So after a long, long time I finally finished The Dark Tower by Stephen King and rather than write a lengthy review, I want to reflect a bit on the meaning of the piece. I’ll say for starters that I really enjoyed watching King stick the landing, a landing I won’t spoil here. What I can share is how I didn’t quite imagine the ending was possible until the last book, about the time in my life I had considered a similar ending to my own fantasy series. Not identical, no, but he’s playing — consistently — with some of the major driving themes I care about.

I’ve also found the critical article he would have read when he was 19 that, I believe, inspired the work in the first place. Not just Browning’s poem, but a specific commentary and perspective on Browning’s poem that was rather unique. I hope at some point to write a more academic piece about that connection — whether here or for an academic market — but for now, let’s just say that the entire work focuses on the nature of creativity: its call, its initiation, its presence, its connection, its culmination, its despairing cycle.

Table of Contents

• The Dark Tower draws, is drawn, and connects the drawer and drawn.
• Commala-come-call.
• Draw
  • Etymology
  • Verb

The Dark Tower draws, is drawn, and connects the drawer and drawn.

It all comes down to the word “draw.” As in drawn towards something, The Drawing of the Three, to draw a gun, to draw a picture (full definitions below). Time is drawn long, extended. The day draws near. The gunslinger draws near the tower and draws poison out of the wounds of the worlds. The quest draws out all kinds of emotional memories from him. And it represents both the gunslinger to King and King to the world.

King, as you may know, shows up as a character. If you know me, you know that I care often about this and the magic of creativity. It’s not — as he asserts — the idea of “metafiction” so much as the communication between creatives and others, the special magic of making and unmaking that creativity brings to the world.

And we are possessed of getting towards the goal of the thing. Possessed of The Dark Tower every time we set down to create. It draws us towards itself, even as we draw it.

If we take up the quest — and complete it — indeed we find ourselves in the unenviable position of reaching our goal and finding that, upon reaching it, we are possessed once more with being drawn towards it.

We are drawn, the drawing draws, we draw.

Once we’ve drawn, we are drawn again.

The drawing connects us all.

It binds us — our minds — together in a borderline telepathic bond. (You are, in fact, reading this right now and not present in my room — yet we share a meeting of the minds, how? Even if I’m long dead, how? Truly?)

And we draw it all together.

Draw.

And are drawn again.

That’s The Dark Tower in a nutshell, guns and monsters, and bottles of Nozz-a-La and Commala-come-come.

It draws.

Commala-come-call.

Commala-come-call
We hail the one who made us all,
Who made the men and made the maids,
Who made the great and small.

Commala-come-call!
He made us great and small!
And yet how great the hand of fate
That rules us one and all.

Commala-come-ki,
There’s a time to live and one to die.
With your back against the final wall
Ya gotta let the bullets fly.

Commala-come-ki!
Let the bullets fly!
Don’t ‘ee mourn for me, my lads
When it comes my day to die.

Commala-come-kass!
The child has come at last!
Sing your song, O sing it well,
The child has come to pass.

Commala-come-kass,
The worst has come to pass.
The Tower trembles on its ground;
The child has come at last.

Commala-come-come,
The battle’s now begun!
And all the foes of men and rose
Rise with the setting sun.”

— Stephen King

Draw

Etymology

From Middle English drawen, draȝen, dragen (“to drag, pull, push, draw (out), go to, make, add, etc.”),^[1] from Old English dragan, from Proto-West Germanic *dragan, from Proto-Germanic *draganą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to draw, pull”). Doublet of drag and draught.

Verb

draw (third-person singular simple present draws, present participle drawing, simple past drew, past participle drawn or (colloquial and nonstandard) drew)

1. To pull or exert force.
   1. To pull (something) in a particular manner or direction. [from 8th c.]He drew a sheaf of papers from his bag.
   2. To drag (a person, thing, or part of the body), especially along the ground. [from 10th c.] quotations ▼
   3. (transitive) To pull (a plough, vehicle etc.); to cause (something) to move forwards by pulling it. [from 11th c.] quotations ▼
   4. (archery) To pull back (the string of a bow) in preparation for shooting. [from 12th c.]
   5. To move (a part of one’s body) in a particular direction. [from 13th c.]She settled in the window seat, drawing her leg up beneath her.
   6. To pull (a curtain, blinds etc.) open or closed. [from 13th c.] quotations ▼You should draw the curtains at night.She drew the curtains to let in the sunlight.
   7. (intransitive, now rare) To pull something along; to have force to move anything by pulling. [from 14th c.]This horse draws well.
   8. To pull (one’s face, features) out of shape, from emotion etc. [from 14th c.] quotations ▼
   9. (now rare) To construct (a wall, canal etc.) from one point to another. [from 15th c.] quotations ▼
   10. To require (a depth of water) for floating. [from 15th c.] quotations ▼A ship draws ten feet of water.
   11. (reflexive) To assume a specific position or attitude. [from 17th c.]He drew himself to his full height and glowered at the interloper.
   12. To pull (a belt or other item) so that it tightens or wraps around something more closely. [from 17th c.]She took a deep breath and drew her corset-strings.
   13. (curling) To make a shot that lands gently in the house (the circular target) without knocking out other stones. [from 18th c.]
   14. (intransitive, now rare) To be pulled along (in a specified way). [from 19th c.]The carriage draws easily.
   15. (cricket) To play (a short-length ball directed at the leg stump) with an inclined bat so as to deflect the ball between the legs and the wicket. [from 19th c.]
   16. (golf) To hit (the ball) with the toe of the club so that it is deflected toward the left. [from 19th c.] quotations ▼
   17. (billiards) To strike (the cue ball) below the center so as to give it a backward rotation which causes it to take a backward direction on striking another ball. [from 19th c.]
2. To attract, exert an influence on.
   1. To induce (the mind, eyes, attention etc.) to be directed at or focused on something. [from 9th c.] quotations ▼From the moment she entered the room, all eyes were drawn to her.His mind was drawn back to the events of the preceding morning.
   2. To cause (someone) to come to a particular place, condition, or course of action; to attract (a person). [from 12th c.] quotations ▼
   3. To take (air, smoke etc.) into the lungs; to inhale. [from 13th c.] quotations ▼I drew a deep breath and wiped my brow.
   4. (transitive, intransitive) To attract (something) by means of a physical force, especially magnetism or gravity; (figurative) to act as an inducement or enticement. [from 14th c.] quotations ▼
   5. To cause (something); to bring (something) about as a consequence. [from 14th c.] quotations ▼
   6. To provoke or attract (a particular response or reaction). [from 16th c.]The president’s comments have drawn strong criticism from rightwing media outlets.
   7. (intransitive) To have a draught; to allow air to be passed through in order to allow for combustion. [from 18th c.]The chimney won’t draw properly if it’s clogged up with soot.
3. To extend, protract.
   1. (obsolete) To extend the duration of (something); to prolong. [10th–19th c.]
   2. To make (wire) by pulling it through an aperture; to stretch (metal) into a wire. [from 13th c.]to draw a mass of metal into wire
   3. To stretch or elongate. [from 14th c.]The dough was run through the pasta machine and drawn into a long ribbon.
   4. (intransitive) To become contracted; to shrink. [from 17th c.] quotations ▼
   5. (nautical) Of a sail, to fill with wind. [from 17th c.]A ship’s sail is said to draw when it is filled with wind.
4. To move, travel, approach.
   1. (reflexive, now rare) To move in a specific direction. [from 12th c.] quotations ▼
   2. (intransitive, used with prepositions and adverbs) To move steadily in a particular direction or into a specific position. [from 13th c.]The runners drew level with each other as they approached the finish line.Draw near to the fire and I will tell you a tale.The end of the world draws near.Heavy clouds drew together above our heads.
   3. To come to, towards (a particular moment in time); to approach (a time). [from 14th c.] quotations ▼As it drew towards evening, I packed up and headed for home.
   4. (hunting, now rare) To search for game; to track a quarry. [from 16th c.] quotations ▼
   5. To extract, remove, select.
      1. To pull out, unsheathe (a sword, firearm etc.). [from 12th c.]They drew their swords and fought each other.
      2. To take (water) from a well or other source. [from 13th c.] quotations ▼draw water from a well
      3. To disembowel (someone); to remove the viscera from (an animal), especially before cooking. [from 13th c.] quotations ▼
      4. (transitive, medicine, now rare) To extract (pus, humours, etc.) by means of medical treatment. [from 14th c.]
      5. To select (an item) at random to decide which of a group of people will receive or undergo something; to select (a person) by this process. [from 14th c.] quotations ▼
      6. To conduct (a lottery); to select (the numbers) for a lottery; to win (a prize) in a lottery. [from 16th c.] quotations ▼The winning lottery numbers were drawn every Tuesday.
      7. To extract (a tooth). [from 16th c.]
      8. To extract (juice, fluids etc.) from something by pressure, osmosis or similar. [from 16th c.] quotations ▼
      9. (card games) To take or be dealt (a card) from the deck; to have (a particular hand) as a result of this. [from 16th c.]At the start of their turn, each player must draw a card.
      10. (transitive, obsolete) To withdraw. [from 17th c.] quotations ▼
      11. (transitive or intransitive) To end a game in a draw (with neither side winning). [from 17th c.] quotations ▼We drew last time we played.  I drew him last time I played him.  I drew my last game against him.
      12. (intransitive, transitive) To steep; to leave (tea) temporarily in water to allow the flavour to increase. [from 18th c.] quotations ▼Tea is much nicer if you let it draw for more than two minutes before pouring.
      13. (intransitive) To take or be dealt a playing card from the deck. See also draw out.Jill has four diamonds; she’ll try to draw for a flush.
      14. To run (a bath). [from 19th c.]
      15. (analogous) To consume (power).The circuit draws three hundred watts.
   6. To obtain, elicit.
      1. To take (something) from a particular source, especially of information; to derive. [from 13th c.]He drew comfort from the thought that he was not the first to suffer this way.She draws her subject matter from the events of her own life.
      2. To call forth (something) from a person, to elicit. [from 14th c.] quotations ▼
      3. To deduce or infer (a conclusion); to make (a deduction). [from 16th c.] quotations ▼He tried to draw a conclusion from the facts.
      4. To receive (a salary); to withdraw (money) from a bank etc. [from 16th c.]to draw money from a bank
      5. To elicit information from (someone); to induce (a person) to speak on some subject. (Now frequently in passive.) [from 19th c.]He refused to be drawn on the subject
   7. To represent.
      1. (transitive) To produce (a shape, figure, picture etc.) with pencil, crayon, chalk, or other implement. [from 14th c.]A crude picture had been drawn on the wall of his poky apartment.
      2. (transitive) To depict (something) linguistically; to portray in words. [from 14th c.]Her first novel contained a host of characters who were richly and convincingly drawn.
      3. (transitive) To draw up, compose (a document). [from 14th c.] quotations ▼to draw a memorial, a deed, or bill of exchange
      4. (intransitive) To produce an image of something by artistic means; to make drawings. [from 15th c.]When I came in she was drawing on a big piece of coloured paper.
      5. (transitive) To produce a visual representation of (a person or thing) by lines and marks with pencil, pen, paints etc. [from 16th c.]