Stephen King - One big (un)happy universe

[Nym182]

I'm not sure if this is a theory or has been confirmed (although I believe it has been) all the stories King has written take place within the same universe, all held together by The Dark Towers.

Throughout reading his books, he will drop little Easter eggs that connect his books. For example, when Roland and Jake are traveling together, Jake comes across a newspaper describing Captain Trips and the mass extinction in The Stand. Multiple characters seem to exhibit having The Shining. Graffiti advertising The Crimson King shows up in different neighborhood (even Flagg himself is in both The Dark Tower series and The Stand)

One of my favorite realizations was when I realized the boys in Stand By Me have inadvertantly formed a Ka-tet, mirroring that of Roland, Jake, Susannah, Eddie and of course Oy! Also the rumors of mysterious happenings occurring in Derry are wisphered and talked about in different books, including in 1963 (when Jake travels back in time and visits Derry, he meet the hushed and paranoid town in the thick of one the "Pennywise episodes".

There is at least one book that connects all of the universes, but at this point it is pretty outdated, especially considering how quickly King writes those big books, so I haven't really sat down and read it because of that... What are you favorite examples that support this theory?

also, for any of you that have read his son's work (I haven't yet, but he's in my TBR pile) do we get any peeks into his father's universe? I know he wants to do things on his own, but I don't know if i could resist a little dabble haha.

[NetMassimo]

To be pedantic it's a multiverse made of interconnected universes as the various characters from King's stories live in different universes and Stephen King himself lives in another. The result is a complex cosmogony explored in The Dark Tower series. I should reread all the books now that I finally bought The Wind Through the Keyhole to check the many interconnections but I'm pretty sure that it's a confirmed theory.

[Nym182]

To be pedantic it's a multiverse made of interconnected universes as the various characters from King's stories live in different universes and Stephen King himself lives in another. The result is a complex cosmogony explored in The Dark Tower series. I should reread all the books now that I finally bought The Wind Through the Keyhole to check the many interconnections but I'm pretty sure that it's a confirmed theory.

**** possible Dark Tower series Spoiler*****


(I assume you've read them haha)

But when I read about Stephen King being in the Dark Tower series, my head exploded


and at first, I thought you meant re-read ALL of the Stephen King's book, and I like wow, that guy is intense!!

I have thought about starting a journal or something to try and list all the times he brings up another universe in a story.

also, thank you, I had to look up some of your words, so I learned new things!

[NetMassimo]

I thought about re-reading ALLA of Stephen King's books and possibly I'll do it if I can leave past 1,000 years.

[Nym182]

I thought about re-reading ALLA of Stephen King's books and possibly I'll do it if I can leave past 1,000 years.

[Bigwig1973]

I'm not sure if they all could be in the same universe, depending upon ones definition of universe. Same universe, different dimension or two universes within the same one? Like the song "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS - "Two worlds collided and they will never tear us apart". Figuratively speaking, they might have been signing about something else, but regardless, the integration of time travel, etc., especially with so many controls or with the lack of acceptance of self-control might be devastating from a scientific perspective. In addition, crimes against god, in my opinion, jinxes the entire thing. Off topic, or back to it, why did Mrs. Todd drive a Jaguar? One of my favorite stories by him. Why not a different make?