by Robin Furth
ENDLESS FOREST
See NORTH’RD BARONY
END-WORLD
See END-WORLD, in PORTALS
EYEBOLT CANYON
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
F
FALLS OF THE HOUNDS
See BLAINE’S ROUTE
FAGONARD
See NORTH’RD BARONY
FARMING VILLAGES OF THE MIDDLES
See NORTH’RD BARONY
**FARSON (TOWN OF)
In the original version of The Gunslinger, we learn that the AFFILIATION’s enemy JOHN FARSON (also known as THE GOOD MAN) planned to poison this town when Roland was still a boy. Given the fact that this rather nasty character bears the town’s name, it seems likely that he—or his ancestors—originated here. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, the town of Farson is replaced by the town of TAUNTON.
I:101, I:102, I:105, I:108
**FARSON ROAD
Farson Road is the name given to the coach road that runs between GILEAD and the town of FARSON. GALLOWS HILL is located here. In the 2003 Gunslinger, the Farson Road becomes the TAUNTON ROAD.
I:106–11
FIELD OF GIANT YELLOW MUSHROOMS
See NORTH’RD BARONY
**FOREST O’ BARONY
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF
FOREST TREES
See PASS O’ THE RIVER
G
GADDISH FEEDS
See: KANSAS: TOPEKA, in OUR WORLD PLACES
GAGE BOULEVARD
See KANSAS: TOPEKA, in OUR WORLD PLACES
GALLOWS HILL
Gallows Hill is located on the FARSON ROAD. HAX, Gilead’s traitorous head cook, is hanged here.
I:106–11, IV:161
**GARLAN, BARONY OF
Garlan is a distant kingdom which seems almost mythical to many of the people we meet in the Dark Tower series. According to AUNT TALITHA of RIVER CROSSING, the people of Garlan have brown skin. According to the COVENANT MAN, there are dragons in this Barony. It is also supposed to be the home of that strange baby-bearing bird, the GRAND FEATHEREX. ELDRED JONAS—Roland’s enemy in Wizard and Glass—received a terrible whipping in Garlan. In Song of Susannah, we discover that Roland’s grandfather ALARIC went to Garlan to slay a dragon, though that dragon had already been slain by another king. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we are told that this kingdom is located west of GILEAD, and that it is a tobacco-growing region.
Garlan also has more sinister associations. According to the novel Eyes of the Dragon, the nasty sorcerer RANDALL FLAGG once lived in this land famed for its poisons. In fact, it seems likely that he lived there twice, once under the initials R.F. and once (according to The Dark Tower) under the name WALTER HODJI. Not surprisingly, the poison coating the knife intended to kill Roland’s father came from this kingdom.
II:66, III:231, III:242, IV:214, IV:480 (Jonas scarred here), IV:621 (poison from here), VI:197, VII:39, VII:183, W:151
GARNET MINES
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: ARROYO COUNTRY
GATEWAY OF OUT-WORLD
See DOGAN: NORTH FOREST KINNOCK DOGAN in PORTALS
GATHERING HALL
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: TOWN GATHERING HALL
GAUNTLET
See GREAT ROAD, THE
GILEAD
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF
GILEAD, BARONY OF
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF
GITTY’S SALOON
See NORTH’RD BARONY
GLASS PALACE
See GREEN PALACE, in PORTALS
GLENCOVE
See TAVARES
GLORIA MINE
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: ARROYO COUNTRY
GOLGOTHA, THE
See entry in PORTALS
GOODVIEW COTTAGE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
GOOK, VILLAGE OF
See BORDERLANDS
GRAND CRESCENT
See BORDERLANDS
GRAYS’ CASTLE/GRAYS’ MAZE
See RIVER BARONY: LUD
GREAT CANYON
See NORTH’RD BARONY
GREAT HALL
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF: GILEAD
GREAT ROAD
There are many Great Roads in MID-WORLD. Like the Roman roads of our world, they are the leftovers of an earlier civilization, namely that of the OLD ONES. Although these byways were once major highways, by the time of The Gunslinger their broken surfaces are covered with years of dirt. However, many of them still have intact subterranean drainage systems. Most of the Great Roads follow the PATH OF THE BEAM.
IV:653
GREAT ROAD TO LUD: III:159–65, III:170–76, III:178–82, III:189–90, III:223–32 (directly mentioned on 224, 225, 226, 228, 230), III:240, III:243, III:273–89 (ka-tet on it; 273 Quick’s airplane; directly mentioned on 283, 286, 287)
GAUNTLET: This is the term JAKE uses for the fortifications around the Great Road just outside LUD. III:286–89
THROUGH HAMBRY: One of MID-WORLD’s Great Roads runs from the BARONY OF NEW CANAAN to the BARONY OF MEJIS. Along its course it passes through the town of Hambry. It runs east-west. IV:182 (runs from New Canaan to Mejis), IV:266, IV:271, IV:375, IV:377, IV:379 (leads to Citgo), IV:402–3, IV:498, IV:610, V:210
GREAT WEST WOODS (SHARDIK’S WOODS)
The Great West Woods of OUT-WORLD are located north of the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS and just east of the WESTERN SEA. Roland, EDDIE, and SUSANNAH recover here after their long journey along LOBSTROSITY BEACH, a trial we read about in The Drawing of the Three. These woods are the home of the GUARDIAN SHARDIK, also known as MIR. It is the home of the PORTAL OF THE BEAR and the place where our ka-tet picks up the PATH OF THE BEAM. In the SHOOTING GALLERY (a clearing in the woods), Roland teaches both Eddie and Susannah the WAY OF ELD.
II:395–99, III:11–21, III:23–51 (setting), III:53–86, III:149–53 (Eddie’s Dream), III:158–65, III:170, III:247, III:347, V:37, V:110, V:512 (clearing), V:563 (clearing), V:573 (Shardik’s woods), VII:466 (indirect)
SHOOTING GALLERY: III:11–19, III:36, III:163
GREAT WOODS
See NORTH’RD BARONY
GREATER KINGDOMS OF THE WESTERN EARTH
When Roland was a boy he saw a map of the Greater Kingdoms of the Western Earth. It depicted GILEAD, the DOWNLAND BARONIES (which were overrun by riot and civil war the year after he won his guns), and showed the hills, the desert, and the mountains which stretched all the way to the WESTERN SEA. At the time the map was made, one thousand miles lay between Gilead and the Western Sea. However, as the BEAMS disintegrated, distances within MID-WORLD shifted and grew. It took Roland many years to cross that distance.
III:74
GREEN HEART
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
GREEN PALACE
See entry in PORTALS
H
HALL OF THE GRANDFATHERS
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF: GILEAD
HAMBRY
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
HAMBRY CEMETERY
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
HAMBRY CREEK
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
HAMBRY POINT
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
HAMBRY POST OFFICE
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
HANGING ROCK
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
HATTIGANS
See RITZY
HEMPHILL
Hemphill was a small town located near GILEAD-that-was. Roland’s HAMBRY alter ego, WILL DEARBORN, supposedly grew up there.
IV:148, IV:183, IV:201
HENDRICKSON (TOWN)
Hendrickson was one of the many towns attacked by THE GOOD MAN.
I:104
HIGH PURE
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
HIGH SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND JAIL
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
HILL OF STONE FACES
See JERICHO HILL
HOOKEY’S STABLE AND SMITHY
See MEJIS, BAR
ONY OF: HAMBRY
I
IL BOSQUE
Il Bosque is a forest west of MEJIS. Roland, CUTHBERT, and ALAIN travel through it after SUSAN’s death and after Roland’s disastrous magical journey through MAERLYN’S GRAPEFRUIT.
IV:610–11
IMPERIUM
See NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS, in CHARACTERS
INDRIE
See CRESSIA, BARONY OF
**IN-WORLD (INNER BARONIES/IN-WORLD BARONIES, INNER ARC)
When the author STEPHEN KING refers to the whole of Roland’s version of Earth, he uses the term MID-WORLD. However, when he refers to specific regions of Mid-World, he uses the terms In-World, Out-World, Mid-World, END-WORLD, and the BORDERLANDS.
When Roland was growing up in GILEAD, the world was often described as having two parts, In-World and Out-World. These terms were relative to each other. The term In-World was used to refer to those baronies which sat at the center of human culture, where the old civilized ways still held and where some of the old electrical machinery still worked. In-World was ruled by the elite gunslingers from the walled city of Gilead, barony seat of NEW CANAAN. The sigul of In-World was ARTHUR ELD’s horse, LLAMREI. An image of Llamrei decorated Gilead’s pennons. Throughout Wizard and Glass, Roland and his youthful ka-tet are stationed in the Out-World barony of MEJIS. Hence they are often resentfully referred to as the “In-World boys.’
The terms In-World and Out-World may also be metaphorical references to the metaphysical map of Mid-World which Roland draws in The Waste Lands. According to this map, Mid-World is shaped like a circle, with the DARK TOWER at its center and the BEAMS radiating out from it and terminating in twelve PORTALS. Just as the Tower is the center of the Universe, Gilead and the In-World Baronies are the centers of human culture. Backwaters such as Mejis are on the Outer Crescent of the “civilized” world. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Roland refers to himself as being from In-World.
III:375, IV:145 (Roland’s ka-tet), IV:183, IV:192, IV:207, IV:347, IV:363, IV:379, IV:388, IV:422 (Northern In-World and reindeer fucking), IV:503, IV:506, IV:557, IV:583 (and Nordites), V:11, V:13, V:94, V:243, V:604 (In-World-that-was), VI:97, VI:247, VII:210, VII:549 (Llamrei, Arthur Eld’s horse, is the sigul for all In-World), VII:550, VII:594, VII:607, VII:664, W:14, W:48, W:120
INNER ARC: Home of the Inner Baronies. IV:196
INNER BARONIES: IV:145, IV:295
INNER CRESCENT: IV:302
INNERS: IV:360
IRONWOOD FOREST
See NORTH’RD BARONY
IRONWOOD TRAIL
See NORTH’RD BARONY
J
JAFFORDS LAND
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
JEFFERSON RANCH
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
**JERICHO HILL (NEAR THE HILL OF STONE FACES)
The last great battle between the tattered remnants of the AFFILIATION and the remains of FARSON’s army took place on Jericho Hill. CUTHBERT ALLGOOD died here, shot through the eye by an arrow aimed at him by Roland’s old enemy WALTER O’DIM. JAMIE DeCURRY was also brought down here, though he was killed by a sniper (probably GRISSOM’s eagle-eyed son). Roland (the only gunslinger to survive) saved his skin by hiding in a cart filled with the dead. He crept out of the slaughter pile at sundown, just before the whole works were set alight.
The east side of Jericho Hill was a shale-crumbly drop to the CLEAN SEA. Its western edge, known as the Hill of Stone Faces, was a long, sloping field filled with great gray-black, sculptured visages. Roland’s horn, the HORN OF ELD, was dropped on Jericho Hill by a dying Cuthbert. Roland never retrieved it, which he regrets greatly by the time he reaches the DARK TOWER.
V:153, V:169–72, V:173, V:240, V:284, V:347, V:410, VI:134, VI:219, VII:144, VII:174–75, VII:465, VII:552, VII:748, VII:762, VII:819, VII:825, VII:829, W:300
JIMTOWN
See RIVER BARONY
K
KAMBERO
This is one of the villages located in the far western regions of MID-WORLD. It is probably even farther west than ELURIA.
E:193
KANSAS
See KANSAS, in OUR WORLD PLACES
KASHMIN, BARONY OF (KASHAMIN, BARONY OF)
Before the complete destruction of the AFFILIATION and of culture as Roland knew it, the Kashmin province was famous for its rugs. Sumptuous Kashmin carpets adorned the halls of GILEAD. They also lined the floors of the CRADLE OF THE GRAYS.
III:350 (Kashmin), IV:654 (rugs from Province of Kashamin)
KELLS COTTAGE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
KING’S TOWN
This is one of the hundreds of towns Roland traveled through on his search for the DARK TOWER. Twelve years before he met JAKE (and not long after the fall of GILEAD), Roland had a girl here. She was one of the many he deserted in order to pursue his quest.
I:158
KUNA
When EVERLYNNE OF SERENITY sweeps toward Roland with her arms wide, the huge woman reminds him of the vast trucks that used to run at the oilfields near Kuna.
W:295
L
LAKE CAWN
Once upon a bye, a great battle took place on the shores of Lake Cawn. During this battle, TIM ROSS proved his bravery and was given the name TIM STOUTHEART. Tim was one of the few gunslingers not born to the line of ELD.
W:268
LAMERK FOUNDRY
See LAMERK INDUSTRIES, in CHARACTERS
LAND OF ENDLESS SNOWS
ASLAN lives in the land of endless snows. It is here, in the northernmost reaches of MID-WORLD, that the STARKBLASTS begin. Before he met MAERLYN, TIM ROSS thought that perhaps the wizard lived in the land of endless snows.
W:217, W:220, W:234
LANDING, THE
See RIVER BARONY
LAZY SUSAN RANCH
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
LEXINGWORTH
See ELURIA
LIARS HEAVEN
See EASTAR’D BARONY: DELAIN
LITTLE DEBARIA
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
LOBSTROSITY BEACH
See WESTERN SEA
LONG SALT SWAMPS
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
LOW PURE
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
LUD
See RIVER BARONY
LUDWEG
See RIVER BARONY
M
MAERLYN’S HOUSE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
MANNI CALLA (MANNI REDPATH)
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
MARCHLY COTTAGE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
MEJIS, BARONY OF
Mejis (more specifically, the barony seat of HAMBRY) is the setting for most of Wizard and Glass. Mejis’s barony color is a deep orange-red, as can be seen on the official sash worn by Mayor HART THORIN. Located east of GILEAD and on the edge of the desert, Mejis is considered one of the quiet backwaters of the OUTER ARC, or OUTER CRESCENT. Like much of MID-WORLD, it resembles areas of the American West. Its citizens breed horses and, in the areas closest to the sea, they also fish.
STEVEN DESCHAIN, Roland’s father, sends Roland and his two friends to Mejis in order to keep them safe from JOHN FARSON, who is destroying the lands farther west. Little does he know that THE GOOD MAN’s poison has spread as far as the Outer Arc. Mejis is no longer loyal to the AFFILIATION, and the final battle of Mid-World is destined to take place in this quiet barony. Within two years of Roland’s trials in Mejis, the light of the IN-WORLD BARONIES will be snuffed out and the world, as Roland’s forefathers knew it, will no longer exist. (Below are some of the direct references to Mejis’s character, customs, etc.)
IV:68, IV:99 (east of Gilead), IV:144, IV:149, IV:151, IV:161, IV:162 (end of the world), IV:164 (Steven Deschain thinks it’s safe), IV:179 (the smells of it. Loyal to the Affiliation), IV:180, IV:187, IV:193, IV:195, IV:201, IV:206, IV:214, IV:221, IV:232, IV:244, IV:256, IV:269, IV:271, IV:316, IV:336, IV:341, IV:342 (orchards north of Hambry), IV:
351, IV:355 (and Reap), IV:391, IV:410, IV:414, IV:423, IV:426, IV:431, IV:434, IV:436, IV:445, IV:447 (Out-World Barony), IV:451, IV:456, IV:461, IV:471, IV:473–74, IV:480, IV:485, IV:486, IV:500, IV:502, IV:506, IV:507, IV:521, IV:546, IV:547, IV:555, IV:605, IV:620, IV:624, IV:627, IV:650, E:160, V:35, V:85, V:92, V:116, V:117, V:166, V:170, V:181, V:195, V:202, V:210, V:211, V:341, V:400, V:405, VI:184, VI:242, VI:279, VI:404 (and Mexico), VII:84, VII:175, VII:219, VII:270, VII:271, VII:317, VII:321, VII:331, VII:333, VII:455, VII:468, VII:524, VII:552, VII:651, VII:695, VII:802, W:37, W:38, W:55, W:73, W:84, W:86
BAD GRASS AND AREAS WEST OF HAMBRY:
BAD GRASS: This is the freeland west of Hambry and is located on the edge of the desert wastelands. Although it smells sweet, the bad grass poisons grazing animals. IV:271, IV:324, IV:343, IV:344, IV:394, IV:474, IV:499, IV:523–26 (setting), IV:529–35 (setting), IV:536–49, IV:552–60
BLUFFS: The bluffs are six miles beyond the long grassy DROP at the edge of HAMBRY. HANGING ROCK is located here. IV:272
CÖOS: The Cöos is a ragged hill five miles from the town of Hambry, ten miles from EYEBOLT CANYON. To the northwest of it is the desert, the BAD GRASS, HANGING ROCK, and EYEBOLT CANYON. RHEA, the weirdling of the Cöos, has her hut here below the crest of the hill. IV:115–38, IV:166, IV:168, IV:246, IV:290, IV:299, IV:343, IV:394–98, IV:414, IV:415–19 (setting), IV:420, IV:448, IV:449, IV:452–53 (setting), IV:657, IV:662, V:40, V:55, V:71, V:703, VII:179, VII:219
EYEBOLT CANYON: A short, steep-walled box canyon shaped like a chimney lying on its side. A thinny has eaten its way into the far end of it. Roland destroys his enemies by laying a trap for them in Eyebolt Canyon. IV:115, IV:118 (and thinny), IV:156 (described), IV:272–76 (described), IV:324, IV:351, IV:394–95 (described), IV:422, IV:431, IV:432, IV:454–56, IV:470, IV:547, IV:580, IV:590–602 (Latigo’s men are trapped here), IV:622–23, V:341, V:508, V:576, VII:524
HANGING ROCK: Hanging Rock is located about three-quarters of the way between the DROP and the BLUFFS, or about four miles from the Drop and two miles from the Bluffs. This jutting upthrust of rock is the only real geographical feature in the area and resembles a finger bent at the first knuckle. Below it is a small, boomerang-shaped green sward. The green is due to a freshwater spring located at the rock’s base. IV:272, IV:324, IV:368, IV:371 (Latigo’s men come here), IV:386, IV:394, IV:407, IV:422, IV:432, IV:456, IV:484, IV:503, IV:522, IV:530, IV:532, IV:536, IV:547, IV:555, IV:573, IV:579, IV:583, IV:584, IV:589–91 (setting)