by Robin Furth
HAMBRY (BARONY SEAT OF MEJIS): Hambry is a beautiful town located on the edge of the CLEAN SEA. From High Street you can see the bay, the docks, and the many-colored boathouses. The newer buildings are adobe; the older ones are brick and are reminiscent of GILEAD’s Old Quarter. Hambry has two markets—an upper and a lower. The lower market smells fishy but is cheaper.
Roland associates Hambry with the smell of sea salt, oil, and pine. Its citizens are fishermen and horse breeders. Although Hambry is picturesque, it is full of hidden dangers. The thinny of EYEBOLT CANYON is the most visible; however, other dangers lurk. As Roland soon realizes, “in Hambry, the waters on top and the waters down below seem to run in different directions” (IV:205). Although they declare their allegiance to the AFFILIATION, the politically powerful men of the town have (metaphorically speaking) sold their souls to FARSON, also known as THE GOOD MAN. Although the gunslingers of NEW CANAAN do not know it, the destruction of their world will begin here, in a barony they can barely recall.
In Hambry, Roland faces the first true trials of his manhood. He also discovers MAERLYN’S GRAPEFRUIT, the pink sphere of MAERLYN’S RAINBOW.
GENERAL PAGES: IV:115–331, IV:341–611
SPECIFIC REFERENCES: IV:65, IV:79 (and thinnies), IV:115, IV:142, IV:144 (mailboxes), IV:145, IV:153 (dinner of state), IV:180–89 (180–81 description of bay; 182 five hundred miles from In-World; 183 and “old ways”; 186 four hundred wheels from Gilead), IV:190, IV:193, IV:200, IV:205, IV:206, IV:219, IV:220, IV:238, IV:239 (beauty of it), IV:244, IV:254 (few muties in Outer Baronies), IV:261, IV:263, IV:267, IV:271, IV:276, IV:282 (upper and lower markets), IV:284, IV:293 (and game of Castles), IV:300, IV:305, IV:402, IV:426, IV:430, IV:446, IV:451, IV:453 (lower market), IV:461, IV:467 (lower market), IV:484, IV:504, IV:506, IV:521, IV:550, IV:569, IV:570, IV:584, IV:603, IV:605
LOCATIONS IN THE TOWN OF HAMBRY:
ANNE’S DRESSES: IV:328
BAR K RANCH: A deserted spread of land northwest of town. It was once owned by the GARBER family; now it belongs to the HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION. Roland’s ka-tet stays in Bar K’s bunkhouse during their time in Hambry. IV:175, IV:188, IV:199, IV:211, IV:233, IV:260–64 (260 described), IV:274, IV:276, IV:277, IV:286, IV:288, IV:294, IV:305, IV:352, IV:357–60, IV:368, IV:378, IV:388–89, IV:390–92, IV:393–94 (Jonas is there), IV:398–402 (Roland’s ka-tet finds Jonas’s mess), IV:403, IV:431, IV:450, IV:473–80, IV:484, IV:502, IV:574
BAYVIEW HOTEL: Located on High Street. IV:447, IV:502
CITGO: An oil patch filled with 200 steel towers, 19 of which still ceaselessly pump oil. They have existed for more than six centuries. IV:135, IV:145–48, IV:157, IV:159, IV:176 (Jonas tells Depape to cover tankers), IV:185, IV:186, IV:214 (Reynolds and Depape camouflage), IV:281, IV:285, IV:289–304 (289 orange grove nearby; 295 “the candle”), IV:300–301 (tankers), IV:319, IV:345, IV:363, IV:378–80, IV:385–86, IV:390, IV:395, IV:411, IV:421, IV:430, IV:432, IV:451, IV:480, IV:483–85, IV:515–19
CANDLE, THE: The gas-pipe of Citgo. IV:295, IV:363.
CLEAN SEA: See CLEAN SEA, listed separately
CRAVEN’S UNDERTAKING PARLOR: IV:381
DROP, THE (WESTERN DROP): This long, grassy slope stretches for thirty wheels toward the sea. It is used as a horse meadow, though much of it belongs to JOHN CROYDON. Part of it is known as TOWN LOOKOUT. SUSAN DELGADO’s house is visible from here (IV:284). IV:125, IV:133, IV:140, IV:153, IV:160–65, IV:170, IV:188, IV:191, IV:205, IV:234, IV:239–40, IV:246–59 (too many horses), IV:261, IV:271–72, IV:276, IV:281, IV:284, IV:288, IV:293, IV:301, IV:311, IV:324, IV:346, IV:352, IV:358, IV:361, IV:368, IV:371, IV:378, IV:400, IV:402, IV:414, IV:423, IV:427, IV:446, IV:459, IV:502, IV:503, IV:522, IV:525, IV:529, IV:532, IV:548, IV:566, IV:568, IV:608, IV:635, V:202, VI:184, VII:762
RIM: See also BORDERLANDS: GRAND CRESCENT. VI:184
GREAT ROAD: See GREAT ROAD, listed separately
GREEN HEART (also PAVILION, MANAGERIE, RED ROCK): Green Heart is a pavilion located on HILL STREET, fifty yards from the jail and TOWN GATHERING HALL. It is the site of the Reap Dance. The stone wall at the back contains the red rock where Roland and SUSAN agree to leave notes for each other. Susan is eventually burned here. IV:147, IV:327, IV:343 (red rock), IV:351, IV:355, IV:370, IV:371, IV:372–74 (Jonas and Cordelia), IV:381, IV:434, IV:462, IV:505, IV:507, IV:605–8 (Susan burned)
HAMBRY CEMETERY: Hambry Cemetery is the site of the famous murder/suicide of ROBERT AND FRANCESCA. Roland, CUTHBERT, ALAIN, and SUSAN DELGADO meet to palaver here. IV:426, IV:428–36, IV:495, IV:514–15
HAMBRY CREEK: See also WILLOW GROVE, below. IV:311
HAMBRY JAIL: See SHERIFF’S OFFICE, BARONY JAIL, below
HAMBRY MERCANTILE STORE: Located on south High Street. The porch has a line of carved totems depicting seven of the twelve GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM. They are BEAR, TURTLE, FISH, EAGLE, LION, BAT, and WOLF. People often hang Reap charms from them. IV:222, IV:245, IV:328, IV:342 (rattlesnake skins), IV:355 (Reap charms hang from the Guardians), IV:447
HAMBRY POINT: The point is located two miles from the TRAVELLER’S REST. IV:216
HAMBRY POST OFFICE: Although it is an OUT-WORLD Barony, Hambry has a postal service. IV:181
HOOKEY’S STABLE AND SMITHY/HOOKEY’S STABLE AND FANCY LIVERY: IV:279–80, IV:282, IV:330, IV:344, IV:376, IV:512, IV:514–15
LAND OFFICE: IV:181
LAZY SUSAN RANCH: This ranch belongs to RENFREW and is the largest one in Mejis. IV:187, IV:205, IV:208, IV:355, IV:421
MENAGERIE: See GREEN HEART, above
MILLBANK, THE: Food is served here. IV:259
ORANGE GROVE: See CITGO, above
PIANO RANCH: Owned by CROYDEN. IV:187, IV:191, IV:215 (Her Nibs is here), IV:344, IV:451, IV:558
ROADS:
CAMINO VEGA: Crosses HIGH STREET. IV:329
GREAT ROAD (runs east-west): See GREAT ROAD, listed separately
HIGH STREET: The TRAVELLERS’ REST is located here. IV:171, IV:180, IV:189, IV:224, IV:329, IV:381, IV:447, IV:505
HILL STREET: GREEN HEART and the SHERIFF’S OFFICE are located here. IV:180, IV:327, IV:371, IV:507, IV:605
SEACOAST ROAD (BARONY SEA ROAD): IV:271, IV:370, IV:402, IV:581
SILK RANCH ROAD: IV:602, IV:603, V:210
ROCKING B RANCH: Owned by LENGYLL. IV:186 (generator), IV:187, IV:199, IV:355
ROCKING H RANCH: This is LASLO RIMER’s place. IV:262 (has oxen), IV:293
SEAFRONT: This is Mayor HART THORIN’s house. “Come in peace” is inscribed above the door. IV:153, IV:158, IV:162, IV:179–80, IV:191–210 (193–94 interior described), IV:222, IV:234, IV:278, IV:279, IV:292, IV:306–8, IV:310–13, IV:328, IV:350, IV:367, IV:376, IV:391, IV:403, IV:405, IV:420, IV:428, IV:443, IV:448–49, IV:453, IV:457, IV:460, IV:468, IV:480–83 (action here), IV:494–95 (action here), IV:496, IV:498, IV:499, IV:506, IV:519–23 (setting), IV:537, IV:542, IV:552, IV:561–62, IV:566–70, IV:577–78, IV:579, IV:582, V:166
SEVEN-MILE ORCHARD: IV:370
SHERIFF’S OFFICE, BARONY JAIL: This dual-purpose building is located on HILL STREET, overlooking the bay. IV:180–90 (descriptions of office. Sheriff goes through Roland’s false papers), IV:226, IV:259–60, IV:327 (jail), IV:329, IV:362–64, IV:367–68, IV:371, IV:501, IV:502, IV:507, IV:508–13, IV:520, IV:523, IV:537
TOWN GATHERING HALL: IV:181, IV:185, IV:227–30, IV:500–502 (setting), IV:562
TOWN LOOKOUT: Located on THE DROP. IV:284
TRAVELLERS’ REST: Located on HIGH STREET, the Rest is Hambry’s bar and whorehouse. It is owned by CORAL THORIN and her brother, HART THORIN. Hart never sets foot in the place, but Coral runs it. The Travellers’ Rest is the site of a showdown between Roland’s ka-tet and the BIG COFFIN HUNTERS. In Wizard and Glass, SHEEMIE RUIZ worked here doing odd jobs. In the final book of the Dark Tower series, Sheemie (now a BREAKER in THUNDERCLAP) meets the BEAM BOY in a dream-version of the Travellers’ Rest. See also BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: TRAVELLERS’ REST. IV:144, IV:170–78, IV:190, IV:213–22, IV:224–26
, IV:232, IV:241–42, IV:244–45, IV:286, IV:287, IV:342 (and rattlesnake skins), IV:347–53, IV:355, IV:366, IV:367, IV:380–87, IV:389, IV:403–5, IV:420–25, IV:447 (cotton gillies), IV:451, IV:500, IV:502, IV:505, IV:506, IV:512, IV:527, IV:562–65 (setting), VII:219, VII:220, VII:271 (indirect), VII:333, VII:336
WILLOW GROVE: Roland and SUSAN DELGADO make love here. It is Susan’s favorite place, and eerily prefigures the WILLOW JUNGLE in which Roland later encounters the succubus, or ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS. IV:311, IV:315–19, IV:321–23, IV:343, IV:435, IV:436, IV:537
ONNIE’S FORD: IV:306, IV:311
ORCHARDS NORTH OF HAMBRY: IV:341
SANTA FE: There is a sign for this city at BLAINE’s termination point in TOPEKA. However, there is also a Santa Fe in Mejis. For more information on the significance of Santa Fe to the series, see ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD, in OUR WORLD PLACES. IV:68
WASTE LANDS: There are wastelands beyond Hambry. But later on, when Roland and his new ka-tet reach the city of LUD, they find much nastier ones. IV:271
MIA’S CASTLE
See CASTLE DISCORDIA, in PORTALS
MID-FOREST (MID-FOREST BOG)
The wooded region which our tet travels through at the beginning of Wolves of the Calla is known as Mid-Forest. It marks the beginning of the BORDERLANDS. While following the PATH OF THE BEAM through this fairy-tale wood, Roland and his ka-tet are tracked by FATHER CALLAHAN and the other representatives from CALLA BRYN STURGIS. Our tet makes their first trip to NEW YORK, via TODASH, from their Mid-Forest campsite.
V:38–47 (traveling through; mentioned on 41, 45), V:66–68 (Roland follows Susannah), V:80–169 (setting), V:197–206 (setting), V:246 (woods), V:406, V:604 (named), V:681, VI:30, VII:594
BOG: While Roland’s ka-tet travels through Mid-Forest, MIA, daughter of none, takes over SUSANNAH DEAN’s body so that she can feed her CHAP in the Mid-Forest bogs. Although she is actually eating frogs and binnie bugs, Susannah-Mio dreams that she is dining in CASTLE DISCORDIA’s BANQUETING HALL. V:82–86, V:88
**MID-WORLD
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. In the Mid-World version of Earth which our tet travels through in the Dark Tower series, both time and directions are in drift. Hence, ANDY (CALLA BRYN STURGIS’s Messenger Robot) often refers to it as Mid-World-that-was.
In The Waste Lands, Roland drew a metaphysical map of Mid-World, which was meant to encompass all the known lands of his reality. According to this map, Mid-World was shaped like a sequin impaled upon a central needle. The center of the needle—or the hub of the Earth-wheel—was the DARK TOWER, or the nexus of the time/space continuum. Radiating out from the Tower were the BEAMS, those invisible high-tension wires which simultaneously held all of the universes together and maintained the divisions between them. According to this map, End-World (home of the Dark Tower) sat at the center of everything, like a bull’s-eye, and In-World (the hub of human civilization when Roland was a boy) didn’t even appear on the map. Although the terms End-World and In-World are confusing when viewed in this manner, readers must remember that Roland’s map was meant to be figurative, not literal. It was a teaching tool used to explain universal forces, not actual geography. (For an explanation of why In-World was called In-World, see the IN-WORLD entry, listed separately.)
Although the term Mid-World is usually used in its most general form, the word originally applied to a specific kingdom—one which tried to preserve culture and knowledge in a time of darkness. Mid-World’s ancient boundaries stretched from a marker near the edge of the GREAT WEST WOODS to MID-FOREST, the wooded area which abuts the borderlands, to TOPEKA, the city where BLAINE the Insane Mono terminated his run. The city of LUD (which our tet traveled through in The Waste Lands) was Mid-World’s largest urban center. Since King often implies that Lud is a future version of our world’s NEW YORK, and since the BEAR-TURTLE BEAM runs through both New York and Lud, it seems likely that the ancient kingdom of Mid-World was (geographically at least) more closely linked to the northeastern part of the United States than to the Southwest, which it resembles.
In Roland’s youth, the great city of GILEAD tried to keep Mid-World’s traditions alive and in many ways thought of itself as Mid-World’s successor. Hence, Roland sometimes refers to his world as Mid-World, a term which includes both the IN-WORLD BARONIES, such as NEW CANAAN, and the farthest reaches of Out-World, including forgotten ruins such as ELURIA. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we learn that Roland has been searching for the old Kingdom of Mid-World for a very long time. He has heard rumors that green lands still exist there, but he finds it hard to believe. Interestingly, the term Mid-World is reminiscent of both Middle Earth—Tolkien’s magical world—and Midgard, the realm inhabited by human beings in both Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology.
III:153 (Mid-World Railway), III:154, III:163–64, III:177, III:256, III:266, III:267, III:334, III:347, III:375, III:410, III:419, III:420, IV:66 (Mid-World ends near Topeka), IV:71, IV:445, IV:447, E:147, E:165, E:198, V:4, V:13, V:18, V:25 (the Mids), V:31, V:35, V:39, V:44 (term for Roland’s world), V:48, V:49 (term for Roland’s world), V:51 (term for Roland’s world), V:56, V:58, V:61, V:71, V:89, V:100, V:108, V:111 (term for Roland’s world), V:137, V:138 (Mid-World-that-was), V:165, V:202, V:214, V:478, V:501, V:631, VI:7, VI:30, VI:40, VI:67, VI:84, VI:122, VI:148, VI:247, VI:403, VI:404, VI:405, VI:407, VII:12, VII:37, VII:51, VII:84, VII:103, VII:141, VII:234, VII:260, VII:262, VII:300, VII:336, VII:382, VII:395, VII:398, VII:555, VII:580, VII:594, VII:598, VII:601, VII:607, VII:668, VII:669, VII:670, VII:715, VII:802, VII:810, VII:817, W:11, W:13, W:15, W:19, W:20, W:25, W:109, W:110, W:162, W:220, W:245
MID-WORLD LANES
See MID-WORLD LANES, in PORTALS
MID-WORLD RAILWAY
See MID-WORLD RAILWAY, in PORTALS
MILLBANK, THE
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
**MOHAINE DESERT
In The Gunslinger, Roland crosses this desert in pursuit of WALTER. The Mohaine is described as “the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what might have been parsecs in all directions. White; blinding; waterless; without feature save for the faint, cloudless haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death.” It is a harsh and unforgiving place that steals youth and sucks moisture from the very soul. The town of TULL is located near the desert and BORDER DWELLERS live on the edges of this wasteland, but nothing can live within its desiccated heart.
In pursuit of the MAN IN BLACK, Roland crosses this desert on foot, making his way along the old COACH ROAD, which winds through PRICETOWN and Tull. He stops briefly at BROWN’s hut (the final human habitation), then travels across the hardpan until he reaches the WAY STATION, where he meets JAKE. The final leg of this journey (from Brown’s hut to the Way Station) almost kills him. Much of MID-WORLD has been reduced to desert, but the Mohaine seems to be, by far, the worst. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we find out that the Mohaine is haunted by at least one TAHEEN—a hybrid creature with a raven’s head and a man’s body.
In The Wind Through the Keyhole we learn that, long ago, the WESTERN LINE ran trains from NEW CANAAN to the Mohaine Desert. However, in the years before Gilead fell, the train line ran to DEBARIA and no farther. When TIM ROSS rode on the magical DIBBIN, he felt like a prince of the Mohaine on an elephaunt.
I:11–22, I:30, I:31, I:42, I:44, I:45, I:52, I:65–81 (72–81 Way Station), I:83–95 (83–92 Way Station), I:119, I:124, I:127, I:134–35, I:209, II:40, III:43, III:101, VI:180 (indirect), VI:283 (not directly named), VI:288, VII:175, VII:515, VII:594, VII:827–30, W:40, W:256
N
NA’AR
See entry in PORTALS
NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF
The Barony of New Canaan, ruled by
the gunslinger descendants of ARTHUR ELD, shares its name with the biblical land of milk and honey. Before the fall of the AFFILIATION, New Canaan (and its barony seat of GILEAD) was the hub of IN-WORLD. Like the ancient kingdom of MID-WORLD (the kingdom for which Roland’s version of Earth is named), New Canaan tried to keep alive the ideals of hope, knowledge, and light. Roland remembers his home city of Gilead as a jewel set amid New Canaan’s green-gold fields and serene blue rivers. Unlike many of the OUT-WORLD baronies, New Canaan still had working electricity.
I:136, IV:108, IV:148, IV:153, IV:182, IV:190, IV:199, IV:266–67, IV:289 (apple orchards), IV:350
FORESTS OF NEW CANAAN:
BABY FOREST: The Baby Forest was located west of Gilead’s castle. In it took place one of the apprentice gunslingers’ tests of manhood, overseen by none other than the infamous CORT. Cort maintained that neither clocks nor sundials could be depended upon all of the time, so his students had to learn to keep a timepiece ticking inside of their minds. Summer evening after summer evening, the apprentices were sent out to spend an uncomfortable night in the forest until they could return to the yard behind the GREAT HALL at exactly the moment that Cort specified. As Roland testified to SUSANNAH, it took a great while to get that internal clock ticking, but once it did, it ran true. Roland lost this ability when the BEAMS began collapsing, but after the battle at the DEVAR-TOI, the skill returned. VII:587