Places in The Dark Tower Series - Various Versions of Earth

Various Versions of Earth

As the Dark Tower contains all of existence, within various realms and times, there are varying different versions of Earth contained within.

• Keystone Earth, later in the series referred to as "Keystone Rose"; this Earth is very similar to the "real world" of the readers and functions as a sort of cornerstone to the multiverse of the Dark Tower. It also holds the distinction of being the only universe where time "only runs forward", thus preventing the chronological shifts characters could take advantage of in other universes.

• Maine of Keystone Earth is the only version of Maine that the heroes of The Dark Tower series travel to in the years 1977 and 1999. Keystone Maine is where members of Roland's Ka-tet meet a fictionalized version of Stephen King.

• New York City, set in a version of Earth that is not Keystone Earth, is the setting for many early events of The Dark Tower novels. The main characters of Jake Chambers, Susannah Dean, and Eddie Dean all come from various time periods in near-identical variations of New York, but none appear to come from Keystone New York. Unlike Keystone New York, where time only moves forward, Roland and his ka-tet are able to travel back and forth through time within this version of New York. While Keystone New York is home to the rose that is said to be our world's representation of The Dark Tower itself, Jake Chamber's New York appeared to contain a version of the Rose, even though it becomes clear later in the series that he did not come from Keystone Earth. It is either possible that Jake found the Rose in his version of New York City while going "todash" into Keystone Earth or that the Rose in his earth is also his world's representation of The Dark Tower. This is clearly not the New York of our own world, as Eddie lives in Co-Op City, Brooklyn, while the real Co-Op City is in the Bronx.

• New York City of Keystone Earth, is the home of the Rose which represents the Dark Tower within Keystone Earth. By the year 1999, Hammarskjöld Plaza, a large black building, is built over the Rose by the Tet Corporation to protect the Rose from the destructive purposes of the Crimson King. Several sites mentioned in the books are real - Hammarskjold Plaza, for instance, as well as a fountain with a bronze sculpture of a turtle, located next to the building (books VI-VII). The U.N. Plaza Hotel - now the Millennium UN Plaza - a few blocks south, is also real (Book VI). There are multiple references to Idlewild/JFK Airport. The Christopher Street subway station is also real, although the A-Train does not run through this area as it is seen to do in book II.

• Topeka, Kansas is where members of Roland's ka-tet arrive at the beginning of the fourth book after leaving the city of Lud in All-World. This version of Topeka is located on an Earth separate from both Keystone Earth and Eddie, Susannah and Jake's Earth. It is the Earth depicted in Stephen King's novel The Stand. The ka-tet arrive by passing through a thinny where The Stand's Earth and parts of All-World are breaking down into each other.