Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (60 page)
Read Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated Online
Authors: Robin Furth
SAM THE MILLER
See
WALTER
: WALTER’S ASSOCIATES
SARGUS, JANE
SAYRE, RICHARD P.
See
CAN-TOI
SCHWERNER, MICHAEL
See
DEAN, SUSANNAH
: ODETTA HOLMES AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: VOTER REGISTRATION BOYS
SCOWTHER
See
WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE
: DIXIE PIG CHARACTERS: HUMANS
SCRIMSHAW TURTLE
See
GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
: TURTLE
SEEKING FOLK
See
MANNI
SEJ
See
BREAKERS
SELENA
SEMINON, LORD
See
ORIZA, LADY
SERENITY, SISTERS OF (BLACK AMMIES)
GABRIELLE DESCHAIN, Roland Deschain’s lady mother, was sent to the SERENITY RETREAT in DEBARIA to repent her affair with MARTEN BROADCLOAK, her husband’s advisor and sorcerer. Perhaps this is why STEVEN DESCHAIN distrusted those convent-women so completely. “Serenity, what a joke. Those women are the black ammies. They’d flay you alive if you so much as trespassed their holy doors.” According to the elder Deschain, most of the Sisters of Serenity preferred a longstick to a man. According to the engineer of SMA’ TOOT, they ate men.
The Retreat of Serenity was located ten or twelve wheels beyond the town of Debaria along DEBARIA HIGH ROAD. It was the size of a Barony estate and was extremely well tended. The walls of its dazzling white haci were tall and topped with forbidding sparkles of broken glass, but the wooden gates stood open with invitation. Behind the haci, down a narrow creek, was a large green garden and a grape arbor. The women of Serenity served God and the MAN JESUS.
Serenity’s Prioress was EVERLYNNE OF SERENITY, a six-and-a-half-foot-giantess who (according to Roland) was so tall and broad she could have mated with the legendary outlaw prince, DAVID QUICK. When Roland first saw her, sitting on what appeared to be an IRONWOOD throne in front of the retreat’s open gates, her lap was full of needlework and she was dressed in white muslin with a hood of white silk that flared around her head like gullwings. Everlynne’s body was as big as a barrel, and her breasts were so large that each of them could have shaded a baby from the sun. Her voice was rolling, and was almost (but not quite) as deep as a man’s baritone. Her laughter was like moderate thunder, and her black eyes twinkled.
Despite the reputation of her retreat among the GUNSLINGERS of GILEAD, Everlynne greeted Roland and his
ka
-mate, JAMIE DeCURRY, very warmly. (In fact, she greeted Roland as “son of Gabrielle,” an unusual epithet in father-centered Mid-World.) In Everlynne’s opinion, her retreat had a bad name in Gilead because the men there distrusted women who dared to live on their own. But despite what Gilead might say about her, Everlynne was glad to see two young gunslingers who served the ELD and the WHITE, even if they were extremely
young. After all, two of her women—FORTUNA and DOLORES—had been attacked by the SKIN-MAN that Roland and Jamie had come to hunt, and only Fortuna (badly mutilated) had lived to tell the tale. Everlynne thought the skin-man was a soulless skin-man monster from the DEEP CRACKS.
After Roland killed the skin-man, he returned to Serenity and was greeted by Everlynne with a kiss and a hug. (Roland noted that her aroma was sweet: a mixture of cinnamon and thyme and baked goods.) Everlynne and her women had a celebratory feast with the two young gunslingers. Afterwards, in a private meeting in her quarters, Everlynne told Roland about his mother’s last days at the retreat, and how Marten Broadcloak had tried to visit her. Everlynne had sent the scoundrel away, but was fairly certain that he’d managed to meet with Gabrielle secretly. Shortly after this clandestine meeting, Gabrielle had quit the retreat, saying she had a duty to perform in Gilead and much to atone for. However, before she left, she gave the prioress a letter for Roland. She was certain that one day her son would visit Serenity. The letter, which Roland read while alone in Everlynne’s chamber, was blotted and uneven. Roland was fairly certain that his mother was half-mad by the time she wrote it. However, the letter contained one extremely important line which haunted Roland, guilty as he was of matricide, for the rest of his life. That line was
I forgive you everything. Can you forgive me?
W:38, W:39, W:41–42
(and longstick/diddlestick),
W:43–44
(eat the mens),
W:47–W:53
(at the Priory; 49 named)
W:61, W:63, W:295
BRIANNA:
Briana was one of the Sisters of Serenity. She, ELLEN, and CLEMMIE served food to Roland and JAMIE when they visited the Retreat on their way to DEBARIA to hunt the SKIN-MAN. W:49, W:53
CLEMMIE:
Clemmie was one of the Sisters of Serenity. She served food when Roland and JAMIE stopped at the Retreat on their way to DEBARIA to hunt the SKIN-MAN. W:49, W:53
DOLORES:
Dolores and FORTUNA were the two unlucky Sisters of Serenity to be attacked by DEBARIA’s shapeshifting SKIN-MAN. A fortnight and a day before Roland and JAMIE came to the Retreat, the two women had been outside at dusk to close the gate and draw water for evening chores. Fortuna had held the bucket while Dolores had swung the gate closed. But as Dolores was swinging the gate, a creature knocked it wide, grabbed her, and bit her head from her shoulders with its long jaws. The creature had been taller than a man, with scales instead of skin, and a long tail that dragged behind it like a snake. Yellow eyes with slitted dark pupils glowed in its flat head. Its mouth was a trap filled with teeth, each as long as a man’s hand. W:51, W:53
ELLEN:
Like BRIANNA and CLEMMIE, Ellen was called by EVERLYNNE to serve food to Roland and JAMIE when they arrived at SERENITY. W:49
EVERLYNNE OF SERENITY (PRIORESS):
According to HIGH SHERIFF HUGH PEAVY, Prioress Everlynne was so full of fire that she would spit in the devil’s face if he came to call on her. And if that fork-tailed demon took her down to Nis, she’d be running the place in a month. There certainly seems to be truth in the sheriff’s statement, since Everlynne was the only person other than Roland to shoot the monstrous SKIN-MAN and survive. (That shapeshifting nightmare was tearing at SISTER FORTUNA’s face when Everlynne aimed and fired. The pellets tore away some of the knobs and scales on the monster’s head.) Everlynne also turned away MARTEN BROADCLOAK
at gunpoint when he came to call on GABRIELLE DESCHAIN, who at the time was a resident at the Retreat. (Sadly, “the Broad Cloak” as Everlynne calls him, managed to rendezvous with Gabrielle anyway.)
When Roland met the six-and-a-half-foot-tall prioress on his way to DEBARIA, he was shocked by her size. He thought her a giantess, one tall and broad enough to have mated with the legendary outlaw prince, DAVID QUICK. When Roland first saw her, sitting on what appeared to be an ironwood throne in front of the retreat’s open gates, her lap was full of needlework, and she was dressed in white muslin with a hood of white silk which flared around her head like gullwings. Everlynne’s body was big as a barrel, and her breasts were so large that each of them could have shaded a baby from the sun. Her voice was rolling, and was almost (but not quite) as deep as a man’s baritone. Her laughter was like moderate thunder, and her black eyes twinkled. Despite her good nature and religious calling, the prioress was always willing to take up arms to defend herself. Strapped to the outside of her calf was a rawhide scabbard. Within that scabbard was a butcher’s knife.
Although the gunslingers of GILEAD did not trust Everlynne or her women since they lived without men, Everlynne welcomed both Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY with open arms. Calling him “son of Gabrielle” (an epithet rarely used in father-centered Mid-World), Everlynne gave Roland a letter which she’d saved for him—a letter from his mother. (Gabrielle had entrusted Everlynne with the missive shortly before leaving the retreat.) Although the letter was disjointed and half-mad, it gave Roland—guilty of matricide—a sense of peace. Evidently, Gabrielle had known about her coming death at her son’s hands and had accepted it. The letter’s final words were
I forgive you everything. Can you forgive me?
W:47–W:53
(described; 52 daughter of Roseanna),
W:61, W:100
(Roland wants to take Bill to her),
W:268, W:293, W:295–99, W:300
CAT:
When Roland visited Prioress Everlynne’s private quarters, this cat was asleep in a bar of sunlight that slanted onto her desk. That huge oaken desk was heaped high with papers. W:297
ROSEANNA (MOTHER):
Roseanna was Everlynne’s mother. Everlynne refers to herself as “daughter of Roseanna.” W:52
FORTUNA (FORTIE; ANNIE CLAY-THAT-WAS):
Fortuna and DOLORES were the two Sisters of Serenity unlucky enough to be attacked by the SKIN-MAN. Only tiny Fortuna survived, but her wounds were horrendous. When Roland and Jamie met her, she was clad in a rough gray cotton robe, her arms were crossed over her scant bosom, and her hands were buried deep in her sleeves. She wore no hood, but half of her face was hidden beneath a thick swath of bandages. (A large section of the right side of her nose was gone; all that was left was a raw red channel.) At dusk, a fortnight and a day before, she and Dolores had come out to close the Retreat’s gate and to draw water for the evening chores. Fortuna was the one with the bucket, and so she had lived—barely. After biting off Dolores’s head, the skin-man lunged for Fortuna. Luckily for her, Everlynne heard the younger women’s screams and so came running out with the Retreat’s gun. According to Everlynne, the monster was set to rape Fortuna as well as eat her. W:49–53
(wounded),
W:61, W:63, W:88, W:291, W:295–96
SERGIO
SERVOMECHANISMS (LITTLE GUARDIANS)
See
GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
: BEAR
SHANNIES
SHARDIK
See
GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM
: BEAR
SHARPTON, MR.
See
BREAKERS
: EARNSHAW, DINKY
SHAVERS, GEORGE
See
DEAN, SUSANNAH
: DETTA WALKER’S ASSOCIATES
SHAW, GRETA
See
CHAMBERS, JAKE
: JAKE’S FAMILY, FRIENDS, ASSOCIATES AND ALIASES
**SHEB (SHEB McCURDY: PIANO PLAYER)
In the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger,
we find out that the two piano players named Sheb—one in TULL, one in HAMBRY—are actually the same man. In both stories he works in bars owned by women. (Though Tull’s local honky-tonk bears his name, the place actually belongs to Sheb’s former lover, ALICE.)
Sheb of Hambry, and later of Tull, is described as a small, useless man with one gold tooth. He is in love with Alice though she thinks of him as a gelded dog. Jealous that Roland monopolizes Alice’s attentions, he tries to assault Roland with a knife. Later, during the town’s surprise attack on the gunslinger, Sheb uses Allie as a human shield. In the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger,
Roland recognizes Sheb as the man he met in MEJIS.
I:26–29, I:34–38, I:40, I:45–47, I:47–52, I:58, I:59, I:60, II:126, III:42, IV:171–72, IV:213, IV:216, IV:218, IV:226, IV:349, IV:382–83, IV:403, IV:453, IV:468, IV:505, IV:563, IV:570, IV:628, VII:317, VII:333
SHEEMER, DELORES
See
HAMBRY CHARACTERS
: TRAVELLERS’ REST
SHEEMIE
See
BREAKERS
SHOE SHINE BOY
SI
SIGHE
See
MID-WORLD FOLKLORE
and
ARMANEETA
SILICON VALLEY COKE-HEADS
These guys supply high-tech police equipment to BALAZAR’S MEN.
II:125
SIMONS, FRANKIE
SISTER BLUE
See
DEAN, SUSANNAH
: ODETTA HOLMES’S ASSOCIATES
SISTER COQUINA
SISTER JENNA
SISTER LOUISE
SISTER MARY
SISTER MICHELA
SISTER TAMRA
SISTERS OF ORIZA
SISTERS OF SERENITY (BLACK AMMIES)
SISTERS OF THE PLATE
SKANK, BANGO
Although we never meet Bango Skank, Roland’s
tet
sees his graffiti on the MILLS CONSTRUCTION AND SOMBRA REAL ESTATE sign which they find in JAKE’s magic LOT in NEW YORK CITY. While having a seizure in a TOPEKA JAIL CELL, Callahan also comes across Skank’s signature, as does Jake in the tunnels leading from the DIXIE PIG to the MIND-TRAP, which guards the New York/FEDIC DOORWAY BETWEEN WORLDS. SUSANNAH comes across Bango’s writing when she and MIA visit one of the stalls in the women’s bathrooms
located in the PLAZA–PARK HYATT hotel. This last bit of graffiti reads, “Bango Skank awaits the King.”