigurements.
19* ContinuitySnarl: The "present" portion of the novel takes place not long after the end of ''Wizard and Glass,'' and involves the ka-tet meeting an old man who dwells next to a river, before they are forced to shelter from the Starkblast. Eddie spends the first dozen or so pages of ''Wolves of the Calla'' thinking about how ''not a single thing has happened'' since the end of ''Wizard and Glass'', to the point that time seems to have come to a monotonous stand-still.
20* DarkIsNotEvil: The various monsters and creatures that Tim encounters in the Endless Forest either spare his life or help him on his journey.
21* TheFairFolk: [[spoiler: The 'sighe,' a sprite-like, hypnotic creature whose name, Armaneeta, is just one phoneme away from Amanita, the genus of mushroom that includes the death cap.]]
22* ForTheEvulz: Pretty much the only reason the Covenant Man sends poor old Tim on his quest.
23* FramingDevice: Roland tells the ka-tet about his encounter with the "skin-man". In his flashback, we get another story within a story about the legend of "The Wind through the Keyhole" with Tim. So it's a story within a story within a story within a story, basically.
24* GamblerGroupies: One of the surviving witnesses to the attacks of the skin-man is the female companion of a crooked gambler who was run out of town, with them being attacked by the skin-man on the road outside.
25* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Tim is given an artifact of the Great Old Ones by the plant people he meets in a swamp; DARIA, an electronic guidance service. At first she treats Tim as just another traveller, but soon she grows fond enough of him that she starts going out of her way to help him. She even violates directive 19 to give him classified information, despite knowing that this will kill her.
26* HopeSpot: The boy Roland and Jamie find alive at the ranch describes seeing the foreman put up a fight and almost make it out before the skin-man got him.
27* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: While all of the ''Dark Tower'' books have been made available in "Limited Editions", this marks the first time that the illustrations were not available with the standard trade edition.
28* KidHero: Tim
29* ManipulativeBastard: The Covenant Man, and Randall Flagg as usual. It's strongly implied that they're one and the same, the Covenant Man being another of Flagg's frequent aliases.
30* MerlinSickness: Discussed trope. Tim asks Maerlyn if it's true, and he says it isn't, but nobody ever believes how mundane his life actually is.
31* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Skin-man". Seriously, is there ''anything'' positive that can be associated with such a creepy name?
32* NestedStory: See the description under Framing Device above.
33* NonindicativeName: The title, almost to the point of being a RedHerring. Tim is about to be set upon by a 'starkblast' storm, there is a potential shelter with a locked door, and he has to obtain a key for it from a dangerous place. Do you see where this is going? [[spoiler:Well you're wrong--the key doesn't work, he finds a different way to shelter from the storm, and 'the wind through the keyhole' is an almost completely unrelated philosophical phrase he comes up with]].
34* OldFashionedCopper: Will Wegg, the lawman up at the mines is a self-admitted gambler, heavy drinker and customer of the local prostitutes, and carries around a pair of brass knuckles which seem to have seen frequent use, although he does appear to be capable and somewhat invested in catching the skin-man.
35* SadisticChoice: The Covenant Man aka 'RF' set up Tim for a multi-layered one. A caged tyger has a key to a shelter from a deadly storm around his neck. Tim at first thinks the choice is to die in the storm or risk his life to get the key. Then he remembers he has a gun. [[spoiler:The Tyger is actually Maerlyn forcibly transformed, so if Tim shot it, he would be killing a good man. He takes a third option and chooses to trust the tyger and free it... but the key doesn't work in an extra level of sadism. Fortunately he finds a different way out]].
36* SerendipitousSurvival: Two sons from the final family slaughtered by the skin-man are absent at the time taking some cows elsewhere, although Roland and Sheriff Peavey wonder if they'll be happy to have survived.
37* ShaggyDogStory: One miner, Steg Luka, mentions that he spent years in prison for stealing to feed his children and they died while he was in jail anyway.
38* ShapeShifterSwanSong: [[spoiler:Happens to the skin-man when he dies.]]
39* ShoutOut: The Lion Guardian of the Beams is called [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Aslan]].
40** More subtly, the scenes with Tim and the Tyger evoke ''Literature/LifeOfPi''. And the spelling of 'tyger' probably comes from William Blake's poem "The Tyger", the TropeNamer for FearfulSymmetry.
41* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: The "skin-man" who is able to shape-shift into various types of animals.
42* PlantPerson: The swamp creatures.
43* ThoseTwoGuys: Strother and Pickens a pair of abrasive, CluelessDeputy's who always appear together and show signs of being sympathetic to Farson.
44* WholeEpisodeFlashback
45* WildMassGuessing: An in-universe example; after Roland tells him the story of Tim, Bill wonders how Maerlyn could eat during the years he was caged as a tiger. Roland doesn't know, so Bill theorizes Maerlyn must still have had some magic left, even as a tiger, and used this to create food for himself.
46* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Tim realizes that DARIA, a guidance service of North Central Positronics, is serious about there being danger when she starts calling him by his name rather than reverring to him as 'traveller'.
47* YouMonster: Luka's reaction to finding out the identity of the skin-man, a friend of his.

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