by Robin Furth
GREAT ROAD TO LUD: See GREAT ROAD
GREAT WALL OF LUD: III:405
HANGING FOUNTAIN: III:313–14, III:328–29
LUD BRIDGE: See SEND RIVER: SEND RIVER BRIDGE
LUDWEG: The town of Ludweg is located north of Lud. JOCHABIM, the hume dishwasher whom JAKE CHAMBERS meets in the kitchens of the DIXIE PIG, originally came from Ludweg. VII:84
PLAZA OF THE CRADLE: III:331–34, III:341
SEND BASIN NUCLEAR PLANT: Lud computers control this area as well. III:379
STREET OF THE TURTLE: See also GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, in CHARACTERS. III:309–12, III:316–25, III:331–34, III:341
RIVER CROSSING: River Crossing is the last outpost of civilization in River Barony. Its citizens are ancient but this does not stop them from trying to keep the old ways alive. Over the years they have had to keep their gardens and well-tended homes and meeting places secret from the harriers who pass through, burning, killing, and blinding as they go. River Crossing is ruled by the matriarch AUNT TALITHA. The old folks of this town tell our ka-tet everything they know about the lay of the land, give them a wonderful meal, and then send them on their way toward Lud. Talitha gives Roland her silver cross and asks him to lay it at the foot of the DARK TOWER. III:225–45, III:245–51, III:253, III:254, III:257, III:258, III:270, III:276, III:284, III:288, III:309, III:310, III:329, III:383, IV:14, IV:31, IV:52, V:55, V:78, V:110, V:134, V:192, VI:111, VI:117, VI:118, VI:182, VII:50, VII:120, VII:126 (a forgotten town), VII:473, VII:802
CHURCH OF THE BLOOD EVERLASTING: III:227, III:232–45, III:232–49
LANDING, THE: III:227, III:240
RIVER ROAD: III:228
SEND RIVER: The Send River flows through RIVER BARONY. Roland’s katet travels along the Send River through much of The Waste Lands and then crosses it in order to enter LUD. (Below are some specific references.)
III: 170–71, III:176, III:223, III:241, III:256, III:283, III:285, III:288–302, III:310, III:311, III:363, IV:28, IV:31, IV:53, IV:100, V:325
SEND RIVER BRIDGE (CROSSING TO LUD): In The Waste Lands, our tet had to cross this dilapidated bridge to enter the city of LUD. Unfortunately, the child-snatcher GASHER was waiting for them on the far side. EDDIE and SUSANNAH think that the Send River Bridge resembles the GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE in NEW YORK CITY. This bridge was made by LaMERK FOUNDRY. III:241–42, III:256–57, III:268, III:285, III:287, III:288–303, III:380, VII:502
TOM’S NECK: A town located near River Crossing. III:240
WEST RIVER BARONY: BLAINE (who is actually the computer-brain behind all of Lud’s computers) controls this area. III:379
RIVER CROSSING
See RIVER BARONY
RIVER FIELD
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: JAFFORDS LAND
RIVER ROAD
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
RIVER SEND
See RIVER BARONY
RIVER STREET
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
ROADSIDE FIELD
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: JAFFORDS LAND
ROCKING B RANCH
See MEJIS, BARONY OF, and BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
ROCKING H RANCH
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
ROSALITA’S COTTAGE
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: OUR LADY OF SERENITY
ROSS-KELLS STAKE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
S
SALLYWOOD
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
SALT HILLS
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
SALT-HOUSES
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
SALTIE TOWN
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
SANTA FE
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
SEAFRONT
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
SEND BASIN NUCLEAR PLANT
See RIVER BARONY: LUD
SERENITY WOMEN’S RETREAT
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
SEVEN MILE
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
SEVEN-MILE ORCHARD
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
SHARDIK’S WOODS (SHARDIK’S LAIR)
See GREAT WEST WOODS; see also BEAMS, PATH OF THE, in PORTALS
SHAVÉD MOUNTAINS
The Shavéd Mountains are located northwest of GILEAD. FARSON intended to battle the AFFILIATION here.
IV:378, IV:430, IV:465
SHEB’S
See TULL
SILK RANCH ROAD
See MEJIS, BARONY OF
SON OF A BITCH
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: JAFFORDS LAND
SOUTH PLAINS
The MUTANT minstrel CHEVIN OF CHAYVEN—one of the CHILDREN OF RODERICK—once called the South Plains his home. Although his tribe originated in lands far from those Roland ever knew, Chevin’s people gave their grace to Roland’s ancestor ARTHUR ELD in the days before the world moved on. EDDIE DEAN assumes that the South Plains are in MID-WORLD, so I have placed them here as well.
VII:51
SOUTH SEAS
The RIVER WHYE, which runs through the BORDERLANDS, eventually flows into the South Seas.
V:136
SPEAKING RINGS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS, in PORTALS
SQUARE YARD
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF: GILEAD
STAPE BROOK
See NORTH’RD BARONY
STOKES BURYING PARLOR AND SMITHY
See NORTH’RD BARONY
STONE CIRCLES
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS, in PORTALS
SUBURB OF NOWHERE
This is EDDIE DEAN’s term for the area northwest of the RIVER WHYE, where he, ROLAND, SUSANNAH, JAKE, and OY travel at the beginning of The Wind Through the Keyhole. Other than BIX, the RIVER WHYE ferryman, most of the people in this area stay well hidden. However, Roland does catch sight of a frightened woman with two children and a MUTANT farmer with a jerking tentacle attached to one corner of his mouth.
W:4
SWAMP
See MID-FOREST (MID-FOREST BOG)
T
**TAUNTON
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, it is the people of Taunton, and not the people of FARSON, that HAX and THE GOOD MAN’s followers try to poison.
**TAUNTON ROAD
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, GALLOWS HILL is located on the Taunton Road. Taunton Road replaces the FARSON ROAD.
TAVARES
Tavares was a town located up the coast from HAMBRY. One of its bars (GLENCOVE) had a female bartender who eventually died of the pox. In Wind Through the Keyhole, we learn that Tavares was located forty wheels east of the ENDLESS FOREST. Tales of BIG JACK ROSS’s death-by-dragon reached there quickly. The gunslinger posse that eventually accepted TIM ROSS as one of their own was headed for Taveres. IV:382, W:160, W:171, W:172, W:264, W:268, W:268
TEJUAS
Tejuas is an unincorporated township located two hundred miles west of ELURIA. The NORMAN brothers were headed here when their caravan was attacked by the GREEN FOLK.
E:178, E:193
TEMPA
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: MANNI CALLA
TEPACHI, BARONY OF
People from Tepachi have an accent similar to that of the people in the nearby Barony of MEJIS.
IV:269
TERRITORIES
The Territories are mentioned by CALVIN TOWER in The Waste Lands as he sells JAKE CHAMBERS both Charlie the Choo-Choo and Riddle-De-Dum! “Consider it my gift to a boy wise enough to saddle up and light out for the territories on the last real day of spring.” The Territories, which are a parallel world to our Earth, are found in The Talisman, and in Black House, novels cowritten by STEPHEN KING and Peter Straub. Every human being in our world has a “twinner” in the territories.
III:116
THINNIES
See THINNY, in PORTALS
THOUGHTFUL HOUSE
See ELURIA
THUNDERCLAP
<
br /> See entry in PORTALS
TIMBERSMITH FARM
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
TOM’S NECK
See RIVER BARONY
TOOK’S GENERAL STORE
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
TOOK’S OUTLAND MERCANTILE
See BEAM ROAD
TOPEKA
See KANSAS: TOPEKA, in OUR WORLD PLACES
TOWER
See DARK TOWER, in PORTALS
TOWN COMMON
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS
TOWN GATHERING HALL
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS; see also MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
TRAVELERS’ REST/TRAVELLERS’ REST
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS; see also MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
TREE RIVER
See NORTH’RD BARONY
TREE SAWMILL
See NORTH’RD BARONY
TREE VILLAGE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
**TULL
The sand-colored, pitted buildings of Tull are located south of PRICETOWN and just north of the MOHAINE DESERT. The town consists of four roads—the COACH ROAD and the three that cross it. Since Tull is located on the line of the Coach Road, we can assume that it was once more prosperous. Now it consists of a boarded-up grocery, a livery, a tailor, a church, a barber, a dry goods emporium, and a bar called SHEB’S.
Like so many of MID-WORLD’s towns, Tull—located on the floor of a circular, bowl-shaped hollow—is reminiscent of the Old West. It is in Tull that Roland meets his lover ALICE. It is also where he meets the formidable (and dangerously crazy) SYLVIA PITTSTON. Thanks to Pittston’s treachery, Roland ends up killing everyone in the town, including Allie. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we find out that there’s an old train yard near Tull.
I:15, I:18–19, I:20–21, I:22–64, I:77, I:78, I:86, I:90, I:118, I:124, I:131, I:143, I:156, II:40, II:126, II:145, III:42, III:44, IV:72, IV:628, V:253, VI:283, VI:284, VI:288
SHEB’S: Sheb’s is Tull’s single honky-tonk. Despite its name, it actually belongs to ALICE. Within its bat-wing doors it has a sawdust floor, spittoons, and tipsy-legged tables. The bar is a plank resting on sawhorses. At the back people play interminable games of Watch Me while SHEB bangs away on his piano. I:22, I:23, I:26–43, I:45–47, I:52–54, I:58, I:61, I:63, I:64, II:40, II:126, II:145, II:264
TURTLE, STREET OF THE
See RIVER BARONY: LUD
U
UNFOUND DOOR
See DOORWAY CAVE, in PORTALS
UNFOUND DOOR (PATH TO THE)
See BORDERLANDS: CALLA BRYN STURGIS: ARROYO COUNTRY
V
VI CASTIS CUT
See RITZY
VI CASTIS MOUNTAINS
See RITZY
W
WASTE LANDS
See WASTE LANDS, CALLA BADLANDS, and DISCORDIA, all in PORTALS
WAY STATION
See entry in PORTALS
WAYDON
See RIVER BARONIES
WEST RIVER BARONY
See RIVER BARONY
WEST-TOWN
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF: GILEAD
WEST WOODS
See GREAT WEST WOODS
WESTERN LINE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
WESTERN PLAINS
See BORDERLANDS
**WESTERN SEA AND LOBSTROSITY BEACH
Throughout The Gunslinger, Roland pursues the MAN IN BLACK south and then southwest through the MOHAINE DESERT and the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS (in the 2003 Gunslinger, he follows his enemy southeast). At the end of his journey Roland finds himself at the GOLGOTHA, just three miles from the Western Sea, which is the setting for the next book in the series. The Western Sea is a terrible, barren place. Its waters are the color of dirty undergarments and its yellow, gross-grained beaches are littered with no-color shells and rocky protrusions. The tide line crawls with man-eating LOBSTROSITIES and its horizons seem endless and hopeless. The sea’s Lobstrosity Beach is a terrible place, but it is through the magical BEACH DOORS, found here, that Roland draws EDDIE DEAN and SUSANNAH DEAN into his world. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we find out that the Western Sea is the edge of the world.
I:44, I:214, II:15–21, II:26–36, II:44, II:55–56, II:62–63, II:72–74, II:76–78, II:79–82, II:92–94, II:99–105, II:135–43, II:154 (indirect), II:156–57, II:161–82, II:201–9, II:225–312, II:327–38, II:359–60, II:371, II:387–90, II:393–94, III:12, III:47, III:261, III:407, IV:42, IV:96, V:77, V:105, V:409, V:445, V:701, VI:132, VI:284, VI:295, VI:395, VII:177 (shore), VII:339, VII:594, VII:723, VII:741, VII:749
LOBSTROSITY BEACH: II:15–21, II:26–36 (setting), II:44, II:54, II:55–56, II:62–63, II:72–74, II:76–78, II:79–82, II:92–95, II:99–105, II:135–43, II:154 (indirect), II:156–57, II:161–82, II:201–9, II:225–312, II:327–38, II:359–60, II:387–90, II:393–94, III:13, III:36, III:316
**WEST’RD HALL
See NEW CANAAN, BARONY OF: GREAT HALL
WHYE
See BORDERLANDS: RIVER WHYE
WIDOW BRAILEY’S BOARDING HOUSE
See DEBARIA, BARONY OF
WIDOW SMACK’S COTTAGE
See NORTH’RD BARONY
WILLOW GROVE
See MEJIS, BARONY OF: HAMBRY
WILLOW JUNGLE
The Willow Jungle, located in the foothills of the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS, was the home of the ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS. (It is sometimes also called the WILLOW GROVE, although the main Willow Grove is in HAMBRY.) After the dry hardpan of the desert, the Willow Jungle’s wet lushness is a relief. However, this dangerous jungle is the home of vampiric SUCKERBATS and the demonic Oracle of the Mountains. In The Gunslinger, Roland gained prophecy from this oracle, but her price was sexual intercourse. Although Roland didn’t know it at the time, this creature was no mere wraith but the female aspect of a DEMON ELEMENTAL. Once she collected Roland’s sperm, she gave it to the servants of the CRIMSON KING, who used it to create MORDRED.
I:117–34, III:172–73, V:46 (indirect)
WIND
Wind is a town even less ritzy than RITZY. It is located fifty miles from Ritzy and the VI CASTIS MOUNTAINS.
IV:266
X
XAY RIVER
ALAIN JOHNS, CUTHBERT ALLGOOD, and Roland Deschain crossed the Xay River while returning to GILEAD from HAMBRY. To cross the Xay, Roland and his friends had to clamber across a rope bridge. To make sure that no enemies followed, Alain severed the rope after they used it, and the remains of the bridge fell into the water a thousand feet below. Despite there being no bridge to cross, SHEEMIE managed to follow Roland’s tet all the way back to Gilead. In The Dark Tower, we find out that Sheemie (a powerful BREAKER) teleported himself.
VII:271
OUR WORLD PLACES AND THE MULTIPLE AMERICAS25
Go then. There are other worlds than these.
Jake Chambers, I:191
Maybe instead of forty-two continental United States on the other side of the Hudson, there are forty-two hundred, or forty-two thousand, all of them stacked in vertical geographies of chance.
And he understands instinctively that this is almost certainly true. He has stumbled upon a great, possibly endless, confluence of worlds. They are all America, but they are all different. There are highways which lead through them, and he can see them.
V:298–99
Look, there are a billion universes comprising a billion realities. . . . Those realities are like a hall of mirrors, only no two reflections are exactly the same. I may come back to that image eventually, but not yet. What I want you to understand for now—or simply accept—is that reality is organic, reality is alive.
VII:270
A
AKRON
See OHIO (STATE OF)
ALABAMA (STATE OF)
In SUSANNAH DEAN’s when of 1964, Alabama cops were more than willing to sic dogs on black marchers protesting for voting rights. The world might be moving on, but some things have improve
d.
V:75, VI:109
BIRMINGHAM/BOMBINGHAM: V:75
MONTGOMERY: II:199
WOOLWORTH’S: II:199
ALASKA (STATE OF)
V:428, VII:41, VII:229
ACHIN’ ASSHOLE: Believe it or not, EDDIE DEAN made this place up. II:396
FAIRBANKS: The FORTY bus is hobo-speak for the bus that will take you as far away as possible. If you’re living in NEW YORK CITY, the forty bus will probably drop you off somewhere near Fairbanks, Alaska. V:428, VII:41
ALBUQUERQUE
See NEW MEXICO (STATE OF)
ALDERSHOT
See ENGLAND
ALTERNATIVE AMERICAS (ALTERNATE AMERICAS)
See MULTIPLE AMERICAS, below in this section; see also ALTERNATIVE AMERICAS, in APPENDIX I
AMHIGH
See DRAWERS: DETTA’S SEX HAUNTS, in PORTALS
APPALACHIAN TRAIL
The Appalachian Trail is a continuous footpath that runs from Mount Katahdin in central Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, a distance of approximately 2,160 miles. EDDIE DEAN imagines that the trail is overrun by bomber-joint-smoking hippies carrying packsacks like Roland’s.
II:77
AQUINAS HOTEL
See BAHAMAS
ARCTIC
JAKE CHAMBERS doesn’t envy people who live in arctic countries, since they have to deal with long periods of darkness each year. He thinks such a life would be even worse than one spent under the artificial sun of THUNDERCLAP.
VII:256
ARIZONA (STATE OF)
V:57, V:118, V:305
BLACK FORK: In the kind of Western novels which CALVIN TOWER likes to read, heroes always blow into places like Black Fork, Arizona, clean up the town, then blow on like tumbleweeds. III:115, V:57, V:118
GRAND CANYON: VI:241
PHOENIX: V:305
ARKANSAS
ODETTA: ODETTA HOLMES’s mother, ALICE HOLMES, was born here. Hence Odetta (later called SUSANNAH DEAN) was christened with this name. II:199