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Book Home  Books Information Wolves of the Calla
Wolves of the Calla
Wolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen King's
The Dark Tower series. This book continues the story of Roland, Eddie,
Susannah, Jake, and Oy, and also re-introduces the reader to the priest
Father Callahan from King's earlier novel 'Salem's Lot.
After escaping the alternate Topeka and the evil wizard
Randall Flagg, Roland's ka-tet travel to the farming village of Calla
Bryn Sturgis where they meet Father Callahan. He and the townsfolk
request the ka-tet's assistance in battling against the Wolves of
Thunderclap, who come once a generation to take one child from each
pair of the town's twins. After a few months of being away, the children
are then returned "roont". The wolves are due to come in
about a month's time.
Father Callahan also tells the gunslingers his remarkable
story of how he left Maine following his battle with the vampire Barlow
in the novel 'Salem's Lot. Since that encounter he has gained the
ability to identify vampires, amongst whom Callahan identifies three
types, by a blue aura. After some time he begins killing minor vampires
as he finds them; however, this makes him a wanted man amongst the
"low men" and so Callahan must go into exile.
Eventually he is lured into a trap and dies, allowing
him to enter Mid-World in 1983, much as Jake did when killed in The
Gunslinger. He appears near the Calla with an evil magic ball called
the Black Thirteen, and is found by the Manni people.
Not only do Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet have to
protect the Calla-folken from the Wolves, they must also protect a
single red rose that grows in a vacant lot on Second Avenue and Forty-Sixth
Street in mid-town Manhattan of 1977. If it is destoyed, then the
Tower, which is the rose in another form, will fall. In order to get
back to New York to prevent this they must use the sinister Black
Thirteen.
To add to that, Roland and Jake have noticed bizarre
changes in Susannah's behavior, which they are linked to the event
recounted in The Waste Lands when Susannah occupies the beast in the
stone circle.
Influences
Stephen King has acknowleged multiple sources of influence for this
story, including Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, its stepchild
The Magnificent Seven, Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name"
trilogy, and other works by Howard Hawks and John Sturges, among others.
The weapons used by the Wolves, "Lightsticks",
appear to be working versions of the Lightsabers of Star Wars. "Sneetches"
are diabolical conglomerations of the Golden Snitch and bludgers of
the Harry Potter books and the knife-wielding silver orb of the Phantasm
movies. The Wolves themselves appear to be based on Doctor Doom's
Doombots.
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