Gan (Stephen King)

portal|The Dark Tower

Gan is the creative overforce in the cosmology of the fictional Stephen King universes (plural because not all of King's novels take place within the same "world"). Stephen King's "inspiration" for the word remains unknown, but he may have taken it from a Hebrew word, which means, simply, "garden." Gan's role in the novels is more-or-less in line with the concept of God.

The being is first mentioned by name in the Stephen King novel "Song of Susannah", the sixth installment in the Dark Tower series. He is described as speaking "through the voices of the can-calah, who men call angels," and as "denying the Crimson King and denying Discordia itself."

In the cosmology of the Stephen King Multiverse, Gan is that which the High Speech term "The White" refers to. Gan rose from the Prim (inferred to as the darkness behind everything) and created the universes and infinite alternate universes that the Dark Tower holds in place and, it is implied, Gan also created the universes where the reader reads Stephen King novels and an additional universe where the real Stephen King writes them. It is also implied in the series that Gan uses Stephen King as a facilitator ("it flows from out my bellybutton" "Song of Susannah") to tell the tale of the Gunslinger, so that the Gunslinger could successfully go about his task of reaching the Dark Tower; had the author died before completing his task, all of King's Multiverses would have ceased to exist (as there would be no story created). The Gunslinger would not have "known" how to further proceed on his quest to the Dark Tower and, without any significant remaining opposition, the Crimson King would have eventually destroyed the entire Stephen King multiverse -including the universes of the readers of Stephen King books -by finally toppling the Dark Tower.

It is unknown at the current time if Gan is the creator of such all-powerful artifacts (that exist on other worlds/story settings in the Stephen King Cosmology) as the Talisman and the Dark Tower, or if these items are actually lesser or greater aspects of Gan itself. Nor is it known whether or not the various instances of "God" that occur in such Stephen King novels as "Desperation" and "The Stand" are appearances of Gan or "merely" the Gods of those particular levels of the Tower, created by Gan as well.

In the final book of The Dark Tower series, Roland suggests that Gan is in fact the tower itself; the tower is a living creature and the physical embodiment of Gan.

Connections to other Stephen King Books

In "Insomnia", the main character, Ralph Roberts, gains an "audience" with the Powers Above to make a deal so that he can sacrifice his own life to save the life of a loved one; the Voice heard above all others, that ultimately approves of the exchange, is implied -though not explicitly named -to be Gan, Itself (this Entity was implied in the novel to be responsible for creating everything in existence).

Gan is very likely The Other that created the near-omnipotent creature (It) and the Turtle (Maturin), as well as congratulated Bill Denbrough for destroying It, in the early Stephen King novel "It".

References

*"Song of Susannah" by Stephen King
*"The Dark Tower" by Stephen King
*"Insomnia" by Stephen King