SPOILERSabound for folks who aren’t caught up on The Dark Tower movie or the books.
WithThe Dark Towernow in theaters, you’re going to see a lot of headlines and hear a lot of conversations about how the movie compares to the vast mythology chronicled inStephen King’s novels. That’s certainly worthy of conversation since theNikolaj Arcel-directed film draws inspiration from across the broad spectrum of King’s stories but doesn’t delve too deeply into any one of them. Some elements are altered almost beyond recognition, others are tempered to fit a PG-13 rating, and still more are, bafflingly, made darker than the pitch-black source material.
So it’s with a fine-toothed cinematic comb that we picked apartThe Dark Towerto sort the movie’s mythology from that of the books. (It would have beenmucheasier just to write about the things that each medium shared, but such is my ka.) If Sony plans on going ahead with eventual sequels and TV series, then their new turn of the great wheel is likely going to be based on this movie. That’s certainly going to ruffle some feathers of book-readers, but if you’re not one of them, you’ll have to continue reading below to find out what’s missing on the big screen.
Here’s the synopsis forThe Dark Towermovie:
There are other worlds than these. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, the ambitious and expansive story from one of the world’s most celebrated authors, makes its launch to the big screen. The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.
For more onThe Dark Tower, be sure to take a look at our recent write-ups below:
Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger
Jake Chambers
The Man in Black
The nemesis of Roland has many names: Randall Flagg, Walter O’Dim, Rudin Filaro, Raymond Fiegler, Richard Fannin, Walter Hodji, Walter Farden, The Walkin' Dude, The Covenant Man and Marten Broadcloak, to name quite a few. He also appears in books outside the “Dark Tower” series, becoming one of King’s favorite go-to uber-villains. He ultimately serves the Crimson King, the evil above all evil, and most of his plans revolve around sowing chaos, destroying the Dark Tower, and ruling over the world that results from its fall. His focus tends to land on Roland, having had a hand in the fall of the Gunslinger’s homeland, Gilead. And since Roland, the last Gunslinger, was the one with the best chance of bringing the Man in Black down, the vile sorcerer took great pleasure in killing just about anyone and everyone who’s ever walked alongside him.
To do this, in the books, he wielded a variety of powers, including dark magic and sorcery, shapeshifting of both himself and his victims, demonic quasi-immortality, the ability to see across worlds and time through the use of the crystal balls of the Wizard’s Rainbow, and, perhaps the most mundane of all of these, an almost scientific curiosity for research.
The movie version of the Man in Black, who also goes by Walter, keeps the shape-shifting off the screen but puts the sorcerer on a near god level of magic. With a word, Walter can turn a daughter against her mother, set someone on fire, or even stop a man from breathing, even if that man is as gifted as the gunslinger Steven Deschain. The Man in Black was indeed an orchestrator of the Fall of Gilead–perhaps glimpsed in the film although in no way in keeping with the chaotic, big-scale version of that event in the books–and directly responsible for the death of Roland’s father, setting Roland on the obsessive path for vengeance.
In addition to showing off the Man in Black’s powerful speechcraft abilities, he’s also seen in charge of the Breakers, the Taheen and Can-toi Low-Men, and some of the Regulators; I’ll explain this all later on. The Wizard’s Rainbow–13 colored spheres that represent the 12 Guardians of the Beams and the Dark Tower itself–is showcased in the movie as being in the Man in Black’s possession, allowing him to track Jake and keep an eye on Roland. There’s alotmore to these magical spheres than the movie let on, but just seeing them at all was a nice inclusion, especially since they’re likely going to be featured in theeventual TV series. The Man in Black’s display of “magicks” at the very end of the film, however, appeared more like parlor tricks and stage magic than the ominous abilities he’d shown throughout the movie. Perhaps this is because Roland has always been resistant to his “magicks”, or perhaps because the Man in Black’s greatest trick of all was making Rolandthinkhe was defeated and dead…
Many Worlds: Keystone Earth
Many Worlds: Mid-World and End-World
More Mythology
If you made it to the end of this article, congratulations! Your journey is complete! But hopefully this has given you some insight into both how difficult a movie adaptation ofThe Dark Toweralways would be, and just how rich King’s mythology has grown to be after all the years he spent on it. It’s no wonder than fans who have waited so long to see it on the screen are so passionate about seeing it done right. Whether or not the movie succeeded in that regard, I leave up to you.
