Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (34 page)

HORN OF ELD:
The horn which has been passed from father to son from the time of Arthur Eld to the time of Roland Deschain. Unfortunately, Roland left the Horn of Eld (also called the Horn of Deschain) next to CUTHBERT ALLGOOD’s dead body on the battlefield of JERICHO HILL.
(For page references, see main entry.)

LLAMREI:
Arthur Eld’s white horse. Llamrei’s image was the
sigul
of all IN-WORLD and decorated the pennons of GILEAD. In the office of RICHARD P. SAYRE, located in the FEDIC DOGAN, Roland and SUSANNAH come across a painting of a young boy (probably MORDRED) standing triumphantly over the dead body of Llamrei, his foot on the horse’s corpse. VII:549, VII:550, VII:780

LOST BEASTS OF ELD:
The Lost Beasts of Eld were flying creatures. They may have resembled dragons. VI:135

MAGIC TALES OF THE ELD:
When Roland was a boy, he loved this volume of
stories above all others. His mother, GABRIELLE DESCHAIN, often read it to him just before he went to sleep in his high tower bedroom. The book contained a dozen hand-colored woodcut illustrations, but Rolands’ favorite was of six bumblers sitting on a fallen tree in the forest, beneath a crescent moon, their snouts raised. This story was from the tale “The Wind Through the Keyhole.” W:14

ROWENA, QUEEN:
Arthur Eld’s lady-wife. In the blasphemous tapestry found in the DIXIE PIG, Queen Rowena is depicted drinking a goblet of blood. VI:371–73

SAITA:
While MIA, daughter of none, searches for food in the deserted BANQUETING HALL located in her dream-version of CASTLE DISCORDIA, she sees a screen depicting Arthur Eld riding through a swamp with three of his knight-gunslingers behind him. Around his neck is Saita, the great snake, which he has just slain. V:373

SWORD OF ELD:
See
EXCALIBUR
,
listed above

THREE WIVES OF THE ELD:
According to the COVENANT MAN of
The Wind Through the Keyhole,
Arthur Eld had three wives. These three women gave the Eld many sons, but there were moity-more born on the dark side of the blanket. (Arthur Eld was a busy man.) W:268

TRADITION OF THE ELD:
The tradition of the Eld is the Way of the Gun, in which all apprentice gunslingers are trained. W:36

ELD, COUNCIL OF

See
GILEAD’S COUNCIL OF ELD

ELI

See
CHAMBERS, JAKE
: CHARACTERS JAKE MEETS WHEN HE RUNS AWAY TO THE LOT, TO BROOKLYN, AND TO MID-WORLD

ELLEN

See
SERENITY, SISTERS OF

ELURIA CHARACTERS

After the fall of GILEAD but before he managed to track down his enemy, the MAN IN BLACK, Roland traveled through Eluria, a small town located in the far west of MID-WORLD. Eluria is the setting for the story “The Little Sisters of Eluria.”

Like so many Mid-World villages, Eluria resembles one of the tumbleweed towns of the Old West. When Roland arrived, it seemed to be deserted save for a CROSS DOG (also known as a JESUS DOG), a single corpse, some SLOW MUTANTS (called the GREEN FOLK), and some strangely disturbing singing insects. After being attacked by the Green Folk, an injured Roland finds himself in the hospital-tent of the
glammer
-throwing LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA—a tribe of female vampires posing as healers. Roland falls in love with SISTER JENNA, the youngest of these strange demonic women, and she, in turn, betrays her sisters in order to help him escape.

ELURIA CHARACTERS:

BOUNCER OF THE BUSTLING PIG:
By the time Roland reaches Eluria, the only sign of this man is his nail-spiked club, wielded by one of the GREEN FOLK. E:154

CAM TAM (DOCTOR BUGS):
The vampiric Little Sisters pose as a religious order of hospitalers. Hence, the doctor bugs—which are only a little smaller than fat honeybees—are an important part of their disguise.

Unlike the carrion-eating GRANDFATHER FLEAS, and despite the Little Sisters’ evil habits, these insects are actually healers. Although ugly and disturbing to watch, the
cam tam
eat disease and knit broken bones. E:146, E:147–48, E:152, E:158, E:159, E:164, E:168, E:169–73, E:174, E:178, E:179, E:180, E:183, E:185, E:193, E:197, E:198–201, E:202, E:206, E:208–9, VI:234

CHAS:
A freeborn cattle thief destined to be tried in Eluria. However, the Little Sisters get to the town first. E:151

CROSS DOG/JESUS DOG:
The Cross Dog takes its name from the black cross upon its white chest fur. This coloration oddity saves its life, since the vampiric Little Sisters can’t touch it. Despite its superficial relation to religious good, this crippled animal is a rather unpleasant creature. In fact, the first time Roland sees it, it is chewing on the bloated leg of dead JAMES NORMAN. At the end of the story, the Jesus Dog redeems itself by attacking the evil SISTER MARY. It kills her. E:151–53, E:155, E:156, E:159, E:160, E:182, E:204–5, E:207

GREEN FOLK:
Like many other tribes of SLOW MUTANTS, the Green Folk are the descendants of human men and women exposed to the OLD ONES’ toxic pollutants. In the case of the Green Folk, the poison was radium. In fact, Roland is fairly certain that the ones who attack him still hide from sunlight in the old radium mines.

Despite their unnerving color and their tallowy skin, these shuffling, snuffling, fluorescent green Slow Mutants have a more human shape than the group Roland and JAKE meet under the CYCLOPEAN MOUNTAINS. (Roland thinks of the latter tribe as both animate corpses and toadstools with brains.) Like other Slow Mutants, the Green Folk sometimes eat human flesh. For more information on Slow Mutants, see entry under
MUTANTS
. E:146, E:151, E:154–58, E:160, E:162, E:171, E:173, E:177, E:178–79, E:193, E:205

LUMPY BALD HEAD WITH RED SIZZLING SORES:
E:154–58

MALE WITH MELTED CANDLEWAX FACE:
E:154

MR. CLUB-WITH-NAILS:
This creature probably stole his nasty weapon from THE BUSTLING PIG’S dead BOUNCER. E:154–58, E:159

MR. TOAD:
Mr. Toad looks like a toad-mouthed troll. E:155–56
(shot)

RALPH:
One-eyed Ralph wears a bowler hat and red suspenders. He is one of the mutants who attacks Roland soon after his arrival in Eluria. While Roland is their patient/prisoner, the Little Sisters try to bribe Ralph into removing JOHN NORMAN’s Christian medallion from around Roland’s neck. It seems likely that Ralph is the leader of his tribe. E:155–58, E:179, E:190–92, E:193

RED VEST WOMAN:
Her saggy breasts are visible beneath her vest. E:155–58, E:179

SMASHER:
He gave Roland’s guns to the Little Sisters without telling Ralph. E:192

TWO-HEADED MALE:
This nasty creature sneaks up behind Roland and mounts a surprise attack. Roland shoots him. E:157
(shot),
E:174

LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA:
See
ELURIA, LITTLE SISTERS OF
,
listed separately

NORMAN, JAMES:
James Norman was a young, towheaded cowboy of about fourteen to sixteen. He was the brother of JOHN NORMAN and the son of JESSE NORMAN. Roland comes across his drowned corpse early in his wanderings around Eluria. James wore a medallion that read “James, Loved of Family, Loved of God.” SISTER JENNA places it around our gunslinger’s neck and Roland continues to wear it throughout his time among the Sisters. They cannot bleed him while he wears it. E:146, E:151–58, E:162, E:164
(medallion),
E:172, E:176
(Roland poses as James),
E:177, E:178–79, E:184
(Roland),
E:185
(Roland),
E:188, E:189, E:193, E:194, E:196

NORMAN, JASON (“JASON, BROTHER OF JOHN”):
The Little Sisters call Roland “Jason, Brother of John” to trick him into proving he is not really JAMES NORMAN. Roland doesn’t fall for the trick. E:184

NORMAN, JESSE:
Father of John and James. E:176, E:188

NORMAN, MRS.:
Mother of John and James. Wife of Jesse. E:162, E:176, E:188

NORMAN, JOHN:
John Norman is the brother of JAMES NORMAN, and occupies the bed next to Roland’s in the LITTLE SISTERS’ hospital tent. John warns Roland about the Sisters’ evil natures. Like his brother James, John wears a Christian medallion around his neck. The Sisters eventually force one of the GREEN FOLK to tear it from him. E:162–64, E:168, E:172, E:176–80, E:181, E:183, E:184, E:186, E:187, E:188, E:190–92, E:193, E:194, E:196–97, E:199, E:202, E:205

SHERIFF:
By the time Roland reaches Eluria, the sheriff had long since disappeared. Like everyone else in the town, he was probably drained dry by the Little Sisters. E:150, E:155

UNCONSCIOUS MAN:
Roland sees this unconscious man dangling from a white sling in the LITTLE SISTERS’ hospital tent. Like JAMES and JOHN NORMAN, this unfortunate fellow was attacked by the GREEN FOLK while protecting a long-haul caravan and was later given to the Little Sisters. This man never completely regains consciousness while under the Sisters’ care. They drink his blood anyway. E:162–64, E:169–71, E:180–81, E:183, E:198

ELURIA, LITTLE SISTERS OF

This tribe of vampires poses as a holy order of hospital nuns. They dress in billowing white habits and their crones’ faces are framed by white wimples. Hanging from the bands of silk imprisoning their hair are lines of tiny bells which chime when the Sisters move or speak. Upon the breast of each of their habits is embroidered a single, blood-red ROSE—the
sigul
of the DARK TOWER. Roland barely escapes the Sisters’ deadly clutches. A few of their order are still wandering around MID-WORLD.

These strange sorceresses are not actually human. When Roland grabs SISTER
MARY by the throat he finds her flesh repellent. It doesn’t feel like solid flesh at all but something both
various
and flowing.

In their true form, the Little Sisters look like the ghastly siblings of RHEA OF THE CÖOS, the ancient hag-witch we met in
Wizard and Glass.
Like Rhea, they are creatures of magic and can cast a
glammer
which makes them appear young and lovely. But this illusion fades quickly, especially when they are hungry. Like their own loveliness, the airy white silk pavilion in which they keep their victims—first to cure them, then to bleed them—is only a
glammer.
In reality it is a fraying canvas tent. The only truly beautiful creature ever existent in the dream-realm woven by the Little Sisters is SISTER JENNA, a twenty-one-year-old woman bound to these others by the cruelty of
ka.

The Little Sisters are a strange order, and the reader cannot help but wonder whether they, like the mutants of Mid-World, were originally something good. The Rose the Sisters wear upon their habits is a
sigul
not only of the Dark Tower but of the WHITE. Similarly, their
cam tam
are healers, even though they are disturbing to watch.

As we know, not all things that serve a higher purpose are comfortable to contemplate. The dark bells which Sister Jenna wears, and which Roland thinks are the true
sigul
of the order, are described as
charry.
Since the High Speech root-word
char
means death, it seems likely that these quasi-mortal women were originally death-angels, or beings meant to help men avoid (or less painfully reach) death. Perhaps, as Sister Jenna says, before the world moved on, they really were an order of hospitalers, albeit supernatural ones. But sadly, the evil of the Great Old Ones poisoned not only the air and water of Mid-World, but the magic as well. Although they may have begun as creatures of the White, the evil Little Sisters now have cause to fear all religious
siguls,
even their own dark bells.

E:165–67, E:168, E:177–80, E:180–82, E:183, E:186
(soup),
E:188, E:190–92, E:193, E:195, E:200, E:202, E:205, E:206, VI:234

SISTER COQUINA:
E:165–67, E:173–77, E:177
(indirect),
E:180–82, E:190–92, E:197–99

SISTER JENNA:
Sister Jenna is a young black-haired beauty of twenty-one or twenty-two. Unlike that of her sisters, her youth is real, not the result of
glammer.
Although Jenna is a vampire and participates in her order’s grisly meals, she wishes to rebel against her destiny.

Sister Jenna appeares to be a kind of vampire royalty. Although the other sisters wear bells of bright silver, the ones Jenna wears looked as though they have been smoked over a fire. These dark bells—also called charry bells—are the true
sigul
of the order, and give Jenna special powers over the doctor bugs.

Jenna falls in love with Roland and betrays her sisters in order to help him escape, but human love is forbidden her. After she helps Roland flee from the hospital pavilion and then elude the evil clutches of SISTER MARY, Jenna’s body becomes
cam tam.
E:159–61, E:162, E:165, E:166–73, E:174, E:175, E:177, E:179, E:180, E:184–88, E:189, E:194, E:195, E:197–209

JENNA’S MOTHER:
Like her daughter, Jenna’s mother tried to escape her fate. She deserted her order and bore a child, presumably to a human man, though it is possible these creatures reproduce by parthenogenesis. Unfortunately, escape was not possible. Without blood to sustain her, Jenna’s mother began to sicken. She returned to her sisters along with her small
child. Jenna’s mother died, but the Little Sisters kept and raised Jenna. E:167, E:183, E:184, E:202, E:206

SISTER LOUISE:
E:165–67, E:171, E:180–82, E:183–86, E:190–92, E:200–201, E:205

SISTER MARY/BIG SISTER:
Sister Mary, also called Big Sister, is the head of the Little Sisters’ order. Like the others of her kind, she is actually more shade than substance.