NOTE: the image discussed here contains spoilers for the entire Dark Tower series! Read on if you are happy with that.

Also, you can download a medium resolution version of the image (where you can read all the text) here. (NEW! Now with Don Callahan’s name spelled correctly).

Much of the motivation for me starting this site is to graphically present many of the ideas from The Dark Tower. When first reading the series I became confused as to who was where, which character came from which version of America, and how did these other Americas connect with the Keystone World (i.e. our world). This was particularly the case in Books V-VII, once the ka-tet starts using Black 13 and the Unfound Door in Doorway Cave and it all gets very complicated!

Shown here is the result of many months of work in sifting through The Dark Tower books, searching for dates and times and sequences of events. I then thought about how to represent these worlds relative to each other. This is what I came up with: –

Across the top of the chart are the locations in Mid-World in the order they are physically located along the Path of the Beam, from before Pricetown where we first hear about Roland’s journey in The Gunslinger, through to the Dark Tower itself, in the field of Roses known as Can’-Ka No Rey.

In the lower portion of the chart are the various versions of America. In these Americas, everything is presented chronologically, starting with the birth of Robert Browning in 1812, and finishing with the publication of The Wind Through the Keyhole in 2012. The chronology is shown along the bottom of the chart for easy reference, while specific dates are provided next to events (when they are known).

Down the left hand side of the chart are the names of each world. There are some conundrums here (which I will discuss in future entries), such as – which world is Jack Mort in? He interacts with both Jake and Detta / Odetta, yet they are from different versions of America. Also on the right hand side there are a couple more worlds identified, these being the world Susannah ends up in with Jake and Eddie Torens, as well as the world of Insomnia, where Patrick Danville originates. And of course Blaine takes our journeyers into the world of Captain Trips featured in The Stand.

Much action takes place in the Keystone World, either in New York City or else in New England. I have therefore divided the Keystone World into horizontal strips, each one representing a location (such as The Vacant Lot / Tet Corporation Headquarters in New York, Turtleback Lane in Maine, and so on).

And of course, between Mid-World and all the Americas are the doorways that pass through The Prim.

The journey taken by each of the major characters is shown using a different coloured line on the chart. When characters’ lines run alongside each other these characters interact.

So there it is. As mentioned, I will discuss some of the implications of the chart in later posts. I am happy for you to download and use this version of the chart which I have produced at a resolution of 75DPI. It probably won’t print out terribly well, but you can zoom in quite nicely and read all the text at this resolution and it keeps the file size at a reasonable level. You can find it on Imgur here.

Finally, if you are interested in purchasing a high resolution poster of the chart please let me know in the comments or on the contact page. UPDATE: the chart is now available for purchase here: –

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/SolnordalGraphics

In the meantime,

long days and pleasant nights.

Chris