The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (78 page)

T
HREADED
S
TOCK
(1, 4, 5, M)

Purebred line, free from genetic mutations.

T
OPSY
(L, M)

One of Roland's horses, a two-year-old roan that dies in Eluria.

U
NFOUND
D
OOR
(1, 3, 5, 6, 7)

The magic door that Walter uses to send Father Callahan from the Way Station to the Cave of Voices near Calla Bryn Sturgis. It is made of ironwood or ghostwood. It has a crystal doorknob with a rose etched on it and no keyhole. Like the doorway at the Portal of Shardik, it vibrates to the touch. Unlike most magic doors, this one follows Callahan after he passes through. The
ka-tet
use it in conjunction with Black Thirteen to travel to specific times and places in Keystone Earth. The term comes from
Look Homeward, Angel
by Thomas Wolfe. Patrick Danville draws it to Susannah's specifications so she can travel to Central Park. The word “unfound” is written on it in the hieroglyphics of the Great Old Ones. The door at the base of the Dark Tower also says “unfound” until Roland takes off his guns. Then the word changes to “found.”

V
I
C
ASTIS
C
OMPANY
(4)

The mining company that has taken over all the former freehold gold, silver, copper and diamond mines in the Vi Castis Mountains. The Big Coffin Hunters assisted the company in running the independents off.

V
OICE OF THE
T
URTLE
/ V
OICE OF THE
B
EAM
(3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

See Song of the Turtle.

W
ATCH
M
E
(1, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

A card game that has been played in barrooms and bunkhouses and around campfires since the world was young. According to Roland, saying “Watch me” means “you have a deal.” The one surviving dipolar computer in Lud can only run the drum machines and play this game. There is also a one-handed version and a version called Hotpatch or Casa Fuerte.

W
AY
-G
OG
(3)

Bagpipelike instrument played on an upper level of the Tower, according to Blaine the Mono.

W
ESTERN
L
INE
(4.5)

The train line that once ran for more than a thousand wheels west of Gilead all the way to the Mohaine Desert. In the years before Gilead fell, it ran only as far as Debaria. Beyond that, washouts, earthquakes and harriers destroyed the tracks.

T
HE
W
HITE
(1, 3, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, M)

The force of good that stands behind the Affiliation. The power of Arthur Eld, the White King. The
sigul
on the end of Roland's gun barrels and the one on the door of Arthur's tomb translates to the White. Steven Deschain sends Roland to Debaria so people can see that the White is still strong and true.

W
ICKETS

See Points.

W
IDE
E
ARTH
(1, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 7)

One of the seven seasons of Mid-World, between Winter and Sowing. The Dance of Easterling marks its end. Riddling is the most important event of the Fair of Wide Earth because the riddles augur well or ill for the success of the crops. The Covenant Man made his rounds of the North'rd Barony during this season.

“
THE
W
IND
T
HROUGH THE
K
EYHOLE
” (4.5)

A story from the
Magic Tales of the Eld
that Roland's mother read to him when he was a child. Roland tells the story of Tim Stoutheart to Young Bill Streeter in Debaria.

W
IZARD'S
G
LASS
, T
HE
(4, 5, 7)

Any of thirteen magical glass orbs that make up the Wizard's Rainbow. Also known as the Bends o' the Rainbow.

W
IZARD'S
R
AINBOW
, T
HE
(4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, M)

Also known as Maerlyn's Rainbow. It consists of thirteen colored glass balls (or bends), one for each of the Guardians of the Beam and one—Black Thirteen, the most powerful and terrible—representing the Dark Tower. Some people believe Maerlyn was turned evil by their glammer in the days before the Elden Kingdom fell. Others think he created them.

These balls are alive and hungry and evil. Hurt enlivens them. People who use them end up being used by them. Each one makes its possessor feel like the glass is just for him or her, but they never stay in one place or one pair of hands for long. Almost all have the power to send the user todash. Some are used to see into the future or into other worlds, or to spy on other locations in Mid-World. They never see the good—only the ill.

By the time Roland comes into possession of the pink orb in Mejis, most are thought to have been broken. The Crimson King had six of them, but he smashed them before leaving Le Casse Roi Russe for the Dark Tower. The locations of the rest are mostly rumors. The blue glass was supposedly in the hands of a desert tribe of slow mutants called the Total Hogs, but they lost it. The green glass was reportedly in Lud and the orange one in Dis.

W
OLF
(4)

Mayor Hart Thorin of Hambry's dog. He chewed up one of Susan Delgado's Reap Fair dresses.

Y
EAR'S
E
ND
(4, 5)

One of the seven seasons in Mid-World, between Reaping and Winter. Its moon is the Demon Moon.

Z
OLTAN
(1, 3, 4, 6, 7, M)

Brown's talking raven, named after a folk singer and guitarist King knew at the University of Maine.

MID
-W
ORLD
/M
ANNI
/C
ALLA
W
ORDS AND
E
XPRESSIONS

A
LL
H
AIL
(
OR
H
ILE
)
THE
C
RIMSON
K
ING
(4, 5, 7, M)

A statement of tribute to the Crimson King. Jake sees it written on the boards surrounding the vacant lot.

A
LL THINGS SERVE THE
B
EAM
(3, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

Everything that anyone does, even people who are opponents of the
ka-tet
, ultimately is to the benefit of
ka
. Tim Ross knows the saying without understanding what it means.

A
LLEYO
(5)

To run away.

A
M
(7)

The opposite of Prim—reason instead of magic.

A
N-TET
(4, 4.5, 5, 7)

In council. A kind of telepathy and communication shared by people who are part of a
ka-tet
. Also the relationship between two lovers.

A
NTI-KA
(7)

A force that works against
ka
, set in motion by the Crimson King.

A
STIN
(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Roland's pronunciation of “aspirin.”

A
VEN KAL
(7)

“Lifted by the wind” or “carried on the wave.” A wave that runs along the Path of the Beam that takes people somewhere to show them something
ka
wants them to see or hear.

A
VEN KAS
(7)

A destructive natural force, like a hurricane or a tsunami.

B
AH-BO
(7)

A term of endearment meaning “baby.”

B
ANNOCK
(7)

Buffalo.

B
IN-RUSTIES OR RUSTIES
(4.5, 5, 6, 7)

Swallows or giant blackbirds.

B
INNIE BUGS
(5)

Mosquito-like insects.

B
LACKMOUTH DISEASE
(7)

Cancer.

B
LOSSIEWOOD OR
B
LOSSWOOD
(4.5, 5)

A sweet-smelling tree found at the edge of the Endless Forest. It has a fine-grained lightweight golden wood used for lake and river craft. When Roland was ten, spiders infested a farm of these trees east of Gilead. The forester panicked and cut down all the good trees to keep them from being killed, which put an end to the Blosswood Forest.

B
OOM-FLURRY
(5)

An organ-pipe cactus with great thick barrel arms and long needles. They have a bitter, tangy odor, can move and are carnivorous. They act as sentries outside the Dogan near Calla Bryn Sturgis.

B
OUGIE
(7)

A reanimated corpse.

B
RIGHT
(4.5)

Special talent.

B
UCKA
(1, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

A wagon, usually horse-drawn.

B
ULL SQUIRTER
(4.5)

A kind of eye dropper used by Destry in Tree, probably for artificial insemination.

C
ALLUM-KA
(6)

A simple pullover worn by men and women in the Callas during cooler weather.

C
AMEL BUCKET
(4, M)

A bucket at a saloon into which unfinished drinks are poured, creating a noxious combination known as camel piss. Reckless and poor people can buy double shots for a few pennies.

C
AN CALAH
(6)

Angels. Gan speaks in the voice of the can calah.

C
ANDA
(7)

A strategic distance between two gunslingers when entering a battle outnumbered. It guarantees that they can't be killed by a single shot. The distance is never the same in any two situations.

C
AN-TAH
(5, 6, 7)

Little gods. Animal-shaped icons, like the scrimshaw turtle, imbued with power.

Crossover to other works:
The stone carvings in the China Pit mine in
Desperation
are also
can-tahs
.

C
AN TOI
(6, 7)

Low men/women.

C
AN-TOI-TETE
(7)

Misbegotten thing. Roland's term for a mutant desert dog.

C
ARVERS
(4)

Five-shot revolvers.

C
HAR
(3, 4)

Death.

C
HARY
(1, 4.5, 5, 7)

Dangerous or deadly.

C
HARY MAN
(1, 4.5, 5, 7)

Someone who courts or brings death.

C
HARY-KA
(7)

Someone (like Roland) who is destined to deal death.

C
HARYOU TREE
(1, 4, 5, 6, M)

In the days of the Old People, at the end of the Reaping Day Fair, a person was sacrificed in the bonfire as a way of placating the gods. “Come, Reap, death for you and life for our crops” was the accompanying chant. The chosen sacrifice had his or her hands painted red. After the tradition was banned, people painted the hands of stuffy-guys and threw them into the Reap Fair Bonfire instead, or burned them on pyres after the harvest.

C
HASSIT
(1, 7)

High Speech for the number nineteen

C
HEFLET
(3, 7)

The way Roland pronounces the name of the antibiotic Keflex.

C
HERT
(7)

A strong metamorphic rock that is often used for primitive tools like ax-heads, knives, skewers and scrapers. It resembles quartz. According to legend, it “breaks lucky,” which means it usually breaks into pieces the size and shape to suit the purpose at hand.

C
HILDE
(7)

A formal and ancient term that describes a knight or a gunslinger chosen by
ka
to embark on a quest. Because it is a holy term, the gunslingers never used it among themselves.

C
LEARING AT THE END OF THE PATH
(L, 1, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

Death. Also heaven. The place where a person's
ka-essen
goes after death. Some people believe that those in the clearing know all the secrets the living keep from one another.

C
LOBBER
(4.5)

A straw hat worn by men who worked at the mines.

C
LOUT
(1, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

A cloth, rag or diaper.

C
OFFAH
(7)

Hell.

C
OMMALA
(1, 4.5, 5, 6, 7)

A word with dozens of meanings in Mid-World. The most common is a variety of rice, but it also stands for intercourse, orgasm, the moment before a feast begins, baldness and schmoozing, to name but a few. Many of its meanings, connotations and shadings are sexual.

C
OOZEY
(4)

An unflattering adjective.

C
ORVETTE
(4)

Literally “a little packet.” In Hambry, a small leather purse with a lace tie. Big enough for a few coins. Carried by ladies more often than gentlemen.

C
OSY
(3, 5)

Dangerous or tricky. Devious.

C
OTTON GILLY
(4)

Prostitute.

C
OVE
(3, 7)

A person. Most often used in “a trig cove,” meaning a sly or smart person.