The Dark Tower/Wolves of the Calla
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| Written by: | Stephen King |
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| Central Theme: | |
| Synopsis: | |
| Genre(s): | Dark fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, Western |
| Series: | The Dark Tower |
| Preceded by: | The Dark Tower/The Wind Through the Keyhole |
| Followed by: | The Dark Tower/Song of Susannah |
| First published: | November 4, 2003 |
Preceded by Wizard and Glass
Book 5 of Stephen King's Epic Fantasy series The Dark Tower. Roland of Gilead's quest to save all worlds from evil continues in this fifth installment of King's epic tale, the series' plot takes a detour which finds the gunslinger and his companions helping the farmers of Calla Bryn Sturgis fight against the terrifying "Wolves" who threaten to kidnap the Calla's children.
Followed by Song of Susannah
Tropes used in The Dark Tower/Wolves of the Calla include:
- Bishonen - Callahan worked with one at Home.
- Canon Welding - A major part of the series in general. The big one in this case is the appearance of Pere Callahan, who was a character in Stephen King's second novel, 'Salem's Lot.
- Child Soldiers - Jake and his friend.
- Deadly Disc - Sharpened plates as weapons. There's a bit of a legend attached to them about a vengeful woman luring an evil suitor to his doom.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The muffin-balls. A "type of ground-berry" covered in sour little horns which smells and tastes like fresh-baked sourdough bread from Zabar's.
- The Gunfighter Wannabe
- Half-Identical Twins - The Calla is flooded with them, at least until the Wolves seize one of each set. Justified, as the abundance of twin births is not a natural phenomenon.
- Hidden Depths - Roland reveals that he is a fantastic dancer.
- Improbable Aiming Skills - The women of the Calla fight off invaders by throwing sharpened plates at them. And it works.
- Kinda helps that they're made outta titanium, though.
- Last Stand: The Battle of Jericho Hill, which Roland remembers in his dream; it was there that the last forces of Gilead fell to the barbarians and Roland was the Sole Survivor.
- The Magnificent Seven Samurai: Lampshaded in-universe. The main deviation is that none of the samurai cowboys die.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot - The Wolves are Doombots on mechanical horses with weaponized Snitches and wielding lightsabers! Seriously!
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: In the legend of Lady Oriza, before killing Gray Dick, who killed her father, she tells him this: "May your first day in hell last ten thousand years, and may it be the shortest."
- Shout-Out: To The Magnificent Seven. Calla Bryn Sturgis is a reference to director John Sturges.
- Verbal Tic - "Say thankya," "Hear me well," "Thankya big-big."
- Also, "commala" pretty much means everything (though it literally means "rice" which is the main crop in Calla Bryn Sturgis)..