CHARACTERS,17 MAGICAL OBJECTS, MAGICAL FORCES
. . . finally only three remained of the old world, three like dreadful cards from a terrible deck of tarot cards: gunslinger, man in black, and the Dark Tower.
I:140*
Thereâs only three boxes to a man. . . . Best and highest is the head, with all the headâs ideas and dreams. Next is the heart, with all our feelings of love and sadness and joy and happiness. . . . In the last box is all what weâd call low-commala: have a fuck, take a shit, maybe want to do someone a meanness for no reason . . .
V:630â31
A
AARON JAFFORDS
See JAFFORDS, AARON
ABAGAIL, MOTHER
In the alternate version of KANSAS which our tet traveled through in Wizard and Glass, JAKE CHAMBERS found a note tucked under a camper windshield. The note read, âThe old woman from the dreams is in Nebraska. Her name is Abagail.â Although our tet never meets this 108-year-old black woman, her path is nevertheless linked to Rolandâs. In STEPHEN KINGâs novel The Stand, this daughter of a former slave is a Warrior of the WHITE, and her archenemy is the evil RANDALL FLAGG.
In Song of Susannah, we discover that Mother Abagailâs world is definitely linked to Rolandâs. Both the Red Death (the plague which devastated the END-WORLD town of FEDIC) and the superflu (the disease which wiped out 99 percent of the people in Abagailâs version of Earth) are both physical manifestations of a metaphysical illness. As the GREAT OLD ONESâ technology fails and the mechanical BEAMS collapse, such viruses and plagues are breaking out on many levels of the TOWER.
IV:624, VI:405
ABRAHAM, DAUGHTER OF
See TASSENBAUM, IRENE
ADAMS, DIEGO
See CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS: RANCHERS
ADAMS, RICHARD
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM: SHARDIK
ADAMS, SAREY
See ORIZA, SISTERS OF
**AFFILIATION
The Affiliation was the name given to the network of political and military alliances that united MID-WORLDâs baronies during Rolandâs youth. By the time Roland reached adulthood, the Affiliation was in tatters, due in large part to the bloody rebellions and terrible betrayals staged by THE GOOD MAN (JOHN FARSON) and his followers.
The Affiliationâwhich played such a large part in Wizard and Glassâdoes not figure directly in the following three books of the Dark Tower series. However, we can guess that the gunslingers who fought beside Roland in the final battle of JERICHO HILL were all that remained of the Affiliationâs forces. See also DEMULLETâS COLUMN.
IV:148â49, IV:150, IV:151 (in trouble because of Farson), IV:163 (gunslingersâ attitude toward it), IV:174â78 (general info), IV:180 (and Mejisâs loyalty), IV:181, IV:182, IV:189, IV:191, IV:199, IV:201, IV:204, IV:206, IV:211 (hint something is wrong in Hambry), IV:219 (when Gilead falls, the Affiliation ends), IV:221, IV:224, IV:225, IV:228, IV:229, IV:231â32, IV:250â51 (Roland asks Susan if she supports it), IV:255, IV:260 (âAffiliation bratsâ), IV:277, IV:302, IV:344, IV:350â51 (impliedâInner Crescent), IV:359, IV:378, IV:381, IV:411, IV:417 (and the power of the White), IV:423, IV:430, IV:433, IV:438, IV:501 (Rolandâs ka-tet accused of being traitors)
**AGELESS STRANGER (LEGION, MAERLYN)
In the original version of The Gunslinger, we learned that the Ageless Stranger was actually just another name for the great sorcerer MAERLYN. Like WALTER, he was a minion of the TOWER, only a more powerful one. As Walter said in the GOLGOTHA, the Ageless Stranger darkled and tinctedâin other words, he could live simultaneously in all times. According to Walter, if Roland wanted to reach the Tower, he would have to slay this formidable enemy.
In the new version of The Gunslinger, we learn something quite different about this strange being. According to Walter the true name of the Ageless Stranger is not Maerlyn but Legion, and he is a creature of END-WORLD. Roland must slay him in order to meet the Towerâs present controllerâthe CRIMSON KING. Like Roland, we donât yet know whether slippery Walter is telling the truth or is spreading lies for his own ends.
See also MAERLYN and CRIMSON KING.
I:211â12, III:261, III:387
AIDAN
See TET CORPORATION: FOUNDING FATHERS: CULLUM, JOHN
**AILEEN OF GILEAD (AILEEN RITTER)
In the original version of The Gunslinger, we learned that Aileen was Rolandâs second important lover. He became intimate with her after his return from MEJIS but before GILEADâs fall. However, Aileen plays a smaller role in the 2003 version of The Gunslinger. Instead of remembering his love for beautiful, bright-eyed Aileen, Roland longingly recalls SUSAN DELGADO of HAMBRY. In the updated Gunslinger, Aileen becomes Rolandâs dancing companion, not his beloved, and the woman his parents want him to marry, not the girl he chooses to be his lover.
I:86, I:88, I:131, I:137, I:140
ALAIN JOHNS
See JOHNS, ALAIN
**ALAN
See ALLEN. See also DESCHAIN, GABRIELLE
ALBINO BEES
See MUTANTS
ALBRECHT
See VAMPIRES: TYPE THREE
ALEXANDER, BEN
See CAN-TOI
ALEXANDER, TRUMAN
See ENRICO, BALAZAR: BALAZARâS MEN
ALIA (NURSE)
See TAHEEN: RAT-HEADED TAHEEN
**ALICE OF TULL (ALLIE)
In both versions of The Gunslinger, Roland meets Alice when she serves him from behind the plank bar of SHEBâS honky-tonk in TULL. Although she may once have been beautiful, by the time we see her she is straw-haired and scarred. Like so many people in MID-WORLD, Alice has been sucked dryâboth physically and emotionallyâby the sterile hardpan of the desert. The overall impression she gives is of a woman who has been worn down into an early menopause. Her dirty blue dress is held at the strap by a safety pin and the livid scar corkscrewing across her forehead is emphasized, rather than hidden, by her face powder.
Although she initially reacts to him with hostility, Alice soon becomes Rolandâs lover. Unfortunately, she also becomes his victim. During the battle between Roland and SYLVIA PITTSTONâs followers, Allieâs former lover SHEB uses Alice as a human shield. Like so many of Rolandâs other friends and confidants, Alice dies under Rolandâs guns.
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Allie still dies under Rolandâs guns, but before that she is the psychological victim of the MAN IN BLACK, also known as WALTER OâDIM. After he brings the weed-eater NORT back to life, Walter gives Nort a note for Allie. The note confides that Walter has planted a magical word in Nortâs mind. The word is NINETEEN. If Allie says this word to him, the weed-eater will blurt out all that he saw in the world beyond.
But this message is a cruel trick, a Catch-22. Alice has always wanted to know what comes after this life, but attaining such forbidden knowledge will drive her mad. However, knowing the word, and not being able to speak it, is also guaranteed to drive her mad. In the end, Alice cannot control her curiosity and she says âNineteenâ to Nort, forcing him to spill forth all of his terrible, repressed secrets. Hence, when Roland aims his gun at her, a distressed Allie does not beg to be spared but begs to be killed so that her psychic torture will come to an end. Unfortunately for Alice, she ends up in the very place she wanted her imagination to escapeâthe LAND OF NINETEEN.
I:26â43 (Nortâs story 33â41), I:45â47, I:52â54, I:58â59 (dies), I:60, I:64, I:77, I:78, I:79, I:118, I:131, I:143, I:156, II:231, III:42, III:44, III:127, VI:288
**ALLEN
In the original version of The Gunslinger, Allen was part of Rolandâs ka-tel, or class of apprentice gunslingers, and was one of the boys who witnessed Rolandâs battle with CORT. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Allenâs name is replaced with that of ALAIN JOHNS.
I:162, I:167â73 (witnesses Rolandâs coming of age)
SPELLED ALAN: II:121
**ALLGOOD, CUTHBERT (ARTHUR HEATH, LAUGHING BOY)
Talkative, brown-haired Cuthbert Allgood was Rolandâs beloved but restless childhood friend. Under the name Arthur Heath, he accompanied Roland and ALAIN JOHNS on Rolandâs dangerous MEJIS adventure, which figured so prominently in Wizard and Glass. Despite the comma of brown hair always falling over his forehead and his anarchic sense of humor, tall, narrow-hipped Bert was quite handsome. His dark, beautiful eyes made SUSAN DELGADO wonder whetherâunder different circumstancesâshe would have fallen in love with Cuthbert rather than with Roland.
Cuth...