The Roland readers encounter in Wolves might surprise those who’ve read the first four volumes, as the gunslinger proves himself as much a psychologist and a politician as a man accustomed to dealing in lead. This Roland is also more tender (he takes a lover, Rosalita Munoz) and more fragile (his arthritis, which he calls “the dry twist,” threatens to cripple him).
Roland organizes the people of the Calla to fight the wolves, laying out strategy for the battle even as he tries to discern just what kind of enemy he’s actually facing. He also manages to take time out from his preparations to “go todash” (a kind of astral projection) to 1999 New York, where he visits the empty lot at the corner of Second and Forty-Sixth street, and sees “the rose” for the first time. The rose, as readers of earlier volumes are aware, is believed to be a physical embodiment of all realities.
EDDIE DEAN: Eddie is growing increasingly worried about the woman he calls his wife, Susannah. But, distracted by the Calla’s plight and the imperiled rose, Eddie cannot focus on her problems as much as he would like. Always a fast talker, Eddie plays a crucial role in convincing a reluctant Calvin Tower to sell the vacant lot where the rose grows to Roland’s ka-tet instead of the Sombra Corporation, which represents the interests of the Crimson King.
JAKE CHAMBERS: Jake uncovers the treachery of his best friend Benny’s father, Ben Slightman, and Andy the robot. He also acquits himself admirably in the fight against the Wolves. More and more, he gives the ka-tet the appearance of a family, with Roland as his father, Eddie as his brother, and Susannah as his sister or mother figure.
SUSANNAH DEAN: Raped by a demon in an encounter described in The Waste Lands, Susannah starts to show signs of being pregnant even though she’s still having her period. One sign is her odd cravings—at night, she sneaks off from camp to hunt and eat all sorts of small wildlife. Roland is aware of this, but says nothing to the others. Another disquieting development for Susannah is that she’s begun to manifest yet another identity, which calls itself Mia. Mia becomes an increasingly powerful influence on Susannah, who is in fact pregnant with an entity Mia refers to as “her chap.”
Susannah is a vital member of the ka-tet, perhaps its very heart and soul. In Wolves, she suggests using her inherited wealth to purchase the vacant lot in New York City where the rose grows from Calvin Tower. Despite looking as if she is ready to give birth at any moment, Susannah fights valiantly alongside the Sisters of Oriza, helping to rout the Wolves. At battle’s end, Mia takes over, forcing her host to slip away to the Cave of Voices, where she enters a doorway to 1999 New York City. Susannah’s continuing story forms the backbone of Volume 6 of the series, Song of Susannah.
OY: A doglike creature known as a billy-bumbler, Oy is devoted to Jake. Oy accompanies Eddie and Jake on their trip to 1977 New York. The animal is a valued member of the ka-tet who alerts Jake to Ben Slightman’s treachery, and also fights valiantly in the battle against the Wolves.
THE SISTERS OF ORIZA: A small band of women in Calla Bryn Sturgis who are skilled in the art of throwing lethal disks, they preserve the tradition begun by Lady Oriza, who used one of the “dishes” to behead the outlaw prince known as Grey Dick. There seems a fateful connection between the plates thrown by the Sisters of Oriza and the “forspecial” plate that Susannah broke as a young girl, a significant event in the development of her multiple personality disorder.
THE NUMBER NINETEEN: In Wolves, the ka-tet becomes obsessed with this number, and starts to see it everywhere, whether it be the number of letters in a name, or a room number. The number nineteen is significant because that is the age at which Stephen King first conceived the idea for the Dark Tower series, inspired by Robert Browning’s poem, Tolkien’s epic The Lord of The Rings, and, later, Sergio Leone’s film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The number nineteen also figures in the day King was almost killed by an oncoming vehicle: June 19, 1999.
THE TET CORPORATION: Confronting Jack Andolini in Calvin Tower’s bookstore in 1977 New York City, Eddie impulsively tells him to inform his boss Salazar that Tower has decided not to sell his vacant lot up the street to the Sombra Corporation, but rather to the Tet Corporation, which doesn’t exist at that time. It will, however, exist shortly in the future, a venture organized by John Cullum, Moses Carver, and Aaron Deepneau.
FATHER DONALD CALLAHAN: Known to the townsfolk as “the Old Fella” or “Pere Callahan,” Don Callahan came to End World from another reality, one in which the events described in ’Salem’s Lot actually took place. In Wolves, he tells the story of his life from his departure from the Lot to the time he came to Calla Bryn Sturgis, the mysterious globe known as Black Thirteen in his possession. Father Callahan spent many years hunting vampires until he “died,” much like Jake Chambers, and found himself in Roland’s world. He eventually becomes an integral part of Roland’s ka-tet.
CALLA BRYN STURGIS: A small town on the River Whye, near the edge of End World. Roughly every twenty years, Calla Bryn Sturgis is attacked by a legion of cloaked invaders mounted on horses. The invaders have one goal, to kidnap the children of the town and spirit them to Thunderclap, presumably as slave labor (the truth is far more horrible). Many of the children taken are never seen again; those who return are, in the parlance of the locals, “roont,” turned into slow-witted giants with an unnaturally short life span. Encouraged by the presence of Roland and his ka-tet, the current residents make a stand against the Wolf riders, and soundly defeat them.
ANDY THE ROBOT: This seven-foot-tall messenger robot has seemingly always lived in Calla Bryn Sturgis. It is he who tells the townspeople of the imminent arrival of the wolves. Seemingly benign, Andy, a product of North Central Positronics, is actually an ally of the Wolf riders. When Eddie discovers the truth about Andy, he renders him useless in a scene reminiscent of the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey when astronaut Dave lobotomizes Hal, the computer that runs his ship.
CALVIN TOWER: The owner of The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind, a New York bookstore, and of the vacant lot where grows the all-important rose. Sombra Corporation has an option on the land, which expires in a few short days.
AARON DEEPNEAU: Clavin Tower’s best friend and attorney, he can often be found in Tower’s bookstore, playing chess with the owner.
ENRICO BALAZAR: A representative of the Sombra Corporation, Balazar tries to purchase Calvin Tower’s vacant New York City lot from him in 1977. Balazar, who sends his representative Jack Andolini to secure the property, is frustrated by the abrupt appearance of Jake Chambers in Tower’s bookstore. Balazar is a mobster who, in another where and when, came into conflict with Eddie Dean and his older brother, Henry. Balazar also played a key role in Jake’s death in another reality; it was his car that killed the boy.
JACK ANDOLINI: Representing Enrico Balazar, Andolini puts the squeeze on Calvin Tower to force him to sell his vacant lot to the Sombra Corporation. Confronted by Eddie Dean, Andolini backs off, but later engineers the destruction of the bookstore through an act of arson.
THE SOMBRA CORPORATION: A corporation with offices in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, it is actually a front for the Crimson King’s activities. The Sombra Corporation arranges a lethal ambush against Father Donald Callahan.
THE WOLVES: Once a generation, a small army descends from Thunderclap to kidnap the children of Calla Bryn Sturgis. Known as Wolves because of their fierce, wolflike faces, the hooded, green-cloaked army uses horses for transportation. Over the generations, they have met with little resistance. In what turns out to be their last foray against the Calla, however, they face a populace inspired and trained by Roland’s ka-tet, which has now added Father Donald Callahan to its number. The wolves, which are revealed to be robots, are routed by the ka-tet and the townspeople.
RICHARD PATRICK SAYRE: The executive vice president of the Sombra Corporation and a minion of the Crimson King, he engineers the trap that results in Father Donald Callahan’s entry into Roland’s world. He later works to see that Mi
a’s Chap is safely delivered.
STEPHEN KING: An author whose name appears on the deli board at Calvin Tower’s bookstore, replacing the name that Jake originally recalled seeing there (King favorite John D. MacDonald). His name appears on a rare book owned by Calvin Tower called ’Salem’s Lot, which describes Father Donald Callahan’s experiences in the vampire-infested town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine.
WOLVES OF THE CALLA: TRIVIA
• In previous volumes, the children’s book Charlie the Choo-Choo was written by Beryl Evans. But in this novel, they discover that the same book was penned in another reality by a woman named Claudia y Inez Bachman, significant because the letters of her name add up to nineteen, a number that resonates all through the final volumes. Also, of course, King wrote half a dozen novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, whose wife was said to be named Claudia.
• Also on the subject of books, one of the inhabitants of Calla Bryn Sturgis is a rancher named Wayne Overholser, who in another reality (in our world, which King calls the Keystone world) was a highly regarded author of Western novels.
6
THE DARK TOWER VI: SONG OF SUSANNAH
(2004)
More like a poem than a song, the sixth novel of King’s Dark Tower series is divided into thirteen stanzas, which are capped by a shocking coda. Although only spanning a one-day period in the lives of Roland and his ka-tet, the book chronicles several crucial developments.
At the end of their epic battle with the Wolves on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, Roland, Eddie, Jake, Oy, and Don Callahan suddenly notice that Susannah is no longer on the scene. Following her trail to the Cave of Voices, they soon realize that Susannah (now dominated by the entity that calls itself Mia) has used the power of Black Thirteen to flee Mid-World for the New York City of 1999.
Enlisting the aid of Manni senders, a local group of religious mystics, the remaining members of Roland’s ka-tet enter the Doorway Cave to pursue their comrade. They decide to split up, with Roland and Eddie pursuing Susannah in 1999, and Jake and Father Callahan seeking Calvin Tower (saving the Dark Tower depends not only on rescuing Susannah but also on securing the vacant lot Calvin Tower owns—the lot is the home of a single rose—before he loses it to the Sombra Corporation) in 1977. They discover, however, that the magic they are utilizing is not reliable, or that ka has other plans, as, against their original intentions, Father Callahan, Jake, and the billy-bumbler Oy are sent to 1999 New York City while Roland and Eddie are sent to 1977 Lovell, Maine.
The next twenty-four hours are very eventful.
Successfully reaching 1999 Manhattan, Susannah/Mia has only one desire, to give birth to her “chap” at a predetermined location in the East 60s. Susannah-Mia, who in a struggle to cope with each other and with an alien environment (a mostly mental struggle reminiscent of that which takes place between Gary Jones and his nemesis, Mr. Gray, in 2001’s Dreamcatcher ), eventually “go todash” to Castle Discordia on the border of End-World. In that stronghold of the Crimson King, Mia reveals her origins to Susannah.
In Maine, the Gunslinger and Eddie attempt to track down New York City bookstore owner Calvin Tower, who is being hunted down by mobster Enrico Balazar and his gang, who first appeared in Eddie’s version of New York in The Drawing of the Three. Along the way, they participate in a gunfight, meet a pragmatic caretaker named John Cullum, and encounter a thirty-year-old writer named Stephen King.
Subtitled “Reproduction,” the sixth installment of King’s magnum opus stops short with the biggest cliffhanger of King’s career. After being treated to a coda containing excerpts of King’s diary from 1977 through 1999 in which he describes his experiences in writing Roland’s story, readers encounter a press clipping from the Portland Sunday Telegram dated June 19, 1999, whose headline proclaims:
STEPHEN KING DIES NEAR LOVELL HOME
POPULAR MAINE WRITER KILLED
WHILE TAKING AFTERNOON WALK
SONG OF SUSANNAH: PRIMARY SUBJECTS
ROLAND: Traveling to 1977 Maine from Calla Bryn Sturgis, Roland, accompanied by Eddie, finds himself trapped in a small grocery store/service station, under attack by Jack Andolini and a small army of thugs. While escaping that trap, they make the acquaintance of John Cullum, who will come to play a large role in their destinies.
Roland and Eddie eventually locate Calvin Tower, the man they traveled from Mid-World to meet, then make a detour to meet a man they’ve become intrigued by, a young writer named Stephen King, the author of ’Salem’s Lot, a novel that is purportedly fiction yet tells a story that features their friend Father Donald Callahan, describing his unfortunate experiences in that selfsame town. Roland discovers that King has begun chronicling his life and wonders if the author is his creator or if he is simply tapping into the knowledge somehow to tell the story of the gunslinger’s quest for the tower.
EDDIE DEAN: Eddie accompanies Roland to 1977 Maine, and is wounded in the leg during the gun battle at the grocery store. With John Cullum’s help, he and Roland locate Calvin Tower. Eddie strong-arms Tower into selling the vacant lot to the Tet corporation. As a way of compensating him, he advises Tower to invest in Microsoft. Roland does some field surgery on Eddie, who quickly recovers from his wound. On a hunch, the pair travel to meet the thirty-year-old author of ’Salem’s Lot, Stephen King.
JAKE CHAMBERS: Jake and Donald Callahan travel to 1999 New York, and track Susannah first to her hotel room (Room 1919, where they secure Black Thirteen), then to an eating establishment called the Dixie Pig. As the book draws to a close, they prepare to mount a rescue operation.
FATHER DONALD CALLAHAN: Now a part of the ka-tet, Callahan travels to 1999 New York with Jake. After discovering Black Thirteen, Callahan (thanks to Oy) also finds the small scrimshaw turtle originally hidden in the lining of the bowling bag used to carry the orb. He knows instinctively it is the Turtle Maturin (Guardian of one of the Beams, perhaps the most vital of them all), and that it is an object of great power. As Callahan stands outside the Dixie Pig with Jake, some part of him surely must suspect that he will meet his destiny, revealed in The Dark Tower, inside.
SUSANNAH/MIA: Susannah/Mia uses Black Thirteen to travel to New York City on June 1, 1999, her primary goal to hook up with the minions of the Crimson King to ensure the safe birth of her “chap.” Now truly a hybrid entity, Susannah sprouts legs upon arriving. Over the course of the novel, Susannah and Mia come to know each other. Mia’s primary concern is her chap; Susannah also begins to feel motherly emotions toward the being growing inside her. Thus, in the end, she allows Mia to deliver the body they share to the Dixie Pig.
RICHARD PATRICK SAYRE: Employee of the earthly Sombra Corporation and servant of the Crimson King, his goal is to ensure that Mia’s chap is born.
JACK ANDOLINI: When Roland and Eddie arrive in Maine, Andolini is waiting for them. Andolini, who was in that state searching for the incautious Calvin Tower, is not successful in his attempt to capture the gunslingers.
JOHN CULLUM: A local caretaker and handyman, John is shopping at the grocery store where Roland and Eddie arrive after going todash to 1977 Maine. John escapes from the grocery with the gunslingers, and offers them shelter for a time. He then helps them locate Calvin Tower.
THE TET CORPORATION: The corporation that Eddie “created” off the top of his head while in Calvin Tower’s bookstore. Eddie signs the agreement between Calvin Tower and Tet Corporation on behalf of that legal entity, even though it does not yet exist.
CALVIN TOWER: An inveterate book lover and owner of the vacant lot, Tower reluctantly sells the lot to the Tet Corporation after Eddie browbeats him into it. The former Calvin Toren is more than he seems, however, as he shows an awareness of Roland’s quest and family history.
AARON DEEPNEAU: Tower’s best friend and attorney, he drafts the agreement between the bookseller and the Tet Corporation, transferring the ownership of the vacant lot to that entity for one dollar. Deepneau’s role in Roland’s quest has only begun, howeve
r.
STEPHEN KING: Living in Maine in 1977, the young writer is confronted by something he never thought he’d encounter—a character he created named Roland the Gunslinger, standing before him in the flesh (he doesn’t recognize Eddie, because he hasn’t thought him up yet). Speaking with King, Roland and Eddie realize just how important this man is to their quest. After securing the author’s permission, Roland hypnotizes King. In that state, King reveals his knowledge of the Dark Tower, the beams, and the Crimson King. He tells a story that makes it clear that he’s had the attention of the Crimson King since he was seven years old.
Before releasing King from his trance, Roland instructs him to tell their story until he tires. “When you can’t tell any more, when the Turtle’s song and the bear’s cry grow faint in your ears, then you will rest. And when you can begin again, you will begin again.”
The Complete Stephen King Universe Page 6
