by Robin Furth
MAN WITH BLUE ASCOT AND RED HAIR TUFTS: This fellow reminds Eddie of Ronald McDonald. III:319–20
MAN WITH HAMMER: III:319
MAUD: Maud is a heavyset woman who is very fond of WINSTON. She is one of the two who leads Eddie and Susannah to BLAINE’S CRADLE. III:318–20, III:321, III:322–25, III:332–33, III:334, IV:75, V:226
SPANKER/SPANKERMAN: Spanker was the leader of the Pubes, but when the god-drums started up, his stone was pulled from the hat and it was his turn to dance from the hangman’s rope. III:317, III:321, IV:75
TOPSY THE SAILOR: III:321, V:226, VI:118
WINSTON: Winston wore a kilt and brandished a cutlass. He was killed by Eddie and Susannah. III:318–19, III:320, III:321, III:324, III:332, IV:75, V:226
PYLON
See DELGADO, SUSAN
Q
QUEEN OF BLACK PLACES
IV:493 (Rhea of the CÖos compared to her)
QUEEN O’ GREEN DAYS
See MID-WORLD FOLKLORE
QUEEN ROWENA
See ELD, ARTHUR
QUICK, ANDREW
See GRAYS: GRAY HIGH COMMAND: TICK-TOCK
QUICK, DAVID
See GRAYS: GRAY HIGH COMMAND
QUINT, HIRAM
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: OTHER CHARACTERS
R
RAF
See GODS OF MID-WORLD
RALPH
See ELURIA CHARACTERS: GREEN FOLK
RANDO THOUGHTFUL
See WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE: CASSE ROI RUSSE: HUMANS: FEEMALO/FIMALO/FUMALO: FIMALO
**RANDOLPH
Young Roland’s friend. Randolph doesn’t appear in the 2003 Gunslinger.
I:140
RANDOLPH, NORTON
See CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK: CALLAHAN AND THE HITLER BROTHERS
RASTOSOVICH, JOSEPH
See BREAKERS
RAT, MR.
See MIA
RAT GUARDIAN
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
RATHBUN, MRS.
See KATZ: KATZ’S EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS, AND COMPETITORS
RAVENHEAD, PIET
In Wizard and Glass, Piet Ravenhead signed identity papers stating that ALAIN was actually RICHARD STOCKWORTH of PENNILTON.
IV:183
RAWLINGS, ROWENA MAGRUDER
See CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK: CALLAHAN’S HOME SHELTER ASSOCIATES: MAGRUDER, ROWAN
RED BIRDS
TIM ROSS saw thousands of these huge red birds flying above him while he traveled through the ENDLESS FOREST with his NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS guidance mechanism, DARIA. The birds covered the sky for almost an hour.
W:228
RED EYE (FOLLOWS TIM ROSS)
See WALTER: WALTER’S ALIASES
REDHOUSE, MILLICENT
See KELLS, BIG BERN: KELLS, MILLICENT
RED KING
See CRIMSON KING
REDPATH CLAN
See MANNI
REED, JAMES
In Wizard and Glass, James Reed signed identity papers stating that Roland was actually WILLIAM DEARBORN of HEMPHILL.
IV:183
REFEREE KING
See WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE: CASSE ROI RUSSE: HUMANS: FEEMALO/FIMALO/FUMALO: FIMALO
REGULATORS
In Wolves of the Calla, we find out that the term Regulator refers to the LOW MEN, or CAN-TOI, who serve the CRIMSON KING. In Wizard and Glass, we learned that the BIG COFFIN HUNTERS were also sometimes called Regulators. In RICHARD BACHMAN’s book entitled The Regulators, the Regulators were a band of killers who were part cowboy and part Motocops cartoon characters. Their name came from a 1958 cowboy film about vigilantes on the rampage. Whereas STEPHEN KING’s Regulators serve the Crimson King, Bachman’s Regulators ultimately serve a demon named Tak. Despite their formal differences, all Regulators serve the Outer Dark.
V:290–91
RENFREW, HASH
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION
RENT-A-COP
JAKE and PERE CALLAHAN see this police officer when they store BLACK THIRTEEN in the lockers below the TWIN TOWERS.
VI:335
REYNOLDS, CLAY
See BIG COFFIN HUNTERS: JONAS, ELDRED
**R.F.
See WALTER: WALTER’S ALIASES
**RHEA OF THE CÖOS
The nasty old witch Rhea of the CÖos was one of Roland’s most formidable enemies during his time in the town of HAMBRY. This bad-smelling hag lived on CÖos Hill outside of town with her two mutant pets, ERMOT and MUSTY.
Like the men of the HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION, Rhea played a part in the defeat of the AFFILIATION. At the beginning of Wizard and Glass’s Hambry adventures, the BIG COFFIN HUNTERS entrusted the evil magic ball known as MAERLYN’S GRAPEFRUIT to Rhea’s keeping. This magical ball was FARSON’s prize and secret weapon, but it was also vampiric. Rhea used the ball to spy on people (including Roland), but in the end the ball made her even more crazily malicious than she was at the beginning of the tale. By the end of Wizard and Glass, Rhea is a sore-covered specter. However, she is still a formidable enemy.
Rhea was attracted to pretty young women, but even before her journeys in the pink BEND O’ THE RAINBOW her desires had a malicious edge, especially when her advances were rebuffed. It was in large part Rhea’s vindictiveness that landed pretty SUSAN DELGADO on the Charyou Tree fire. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Roland bitterly remembers the part Rhea played in Susan’s death. Rhea’s mark looked like a pitchfork.
IV:65 (indirect—“crone on the hill”), IV:115–21 (115 description of her hut and CÖos hill; 118 described), IV:122–38 (122 left side of her face is frozen; 130 inspects Susan’s “honesty”; 133–34 touches Susan’s clit; 137 parallel between Susan’s sexuality and her hair; 137–38 spell on Susan to make her cut her hair), IV:140–41, IV:146, IV:154, IV:157 (and Susan), IV:159, IV:166–70, IV:177 (keeper of glass), IV:202, IV:212, IV:228 (cures), IV:235, IV:246, IV:249, IV:290–91 (sees Roland and Susan. She’s being eaten by Maerlyn’s ball), IV:299, IV:300, IV:311, IV:319–20, IV:324, IV:325–26, IV:335, IV:343, IV:353–54 (Susan must die), IV:355–56, IV:374–75, IV:384 (Rhea Dubativo), IV:389–90, IV:394–98 (repercussions of using Maerlyn’s ball. Message for Cordelia), IV:403, IV:411 (note to Cordelia), IV:413, IV:415–19, IV:420, IV:424–25, IV:426, IV:434, IV:436, IV:440–42, IV:443, IV:449, IV:452–53 (aging because of Maerlyn’s glass), IV:485–93 (493 as Queen of Black Places), IV:495, IV:496, IV:498–99, IV:519, IV:527–29, IV:532–35, IV:536, IV:540, IV:541–44, IV:545, IV:546, IV:549–52 (and Cordelia), IV:563–65, IV:570, IV:571, IV:587, IV:602, IV:603–8 (burning Susan), IV:622, IV:628–29, IV:649, IV:650, IV:656–58, IV:662, IV:666, E:165, E:166, V:40, V:55, V:71, V:411, V:703, VII:179, VII:219, VII:550, W:37 (witch), W:38, W:84
RHEA’S MUTANT PETS:
ERMOT: Poisonous snake. Had four pairs of fangs. IV:115, IV:117, IV:290–91, IV:299, IV:356, IV:396–97, IV:417–18 (killed by Roland), IV:419, IV:452, IV:488, IV:492, IV:533, IV:602, IV:657, IV:658
MUSTY: A six-legged tomcat with a split tail. He had gray-green eyes which were the same color as Rhea’s. IV:115–21 (116 described), IV:123, IV:124, IV:291, IV:320, IV:353–54, IV:356, IV:383–85, IV:452, IV:453, IV:485, IV:486
RHEA’S MUTANT VEGETABLE GARDEN: IV:415
RICE, LADY
See ORIZA, LADY
RIGGINS, GEORGE
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: SHERIFF’S OFFICE
RIMER, KIMBA
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: HAMBRY MAYOR’S HOUSE (SEAFRONT)
RIMER, LASLO
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION
RINCON, DEF
See TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS
RING-A-LEVIO (RINGO)
See DESCHAIN, ROLAND
**RITTER, AILEEN
See AILEEN OF GILEAD
RITZY CHARACTERS
In Wizard and Glass, ROY DEPAPE passed through this miserable little mining village while riding Roland’s backtrail. While here, he discovered Roland’s true identity.
JOLENE: Whore. IV:267–68
OLD MAN: A weed-eater who told DEPAPE that Roland was descended from ARTHUR ELD. Depape killed him after he shared this information. IV:267–71
RIVER CROSSING CHARACTERS
Although River Crossing was once a very busy town, since the beginning of the LUD wars her aging citizens have lived in relative isolation. In order to disguise their town from passing looters, they hide their gardens behind clumps of weeds and let the façades of their buildings go to ruin. However, to friendly folk passing through, they are extremely generous.
By the time we meet them in The Waste Lands, most of the citizens of River Crossing are positively ancient. Their leader is the matriarch TALITHA UNWIN. Like Roland, Talitha speaks the High Speech. When she sees Roland she proclaims, “Behold ye, the return of the White! After evil ways and evil days, the White comes again! Be of good heart and hold up your head, for ye have lived to see the wheel of ka begin to turn once more” (III:232).
GENERAL REFERENCES (ALL CHARACTERS): III:257, III:258, III:270, III:276, III:284, III:288, III:385, V:55, V:78, V:110, V:134, V:192, VI:111, VI:117, VI:182, VII:120
GENERAL CHARACTERS NOT LISTED BELOW: (unnamed women, man with crutch) III:233–36
BILL AND TILL: See TUDBURY, BILL AND TILL, below
MERCY: Mercy was one of the first people that Roland’s ka-tet met in River Crossing. Like almost all of the other townspeople, Mercy is very old. Twenty-five years before the beginning of our tale she was blinded by harriers who said she was looking at em pert. Mercy is married to SI. III:229–36, III:246, III:247–51, III:288
MUFFIN, BILL, AND HIS BOY: Bill Muffin and his son saw the bridge over the RIVER SEND. Bill eventually died of blood sickness. III:241, III:248
SI: Si is MERCY’s husband. He assures her that Roland and his friends are gunslingers, not harriers. He and his wife were the first two people Roland’s ka-tet met in River Crossing. III:229–51, III:288
GREAT GRAND’DA: III:243
TALITHA, AUNT (TALITHA UNWIN): Aunt Talitha’s full name is Talitha Unwin. She is the matriarch of River Crossing as well as its oldest citizen. Roland calls her OLD MOTHER. Talitha gives Roland her cross and asks him to lay it at the foot of the DARK TOWER. In the final book of the Dark Tower series, Roland does so. III:231–51, III:263, III:274, IV:14, V:192, VI:118, VII:50, VII:123, VII:124, VII:518, VII:519, VII:802, VII:820
TALITHA’S GRANDFATHER AND GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER: III:232
TUDBURY, BILL AND TILL: These two old twins are albino. III:231–51, III:252
RIVERLY
See TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS
RIVERS, LUCAS
In Wizard and Glass, Lucas Rivers signed identity papers stating that CUTHBERT ALLGOOD was actually ARTHUR HEATH of GILEAD.
IV:183
ROBERT AND FRANCESCA
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: HAMBRY LOVERS
ROBERTSON, NELL
See ROSS, NELL
ROBESON
Robeson was one of GILEAD’s guards. Like HAX, he was a traitor who supported FARSON.
I:101–3, I:105 (indirect)
RODERICK, CHILDREN OF (RODS)
See MUTANTS: CHILDREN OF RODERICK
ROLAND
See DESCHAIN, ROLAND
ROLAND THE ELDER
See DESCHAIN, STEVEN
ROLL CALL
See CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK: CALLAHAN’S HIDDEN HIGHWAYS ASSOCIATES
ROMP, THE
See HAMBRY CHARACTERS: TRAVELLERS’ REST
RONIN
See WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE
RONK, DAVE VAN
See DEAN, SUSANNAH: ODETTA HOLMES’S ASSOCIATES
ROONT
See CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS: ROONTS
ROSALITA
See ORIZA, SISTERS OF: MUNOZ, ROSALITA
ROSARIO, FREDDY
See CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS: FARMERS (SMALLHOLD)
ROSCOE
See SKIN-MAN: SKIN MAN’S VICTIMS: JEFFERSON RANCH
ROSE, THE
JAKE CHAMBERS discovered this magical dusky-pink rose in the Vacant LOT on SECOND AVENUE and FORTY-SIXTH STREET where it was growing amid a clump of alien purple grass. This magic flower hums like a great open chord, inexpressively lonely and inexpressibly lovely. It is full of faces and voices. Jake believes that it is the key to everything; Roland suspects that it is the DARK TOWER itself.
Throughout the Dark Tower books, roses are extremely significant. The Dark Tower of END-WORLD sits amid a sea of shouting red roses, the LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA wear an embroidered rose upon their white flowing habits, and a model of CHARLIE THE CHOO-CHOO sits in REINISCH ROSE GARDEN in the alternative version of TOPEKA that our tet visits in Wizard and Glass. As EDDIE states within the glammer of his dream-vision, “First the key, then the rose! Behold! Behold the opening of the way to the Tower!” (III:49).
According to the three STEPHEN KINGs that Roland and SUSANNAH meet at LE CASSE ROI RUSSE, the wild, dusky-pink rose growing in the Vacant Lot in NEW YORK CITY is, as Roland suspected, our world’s incarnation of the Dark Tower. In other worlds, the Tower can resemble an IMMORTAL TIGER or an UR-DOG named Rover. Although we don’t know whether this triple-bodied shape-shifting UFFI speaks truthfully (after all, the three Kings are not one creature at all but three separate servants of LOS, LORD OF DISCORDIA), we do know that the Rose, which Jake, Eddie, and Roland see in New York City’s Vacant Lot, is almost identical to the beautiful red roses of CAN’-KA NO REY. Like them, it sings a song, which is simultaneously inexpressively lonely and inexpressively lovely, and its sun-yellow center contains faces and voices. However, unlike the healthy rose-song, which Roland hears as he approaches the Tower, threading into the song of our world’s Rose is a note of discord.
In The Dark Tower, we find out that the roses, which grow in such profusion at the heart of END-WORLD, are a light pink shade on the outside but darken to a fierce red on the inside, a shade which Roland believes is the exact color of heart’s desire. Their centers, which are called GAN’S GATEWAYS, burn such a fierce yellow that they are almost too bright to look upon. However, this yellow is the yellow of light and love, not destruction. What Roland comes to realize as he travels through their midst is that the roses feed the BEAMS with their songs and their perfume, and that the Beams, in turn, feed them. Roses and Beams are actually a living force field, a giving and taking, all of which spins out of the Tower. Interestingly enough, the roses (when mixed with Roland’s blood) are the exact color of the Crimson King’s eyes. Though in the case of the Red King, the red becomes the color of evil and greed, not pure, living energy.
In Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah, Eddie Dean discovers a way to save our world’s Rose from the evil machinations of the Crimson King’s many destructive companies, collectively known as the SOMBRA GROUP. Under the name of the TET CORPORATION, Eddie and his friends buy the magic Lot from CALVIN TOWER, thus saving the Rose from being bulldozed by Sombra. When Roland visits New York 1999, in the final book of the Dark Tower series, he sees that Eddie’s idea has worked. The Tet Corporation—founded by JOHN CULLUM, AARON DEEPNEAU, and SUSANNAH DEAN’s godfather, MOSES CARVER—has erected a great black building around the Rose and has protected that most important of flowers in a small indoor garden called the GARDEN OF THE BEAM. Roland believes that the people who work in that building live long, happy, and productive lives.
III:49 (Eddie’s vision in the jawbone fire), III:50, III:51, III:52–53 (field of), III:54–55, III:56 (field of), III:98, III:124–29, III:130, III:132, III:155, III:158, III:177, III:205, III:262, III:264–65, III:267, III:280 (fire like roses), IV:48 (hope compared to it), IV:83 (Jake’s reflections upon it), IV:86–87 (Reinisch Rose Garden, Topeka), IV:100–101 (Eddie’s bulldozer dream), IV:102, IV:103, IV:429–30 (Thorin mausoleum), IV:447 (field of roses and Dark Tower), IV:552 (Rhea dreams of it), IV:572 (and Roland’s vision), IV:667, E:165, E:175, V:51, V:58, V:59, V:97–106 (how to save), V:174, V:177, V:179, V:181 (begin to feel
pull of it), V:182–85 (183 effect described), V:187–89 (effect described), V:190, V:191–94 (Tower and rose), V:196, V:197, V:198, V:201 (red as roses), V:249, V:291 (Topeka roses), V:302 (and lost worlds), V:314, V:315, V:317, V:335, V:377, V:389, V:393, V:513, V:528, V:531, V:539, V:555, V:594–95, V:598, V:706, VI:32 (on knob), VI:35, VI:39, VI:40, VI:55–56, VI:73, VI:102, VI:171, VI:257, VI:265, VI:266, VI:267, VI:268, VI:270, VI:296, VI:308, VI:318 (indirect), VI:319 (still it sings), VI:324, VI:398–99 (delivery to Stephen King), VII:121, VII:123, VII:125, VII:127, VII:143, VII:301, VII:409–10, VII:475, VII:483, VII:488, VII:491–95 (Garden of the Beam), VII:497, VII:499, VII:520, VII:524, VII:535, VII:550 (roses), VII:609, VII:616 (roses), VII:663 (field), VII:666 (field), VII:713 (field), VII:721 (field), VII:756–60 (first they come across; twin of rose in Vacant Lot), VII:795–800 (a rose from Can’-Ka No Rey used to paint the Red King’s eyes). For additional rose references, see CAN’-KA NO REY, in PORTALS
HIPPIE WITH ACNE: PERE CALLAHAN meets this long-haired young man near the Vacant LOT on FORTY-SIXTH STREET and SECOND AVENUE in 1977 NEW YORK. This hippie-in-a-cowboy-hat believes that the Rose’s emanations have cleared up his acne. In 1999, TRUDY DAMASCUS meets the same hippie outside 2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA. V:594–95, VI:55–56
DERMATOLOGIST: V:594
FATHER: V:594
IMMORTAL TIGER: VII:609
UR-DOG ROVER: VII:609
ROSEANNA
See SERENITY, SISTERS OF: EVERLYNNE OF SERENITY
ROSIE (ROSIE & MOSIE)
See DEBARIA CHARACTERS: JEFFERSON RANCH CHARACTERS
ROSITA
See ORIZA, SISTERS OF: MUNOZ, ROSALITA
ROSS, BIG JACK
The burly, good-tempered woodsman Big Jack Ross was the father of TIM ROSS (later, Tim Stoutheart), one of the few boys to become a gunslinger despite the fact that he was not born to the line of ELD. The story entitled “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” which Roland recounts to YOUNG BILL STREETER in the days following the SKIN-MAN’s massacre at the JEFFERSON RANCH in DEBARIA, tells the tale of Big Ross’s betrayal and murder, and of his son Tim’s struggle not only to bring his murderous stepfather to justice, but to undo the wrongs that had been done to himself and his mother. Not only does Tim’s triumph over his father’s murderer give Young Bill the courage to identify the shape-shifting monster that killed his own da, but Tim’s luck at reversing his mother’s blindness, and at eventually becoming a gunslinger despite his low birth, gives us all hope that the evils of the past can be transformed, and that ka, however subtly, can be shifted.