The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (73 page)

S
HAVÉD
M
OUNTAINS
(4, M)

Mountains northwest of Gilead where Farson plans to ambush the Affiliation using the machinery of the Great Old Ones.

S
ILK
R
ANCH
R
OAD
(4, 5)

A road that merges with the Great Road east of Hambry. Rhea brought Susan Delgado back to town on this road after her failed escape attempt with Olive Thorin.

S
ON OF A
B
ITCH
(5)

The northern field on Tian Jaffords's farm, a thankless tract that grows rocks, blisters and busted hopes. For generations, the family has been trying to find something of value that will grow here other than devil-weed. It sits on “loose ground” and consists mostly of holes and rocks, plus one cave that puffs out fetid air. It's too dangerous for a mule to plow, so Tian uses his roont sister Tia instead.

S
OUTH
I
SLANDS
(1)

A nearly forgotten region of Mid-World. Hax, the west kitchen's cook, came from there.

S
OUTH
P
LAINS
(7)

The part of Mid-World that Chevin of Chayven once called home.

S
OUTH
S
EAS
(5)

The body of water at the end of the River Whye.

S
OUTHWEST
E
DGE
(4)

The region of Mid-World that John Farson is said to control when Roland is in Mejis.

S
TAPE
B
ROOK
(4.5)

A creek created by a clear spring between the Ross cottage and barn in Tree Village.

S
TONE'S
W
ARP
(7)

The deserted town where Joe Collins claims he woke up after being beaten in Cleveland. It looks like the set of a Western movie after all the actors have gone home.

S
TREET OF THE
T
URTLE
(3)

One of Lud's main roads. A large stone turtle guards its entrance and it ends at the Cradle of Lud.

S
TUDY
, T
HE
(7)

A long, high room in the center of Damli House in Algul Siento where the Breakers go, thirty-three at a time, to do their work. They are forbidden from using their psychic abilities outside this room. It is oak-paneled and rises three stories to a glass roof that lets the artificial sunlight in. The Breakers, who are mostly misfits and loners, feel in touch with themselves here.

T
AUNTON
(1, M)

A town in In-World. Hax is supposed to send poisoned meat there at the behest of John Farson. Gallows Hill is on the Taunton Road outside of Gilead.

T
AVARES
(4, 4.5)

A town forty wheels east of Tree Village and up the coast from Mejis. Nell Ross owns a rocking chair from Tavares. The constable of Tree has a woman here and often retreats to that town when the Covenant Man comes to collect taxes. Tim Ross joined a group of gunslingers on their way to Tavares to raise a posse. There was once a female bartender in Tavares, but she died of the pox.

T
EJUAS
(L, M)

An unincorporated township two hundred miles west of Eluria.

T
EPACHI
(4)

A town in the vicinity of Mejis.

T
HOUGHTFUL
H
OUSE
(L, M)

A cave in the hillside near Eluria where the Little Sisters have to go to meditate when Big Sister decides one of them has been bad. Described as “a small black opening low on the scarp.”

T
HUNDERCLAP
(4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

Located one hundred wheels east of the Devar-Tete Whye River from the Callas. Devar-Toi, the prison for the Breakers, is located here. Dubbed the Land of Darkness. The sun never shines, so artificial light is beamed in to simulate daylight. The night is absolute—no moon, no stars. The Crimson King supposedly caused the darkness. It is said to be a land of vampires, boggarts, and taheen, where clocks run backward and the graveyards vomit out their dead. The land is dead and the air was poisoned either by the Crimson King on a lark or by the leavings of the Great Old Ones. It causes skin conditions ranging from acne to cancer for anyone unfortunate enough to live here. Open wounds are easily infected and often fatal. Roland first hears about Thunderclap via the grapefruit. Its
sigul
is a cloud with a lightning bolt.

T
HUNDERCLAP
S
TATION
(7)

A major train depot in the heart of Thunderclap, approximately six miles from Algul Siento. The central terminal looks to be at least half a mile long. Tracks lead in every direction. The Wolves get here via a one-way door from the Fedic Dogan to launch their raids on the Callas. When they return, they take a train to Fedic Station.

T
OOK'S
G
ENERAL
S
TORE
(5, 6, 7)

The general store that takes up half the main street in Calla Bryn Sturgis, owned and operated by Eben Took. A wooden building so busy that it merits eight long hitching rails. Two dozen rocking chairs line the porch. The Wolves burned the store the year Red Molly killed one of them because the owner hid some of the town's children in the storage bin out back. The Tooks intend to make sure that never happens again. Its twin is the store in Stoneham, Maine, though the latter is quite a bit smaller until Chip McAvoy rebuilds after his own fire.

T
OOK'S
O
UTLAND
M
ERCANTILE
(4.5)

An abandoned store the
ka-tet
explores before reaching the Whye River.

T
OWER
K
EYSTONE
(7)

The version of Mid-World where the Dark Tower is itself, not some other representation.

T
OWER
R
OAD
(7)

The Great Road that descends out of the White Lands of Empathica along the Path of the Beam to the Dark Tower. It emerges from the snow in the town of Westring. Stuttering Bill keeps it plowed as far as Federal Outpost 19. It was once paved, but has fallen into disrepair and is little more than ruts in some places. Close to the Tower, a broken-down stone wall lines the road. Roses grow along the side of the road and among the stones. Dead trees spell out “nineteen” or “chassit” with their branches. Speaking Rings, obelisks and castle ruins appear in the fields, along with herds of buffalo. Closer still, the road is lined with statues of men with bloodred paint on their faces. Five miles from the Tower, there is what appears to be a pyramid-shaped cairn that is actually made of steel. The road splits and makes a circle around the Tower's base, continuing on the far side. Though the Beam Roland follows ran southeast, by the time he reaches the Tower, directions have realigned, so it is actually true east. Another road runs at right angles to Tower Road, now in the north/south direction.

T
OWN
L
OOKOUT
(4)

A part of the Drop in Mejis that provides a fair view of Hambry, including the Delgado house.

T
RAVELERS'
R
EST
(5)

A combination inn and eating house in Calla Bryn Sturgis.

T
RAVELLERS'
R
EST
(4, 7, M)

The saloon and whorehouse on High Street in Hambry. It has rooms, but people come here mostly to eat, drink, listen to music, watch girls dance, consort with prostitutes and gamble. It is owned and operated by Coral Thorin, though her brother, Mayor Hart Thorin, has a major interest in it. Sheb, the piano player Roland encounters in Tull, plays the piano here, and Sheemie Ruiz works here.

T
REE
(4.5)

A village on the edge of the Endless Forest at the farthest edge of North'rd Barony. Cutting blossiewood and ironwood trees is a source of income for some, while others are farmers or work in the sawmill. The last town in the civilized country—which means it still paid taxes to Gilead. On or near the Beam of the Cat, Way of the Bird. Since Tim follows the Beam of the Lion, and Aslan lives in the far north, this implies that Tree and Gilead are north of the Dark Tower.

T
REE
S
AWMILL
(4.5)

The place where the blossiewood and ironwood were converted to lumber before being shipped to Gilead. Tim Ross is sent to work here after Bern Kells marries his mother. The starkblast blew it into Tree River. Nothing remained but the stone foundation.

T
ULL
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, M)

A small town southeast of Pricetown, near the edge of the Mohaine Desert. Roland kills everyone in the town after the man in black sets a trap for him here. Among its residents were Sheb, whom Roland knew from Mejis, Nort the Weedeater, whom the man in black raised from the dead, and Allie, Roland's lover, briefly.

V
I
C
ASTIS
M
OUNTAINS
(4)

Mountains four hundred miles west of Mejis. The town of Ritzy is located on the eastern slopes. There were once freehold gold, silver, diamond and copper mines in the mountains, but the Vi Castis Company now regulates them all. Roland, Alain and Cuthbert think that's where Farson will refine the oil from Citgo.

W
AY
S
TATION
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, M)

An inn with horse stables on the old coach line across the Mohaine Desert. Jake Chambers ends up here after he dies in Manhattan. Roland finds the jawbone of one of the Great Old Ones in its basement. Father Callahan awakens here after he commits suicide in Detroit in time to see Roland and Jake in the distance. LaMerk Industries manufactured its atomic water pump.

W
AYDON
(5)

Lady Oriza's castle on the River Send.

W
AYPOINT
N
INE
(4.5)

Daria's designation for a location in Fagonard Swamp.

W
EST'RD
B
ARONIES
(4, 4.5)

The section of Mid-World far west of New Canaan. Thousands of miles from Mejis, according to Susan Delgado. Said to be in flames.

W
ESTERN
D
ROP
(4, 7)

Also called the Drop. A long slope of land that runs from Mejis toward the sea, with Bad Grass and the desert to its west. It is approximately thirty wheels by five wheels. The land is used mostly for the Barony horses and cows. Hambry's breeders own parcels of it. Pat Delgado's house is on the edge of the Drop.

W
ESTERN
S
EA
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Roland reaches the Western Sea after his palaver with Walter and proceeds up its coast, where he discovers a series of doorways that provide him with his
ka-tet
. Home to lobstrosities. Analogous to the Pacific Ocean in our world.

W
ESTRING
(7)

The mostly abandoned town at the beginning of Tower Road where Joe Collins lives. Stuttering Bill keeps the road clear in the winter. It's less than a three-week walk from the Dark Tower.

W
HITE
L
ANDS OF
E
MPATHICA
(7)

See Empathica.

W
HYE
(4.5, 5, 6, 7)

A river in the Borderlands, also known as the Big River. The river splits northwest of Calla Bryn Sturgis. The west branch is near Mid-World—Roland and his
ka-tet
cross it on a raft before the starkblast hits. The east branch is called Devar-Tete Whye, the Little Whye. It runs for thousands of miles south of Calla Bryn Sturgis to the South Seas. Since the river runs south, most of
the trade seen by the Callas comes from the north. It had a tendency to flood every half dozen years.

W
IND
(4)

A mudpen of a town fifty miles from Ritzy, where the Big Coffin Hunters got their coffin tattoos.

X
AY
R
IVER
(7, M)

A river Roland, Alain and Cuthbert cross on the way back to Gilead from Hambry. After they're across, Alain cuts the rope bridge to prevent anyone from following them.

T
HINGS

A
FFILIATION OF
B
ARONIES
, T
HE
(4, M)

A group of Baronies that are aligned with one another and pay homage to New Canaan. It has been “like mother's milk and father's sheltering hand” to the Baronies for many generations. However, it suffers from the same problems as any sprawling empire: people living the farthest from the center feel disenfranchised and grow resentful at having to contribute to its upkeep, especially since the railway no longer runs and communication is difficult. John Farson is the leader of the rebels who would see the Affiliation destroyed. The gunslingers of Steven Deschain's time are too obsessed with the Dark Tower to pay much attention to either Farson or the fact that the Affiliation is rotting from the inside.

A
MOCO
(1, 3)

A gasoline company that existed in Mid-World. A man built a cult around one of its pumps.

A
PON

See Old Star.

A
SIMOV
R
OBOTS
(7)

The generic name for the sentient robots built by North Central Positronics. Andy the Messenger Robot, Nigel the Domestic and Stuttering Bill are examples. Logic faults are common in these robots. The Old People compensated for this by setting up a stringent quarantine system, treating the glitches like diseases.