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| AFFILIATION: | The political and military network that united the Baronies of Mid-World-that-was. The Affiliation was destroyed by the harrier John Farson a few years after Roland won his guns. |
| AGELESS STRANGER: | Another name for the great sorcerer Maerlyn. Roland will have to slay him in order to reach the Tower. |
| ALICE: | Roland's lover from The Gunslinger. She owned Sheb's honky-tonk, located in the town of Tull. |
| BLAINE: | As Jake Chambers says, Blaine is a pain. He is the psychotic computer that runs the city of Lud. He is also the monorail that runs southeast along the Path of the Beam toward the city of Topeka. As payment for passage, Roland and his ka-tet engage in a life-or-death riddling contest with him. |
| CUTHBERT ALLGOOD: | Roland's childhood friend and fellow gunslinger. Cuthbert was a constant joker, hence Roland called him ka-mai, or ka's fool. Along with Alain Johns, Cuthbert accompanied Roland to the town of Hambry in the Barony of Mejis. Their adventures are recounted in the book Wizard and Glass. |
| ENRICO BALAZAR: | A high-caliber big shot in New York's drug world. At the beginning of The Drawing of the Three, Eddie Dean is running cocaine for him. Roland and Eddie end up having a shootout with Balazar and his men in The Leaning Tower, Balazar's headquarters. |
| BIG COFFIN HUNTERS: | This is the group of harriers that Roland and his young friends, Cuthbert and Alain, battle in the town of Hambry. (See Wizard and Glass.) They work for the outlaw John Farson. The most dangerous of this group is the failed gunslinger, Eldred Jonas. Jonas is often described as a white-haired wolf. |
| MARTEN BROADCLOAK: | Marten Broadcloak was Steven Deschain's sorcerer, but he was also his betrayer. Marten had an affair with Gabrielle Deschain, Steven's wife and Roland's mother. He was a secret enemy of the Affiliation. |
| JAKE CHAMBERS: | Jake is the youngest member of Roland's ka-tet. He is a blue-eyed, blond haired, eleven-year-old sixth grader. Jake died in New York, 1977, and was transported to Mid-World. Roland originally met him in the Way Station of the Mohaine Desert. In The Gunslinger, Jake and Roland become traveling companions, but Roland betrays him and lets him drop to his second death in the tunnels below the Cyclopean Mountains. In The Drawing of the Three, Roland travels to 1977 New York and saves Jake's life. In The Wastelands, Roland, Eddie Dean and Susannah Dean draw Jake into Mid-World once more. |
| CORT: | Roland's teacher. Like his father Fardo, Cort taught generations of boys to be gunslingers. |
| CRIMSON KING: | Although the Crimson King doesn't enter the Dark Tower series directly until Wizard and Glass, his sigul-that of the staring red eye-is used by Gilead's great enemy, John Farson. Hence, we can infer that Mid-World's true enemy is this immortal agent of Chaos. The Crimson King plays a major role in the novel Insomnia. |
| EDDIE DEAN: | Eddie was originally from Co-op City in Brooklyn. When Roland entered Eddie's mind in the when of 1987, Eddie was a heroin addict and drug runner working for Enrico Balazar. He was also a crutch for his bossy junkie brother, Henry Dean. Roland draws Eddie into Mid-World through one of the magical freestanding doors on the edge of the Western Sea. After he beats his addiction, Eddie joins Roland's ka-tet. He marries Susannah Dean. |
| HENRY DEAN: | Eddie's bossy older brother. Henry was wounded in Vietnam and came home with a bad knee and a worse drug habit. Eddie often refers to him as "the great sage and eminent junkie." Henry is killed by Balazar's men. |
| SUSANNAH DEAN: | Susannah Dean is another member of Roland's ka-tet. Roland draws her from the New York when of 1964, just a few months after President Kennedy's assassination. Susannah arose from the joint personalities of Odetta Holmes (heir to the Holmes Dental Industry fortune) and her secret evil double, Detta Walker. Detta Walker came to life after five-year-old Odetta was hit on the head by a brick, one dropped by the psychopath Jack Mort. Jack Mort entered Odetta/Detta's life again in 1959 when he pushed her in front of the A train at Christopher Street Station. The train severed her legs, just above the knee. Before entering Mid-World, Odetta was active in the Civil Rights Movement. Detta wasn't, but she had her own ways of taking vengeance on the oppressive white system. Susannah is married to Eddie Dean. |
| SUSAN DELGADO: | Roland's one true love. He met her in the town of Hambry, in the Barony of Mejis. When they met, Susan was sixteen and Roland fourteen. Susan was eventually burned on a Charyou Tree fire. She was labeled as an enemy of the Affiliation, which she of course wasn't. |
| GABRIELLE DESCHAIN: | Roland's mother. She had an affair with the court enchanter, Marten Broadcloak. Roland accidentally shot her. |
| ROLAND DESCHAIN: | Roland is the hero of the Dark Tower series. He is his world's last-and perhaps greatest-gunslinger. His quest is to find the Dark Tower, the nexus of the time/space continuum. |
| STEVEN DESCHAIN: | Roland's father. He was the leader of Gilead's gunslingers and the direct descendant of the great Arthur Eld, King of All-World. |
| ARTHUR ELD: | Mythical king of All-World. He was also Roland's ancestor. Arthur Eld was popularly known as he of the white horse and unifying sword. |
| LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA: | This tribe of vampire women posed as a holy order of hospitalers. In the short story "The Little Sisters of Eluria," they trap Roland and try to bleed him. He is saved (at least in part) by the love of the beautiful Sister Jenna. The demonic Little Sisters wear a red rose-sigul of the Tower-on their habits. |
| JOHN FARSON: | John Farson was the harrier who brought down the Affiliation. During Roland's youth, he was Gilead's major enemy. |
| GUARDIANS OF THE BEAM: | These animal totems guard the twelve major portals in and out of Mid-World. Shardik, the Great Bear Guardian, was created by a company called North Central Positronics. |
| HAX: | He was Gilead's head cook and the absolute ruler of the castle's West Kitchen. He also happened to be a traitor. Roland and Cuthbert informed on him. As a reward, the two boys were sent to watch Hax hanged. |
| ALAIN JOHNS: | Alain was one of Roland's boyhood friends. He was also a fellow gunslinger. Along with Cuthbert Allgood, Alain accompanied Roland to the Outer Arc Barony of Mejis. Their adventures are recounted in Wizard and Glass. |
| MAERLYN: | In the original version of The Gunslinger, Maerlyn is also known as the Ageless Stranger. He was responsible for creating the thirteen mischievous magical balls known as the Bends o' the Rainbow. |
| JACK MORT: | Mort is a psychopathic accountant who is also known as "The Pusher." His hobby is "depth-charging" people. Roland enters his mind in The Drawing of the Three. Mort dropped a brick on Susannah Dean's head when she was five, and then later on pushed her in front of the A train at Christopher Street Station. Mort was also responsible for Jake Chambers death in the when of 1977. |
| OLD ONES (GREAT OLD ONES): | They were the ancient people of Mid-World. They built great cities, tremendously powerful computers, and horrifically destructive weapons. Their wars poisoned Mid-World. |
| OY: | Jake Chambers' pet Billy Bumbler. |
| SYLVIA PITTSON: | Tull's mad preacher. She set the townspeople on Roland. |
| RICHARD FANNIN/RANDALL FLAGG: | Two incarnations of Roland's multi-faced enemy, R.F. |
| RHEA OF THE COOS: | Rhea was Hambry's resident witch. |
| WALTER: | Walter is the shape-shifting wizard who Roland pursued throughout The Gunslinger. He is also known as the man in black. |
This is just an excerpt of some of the main characters from The Gunslinger. A more-complete list of all the characters in the series (except The Wind Through the Keyhole) can be found in the revised edition of Robin Furth’s Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance.