by Robin Furth
ROSS-KELLS STAKE: BIG JACK ROSS and BIG BERN KELLS had four or five small stakes just off the IRONWOOD TRAIL. At least one of these was the last stub before the FAGONARD swamp. (In fact, the end of the Ironwood Trail was marked by a sign written by Ross: IRONWOOD TRAIL ENDS HERE. BEYOND LIES FAGONARD. TRAVELER, BEWARE!) Ross and Kells cut ironwood on their remote stake, where the trees were big. Unfortunately, it was also on one of these stakes that Big Kells murdered his partner, though he hid the body on a fallow stub of the COSINGTON-MARCHLY STAKE. W:110, W:133, W:182
FARMING VILLAGES OF THE MIDDLES: The avaricious COVENANT MAN collected taxes in these villages before he visited TREE. W:114
TREE VILLAGE: The fairy-tale village of Tree was the last town in what was then considered civilized country. It was located on the very edge of NORTH’RD BARONY, nestled close to the ironwood-rich ENDLESS FOREST. There were only two locks in Tree. One was on the JAIL. The other was on GITTY’S SALOON. W:110, W:111–146, W:164–89, W:204, W:206, W:210, W:224, W:228, W:245, W:251, W:252, W:255, W:257–64, W:268
CEMETERY: W:255
CONSTABLE HOWARD’S HOUSE: After BERN KELLS beat his wife NELL into blindness, it was impossible to find the constable. Unfortunately for Nell, Kells committed his crime while the COVENANT MAN was in town. Whenever the Covenant Man came to TREE, Constable Howard made himself scarce. W:166–67
COSINGTON COTTAGE: Before the death of BIG ROSS, the Ross family frequently ate meals at the Cosington Cottage. W:149, W:178
COSINGTON-MARCHLY STORAGE SHED: W:171–72
DEAF RINCON’S BARN: The murderer BIG BERN KELLS waited out the STARKBLAST in Deaf Rincon’s barn. W:262, W:263
DESTRY FARM: Farmer Destry was one of the biggest farmers in Tree. Not long after his father died, TIM ROSS got two weeks work cutting hay on this farm. Destry’s east field sat next to BERN KELLS’s place. Hence, he wanted to buy it. (Kells sold to Baldy Anderson instead.) Destry had a framed picture of a rifle in his parlor. W:116–17, W:120, W:172, W:186
GATHERING HALL: When TIM ROSS returned home to TREE after his adventures in the Endless Forest, he hoped that one of the local people had rescued his mother from the dangers of the STARKBLAST and had brought her to the village Gathering Hall. Instead, he found his mother in their cottage, where she was being cared for by the good WIDOW SMACK. W:258
GOODVIEW COTTAGE (ROSS COTTAGE): The Rosses’ cottage, Goodview, sat less than a wheel from the edge of the ENDLESS FOREST. The house was tiny but cozy. (The sitting room was so small that when BIG JACK ROSS stood in the middle and stretched out his arms, he could touch the opposite walls.) After NELL ROSS was widowed and married BIG BERN KELLS, Goodview became the Kellses’ cottage. W:109, W:110, W:112, W:113–24, W:131, W:149, W:153–56, W:164–71, W:173–74, W:175, W:178, W:180, W:181, W:251, W:254, W:255, W:258–64
GITTY’S SALOON: Gitty’s Saloon was one of only two buildings in Tree Village to have a lock on it. The other was the Tree JAIL. It was at this saloon that the COVENANT MAN discovered that BIG BERN KELLS had slipped the rope with his partner’s widow. At that point, the Covenanter knew that Kells was guilty of murder. All that remained was for him to find the incriminating evidence, namely Ross’s dead body. W:118, W:119, W:127–28, W:129, W:136, W:139 (indirect), W:141, W:161, W:173
JAIL: Tree’s jail was one of only two buildings in the village to have a lock. The other was the SALOON. BIG KELLS spent time in both of these buildings. In his younger days (and especially after his friend BIG JACK ROSS married NELL ROSS), Bern Kells often ended up in jail for his drunken and disorderly behavior. W:118, W:136, W:168
KELLS COTTAGE: BERN KELLS sold his cottage to BALDY ANDERSON so that he could pay the COVENANT MAN the taxes due for both himself and his new wife, NELL ROSS. (Kells didn’t get a very good price for his old home.) W:117, W:125–26, W:133
MAIN ROAD (TREE ROAD, HIGH STREET): In order to get to the IRONWOOD TRAIL, Tree’s woodsmen had to travel down Tree’s Main Road, or high street. (Farther from the town, this street was called Tree Road.) W:110, W:126, W:146, W:174, W:175, W:179, W:255
MARCHLY COTTAGE: Before BIG ROSS’s death, the Ross family frequently ate meals at the Marchly cottage. W:149, W:173
STAPE BROOK: Stape Brook originated in the clear spring that welled up between the ROSS COTTAGE and barn. W:180, W:257–58
STOKES BURYING PARLOR AND SMITHY: Stokes Burying Parlor was located behind his smithy. At the back of the parlor was a little room with forest scenes painted on the walls. In the center was an ironwood bier for the dead. This open space represented the clearing at the end of life’s path. W:173, W:176–78, W:255
TOWN STORE (MERCANTILE): When TIM ROSS cut hay for FARMER DESTRY, he was paid in scrip for the town store. W:120
TREE RIVER: When the STARKBLAST blasted into Tree, it blew the town sawmill into this river. W:257
TREE SAWMILL: At his steppa’s insistence, TIM ROSS worked at the Tree Sawmill for a while. The STARKBLAST blew the mill into TREE RIVER. W:111, W:127, W:129, W:130, W:172, W:202, W:206, W:257
WIDOW SMACK’S COTTAGE: Widow Smack’s cottage doubled as the Tree schoolhouse. It was located at the end of the high street, where the woodland scents were stronger. W:112, W:146, W:164, W:173–75, W:184–89, W:255
NORTHWEST BARONIES
BLAINE’s twin mono PATRICIA headed to the Northwest Baronies. We are not told any of their names.
III:342
O
OAKLEY
CLAY REYNOLDS and CORAL THORIN escaped the carnage of HAMBRY and set off to become outlaws. They became lovers and formed a gang of bank robbers and coach thieves. They were eventually killed by the sheriff of Oakley.
IV:623
OLD CALLA ROAD
See BORDERLANDS
ONNIE’S FORD
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS
See STONE CIRCLES, in PORTALS
ORANGE GROVE
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
OUR LADY OF SERENITY
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
OUTER ARC
In Wizard and Glass, we learned that geographical terms such as Outer Arc were metaphorical rather than literal. During Roland’s youth, backwater baronies such as MEJIS, which existed far from the civilized hub of the IN-WORLD baronies, were known as OUT-WORLD baronies or Outer Arc baronies. These relative terms of in, out, and outer make sense when you consider them in terms of the metaphysical map of MID-WORLD which Roland drew in The Waste Lands. On that map, the DARK TOWER sat at the center of the world-circle, and the PORTALS (watched over by the GUARDIANS) sat at its periphery. If this metaphor of the world-circle is applied to the human world, then In-World, and the In-World baronies such as NEW CANAAN, sit at the center of the map, since they form the hub of civilization. Cultural backwaters, which are both physically and psychically distant from the hub, are considered part of the Outer Arc. In Wolves of the Calla, we learn that most of Mid-World’s coffee was grown in the southern reaches of the Outer Arc.
V:89
OUT-WORLD
In Wizard and Glass, we learned that, during Roland’s youth, geographical terms such as Out-World were more metaphorical than literal. To the IN-WORLD citizens of GILEAD (barony seat of NEW CANAAN), those baronies located far from the hub of civilization were part of Out-World. They existed “out there,” on the OUTER ARC of human culture. In Wolves of the Calla, the same metaphorical use of terms applies, but the center, or hub, of the world changes. To the people of CALLA BRYN STURGIS, the Callas of the BORDERLANDS form the hub of the known world. Hence, any people who travel to the borderlands from other parts of MID-WORLD are considered outworlders.
The terms In-World and Out-World may also be metaphorical references to the metaphysical map of Mid-World which Roland drew 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. See also MID-WORLD, listed in this section, and END-WORLD, in PORTALS
During Roland’s youth, the people of Gilead considered the western lands, once served by the WESTERN LINE, to be part of Out-World. By the time Roland won his guns this area was overrun with harriers and roving bands of outlaws who called themselves land-pirates. It was essentially the lawless kingdom of JOHN FARSON, who was himself no more than a glorified land-pirate. The town of DEBARIA sat on the edge of Out-World. In fact, Roland thought of HIGH SHERIFF HUGH PEAVY as the High Sheriff of the Debaria Outers.
IV:213, IV:295, IV:350 (Crescent), IV:359 (Outer Crescent), IV:436, IV:447, IV:506, IV:653, V:8, V:312 (outworlders), V:344 (outworlders), V:402 (outworlders), V:418 (outworlders), VII:176, W:41, W:55, W:237
OUTWORLD, GATEWAY OF
See DOGAN: NORTH FOREST KINNOCK DOGAN, in PORTALS
P
PASS O’ THE RIVER (TOWN)
A MID-WORLD town whose bar, FOREST TREES, had a female bartender.
IV:382
PEABERRY ROAD
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
PENNILTON
Mr. RICHARD STOCKWORTH (ALAIN’s alias in HAMBRY) was supposed to have come from this town.
IV:148, IV:183
PIANO RANCH
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
PORLA
The people of RIVER CROSSING believe that the civil wars of MID-WORLD began in either this land or in GARLAN.
III:242
PORTALS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS and BEAMS, PATH OF THE, both in PORTALS
PRICETOWN
Roland passes through Pricetown on his way to TULL. He buys a mule here.
I:22, I:23, III:42
R
RACEY’S CAFÉ
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
RADIUM MINES
See ELURIA
RAILROAD
SUBWAY: In The Gunslinger, JAKE and Roland were attacked by SLOW MUTANTS in this underground subway system that ran beneath the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS. I:154–58 (following tracks), I:174–92 (following tracks)
WESTERN LINE: Once the Western Line ran a thousand wheels or more, from NEW CANAAN to the MOHAINE DESERT. However, in the years before GILEAD fell, it went to DEBARIA and no farther. Beyond there, many tracklines had been destroyed by washouts and ground-shakers. Others had been taken up by harriers and roving bands of outlaws who called themselves land-pirates. Running along the little bit of remaining track was the special two-car train known as SMA’ TOOT. Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY took Sma’Toot all the way to Debaria, where they investigated the SKIN-MAN murders. W:40–44 (Roland, Jamie, and Sma’ Toot)
REDBIRD TWO MINE
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: ARROYO COUNTRY
REDPATH KRA-TEN
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: MANNI CALLA
REDPATH-A-STURGIS
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: MANNI CALLA
RILEA
See BLAINE’S ROUTE
RIM, THE
See BORDERLANDS: GRAND CRESCENT
RIMROCKS
A few days before the final gunslinger battle of JERICHO HILL, Roland’s reinforcements (DEMULLET’S COLUMN) were ambushed and slaughtered here. ALAIN JOHNS heard the news, but when he galloped back to camp after midnight to inform his friends about the disaster, he was accidentally shot. Alain died under Roland and CUTHBERT’s guns.
V:170
RITZY
The down-and-out town of Ritzy is located four hundred miles west of MEJIS. It is a one-road mining village on the eastern slope of the VI CASTIS MOUNTAINS, fifty miles from the VI CASTIS CUT. Once there were freehold mines in the foothills, but they were regulated out by the VI CASTIS COMPANY.
IV:265–271, IV:348, IV:391, IV:527, IV:545
BEAR AND TURTLE MERCANTILE & SUNDRIE ITEMS: IV:265
HATTIGAN’S SALOON: IV:266, IV:267–69
SIX ROARING BARROOMS: IV:265
TOWN GATHERING HALL/JAILHOUSE: IV:265
VI CASTIS COMPANY STORE: IV:265
VI CASTIS CUT: IV:265 (fifty miles from Ritzy)
VI CASTIS MINES: IV:265–66
VI CASTIS MOUNTAINS: IV:265, IV:527
VI CASTIS (TOWN): FARSON will refine CITGO oil here. IV:431
RIVER BARONIES (AND WAYDON CASTLE)
According to the stories Roland heard as a child, LADY ORIZA, the rice goddess, was born in Waydon Castle near the RIVER SEND. However, in the BORDERLANDS Oriza is associated with the RIVER WHYE. Although Lady Oriza is always associated with a river (rice only grows in flooded paddies), the particular river barony she rules may vary from region to region and from folktale to folktale.
V:325–26 (Waydon Castle)
RIVER BARONY
River Barony, which our ka-tet traveled through in The Waste Lands, took its name from the RIVER SEND, which flowed through it. According to some MID-WORLD folktales, LADY ORIZA came from River Barony.
III:240, III:379 (West River Barony)
BARONY CASTLE AND VILLAGE: III:242–43
GREAT PLAINS OF RIVER BARONY: III:170 (not named yet), III:281, III:407
JIMTOWN: A village near RIVER CROSSING. III:228, III:240, III:309, III:346
**LUD: Lud, which our ka-tet travels through in The Waste Lands, was once the major city of River Barony. For many years after River Barony erupted in civil war, Lud held out against its besieging harriers. However, as the years passed, the difference between the besiegers and the besieged began to disintegrate. By the time our tet arrives, both sides are mad.
When our story begins, Lud has been torn apart by constant warfare for more than a hundred years. The major players in this ongoing battle are the PUBES, who are the descendants of the besieged artisans who stayed in Lud to defend their homes, and the GRAYS, who are the great-great-grandchildren of the attacking harriers. The Pubes practice human sacrifice to appease the god-drums operated by the Grays (with the help of Lud’s sadistic computer BLAINE) and the Grays have dwindled to a gang of murderous, disease-ridden lechers hiding like rats in mazes below the city.
Children, especially boys, are sought out in the decaying and decadent city of Lud. They can be trained as fighters and can be used for sexual gratification. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we learn that two thousand years before our story takes place, Lud looked a lot like NEW YORK CITY. Later in the series, we discover that Lud is actually MID-WORLD’s version of this great metropolis. III:164, III:170–72, III:181 (drums), III:195, III:222–23 (drums), III:226, III:228, III:233, III:238, III:239–45, III:240, III:242, III:248, III:254–55 (drums), III:256–57, III:263, III:267, III:268 (drums), III:269–70, III:274, III:281, III:282 (drums), III:285, III:287, III:289–302 (cross bridge), III:302–404 (drums 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317; land of drums, 321, 329, 332–33, 411; 404 leaving on Blaine), III:405, III:406, III:408, III:410, III:411, IV:16, IV:23, IV:25, IV:28, IV:34, IV:35, IV:62, IV:66, IV:75 (drums), IV:76 (drums), IV:663, V:35, V:135, V:141, V:165 (and Mid-World), V:166, V:178–79 (and New York), V:225, V:246, V:319 (The Great City), V:377, V:379, V:512, V:565, V:610, VI:14, VI:67, VI:91, VI:118, VI:152, VI:184, VI:206, VI:244, VI:287, VII:84, VII:109, VII:120, VII:160, VII:502, VII:521, VII:558, VII:590, VII:594, VII:725, W:10–11, W:13, W:31
APPLE PARK: TICK-TOCK, leader of the GRAYS, remembers visiting this park on the west side of Lud when he was a child. His father took him there to see the cider house and apple press. III:386
CITY NORTH: The PUBES occupy City North. It is here that they practice human sacrifice in response to the god-drums. III:308–12, III:316–25 (321 named)
CRADLE OF LUD/BLAINE’S CRADLE: The Cradle of Lud is a magnificent structure of blinding white stone. Despite the fact that its builders died off hundreds of generations before, the walls still clean themselves with endless streams of water. Marching around the Cradle’s roof are the GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, two by t
wo. The roof’s corners are guarded by dragons, but on its peak, towering sixty feet above an already imposing edifice, is a golden statue of a gunslinger.
The Cradle of Lud—which was the GREAT OLD ONES’ equivalent of GRAND CENTRAL STATION—is the home of BLAINE the Insane Mono. Praise the Imperium! III:303, III:316, III:322–25 (Eddie and Susannah make Pubes bring them here), III:329, III:331–34, III:340–50, III:360–65, III:372–73, III:381, III:382–85, III:393–400, IV:67, IV:71, IV:75, V:38, VII:77, VII:492
GRAYS’ CASTLE/GRAYS’ MAZE/CRADLE OF THE GRAYS: This winding mess below the city looks more like a trash midden than the headquarters of the GRAYS. In order to build it they dragged old cars, old computers, and even sculptures and fountains from other parts of the city. This varied pile acts as a kind of barrier, but one full of trip wires and booby traps. Located in the eastern part of Lud, the Cradle of the Grays is essentially the kingdom of the very nasty ANDREW QUICK, also known as TICK-TOCK. From here the Grays operate the god-drums, whose frenzied beat drives the PUBES to sacrifice each other. III:304–8, III:312–16, III:325–31, III:334–40, III:350–61 (357 named), III:365–72, III:373–78, III:378–82, III:385–90, IV:647