Warning: This article contains major SPOILERS for The Dark Tower movie & books

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The Dark Tower, the long-awaited big screen adaptation of Stephen King's epic series of novels, is out now in theaters. Fans have been waiting for this moment for a long time and, despite the poor reviews, the movie is still worth checking out - if only for all the nods to the "Dark Tower" series, as well as King's other works. However, one of the movie's biggest flaws is that it doesn't explain enough of the background story, or where exactly the movie fits in its timeline, resulting in confusion from both those who have read the books, and complete newcomers to the franchise.

Whatever your opinion on the movie, though, it should be remembered that King is one of the most prolific, talented, and respected living authors. His body of work is vast, and though many would associate him with the horror genre, "The Dark Tower" mostly belongs to the fantasy genre. If you thought J.K. Rowling had created an epic universe with Harry Potter, it's nothing compared to "The Dark Tower". King describes the series as his magnum opus, and with good reason. The story comprises seven full-length novels, published between 1982 and 2004, with an eighth novel (which sits chronologically between volumes four and five) published after the rest of the series. Together, the eight books are more than 1,300,000 words long.

Matthew McCounaghey and Idris Elba in a poster for The Dark Tower

Telling the story of Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger from Gilead, in Mid-World, "The Dark Tower" is a battle of good versus evil, and while primarily a fantasy series, it dabbles into the sci-fi, Western, and horror genres as well (it is Stephen King, after all). The series is based off of the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," by Robert Browning and The Dark Tower opens with one of the most classic lines in modern literature: "The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

The Man in Black (played in the movie by Matthew McConaughey) is on a mission to reach the Dark Tower and bring about its destruction. The Tower sits at the center of all existence, with eight beams flowing from it, each keeping a different world in balance. If the tower falls, then so too does all of existence. The Man in Black serves The Crimson King, who wants to rule in the chaos that will follow the destruction of the tower. Meanwhile Roland (Idris Elba) is both chasing The Man in Black, to try and stop him reaching the tower, and being chased by him. In his past, The Man in Black had an affair with Roland's mother, Gabriella. When Roland found out, he ended up killing his mother by accident instead of the Man in Black. As such, both men want to avenge her death, and Roland has the added burden of trying to stop multiple worlds being destroyed.

During the course of the novels, Roland brings others on his journey, forming what is known as a ka-tet; a telepathic family who are all then set on the path to the tower and unable to resist its call. First, Roland meets the young Jake Chambers, who has died in New York City in our world, and is now in Mid-World. Roland then travels to New York in another point in time, and meets Eddie Dean, a drug addict, who manages to get clean while traveling with Roland. Finally, at another point in time, he meets Susannah Walker, a paraplegic woman. There was much confusion when it was revealed the movie wouldn't introduce Eddie and Susannah; they form an integral part of the books, and it's nigh on impossible to tell Roland's story without bringing them into it, not least because Susannah ends up giving birth to Mordred; a shape-shifting being that is fathered by both The Crimson King and Roland.

While "The Dark Tower" focuses mainly on Roland's future, the books also spend a lot of time in his past. In fact, the entire fourth novel, Wizard and Glass, is more or less a flashback to Roland's formative years, and will be the subject of the tie-in Dark Tower TV series. Alain and Cuthbert are Roland's two closest friends, and the trio embark upon a long adventure together, where Roland meets the love of his life, Susan Delgado. While Alain and Cuthbert wouldn't necessarily feature in the first movie, they would be expected to feature in the TV series, certainly. This then begs the question: where does The Dark Tower movie fit into King's series of novels?

In fact, The Dark Tower is neither a prequel nor a sequel, nor is it a retelling of one book or more. In the final novel, The Dark Tower, Roland reaches the eponymous tower, only to find that his story will start over again. This is not properly explained or examined in the movie, but the Horn of Eld plays a big part in the continuous cycle. The horn has been handed down through generations of gunslingers, the last of which is Roland. Roland entrusted the horn to the care of Cuthbert, who used it to rally the last of the gunslingers when he needed reinforcements in battle against John Farson (one of the many iterations of the Man in Black). He blew and blew, but no help came, and Cuthbert was killed. Roland hid among the dead bodies until it was safe to emerge, and left the horn on the battlefield in his haste to pursue the Man in Black.

When Roland's tale begins again in The Dark Tower, he has the Horn of Eld by his side, hinting that he picked it up from the battlefield this time, and is a little closer to getting the perfect retelling of his tale, and that, in essence, is what The Dark Tower movie is; another retelling of Roland's tale, with similarities and differences. The idea being that Roland's story will begin again and again for all eternity. So to truly fit the movie into canon, you'd need to watch it after reading all of the books. Depending on your reading speed, though, that could be a long way off.

The Crimson King in Stephen King's Dark Tower

Perhaps the biggest shame with The Dark Tower movie adaptation is that while it might (hopefully) prompt some to pick up the books, it's more likely to put others off; it's a messy telling of an epic and truly brilliant story. Too much is left unexplained, and with a running time of only 95 minutes, it could never have been any other way. If director Nikolaj Arcel had taken just the first novel, and brought that to life, three hours would probably only just about be time to do that one story justice. But let's not forget that "The Dark Tower" is a masterpiece, and the tie-in TV series could be the start of something really great; a good ten episode arc or more to tell Roland's origins could then pave the way for more of the "Dark Tower" novels to be brought to life in subsequent seasons. Moreover, one of the best elements of "The Dark Tower" is how it ties into so many other King's works, and that could also be fun to explore on screen.

As well as reading "The Dark Tower" series, if you want to get the full experience, it's worth reading The Stand and Salem's Lot first. Randall Flagg, another one of the Man in Black's alter egos, is the main antagonist in The Stand. If you want to read all the novels he appears in, you'd also need to take in The Eyes of the Dragon, Hearts in Atlantis, and Gwendy's Button Box, too. In Salem's Lot - said to be King's favorite of all his books - Father Callahan leads a desperate fight against the evil vampire, Kurt Barlow. Father Callahan's story is then continued in "The Dark Tower" novels five and six, Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah. It's helpful to be able to make that connection when he appears, since he plays an important role and so does his background.

After you've finished all of those, you might want to dig into some other connecting King novels, too. There are many; the author has cleverly woven almost all of his works into each other somehow, with varying degrees of separation. For example, in "The Dark Tower," a psychic vampire named Dandelo appears. He is not the same person as Pennywise, the clown from IT, but many King fans assume him to be the same species, and The Dark Tower movie picked up on this. Danny Torrance from The Shining is mentioned in "The Dark Tower," as is Cujo. Again, these connections were both featured in the movie and the trailers. Low Men appear in UR, are assumed to appear in From a Buick 8, and The Regulators (though the term is not used).

Many other characters, places, phrases and meanings that King first used in 'The Dark Tower' series are carried over into stories such as 'Insomnia,' 'The Shawshank Redemption,' 'Pet Semetary,' and 'Cell.' Finally, The Crimson King is known as Satan in our world, and King has worked him into many tales, including 'Insomnia' and 'Hearts in Atlantis.' Once you've gotten to grips with the wealth of characters and places that King delivers in 'The Dark Tower,' all of the above books are also worth reading, just so you can give a wry smile when you know exactly who or what the author is referring to. So, if The Dark Tower movie didn't entertain you as much as it should have, there's always the library.

Next: The Dark Tower: Who Should Play Young Roland in the TV Show?

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