The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (68 page)

T
ICK
-T
OCK
M
AN
(3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

Real name: Andrew Quick. Leader of the Grays faction in Lud and great-grandson of David Quick. So large and heavily muscled that he reminds Jake of a cross between a Viking warrior and a fairy tale giant. Has green eyes and long, dirty gray-blond hair that reaches the middle of his back. He wears only leather breeches, high boots and a silver band around one bicep. Carries a knife scabbard on one shoulder. Wears a coffin-shaped glass box that contains a gold clock face on a silver chain around his neck. His touch repairs Jake's watch. Jake shoots him in the thigh and in the head and Oy scratches him in the face, but he survives, only to be taken over by Richard Fannin. He reappears with Fannin/Flagg in the Green Palace, playing the part of the wizard from
The Wizard of Oz.
When Oy discovers him behind the curtain, he grabs a machine gun, intending to shoot the
ka-tet
. Oy attacks him, and Eddie and Susannah shoot him to death.

T
ILLY
(3)

One of Tick-Tock Man's Grays. The only person to survive when Roland infiltrates their headquarters. Presumably killed when Blaine the Mono poisons Lud.

T
IRANA
(6, 7)

A plump low woman wearing a silver lamé gown in the Dixie Pig. Susannah rips off her mask, revealing the head of a huge red rat with yellow teeth growing up the outsides of its cheek.

T
OMAS
, M
ARIA
(4, M)

Susan Delgado's maid at Mayor's House in Hambry. A small, dark-haired girl, eighteen or nineteen years old, with an innate penchant for creating drama. She can't bring herself to call Susan by her given name but becomes her ally, getting her out of Mayor's House the morning after the murders and helping Olive Thorin free her when she's captured by the Big Coffin Hunters. She had three aunts who died of cancer. Her father works at the Piano Ranch.

T
OOK
, E
BEN
(5)

Owner of Took's General Store in Calla Bryn Sturgis, as well as the boarding house and restaurant. He has a half interest in the livery and loan papers on most of the smallhold farms in the Calla. He, Eisenhart and Overholser are the three “big bugs” in Calla Bryn Sturgis. The Wolves burned the store on a previous visit when the folken put up token resistance, and he's determined to make sure that never happens again. He is the biggest opponent of the gunslingers' plan, but when it is successful he offers to outfit them from stem to stern for free. He has a high, almost womanish voice. Eddie thinks he's a shithead.

T
OPSY THE
S
AILOR
(3, 5, 6)

A former member of the Pubes in Lud who took his boat and went off downriver.

T
ORRES
, M
IGUEL
(4, 5)

An elderly, bearded, toothless servant at Mayor's House in Hambry. He is usually as neat as a pin, and looks askance at people he deems beneath him.

T
OTAL
H
OGS
(4)

A desert tribe of slow mutants who supposedly possessed the blue crystal from the Wizard's Rainbow until it slipped from their sight within the past fifty years.

T
RAMPAS
(7)

A low man at Algul Siento who befriends Ted Brautigan. Unlike most low men, he isn't jealous of humans, which makes him an outcast among his own people. Ted thinks he is farther down the road to
becoming
than most of the others. His name is derived from the Western novel
The Virginian
. He has eczema that causes him to take off his protective hat and scratch his head, accidentally revealing to Ted what the Breakers are doing. Ted also discovers he is considered indispensable, motivating him to escape from Algul Siento. When he is recaptured, he does not reveal where he got his information, earning Trampas's gratitude. Trampas tells Ted about the Crimson King's efforts to kill Stephen King and how
ka
has stopped protecting King. During the battle of Algul Siento, Trampas follows orders, grabbing Earnshaw. Ted uses his mind spear to kill him.

T
RAVIS
(4.5)

The “enjie” (engineer) of the steam-driven train the people of Gilead called Sma' Toot.

T
RELAWNY
(7)

A
can toi
security guard at Algul Siento.

T
RISTUM
, G
ANGLI
(7)

The compound doctor at Algul Siento. A squat, dark-complected, heavily jowled
can toi
who took a taheen name instead of a human one. He runs the infirmary on the third floor of Damli House with an iron fist while wearing roller skates. In addition to providing medical services, he also knows how to short-circuit potential teleports. When Damli House catches fire, he stays behind to gather his papers and is killed in an explosion.

T
UDBURY
, B
ILL
(3)

Resident of River Crossing. One of the albino twins.

T
UDBURY
, T
ILL
(3)

Resident of River Crossing. One of the albino twins.

T
URTLE
, T
HE
(4)

Roland hears its voice when he is inside the grapefruit. It shows him his destiny, but it is a hard, cruel voice that also predicts his damnation.

U
FFI
(7)

A shape changer. Rando Thoughtful claims he's one.

U
NWIN
, A
UNT
T
ALITHA
(3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Matriarch of River Crossing. More than one hundred years old. She hobbles over a cane like a witch in a fairy tale and has no teeth and eyes as green as emeralds. She knows High Speech. She gives Roland a silver cross to place at the base of the Dark Tower. Roland uses the cross to send a message to Moses Carver and gets it back in time to follow her wishes.

V
AMPIRES
(1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Father Callahan classifies vampires into three categories. There aren't many Type One vampires, like Barlow of 'Salem's Lot, but they can cause a lot of
mayhem in a short period of time. They live long lives and spend centuries in hibernation. They temporarily acquire the thoughts and memories of those they feed on. Parasitic Grandfather-fleas (little doctors) usually follow Type Ones around, as when they're dining at the Dixie Pig. Roland says they're the most gruesome and powerful survivors of the Prim's recession.

Type One vampires create Type Two vampires, the so-called undead, and then move on. Type Two vampires can create other Type Two vampires in a relatively small area, but they're barely smarter than zombies and their hunger undoes them. They can't go out in the daylight and their life spans are short because their existence is perilous.

Type Three vampires can't create other vampires, but they feed relentlessly and spread disease, like AIDS. Their saliva causes a selective, short-term amnesia in their victims. They can go out in the daylight and take their principal sustenance from food. They have short attention spans. The vampires Father Callahan kills are all Type Threes, which he calls pilot sharks. He believes that what little blood they have in their bodies is coagulated. They disappear once killed, leaving their clothing behind and sometimes their hair and teeth. Father Callahan believes the vampires have an uneasy alliance with the low men that traces back to Thunderclap.

V
ANNAY
, A
BEL
(1, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 7, M)

Vannay the Wise. One of Roland Deschain's tutors—the one who taught from books and saw to his students' mental training. He taught history, logic problems and the universal truths that enabled them to avoid fights. He called violence the hollow chamber, where echoes distorted all true sounds. He showed them the compass and quadrant and sextant and taught them the mathematics necessary to use them.

He held riddling contests every Friday to teach boys to think around corners. He told Roland his imagination was poor and called him Gabby because he was so close-mouthed. He taught about how the Manni prepared for their travels and about the perils of going todash. He believed that if you woke a person from a deep hypnotic trance too suddenly, the person could go mad. Though others are skeptical about the skin-man in Debaria, he finds the evidence convincing. “When facts speak, the wise man listens,” he said. He knew that skin-men prowl after sundown and that they're vulnerable to silver, but he didn't know how fast they could change shapes. He walked with a limp. His son, Wallace, was a gunslinger-in-training but died of epilepsy. In the Marvel series, a turncoat Gilead guard shoots him to death.

V
ENN
, R
UPERT
(4.5)

The foreman at the Tree Sawmill where Tim Ross works after his mother marries Bern Kells.

W
ALLACE
(5)

Vannay's son. He died of the falling sickness, sometimes called king's evil.

W
EGG
, W
ILL
(4.5)

Little Debaria's constable. A big man with a sand-colored handlebar mustache. He plays Watch Me and bets on the horse races organized for the miners. His winnings keep him in whores and whiskey. The skin-man turns into a poisonous pooky (snake) in the Debaria jail and kills him.

W
ERTNER
, H
ENRY
“H
ANK
” (4)

A horse breeder in Mejis and owner of a small orchard. He takes over as the Barony's stockliner after Pat Delgado is killed.

W
HITE
A
MMIES
(4.5)

Nurses. Roland sent away the ones who tended to Cort.

W
HITE
, J
AKE
(4)

A rancher in Mejis. He also owns an orchard. Part of the posse that arrests Roland, Cuthbert and Alain. He hits Alain in the forehead with the butt of a pistol.

W
HITMAN
, T
HOMAS
(1, M)

A gunslinger apprentice and friend of Roland in Gilead. In the Marvel graphic novels, he is burned to death by a flamethrower at Jericho Hill.

W
INSTON
(3, 4, 5)

One of the Pubes. He wears a kilt and wields a cutlass. Susannah kills him on his birthday.

W
OLVES
(5, 6, 7)

Robots that have taken a one-way door from the Fedic Dogan to Thunderclap Station once in each of the past six or seven generations. The door is failing, so it is unpleasant for humans to use. From there they ride their gray robotic
horses to the Callas to steal one of every set of twins of a certain age. They are heavily armed and wear protective armor. Their hoods hide their most vulnerable feature—the radar dish that sits atop each head. Beneath their Dr. Doom masks—which look like steel but rot in the sun like flesh—their faces are smooth metal, with microphones at the temples for ears, lenses for eyes and a round mesh grill for a nose or mouth. Their weapons include light sabers and sneetches. Known as Greencloaks by the residents of Algul Siento. When none return from their most recent foray, Finli o'Tego thinks they may have fallen prey to a computer virus.

W
URTZ
, H
EAD
T
ECHNICIAN
(M)

One of Farson's men. He got the laser canon working after three others failed.

Z
ACHARY
(1)

A resident of Tull.

P
LACES

A
LGUL
S
IENTO
(1, 5, 7)

Literally: Blue Heaven. Also known as Devar-Toi (the Big Prison). The place where Breakers are brought to work on destroying the Beams. A one-hundred-acre, heavily guarded oasis in the middle of Thunderclap, surrounded by desert on all sides. The three hundred and seven inmates wear slippers to discourage escape attempts. There are one hundred and eighty full-time guards. During each eight-hour shift, twenty taheen man the four stone watchtowers, twenty armed humans patrol the perimeter fences (one barbed, one standard electric, one lethal) and twenty low men float among the Breakers.

Lit by artificial sunlight, generally accompanied by music. It never rains, but there is often dry thunder at night. It resembles a college campus or a town out of a Ray Bradbury story. The main building is Damli House, which contains the Study where the Breakers work. There are also dorms for the Breakers, a small town known as Pleasantville, a church and a house for the head of operations. Since most of the buildings are wood, the possibility of fire is a major concern. The food is the best. Algul Siento has all the modern conveniences with classy accommodations, including holographic sex programs. Rodericks live in a village nearby and explore the extensive catacombs beneath Algul Siento.

A
LL
-A-G
LOW
(7)

A fairy-tale kingdom where a very young Roland Deschain thought he would live with his mother after he won her from his father and married her.

A
LL
-W
ORLD
(4, 5, 6, M)

Arthur Eld's domain, though Walter sometimes claims it as his own.

A
MBUSH
A
RROYO
(4.5)

The rocks between the High Pure and the Low Pure north of Debaria where the Crow Gang ambushed Sheriff Pea Anderson and his posse.

A
RC
16 E
XPERIMENTAL
S
TATION
(6, 7)

The Fedic Dogan, a large, rusty Quonset hut known as the Dogan of Dogans or Sixteen. The door beneath the Dixie Pig leads here. One of the many places where the Old People tried to join magic and science together. A maximum-security location that requires both verbal password and eye scan. The Control Suite is four levels down, and requires three ID entry cards used in sequence. From here, armies of robots can be controlled and poison gas released in the event of a hostile takeover. Richard Sayre has an office here in which Roland and Susannah discover a painting of the Dark Tower. The Extraction Room is where the Wolves took the children of the Callas, and where Susannah and Mia have their baby. Mia was made mortal in the Experimental Station. Nearly six hundred of the one-way doors in the rotunda are still operational according to Nigel, who has quarters here. Beneath the Dogan, a passage leads to a one-way door that took the Wolves to the Callas. Another passage goes under Castle Discordia to the Badlands, past the monsters that are trying to dig their way out.