Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (71 page)
Read Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated Online
Authors: Robin Furth
WAVERLY
See
BREAKERS
WEASEL, THE
See
TAHEEN
: WEASEL-HEADED TAHEEN
WEAVER, NORRIS
NEW YORK CITY foot patrolman. His partner is ANDREW STAUNTON.
II:380–84, III:262
(indirect)
WEED-EATER
See
TULL CHARACTERS
: NORT
WEGG, WILL
See
DEBARIA CHARACTERS
: LITTLE DEBARIA CHARACTERS
WERE-SPIDER
See
MORDRED
WERTNER, HENRY
See
HAMBRY CHARACTERS
: HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION
**WHEELER’S BOY
Like many of the figures from Roland’s past, we don’t know much about this gunslinger apprentice. The only bit of information we’re given is that STEVEN DESCHAIN thinks he is brighter than Roland. This character is cut from the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger.
I:105
WHITE AMMIES
WHITE, JAKE
See
HAMBRY CHARACTERS
: HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION
WHITE, THE
The White is the force of good. It is akin to faith in God, but it is both larger and more elemental than a belief in any particular religion or creed. To the beleaguered inhabitants of MID-WORLD, the aristocratic gunslingers are knights of the White. Although the ancient hero ARTHUR ELD is often associated with the White, the term is not limited to a particular political faction, allegiance, or social class. Its true meaning relates back to the philosophy of wholeness and unity embedded in the language of High Speech. Like white light and white magic, the White contains all colors within its balance and is the opposite of the evil Outer Dark.
(Page references for Volumes I–IV not included. See
APPENDIX I
.)
V:101, V:104, V:605, V:709, VII:4, VII:6, VII:10, VII:12, VII:13, VII:27, VII:127, VII:607, VII:748
WHITMAN, THOMAS
WIDOW SMACK (ARDELIA SMACK)
The Widow Smack was TREE’s beloved schoolteacher. Despite her shakes and the veils she wore to hide the ruin of her face, the Widow was a highly respected member of the village. Just as CORT instructed generations of boys in the art of war, so the Widow Smack—once a great lady in the Barony Estate—taught the children of Tree how to read, how to practice the art of mathmatica, and how to
think.
Although physically frail, the widow was a fearsomely smart woman who took no guff. On most days she was tireless. However, on occasion she was overcome by trembling fits and headaches and sent the children home. There must have been an unhappy love affair early in her life, because during these fits she would urge the students to remind their parents that she regretted nothing, least of all her beautiful prince. Sadly, the bloodsores that had eaten off half her face had also stolen her ability to cry. Her only remaining eye was unable to weep.
Although TIM ROSS’s stepfather, BIG KELLS, forced Tim to give up schooling at the WIDOW’S COTTAGE so that he could earn scrip at the TREE SAWMILL, the widow remained Tim’s closest ally. Not only did she continue to give Tim
books to read and mathematical problems to solve, but when she saw Tim riding past her house one night, heading for the ENDLESS FOREST where he was secretly meeting the evil COVENANT MAN, she was alerted to danger. With the help of her little burro SUNSHINE, the Widow traveled to the Ross cottage, GOODVIEW, where she found Nell, who had been beaten into unconsciousness by her husband. The Widow’s nursing probably saved Nell’s life, if not Nell’s sight.
The Widow Smack was the first person Tim told about his father’s murder and that the murderer had been his own stepfather, Big Kells. The Widow Smack told Tim that he must relay the news to SQUARE PETER COSINGTON and SLOW ERNIE MARCHLY, in whose stake the body lay. They would fetch the body home but also drum up a posse to catch Kells. But the Widow also told the boy to beware of the wicked Covenant Man, who she stated was a pestilence incarnate. Alone among the people of Tree, the Widow knew the Covenanter’s true identity—that when he wasn’t at his hobby of collecting taxes and licking the tears off poor folks’ faces, he was an advisor to the LORDS OF GILEAD.
Later, when Tim decided to travel into the Endless Forest again (this time to find MAERLYN, who he believed could restore his mother’s sight), the Widow did not approve. (After all, Tim’s information had come from the trickster Covenanter.) Nevertheless, she gave Tim a lamp and a loaf of bread, and a warning to watch for THROCKEN dancing in the moonlight, for they would presage the coming of a STARKBLAST. But most importantly, she gave Tim her brother’s four-shot revolver.
While Tim was gone, and the starkblast stormed upon the village of Tree, it was the Widow who watched over blind Nell. Sadly, while she slept in the big rocker by the Ross’s fire, Bern Kells sneaked back into the cottage and slit the Widow’s throat. Her death was avenged by Nell, who put her first husband’s ax in Kells’s thick skull.
W:112–13
(112 bloodsores that ate half her face),
W:115, W:126
(veils and shakes),
W:127, W:130, W:142, W:147, W:155–56, W:164–70, W:171, W:173–75
(174 saves Nell’s life),
W:184–89
(degenerative disease, 189 harsh country accent),
W:190, W:104
(lamp),
W:196, W:199, W:202, W:207, W:212
(cotton sack),
W:215
(sack),
W:221, W:225–26, W:246, W:255
(cottage),
W:258–62
(asleep; 262 dead),
W:263, W:264, W:267
GILEAD LADY FRIENDLY WITH WIDOW SMACK:
Long ago, after the Barony’s COVENANT MAN took part in some foul business in the village of TREE, the WIDOW SMACK wrote to a great lady she once knew in GILEAD. That lady was a woman of discretion and beauty, and replied to the Widow’s inquiries promptly, though she begged her friend to burn the letter and the information it contained. According to this lady, collecting taxes was merely the Covenant Man’s hobby. In truth he was a great mage, and an advisor to the Gilead’s palace lords who call themselves the COUNCIL OF ELD. W:169, W:170
JOSHUA:
Joshua was Widow Smack’s brother. He died in the ENDLESS FOREST twenty years before the events of “The Wind Through the Keyhole” took place. Joshua bought a gun from a roving peddler and showed his sister how to use it. Joshua must have been very wise. He said, “a gun must never be pointed at a person unless you want to hurt or kill him, for guns have eager hearts.” Widow Smack gave Joshua’s gun to TIM ROSS.
PEDDLER:
This peddler sold JOSHUA his four-shot revolver. W:186
SUNSHINE (BURRO):
Sunshine was the Widow’s burrow. W:155, W:164, W:166, W:174, W:258
WILSON, TEDDY
WILSON, WILLIAM
See
BALAZAR, ENRICO
: BALAZAR’S NASSAU CONNECTION
WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE
CHARACTERS MET BETWEEN GREEN PALACE AND RIVER WHYE:
FRIGHTENED WOMAN:
This frightened woman peeks at ROLAND, EDDIE, SUSANNAH, JAKE, and OY as they travel along the PATH OF THE BEAM toward the RIVER WHYE. She has her arms around two children and carries a baby in a sling around her neck. W:5
HALF-MUTIE FARMER:
See
MUTANTS
: HUMAN MUTANTS (MINOR MUTATIONS)
TOOK (TOOK’S OUTLAND MERCANTILE):
In
The Wind Through the Keyhole,
Roland and his American
tet
pass by this deserted store. Its sign is barely readable. W:4
WINKLER
See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: OTHER CHARACTERS
WINSTON
See
PUBES
WIZARD OF OZ (DOROTHY, TOTO, TIN WOODSMAN)
The Wizard of Oz,
which tells the tale of Dorothy, Toto, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Woodsman, is mentioned quite often in the Dark Tower series. Like JAKE, SUSANNAH, and EDDIE, Dorothy Gale was blown from a world much like ours to one where witches and magic are real. However, had
The Wizard of Oz
taken place in MID-WORLD, the Tin Woodsman would have been manufactured by NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS, and the Cowardly Lion would have been a MUTIE of some sort. In
Wizard and Glass,
our
ka-tet
actually visits an emerald palace where the evil wizard RANDALL FLAGG poses as the Great and Terrible Oz.
II:229
(Dorothy),
III:59, III:408, IV:629–30, IV:643–46, V:166
DOROTHY:
V:567
TOTO:
V:296
WIZARD’S GLASS
WIZARD’S RAINBOW
WOLF POSSE
See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: WOLF POSSE
WOLVES (GREENCLOAKS)
Once every generation, the CALLAS of MID-WORLD’s BORDERLANDS are invaded by giant, green-cloaked horse-riders from THUNDERCLAP. These servants of the CRIMSON KING steal one of each pair of prepubescent twins and deliver them en masse to their masters in the dark land. Although the people of the Callas don’t know exactly what happens to their young children once they are kidnapped, they do know that those who survive the journey home upon the train-pulled flatcars come back ROONT, or mentally and physically ruined.
Although the Wolves’ coming is always foretold by ANDY, CALLA BRYN STURGIS’s one remaining Messenger Robot, before the arrival of our gunslinger
tet
the
folken
have never successfully rebuffed an attack. As they so morosely state during their meeting at the TOWN GATHERING HALL, they are a village of farmers, not fighters, and the Greencloaks who come galloping across the RIVER WHYE, bearing their terrible light-sticks and sneetches, are more than a match for a bunch of clod-turners.
By anyone’s standards, the Wolves (named for the gray wolf masks they wear) are truly terrifying. As they gallop through the town on their huge gray steeds, wearing their green, swirling cloaks and black, cruel-looking boot spurs, they seem unassailable. No weapon penetrates the armor they wear beneath their clothes, and the ones they wield are the deadly technological creations of the GREAT OLD ONES. Their light-sticks burn the skin black and stop the heart, and their flying metal buzz-balls strip a man of skin in five seconds.
In truth, the Wolves are neither men nor beasts but robots manufactured by NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS. However, by the time our
tet
rides into Calla Bryn Sturgis on their borrowed horses, only one of the Calla’s
folken
knows the true nature of the town’s terrible adversaries. This person—GRAN-PERE JAFFORDS—has guarded his secret for years, afraid that he will be disbelieved by his fellows or (worse yet) killed by Andy and whatever other traitors lurk in the town. Because, as becomes clear in
Wolves of the Calla,
the Calla always contains traitors—adults willing to sell information to Thunderclap as long as their own children are guaranteed safety.
At the EAST ROAD battle, which takes place at the end of
Wolves of the Calla,
our
tet
defeats these terrible invaders and ends a cycle of violence which has been playing out for six generations. They kill these monsters not by shooting them through the heart, but by destroying the small radar dishes, or thinking caps, which revolve above their heads, but which are hidden by the hoods of their cloaks. (In this one vulnerability, they resemble SHARDIK, the cyborg BEAR GUARDIAN, which SUSANNAH killed at the beginning of
The Waste Lands.
) When EDDIE and JAKE remove the mask from one of their metallic enemies, they discover that he looks much like DR. DOOM from the
Spider-Man
comic books. He has lenses for eyes, a round mesh grille for a nose, and two sprouted microphones for ears.
V:5–31
(coming to Calla),
V:113, V:117, V:132, V:135, V:139, V:142–60
(149—described),
V:161, V:163, V:164, V:207, V:214, V:217, V:220, V:221–22, V:224, V:236, V:237, V:247, V:257–91, V:295, V:318, V:319, V:321, V:322, V:328, V:339, V:340, V:341, V:342, V:347–49, V:350, V:356, V:357–69, V:382, V:383, V:390
(killed),
V:393, V:394, V:396, V:397, V:413, V:416, V:420, V:434
(Hitler Brothers and Wolves),
V:479, V:481, V:483,
V:484, V:490, V:491, V:492, V:494, V:501, V:509, V:536
(Balazar’s men as),
V:537
(Wolves of our world),
V:554, V:555, V:561, V:567, V:572, V:574, V:575, V:580, V:581, V:582, V:584, V:586, V:590, V:602, V:603, V:604, V:606, V:607–17, V:629, V:632–35, V:636–38, V:642, V:645, V:650, V:656, V:658, V:659, V:661, V:663–97, V:700, VI:4, VI:6, VI:10, VI:23–26, VI:27, VI:61, VI:64, VI:81, VI:237, VI:238
(horses),
VI:243, VI:245, VI:246, VI:247, VI:248, VI:337, VI:365, VII:21, VII:43, VII:81, VII:149, VII:151–53, VII:173, VII:179, VII:191, VII:192, VII:193–94, VII:206, VII:214, VII:232, VII:233, VII:234, VII:239, VII:252, VII:272, VII:407, VII:538, VII:540
WORTHINGTON, FRED
See
BREAKERS
WYLAND (WYLAND BABY)
YANKO, MIKE
YOUNG AND BEARDLESS
See
MANNI
ZACHARY
ZALIA JAFFORDS