Dark Tower: Remember the Face of Your Father (And The Moses Carver Conundrum)

face of  your fatherSome of you probably saw the teaser image that Idris Elba released over the weekend. He said something like “I am Roland, son of Steven, son of Henry, true descendant of Arthur. And I have not forgotten.” He posted that on Twitter with this image. Is that the symbol of Gilead or the Deschain family? I thought Roland said at one point that the sigul for Gilead was a hawk, does that look like a hawk? Or is that a key and a rose combined?

Anyways, the reason for this post is not just to get excited for the movie, but also to think about something from the books. I have been listening to the series via Audible for the past few months and I am on the final book. This is my first time ever listening to them and will be my third time through the entire series. Something has always bothered me though and I never find too much about it (to be honest, I do not search too often, so any links to this would be welcome).

The problem is Moses Carver and the Keystone Earth. Stay with me for a second. Here is what we know:

-Eddie is from Co-Op city, which he thinks is in Brooklyn.
-Aaron Deepneau informs Eddie that Co-Op City is in the Bronx.
-Eddie and Jake come from the same world. How do we know? Jake follows a young Eddie and Henry to the house on Dutch Hill.
-Odetta Holmes is also from their world. Again, how do we know? Well, Jack Mort pushed Odetta and Jake. When Roland kills Jack Mort, Jake does not die and the paradox in his (and Roland’s) mind begins.
-Roland and Eddie have John Callum form the Tet Corporation after meeting Stephen King. They meet the writer in the Keystone Earth, where time only runs one way.
-They use Odetta Holmes godfather, Moses Carver to fund the Tet Corporation at first. Moses Carver knows his goddaughter is missing and John is able to convince him by the magic Roland transferred into his necklace that he gave John (which repeated a memory from Susannah).

Do you see what I am getting at here? I think Eddie even mentions it once to Roland, about maybe this not being the right world. It does not make any sense. If the Keystone World is the correct world, where Stephen King is from, where Co-Op City is in the Bronx, then it is not the same world as Eddie, Jake, and Susannah. If they are not from the Keystone World, then it also means that the Moses Carver on the Keystone World does not have a missing goddaughter (can you say God-Bomb to that!?) that traveled through a magic door to Mid-World to join Roland’s ka-tet and marry Eddie Dean.

Another bit of proof is that they constantly say that time is one way on the Keystone Earth. How could Roland use the doors to go to three different time periods to get his new friends? For that matter, how did the Great Old Ones (or whoever) use their science-based doors to go back in time to look at tragic events  on the Keystone Earth? Or did those doors open up to other times and parallel Earths? Ugh, so much to think about…

I feel like this is just an oversight on King’s part. It has to be very difficult keeping all of this world-hopping straight.

Author: Ngewo