How Stephen King’s The Mist Connects to The Dark Tower Series

As longtime fans of Stephen King’s Dark Tower franchise eagerly await developments of the upcoming adaption from legendary horror director and writer Mike Flanagan, one aspect of the series that fans can apply to already existing media from the horror author is how connected many of Stephen King’s short stories, novellas, and other novels are to the broader Dark Tower universe. Many of these stories range in how connected they are, from mentioning a minor Dark Tower character in another book to full storylines from novels like Salem’s Lot and The Stand making their way into the Dark Tower mythos. A great story that includes a hidden connection to the Dark Tower is Stephen King’s The Mist.

The Mist follows a father and his son, who go to their local supermarket one day and find themselves trapped inside with other survivors after a deadly mist arrives in their town, with monstrous creatures waiting inside the mist to grab and end the lives of anyone caught in their grip. The twists and turns in this story are considered some of the best in all of Stephen King’s short stories, and yet not everyone realizes that the story holds one important connection to the Dark Tower.

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The Mist, Explained

The story follows a commercial artist named David, who goes to the supermarket with his son and his neighbor after a monster thunderstorm leaves their small Maine town without power. While there, a mysterious mist arrives in the town, and it’s not long before the people of the supermarket realize that the mist is hiding mystery creatures as a siren rings out in the distance, leaving David and the others stranded in the supermarket.

An earthquake also damages the store’s power, and when David goes with a bagger and others to fix it, the bagger is dragged into the mist by an unknown creature. Although he tries to warn the market, not everyone believes what happened and ventures outside for help, only to be torn down by the creatures. A series of battles with the creatures at their doors quickly causes a divide among the survivors, especially when one woman, Mrs. Carmody, begins preaching about the end of the world, and she convinces those following her prophecizing that a human sacrifice is needed to save them from the monsters.

David and a few others, along with his son, attempt to escape. Still, a confrontation between them and Mrs. Carmody leads to hysteria when she is taken down by one of David’s allies, and he and a few others escape to his car, leaving the supermarket behind. Unable to reach his home and his wife, David and the others travel through the Mist, finding shelter and waiting for word that help is coming.

The Dark Tower Connection, EXPLAINED

One of the great things about Stephen King’s writing is how he can leave the reader with a bit of mystery, even in the story’s final moments. The fate of the survivors, as well as the bit of hope they hold onto, allows the reader to imagine for themselves the direction the story could take next. Yet one of the big mysteries about this story has always been where the monsters came from. One plot point in the story leads to Project Arrowhead after two soldiers are found in the store’s backroom. The mystery of this military project and the creatures that come out of the mist ultimately bear a unique similarity and/or connection to a plot point in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass.

In Roland’s youth, when he and his friends went on their first mission, especially his as a brand-new gunslinger, to investigate the growing threat of John Farson and his war machine, they discovered a place called Eyebolt Canyon and inside that canyon, they discovered something called a Thinny. The Thinny is a place in space and time that has eroded reality all around it, appearing as green/gray mist to those who come across it as a sound draws victims into it, like a siren’s song. Appendices lash out at those who get too close and pull people in.

This sounds way too similar to the creatures that emerge from The Mist. The Project Arrowhead government project could have tapped into one of these tears or breakdowns in reality. The creatures pouring into the mist and attacking the small town could have come from another world, even from Roland’s world. If that is the case, this could be another plot device that allows Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaption to connect to other films and shows in the larger Stephen King universe. The similarities to the Mist and the Thinny, the creatures that emerge from the Mist, and the untold threats the survivors face could stem from the breakdown occurring in Roland’s world and the attacks on the Dark Tower.

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Stephen King

Birthdate

September 21, 1947

Birthplace

Portland, Maine

Notable Projects

The Shining, Cujo, The Shawshank Redemption, It, Carrie