by Robin Furth
Cort is too ill to attend the Presentation Ceremony.
Nine weeks later, Cort dies of poisoning.44
21 A.R.B.
Two years after Cort’s death, the red slaughter reaches Gilead, the last bastion of civilization.
The final civil war begins.45
24 A.R.B.
The battle of Jericho Hill is fought.46
Cuthbert Allgood dies, shot through the eye by Rudin Filaro (aka Walter O’Dim).47
Roland is the only gunslinger to survive.48
Roland leaves the Horn of Deschain (the Horn of Eld) on Jericho Hill.
24–36 A.R.B.
Roland casts about for Walter’s trail.49
He visits the ruins of Gilead, now overrun with timothy and wild vines.
The old castle’s kitchens are infested with Slow Mutants.50
Roland travels to Eluria, is captured by the Green Folk, and ends up in the clutches of the vampiric Little Sisters of Eluria.
He escapes.51
36 A.R.B.52
Roland is hot on the trail of the Man in Black.
He enters Tull and is besieged by the followers of the mad preacher Sylvia Pittston, servant of the Crimson King and lover of the Man in Black (aka Walter O’Dim).
Roland kills everyone in Tull, including his lover, Alice.
Roland crosses the Mohaine Desert and at the Way Station and meets Jake Chambers.
In the Cyclopean Mountains, Roland sees the Man in Black for the first time in twelve years.
Roland allows Jake to fall into an abyss below the mountains, then enters the golgotha with Walter.
Roland and Walter enter a fistula of time and Roland has a vision of the Tower’s many levels.53
When he awakes, Roland has aged ten years, but three hundred years have passed in Mid-World-that-was.54
While Roland dreams, the remains of Mid-World collapse.
140 A.R.B.
River Barony Castle (near the town of River Crossing) falls to harriers.55
198 A.R.B.
The Wolves begin invading the Callas of Mid-World’s borderlands.56
The Crimson King’s followers are feeding a twin-telepathy chemical (extracted from the brains of prepubescent twins) to the Breakers of End-World so that these telepaths can speed the destruction of the Beams and the collapse of the Dark Tower.
246 A.R.B.
David Quick, the outlaw prince, leads an attack on the city of Lud. This city (Mid-World’s version of New York) is caught in a constant cycle of warfare.
Quick dies trying to use one of the Old Ones’ flying machines.57
266 A.R.B.
Patricia (Blaine’s twin mono) stops running.58
336 A.R.B.
Roland awakens in the golgotha and travels to the Western Sea, where two of his right fingers and one of his toes are eaten by lobstrosities.
He draws forth Eddie Dean and then Odetta Holmes (along with Odetta’s second personality, the nasty Detta Walker).
Roland forces Odetta and Detta to unite, and they become Eddie Dean’s great love, Susannah Dean.
In the Great West Woods, our tet finds the Bear-Turtle Beam and follows it to the ancient kingdom of Mid-World.
Jake is drawn, once more, onto Roland’s level of the Tower.
While drawing Jake, Susannah becomes pregnant by the demon of the Speaking Ring (actually a Demon Elemental) and conceives “the chap.”
Oy joins the ka-tet.
Our tet travels to River Crossing, then to Lud, and finally boards Blaine the Insane Mono on his mad hurtle toward Topeka.
Blaine says he will kill them all, and himself, unless they can beat him in a riddling contest.
Eddie defeats Blaine with the illogic of his bad jokes.
Blaine crashes, destroying himself, but our ka-tet survives.
They enter an alternative version of our Kansas and encounter a thinny.
There, by the warble of the thinny, Roland recounts the story of his time in Mejis and of his love affair with Susan Delgado.
Our tet enters the Green Palace and faces down the infamous R.F. (aka Walter O’Dim).
They awake in a clearing of white winter grass, once more on the Path of the Beam.
336–337 A.R.B.59
Our tet journeys along the Path of the Beam and enters the borderlands.
Susannah, pregnant with the chap, develops another personality, that of Mia (High Speech for “mother”).
Roland and his companions enter Calla Bryn Sturgis and battle the Wolves, saving the Calla’s twins from being made “roont” in End-World.
The Crimson King foresees our ka-tet’s victory, so kills himself and all but three of his followers.
Undead, the Crimson King rides to End-World and positions himself on a balcony of the Dark Tower.
After the battle with the Wolves, Mia takes control of Susannah’s body and escapes through the magical portal of the Doorway Cave.
She travels to the Dixie Pig in New York, 1999, so that she can rendezvous with the servants of the Crimson King and bear her demonic chap.
In the Extraction Room of the Fedic Dogan, Mordred Red-Heel is born.
Mordred immediately eats his body-mother, Mia.
Susannah Dean kills her captors and shoots off one of Mordred’s eight spider legs.
Jake, Oy, and their new tet-mate, Father Donald Callahan, track Susannah to the Dixie Pig in the where of New York City and the when of 1999.
Pere Callahan is killed.
Pursued by the henchmen of the Crimson King, Jake and Oy reach the New York/Fedic Door.
Roland and Eddie pass through the Unfound Door to Maine, 1977.
After battling Balazar’s thugs, they track down Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau.
Calvin Tower sells Roland and Eddie the magical Vacant Lot, home of the Rose.
Roland and Eddie meet their maker, Stephen King, in the when of 1977 and the where of Bridgton, Maine.
With the help of John Cullum, Roland and Eddie form the Tet Corporation to protect the Rose in our world.
Our tet is reunited in the Fedic Dogan and passes through the Wolves’ Door to Thunderclap Station.
Mordred eats Walter O’Dim and follows them.
Our ka-tet defeats the servants of the Crimson King in the Devar-Toi.
Eddie is shot by the Devar Master and dies.
Roland, Jake, and Oy travel through a magic door made by the Breakers to Maine, 1999.
They save the life of their maker, Stephen King.
Jake dies.
Roland meets the executives of the Tet Corporation and sees the Rose.
Roland, Oy, and Susannah are reunited in Fedic.
They travel through the Discordia to Le Casse Roi Russe.
Mordred follows.
Roland, Oy, and Susannah destroy the were-insect Dandelo and free the mute artist Patrick Danville.
On the road to the Tower, Patrick draws the Unfound Door for Susannah.
Susannah abandons the quest and enters an alternative version of New York.
Mordred—dying of food poisoning—attacks Roland.
Oy dies defending Roland.
Mordred dies under the gun of his White Daddy.
Roland and Patrick reach the Tower, but the Red King is waiting for them.
Patrick uses his magical drawing skills to draw, and then erase, the Crimson King.
Roland climbs the Tower and finds . . . himself.
Commala come-come,
The journey’s never done.
Or is it?
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
But this time, Roland has his horn, and he will sound it when he reaches the distant fields of Can’-Ka No Rey, and the Tower which calls him.
APPENDIX III MID-WORLD RHYMES, SONGS, PRAYERS, AND PROPHECIES
I: Rhymes
**1. BABY-BUNTING RHYME
When Roland was a little boy, his mother sang this song to him. Chussit, chissit, chassit are the High
Speech words for the numbers seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen. (VII:23, VII:767)
Baby-bunting, darling one,
Now another day is done.
May your dreams be sweet and merry,
May you dream of fields and berries.
Baby-bunting, baby-dear,
Baby, bring your berries here.
Chussit, chissit, chassit!
Bring enough to fill your basket.
2. BREAKER RHYME
This little rhyme is popular among the Breakers of End-World. I suppose it helps them justify their part in the destruction of the macroverse. (VII:289)
Enjoy the cruise,
turn on the fan,
there’s nothing to lose,
so work on your tan.
3. ORIZA RHYME
We learn this High Speech rhyme in Calla Bryn Sturgis. In the Calla they believe that mortal woman was made from the breath of mortal man, but that the first man came from Lady Oriza. The translation is “All breath comes from the woman.” (V:631)
Can-ah,
can-tah,
annah,
Oriza
4. PENNY POSY
This bit of “cradle nonsense” was sung to children in Mid-World. Roland would have known it well. (VII:171)
Penny, posy,
Jack’s a-nosy!
Do ya say so?
Yes I do-so!
He’s my sneaky, peeky, darling bah-bo!
5a. RAIN IN SPAIN (Original Version)
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
There is joy and also pain
but the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
Pretty-plain, loony-sane
The ways of the world all will change
and all the ways remain the same
but if you’re mad or only sane
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
We walk in love but fly in chains
And the planes in Spain fall mainly in the rain. (I:71)
**5b. RAIN IN SPAIN (Version #2)
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, the second verse is replaced by the following:
Time’s a sheet, life’s a stain
All the things we know will change
and all those things remain the same,
but be ye mad or only sane,
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
6. SEE THE TURTLE OF ENORMOUS GIRTH
This well-known and well-loved Mid-World poem invokes the spirit of the Turtle Guardian. Each region repeats a slightly different version, but despite this, the poem remains essentially the same. For more information and for page references, see GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, in CHARACTERS.
BORDERLANDS VERSION (VI:15)
See the Turtle of enormous girth!
On his shell he holds the earth,
His thought is slow but always kind;
He holds us all within his mind.
On his back the truth is carried,
And there are love and duty married.
He loves the earth and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me.
IN-WORLD VERSION (VII:490)
See the Turtle of enormous girth!
On his shell he holds the earth,
His thought is slow but always kind;
He holds us all within his mind.
On his back all vows are made;
He sees the truth but mayn’t aid.
He loves the earth and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me.
7. SEMINON RHYME
Seminon is the name given to the Calla’s late-autumn windstorms, the ones that come just before true winter. Lord Seminon is also the name of a god whom Lady Oriza wanted to marry. However, Lord Seminon preferred Oriza’s sister, and Oriza never forgave him. (V:632) See SEMINON, LORD, and ORIZA, LADY, under ORIZA, LADY, in CHARACTERS.
Seminon comin’,
warm days go runnin’.
**8. SPARK-A-DARK, WHO’S MY SIRE
Roland repeats this old catechism whenever he sets a campfire alight. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, he says it before lighting his devil grass fire. (VII:761)
Spark-a-dark, who’s my sire?
Will I lay me?
Will I stay me?
Bless this camp with fire.
II: SONGS
Throughout the Dark Tower series, we learn about many of Mid-World’s popular songs. Some of them are versions of songs found in our world (reinforcing the belief that Mid-World is one of our Earth’s many possible futures). However, quite a few have never been heard in our world. Below are listed those songs which appear in the Dark Tower series.
1. ADELINA SAYS SHE’S RANDY-O
We never learn the words to this Mid-World drinking song. (VII:520)
2. A HUNDRED LEAGUES TO BANBERRY CROSS
Roland considers this to be one of Mid-World’s old songs. We never learn the words. (I:120)
3. BUY ME ANOTHER ROUND YOU BOOGER YOU
Pere Callahan sings this song on the night of the Calla’s welcoming fiesta, put on in honor of Roland and his ka-tet. We never learn the words. (V:228)
4. CARELESS LOVE
“Careless Love” has special significance, since we associate the song with Roland’s first and only true love, Susan Delgado. Although “Careless Love” is mentioned in the final three books of the Dark Tower series, the extract we have comes from Wizard and Glass. (I:86, IV:121)
Love, O love, O careless love,
Can’t you see what careless love has done?
5. CAPTAIN MILLS, YOU BASTARD
We never learn the words to this song. All we know is that Deputy Dave Hollis of Hambry played it very badly. (IV:508)
6. COME ON OVER BABY
Pettie the Trotter, who was an aging whore at Hambry’s Travellers’ Rest, bawled this song out when she was drunk. The lyrics are from “Whole lotta shakin’ going on.” (IV:213–14)
Come on over baby, we got chicken in the barn
What barn, whose barn, my barn!
Come on over, baby, baby
Got the bull by the horns . . .
7. THE COMMALA SONG
The Commala Song is probably one of the most important songs found in Mid-World. It is sung in the Calla, but it was also sung in In-World during Roland’s youth. The Commala Song, and its many variants, can be found in Appendix IX.
8. EASE ON DOWN THE ROAD
This is another one of Mid-World’s old songs. We never learn the words to it, though the title is shared by a song from our world taken from the musical The Wiz. (I:120)
9. GOLDEN SLIPPERS
Back when he lived in Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz liked to sing this song. We are never given the words. (IV:244)
10. THE GREEN CORN A-DAYO
We never hear this song, though we do learn that Andy likes to sing all twenty or thirty verses of it. It may be yet another version of the Commala Song. (V:5)
11. HEY JUDE
“Hey Jude” exists in our world too. The major difference between the Mid-World version and the Beatles’ version is that Mid-World’s begins “Hey Jude, I see you, lad.” (I:22–23, I:26, V:39)
12. I AM A MAN OF THE BRIGHT BLUE SEA
Mejis’s fishermen sing this song. (IV:445–46)
I am a man of the bright blue sea,
All I see, all I see,
I am a man of the Barony,
All I see is mine-o!
I am a man of the bright blue bay,
All I say, all I say,
Until my nets are full I stay
All I say is fine-o!
13. IN TIME OF LOSS, MAKE GOD YOUR BOSS
Andy the Messenger Robot (Many Other Terrible Functions) learned this song from the Manni. We never get to hear him sing it. (V:6)
14. THE JIMMY JUICE I DRANK LAST NIGHT
This is an amusing song sung in the Calla. (We never hear it.) Since Andy the Messenger Robot offers to sing it to Eddie not long after Eddie almost w
ipes his bottom with poison flurry, I can’t help but wonder whether Jimmy juice is a bit like prune juice. (V:141)
15. MAID OF CONSTANT SORROW
This song comes from our world; Susannah Dean sings it at the Calla fiesta. It goes down well. (V:228)
16. ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS
The drunken customers at Sheb’s bar in Tull liked to sing a version of this song. (I:34)
17. PLAY LADIES, PLAY
We never learn the words to this song, though we know the customers of Hattigan’s in the run-down town of Ritzy like to sing it. (IV:268)
18. SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER
The crazed parishioners of Sylvia Pittston’s church in Tull sing this hymn. (I:48)
Shall we gather at the river,
The beautiful, beautiful,
The river;
Shall we gather at the river,
That flows by the Kingdom of God.
19. STREETS OF COMPARA
A pair of nine-year-old twins sings this song at the Calla fiesta. Since the Calla folken believe that the better part of one of the girl’s brains is destined to be made into Breaker food, it’s not surprising that the song makes them cry. We never learn the words. (V:227)
20. WE ALL SHINE ON
This is the refrain of John Lennon’s song, “Instant Karma.” Stephen King quotes it in the 1982 edition of The Gunslinger.” (I:191)
21. WOMAN I LOVE
The customers at Hattigan’s in Ritzy sing this song. We only learn the following lyrics: “Woman I love . . . is long and tall . . . She moves her body . . . like a cannonball.” In our world, these lyrics come from the song “Come on in my kitchen.” (IV:268)
III. BOOKS
1.THE THROCKEN AND THE DRAGON