The Eyes of the Dragon
core novel 1984 The Dark Tower
Record
| First published | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.95 (142,243 ratings, collected 2026-09-27) |
| Page count | 326 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780670814589 |
Synopsis
In the kingdom of Delain, the ageing King Roland has two sons: Peter, the elder, good-hearted and beloved, and Thomas, weak and jealous of his brother. The king's counsellor is the magician Flagg, who has served Delain's rulers under many names for centuries and wants the kingdom brought to ruin. Seeing Peter as a threat to his hold on the throne, Flagg poisons the king with a glass of wine and arranges the evidence so that Peter is convicted of the murder, unaware that the boy Thomas has secretly watched the deed through the glass eyes of a mounted dragon's head in his father's study. Peter is imprisoned at the top of the Needle, a tower in the middle of the city, and Thomas is crowned as Flagg's puppet. From his cell, Peter begins a patient plan of escape.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Dark Tower
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Stephen King
Notes
- Set in the kingdom of Delain, part of In-World, the same world as the Dark Tower novels; the villain Flagg is the Dark Tower series' Randall Flagg, and The Drawing of the Three recalls Thomas and Dennis pursuing him. Published as a standalone novel, first in a 1984 Philtrum Press limited edition and for the mass market by Viking in 1987.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within The Dark Tower (standalone work): position 2 of 9: previous The Gunslinger (1982) · next The Drawing of the Three (1987)
Sources
← The Dark Tower dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.