by Robin Furth
WIFE: W:173
WYLAND: While doing his tax-collecting rounds, the COVENANT MAN discovered that the Wylands’ baby had milk-sick. W:158
WYLAND’S BABY: W:158
TRELAWNEY
See CAN-TOI
TRISTUM, DR. GANGLI
See CAN-TOI
TUBTHER, MR.
See DEAN, EDDIE: EDDIE’S PAST ASSOCIATES
TUDBURY, BILL AND TILL
See RIVER CROSSING CHARACTERS
TULL CHARACTERS
At the beginning of The Gunslinger, Roland traveled through the dying town of Tull, located on the edges of the MOHAINE DESERT. Here he battled the crazed followers of SYLVIA PITTSTON, who was herself an acolyte of the MAN IN BLACK. By the time the battle was over and Roland pushed on into the desert, Tull’s entire population, which consisted of thirty-nine men, fourteen women, and five children, lay dead. Roland even accidently killed his lover ALICE. The only person Roland didn’t slaughter was the weed-eater NORT. (Poor Nort had already been crucified by the townsfolk.) According to STEPHEN KING, the town of Tull was named after the rock band Jethro Tull.
I:23–24, I:26–29 (barflies), I:33, I:34–39 (barflies), I:40 (barflies), I:47–52 (barflies and others at Pittston’s revival), I:58–65 (attack Roland), I:78
INDIVIDUAL TULL CHARACTERS:
ALICE (ALLIE): See ALICE OF TULL (ALLIE), listed separately
BALD MAN WITH KNIFE: This man tried to attack Roland in SHEB’s bar. I:27–28
**BOYS PLAYING MARBLES: In the 2003 Gunslinger, these boys are described. One has a scorpion’s tail poking out of his hatband, one has a bloated and sightless eye, and the youngest has a large cold sore on his lip. The youngest one is named CHARLIE and is scorned by his companions for giving directions to Roland. I:24, I:25–26
CASTNER: He owned Tull’s Dry Goods emporium. I:47–52
SLAT-SIDED WIFE: I:47–52
**FELDON, AMY: One of Tull’s barflies. At NORT’s wake, ZACHARY threw Amy’s skirts over her head and drew zodiacs on her knees. In the 2003 Gunslinger, we find out that Amy was a whore and that Zachary drew Reap charms on her knees, not zodiacs. I:34–39, I:61
JONSON: Jonson was one of the born-again sinners attending PITTSTON’S revival. I:51–52
**KENNERLY, JUBAL: Kennerly was a skinny, incestuous livery owner who was plagued with daughters. In the 2003 Gunslinger, we learn that he buried two wives and that his first name was Jubal. I:24–25, I:33, I:40, I:42–45, I:47–52, I:57–58, I:61, I:64
DAUGHTERS (GENERAL): I:33 (second-eldest), I:43–45, I:47–52, I:58, I:61
BABY GIRL: I:43, I:44
KENNERLY, SOOBIE: One of Kennerly’s overly sensual daughters. She liked to suck her thumb. I:43–45, I:57–58, I:61
KENNERLY’S FATHER: I:44
LADIES IN BLACK SLACKS: I:24
MILL, AUNT: She was a barfly who had a broad belly and a quavery voice. She sang at NORT’s funeral. Mill was one of PITTSTON’s followers. Like everybody else in Tull, she was killed by Roland. I:34–39, I:61
**NORT: Nort was Tull’s resident weed-eater. Once he had a honey wagon, but drink and then weed killed off his desire to do anything but chew his way to oblivion. Before his first death, Nort already resembled a walking corpse. He looked like a man made of coat hangers and had green-coated teeth—as green and as smelly as his stinking pants. By the time Roland arrived in town, Nort had already died of weed and had been resurrected by the MAN IN BLACK. Thanks to the magic of the Man in Black, the resurrected Nort addressed Roland in High Speech. Nort’s second death was a crucifixion. In the 2003 Gunslinger, WALTER (the Man in Black) places a locked door in Nort’s imagination. Behind this door lurk the secrets of the afterlife. The key to the door is the number NINETEEN. I:18–19, I:20 (indirect), I:26–30, I:31–41 (Nort’s story), I:42, I:63, II:40, III:42, V:253, VI:284, VII:826 (weed-eater mentioned. Reference actually refers to Brown, the border dweller; see BROWN, listed separately).
OLD MAN WITH STRAW HAT: This man was the first person Roland saw when he entered Tull. I:24, I:62
**PITTSTON, SYLVIA: Sylvia Pittston was Tull’s psychotic Bible-bashing preacher. Before the events of Wizard and Glass took place, Pittston traveled through HAMBRY. Originally a DESERT DWELLER, she came to Tull from the dry wastes on the edge of the MOHAINE DESERT. When Roland confronted her in Tull, she was living in a shack behind her church. Pittston wore the burlap dress of a penitent.
Pittston was a huge but sexually alluring woman. She weighed about three hundred pounds but had large dark eyes and rich brown hair. Pittston’s revivals were so intense that they were almost erotically ecstatic. ALICE believed that Pittston had a hoodoo on the town and that her religion was evil. Roland believed that when the MAN IN BLACK (WALTER) passed through Tull, he had sex with this preacher and left a demon inside of her. Roland’s theory proves to be right.
When Roland visited Pittston’s shack, she was sitting in her rocker waiting for him. She believed that Roland was Satan (the INTERLOPER) and that the Man in Black was an angel. Roland removed Pittston’s demon by making her come with the barrel of his gun, but in revenge, Pittston set the townspeople on him. Roland ended up killing everyone in Tull.
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Roland has an eerie sense of déjà vu when he hears Pittston preach, almost as if he had heard her preach before. In this version, Walter once again comes to Pittston pretending to be an angel, but this time he admits that he serves THE CRIMSON KING, the very evil being that Pittston pretends to preach against. Pittston allows Walter to implant the Red King’s child inside of her, but Roland removes it in the same way that he removed the demon in the earlier version of the novel. In the new Gunslinger, as in the old, Pittston dies under Roland’s guns. I:47–52, I:53, I:54–56, I:58–63, I:124, I:131, III:42, IV:381–82 (she came through Hambry)
SHEB (PIANO PLAYER): Sheb was Tull’s piano player. Although the local honky-tonk bore his name the place actually belonged to ALICE. Sheb was also once a piano player in the HAMBRY saloon called the TRAVELLERS’ REST. See SHEB, listed separately
YOUNG BOY AND GIRL: I:24
**ZACHARY: One of the barflies at SHEB’s. He liked to draw zodiacs on girls’ knees, although in the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, he draws Reap charms instead of zodiacs. I:34–39
TUNNEL DEMON
See DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS: TODASH DEMONS
TURTLE GUARDIAN
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
TYGER GUARDIAN
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
TYGER IN FOREST
See GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM and MAERLYN
U
UFFIS
See WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE: CASSE ROI RUSSE: HUMANS; see also APPENDIX I
UNCLE JIM
See BREAKERS: BRAUTIGAN, TED
UNWIN, TALITHA
See RIVER CROSSING CHARACTERS
UPS GUY
See CHAMBERS, JAKE: JAKE’S ASSOCIATES
UR-DOG ROVER
See ROSE
V
VAGRANT DEAD (VAGS)
When our ka-tet travels to NEW YORK CITY via TODASH at the beginning of Wolves of the Calla, they see a number of these forlorn creatures wandering around the city. A vag (or one of the vagrant dead) is a person who died so suddenly that he or she does not yet comprehend that he or she is dead. Sooner or later the vag will pass on, but seeing one walking around with his or her death wounds still oozing is disconcerting (to say the least). A vag who died in a frontal collision walks the streets bleeding, his head split like a melon. One who died on an operating table may still have his or her incisions hanging open. When Roland was a boy, BURNING CHRIS (father of ALAIN JOHNS) warned him that traveling todash meant such meetings were possible.
V:195, V:284, V:285, V:286, V:288, V:289, V:290, V:297 (walking dead), V:302 (bewildered dead people), V:304 (dead folks), V:506, V:516, VI:147
BURNED WOMAN MISSING ARM AND LEG: Seen by FATHER CALLAHAN on Park Avenue. V:284
DEAD WOMAN: Seen b
y SUSANNAH DEAN in TODASH NEW YORK. She has a white face, empty, black eye sockets, and a black, moss-splotched dress. V:186, V:190, V:194
LITTLE GIRL: Seen by SUSANNAH DEAN and then by her ka-tet in TODASH NEW YORK. She died in a car accident. V:194–95, V:196
MAN WITHOUT EYES: Seen by FATHER CALLAHAN while on Park Avenue. V:284
NAKED MAN: Seen by SUSANNAH DEAN and then by her ka-tet in TODASH NEW YORK. V:191, V:194, V:196, V:197
VAMPIRES
In Wolves of the Calla, the people of CALLA BRYN STURGIS state that THUNDERCLAP is a land of vampires. They call these bloodsuckers “brokenhelm undead ronin” or the “WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE.” Although we later learn that END-WORLD is actually populated by CAN-TOI and TAHEEN—animal-headed creatures who serve the CRIMSON KING—MID-WORLD and End-World contain plenty of vampires, though not all of them subsist on blood alone. In the short story “The Little Sisters of Eluria,” we met the vampiric LITTLE SISTERS, a tribe of blood- and semen-drinking wraiths that wandered the land posing as a religious sect of healers. In The Gunslinger and The Waste Lands, we learned about the Speaking-Ring spirits that required a sexual payment from any human who dared to pause within the circumference of their enchanted circles. (While in her wraith form, MIA, SUSANNAH’s demon possessor, was a similar type of sexual vampire.) And finally, in The Dark Tower, we encounter DANDELO, a giant were-insect who feeds upon human emotion.
However, even if we narrow our present category so that it includes only the bloodsucking variety of vamps, we can still add three more types of vampires to our list. They are called (quite appropriately) TYPE ONE vampires, TYPE TWO vampires, and TYPE THREE vampires (see below).
V:26, V:150, V:256–57, V:266, V:269–71, V:273, V:285, V:289, V:297, V:299, V:302, V:306, V:423, V:430, V:452, V:610, VI:22, VI:64, VI:122, VI:172, VI:231, VI:253, VI:293, VI:303, VI:320, VI:326, VI:337, VI:364–84 (Dixie Pig), VII:5, VII:55–70 (in birth room), VII:104–9 (following Jake), VII:111 (posse), VII:133–35, VII:146, VII:147, VII:259, VII:332, VII:473, VII:526
TYPE ONE (THE GRANDFATHERS): According to FATHER CALLAHAN, there are only about a dozen Type One vampires in the world. They live extremely long lives and can survive periods of up to two hundred years in deep hibernation. These creatures, also known as Grandfathers, were some of the nastiest demons to survive once the magical PRIM receded. When JAKE and Callahan travel to the DIXIE PIG in NEW YORK CITY, they discover approximately a dozen of these monsters feeding behind a blasphemous tapestry depicting ARTHUR ELD and his court taking part in a cannibals’ feast.
The Grandfathers do not just drink blood. They eat human flesh as well, and their appearance is as revolting as their appetites. Their evil, shriveled, apple-doll faces are twisted by age, and their mouths are filled with huge numbers of teeth, which are so pronounced and so numerous that they cannot close their lips. Their eyes are black and oozing, and their skin is yellow, scaled with teeth, and covered with patches of diseased-looking fur. Their auras are of a poisonous violet so dark that they appear almost black. When Type One vampires feed on humans, they create TYPE TWO vampires. V:261, V:269–70, V:292, V:396, V:708, VI:365, VI:372–73, VI:376, VII:8 (not seen), VII:11–16, VII:26, VII:28, VII:32, VII:86, VII:145, VII:166, VII:168
BARLOW, KURT: Kurt Barlow, the bloodsucker who spread his infection throughout the town of ’SALEM’S LOT, MAINE, is an example of a Type One vampire. (See STEPHEN KING’s novel ’Salem’s Lot.) Although Barlow was not quite as ugly as the Type Ones that JAKE and CALLAHAN meet in the DIXIE PIG, he was every bit as dangerous. When a much younger Father Callahan challenged Barlow in the PETRIE family kitchen back in Maine, he found that his faith in the WHITE was not strong enough to defeat this servant of the Outer Dark. Barlow broke the arms of Callahan’s cross and forced him to drink his contaminated blood. Despite this victory, Barlow was eventually destroyed by Callahan’s companion BEN MEARS. V:257, V:258–61, V:266, V:268, V:269, V:270 (vampire-demon), V:271, V:275 (vampire-demon), V:280, V:283 (indirect; blood taste), V:291, V:292 (indirect), V:306, V:423, V:437, V:451, V:456, V:463, V:465, V:591 (filthy bloodsucker), V:706 (vampire), V:708, VI:329, VI:330, VII:12, VII:16, VII:28 (indirect)
STRAKER: Straker was Barlow’s half-human accomplice. V:258
CROSS OF MALTA VAMPIRE: This vile creature looks like a deformed skeleton in a moss-encrusted dinner suit. Around its neck it wears an ancient award, which CALLAHAN believes is the Cross of Malta.
The Cross of Malta Vampire is the first of the Grandfathers to attack Callahan during the DIXIE PIG battle. As the vamp attacks, Callahan stabs the end of his crucifix into the creature’s forehead and burns through the flesh. The vampire’s vile aura whiffs out like a candle, leaving nothing but liquefying flesh spilling out of his dinner jacket and pants. VII:12
GRANDFATHER FLEAS: These horrible insects, which are roughly the size of mice, accompany the Grandfathers and feed upon their leftovers. They are the parasites of parasites and are both blood-drinkers and camp followers. BILLY-BUMBLERS hunt them the way some terriers hunt rats. Whenever you see Grandfather Fleas, you can be sure that the Grandfathers are close. (Watch your neck.) VI:366, VI:381, VII:8–16, VII:26
TYPE TWO: Type Two vampires are created by TYPE ONE vampires. They are more intelligent than zombies, but not much. Though they can’t go out in daylight, they make up for it at night by feeding voraciously. Thanks to their unquenchable hunger and diminished intellect, Type Twos rarely survive for long. V:269–70, V:396
TYPE THREE: Type Three vampires are like mosquitoes. They are made by TYPE TWO vampires but don’t seem to be able to create more of their kind. However, they feed voraciously and are dangerous. Type Threes are more intelligent than Type Twos (perhaps because they retain a bit more of their humanity). Hence, they can pass for human. Like ordinary mortals, they withstand daylight and can eat food. However, psychic individuals (such as FATHER CALLAHAN) can identify them by their burned-onion smell and by the blue haze which surrounds them.
While they feed, Type Threes secrete an enzyme, which simultaneously numbs the skin and keeps the blood flowing freely. It also seems to create a temporary amnesia that prevents their victims from remembering the attack. Type Three vampires can spread HIV. Also, once a person has been bitten by a Type Three, they become a magnet for more bloodsuckers. V:266, V:269–70, V:273, V:274–79, V:280–81, V:284, V:286, V:289, V:290, V:291, V:301, V:303, V:304 (bloodsucking folks), V:444, V:451, V:455–57, VII:5, VII:14–16, VII:55–70 (in birth room), VII:104–9 (following Jake), VII:111 (posse), VII:133–35
INDIVIDUAL TYPE THREE VAMPIRES AND THEIR VICTIMS:
BATTERY PARK VAMPIRE: PERE CALLAHAN stabbed this vampire four times—once in the kidneys, once between the ribs, once in the back, and once in the neck. V:287
DOMINICAN TEENAGER (VICTIM): V:287–88
DIXIE PIG VAMPIRE GUARDS (GUARDING SUSANNAH/MIA): VI:364–66, VI:368, VI:377–84, VII:8–16
DIXIE PIG VAMPIRES: VI:365–71
EAST VILLAGE VAMPIRE: V:274–75
VICTIM: V:275
MARK CROSS BRIEFCASE BUSINESSMAN: He attacked LUPE DELGADO outside the HOME shelter. V:276–79, V:281
DELGADO, LUPE: See CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK: CALLAHAN’S HOME SHELTER ASSOCIATES
MOTORCYCLE MESSENGER: PERE CALLAHAN killed this vampire and then took his boots. V:288
OLD WOMAN FEEDING SQUIRRELS: CALLAHAN encountered this Type Three in a NEW YORK CITY park. V:285–86, V:287
PETE PETACKI’S VAMPIRE GIRL: CALLAHAN saw this seventeen-year-old girl while he was working as a grave digger in rural KENTUCKY. His fellow worker PETE PETACKI thought she was hot. He was wrong. She was probably cold. Callahan killed her before she could cause any damage. Pete Petacki never found out. V:302
SOMBRA CORPORATION VAMPIRES: These Type Threes work for RICHARD P. SAYRE. Some of them are HIV-positive. V:455–57
TIMES SQUARE MOVIE THEATER VAMPIRE (YOUNG MAN): The Times Square movie theater vampire was the first Type Three that CALLAHAN encountered. Although
the vamp and his victim first appeared to be lovers, Callahan saw the telltale blue light hovering around both of them. V:268–69, V:270–71 (homosexual), V:276 (indirect)
VICTIM (OLDER MAN): V:268–69, V:270–71 (homosexual), V:276 (indirect)
WOMAN IN MARINE MIDLAND BANK: This Type Three flirted with CALLAHAN. V:275, V:288, V:289
VAN RONK, DAVE
See DEAN, SUSANNAH: ODETTA HOLMES’S ASSOCIATES
VAN WYCK, MATHIESSEN
See DEAN, SUSANNAH: SUSANNAH’S PRESENT ASSOCIATES
**VANNAY, ABEL (VANNAY THE WISE)
Vannay was one of Roland’s tutors. He was often called Vannay the Wise. Gentle, limping Vannay told Roland that a boy who could answer riddles was a boy who could think around corners. While CORT taught apprentice gunslingers how to fight, Vannay believed that violence often caused more problems than it solved. Vannay gave Roland the sarcastic nickname GABBY because—as a young boy—Roland was given to prolonged silences. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we find out that Vannay taught his students about the poisons used by the OLD ONES. Vannay had a son named WALLACE, who died of the falling sickness.
Although in most of the Dark Tower novels Cort was presented as Roland’s most important teacher, in The Wind Through the Keyhole it was Vannay, not Cort, who proved to be Roland’s most important tutor. While Cort lay in his bed, barely able to recognize his former pupil, Vannay was still actively researching, trying to help STEVEN DESCHAIN solve the many problematic mysteries that IN-WORLD faced during its last days. It was Vannay who collected SHERIFF PEAVY’s reports about the SKIN-MAN terrorizing Debaria. Unlike the elder Deschain, who thought that the skin-man was probably just a maniac dressed up in animal skins, Vannay knew from Gilead’s records that such anomalies sometimes existed. Although he assumed that the skin-man was a MUTANT rather than a product of the OLD ONES’ poisonous magical technology, he did realize that the monster was both a shapeshifter, or a human being who could change to animal form, and a shapechanger, or a being who could adapt multiple forms. When faced with skepticism about his theories, Vannay replied, “When facts speak, the wise man listens.” As Roland added, twenty-three people torn to pieces made a moit of facts.