Tower

Tower
Location:	Area X
Appears in:	Annihilation Acceptance

The Tower, or Tunnel, as named by the Biologist and the rest of the Twelfth expedition's team respectively, is a structure of unknown origin and purpose located within Area X, relatively close to base camp. The Tower is excluded from all maps given to the expeditions, even though the Southern Reach is aware of it, and refers to it as The Topographical Anomaly.

It is described as a grey stone flat disc embedded in the ground, 61.4 feet (18.7 m) in diameter, protruding 7.9 inches (20 cm) from the surrounding soil. This disc features a rectangular opening in its surface, pointing due north, which reveals a spiral staircase that descends into the ground. The spiral staircase descends likely clockwise, with short steps separating flat portions or levels which end on rounded archways.

The walls of the first level are off-white and blank besides a few cracks, presumably due to age or an external stressor. A few levels down, the Tower's incantation begins, a mysterious message written in English on the outer wall of the staircase, using some kind of moss or fungi-like organism and written by the Crawler as it descends. The Biologist hypothesizes that once the Crawler reaches the bottom of the Tower, it completes a "cycle" which triggers an emission of spores into Area X that cause expedition members to attack each other, giant creatures to emerge from the sea, and the creation of doppelgangers.

Annihilation

During the Twelfth expedition's first descent into the Tower, the Biologist examined the Incantation, discovering its organic makeup. Her nearness disturbed the organisms, releaseing golden spores, some of which the Biologist inhaled. This contamination, which she described as a "brightness", seemingly granted her enhanced senses, slight bioluminescence, and an immunity to hypnotic suggestion.

The Biologist described the Tower's material makeup as "seeming to mix cement and ground-up seashells". This description is reiterated by the Psychologist before their first descent. While leaving the Tower after this first descent, the Biologist experienced an episode of vertigo, suddenly seeing the walls as flesh-like, as if they had descended into the throat of a giant animal. Later that evening, at base camp, the Psychologist hypnotized the Surveyor and the Anthropologist, telling them that they "will continue to see a structure that is made of coquina and stone", indicating that her previous vision may have been more than a simple hallucination, and possibly the true nature of the tower.

On the second descent and afterwards, the Biologist, under the effect of the spores, saw the Tower as a living organism, its walls made of breathing flesh and producing a heartbeat, which became louder the further she descended into the structure. This revelation was lost upon the surveyor, who still saw the Tower as made of stone due to the psychologist's hypnotic suggestion.

Acceptance

TBA

Trivia

• Even though other members of the Twelfth expedition refer to it as a tunnel, the Biologist adamantly insists on calling it a tower.
• The Tower and the Lighthouse (the most prominent structures in Area X) seem to mirror each other: a cylindrical lighthouse extending into the sky, and the similarly-shaped "tower" that extends into the ground, both of which share a common caretaker.
• As mentioned by Jeff Vandermeer himself in an interview, the Initiation Wells in Quinta da Regaleira, located in Sintra, Portugal were the inspiration for the Tower.