4.2 Simplified Explanation + Ramifications on Scaling
5 The Beam Guardians + Demon Elementals
5.1 What Are They?
5.2 Their Cosmological Position
6 The Prim
6.1 The Prim Created Everything
6.2 The Prim > Everything Up Until Now
6.3 "Archetypal Void"
6.4 The Prim Receded At Some Point
7 The Macroverse/Todash Darkness
7.1 The Macroverse > The Prim
7.2 The Macroverse is the Space Between Universes
7.3 Other Outerversal Statements
7.4 Debunk #2 - The Deadlights Living in the Macroverse
8 Pennywise/IT/The Deadlights
8.1 IT's Cosmological Position
8.2 The Deadlights is likely one of the Demon Elementals
8.3 Debunk #3 - Pennywise Losing to the Losers Club
9 Maturin
9.1 Maturin > The Other Beam Guardians
9.2 Maturin > The Deadlights
9.3 Extras
9.4 Debunk #4 - Maturin Choking on Galaxies
10 Bessa/The Rose
11 Gan/The Final Void
11.1 Gan Created Everything
11.2 Gan >>> Everything Else
12 Conclusion
Introduction + Disclaimers[]
Good evening, or whatever obligatory time of the day you are currently reading this in.
This blog will serve as a place to store all my notable findings on the Dark Tower cosmology. Alongside just a place where I can find things easily, it can be used to help people interested in the verse to get a grasp on how big the verse is, and maybe even as a good starting place for them to come up with their own interpretations. This blog will also go over some cosmic beings that play into the cosmology, usually when they're basically living structures. I'll also be debunking some misconceptions surrounding the verse.
This blog will cover information from the books, comics, and the official Dark Tower glossary on Stephen King's website. Everything will be quoted and sourced.
Note: I'm still exploring this verse, so this blog is bound to change at some point or another. That also means that there is a good chance that I am missing something, along with the fact that these books are huge and contain a lot of information.
The Multiverse[]
Dimensionality[]
In the world of Dark Tower, universes are infinite in size.
“
The universe (he said) is the Great All, and offers a paradox too great for the finite mind to grasp. As the living brain cannot conceive a nonliving brain - although it may think it can - the finite mind cannot grasp the infinite.
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
Universes in Dark Tower are not typical universes. Every single universe contains an infinite amount of other universes, effectively making them multiverses.
“
Imagine the sand of the Mohaine Desert, which you crossed to find me, and imagine a trillion universes - not worlds but universes - encapsulated in each grain of that desert; and within each universe an infinity of others.
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
These universes do not build up a conventional multiverse. Rather, they are stacked in a transcendental hierarchy, where the difference between two of these layers is described as lower universes being nothing more than atoms that make up bigger universes that are higher up in the stack. An atom on a blade of grass, or a grain of sand in a desert. These universes/layers are the levels/"Steps" that make up the Dark Tower, and there are an endless amount of layers that make up reality.
“
'You see? Size defeats us. For the fish, the lake in which he lives is the universe. What does the fish think when he is jerked up by the mouth through the silver limits of existence and into a new universe where the air drowns him and the light is blue madness? Where huge bipeds with no gills stuff it into a suffocating box and cover it with wet weeds to die? 'Or one might take the tip of a pencil and magnify it. One reaches the point where a stunning realization strikes home: The pencil-tip is not solid; it is composed of atoms which whirl and revolve like a trillion demon planets. What seems solid to us is actually only a loose next held together by gravity. Viewed at their actual size, the distances between these atoms might become leagues, gulfs, aeons. The atoms themselves are composed of nuclei and revolving protons and electrons. One may step down further to subatomic particles. And then to what? Tachyons? Nothing? Of course not. Everything in the universe denies nothing; to suggest an ending is the one absurdity. 'If you fell outward to the limit of the universe, would you find a board fence and signs reading DEAD END? No. You might find something hard and rounded, as the chick must see the egg from the inside. And if you should peck through that shell (or find a door), what great and torrential light might shine through your opening at the end of space? Might you look through and discover our entire universe is but of one atom on a blade of grass? Might you be forced to think that by burning a twig you incinerate an eternity of eternities? That existence rises not to one infinite but to an infinity of them? Perhaps you saw what place our universe plays in the scheme of things - as no more than an atom in a blade of grass. Could it be that everything we can perceive, from the microscopic virus to the distant Horsehead Nebula, is contained in one blade of grass that may have existed for only a single season in an alien time-flow? What if that blade should be cut off by a scythe? When it begins to die, would the rot seep into our own universe and our own lives, turning everything yellow and brown and desiccated? Perhaps it's already begun to happen. We say the world has moved on; maybe we really mean that it has begun to dry up. [...] Imagine the sand of the Mohaine Desert, which you crossed to find me, and imagine a trillion universes - not worlds but universes - encapsulated in each grain of that desert; and within each universe an infinity of others. We tower over these universes from our pitiful grass vantage point; with one swing of your boot you may knock a billion billion worlds flying off into darkness, in a chain never to be completed. 'Size, gunslinger...size... 'Yet suppose further. Suppose that all worlds, all universes, met in a single nexus, a single pylon, a Tower. And within it, a stairway, perhaps rising to the Godhead itself. Would you dare climb to the top, gunslinger? Could it be that somewhere above all of endless reality, there exists a Room?
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
The amount of these universes/layers is consistently described as infinite, along with other synonyms for infinite like endless, countless, numberless, eternity, etc.
“
Imagine the sand of the Mohaine Desert, which you crossed to find me, and imagine a trillion universes - not worlds but universes - encapsulated in each grain of that desert; and within each universe an infinity of others.
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
“
Might you look through and discover our entire universe is but of one atom on a blade of grass? Might you be forced to think that by burning a twig you incinerate an eternity of eternities? That existence rises not to one infinite but to an infinity of them?
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
“
The Dark Tower exists at the heart of End-World. Connecting this universe to countless others, it is the linchpin of the time-space continuum and the hub of the universe - the central, stable pillar around which all worlds spin.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
In world upon world—in worlds strung side by side in multiple dimensions throughout infinity—evils shrivel and disperse: despots choke to death on chicken bones; tyrants fall before assassins’ bullets, before the poisoned sweetmeats arrayed by their treacherous mistresses; hooded torturers collapse dying on bloody stone floors. Ty’s deed reverberates through the great, numberless string of universes, revenging evil as it spreads. Three worlds over from ours and in the great city there known as Londinorium, Turner Topham, for two decades a respected member of Parliament and for three a sad*stic pedophile, bursts abruptly into flame as he strides along the crowded avenue known as Pick-a-Derry. Two worlds down, a nice-looking young welder named Freddy Garver from the Isle of Irse, another, less seasoned member of Topham’s clan, turns his torch upon his own left hand and incinerates every particle of flesh off his bones.
„
~ Black House
“
In one sense he was not in the Agincourt at all, not in Point Venuti, not in Mendocino County, not in California, not in the American Territories, not in those other Territories; but he was in them, and in an infinite number of other worlds as well, and all at the same time.
„
~ The Talisman
“
There are endless worlds, your dinh is correct about that, but even when those worlds are close together - like some of the multiple New Yorks - there are endless spaces between.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
Because infinite worlds spun on the axle which was the Dark Tower, and here was another of them.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
Not entirely, but he understood enough to scare the hell out of him. Other worlds. Perhaps an infinite number of worlds, all of them spinning on the axle that was the Tower. All of them were similar, but there were differences. Different politicians on the currency. Different makes of automobiles — Takuro Spirits instead of Datsuns, for instance — and different major league baseball teams. In these worlds, one of which had been decimated by a plague called the super-flu, you could time-hop back and forth, past and future. Because . . . Because in some vital way, they aren't the real world. Or if they're real, they're not the key world.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
"Now comes Roland," he called, and the words seemed to spiral up into infinity.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
Lower levels are described as being infinitesimal in comparison to higher levels.
“
And then - a blade of grass. One single blade of grass that filled everything. And I was tiny. Infinitesimal.
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
In the book Insomnia, we get more details on the relationship between lower and higher layers, how higher layers transcend lower layers. Higher-up levels are described as being utterly inaccessible and unimaginable to those on lower levels.
“
Clotho: [Be content with this: beyond the Short-Time levels of existence and the Long-Time levels on which Lachesis, Atropos, and I exist, there are yet other levels. These are in- habited by creatures we could call All-Timers, beings which are either eternal or so close to it as to make no difference. Short-Timers and Long-Timers live in overlapping spheres of existence on connected floors of the same building, if you like-ruled by the Random and the Purpose. Above these floors, inaccessible to us but very much a part of the same tower of existence, live other beings. Some of them are marvelous and wonderful; others are hideous beyond our ability to comprehend, let alone yours. These beings might be called the Higher Purpose and the Higher Random or perhaps there is no Random beyond a certain level; we suspect that may be the case, but we have no real way of telling. We do know that it is something from one of these higher levels that has interested itself in Ed, and that some- thing else from up there made a countermove. That countermove is you, Ralph and Lois.]
„
~ Insomnia
“
He understood that a conduit had opened between the level where he was and the unimaginable levels stacked above it.
„
~ Insomnia
Characters who have experienced levels below their respective layer likened the difference between them to how the "real world" would see a mirage (Basically an illusion, something that isn't actually real). Suggesting that the transcendence between layers is a reality-fiction transcendence, where a world is so far beyond another one that it sees the lower world as if it was a piece of fiction.
“
Ralph was beginning to believe it really was over. And, crazy as it seemed, part of him regretted it. Now it was real life-life as it went on on the floors below this level-that seemed almost like a mirage and he understood what Lachesis had meant when he told them that they would never be able to return to their normal lives if they stayed up here much longer.
„
~ Insomnia
Universes[]
On top of the hierarchical nature of existence, the multiverse of Dark Tower is also one of possibilities. As in, there is a universe for every possibility, and any differences create their own universes. Every action a person makes or can make creates a new universe, and even something as simple as their individual breaths can create entirely new realities (Or "Waves" as the story calls it. For context, the story this quote comes from is a time travel story, and the main character is worried that differences in the past can mess with reality itself if he creates to many universes/"Waves").
“
Climbing up it was like entering a conch shell. Each of its narrow twisting stairways led to a different level of creation - a distant time period, an alternative reality, even a completely unimagined and unimaginable version of now.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
I want that to happen, and think it probably would. Blood calls to blood, heart call to heart. She'll want children. So, that matter will I. I tell myself one child more or less won't make any difference, either. Or not much difference. Or two. Even three. ( It is, after all The era of Big families.) We'll live quietly. We won't make waves. Only each child is a wave. Every breath we take is a wave. You have two go back one last time, the Ocher Card Man said. You have to close the cycle.
„
~ 11/22/63
“
And something else. The multiple choices and possibilities of daily life are the music we dance to. They are like strings on a guitar. Strum them and you create a pleasing sound. A harmonic. But then start adding strings. Ten strings, a hundred strings, a thousand, a million. Because they multiply! Harry didn’t know what that watery ripping sound was, but I’m pretty sure I do; that’s the sound of too much harmony created by too many strings. Sing high C in a voice that’s loud enough and true enough and you can shatter fine crystal. Play the right harmonic notes through your stereo loud enough and you can shatter window glass. It follows (to me, at least) that if you put enough strings on time’s instrument, you can shatter reality.
„
~ 11/22/63
As a result of this, all possible worlds exist within the multiverse. Naturally, because this is Dark Tower, this is taken to the most ridiculous extent possible. To where there are countless realities dedicated to a singular person, with that person even having realities to where they were an orange they took a bite out of in another reality, or some germs.
“
“He called it—” Richard hesitated, frowning in thought. “He called it ’the axle of all possible worlds.’ Then he laughed. Then he called it something else. Something you wouldn’t like.” “What was that?” “It’ll make you mad.” “Come on, Richard, spill it.” “He called it . . . well . . . he called it ’Phil Sawyer’s folly.’ ” It was not anger he felt but a burst of hot, dizzying excitement. That was it, all right; that was the Talisman. The axle of all possible worlds. How many worlds? God alone knew. The American Territories; the Territories themselves; the hypothetical Territories’ Territories; and on and on, like the stripes coming ceaselessly up and out of a turning barber pole. A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds—and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds. And was it also Phil Sawyer’s folly?
„
~ The Talisman
“
It was some time before Jack became aware that the Agincourt was shaking itself to pieces around him, and this was not surprising. He was transported with wonder. In one sense he was not in the Agincourt at all, not in Point Venuti, not in Mendocino County, not in California, not in the American Territories, not in those other Territories; but he was in them, and in an infinite number of other worlds as well, and all at the same time. Nor was he simply in one place in all those worlds; he was in them everywhere because he was those worlds. The Talisman, it seemed, was much more than even his father had believed. It was not just the axle of all possible worlds, but the worlds themselves—the worlds, and the spaces between those worlds.
Here was enough transcendentalism to drive even a cavedwelling Tibetan holy man insane. Jack Sawyer was everywhere; Jack Sawyer was everything. A blade of grass on a world fifty thousand worlds down the chain from earth died of thirst on an inconsequential plain somewhere in the center of a continent which roughly corresponded in position to Africa; Jack died with that blade of grass. In another world, dragons were copulating in the center of a cloud high above the planet, and the fiery breath of their ecstasy mixed with the cold air and precipitated rain and floods on the ground below. Jack was the he-dragon; Jack was the she-dragon; Jack was the sperm; Jack was the egg. Far out in the ether a million universes away, three specks of dust floated near one another in interstellar space. Jack was the dust, and Jack was the space between. Galaxies unreeled around his head like long spools of paper, and fate punched each in random patterns, turning them into macrocosmic player-piano tapes which would play everything from ragtime to funeral dirges. Jack’s happy teeth bit an orange: Jack’s unhappy flesh screamed as the teeth tore him open. He was a trillion dust-kitties under a billion beds. He was a joey dreaming of its previous life in its mother’s pouch as the mother bounced over a purple plain where rabbits the size of deer ran and gambolled. He was ham on a hock in Peru and eggs in a nest under one of the hens in the Ohio henhouse Buddy Parkins was cleaning. He was the powdered hensh*t in Buddy Parkins’s nose; he was the trembling hairs that would soon cause Buddy Parkins to sneeze; he was the sneeze; he was the germs in the sneeze; he was the atoms in the germs; he was the tachyons in the atoms travelling backward through time toward the big bang at the start of creation. His heart skipped and a thousand suns flashed up in novas. He saw a googolplex of sparrows in a googolplex of worlds and marked the fall or the well-being of each. He died in the Gehenna of Territories ore-pit mines. He lived as a flu-virus in Etheridge’s tie. He ran in a wind over far places. He was... Oh he was... He was God. God, or something so close as to make no difference. No! Jack screamed in terror. No, I don’t want to be God! Please! Please, I don’t want to be God, I ONLY WANT TO SAVE MY MOTHER’S LIFE! And suddenly infinitude closed up like a losing hand folding in a cardsharp’s grasp. It narrowed down to a beam of blinding white light, and this he followed back to the Territories Ballroom, where only seconds had passed. He still held the Talisman in his hands.
„
~ The Talisman
Gan purposefully made the multiverse to where it is big enough to contain all possible manifestations of life and experience. Obviously backing up the idea of the multiverse containing all possibilities.
“
From the magical waters dripping out of his navel, Gan spun the physical universe. But sensing that one world was not large enough to contain all possible manifestations of life and experience, he divided the universe into multiple, parallel realities, and set six magnetic Beams in place to maintain the alignment of time, space, size, and dimension in all of them.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
Extra[]
Lastly, in The Stand it is implied that the axioms of mathematics are an actual grounding foundation that has basis on reality, and play a part in the lives of beings within reality like humans (The "deathtrip" as it is referred to as). It is even compared to the laws of physics and laws of biology. Given this, and the fact that literally all possible worlds exist in Dark Tower, you can pretty easily equate the multiverse to the Ultimate Ensemble. I won't be arguing that in my scaling, since as far as I know it wouldn't really add anything new to it.
“
The laws of physics, the laws of biology, the axioms of mathematics, they're all part of the deathtrip, because we are what we are.
„
~ The Stand
Debunk #1 - Microcosms[]
Some people unironically argue that Dark Tower in its entirety is 2-D because the multiverse is described as a "microcosm" in The Talisman.
“
It was a crystal globe perhaps three feet in circumference — the corona of its glow was so brilliant it was impossible to tell exactly how big it was. Gracefully curving lines seemed to groove its surface, like lines of longitude and latitude . . . and why not? Jack thought, still in a deep daze of awe and amazement. It is the world — ALL worlds — in microcosm. More; it is the axis of all possible worlds.
„
~ The Talisman
There are many problems with this, and the main one is that the people who bring this up are ignoring the context behind this statement. The context here is that the character saying this gained a higher sense of reality thanks to the Talisman (A magical crystal ball that can influence reality), and from this elevated perspective he sees the entire multiverse as a microcosm (A word that doesn't inherently have anything to do with two-dimensional stuff either, it is just saying something is really small). There are also a lot of things beyond the multiverse, as you can most certainly tell from this blog, so even if we accept the incorrect idea that the multiverse of Dark Tower is 2-D, the verse as a whole wouldn't be 2-D.
The Dark Tower[]
The Tower Contains Everything[]
The Dark Tower contains the entire aforementioned multiverse hierarchy, with it usually being described as a linchpin or nexus for all realities.
“
Yet suppose further. Suppose that all worlds, all universes, met in a single nexus, a single pylon, a Tower. And within it, a stairway, perhaps rising to the Godhead itself. Would you dare climb to the top, gunslinger? Could it be that somewhere above all of endless reality, there exists a Room?
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
“
"The Dark Tower." "Where is this Tower?" "Far from the beach where you found me. How far I know not." "What is it" "I don't know, either --except that it may be a kind of ... of a bolt. A central linchpin that holds all of existence together. All existence, all time, and all size.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
“
The Dark Tower exists at the heart of End-World. Connecting this universe to countless others, it is the linchpin of the time-space continuum and the hub of the universe - the central, stable pillar around which all worlds spin.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
Although it appears finite, the Tower is, in actuality, infinite. It is the nexus of all worlds and all realities, and the voices of the dead and damned murmur in its stairwells
„
~ Sheemie's Tale
The Dark Tower encompasses all of space, time, and size.
“
The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but size. Size encompasses life, and the Tower encompasses size. The child, who is most at home with wonder, says: Daddy, what is above the sky? And the father says: The darkness of space. The child: What is beyond space? The father: The galaxy. The child: Beyond the galaxy? The father: Another galaxy. The child: Beyond the other galaxies? The father: No one knows.
„
~ Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger
“
"The Dark Tower." "Where is this Tower?" "Far from the beach where you found me. How far I know not." "What is it" "I don't know, either --except that it may be a kind of ... of a bolt. A central linchpin that holds all of existence together. All existence, all time, and all size.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
“
The Dark Tower is the linchpin of the time-space continuum
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
“
The Dark Tower exists at the heart of End-World. Connecting this universe to countless others, it is the linchpin of the time-space continuum and the hub of the universe - the central, stable pillar around which all worlds spin.
„
~ End-World Almanac
The Dark Tower encompasses the six Beams, and acts as a sort of power-source to the six Beams. The Beams hold and maintain the proper alignment of all time, space, size, and dimension across the multiverse.
“
They are lines of some sort...lines which bind... and hold..." "Are you talking about magnetism?" Susannah asked cautiously. His whole face lit up, transforming its harsh planes and furrows into something new and amazing, and for a moment Eddie knew how Roland would look if he actually did reach his Tower. "Yes! Not just magnetism, but that is a part of it...and gravity... and the proper alignment of space, size, and dimension. The Beams are the forces which bind these things together." "Welcome to physics in the nuthouse," Eddie said in a low voice. Susannah ignored this. "And the Dark Tower? Is it like some kind of generator? A central power-source for these Beams?"
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
“
There is a Tower, lady and gentlemen, as you must know. At one time six beams crisscrossed there, both taking power from it — it’s some kind of unimaginable power-source—and lending support, the way guy-wires support a radio tower.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
“
The Beams were responsible for maintaining the proper alignment of time, space, size, and dimension.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
The six Beams are like invisible high tension wires that cross at the nexus of the Dark Tower and hold the Dark Tower in place. They maintain the integrity of time, space, size, and dimension.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
“
These Beams pass through the nexus of the Dark Tower and maintain the proper alignment of time, space, size and dimension in all of the worlds.
„
~ End-World Almanac
The Tower Is Beyond Everything[]
The Dark Tower is also transcendent to space, time, size, and dimension. Within the Dark Tower, there is a Room that exists at its "top". This "Room" exists above the multiverse and its infinite layers. This Room is confirmed to be a real place at the end of the series, and given it is ultimately a small part of the Tower, this should be applicable to the whole structure.
“
Yet suppose further. Suppose that all worlds, all universes, met in a single nexus, a single pylon, a Tower. And within it, a stairway, perhaps rising to the Godhead itself. Would you dare climb to the top, gunslinger? Could it be that somewhere above all of endless reality, there exists a Room?
„
~ Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower also exists at the heart of End-World, a vaguely defined place that exists in a pocket where the normal rules of time and space have no hold.
“
The Dark Tower exists at the heart of End-World.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
[End-World] exists in a pocket where the normal rules of time and space have no hold.
„
~ Dark Tower: The Long Road Home
The Dark Tower is said to exist outside of time and reality, that reality of course being the multiverse.
“
It's a place outside of time, outside of reality. I know you understand a little about the function of the Dark Tower; you understand its unifying purpose.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
Furthermore, as time is generated by the Dark Tower, the Tower itself is timeless. It most likely lacks the other aforementioned aspects as well.
“
The worlds spun and seasons passed, but the Dark Tower was timeless. It generated time.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
As the worlds spin and the seasons pass, the Dark Tower generates time and yet is itself timeless.
„
~ End-World Almanac
Extra[]
The Dark Tower is described as archetypal. Jungian Archetypes are pretty much the same thing as Platonic Forms, and the Dark Tower actually pretty solidly fits the description of what a Form is. A fundamental, atemporal, aspatial concept that resides beyond reality. Personally, I tend to avoid using these types of arguments, but I know some people like arguing this sort of thing.
“
For me, the image of the Dark Tower - that great smoke-colored stone edifice rising high into the skies of End-World - feels both ancient and archetypal
„
~ Sheemie's Tale
All things serve the Dark Tower, including the very Beams themselves.
“
Because of the Beam, the boy who was now only a pair of floating eyes replied, and because of the Tower. In the end, all things, even the Beams, serve the Dark Tower. Did you think you would be any different?
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
The Dark Tower is the physical body of Gan himself, an incarnation he made for himself.
“
There was a sighing voice - Welcome, Roland, thee of Eld. It was the Tower's voice. This edifice was not stone at all, although it might look like this; this was a living thing, Gan himself, likely, and the pulse he'd felt deep in his head even thousands of miles from here had always been Gan's beating life-force.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
“
Roland left that room, his sense of Deja vu stronger than ever. So was the sense that he had entered the body of Gan himself.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
“
However to others it is a living entity - the sacred incarnation of the great god Gan.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
The god Gan is the animating spirit of the DARK TOWER, and he is the deity most closely associated with the WHITE. Although the Tower appears to be made of stone and glass, it is actually a huge living body.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
The Dark Tower is Gan, and Gan is the Dark Tower.
“
The Dark Tower, Roland told him. The Tower is Gan, and Gan is the Tower.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
Ka[]
The Nature of Ka + What Ka Encompasses[]
"Ka" is basically the ultimate essence of a being, with it having titles that signify that, such as the "Great Wheel of Being".
“
Lachesis: [You mustn't think so! It's simply that what you call freedom of choice is part of what we call ka, the great wheel of being.]
„
~ Insomnia
Ka is described as the very balance of a being in Rose Madder.
“
And that's why we were brought together. That is our balance. That is our Ka.
„
~ Rose Madder
Ka is the destiny/future of a person.
“
"I don't know about that," the gunslinger said. "Here it means duty, or destiny, or, in the vulgate, a place you must go." [...] The gunslinger shrugged. "I don't discuss philosophy. I don't study history. All I know is what's past is past, and what's ahead is ahead. The second is ka, and takes care of itself."
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
“
The gunslinger shook his head. “Ka—the word you think of as ‘destiny,’ Eddie, although the actual meaning is much more complex and hard to define, as is almost always the case with words of the High Speech. And tet, which means a group of people with the same interests and goals. We three are a tet, for instance. Ka-tet is the place where many lives are joined by fate.”
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
“
"We're in the belly of the beast, like it or not. It's ka, which is destiny and fate. Your Fisherman, Jack, is now your ka. Our ka. This is more than murder. Much more."
„
~ Black House
Ka isn't just the fate of a person, as it also encompasses a person's mind and life-force too.
“
Like many words in High Speech, ka has multiple meanings and so is difficult to define precisely. It signifies life force, consciousness, duty, and destiny. In the vulgate, or LOW SPEECH, it also means a place to which an individual must go. The closest terms in our language are probably fate and destiny, although ka also implies karma, or the accumulated destiny (and accumulated debt) of many existences. We are the servants of ka, but we are also its prisoners. Ka’s one purpose is to turn, and we turn with it, albeit sometimes under different names and in different bodies. In The Dark Tower (Book VII of the Dark Tower series) ka is compared to a train hurtling forward, one which may not be sane.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
“
Trying to suck the life out of them? Close, but not cigar. Ralph didn't think it was their lives the thing inside the deathbag wanted, nor their souls...at least not exactly. It was their life-force it wanted. Their Ka.
„
~ Insomnia
“
Divorced of his body, his mind - his ka - was a healthy and acute as ever, but the sudden knocking struck him like a chisel-blow to the temple.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
The idea of Ka also encompassing the mind is backed up in the book, Drawing of the Three. We see a guy manage to separate his ka from his body, and that state is described similarly to how one might imagine a disembodied consciousness/ghost.
“
For the first time since he had seized control of him, Roland pulled back a little and allowed Mort to take over. When Mort's head turned to inspect the dashboard of Delevan’s and O'Mearah's blue-and-white, Roland watched it turn but did not initiate the action. But if he had been a physical being instead of only his own disembodied ka, he would have been standing on the balls of his feet, ready to leap forward and take control again at the slightest sign of mutiny.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
Life-force, also known as khef, is fundamentally intertwined with Ka, with it being shared between those of a ka-tet (Basically when people are bound by fate together). Khef is also said to be "all that is essential to existence", further cementing Ka as some kind of fundamental underline to things.
“
Literally speaking, khefmeans "the sharing of water." It also implies birth, life force, and all that is essential to existence. Khef can only be shared by those whom destiny has welded together for good or ill—in other words, by those who are KA-TET.
Khef is both individual and collective. It implies the knowledge a person gains from dream-life as well as his or her life force. Khef is the web that binds a KA-TET. Those who share khef share thoughts. Their destinies are linked, as are their life forces. Behind the multiple meanings of this word lies a philosophy of interconnectedness, a sense that all individuals, all events, are part of a greater pattern or plan.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
Ka also encompasses one's soul.
“
Their souls are gone, their ka, but something is left, even in their dead brains and bodies.
„
~ The Outsider
“
Suck out his soul, his ka, his whatever you want to call it.
„
~ The Tommyknockers
Lastly, alongside encompassing a being's life-force, it also encompasses their death.
“
“WE ARE KA-TET,” ROLAND began, “which means a group of people bound together by fate. The philosophers of my land said a ka-tet could only be broken by death or treachery. My great teacher, Cort, said that since death and treachery are also spokes on the wheel of ka, such a binding can never be broken.
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
When a being dies, their Ka is expelled into the Macroverse/Todash Darkness.
“
Mort had not died of fright; the gunslinger felt with a deep instinct which was the same as knowing that if Mort died, their Kas would be expelled forever, into that void of possibility which lay beyond all physical worlds.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
Ka reaches everywhere, even up to the Dark Tower. Ka is also said to perhaps be embodied by the Dark Tower, which would make sense since it is frequently said to be the "will of god (Gan)".
“
Of course, ka would have to intervene. If they had indeed outrun its influence, that wouldn't - couldn't - happen. But Susannah now thought ha reached everywhere, even to the Dark Tower. Was, perhaps, embodied by the Dark Tower.
„
~ Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
Ka is also implied to not only be a fundamental thing for living creatures, but all of existence in general. In Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead, Bessa is said to be capable of manipulating the Ka of others specifically because of her immense influence upon the forces of the universe. So in order to manipulate Ka, you must have control over the essential forces of existence itself.
“
According to Mid-World folklore, Bessa is the beloved wife of the great god Gan, who is the animating spirit of the Dark Tower. As the wife of the initiator of ka, Bessa is believed to be the only god or goddess with enough influence upon the forces of the universe to actually alter a human being's fate.
„
~ Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead
Simplified Explanation + Ramifications on Scaling[]
Simply put, "Ka" is an essential force that governs/sustains all of reality, all the way up to the Dark Tower itself, and when it comes to living beings it is responsible for the existence of that being's destiny, life-force, mind, soul, and death. Ka is also likely conceptual given how it encompasses and makes things like a being's soul and mind possible exist to begin with, wouldn't make much sense for it to be on the same level of fundamentality.
As for what this exactly means on terms of powerscaling characters in Dark Tower. Whenever a character is just manipulating one of these aspects (Soul, mind, life-force, etc), they're actually influencing all of these other aspects or at least should be capable of also influencing them. The best example of this notion is actually Pennywise the Dancing Clown, who has shown to be capable of manipulating several of these aspects (Mind, soul, life-force, and death) in his book, IT. As for exact abilities they would have;
Conceptual Manipulation (At least Type 2)
Mind Manipulation
Soul Manipulation
Life Manipulation
Fate Manipulation
Death Manipulation
The Beam Guardians + Demon Elementals[]
What Are They?[]
The Beam Guardians, as the name suggests, are the guardians to the Beams that hold up the Dark Tower. There are twelve in total, two for each Beam.
“
There are six Beams, as you did say, but there are twelve Guardians, one for each end of each Beam. This — for we're still on it — is the Beam of Shardik. Were you to go beyond the Tower, it would become the Beam of Maturin, the great turtle upon whose shell the world rests.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
There are also the Demon Elementals, which are basically the malevolent counterparts to the Beam Guardians. There are only six Demon Elementals, but each one of them have both a male and female self, so there are twelve demon aspects in total.
“
Similarly, there are but six demon elementals, one for each Beam. Below them is the whole invisible world, whose creatures left behind on the beach of existence when the Prim receded. There are speaking demons, demons of house which some call ghosts, ill-sick demons which some - makers of machines and worshippers of the great false god rationality, if it does ya - call disease. Many small demons but only six demon elementals. Yet as there are twelve Guardians for the six Beams, there are twelve demon aspects, for each demon is both male and female
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
Just as the Guardians of the Beam are sworn to serve the White and to oversee the well-being of the mortal worlds, so the Guardians' counterparts, known as Demon Elementals, serve the Outer Dark and watch over the invisible world of demons, ill-sicks, and ghosts. Although there are twelve Guardians protecting the Beams (one for each Portal leading into and out of Mid-World), there are only six Demon Elementals - one assigned to each Beam. However, since each of the Elementals possess both a male and a female self, there are twelve Demon aspects in total, each one of which oversees a Beam termination point.
„
~ End-World Alamac
Their Cosmological Position[]
Just like the Dark Tower, the Beam Guardians transcend the multiverse, with individual Beam Guardians like Shadrik being so big that all worlds can fit within his eyes.
“
See the BEAR of fearsome size! All the WORLD's within his eyes. TIME grows thin, the past's a riddle; The TOWER awaits you in the middle.
„
~ Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
The Beam Guardians are also said to be not only outside of ka, but beyond ka entirely twice. Given Ka reaches all the way up to the Dark Tower, this could entail that they're transcendent to the Dark Tower too. They are bound to the Beams, but that is only really to the extent that if they die, the Beam also falls, so this is still possible.
“
According to Mid-World's dash-dinhs, or religious leaders, the Guardians exist beyond the reach of ka, and so cannot be even killed by the Crimson King. We can only hope that they are right.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
“Yes. On one end, my ka. On the other, that of the man in black — Walter. The doors were the center, creations of the tension between two opposing destinies. These other portals are things far greater than Walter, or me, or the little fellowship we three have made.” “Are you saying,” Susannah asked hesitantly, “that the portals where these Guardians stand watch are outside ka? Beyond ka?” “I’m saying that I believe so.” He offered his own brief smile, a thin sickle in the firelight. “That I guess so.”
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
Maturin is one of these Beam Guardians, but he has a higher position in the cosmology, so he (And Pennywise) will get their own explanations.
The Prim[]
The Prim Created Everything[]
The Prim is a primordial sea of chaotic magic that predates all of creation. The Prim gave birth to Gan, who would later on create all of existence (The Beam Guardians, Demon Elementals, The Dark Tower, and the multiverse).
“
Mid-World's largest Portals, and those most heavily protected, were the Beam Portals that Alain and Cuthbert had named. They had been created when Gan spun the universe from the magical substance of the Prim.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
At the beginning of our era there were no worlds, and no universes, only the seething, raw magic of the Prim. This phosphorescent soup of creation grew like a great, hungry, opalescent ameba. It ate the nothingness, and in the silence it murmured and whispered.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
In the beginning, there was only the Prim, that primordial soup of creation. Out of the Prim arose Gan, animating spirit of the Dark Tower. From the magical waters dripping out of his navel, Gan spun the physical universe. But sensing that one world was not large enough to contain all possible manifestations of life and experience, he divided the universe into multiple, parallel realities, and set six magnetic Beams in place to maintain the alignment of time, space, size, and dimension in all of them.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
The Prim is the original magical Discordia, or soup of creation, from which the multiverse arose.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
“
The Prim, or magical soup of creation from which all realities arose.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
The Prim > Everything Up Until Now[]
The Prim also contains all of existence, with worlds like Mid-World being just islands that float atop the sea that is the Prim.
“
Though Mid-World was like a disk-shaped island floating in the sea of the Prim.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
The Prim also exists beyond all of existence ("Rim of the world").
“
Pointing to his map, Vannay told the boys that Mid-World was flat and round. On all sides it was bordered by water - the Western sea, the South Seas, the Clean Sea, and the frozen, ice-capped Northern Sea. In actuality, all the seas were one. Beyond the seas was the rim of the world, and beyond the rim heaved the Prim, the magical, primordial soup of creation. Beyond the Prim was the void of todash darkness which stretched to infinity.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
The Prim is described as formless.
“
This was the case until Gan, the Spirit of the Dark Tower, emerged from the formless Prim and gave birth to the entire multiverse.
„
~ End-World Almanac
Lastly, while not explicitly said anywhere, it can be argued that the Prim is also above the Beam Guardians. The relationship between the Beam Guardians and the Prim are left unknown besides the fact that the Prim was used to create them, but given how the Prim is emphasized to be beyond everything it created (With a few exceptions, which are everything beyond this point) I think it is safe to consider it.
"Archetypal Void"[]
Lastly, the Prim is described as an archetypal void. At first, I thought this was referring to the Macroverse, given that it is the only significant void in the Dark Tower cosmology, but this could just be another name for the Prim.
“
In the Dark Tower universe, it remains to be seen whether the Dark Tower, or any of the worlds it maintains, will survive the dark plans of the Crimson King who wishes to destroy the time-space continuum and overwhelm reality with the primal chaos of the Prim, or archetypal Void.
„
~ Sheemie's Tale
There are two ways to interpret this scan. Either the Prim is archetypal in nature just like the Dark Tower but somehow more fundamental, or the Prim is a place devoid of archetypes and isn't bound by them. I believe either of these interpretations work well, given the Prim is where all of existence came from, and it is described as formless, which should be expected given it is beyond the Dark Tower, the thing that contains all physical dimensionality.
The Prim Receded At Some Point[]
The Prim actually used to be far larger than it is now, but due to Gan creating the Dark Tower, the Prim receded and became far less powerful. Going from it taking up a considerable portion of the Macroverse, to the Macroverse utterly dwarfing it.
“
A human one! It had to have been so, for know you that true demons, those left on the shore of these worlds which spin around the Tower when the Prim receded, are sterile.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
And left no one to replace the machines which hold up the last magic in creation, for the Prim has receded long since. The magic is gone and the machines are failing. Soon enough the Dark Tower will fall.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
Below them is the whole invisible world, those creatures left behind on the beach of existence when the Prim receded.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
The doors North Central Positronics made to replace them when the Prim receded and the magic faded ... they go only one way.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Macroverse/Todash Darkness[]
The Macroverse > The Prim[]
The Macroverse is utterly beyond the Prim, with the Prim appearing as a mere drop in comparison to the Todash Space's infinity. Basically, the Macroverse transcends the Prim the same way a higher universe would transcend a lower universe, back with the multiverse.
“
Beyond the seas was the rim of the world, and beyond the rim heaved the Prim, the magical, primordial soup of creation. Beyond the Prim was the void of Todash Darkness which stretched to infinity.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
Though Mid-World was like a disk-shaped island floating in the sea of the Prim, which was itself but a drop of magical potential in the void of todash space.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
The Macroverse is the Space Between Universes[]
Todash Darkness is the space between realities. An endless nowhere of darkness that exists between the endless worlds of existence, similar to how there is a space between the inner and outer walls of a house. A darkness so expansive that, even with realities that are particularly close to each other, there is still an endless space between the two. Monsters beyond human comprehension are known to lurk in Todash Darkness.
“
'There's another door under Castle Discordia. Another door in the rooms of ruin. One that goes...' She licked her lips. 'That goes todash'. 'Todash?... I know the word, but I don't understand what's so bad-' 'There are endless worlds, your dinh is correct about that, but even when those worlds are close together - like some of the multiple New Yorks - there are endless spaces between. Think ya of the spaces between the inner and outer walls of a house. Places where it's always dark. But just because a place is always dark doesn't mean it's empty. Does it, Susannah?' There are monsters in the todash darkness. Who had said that? Roland? She couldn't remember for sure, and what did it matter? She thought she understood what Mia was saying, and if so, it was horrible. 'Rats in the walls, Susannah. Bats in the walls. All sorts of sucking, biting bugs in the walls.' 'That door beneath the castle - one of their mistakes, I have no doubt - goes to nowhere at all. Into the darkness between worlds. Todash-Space. But not empty space.' Her voice lowered further. 'That door is reserved for the Red King's most bitter enemies. They're thrown into a darkness where they may exist - blind, wandering, insane - for years. But in the end, something always finds them and devours them. Monsters beyond the ability of such mind as ours to bear thought of'.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
Todash is the monster-filled void that exists between worlds. THINNIES are thin places where todash leaks through to our world.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
Other Outerversal Statements[]
The Macroverse is described as a void of possibility that lays beyond all physical worlds.
“
Mort had not died of fright; the gunslinger felt with a deep instinct which was the same as knowing that if Mort died, their Kas would be expelled forever, into that void of possibility which lay beyond all physical worlds.
„
~ Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
The Macroverse is described as a place that has no direction.
“
And suddenly Bill was there, skidding along on (the left? right? there was no direction here) one side or the other.
„
~ IT
Debunk #2 - The Deadlights Living in the Macroverse[]
It is commonly mistaken that the Deadlights, Pennywise's true form, lives inside the Macroverse. This isn't true. The idea of Pennywise originating from the Macroverse is an idea that solely comes from his brother, Maturin.
“
I take no stand in these matters. My brother- -has his own place in the macroverse; energy is eternal, as a child such as yourself must understand
„
~ IT
“
Suddenly he thought he understood: It meant to thrust him through some wall at the end of the universe and into some other place (what the old Turtle called the macroverse) where It really lived; where It existed as a titanic, glowing core which might be no more than the smallest mote in that Other's mind; he would see It naked, a thing of unshaped destroying light, and there he would either be mercifully annihilated or live forever, insane and yet conscious inside Its homicidal endless formless hungry being.
„
~ IT
It is established fact that, while Maturin is extremely powerful and important in the cosmology, he isn't very smart. Being considered slow or stupid from the mortals down in Mid-World to fellow cosmic beings like the Deadlights. So his statements shouldn't be taken into consideration. This is only further supported with what I have to say about Pennywise in the next section.
“
Although he is generally believed to be of slow thought, Maturin is nonetheless regarded as being benevolent and is often invoked in song and prayer.
„
~ End-World Almanac
“
Before the universe there had been only two things. One was Itself and the other was the Turtle. The Turtle was a stupid old thing that never came out its shell. It thought that maybe the Turtle was dead, had been dead for the last billion years or so. Even if it wasn't, it was still a stupid old thing, and even if the Turtle had vomited the universe out whole, that didn't change the fact of its stupidity.
„
~ IT
Pennywise/IT/The Deadlights[]
IT's Cosmological Position[]
The Deadlights are described as the darkness that exists beyond everything. An outlands beyond all lands, beyond even the end of the Macroverse.
“
Now the mind of the writer's wife was with It, in It, beyond the end of the macroverse; in the darkness beyond the Turtle; in the outlands beyond all lands. She was in Its eye; She was in Its mind. She was in the deadlights.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights itself says that the cosmology of the Macroverse has nothing in common with the Deadlights in existence, further suggesting a superiority between the two (Said limitation only really applies to the avatar anyway).
“
Only thing It had in common with the stupid old Turtle and the cosmology of the macroverse outside the puny egg of this universe was just this; all living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are described as a nightmare spider beyond time and space.
“
Then Beverly was shrieking, clinging to Bill, as It raced down the gossamer curtain of Its webbing, a nightmare Spider from beyond time and space, a Spider from beyond the fevered imaginings of whatever inmates may live in the deepest depths of hell.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are described as unshaped and formless.
“
Suddenly he thought he understood: It meant to thrust him through some wall at the end of the universe and into some other place (what that old Turtle called the macroverse) where It really lived; where It existed as a titanic, glowing core which might be no more than the smallest mote in that Other's mind; he would see It naked, a thing of unshaped destroying light, and there he would either be mercifully annihilated or live forever, insane and yet conscious inside Its homicidal endless formless hungry being.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are also described as non-geometrical. As in, it lacks any geometric shapes.
“
Richie could see/sense something that finally dried up his laughter. It was a barrier, something of a strange, non-geometrical shape that his mind could not grasp.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are also described as the edge to absolutely everything (With the exception to Gan).
“
Richie, no! Go back! It's the edge of everything up here! The Deadlights!
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are so massive, that it sees the entire universe as a puny egg. This is despite the fact that it would be infinite-dimensional, given how universes work in Dark Tower.
“
Only thing It had in common with the stupid old Turtle and the cosmology of the macroverse outside the puny egg of this universe was just this; all living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights is likely one of the Demon Elementals[]
Lastly, the Deadlights are most likely one of the Demon Elementals, the one respective to Maturin. For one thing, it is established that there is a rivalry between the two, with Maturin being a benevolent force that only wishes to observe things, while the Deadlights are a malevolent force that only exists to devour.
“
The Turtle spoke in Bill's head, and Bill understood somehow that there was yet Another, and that Final Other dwelt in a void beyond this one. This Final Other was, perhaps, the creator of the Turtle, which only watched, and It, which only ate.
„
~ IT
The Deadlights are also emphasized to be both male and female simultaneously, exactly like how the Demon Elementals are described;
After looking into the Deadlights, the last thought Audra had was "OH DEAR JESUS IT IS FEMALE".
“
The writer's woman had put out one powerful, horrified thought - OH DEAR JESUS IT IS FEMALE - and then all thoughts ceased. She swam in the deadlights
„
~ IT
Maturin himself refers to the Deadlights as his brother.
“
I take no stand in these matters. My brother- -has his own place in the macroverse; energy is eternal, as a child such as yourself must understand
„
~ IT
Lastly, the spider form of the Deadlight's avatar, the form that most closely resembles the Deadlights, possesses an egg-sac.
“
That's Its egg-sac, Ben thought, and his mind seemed to shriek at the implication. Whatever It is beyond what we see, this representation is at least symbolically correct; It's female, and It's pregnant
„
~ IT
The Deadlight's place in the cosmology shouldn't be shared by the other Demon Elementals. As explained soon, Maturin is special amongst the Beam Guardians, so surely the force meant to be Maturin's rival should also be special amongst the Demon Elementals.
Debunk #3 - Pennywise Losing to the Losers Club[]
One last thing before I continue on to Maturin, I would like to debunk an argument that I've occasionally seen thrown around when talking about how strong Pennywise is. Some people have said that both the avatar and true form of IT are weak because they lost to the Losers Club, "normal people". While this is true, there is context surrounding this that these people are leaving out, or are ignorant to.
The Losers Club aren't just "regular people". Throughout the book of IT, usually when they're faced with Pennywise, they are actually amplified by an external force, a higher power. This higher power protecting them gives them supernatural abilities. For example, when the Losers Club were out hunting Pennywise, they were able to detect that Mike, who was at the hospital, was in danger of a murderer, and so they literally sent him enough strength to fight off said killer when he otherwise wouldn't have been able to.
“
Shhhhh!' Bill cried suddenly, although there had been no sound except their own faint footsteps. Richie struck a light. The walls of the tunnel had moved away, and the five of them seemed very small in this space under the city. They huddled together and Beverly felt a dreamy sense of déjà vu as she observed the gigantic flagstones on the floor and the hanging nets of cobweb. They were close now. Close. 'What do you hear?' she asked Bill, trying to look everywhere as the match in Richie's hand burned down, expecting to see some new surprise come lurching or flying out of the darkness. Rodan, anyone? The alien from that gruesome movie with Sigourney Weaver? A great scuttering rat with orange eyes and silver teeth? But there was nothing — only the dusty smell of the dark, and, far away, the thunder of running water, as if the drains were filling up. 'S-S-Something ruh-ruh-wrong,' Bill said. 'Mike — ' 'Mike?' Eddie asked. 'What about Mike?' 'I felt it, too,' Ben said. 'Is it . . . Bill, did he die?' 'No,' Bill said. His eyes were hazy and distant, unemotional — all of his alarm was in his tone and the defensive posture of his body. 'He . . . H-H-He . . . ' He swallowed. There was a click in his throat. His eyes widened 'Oh Oh no —!' 'Bill?' Beverly cried, alarmed. 'Bill, what is it? What — ' 'Gruh-gruh-grab my hub-hands!' Bill screamed. 'Kwuh-kwuh-quick!' Richie dropped the match and seized one of Bill's hands. Beverly grabbed the other. She groped with her free hand, and Eddie grasped it feebly with the hand at the end of his broken arm. Ben grasped his other hand and completed the circle by holding Richie's hand. 'Send him our power!' Bill cried in that same strange, deep voice. 'Send him our power, whatever You are, send him our power! Now! Now! Now!' Beverly felt something go out from them and toward Mike. Her head rolled on her shoulders in a kind of ecstasy, and the harsh whistle of Eddie's breathing merged with the headlong thunder of water in the drains. [...] Mike suddenly felt power wash into him — some primitive power that crammed his body like volts. He stiffened, fingers splaying out as if in a convulsion. His eyes widened. A grunt jerked out of him, and that sense of dreadful paralysis was driven from him as if by a roundhouse slap. His right hand pistoned out toward the nighttable. There was a plastic pitcher there and a heavy cafeteria-style water-glass beside it. His hand closed around the glass. Lamonica sensed the change; that dreamy, pleased light disappeared from his eyes and was replaced by wary confusion. He drew back a bit, and then Mike brought the glass up and smashed it into his face. Lamonica screamed and staggered backward, dropping the syringe. His hands went to his spouting face; blood ran down his wrists and splashed on his white tunic. The power left as suddenly as it had come.
„
~ IT
This higher power also enhances their physical capabilities. The most obvious example of this is when Mike was fending himself from Pennywise's bird form. Mike himself says he can feel a force helping him throw the tiles harder, allowing him to deal more damage to Pennywise when this method of attack was worthless otherwise.
“
He threw another piece of tile, and this time his throw was more powerful — he felt, he told the others much later, as if someone were behind him at that moment, and that someone had given his arm a tremendous push. This time there was no feathery thud; instead there was a splatting sound, the sound a kid's hand might make slapping into the surface of a bowl of half-solidified Jell-O. This time the bird screamed not in anger but in real pain.
„
~ IT
This is why the Losers Club are able to resist Pennywise as much as they did in the book, not because Pennywise was weak or anything, but because they were being aided by a higher power. Pennywise has been ripping apart humans, even entire groups of grown men, for hundreds of years at this point, it wouldn't make sense for these humans to be able to fight back against Pennywise without this explanation. As for what exactly this "higher power" is, it can be either Maturin or Gan himself (Or "The Other" as he is referred to in the book of IT). Both of these beings are far more powerful than the Deadlights, as will be explained later.
Pennywise himself observes that the Losers Club have a "mystical talismanic" quality to them, and speculates that they are agents of Gan/"The Other".
“
And yet there was a thought that insinuated itself no matter how strongly It tried to push the thought away. It was simply this: if all things flowed from It (as they surely had done since the Turtle sicked up the universe and then fainted inside its shell), how could any creature of this or any other world fool It or hurt It, no matter how briefly or triflingly? How was that possible? And so a last new thing had come to It, this not an emotion but a cold speculation: suppose It had not been alone, as It had always believed? Suppose there was Another? And suppose further that these children were agents of that Other? Suppose . . . suppose . . . It began to tremble. Hate was new. Hurt was new. Being crossed in Its purpose was new. But the most terrible new thing was this fear. Not fear of the children, that had passed, but the fear of not being alone.
„
~ IT
“
Surely there was no need for such fear; they were older now, and their number had been reduced from seven to five. Five was a number of power, but it did not have the mystical talismanic quality of seven.
„
~ IT
We also can confirm that the Losers Club are agents of Gan, since Gan was actually there during the Ritual of Chüd, helping them out behind the cosmic scenes.
“
He was flying past the Turtle now, and even at his tremendous skidding speed, the Turtle's plated side seemed to go on and on to his right. He thought dimly of riding in a train and passing one going in the other direction, a train that was so long it seemed eventually to stand still or even move backward. He could still hear It, yammering and buzzing, Its voice high and angry, not human, full of mad hate. But when the Turtle spoke, Its voice was blanked out utterly. The Turtle spoke in Bill's head, and Bill understood somehow that there was yet Another, and that Final Other dwelt in a void beyond this one. This Final Other was, perhaps, the creator of the Turtle, which only watched, and It, which only ate. This Other was a force beyond the universe, a power beyond all other power, the author of all there was.
„
~ IT
Also, in general Stephen King's books are full of humans with capabilities beyond typical people, even to a cosmic degree, especially in the Dark Tower series. So the prospect of superhumans is far from new in this verse anyway.
Maturin[]
Maturin > The Other Beam Guardians[]
As said before, Maturin is one of the twelve Beam Guardians. However, Maturin is special, and is the strongest among them. For one thing, Maturin is the most revered amongst them.
“
The Twelve Guardians, then, are instrumental to the very survival of the multiverse. Perhaps the most revered of the Guardians if Maturin the Turtle. Known in folklore as the "Great Turtle Upon Whose Shell the World Rests," legend has it that it was Maturin who caught the world upon his back shortly after it was created by Gan. Had Maturin not been there, all of Existence would have fallen into oblivion.
„
~ End-World Almanac
Amongst even other Beam Guardians like Shadrik, Maturin is described as "semi-divine".
“
The Guardians of the Beam are animal totems that protect the Portals located at the terminal points of each BEAM. Some of the Guardians, like the bear Shardik, are cyborgs. Others, such as the Turtle Guardian, are semi-divine. There are six pairs of Guardians, and each pair protects a single BEAM. The Guardian pairs are: Bear-Turtle, Elephant-Wolf, Rat-Fish, Bat-Hare, Eagle-Lion, Dog-Horse.
„
~ Dark Tower Glossary
Lastly, Maturin's position in the cosmology is greater than any of the other Beam Guardians. While each Beam Guardian protects just one Beam, Maturin holds all of existence on his back. After Gan created everything, including the Dark Tower, Maturin was able to catch it on his shell, and if it weren't for him then all of existence would have fallen into the Macroverse.
“
There are six Beams, as you did say, but there are twelve Guardians, one for each end of each Beam. This — for we're still on it — is the Beam of Shardik. Were you to go beyond the Tower, it would become the Beam of Maturin, the great turtle upon whose shell the world rests.
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
“Gan bore the world and moved on,” Roland replied. “Is that what you mean to say?” “Aye, and the world would have fallen into the abyss if not for the great turtle. Instead of falling, it landed on his back.”
„
~ Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
“
The Twelve Guardians, then, are instrumental to the very survival of the multiverse. Perhaps the most revered of the Guardians if Maturin the Turtle. Known in folklore as the "Great Turtle Upon Whose Shell the World Rests," legend has it that it was Maturin who caught the world upon his back shortly after it was created by Gan. Had Maturin not been there, all of Existence would have fallen into oblivion.
„
~ End-World Almanac
It is even implied that all of existence is contained within Maturin's mind. This sort of entails a reality-fiction transcendence between Maturin and the Dark Tower.
“
"See the TURTLE of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth. His thought is slow but always kind; He holds us all within his mind. On his back all vows are made; He sees the truth but mayn’t aid. He loves the land and loves the sea, And even loves a child like me.”
„
~ Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
This is actually backed up in IT. As said earlier, Maturin at least holds all of existence on his back, in the book of IT the main characters actually get to meet Maturin and are capable of fully seeing him. Examine so thoroughly that they can even see what appears to be entire galaxies within its damn toenails. Despite that, no one makes out any kind of Tower sitting on top of him. This directly means that Maturin is so much bigger than the Dark Tower that it completely vanishes when compared to Maturin in sheer size.
“
But there was something else here. Bill sensed it, felt it, in a crazy way smelled it: some large presence ahead in the dark. A Shape. He felt not fear but a sense of overmastering awe; here was a power which dwarfed Its power, and Bill had only time to think incoherently; Please, please, whatever You are, remember that I am very small- He rushed towards it and saw it was a great Turtle, its shell plated with many blazing colors. Its ancient reptilian head slowly poked out of its shell, and Bill thought he felt a vague contemptuous surprise from the thing that had cast him out here. The eyes of the Turtle were kind. Bill thought it must be the oldest thing anyone could imagine, older by far than It, which had claimed to be eternal. [...] He had reached the Turtle's heavily scaled back legs now; there was time enough to observe its titanic yet ancient flesh, time to struck with the wonder of its heavy toenails - they were an odd bluish-yellow color, and he could see galaxies swimming in each one.
„
~ IT
Maturin > The Deadlights[]
Maturin is said to completely dwarf the Deadlights in power.
“
But there was something else here. Bill sensed it, felt it, in a crazy way smelled it: some large presence ahead in the dark. A Shape. He felt not fear but a sense of overmastering awe; here was a power which dwarfed Its power, and Bill had only time to think incoherently; Please, please, whatever You are, remember that I am very small- He rushed towards it and saw it was a great Turtle, its shell plated with many blazing colors. Its ancient reptilian head slowly poked out of its shell, and Bill thought he felt a vague contemptuous surprise from the thing that had cast him out here. The eyes of the Turtle were kind. Bill thought it must be the oldest thing anyone could imagine, older by far than It, which had claimed to be eternal.
„
~ IT
Extras[]
Maturin can puke up entire universes by accident.
“
Even if it wasn't, it was still a stupid old thing, an even if the Turtle had vomited the universe out whole, that didn't change the fact of its stupidity
„
~ IT
“
I'm the Turtle, son. I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it; I had a bellyache.
„
~ IT
Debunk #4 - Maturin Choking on Galaxies[]
Another idea that I've seen thrown around in Dark Tower debates, usually as an attempt to downplay beings like Maturin and IT, is that Maturin supposedly choked to death on some galaxies. This can be explained away, rather easily.
Firstly, the source of this claim doesn't actually derive from an established event from the book of IT, rather, it comes from a statement from the Deadlights.
“
— well here you are again, Little Buddy! but what's happened to your hair? you're just as bald as a cueball! sad! what sad, short lives humans live! each life a short pamphlet written by an idiot! tut-tut, and all that I'm still Bill Denbrough. You killed my brother and you killed Stan the Man you tried to kill Mike. And I'm going to tell you something: this time I'm not going to stop until the job's done — the Turtle was stupid, too stupid to lie. he told you the truth, Little Buddy . . . the time only comes around once, you hurt me . . . you surprised me. never again. I am the one who called you back. I. You called, all right, but You weren't the only one — your friend the Turtle . . . he died a few years ago. the old idiot puked inside his shell and choked to death on a galaxy or two. very sad, don't you think? but also quite bizarre, deserves a place in Ripley's Believe It or Not, that's what I think, happened right around the same time you had that writer's block, you must have felt him go, Little Buddy I don't believe that, either — oh you'll believe . . . you'll see. this time, Little Buddy, I intend you to see everything, including the deadlights
„
~ IT
It is pretty obvious that Pennywise isn't being genuine here, this is all an attempt to mess with Bill and maybe scare him away. Throughout the book up until this point, Pennywise is becoming more and more worried about the Losers Club, and sees them as a genuine threat to him. This is exactly why he gave them all amnesia when they left Derry, hoping they don't remember about his existence. In response to this, people would then point to the fact that we see what appears to be Maturin's corpse.
“
Richie was in greater darkness than he had ever known, than he had ever suspected might exist, travelling at what felt like the speed of light, and being shaken as a terrier shakes a rat. He sensed that there was something up ahead, some titanic corpse. The Turtle he had heard Bill lamenting in his fading voice? Must be. It was only a shell, a dead husk. Then he was past, rushing on into the darkness.
„
~ IT
This can also be explained away rather easily. One of the most utilized abilities of Pennywise is his ability to create illusions, false images meant to trick people. Given Pennywise is already trying to bullsh*t Bill and scare his group away, it would make sense for this to be an illusion to make it more convincing. There is no reason to assume this to be real, given if Maturin actually died, that would have devastating effects on the multiverse as a whole. As explained above, Maturin has a very important place in the Dark Tower cosmology, with him holding all of existence on his back. If Maturin died, then all of existence would be gone too. Killing the Beam Guardians was literally part of the Crimson King's plan to destroy all of existence, and also as explained above, the Guardians are crucial to the survival of the multiverse. It also just doesn't make any sense for this to be even possible. As explained above, the Beam Guardians are not only established to be beyond Ka, so they're beyond the concepts of life and death, but they're also absolutely huge. Lesser Guardians like Shadrik are so much bigger than the collective multiverse, that it can fit inside his eyes, and Maturin himself can puke up universes. So it would be physically impossible for Maturin to choke on a galaxy, just from how big he is.
Bessa/The Rose[]
Bessa is the wife of Gan, and due to her position, she is the second strongest being in Dark Tower, possessing control over the cosmos unlike any other god or goddess. Only behind Gan himself.
“
According to Mid-World folklore, Bessa is the beloved wife of the great god Gan, who is the animating spirit of the Dark Tower. As the wife of the initiator of ka, Bessa is believed to be the only god or goddess with enough influence upon the forces of the universe to actually alter a human being's fate.
„
~ Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead
Bessa's symbol is the Rose. The Rose is actually a structure of the same nature as the Dark Tower, both being fundamental hubs of existence.
“
Roland turned and ran for the board fence, picking his way through the tumbled litter with unconscious agility in spite of the pain in his hip. As he ran, one thought returned to him and beat at his mind like a heart; Two. Two hubs of existence. The rose and the Tower. The Tower and the rose. All the rest was held between them, spinning in fragile complexity.
„
~ Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
“
"There are two hubs of existence," he heard Roland say. "Two!" Like Jake, he could have been a thousand miles away. "The Tower...and the rose. Yet they are the same." "The same," Jake agreed. His face was painted with brilliant light, dark red, and yellow.
„
~ Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
Gan/The Final Void[]
Gan Created Everything[]
As said above, Gan is the being that made all of existence.
“
Mid-World's largest Portals, and those most heavily protected, were the Beam Portals that Alain and Cuthbert had named. They had been created when Gan spun the universe from the magical substance of the Prim.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
At the beginning of our era there were no worlds, and no universes, only the seething, raw magic of the Prim. This phosphorescent soup of creation grew like a great, hungry, opalescent ameba. It ate the nothingness, and in the silence it murmured and whispered.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
“
In the beginning, there was only the Prim, that primordial soup of creation. Out of the Prim arose Gan, animating spirit of the Dark Tower. From the magical waters dripping out of his navel, Gan spun the physical universe. But sensing that one world was not large enough to contain all possible manifestations of life and experience, he divided the universe into multiple, parallel realities, and set six magnetic Beams in place to maintain the alignment of time, space, size, and dimension in all of them.
„
~ The Gunslinger Born
Gan >>> Everything Else[]
Gan, or "The Other" as he is referred to in IT, resides in a void beyond even the Deadlights. Gan is also outright said to be a power beyond all other powers, and the author of all there was, including beings like Maturin and the Deadlights.
“
He was flying past the Turtle now, and even at his tremendous skidding speed, the Turtle's plated side seemed to go on and on to his right. He thought dimly of riding in a train and passing one going in the other direction, a train that was so long it seemed eventually to stand still or even move backward. He could still hear It, yammering and buzzing, Its voice high and angry, not human, full of mad hate. But when the Turtle spoke, Its voice was blanked out utterly. The Turtle spoke in Bill's head, and Bill understood somehow that there was yet Another, and that Final Other dwelt in a void beyond this one. This Final Other was, perhaps, the creator of the Turtle, which only watched, and It, which only ate. This Other was a force beyond the universe, a power beyond all other power, the author of all there was.
„
~ IT
Gan is actually so far transcendent to the rest of the cosmology, that even IT is nothing more than the smallest mote inside his mind.
“
Where It really lived; where It existed as a titanic, glowing core which might be no more than the smallest mote in the Other's mind.
„
~ IT
The mere thought of Gan's existence was enough to strike fear into Pennywise, causing it to tremble, a feeling that it was unfamiliar with up until that point.
“
And yet there was a thought that insinuated itself no matter how strongly It tried to push the thought away. It was simply this: if all things flowed from It (as they surely had done since the Turtle sicked up the universe and then fainted inside its shell), how could any creature of this or any other world fool It or hurt It, no matter how briefly or triflingly? How was that possible? And so a last new thing had come to It, this not an emotion but a cold speculation: suppose It had not been alone, as It had always believed? Suppose there was Another? And suppose further that these children were agents of that Other? Suppose . . . suppose . . . It began to tremble. Hate was new. Hurt was new. Being crossed in Its purpose was new. But the most terrible new thing was this fear. Not fear of the children, that had passed, but the fear of not being alone.
„
~ IT
Conclusion[]
The Multiverse: 1-A+ - Outerverse Level+
The Dark Tower + The Rose: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Baseline)
The Beam Guardians + Demon Elementals: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (One layer above baseline)
The Prim: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Two layers)
The Macroverse/Todash Darkness: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Three layers)
The Deadlights: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Four layers)
Maturin: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Four layers. Just higher than IT in it)
Bessa': High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Same level of existence as Gan, just weaker than him)
Gan/The Final Void: High 1-A - High Outerverse level (Five layers)
Stephen's inspirations for the series included Robert Browning's poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the "spaghetti Westerns" of the '70s.
Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.
Gan also known as God or the Other is the creative overforce in the cosmology of Stephen King's universes. He is emerged from the primal chaos of the Prim, manifested himself as the Dark Tower in Mid-World. His wife is Bessa, who manifested herself as a rose.
So, what you (probably) don't know is that, legitimately, the Dark Tower movie(s) are part are of the same franchise as the movie IT. Like, Roland Deschain and Pennywise are from the same universe. In IT (the book) a turtle tells Bill how to defeat it.
Indeed, the poem is even relevant to the contemporary society, since the speaker's allusions to slavery can be interpreted as metaphorical ways of talking about the ongoing disenfranchisem*nt of Black people in the United States.
The Dark Tower series is a mess of Christian allegory. it feels schizophrenic to the point of nonsense, unfortunately. in earlier of King's works he has lambasted blind religious zealotry (starting with Carrie).
King was a fan of Lovecraft's pantheon of gods that formed the world that served as a backdrop to his stories. King's characters of Randall Flag and Pennywise are inspired by gods created by H.P. Lovecraft and are recurring ones in his work and prominently featured in the books The Dark Tower, The Stand, and It.
His goal is to topple the Dark Tower which serves as the linchpin of time and space, destroying the multitude of universes which revolve around it so that he can rule in the primordial chaos which follows.
Insomnia also appears as a book in the series. It is given to Roland by Moses Carver. The connection to his quest was un-earthed by the Calvins and they believed that it would help him on his journey concluding it was the keystone book to The Dark Tower Series.
In IT, is Pennywise the clown a demon from hell? No, Pennywise is just a form that 'It' takes. 'It' is actually an ancient being that's been around since the creation of the Universe/Universes. These beings are mentioned in Stephen Kings 'The Dark Tower' series.
If you want to get technical, It is an alien, but It's origin goes well beyond that. It is actually an ancient cosmic deity. A god of destruction, not just of our world, but of multiple worlds and even multiple universes.
While, like many works in its genre, The Dark Tower was partly influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, the work that inspired the original idea for the series is one that may be lesser-known to readers today—English poet Robert Browning's “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.”
Based on Stephen King's novel series of the same name, the film stars Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, a gunslinger on a quest to protect the Dark Tower—a mythical structure which supports all realities—while Matthew McConaughey plays his nemesis Walter Padick (The Man in Black), and Tom Taylor stars as Jake Chambers, a ...
There are a lot of lists and charts that show all or most of the connections. Some are major, some more like Easter eggs. Off the top of my head, the major ones are Salem's Lot, The Stand, Insomia, and parts of Hearts in Atlantis. There is also the short story Little Sisters of Eluria, that actually stars Roland.
In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, Arthurian legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for the protagonist, Roland Deschain.
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