by Robin Furth
Mia’s sole purpose is to nurture and bear the Chap, the demonic offspring of herself, Susannah Dean, Roland Deschain, and the CRIMSON KING. As a servant of the Outer Dark, the dan-tete, or little king, is destined to destroy his White Daddy (Roland) and rule after his Red one. Although the fetal MORDRED is slowly being “faxed” into Mia’s body located in END-WORLD, at first it is Susannah who experiences pregnancy’s strange cravings. As an early service to the Red King, Mia occasionally hijacks Susannah’s body to feed it the binnie bugs, frogs, and raw piglets that Susannah (in her waking state) would not have been able to stomach. However, like Detta Walker, the longer Mia is inside of Susannah, the more control-time she seems to require. By the beginning of Song of Susannah, Mia has seized the reins of the physical form she shares with her host.
Unfortunately for Mia (who goes mad upon the delivery of her chap), she never gets to raise the child for whom she has sacrificed so much. No sooner does Mordred begin to suckle at his mother’s breast than he turns into a were-spider and sucks all the moisture from her body. All that is left of Mother-Mia is a giant dust bunny.
V:71–81 (hunts in Susannah’s body), V:127, V:173, V:174, V:181, V:183, V:184, V:196, V:198, V:241, V:248, V:249, V:251, V:311 (baby’s keeper), V:318, V:329, V:341, V:370–76, V:376–80 (Eddie knows she is in Susannah), V:382, V:383, V:385, V:390 (indirect), V:391, V:392 (indirect), V:394, V:396, V:472, V:478, V:479–83, V:488, V:583, V:617, V:628, V:629, V:648 (Susannah-Mio), V:659, V:674, V:688, V:697, V:699–705, VI:8, VI:48–52, VI:53–125, VI:150, VI:190, VI:194, VI:210, VI:216, VI:219, VI:223, VI:224, VI:225–61, VI:241–45 (Mia as elemental), VI:287, VI:316–17, VI:319 (indirect), VI:320, VI:321, VI:322, VI:325, VI:326, VI:327, VI:339, VI:343, VI:347–85, VII:3, VII:4 (Susannah-Mio), VII:21–22, VII:35, VII:47, VII:52, VII:55–75 (by 75 she is dried-out dust on a bed), VII:76, VII:81, VII:115, VII:141–42 (a giant dust bunny), VII:145, VII:149, VII:160, VII:163, VII:168, VII:169, VII:170, VII:173, VII:175, VII:176, VII:302, VII:303, VII:315, VII:398, VII:399, VII:487, VII:488, VII:531, VII:538, VII:539, VII:554, VII:578, VII:595, VII:620 (lunatic mother), VII:689, VII:741 (body-mother), VII:766 (dust-mummy)
MIA’S ASSOCIATES:
BABY MICHAEL: Michael was one of the few healthy babies born in the town of FEDIC before the onset of the Red Death. In her incorporeal state, Mia saw this baby and fell in love with him, realizing that her true destiny was motherhood. Mia’s longing for motherhood, a desire kindled by observing the untouchable Michael, was later used by WALTER, servant of the CRIMSON KING. He offered Mia motherhood in exchange for her incorporeal immortality. Mia, to her own undoing, accepted this most Faustian of bargains. VI:243–44, VI:249, VI:251, VI:254
MICHAEL’S FATHER: VI:243–44
MICHAEL’S MOTHER: VI:243–44
CHAP: See MORDRED, listed separately
RAT, MR.: During one of her food-raids in her dream-version of CASTLE DISCORDIA, Mia kills Mr. Rat and steals his dinner. They are competing over a roasted suckling pig, which appears, momentarily, to be a human baby. Mr. Rat is the size of a tomcat, so Mia is a fairly fierce fighter. As always happens in the Dark Tower series, Mia’s foe has a twinner in MID-WORLD. Mr. Rat is also the rat which SUSANNAH DEAN kills in the JAFFORDS’s barn. V:373–75, V:376, V:381–82, V:390, VI:373
MICHAEL (BABY MICHAEL)
See MIA
MICHELA, SISTER
See ELURIA, LITTLE SISTERS OF
MID-WORLD FOLKLORE (HEROES, ANTIHEROES, MAGICAL FORCES, FAMOUS TALES)
For a list of Mid-World divinities, see GODS OF MID-WORLD
AM: See PRIM, listed separately
BEAMS: See BEAMS, PATH OF THE, in PORTALS
BEAMS, GUARDIANS OF THE: See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, listed separately
BIG SKY DADDY: see GODS OF MID-WORLD
BLACK THIRTEEN: See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, listed separately
BRAVE BILL: In the story of “The Wind Through the Keyhole” (which is really a tale about a young gunslinger-to-be called TIM STOUTHEART), the WIDOW SMACK tells young Tim Ross that he should make himself a pallet behind the cottage door so that he can surprise his murderous steppa, BIG KELLS, if he comes home unexpectedly. She adds that this strategy isn’t much like one Brave Bill of the stories would use. Tim replies that being hit from behind is all his bastard steppa deserves, since that was how he murdered BIG JACK ROSS.
Interestingly, Bill is also the name of YOUNG BILL STREETER, the boy to whom Roland recounts “The Wind Through the Keyhole.” We can’t help but wonder whether Roland chose the name “Brave Bill” to make his young companion feel brave in the face of everything he has seen, and everything he has yet to do. (Young Bill was the only witness to the SKIN-MAN murders at the JEFFERSON RANCH and had to identify the killer.) Just as Tim Ross grows up to be Tim Stoutheart despite the fact that he fears his cruel steppa, so Roland is secretly assuring Bill that he can grow up to be Brave Bill, despite the fact that he must identify the terrifying skin-man. W:168
CAM TAM: See ELURIA CHARACTERS: CAM TAM (DOCTOR BUGS)
CAN-TAH: See CAN-TAH and GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, both listed separately
CHASSIT: See NINETEEN, listed separately
CHILDREN OF RODERICK: See MUTANTS: CHILDREN OF RODERICK
CRIMSON KING: See CRIMSON KING, listed separately
DAME MARY: see MARY DAME below
DEMON ELEMENTALS: See DEMON ELEMENTALS, listed separately
DEMONS: See DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS, listed separately
DIANA’S DREAM: This is an old Mid-World story which is very much like “The Lady or the Tiger?” II:105–6, V:39, V:442
DRAGON: See DRAGON, listed separately
ELD, ARTHUR: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
GAN: See GAN, listed separately
GODOSH: See PRIM, listed separately
GRANDFATHERS: See VAMPIRES: TYPE ONE
GREATER DISCORDIA: See PRIM, listed separately
GREEN DAYS, QUEEN OF: The Queen o’ Green Days is probably a figure from IN-WORLD folklore. When Roland tracks MIA through the BORDERLAND bogs, he mentions this figure. We don’t learn anything else about her. V:81
GRENFALL, LORD: See ORIZA, LADY, listed separately
HORN OF ELD: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
KAMMEN: See TODASH, in PORTALS
KELLS, BIG BERN: See KELLS, BIG BERN, listed separately
KELLS, MILLICENT: See KELLS, BIG BERN: KELLS, MILLICENT, listed separately
LLAMREI: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
LOST BEASTS OF ELD: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
MAERLYN (THE SORCERER): See MAERLYN, listed separately
MAERLYN’S GRAPEFRUIT: See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, listed separately
MARY DAME: We never learn who Mary Dame is. However the phrase “haughty as Mary Dame” tells us a lot about her character. W:274
OLD MOTHER: See GODS OF MID-WORLD
OLD ONES (GREAT OLD ONES): See OLD ONES, listed separately
OLD STAR: See GODS OF MID-WORLD
ORIZA, LADY: See ORIZA, LADY, listed separately
PERTH, LORD: “So fell Lord Perth, and the countryside did shake with thunder.” The story of Lord Perth comes from one of Mid-World’s old poems and is very much like our world’s biblical tale of David and Goliath. According to tradition, Lord Perth was a giant who went forth to war with a thousand men, but he was still in his own country when a little boy threw a stone at him and hit him in the knee. He stumbled, the weight of his armor bore him down, and he broke his neck in the fall. When eleven-year-old JAKE CHAMBERS mentions this story to the huge and wicked TICK-TOCK, Tick-Tock becomes enraged. He considers the story unlucky. This isn’t surprising since it proves to be a foretelling of his own fate. III:274–75, III:356–57, IV:89, IV:90, IV:294, IV:404, IV:422, IV:452, IV:571, IV:647, V:10, V:39, W:48
ROSS, BIG JACK: See ROSS, BIG JACK, listed separately
ROSS, NELL: See ROSS, NELL, listed separately
ROSS, TIM: See ROSS, TIM, listed separately
&nbs
p; ROWENA, QUEEN: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
RUSTY SAM: Rusty Sam is the central character in one of Mid-World’s folktales. In this story, Rusty Sam steals an old widow’s best loaf of bread. VI:250
SAITA: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
SEMINON, LORD: See ORIZA, LADY, listed separately
SIGHE: The sighe are Mid-World’s fairyfolk. According to the WIDOW SMACK, they live in the deep woods of the ENDLESS FOREST. The sighe that TIM ROSS meets looks like a tiny, naked green woman with wings. She is beautiful but treacherous. See ARMANEETA, listed separately W:164, W:170, W:182–83
SKIN-MAN: See SKIN-MAN, listed separately
SMA’ LADY MUFFIN ON HER TUFFIN: We never learn who Sma’ Lady Muffin is, but we can assume that she is a lot like our world’s nursery rhyme character, Little Miss Muffet who sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. W:203
STUFFY-GUYS: Red-handed stuffy-guys, which can be found all over MID-WORLD, are a staple of Reaptide festivities. In the days of ARTHUR ELD, human beings were sacrificed during the autumn festival of REAP. However, by Roland’s day, stuffy-guys, or human effigies, were burned instead. In Mid-World-that-was, stuffy-guys had heads made of straw, and their eyes were made from white cross-stitched thread, and their arms held baskets of produce. In the BORDERLANDS, their heads are often made of SHARPROOT. In Wolves of the Calla, Roland has the SISTERS OF ORIZA prove their skills by aiming their sharpened plates at stuffy-guys. IV:355, IV:361, IV:373, IV:415, IV:417, IV:446–47 (propitiating old gods), IV:449, IV:466–67 (Cordelia burns Susan in effigy), IV:501, IV:502, IV:505, IV:507, IV:605 (Susan placed among them on the fire), V:320, V:332–34, V:405
SWORD OF ELD: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
TAHEEN: See TAHEEN, listed separately
TIM STOUTHEART: See ROSS, TIM, listed separately
TODASH: See entry in PORTALS
TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS: See TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS, listed separately
UFFIS: Uffi is an ancient term for a shape-changer. In LE CASSE ROI RUSSE, Roland and SUSANNAH come across three identical STEPHEN KINGs, who claim to be a single uffi. However, they are not FEEMALO/ FIMALO/FUMALO as they pretend, but servants of the RED KING who have transformed themselves using glammer. Their leader is actually AUSTIN CORNWELL, a servant of the Red King who hailed from upstate NEW YORK in one of the MULTIPLE AMERICAS. For page references, see WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE: LE CASSE ROI RUSSE: HUMANS
VAGRANT DEAD: See VAGRANT DEAD, listed separately
VAMPIRES: See VAMPIRES, listed separately
WALKING WATERS OF EAST DOWNE: Roland met the Walking Waters of East Downe during his travels through Mid-World. We never learn anything more about this intriguing entity. VI:234
WIZARD’S RAINBOW: See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, listed separately
MID-WORLD GODS
See GODS OF MID-WORLD
MID-WORLD MONSTERS
See DEMONS, SPIRITS, DEVILS (LESSER DEMONS OF THE PRIM)
See also POOKY
MID-WORLD RAILWAY CO.
See CHARLIE THE CHOO-CHOO
MIGUEL
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: HAMBRY MAYOR’S HOUSE (SEAFRONT)
MILL, AUNT
See TULL CHARACTERS
MILLIE
See STREETER, YOUNG BILL
MILLS CONSTRUCTION AND SOMBRA REAL ESTATE
Along with NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS and LaMERK INDUSTRIES, Mills Construction and Sombra Real Estate are part of the SOMBRA GROUP, a corporate conglomerate which serves the CRIMSON KING. In our world, Mills Construction and North Central Positronics were jointly responsible for building the MIND-TRAP under the DIXIE PIG.
As JAKE CHAMBERS realized as far back as The Waste Lands, Sombra and its subsidiaries want to destroy both the magical Vacant LOT and the ROSE that grows there. In fact, if Roland’s ka-tet hadn’t stopped them, they would have built the TURTLE BAY LUXURY CONDOMINIUMS on the site of the Lot. For more information, see SOMBRA CORPORATION.
III:121, IV:100, V:96, V:188, VII:492
MINERS
See DEBARIA CHARACTERS: SALTIES
MINNIE
See CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS: ROONTS: DOOLIN, MINNIE
MIR
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM: BEAR GUARDIAN
MISLABURSKI, MRS.
See DEAN, EDDIE: EDDIE’S PAST ASSOCIATES
MOGGINS, GERT
See BIG COFFIN HUNTERS: DEPAPE, ROY: DEBORAH (GERT MOGGINS)
MOLLY (AUNT MOLLY)
See BREAKERS: BRAUTIGAN, TED
MOLLY (RED MOLLY)
See ORIZA, SISTERS OF
MONSTERS
See MUTANTS; see also DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS
MONTOYA, DR. APRIL
See TOPEKA CHARACTERS
MOONS
See DEMON MOON, GOAT MOON, HUNTRESS MOON, PEDDLER, all in APPENDIX I
MORDRED (THE CHAP, DAN-TETE, LITTLE RED KING, MORDRED DESCHAIN, MORDRED OF DISCORDIA, MORDRED RED-HEEL, MORDRED SON OF LOS, KING THAT WILL BE, SPIDER BOY)
As a father, Roland Deschain doesn’t have much luck. His first child, conceived with SUSAN DELGADO in HAMBRY, died in the womb when Susan was burned upon a Charyou Tree fire. JAKE CHAMBERS, his adopted son, dies three times—first beneath the wheels of a Cadillac on FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK; second, beneath the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS, where Roland let him drop into an abyss; and finally in our world’s LOVELL, MAINE, where he steps in front of a van destined to kill the writer STEPHEN KING. Yet, however terrible the fates of these two children may be, the destiny awaiting Roland’s third child is much more frightening to contemplate. He is the dan-tete, the “little savior” or “baby god” whose coming has been predicted for hundreds of years. Unlike the human line of ELD, from which he is (in part) descended, Mordred Deschain is a creature of the Outer Dark, and if his fate is fulfilled, he will destroy both the last of the gunslingers and all of the multiple worlds that spin like sequins upon the needle of the DARK TOWER.
For generations, the MANNI folk have prophesied the coming of Mordred Red-Heel, the were-spider who is the son of two fathers and two mothers. According to legend, this child—the last miracle spawned by the still-standing Dark Tower—will be half-human, half-god, and will oversee the end of humanity and the return of the PRIM, or GREATER DISCORDIA.
Like the creature whose coming is apprehensively awaited by the Manni, Mordred Deschain unites both the mortal and nonmortal worlds. Two of his parents—Roland Deschain and his ka-tet mate SUSANNAH DEAN—are human. However, his two other parents—the CRIMSON KING and MIA, daughter of none—are not. The nature of Roland and Susannah’s relationship (that of dinh and bondswoman, or leader and his symbolic daughter) also fulfills a MID-WORLD prophecy, which tells us even more about the destiny of this enfant terrible: “He who ends the line of Eld shall conceive a child of incest with his daughter, and the child will be marked, by his red heel shall you know him. It is he, the end beyond the end, who shall stop the breath of the last warrior.” Like the fate of his namesake from the Arthurian legends of our world, Mordred is to destroy what is left of the WHITE and then kill the mortal hero who sired him.
As the series progresses, we come to realize that Mordred’s conception was not an accident, but a carefully staged event that has been planned for eons. With his multiple destinies, Mordred is a valuable tool, which can be used by both WALTER, the Crimson King’s prime minister, and the Crimson King himself. Not only can Mordred kill the seemingly unstoppable Roland, but the red, hourglass-shaped widow’s brand, which sits upon his belly, can unlock the door to the Tower. (The only other key to GAN’s body is Roland’s pair of guns.) If the Crimson King wants to beat Roland to the Tower (and if Walter wants to climb to its top to become God of All), then both of them need the key, which rests upon the dan-tete’s body.
In retrospect, we realize that all of the seemingly random sexual encounters of the series—from Roland’s copulation with the ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS to the rape of Susannah Dean in the SPEAKING RING—were actually planned by
the servants of the Red King so that they could collect Roland’s sperm, mix it with that of their master, and then use it to fertilize Susannah’s egg. However, although Mordred is both the Crimson King’s heir apparent and a potential A-bomb of a BREAKER, those who brought him into being misjudged the human aspects of Mordred’s nature, a nature which both foils the Crimson King’s plans and proves to be Mordred’s undoing.
From the moment he is born in the FEDIC DOGAN to his body-mother, Mia, until the second he dies under Roland’s guns on the TOWER ROAD, Mordred is a creature of conflicting emotions. While his spider-self consists almost entirely of physical desires (“Mordred’s a-hungry”), and although he seems to show no regret for either eating his birth mother just after emerging from her womb or cruelly devouring Walter O’Dim piece by piece, the small white node which connects Mordred’s two selves is obviously capable of other modes of operating. No doubt, the black-haired, blue-eyed hume-Mordred is spiteful, cruel, and vicious, but his feelings for Roland combine hatred, jealousy, and rage with a sad and hungry love. Although he has several chances to arrange for Roland’s demise (most notably he could have informed the guards of the DEVAR-TOI that their compound would soon be attacked), Mordred chooses instead to watch and wait. In this, he serves his own child-like curiosity, not the will of the Red King, who arranged for his arrival in the world. If Roland is to die, Mordred wants to be the one who kills him. However, Mordred does not choose to attack his White Daddy until he, himself, is dying of food poisoning. Perhaps he hopes to take Roland with him to the clearing at the end of the path? As unlikely as this may initially seem, we must remember the vision of Mordred which Roland sees within the Tower. This child is no monster, but a sad and lonely creature, one who never received any love at all.