by Robin Furth
DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS (LESSER DEMONS OF THE PRIM)
MID-WORLD is a desolate land littered with the ruined machinery and leaking poisons of the GREAT OLD ONES. However, it is also a landscape haunted by the magic of a more primitive but equally dangerous people—those who knew more about demonology than they did about technology.
In three of the first four novels, Roland and his friends encounter “thin” places—areas where the division between the spirit world and the physical world is almost nonexistent. These places—whether circles of DRUIT STONES or cellars where men have been murdered and their bodies hidden—are the sites of human sacrifice. Hence, they function as evil magic circles. Unfortunately for unwary travelers, it is not just the magician who can conjure demons and spirits in these “in-betweens.” Because of their history of violence and blood, these evil places are PORTALS where thirsty demons can manifest whenever they scent possible prey.
Like the demons of our world, Mid-World demons seem to feed on human blood and human energy. Locked in the circles or buildings they haunt, they wait for unwary men and women to chance upon them. Drawn by the khef, or life force, of human beings, they come to drink. Lucky people chancing upon these beings will be able to entice a prophecy from them. Unlucky ones will lose their lives.
In the final books of the Dark Tower series, we learn the origin of Mid-World’s demonic forces. Like the DARK TOWER itself, these negative energies arose from the primal magical soup of creation. When the magical tide of the PRIM receded from the Earth, it left behind the Tower and the BEAMS, as well as a flotsam and jetsam of demons, elemental spirits, oracles, and succubi. Some of these intangible beings (known collectively as the Lesser Demons of the Prim) strangled in this new element, but others adapted and thrived. Among the less savory of the Prim’s survivors were sexual predators such as MIA and demonic beings such as the DEMON ELEMENTALS and the TYPE ONE VAMPIRES, also known as the GRANDFATHERS.
GENERAL REFERENCES: I:14 (dust devils), I:16, I:22, I:44, I:48–52 (Pittston’s Interloper), I:55–56 (Pittston’s Interloper), I:58, I:59–62 (Pittston’s Interloper), I:85, I:88 (spooks), I:90, I:91, I:124, I:154, I:205, II:25, II:34, II:40, II:44, II:73, II:114, II:362, II:367, III:20, III:35, III:315, IV:15, IV:63, IV:92 (thinny as demon), IV:132, IV:157 (thinny as demon), IV:321, IV:353 (inside Maerlyn’s glass), V:2 (bogarts, speakies), V:150 (bogarts), V:247 (devil), V:341 (ogres), V:350 (devil), V:394 (demon), V:577, VI:36, VI:106 (Demons of the Prim), VI:112 (Speaking Demons, general)
SPECIFIC DEMONS:
CENTIPEDE MONSTER: See TODASH DEMONS, listed below
CHAP (MIA’S CHAP): See MORDRED, listed separately
DANDELO: See DANDELO, listed separately
DEMON CHILD: See MORDRED, listed separately
DEMONS OF HOUSE: VI:112, VI:117
DEMONS IN THE EARTH: In “The Skin-Man,” the first of the two stories which Roland recounts in The Wind Through the Keyhole, we learn that the mines of Mid-World are populated by monsters very similar to the ones found in Desperation, Nevada. (See the novel Desperation.) According to HIGH SHERIFF HUGH PEAVY, the DEBARIA SALT COMBYNE dug too deep to reach their NEW SALT PLUG and in the process woke a demon of the earth, which he believes turned one of the miners into a flesh-eating SKIN-MAN. Roland, on the other hand, doesn’t believe that a demon transformed a miner into a monster. Instead he blames one of the OLD PEOPLE’s artyfax. Although we never learn exactly what transformed OLLIE ANG into a shape-shifting monstrosity, we are led to believe that the cause was a ghost (or in this case a demon) inside one of the Old People’s machines. Hence, both Peavy and Roland prove to be correct. W:64 (in plug, woken by miners)
DEMONSTUFF, JAR OF: The people of FEDIC believed that the Red Death, the plague which wiped out their town, came from a jar of demonstuff that had been opened in CASTLE DISCORDIA. VI:244
DEVIL: VI:247, VI:259, VI:318 (Satan), VI:319 (Satan), VII:582 (tempting), VII:590 (tempting)
DEVIL GRASS: Devil grass grows in the wastelands of Mid-World. In CALLA BRYN STURGIS, removing devil grass from the fields is New Earth’s first chore. This weed—which is the first growth to appear on ruined ground and the last to disappear once land is poisoned—is also narcotic. However, as we saw in The Gunslinger, smoking weed leads to chewing weed, and chewing leads to death. Roland thinks that the devil powder (cocaine) of our world is very similar to devil grass.
When no other fuel is available, devil grass can be burned. However, burning it brings its own dangers. Devils dance in the greasy flickering flames and those who watch them can be drawn into the fire. I:12–13, I:15, I:23, I:28–29, I:34, I:35, I:36, I:39–40, I:44, I:51, I:118, I:119, I:138, II:40, II:65, II:73, II:100 (devil powder), II:101 (devil dust), II:141 (devil powder), II:394, III:46, III:248, IV:268, V:3, V:403, VII:580, VII:588, VII:612, VII:829
DEVIL’S ARSE DEMONS/MONSTERS OF THE ABYSS: These telepathic demons are neither for the CRIMSON KING nor against him. However, it seems reasonable to assume that they are creatures of the Outer Dark. Although they were once contained in a crack in the earth located near the town of Fedic, they are slowly tunneling toward the underground chambers below both the FEDIC DOGAN and Castle Discordia. It seems likely that these creatures originated in TODASH and are the GREAT ONES which MORDRED says live in that terrible no-place between worlds. See TODASH DEMONS, listed below. VI:105, VII:539–40, VII:557, VII:567
DISCORDIA: See PRIM, listed separately
DUST-DEVILS: VI:642
GREAT ONES: See TODASH DEMONS, listed below
HOUSIES: Housies are a particularly nasty type of house-ghost. They can’t hurt people but they can hurt small animals. You can often hear them whispering in the dark. VII:590
ILL-SICK DEMONS: Demons of disease. VI:112, VI:117
**INTERLOPER/SATAN/ANTICHRIST: The Bible-bashing lunatic SYLVIA PITTSTON believed that Roland was the Interloper—in other words, Satan himself. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, Roland shares this dubious honor with his eventual nemesis, THE CRIMSON KING. I:49–52, I:59, I:62
MANSION DEMON/DOORKEEPER OF DUTCH HILL (PLASTER-MAN): In The Waste Lands, Jake Chambers leaves 1970s NEW YORK and enters Mid-World. However, in order to move between his level of the DARK TOWER and Roland’s, he must confront this demon-of-place in BROOKLYN’s DUTCH HILL MANSION. Not only is this demon the animating spirit of an evil house but it is also a doorkeeper, or a spirit that guards one of the lesser portals (or thin places), which lead out of our world and into Mid-World.
The Dutch Hill Mansion Demon is paired with the SPEAKING RING DEMON that Roland, SUSANNAH, and EDDIE encounter while traveling along the PATH OF THE BEAM toward LUD. Although both of these demonic doorkeepers are evil, they also serve a purpose. The Dutch Hill Demon keeps people from leaving our world; the Speaking Ring Demon stops them from entering Mid-World.
Because of these two demons, Jake Chambers’s second entry into Mid-World is doubly dangerous. Luckily, he has his ka-tet to help him make the journey. III:190–92, III:194–96, III:198–201, III:203–11, III:219, III:234, III:263, III:265, IV:98, V:50, V:68, V:93, V:258, V:478, VII:144–45, VII:249, VII:592
MIA: See MIA, listed separately
MIND-SPIRITS: These spirits knock at your mind’s door, seeking entrance. If you refuse to answer, they may try to gnaw their way through. (Rather unpleasant, when you think about it.) VII:593
MORDRED: See MORDRED, listed separately
ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS (SUCCUBUS): See DEMON ELEMENTALS, listed separately
PRIM: See PRIM, listed separately
SAITA: See ELD, ARTHUR, listed separately
SATAN: See DEVIL, listed above
SPEAKING DEMON (WAY STATION): In The Gunslinger, Roland descends into the Way Station’s cellar and hears this demon moaning. The sound, which soon turns into labored breathing, comes from behind one of the cellar’s crooked sandstone walls. Roland addresses the creature in High Speech and it responds in a low, dragging voice which resembles that of Roland’s dead lover ALICE from t
he town of TULL. After hearing the demon’s warning about the DRAWERS and about Jake (“Go slow past the Drawers, gunslinger. While you travel with the boy, the Man in Black travels with your soul in his pocket”), Roland punches the wall, reaches in, and pulls out a human jawbone. Though this action seems violent to us, it is one of the things Roland has been taught to do when dealing with demons. As the old Mid-World proverb states, “only a corpse may speak true prophecy.” From the moment he heard that initial moan, Roland knew that a body lay behind the sandstone. Such corpses can be possessed by spirits and can prove to be powerful mojo when dealing with other demonic beings. I:122–26, I:132, I:139, III:44, III:46, III:48, III:97, III:136, VI:112 (general)
SPEAKING-RING DEMON (JAKE’S ENTRY INTO MID-WORLD): See DEMON ELEMENTALS, listed separately
SUCKERBATS: These strange creatures live in the WILLOW JUNGLES of the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS. Many of them are vampire bats. Those bitten in the night do not wake to the world of the living. I:118
SUVIA: Suvia is a female demon with eight or nine arms. II:181
TENTACLED MONSTER: In “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” one of the stories Roland tells in the novel of the same name, TIM ROSS comes across this horrific tentacled creature on his way to the NORTH FOREST KINNOCK DOGAN, three days after leaving the FAGONARD. This monster lives at the bottom of a narrow chasm that is a hundred feet deep. Its existence is masked by a drift of white flowers so thick that Tim originally mistakes them for a cloud that fell to earth. These flowers have a fantastically sweet scent, but we cannot help but think that the flowers are this predatory creature’s lure.
While Tim is crossing the gorge’s narrow rock bridge, long, leathery tentacles emerge from the billows of white flowers. The tentacles are slate-gray on top and as pink as burned skin underneath. They rise toward Tim in a wavery dance—first two, then four, then eight, then a forest of them. At first Tim thinks they cannot reach him, but as he closes in on the far side of the bridge, the tentacles thin out and stretch to extend their reach. When he feels something caressing his boot, he throws himself forward with an inarticulate yell. He escapes. Fans of The Lord of the Rings will be struck by the similarities between this monster and the Watcher in the Water, found just outside of the Doors of Durin which lead into the Mines of Moria. W:230–31, W:232
THINNY: See entry in PORTALS
TODASH DEMONS: According to MORDRED, the nastiest demons inhabiting TODASH space are known as the GREAT ONES. I imagine that todash is filled with many unpleasant “lesser ones” as well. We see some glimmers of these terrible Great Ones (and many of the lesser ones) in STEPHEN KING’s story “The Mist,” which can be found in Skeleton Crew. VI:18, VI:248–49, VII:539, VII:557, VII:559, VII:567, VII:754
CHEWING MONSTER: Roland and Susannah hear this monster behind an ancient ironwood door located beneath the Fedic Dogan. VII:560–61
THUDDING MONSTER: The thudding monster (we never see it) is trapped behind one of the many doors found beneath Castle Discordia and the Fedic Dogan. It hasn’t been able to escape. (Yet.) VII:562
TUNNEL DEMON (CENTIPEDE MONSTER): This stinking, slithering demon tries to attack Roland and SUSANNAH DEAN as they travel through the dark tunnels beneath the Fedic Dogan and Castle Discordia. Although it may have originated in the DEVIL’S ARSE, that terrible crack in the Earth located beyond the nearby town of Fedic, Roland thinks that their pursuer is more likely a monster that has broken through from TODASH space. The tunnel demon/tunnel monster is one of the ugliest creatures we’ve met in the Dark Tower series (SLOW MUTANTS aside, of course). It resembles a giant fanged centipede, but one whose round lump of a face is covered with pink albino eyes and whose gaping, trapdoor-sized mouth is filled with squirming tentacles. Luckily for our friends, this particular demon is photosensitive. VII:564, VII:566, VII:567–76, VII:579, VII:658 (indirect)
ZOMBIE FACES: Susannah sees these dead faces staring at her from behind the strangely distorted windows and buildings of CASTLETOWN, the ruined habitations located near LE CASSE ROI RUSSE. VII:592
DEMULLET (DEMULLET’S COLUMN)
DeMullet’s Column was an army fighting on the side of the AFFILIATION. FARSON’S MEN defeated them at the fateful battle of JERICHO HILL.
V:170
DENBY, TOM
See CHAMBERS, JAKE: JAKE’S FAMILY, FRIENDS, ASSOCIATES AND ALIASES
DENNIS
See WALTER: WALTER’S ALIASES: FLAGG, RANDALL
DEPAPE, AMOS
See BIG COFFIN HUNTERS: DEPAPE, ROY
DEPAPE, ROY
See BIG COFFIN HUNTERS
DESCHAIN, ALARIC
Alaric Deschain was Roland’s grandfather. He was known as “him of the red hair.” Alaric went to GARLAN to slay a dragon, but that dragon had already been slain by another king, one who was later murdered. Since Alaric Deschain was known by the TOREN family of our world, it seems likely that he—like Roland—traveled between different levels of the DARK TOWER. If this is true, it seems even likelier that the dragon he wished to slay was none other than the dragon slain by King Roland of DELAIN, one of the main characters found in The Eyes of the Dragon. (For further reflections on the similarities between Mid-World and the world of The Eyes of the Dragon, See APPENDIX V.)
VI:197
DESCHAIN, GABRIELLE
Born Gabrielle of Arten, Gabrielle Deschain was Roland’s mother. Despite her standing as the wife of STEVEN DESCHAIN—the last Lord of Light and the direct descendant of ARTHUR ELD, King of ALL-WORLD—she broke GILEAD’s code of honor and had an affair with the court enchanter, MARTEN BROADCLOAK. Gabrielle was quite a tragic character, since this affair was, at least in part, a trap set for her by the enemies of the AFFILIATION.
Despite her dislike of guns and her gentleness toward her son, Gabrielle had a dangerous side. In MAERLYN’s glass, Roland saw his mother scratch his father with a poisoned knife. This terrible deed was to be done after Gabrielle falsely repented her affair and made love with her husband. Roland prevented this disaster, but later on, blinded by the glammer of Maerlyn’s Grapefruit and the evil magic of RHEA OF the CÖOS Roland, committed matricide by shooting the woman who bore him.
In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, we learn that Gabrielle’s given name was GABRIELLE VERISS, and that she was the daughter of ALAN. She was also known as GABRIELLE OF THE WATERS. However, in the seventh book of the Dark Tower series we are told that she was the daughter of CANDOR THE TALL. Gabrielle’s people came from ARTEN.
When Roland was a little boy sleeping in his nursery below the window of many colors (the spectrum of which represented the WIZARD’S RAINBOW), Gabrielle often sang the Baby-Bunting Rhyme to him. This little song becomes important at the end of the Dark Tower series, since one of the song’s High Speech words, chassit (NINETEEN), is the verbal code which opens the DOORWAY BETWEEN WORLDS linking the DIXIE PIG to the FEDIC DOGAN.
Although we see very little of Gabrielle in the Dark Tower novels (she is, for the most part, either a memory or a haunting shadow), she plays an incredibly important role in the shaping—and misshaping—of Roland’s destiny. In Wizard and Glass, Gabrielle’s unfaithfulness was the spark which set the story in motion. Not only did her affair galvanize Roland’s desire to take his test of manhood years too early, but his success in that test resulted in Steven Deschain sending Roland east to HAMBRY so that he could avoid MARTEN BROADCLOAK’s assassins. In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Roland’s memories of his mother, and his grief over his matricide, are the indirect catalysts for the tales which he recounts to his ka-mates while they shelter from the terrible winds of the STARKBLAST. In fact, in Roland’s mind, Gabrielle and the winds of the starkblast are intrinsically linked. The reason? All that Roland knows about such storms—from the erratic behavior of bumblers to the warm weather which precedes the starkblast was told to him by Gabrielle. Hence it is not surprising that, at the beginning of the novel, all of Roland’s knowledge about the starkblast has been repressed. It is not until the starkblast’s winds begin t
o blow that the doors of memory are opened and Roland recalls both the autobiographical story of the SKIN-MAN (which took place soon after Gabrielle’s death) and his favorite childhood tale about the brave exploits of TIM STOUTHEART, which his mother often read to him before he fell to sleep.
The autobiographical story entitled “The Skin-Man,” which Roland shares with EDDIE, SUSANNAH, JAKE, and OY near the beginning of The Wind Through the Keyhole, takes place shortly after Roland’s accidental matricide. At the beginning of this tale, Gilead is still in mourning for the wife of their dinh. Men wear black mourning collars or black bands around their shirtsleeves, and women wear black nets on their hair. According to the publishment of her death, Gabrielle had died “while possessed of a demon which troubled her spirit.” Among Gilead’s nobility, that was the polite way of announcing that an individual had committed suicide.
The story of the skin-man begins with STEVEN DESCHAIN questioning Roland as to why he—a trained gunslinger—is acting like the nursemaid of his broken old teacher CORT. Roland replies that he is nursing Cort out of respect, but Steven suspects a much darker motivation: Roland is playing the part of AMMIE to pay penance for his murder of his mother. To take his son away from these self-imposed duties and away from the oppressive atmosphere of Gilead, Steven sends Roland and Roland’s ka-mate, JAMIE DeCURRY, to DEBARIA so that they can investigate reports of a murderous shapeshifter, who has been terrorizing the people of that western land. Ironically, DEBARIA is also the site of SERENITY, the women’s retreat where Gabrielle had been sent to repent her affair with Marten Broadcloak.
