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Tarot And T.S. Eliot In Stephen King's Dark Tower Novels [Article], Emily E. Auger

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Characters and events in King’s Dark Tower series are inspired by the Fisher King, Arthurian, and other mythologies and legends, as well as the works of more contemporary authors who derived inspiration from similar sources. This paper explores King's use of Tarot motifs in the Dark Tower series with attention to similarities and parallels to the presentation of Tarot in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. King’s central character Roland, whose cards are read by his nemesis, has the satisfaction of knowing when the cartomancer is dead and of saving multiple universes, but then discovers that he is doomed to …