The Wind Through the Keyhole

Posted Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My first read through of The Dark Tower started when I was 19 years old; I remember that upon finishing it the first thing I wanted to do was start it all over again. I actually went and found my copy of The Gunslinger and read the first couple chapters over again, and it was in those moments that I came to a true understanding of the full weight of the epic story that King had created. Therefore, I have a small soft spot in my reader’s heart for this amazing story. What I truly want to focus on within this particular novel itself is the events of the story Roland tells, the story of The Wind Through the Keyhole which raised a very interesting question in my mind.

The story follows Young Tim and his journey through the Endless Woods; he who would grow to be Tim Stoutheart known as tet-fa, friend of the tet, until the day he became ka-tet and one of the very few gunslingers who was not born from the proven line of Arthur the Eld. Tim Stoutheart, like our hero Roland, was subject to the allure of our beloved Tower and the question is raised by Young Bill whether or not Tim ever reaches it, and it is a good question.

I'll hide what comes next behind a spoiler tag since it is partially speculation posited by the ending of the series as a whole for those who may not have had the opportunity as of yet to read the end.

It has been suggested that Roland is cursed by The Tower to repeat his journey eternally in punishment for his crimes and killing in the name of The Tower. However, he is afforded opportunities to avoid this fate should he choose to renounce The Tower in the form of his drawing of his new ka-tet. I have posited that it is possible Roland’s world of Mid-World relies upon an individual journeying for The Tower in order to maintain a semblance of balance and to prevent the world from permanently “moving on.” If this is the case, then who is to say that Tim Stoutheart wasn’t a gunslinger who chose to venture for The Tower? Is it possible that he, like Roland, was also subject to the same cycling process? That the cycles of Tim Stoutheart held Mid-World in balance for many, many years until he chose to renounce it? That his renouncing of The Tower then caused the “moving on” of the world to accelerate until Roland’s journey and cycles began? Though the world is noticeably moving on and changing, as Roland notices, I wonder if it truly is so long as he continues to cycle or if it is maintaining itself because of his cycling. We may never have a full understanding of how the cycling impacts not only Mid-World but the other worlds as well.

Originally posted on my Tumblr.

The Wind Through the Keyhole fits into the Dark Tower series between book four and five when Roland and his Ka-tet are forced to take shelter from a storm. While waiting the storm out Roland tells a tale from his past where he and Jamie DeCurry are sent to investigate some murders that involve a shape shifter called a skin-man. During this tale Roland tells the tale of “The Wind Through the Keyhole” to a scared child just as his mother did for him when he was a child. This addition to the Dark Tower series does not affect the story in the other seven books but instead adds a little insight to Roland’s past and Midworld itself. Though not an essential story to the Dark Tower, it is a short fun read for any fan of the Dark Tower series and is also written well enough that readers do not need to read the first four books to enjoy it!