The grand old ones should have a presence

When exploring a series as expansive and deep as Stephen King's The Dark Towerit's easy to get lost in the heart of the story and forget all the little details that make that story as rich and engaging as it is. The heart of the story, Roland the Gunslinger's quest to protect the Dark Tower from the evil Crimson King, is always at the forefront of the story. And yet there are so many other figures and characters involved in the story that deserve a place in the upcoming Mike Flanagan adaptation. One group of people who deserve a voice in the series is The Great Old Ones.

Also known as the Old Ones, this group was an ancient race of humans who lived thousands of years before Roland and his home of Gilead existed. They were instrumental in the construction of not only the cities and landscapes of All-World, but the machines and technology that Roland comes into contact with on his journey. Most importantly, they had a hand in how the Dark Tower existed in Roland's time, combining science with magic in ways that would affect Roland's journey forever. For this and many other reasons, The Great Old Ones deserve a presence in Mike Flanagan's The Dark Tower.

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The great old ones, explained

The Dark Tower Series Gunslinger

A powerful race of humans who mastered technology and science at a rapid pace, the Great Old Ones were instrumental in how All-World would one day exist, much like humanity did before the bombs dropped in Fall-out. They helped create a wonderful society built on technology and founded great cities such as Lud (a primary location in Book 3 of the series, The wastelands). They were also key to creating powerful machines like Blaine the Mono, an advanced artificial intelligence fused into a train that could travel over 800 miles per hour. They would later become an enemy of Roland and his band of heroes.

The society's culture is very unknown, never experienced in books or comics before. But according to the man in black, aka Randall Flagg, they were responsible for curing cancer, traveling to the moon and even mastering artificial insemination. But once they gained near-godlike control over their technological advances, they began to turn on each other, using their creations to destroy each other rather than uplift each other. Companies like North Central Positronics emerged and used their technology to fuel their own greed, poisoning the air with pollution and radiation in the process.

Their greatest achievement was mastering the ability to manipulate the fabric of the multiverse itself, such as the energy beams that hold it and reality in place. They could replace or merge these with their technology, and could use the tower's many doors to travel to different worlds and time periods. They used the doors to travel to tragic and significant moments in time for entertainment. This trip also affected how much the All-World and Keystone World took on similarities to each other as well.

It was discovered that the Great Old Ones and their destructive behavior were influenced by none other than Maeryln, the ancient entity and agent of chaos, who was one of Arthur Eld's greatest enemies. He helped North Central Positronics find a way to combine their technology with magic. But all this war and greed led to the sterilization of their people. All of their vast knowledge and ability to maintain the technology they built was lost when their people eventually died out.

Influence on Mike Flanagan's The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower 01

The Great Old Ones have a major impact on the world of The Dark Tower. While a TV series would allow for greater exploration through flashbacks and discoveries in different seasons of the time when the Great Old Ones operated, the biggest impact they would have is on the technology and machines they left behind. The tower itself, via its use of doors to travel between worlds, has by far the biggest impact. This is crucial to Roland's recruitment of new heroes to his cause.

There is also the use of the massive machines known as the Guardians, which were built to protect the integrity of the beams that serve The Dark Tower. As each beam is destroyed or weakened, and without any form of maintenance, these machines go “crazy” and often become like unbound and enraged animals that attack on sight. One such guardian, Shardik, attacks Roland and his group, as does another robot named Andy later in the series. The lack of knowledge of how to take care of these machines creates a lot of chaos that hit Roland's world.

The weapons they built also played a big part in Roland's life, from the RPGs and machine guns used to attack Roland's people to the screaming bombs called sneetches. These, along with other inventions and technology, either support or hinder Roland's progress towards the Dark Tower. They also form a large part of the background and history that Roland's world occupies. Any successful adaptation of The Dark Tower should take the time to not only bring these creations to life, but to explore The Great Old Ones in much greater detail.

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Stephen King Cropped

Stephen King

Date of birth

September 21, 1947

Birthplace

Portland, Maine

Notable projects

The Shining, Cujo, The Shawshank Redemption, It, Carrie

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