Ted Brautigan
Ted Stevens Brautigan (19 letters) was introduced in the Stephen King novella Low Men in Yellow Coats from Hearts in Atlantis. He is a powerful "Breaker", a psychic, whose extraordinary powers as a facilitator are sought by the Crimson King so he can hasten the destruction of the beams and Dark Tower. Ted arrives in the Devar-Toi, the prison camp where the Breakers are held, in 1955, and with help from Roland's old friend from Mejis, Sheemie Ruiz, soon escapes the Devar-Toi and enters the Connecticut of 1960, which is when the story of Low Men in Yellow Coats takes place. After his adventure in Connecticut, the low men capture and smuggle him back to the Devar-Toi via the Dixie Pig and Thunderclap Station. Ted meets Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series, and he, Everything's Eventual's Dinky Earnshaw, and the newly-revealed psychic Sheemie assist the ka-tet in the attack on the Devar-Toi and ultimately succeed in obliterating the low men and the taheen. After Roland, Jake, and Oy travel to the Maine of 1999 to prevent Stephen King from dying, Ted and his friends escort Susannah Dean to Fedic Station, and Ted, along with a handful of the other psychic Breakers depart for the Callas, where they hope to first find redemption from the Calla folken and then return to America via the Doorway Cave.Sheemie Ruiz
Sheemie, introduced in Wizard and Glass, was a mildly mentally retarded tavern boy at a saloon in Hambry. Sheemie assisted Roland and his first ka-tet in preventing the followers of John Farson, and more specifically, the Crimson King, from reviving the Great Old Ones' war machines, later following the group back to Gilead. Sheemie joined Roland's ka-tet briefly and helped the gunslingers ward off the Crimson King's followers until he and his mule Capi mysteriously disappeared. However, while Roland assumes Sheemie is dead, he is not; he had been captured by the low men and taken to the Devar-Toi, the Breaker prison, because of his telepathic abilities, which remained unknown to Roland's ka-tet. He reappears in the series' final novel and assists the new ka-tet in defeating the low men and the taheen. However, during the battle, he steps on a piece of glass, causing an infection (accelerated by the "poison air" around Thunderclap). While escorting Susannah to Fedic on the train, he dies of blood poisoning. Ironically, though Susannah never learns this, she is indirectly responsible for his death, as it is her bullet that breaks the glass out of his window, causing it to be there for him to step on.Dinky Earnshaw
Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw is the psychic assassin from Stephen King's short story Everything's Eventual. He was hired by a man named Mr. Sharpton who was the head of a North Central Positronics subsidiary. However, when Dinky discovered what Sharpton was truly using him for, he killed Sharpton. Unfortunately, the low men captured him and transported him to the Devar-Toi, where he later met Ted Brautigan and Sheemie Ruiz. The three joined forces with Roland and his ka-tet in the final novel of the series and they helped to defeat the Devar-Toi's guards.Patrick Danville
Patrick appears in Insomnia as a promising child artist, then again at the end of the Dark Tower series as a young adult artist with enough talent to shape the real world as he sees fit. As a young boy, he was prophesied to save two men in the future. He drew pictures of Roland and the roses as well. In the Dark Tower series, he was kept imprisoned for an unknown amount of time by the psychic vampire Dandelo and was rescued by Susannah and Roland. Patrick draws the door that allows Susannah to enter a parallel world, and erases the Crimson King from the Tower, allowing Roland to proceed.Aunt Talitha Unwin
"Aunt" Talitha Unwin is a resident of River Crossing, near the city of Lud. When Roland Deschain came to River Crossing, she was 105 years old. She and the people of River Crossing provided food and shelter for the ka-tet while they were on their way to Lud. Talitha gave her cross to Roland to lay at the base of the Dark Tower. It was given to John Cullum to act as a sigul and was later returned to Roland by Moses Carver.When Roland came to the Dark Tower, Talitha Unwin was one of the names that he called out and he remembered to place her cross at its base.
Cortland "Cort" Andrus
Teacher of Roland's original ka-tet. Roland earned his guns by defeating him with the hawk David, who was mortally wounded in that battle. After Roland's challenge, Cort laid in his cabin for a week in a coma, being tended by two nurses. Cort was often rough handed with his students, using physical punishment and denial of food to punish mistakes. He also fancied calling the prospective gunslingers, "maggots". According to Roland, he is murdered soon after Roland's class graduates. He acts as a sort of a spiritual guide to Roland throughout the series, his voice and teachings popping up in the Gunslinger's mind every so often as Roland needs to reflect upon his training.Abel Vannay
Also known as "Vannay the Wise", he was the other primary tutor of Roland's ka-tet and of apprentice gunslingers. Known mostly for his wisdom and forbearance, Vannay's analytical method of instruction and pacifistic nature serve as strong counterpoints to the ruthless application of force and cynical thought process exercised by Cort. It is mentioned that he walks with the assistance of a black ironwood cane. His only known relative was his son Wallace, who played with Roland as a toddler; however, he died very young of an illness. Vannay would become one of the many victims to fall prey to the forces of John Farson in the battle for Gilead.Stephen King
Stephen King (as a fictionalized character) appears in the final two Dark Tower books. Roland and his ka-tet learn of his existence when Roland comes across a copy of 'Salem's Lot, after first meeting Father Callahan, in the fifth book Wolves of the Calla. Roland and Eddie later confront King in his Maine home at a time when he has written 'Salem's Lot and The Gunslinger but no further Dark Tower books. Roland hypnotizes King and it is revealed that he did not in fact "create" the characters of Father Callahan or Roland or any others involved with the Dark Tower but is in reality a channel that records their quest. It is also revealed that at a very young age, the Crimson King attempted to claim Stephen King as one of his own. King fears retaliation from the Crimson King if he continues to write Roland's tale but the Gunslinger's hypnosis encourages him to continue. The attempt on King's life to end his chronicling of Roland's quest comes in the form of his 1999 automobile incident.Many elements of Stephen King's real life are presented through his character (such as his 1999 accident) but are further fictionalized; King notes in the afterword to The Dark Tower that he took particular liberties with the geography of Maine to obscure the real-life location of his home and preserve what privacy he still has. Although he does not appear as a character until Song of Susannah, he is alluded to as early as The Drawing of the Three when Eddie recalls having seen The Shining in movie theaters.
Stuttering Bill
Stuttering Bill is a robot (full name William D-746541-M Maintenance Robot) with many other functions. He plowed Tower Road all the way up to the edge of the white lands, where the snow ended and the roses began. He gave Roland, Susannah and Patrick a ride on his snowplow for many miles, taking them closer to the Dark Tower.Stuttering Bill was also the nickname of William Denbrough, one of the central characters in King's novel It.
Calvin Tower
Calvin Tower is the lease holder of the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore in the Dark Tower series. He makes his first appearance in book III, where he sells Jake two books which later prove vital to the ka-tet's survival of their encounter with Blaine the Mono. In later volumes, it is revealed that Tower owns the lot containing the rose, and is being pressured by mobsters to sell the property to the Sombra Corporation. Eddie saves Tower from a beating, and convinces Tower to sell the land to the ka-tet in the guise of the "Tet Corporation". Tower is an extremely reluctant recruit to the ka-tet's cause, and his selfishness, obsessive addiction to acquiring rare books nearly derail the ka-tet's efforts on several occasions. His eventual — and reluctant — decision to do the right thing comes largely thanks to the influence of his much more selfless, heroic friend, Aaron Deepneau. In the end, he sells the lot to Tet Corp, and serves on the board for many years. With Deepneau, he saves Father Callahan from knife-wielding thugs, as requested by the ka-tet.Aaron Deepneau
Aaron Deepneau is Calvin Tower's best — and only — friend. He serves as Tower's conscience, and steadily leads his friend to the gunslinger's cause. He later joins the board of Tet Corp, and proves to be one of the rose's most ardent defenders.John Cullum
Met Roland and Eddie during the ambush in Stoneham, 1977. He leads the pair to safety, ferries them to his home, and provides a vehicle for them to use. He also becomes a member of Tet Corp's board and tireless champion of the rose, and dies for the cause, assassinated by Sombra/NCP in 1989.Maturin
The Guardians of the Beams keep watch over either end of the six beams that support The Dark Tower. Of the twelve Guardians the ones that are mentioned are Turtle, Bear, Fish, Wolf, Elephant, Rat, Bat, Lion, Horse, and Eagle; Maturin, the Turtle (also a character in It), is considered the most powerful, or significant, of these. Throughout the series the reader repeatedly comes across a simple, nursery-rhyme style poem about Maturin:Maturin guards the same beam as Shardik from the opposite end. Whereas Shardik runs amok in The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, nearly killing Eddie before it can be destroyed, Maturin is a totally benevolent (and incredibly powerful) presence in the story, helping the ka-tet at several points along their journey.See the TURTLE of enormous girth!
On his shell he holds the Earth,
His thought is slow but always kind;
He holds us all within his mind.
On his back the truth is carried,
And there are love and duty married.
He loves the earth and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me.
In The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, a small ivory scrimshaw sculpture of Maturin comes into the ka-tet's possession, and with it, Susannah/Mia hypnotizes a stranger, forcing him to get Susannah/Mia a hotel room. Susannah leaves the turtle where Jake will find it, enabling him (and, through his own martyrdom, Pere Callahan) to track Susannah and escape the low men, taheen, and vampires in the Dixie Pig. The sculpture essentially holds any human (or can-toi) totally enrapt and compliant upon seeing it in the hands of its wielder. The carving is said to have a question-mark shaped scratch on its shell.
Also in books VI and VII, multiple characters stumble upon a small park near #2 Hammarskjold Plaza containing a fountain beside a bronze sculpture of a turtle. The park—and the sculpture—actually exist, although King places the park across the street from #2 Hammarskjold Plaza: In fact, the turtle is in a larger park directly alongside the building, part of the Katharine Hepburn Memorial Garden. The sculpture is a nod to the neighborhood's centuries-old nickname, Turtle Bay.
Both Turtle Bay and Maturin the turtle appear in King's earlier novel It, serving much the same benevolent supernatural guardian role.
The name Maturin itself is a reference to Stephen Maturin, a naturalist from the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels who discovers a new species of tortoise.
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