Summary
As time gets closer and closer to the development of Mike Flanagan’sDark Towerseries, there are many longtime readers who feel a strong connection to the series and feel that certain aspects of the story need to be in place for a true adaptation to take place.The mythos and world buildingthat Stephen King did to bring his story to life included very specific things to hold the narrative together, from the history of the Gunslingers to the powerful allure of the spheres in Maeryln’s Rainbow, the powerful technology of the Great Old Ones and more. Yet there were some powerful figures inthe Dark Towermythos that are essential to fully telling this story: the guardians of the beams.
Not to be confused with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the guardians of the beams were twelve powerful entities fused to giant cybernetic animals created by the Great Old Ones to protect and guard the energy beams holding the Dark Tower in place, as well as all of space and time. These powerful forces have existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and some are more powerful than others. Establishing these figures is not only essential to the long term development of this series, but showcases the vast history of Mid-World and beyond. Mike Flanagan’sDark Towerseries needs to feature the Guardians of the Beams in a big way.
The Guardians of the Beams, EXPLAINED
The Dark Tower,the center of the multiverse in Stephen King’sseries, is held together by six powerful beams. These energy beams, which keep gravity, time, space, and each world connected to that beam in place, are protected by two guardians each. Each guardian on that beam protects a portal that takes a person from one place and time in Mid-World to another, with each guardian paired with its opposite. These guardians were ancient and powerful creatures that were bonded and fused to the cybernetic animals the Great Old Ones built when trying to replace much of the Dark Tower with man-made technology.
Each of these creatures is humongous, the size of a kaijuin comparable terms.The Dark Towerfirst explains these creatures as a way of introducing the children of Mid-World to the map of the universe, shaped much like a clock, with each beam connecting to another point andthe Dark Toweritself. They were also built to keep the darkness and the creatures living within it out of the light, such as the creature featured in Stephen King’sIt, which takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in that world.
There are twelve guardians total, including the elephant, dog, eagle, rat, bat, turtle, wolf, fish, hare, lion, horse and bear. However, the most prominently featured of these guardians are the Bear and Turtle. The Bear, known as Shardik, is the first guardian that Roland, Eddie Dean and Susannah encounter once they begin their journeytogether as Roland’s new ka-tet. The Bear, at this point thousands of years old, has lost its mind completely, its flesh riddled with parasites. It attacks Roland’s group and Susannah is forced to take it out, ending its miserable life completely.
Perhaps the most important of these guardians, however, is The Turtle, also known as Maturin. Featured prominently in bothThe Dark TowerandIt, Maturinis the ancient enemy of Pennywise, and is said to have been essential in the creation of the multiverse. A poem for him begins, “See the Turtle of enormous girth; on his shell he holds the Earth”. The poem reflects how the ancient being Gan created the world, and before it could fall into the emptiness of the dark, Maturin caught it on its shell. He appears to Bill inItto encourage him to stand with his friends, introducing the Ritual of Chud that they complete to battle the clown. Later, Maturin gives Roland a prophecy, and helps Father Callahan battle a room of vampires and low men, servants of the Crimson King.
The Guardians of the Beam in The Dark Tower Adaptation
While most notably, one of the upcoming show’s most expensive special effects shots, including the Guardians in this story, is a must. The creatures play a vital andessential role in the premise of the Dark Tower. With the Crimson King seeking to destroy each of the beams holding the Dark Tower in place, his forces would come into direct conflict with the Guardians protecting those beams. Each time the guardians and one of the beams fall, a “beam-quake” occurs, a devastating storm of epic proportions that destroys or maims each world that falls along the path of that beam, and is felt in worlds adjacent to that beam. This makes the guardians crucial to maintaining the balance of the Dark Tower, which is Roland’s singular mission in life.
Not only is bringing the ancient, near dead guardian Shardik to life so important to the story of the Dark Tower, but introducing the cosmic significance of Maturin and his work with the light side of things and the backstory of the other guardians would bring more depth and world building to theDark Toweradaptation being told,and would showcase how the Great Old Oneswere able to bridge the gap between their technology and the ancient magics of that world.
Stephen King
Stephen King is one of the most prolific living authors. A master of horror, King’s classic works include The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, It, and the Dark Tower series. Many of his books and short stories have been adapted to film and television, including The Shawshank Redemption, Lisey’s Story, 1408, Secret Window, and The Stand.
