by Robin Furth
By 1999, the Lot is no longer vacant, but the site of 2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA, headquarters of Eddie’s spontaneously incorporated corporation. Tet, whose major purpose is to protect the Rose, has done its job well. This most important flower still grows, and sings, in its original locale. The only difference is that the Rose now grows in an indoor garden called the GARDEN OF THE BEAM.
III:121–29, III:264, IV:83 (Jake’s vision of empty lot), IV:100–101 (Eddie’s dream), V:51, V:58 (Second Avenue and Forty-sixth), V:66–67, V:68 (Lot #289, Block #19), V:69 (indirect), V:95, V:96, V:98, V:174, V:177, V:181, V:182–97, V:312, V:316, V:431, V:432 (hears Rose), V:502, V:503, V:504, V:507, V:517, V:522, V:527, V:528, V:530, V:531, V:538–42 (Eddie and Tower discuss selling), V:544–45, V:584, V:594, V:706, VI:35, VI:47, VI:56, VI:147, VI:171, VI:187, VI:189, VI:195–216 (and bill of sale), VI:267, VI:270, VI:297, VII:26, VII:33, VII:36, VII:37, VII:122, VII:143, VII:487, VII:492, VII:495, VII:526, VII:756, VII:757
HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA (2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA, THE BLACK TOWER, HOUSE OF THE ROSE): This tall black building was erected by the TET CORPORATION on what was once the Vacant Lot. It serves as Tet’s headquarters and is the home of the ROSE. VI:47, VI:50, VI:51, VI:53, VI:54–56, VI:89, VI:91–92, VI:257, VI:308, VI:315, VI:318, VII:487, VII:488, VII:489, VII:490–520
GARDEN OF THE BEAM: When he visits 1999 NEW YORK, near the end of The Dark Tower, Roland sees this small garden shrine on the ground-floor lobby of 2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA. The Garden of the Beam is surrounded by ropes of wine-dark velvet. At its center, separate from the dwarf palm trees and Spathiphyllum plants which surround it, is the ROSE. In front of this garden is a small brass sign bearing the following dedication: “Given by the Tet Corporation, in honor of Edward Cantor Dean and John ‘Jake’ Chambers. Cam-a-cam-mal, Pria-toi, Gan delah” (“White over Red, thus Gan wills ever” or “God over evil, this is the will of God”). Before Eddie and Jake died, the plaque read, “Given by the Tet Corporation, in honor of the Beam family, and in memory of Gilead.” Like the Rose, this sign is magical. No matter what language a person speaks, the plaque translates itself so that its message can be understood. VII:491–95, VII:503–5, VII:520
TOM AND JERRY’S ARTISTIC DELI: Before the Vacant Lot became vacant, it was the home of this deli. In JAKE’s when, Tom and Jerry’s has already been demolished. However, the magical ROSE grows in the Vacant Lot left behind. Tom and Jerry’s was run by TOMMY GRAHAM, though the ground landlord was CALVIN TOWER. III:52, III:77–78, III:79, III:119–20, III:123, III:177, III:262, III:264, IV:83 (Jake’s vision), IV:100–101 (Eddie’s dream), V:51, V:61 (deli), V:99, V:266, VI:47, VI:297, VI:318 (indirect)
M
MAERLYN’S GRAPEFRUIT
See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, in CHARACTERS
MAERLYN’S RAINBOW
See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, in CHARACTERS
MAGICAL DOORS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS
MAGNETIC HILLS
See BORDERLANDS, in MID-WORLD PLACES
MALL
See DEVAR-TOI; see also NEW YORK (STATE OF): NIAGARA MALL, in OUR WORLD PLACES
MANSION, THE
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS
MECHANICAL DOORS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS
MEXICO
See MEXICO, in OUR WORLD PLACES; see also TODASH, below
MIA’S CASTLE
See CASTLE DISCORDIA
MID-WORLD AMUSEMENT PARK
In the children’s story Charlie the Choo-Choo, the talking train CHARLIE is given a nice retirement taking children round and round on a track located in CALIFORNIA’s Mid-World Amusement Park. The Mid-World Amusement Park doesn’t exist on KEYSTONE EARTH. However, a version of it exists in the alternative TOPEKA that Roland’s ka-tet reaches after their catastrophic ride on BLAINE the Insane Mono. In the alternative Topeka, a rather sinister Charlie resides in the REINISCH ROSE GARDEN.
III:145
MID-WORLD LANES
When JAKE CHAMBERS lived in NEW YORK CITY, he liked to go bowling at MID-TOWN LANES. When he and his tet travel TODASH to the magical Vacant LOT at the beginning of Wolves of the Calla, Jake finds a twinner of his old bowling bag amid the trash and weeds growing near the singing ROSE. This todash bag looks almost exactly like his New York bowling bag, except his New York bag said, “Nothing but Strikes at Mid-Town Lanes,” while his todash bag reads “Nothing but Strikes at Mid-World Lanes.” Our tet uses this bag to carry BLACK THIRTEEN. Back in The Waste Lands, Jake was accosted by an officer of the law in TIMES SQUARE. (Jake was on his way to DUTCH HILL’s haunted MANSION.) When the policeman asked him for identification, Jake offered to show his Mid-World Lanes membership card. See also NEW YORK: MANHATTAN: MID-TOWN LANES, in OUR WORLD PLACES.
III:168, V:198, V:316, V:506, V:704, VI:329, VI:335, VII:143
MID-WORLD RAILWAY (KANSAS-TO-TOPEKA LINE)
We first learn about the Mid-World Railway through the children’s book Charlie the Choo-Choo, which JAKE CHAMBERS finds in the MANHATTAN RESTAURANT OF THE MIND. Despite the fact that it was written for kiddies, Jake finds the story (and the main character, a talking train) extremely sinister. Jake senses that CHARLIE is a force of destruction, and that the Mid-World Railway has only one ultimate destination—the LAND OF DEATH.
Jake’s vision of a killer train on a death-track prefigures the actual Mid-World Railway that exists on Roland’s level of the TOWER. In Roland’s world, Charlie is replaced by the talking mono BLAINE, though their routes are very similar. In Roland’s world, char means “death.” Hence, Charlie (like Blaine) is literally a killer train. Roland, Jake, and their ka-tet survive Blaine only to find a toy version of Charlie’s railway in the alternative TOPEKA. For more information on the children’s book, see entry under CHARLIE THE CHOO-CHOO, in CHARACTERS
BLAINE’S VERSION: III:267
CHARLIE THE CHOO-CHOO VERSION: III:139–46, III:266
MIND-TRAP
See DIXIE PIG, above
MORDOR
This realm of darkness and death can be found in J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. SUSANNAH thinks about Mordor and the Cracks of Doom as she rides through the WASTE LANDS beyond LUD.
III:406
MULTIPLE AMERICAS (ALTERNATIVE AMERICAS)
See entry in OUR WORLD PLACES
N
**NA’AR
When WALTER reads Roland’s cards in the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, he calls him the Hanged Man, plodding ever onward toward his goal over the pits of Na’ar. In Wolves of the Calla we find out that Na’ar is the MANNI equivalent of Hell. Roland wonders whether the voices issuing up from the PIT OF VOICES (located in the DOORWAY CAVE) are actually the voices of the damned rising out of Na’ar. According to the Manni, all of the Forgetful Folk (those who leave their tribe to marry heathens) are doomed to spend eternity in Na’ar.
V:408, V:511, VII:384, W:227
NEW YORK, TODASH
See NEW YORK CITY, in OUR WORLD PLACES; see also TODASH, below
NIS
Nis is the name of Mid-World’s dream god. It is also the name of his realm of sleep and dreams. The CRIMSON KING’s horse is named Nis. In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Nis is sometimes used interchangeable with NA’AR. (People often use the exclamation “What in Nis,” as in “What in Nis are you talking about?”)
V:500 (god), V:549, VII:601 (Land of sleep and dreams, also Red King’s horse), W:138, W:217
NONES
The Moon Peddler comes from the Nones bearing his sack of squealing souls.
IV:274
NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS NORTHEAST CORRIDOR ARC QUADRANT OUTPOST 16
See DOGAN: CALLA DOGAN
NOWHERE LANDS
See DISCORDIA
O
ODD LANE (ODD’S LANE)
See EMPATHICA, WHITE LANDS OF
ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS
See STONE CIRCLES (SPEAKING RINGS)
OUTER DARK
See entry in APPENDIX I
OZ
Oz is the magical land which the cyclone-blown Dorothy visited in the famous book-turned-film The Wizard of Oz. At the end of Wizard and Glass, our tet visits a version of Oz’s GREEN PALACE.
V:70, V:166 (Wizard of), V:567, VI:223, VI:308, VII:173, W:3
P
PALACE OF GREEN GLASS
See GREEN PALACE, THE
PATH OF THE BEAMS
See BEAMS, PATH OF THE
PINK ONE, THE
See MAERLYN’S RAINBOW, in CHARACTERS
**PLACE OF BURNING DARKNESS
See END-WORLD
PLANET AFTERLIFE
This is PERE CALLAHAN’s term for death. After he falls from the window of SOMBRA CORPORATION’s headquarters in DETROIT, Callahan wonders whether he’s landed on Planet Afterlife. He hasn’t. He’s landed in the MOHAINE DESERT’s WAY STATION.
V:458
PLEASANTVILLE
See DEVAR-TOI
POCKET PARK
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: SECOND AVENUE, in OUR WORLD PLACES
PORTALS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS and BEAMS, PATH OF THE
PORTALS OF THE BEAM
In The Waste Lands, Roland draws a metaphysical map of MID-WORLD. This map is shaped like a wheel. At the center of the wheel is the DARK TOWER, also known as the THIRTEENTH GATE. The twelve power points on the rim of this wheel are known as PORTALS. These Portals are actually twelve doorways leading into and out of Mid-World. The six BEAMS, which connect opposite Portals and which pass through the nexus of the Dark Tower, are like high-tension wires that maintain the proper alignment of time, space, size, and dimension. They can be seen and felt by those who pass near them.
According to HAX, when the GREAT OLD ONES re-created the world, they made twelve Guardians to watch over the twelve Portals. These GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, also known as TOTEMS OF THE BEAM, had animal shapes. Although we met MIR/SHARDIK, the cyborg Bear Guardian, it seems highly likely that the Beams, Guardians, and Dark Tower existed before the technology of the Great Old Ones came into being.
The portals are not the only doorways into and out of Mid-World, but they are the most powerful ones. Their health is intrinsically tied to the health of the Dark Tower, the Beams, and the time/space continuum. As the alterations the Old Ones made to the fabric of reality begin to unravel, THINNIES appear. Thinnies are like extremely nasty portals. We don’t know where they lead, but it seems likely that they transport their victims to the demon-haunted emptiness between worlds. Like BLAINE’s termination point in TOPEKA, the Portals of the Beam are marked with yellow and black stripes. See also BEAMS, PATH OF THE, and GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, in CHARACTERS, and GREAT WEST WOODS, in MID-WORLD PLACES.
III:37–40, III:51, III:65–77 (one of six paths to the Dark Tower), III:78 (bone-littered clearing), III:81, III:84, III:153, III:154, III:162, III:260, III:262, III:264, III:394, III:407, IV:42 (Eddie’s memory)
PRIM
See entry in CHARACTERS
Q
QUONSET HUT
See DOGAN
R
RED KING’S CASTLE
See CASSE ROI RUSSE
RED ROSES, FIELD OF
See DARK TOWER: CAN’-KA NO REY
REINISCH ROSE GARDEN
See KANSAS (STATE OF): TOPEKA: GAGE PARK, in OUR WORLD PLACES
ROOMS OF RUIN
See CASTLE DISCORDIA
ROTUNDA
See DIXIE PIG; see also CASTLE DISCORDIA and DOGAN: FEDIC DOGAN
S
‘SALEM’S LOT
See MAINE (STATE OF): ALTERNATIVE AMERICAS AND THE STATE OF MAINE, in OUR WORLD PLACES
SHARDIK’S LAIR
See BEAMS, PATH OF THE and PORTALS OF THE BEAM; see also GREAT WEST WOODS, in MID-WORLD PLACES, and GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM, in CHARACTERS
SNOWLANDS
See EMPATHICA, WHITE LANDS OF
SOUTH PLAINS
See entry in MID-WORLD PLACES
SPEAKING RINGS
See STONE CIRCLES (SPEAKING RINGS)
STAGING AREA (WOLF STAGING AREA)
See DOGAN: FEDIC DOGAN
STEEK-TETE
See DEVAR-TOI
STONE CIRCLES (SPEAKING RINGS, DRUIT STONES)
MID-WORLD contains many ancient stone circles. These circles (also known as Speaking Rings) are the haunts of spirits and oracles. In these demonic places, the boundaries between the visible and invisible worlds are thin.
The first Speaking Ring we see is the ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS, found in The Gunslinger. The second one we see is in The Waste Lands, along the PATH OF THE BEAM. It is through this second Speaking Ring that our ka-tet draws JAKE CHAMBERS into Mid-World.
We don’t know who created the Stone Circles, or whether they predate the technological rule of the GREAT OLD ONES, or came during the postapocalyptic dark age that followed. However, we do know that Roland sees them as ancient, mysterious, and dangerous—hence they must precede the rise of GILEAD and the IN-WORLD BARONIES by many hundreds of years. Although we do not know who lifted these heavy stones and made them reach toward the sky, we do know that human sacrifice was often practiced within them, and possibly contributed to their sinister energy.
GENERAL REFERENCES: II:367 (Druit Stones)
ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS: The Oracle of the Mountains is the name Roland gives to the Speaking Ring succubus that he and JAKE encounter in the WILLOW JUNGLE located in the foothills of the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS. Although this demoness originally tried to draw Jake into her circular lair, Roland thwarted her, saving Jake from almost certain death. In the end, Roland offers himself to this hungry succubus so that he can force her to make a prophecy. Roland uses mescaline, a drug which CORT once called the Philosopher’s Stone, to draw the demon, but after he has extracted information from her he must pay her sexual price. The oracle uses glammer to conjure the scent and voice of Roland’s lost love, SUSAN DELGADO.
In Song of Susannah, we learn that this oracle was no run-of-the-mill demon sexpot. In fact, she was the female aspect of a DEMON ELEMENTAL and had been sent to her Speaking Ring specifically to collect Roland’s sperm for the servants of the CRIMSON KING. (Our gunslinger’s seed was then used to create MORDRED DESCHAIN.) I:121–22, I:124, I:126–32, I:134, I:138, II:315, III:172–73, IV:68, VI:112–13 (Place of the Oracle)
SPEAKING RING ALONG THE PATH OF THE BEAM (JAKE’S DOOR): In The Waste Lands, Roland, EDDIE, and SUSANNAH drew JAKE CHAMBERS into MID-WORLD through a door which Eddie sketched on the ground of this Speaking Ring. This magical door could be opened only by a key which Eddie carved while traveling along the GREAT ROAD (which followed the PATH OF THE BEAM) toward LUD. Eddie’s magical door is actually a portal connecting Mid-World to the haunted DUTCH HILL MANSION, located in a part of BROOKLYN no more than a mile or so from Eddie’s old family apartment. Hence, Eddie is drawing Jake from the world of his own childhood every bit as much as he draws him from a real city.
Like all portals between worlds, these two connected doorways are not unguarded. While Eddie and Roland help Jake battle the DUTCH HILL MANSION DEMON, who tries to block Jake’s passage from our side, Susannah keeps the Speaking Ring’s male demon trapped in a sexual vise. Unfortunately, this demon impregnates her.
In Song of Susannah, we discover that Susannah’s pregnancy is no accident, but had long been planned by the servants of the CRIMSON KING. The demon who shot seed into Susannah’s core was none other than the male aspect of the DEMON ELEMENTAL who had collected Roland’s sperm many years before as the ORACLE OF THE MOUNTAINS. III:173, III:181, III:182, III:189–90, III:193–94, III:195–98, III:202–3, III:206, III:207–8, III:209–10, III:211–13, III:258, III:262, IV:69, V:46, V:246 (“pulling Jake through” and demon of the stone circle), V:258 (stone-circle demon/doorkeeper in Dutch Hill), V:478 (stone-circle demon/doorkeeper in Dutch Hill), VI:113, VI:116 (demon of the ring), VI:253
JAKE’S DOOR (DOOR #4: THE BOY): Like all portals, THE BOY (DOOR #4) has a different form in each world. In our world, it appears
to be a haunted house called THE MANSION. In MID-WORLD, it exists within a Speaking Ring. (The Mid-World version of the door is actually drawn by EDDIE within the Speaking Ring.) Obviously, places of sinister power in one world are also places of sinister power in all of the others. III:202, III:205–12, III:219
STONE’S WARP
See EMPATHICA, WHITE LANDS OF
STUDY, THE
See DEVAR-TOI
SUSANNAH’S MIND-DOGAN
See DOGAN
T
THINNY, THINNIES
Thinnies are places where the fabric of existence has almost entirely worn away. These cancerous “sores on the skin of existence” have increased in number since the DARK TOWER began to fail. Thinnies can exist only because the multiverse itself is sickening. In fact, as thinnies spread over the earth, disease spreads among humans and other creatures.
Thinnies look like silvery, shimmering water and make a nauseating, atonal squalling. In many ways they seem like fluidly animate demons, especially since they have both a kind of body and a definite, malign presence. Sometimes their liquefying element spreads, develops arms, and snatches birds out of the air. These liquid/ether demons are like monstrous sirens, singing hungrily, always willing to whisper our secret fears to us so that they can lure us into their dead embrace.
Roland first encountered a thinny in the town of HAMBRY, when he was fourteen years old. (This thinny had a green hue.) Our tet stumbles across another one in the ALTERNATIVE TOPEKA which they travel through in Wizard and Glass. The monster-filled fog which David and Billy Drayton have to face in STEPHEN KING’s short story “The Mist” is a cross between a thinny and TODASH space.
IV:64 (sounds Hawaiian, doesn’t it?), IV:66 (wastelands beyond Lud are another kind of thinny), IV:67, IV:68 (parallel between thinnies, lobstrosities, and god-drums), IV:70 (hear it), IV:78 (thinnies as doors), IV:92 (enter thinny), IV:93, IV:95 (enter it and feel nauseated), IV:96 (like an entombment, an unclean purgatory), IV:118 (Eyebolt Canyon), IV:155–57 (voice), IV:261, IV:272–76 (Roland and his ka-tet face it), IV:281, IV:336, IV:371, IV:395, IV:422, IV:432, IV:433 (Roland’s war plans against Farson), IV:454–56 (voice of thinny), IV:595–601 (Farson’s men driven into it), IV:622–23, IV:632, IV:634, IV:660, V:36, V:48, V:130–31, V:341, V:508, V:516, V:597
