Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (107 page)

DASH-DINH:
A
dash-dinh
is a religious leader. Henchick of the Manni is a
dash-dinh.
V:389

DEATH PRAYER:
Roland translates this prayer for us and recites it over Jake’s grave:

Time flies, knells call, life passes, so hear my prayer.

Birth is nothing but death begun, so hear my prayer.

Death is speechless, so hear my speech.

This is Jake, who served his ka and his tet. Say true.

May the forgiving glance of S’mana heal his heart. Say please.

May the arms of Gan raise him from the darkness of the earth. Say please.

Surround him, Gan, with light.

Fill him, Chloe, with strength.

If he is thirsty, give him water in the clearing.

If he is hungry, give him food in the clearing.

May his life on this earth and the pain of his passing become

as a dream to his waking soul, and let his eyes fall upon

every lovely sight; let him find the friends that were lost to him,

and let every one whose name he calls call his in return.

This is Jake, who lived well, loved his own, and died as ka would have it.

Each man owes a death. This is Jake. Give him peace.

VII:474

DEH:
Pronunciation of the letter
D
in High Speech. V:130

DELAH:
Many. V:148, V:598, V:642, VI:268, VI:294, VII:50

DELAH GESTURE:
See
MID-WORLD GESTURES
section
.

DEVAR:
Prison. VII:142

DEVAR-TETE:
Little prison or torture chamber. VII:142

DEVAR-TOI:
See entry in
END-WORLD TERMS

DINH:
A
dinh
is a leader or a king. It can also mean father, as in “father of his people.” Roland is the
dinh
of his
ka-tet.
In
Wizard and Glass,
Roland asks whether the Wizard of Oz was a great
dinh
—a baron or king. IV:558, IV:630, V:31, V:203, V:368, VI:252

FAN-GON:
The exiled one. This term is used to describe Eddie Dean when he returns to New York via the Unfound Door. VII:515

FIN-GAN:
Literally speaking, this means
the first word.
According to the Manni, the first word, or
fin-Gan,
was
hile.
According to their beliefs, the word
hile
set the world spinning. W:201

GODOSH:
See
PRIM
,
in
CHARACTERS

GUNNA (GUNNA-GAR):
All of one’s worldly possessions. In the case of a traveler, it is what he or she carries. IV:103, V:404, VI:33, VI:73, VII:134

GUNSLINGER LITANY:
See
GUNSLINGER LITANY
,
in
MID-WORLD ARGOT

HAD HEET ROL-UH, FA HEET GUN, FA HEET HAK, FA-HAD GUN?:
This is a phonetic translation of something which Calvin Tower says to Roland. We know that these words are probably in the Tongue, but we never find out what they mean. VI:197

HILE:
Hile is one of the few words that is exactly the same in both low and High Speech. It is the one that the Manni called
fin-Gan,
or the first word; the one that set the world spinning. In low speech,
hile
is used as a formal greeting. It can also be used to call animals. IV:21, IV:261, V:107, W:201, W:202

HILE, BONDSMEN! I SEE YOU VERY WELL! RISE IN LOVE AND SERVICE:
It seems likely that this phrase is translated from High Speech. This is what gunslingers say when people kneel before them and raise their fists to their foreheads.
See also
MID-WORLD GESTURES
. W:202

HODJI:
Hodji
means both “dim” and “hood.” In the southern provinces of Mid-World, Walter O’Dim was known as Walter Hodji. He was given this nickname for two reasons—first for the hooded cloak he often wore and second for his ability to make himself DIM so that he could move unnoticed. VII:183

HOUKEN:
Houken
is a descriptive term. If someone comments on your
sad houken’s eyes
they are talking about your waif eyes, or your melodramatically sad eyes. When Mordred calls Oy a “little furry
houken,
” he’s calling him a sad little furry waif. VI:753

**HOWKEN:
The act (and art) of hypnotizing someone, usually using a bullet as a focusing point. In the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger,
Roland twirls a bullet
howken
to hypnotize Jake.

IRINA:
The healing madness that comes after terrible loss. VII:466

JIN-JIN:
Quickly. As in “Get me a piece of chalk and do it
jin-jin.
” VII:149, W:69

KA:
Like many words in High Speech,
ka
has multiple meanings and so is difficult to define precisely. It signifies life force, consciousness, duty, and destiny. In the vulgate, or low speech, it also means a place to which an individual must go. The closest terms in our language are probably
fate
and
destiny,
although
ka
also implies karma, or the accumulated destiny (and accumulated debt) of many existences. We are the servants of
ka,
but we are also its prisoners.
Ka
’s one purpose is to turn, and we turn with it, albeit sometimes under different names and in different bodies. In the final volume of the Dark Tower series,
ka
is compared to a train hurtling forward, one which may not be sane. The
ka
of our world is NINETEEN. The
ka
of Roland’s world is ninety-nine. II:178, V:31, V:91, VI:293, VI:341, VII:169, VII:302, VII:307

**KA-BABBIES:
Young KA-TET mates. In the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger,
Cort warns Roland that if he takes his test of manhood and fails, he may never see his father, mother, or
ka
-babbies again.
See entry in
CALLA BRYN STURGIS DIALECT

KA-DINH:
Oy believes that Jake is his
ka-dinh.
VII:92

KA-GAN:
Gan himself. Writers and artists are KAS-KA-GAN. VII:458

KA-HUMES:
See entry in
END-WORLD TERMS

KA-MAI (KA-MAIS):
Ka
’s fool, or destiny’s fool. Roland uses this term to describe both Eddie Dean and Cuthbert Allgood. The servants of the Crimson King call Jake and Callahan
Gilead’s ka-mais.
Those who are designated
ka-mais
are often safe from harm, or at least until
ka
tires of their antics and swats them out of the world.

The term
ka-mai
has other connotations as well. As has already been stated, it implies a constant joker (the kind Roland is obviously drawn to and easily angered by), yet the addition of
ka
adds another dimension to this term. One must remember that in Shakespeare’s plays, it is often the fool who speaks the most profound truths. Sometimes jest is serious, or cuts to the heart of a matter which otherwise could not be addressed at all. Cuthbert and Eddie, both referred to as
ka-mai,
often have insights that Roland would neither grasp nor face on his own. It is Eddie, alone among the
ka-tet
traveling to the Tower, who realizes that Roland’s potential for treachery and betrayal still exists. He jokes about it, yet he states it clearly enough, and directly to Roland. The gift of
ka-mai
is a necessary one on the road to the Tower. It is as necessary as the gift of the touch. IV:42, IV:282, V:527
(opposite of
ka-me), VI:358, VII:6, VII:427

**KA’S BOOK:
The Book of Destiny. Roland mentions this book when he meets his lover Alice in the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger.

KA-MATES:
Your
ka
-mates are those people whose fates (or destinies) are entwinedwith your own. It is another term for the members of your KA-TET. V:405

KA-ME:
Wisely. It is the opposite of KA-MAI, which means foolishly. V:527

KAMMEN:
The TODASH chimes, or the bells that you hear when you travel
todash
. This word has special significance for the Manni, since they travel between worlds so frequently.
See
TODASH
: KAMMEN,
in
PORTALS

KA-SHUME:
This rue-laden term does not have an exact translation. It describes the dark emotion one feels when a break in one’s KA-TET looms.
Ka-tets
can only be broken by death or betrayal. Some argue, however, that these things are also aspects of KA. If this is the case, then
ka-shume
implies a sense of approaching disaster involving the members of a
ka-tet. Ka-shume
is the price paid for attempting to change or divert
ka
. VII:247, VII:250, VII:259, VII:307

KAS-KA GAN:
Prophets of Gan or singers of Gan. All artists—whether they are writers, painters, sculptors, poets, or composers—are
kas-ka Gan.
VII:458

KA-TEL:
A
ka-tel
is a class of apprentice gunslingers. Roland was the youngest of his
ka-tel,
yet he was the first to win his guns. IV:106

KA-TET:
Ka-tet
means “one made from many.”
Ka
refers to destiny;
tet
refers to a group of people with the same interests or goals.
Ka-tet
is the place where men’s lives are joined by fate.
Ka-tet
cannot be changed or bent to any individual’s will, but it can be seen, known, and understood. The philosophers of Gilead stated that the bonds of
ka-tet
could be broken only by death or treachery. However, Roland’s teacher Cort maintained that neither death nor treachery is strong enough to break the bonds of
ka-tet,
since these events are also tied to
ka,
or fate. Each member of a
ka-tet
is a piece of a puzzle. Each individual piece is a mystery, but when put together, the collective pieces form a greater picture. It takes many interwoven
ka-tets
to weave an historical tapestry.
Ka-tets
overlap, often sharing members. Individuals can also be partial members of a
ka-tet,
as Roland states when he pursues Jake through the underground mazes of Lud. Unlike the billy-bumbler Oy, who follows Jake by instinct as much as by sense of smell (members of the same
ka-tet
are drawn to one another), Roland believes he is not a complete member of Jake’s destiny-bound group. He can share thoughts, but his destiny is slightly different from those of his companions. This may be because Roland is from a different world, but this explanation is not complete. After all, Oy is also from a different world, and is part of a different species.

A
ka-tet
is not always bound by love, affection, or friendship. Enemies are also
ka-tet.
Although usually referred to as positive or at least inevitable, the forces of
ka
and
ka-tet
can cast a sinister shadow over our lives. As Roland says to his friends when the shadow of KA-SHUME falls over their lives, “We are
ka-tet
 . . . we are one from many. We have shared our water as we have shared our lives and our quest. If one should fall, that one will not be lost, for we are one and will not forget, even in death” (VII:260). For Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Roland, the
ka-tet
holding them together also binds them to the Dark Tower and the Vacant Lot on Forty-sixth Street and Second Avenue. This place, where Tom and Jerry’s Artistic Deli once stood, is the “secret heart” of their
ka-tet.
III:259, III:264, V:108, V:149, VI:341

KES:
Pronounced like
kiss.
A person’s
kes
is linked to his or her vitality. Even the Beams have
kes.
VII:334

KHEF:
Literally speaking,
khef
means “the sharing of water.” It also implies birth, life force, and all that is essential to existence.
Khef
can only be shared by those whom destiny has welded together for good or ill—in other words, by those who are KA-TET.

At the beginning of the original
Gunslinger,
we learn that one can progress through the
khef.
When we meet Roland, he has “progressed through the
khef
over many years, and had reached the fifth level.” Those who attain the higher levels of
khef
(levels seven and eight) are able to have a clinical detachment from their bodies. The physical self may thirst, but the mind remains separate, a spectator.

Khef
is both individual and collective. It implies the knowledge a person gains from dream-life as well as his or her life force.
Khef
is the web that binds a
ka-tet.
Those who share
khef
share thoughts. Their destinies are linked, as are their life forces. Behind the multiple meanings of this word lies a philosophy of interconnectedness, a sense that all individuals, all events, are part of a greater pattern or plan. It also implies that through rigorous training (similar to that endured by gunslingers) the self can progress upward, rising tier to tier, until the body, if not one’s ultimate destiny, is under the control of mind and will.

An individual’s
khef
is often more complex than he or she realizes. In psychological terms,
khef
accounts for all parts of ourselves, even those aspects we wish not to see. It may also account for our other selves, those “twinners” (to borrow a term from
The Talisman
) who are our manifestations in other realities, or on other levels of the Dark Tower. Our fates, for good or for evil, are the result of both our own and our shared
khef.
Like Roland, who must face the fact that betrayal of those he loves is part of his destiny, we must realize that we are capable of both good and evil actions. Susannah Dean—the woman who emerged from the dual personalities of Detta Walker and Odetta Holmes—experiences this firsthand. While riding through the blasted lands beyond the city of Lud, “the dark side of her personality, that side of her
khef
which was Detta Walker” drank in the vision of complete destruction. Her other personalities—Susannah Dean and Odetta Holmes—reject the hateful horrors shown by Blaine’s sadistic “visual mode,” but Detta rejoices in them. The part of her that has experienced rage and pain identifies with the violence of it, and is somehow pleased by it. III:260, III:407, IV:29, V:15, V:92, V:98, V:149, V:296, VI:7, VI:341, VII:259