Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (64 page)

Like the other true
taheen,
Canary does not wear a humanoid mask, even when he is in CALLA NEW YORK. However, he seems to like human clothing. When we encounter him in the Dixie Pig, Canary is wearing jeans and a plain white shirt, like any ordinary American.

Canary appears to be a fairly high-ranking WARRIOR OF THE SCARLET EYE. However, this does not prevent him from being mesmerized by the magical SCRIMSHAW TURTLE (or CAN-TAH) which Callahan uses to paralyze his enemies at the Pig. Unluckily for Jake and Callahan, Canary and his
can-toi
friends manage to break out of their paralysis. However, Callahan manages to shoot this nasty bird-man (as well as one of his
can-toi
accomplices) before turning his gun on himself. VI:366, VII:6–15, VII:26, VII:28, VII:104

JAKLI:
This raven-headed
taheen
works at the DEVAR-TOI and is often in the company of FINLI O’TEGO and the Devar Master, PIMLI PRENTISS. Jakli has residual wings, which he flaps when he is excited or upset. We can assume that he has arms as well (otherwise he’d have a hard time wielding weapons). Like most of his comrades at the Devar, he is killed by our
tet.
VII:241, VII:352, VII:358–59, VII:362, VII:371–74, VII:379–82

JEY (GEE, HAWK-HEADED MAN):
Hawk-headed Jey is one of the WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE who accompany SUSANNAH DEAN and MIA from the DIXIE PIG to the FEDIC DOGAN, where the two of them are destined to give birth to MORDRED of DISCORDIA. In the chaotic battle which transpires after Mordred’s birth (and after the
dan-tete
’s first meal, which happens to be his mother, Mia), Susannah shoots Jey. VI:370–84, VII:22, VII:55–69, VII:71

ROOSTER-HEADED TAHEEN (FOGHORN LEGHORN):
This
taheen
works at the DEVAR-TOI. Roland’s
tet
doesn’t kill him, but old Foghorn finds the thought of life outside of his THUNDERCLAP home extremely daunting. VII:392–93, VII:394

CAT ON LEGS (HOUSE-CAT TAHEEN, DISHWASHER NUMBER ONE):
JAKE CHAMBERS decapitates this nasty, hissing dishwasher in the kitchens of the DIXIE PIG. VII:82

RAT-HEADED TAHEEN:

ALIA (NURSE):
Although Alia has the head of a rat, she does not wear a humanoid mask. Hence, it seems likely that she considers herself
taheen
rather than CAN-TOI. As servants of the RED KING go, Alia doesn’t seem so bad. While MIA groans with labor pains in the EXTRACTION ROOM of the FEDIC DOGAN, Alia offers what comfort she can. During the Fedic Dogan battle which takes place after Mordred’s birth, Alia is wounded in the knee. She flees the fray and so survives. We never learn what happens to her. VI:378–84, VII:21, VII:22, VII:56–69, VII:75

ANDREW:
See
CAN-TOI

HABER:
See
CAN-TOI

SAYRE, RICHARD P.:
See
CAN-TOI

STRAW:
See
CAN-TOI

TIRANA:
See
CAN-TOI

STOAT-HEADED TAHEEN:

LAMLA OF GALEE:
Lamla has the head of a stoat and narrow feet with thorn-like nails. He, his hume companion FLAHERTY, and several LOW MEN pursue JAKE through the MIND-TRAP located below the DIXIE PIG. Although he survives Flaherty’s murderous temper tantrum (which takes place just after Jake manages to elude their posse by slipping through the NEW YORK/FEDIC DOORWAY), Lamla is brought down by Roland’s guns. VII:104–9, VII:111
(posse),
VII:112, VII:129, VII:133–35, VII:528

WARTHOG TAHEEN:

DIXIE PIG CHEF:
JAKE CHAMBERS encounters this imposing creature in the steamy kitchens of the DIXIE PIG. Warthog—dressed in a chef’s whites—stands seven feet tall and speaks a dialect which is only marginally comprehensible. After Jake kills his HOUSE-CAT TAHEEN dishwasher,
Warthog insists that Jake take up dish-scrubbing. Jake resumes his special art of dish-throwing instead and slices off Warthog’s head. VII:81–83, VII:86

WEASEL-HEADED TAHEEN:

FINLI O’TEGO (FINLI OF THE TEGO CLAN, THE WEASEL, THE WEASE):
Three-hundred-year-old Finli O’Tego is head of security at the DEVAR-TOI. He stands over seven feet tall, which is damn big, even by
taheen
standards. PIMLI PRENTISS, the Devar Master, thinks Finli would make a great basketball player. He is probably right, since a
taheen
like Finli could run up and down a basketball court for hours and not even get winded.

True to his nickname, “the Wease” has the head of a weasel complete with fur, large black eyes, and needle-sharp teeth. Like many of the other
taheen
at the Devar-Toi, Finli likes to wear lots of gold chains. At some point in the past he even docked his tail, a fashion statement he regrets since the act will probably ultimately land him in the HELL OF DARKNESS.

Although Finli is
taheen
and the Devar Master is hume, the two are close friends. In fact, when EDDIE DEAN puts a wounded Finli out of his misery by shooting him in the head, the dying Pimli Prentiss shoots Eddie. Our
tet
-mate dies from the resulting head wound. V:573–76, V:610, V:611, V:660, V:702, VII:200, VII:203, VII:204, VII:205, VII:207, VII:212, VII:215, VII:220–27, VII:230–45, VII:261, VII:272, VII:292, VII:297, VII:298–99, VII:300, VII:325, VII:341, VII:343–48, VII:358–59, VII:361–62, VII:371–74, VII:377, VII:380–82, VII:383–84, VII:385

OTHER TAHEEN (NOT DESCRIBED):

GASKIE O’TEGO:
Gaskie is the DEVAR-TOI’s deputy security chief—second only to FINLI O’TEGO. Since the two of them share the same clan name, it seems likely that they are related. During the Devar’s final battle, Gaskie is shot by SUSANNAH DEAN. VII:300, VII:356–57, VII:362, VII:371–74

HUMMA O’TEGO:
Humma was the Devar-Toi Master who sentenced the CAN-TOI rapist CAMERON to death. Humma lost his job (and possibly his life) after TED BRAUTIGAN escaped the BREAKER prison. VII:286, VII:297, VII:326, VII:343

TALITHA UNWIN

See
RIVER CROSSING CHARACTERS

TAMRA, SISTER

See
ELURIA, LITTLE SISTERS OF

TASLEY, HOWARD

See
TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS

TASSA

See
WARRIORS OF THE SCARLET EYE
: DEVAR-TOI CHARACTERS: HUMANS

TASSENBAUM, DAVID SEYMOUR

David Tassenbaum is married to IRENE TASSENBAUM. According to his wife, David and his egghead friends created the Internet. Since Tassenbaum is associated with NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS (at least we see a Positronics magnet on his refrigerator), we can assume that the “information highway” is an incredibly sinister cultural force. (Hence, be wary of your keyboard.) Both David and Irene are staunch Republicans.

VII:423, VII:425
(indirect),
VII:429
(indirect),
VII:431, VII:435, VII:469, VII:470–71
(North Central Positronics),
VII:482, VII:486, VII:487, VII:490, VII:521, VI:522

EMERSON, SONNY:
Sonny Emerson is David Tassenbaum’s friend. They like to go fishing together. VII:470

TASSENBAUM, IRENE (IRENE CANTORA, DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM)

Middle-aged Irene Tassenbaum, a staunch Republican, was born Irene Cantora in STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK. Her computer-wiz husband, DAVID, helped to create the Internet. The two of them are extremely wealthy.

Although they live most of the year in MANHATTAN, Irene and David spend their summers in the old CULLUM cabin on KEYWADIN POND, located in EAST STONEHAM, MAINE. Hence, Irene is in the EAST STONEHAM GENERAL STORE when Roland and JAKE appear there in 1999. Although she seems an unlikely heroine, Irene Tassenbaum plays her own small but important part in the Dark Tower saga.

Kidnapped by Roland, Jake, and OY, Irene drives our three
tet
-mates first to STEPHEN KING’s house in LOVELL, Maine, then to SLAB CITY HILL, where King is about to be run down by a Dodge minivan. Thanks to her, our
tet
arrives just in time to save the writer, but since
ka
always demands that a blood-price be paid if a blood-price be owed, Jake dies in King’s place. While driving bereaved Roland and Oy to New York City so that Roland can meet with the TET CORPORATION, Irene becomes Roland’s lover. At the end of her adventure, Irene returns to her husband. However, she seems to be a changed person; the WHITE has touched her life.

VII:423–33, VII:434–38, VII:441–43, VII:444–45, VII:449–65, VII:469–71, VII:475–90, VII:504, VII:510, VII:520–25, VII:535, VII:573

TAVERY, FRANCINE

See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: OTHER CHARACTERS

TAVERY, FRANK

See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: OTHER CHARACTERS

TAXI DRIVERS

TAXI DRIVER NUMBER ONE:
When JAKE, CALLAHAN, and OY are propelled through the UNFOUND DOOR into 1999 NEW YORK, this dashiki- and fez-wearing driver almost hits Oy. Jake threatens to shoot him. VI:309–13, VI:322

TAXI DRIVER NUMBER TWO:
This Jamaican cabbie takes CALLAHAN and JAKE to the TWIN TOWERS. They don’t tip him very well. VI:333–34

TAXI DRIVER NUMBER THREE:
SUSANNAH/MIA’s driver takes them to Sixtieth and Lexington, close to the DIXIE PIG. VI:347–49

TAXI DRIVER NUMBER FOUR:
This driver drops JAKE and CALLAHAN off near the DIXIE PIG. VI:338

TELFORD, GEORGE

See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: RANCHERS

TENTACLED MONSTER

See
DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS
(LESSER DEMONS OF THE PRIM)

TET CORPORATION (KA-TET OF THE ROSE)

In
Wolves of the Calla,
the Tet Corporation is nothing more than a white lie fabricated by EDDIE DEAN. Although the lie is for a good cause (Eddie wants CALVIN TOWER to sell the Vacant LOT to his spontaneously incorporated
ka-tet
so that they can save the magical ROSE from the destructive SOMBRA CORPORATION), it is nonetheless an untruth. No Tet Corporation exists, and although SUSANNAH DEAN is an heiress in her own
where
and
when
, the newly formed Tet has no way to access her HOLMES DENTAL INDUSTRIES fortune to pay for the expensive SECOND AVENUE plot which they wish to buy.

However, sometimes
ka
’s will works through such odd twists of chance (and through the seemingly silly utterances that escape the mouth of a
ka-mai
). Although in 1977 (when Eddie spins his tale in the back room of the MANHATTAN RESTAURANT OF THE MIND) Tet is no more than a pipe dream, by 1999 (the KEYSTONE YEAR in the KEYSTONE WORLD) the Tet Corporation is a powerful reality.

Through the efforts of JOHN CULLUM (the
dan-tete
that Roland and Eddie meet in EAST STONEHAM, MAINE, in 1977), the lawyerly skills of Calvin Tower’s friend AARON DEEPNEAU, and the financial clout of MOSES CARVER, Susannah Dean’s godfather, Tet takes form in our world. When Roland visits the corporation in 1999, it is housed in 2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA, a towering black building located on the former Vacant Lot. Just inside the building’s lobby is a small, protected garden called the GARDEN OF THE BEAM. In it grows the sacred Rose. Just as Eddie and Roland had envisioned and hoped back in 1977, when they held their final long palaver with John Cullum in LOVELL, Maine, Tet has accomplished its three major tasks. It has protected the Rose; it has watched out for the writer STEPHEN KING; and it has screwed Sombra Corporation whenever possible.

When Roland holds palaver with Moses Carver, MARIAN CARVER, and NANCY DEEPNEAU in Tet’s headquarters in 1999, they give our gunslinger a Patek Philippe pocket watch engraved with three symbols—a key, a Rose, and a Tower. According to the psychic GOOD-MIND FOLK whom Tet employs, the watch will either stop or run backward once Roland gets close to the DARK TOWER. These three leaders of the Tet Corporation also give our gunslinger a copy of the book
Insomnia
and return AUNT TALITHA’s gold crucifix to him (the one Roland gave to John Cullum and which spoke to Moses Carver in the voice of Susannah Dean). The book is the only one of the three gifts which Roland does not take on his journey. (He leaves it with IRENE TASSENBAUM.)
True to the Good-Mind Folk’s prediction, the Patek Philippe runs backward once Roland reaches the end of his journey.

V:527, V:538, VI:189, VI:201, VI:202, VI:267–70
(merger with Holmes Dental),
VI:319, VII:37, VII:48, VII:123, VII:125, VII:146, VII:479, VII:490, VII:496–520, VII:586, VII:812

CALVINS, THE:
The Calvins (who took their name in honor of the grumpy bibliophile CALVIN TOWER) are a group of researchers hired by the Tet Corporation to read all of STEPHEN KING’s books. These scholars spend their working time cross-referencing King’s novels by character, setting, and theme. They also trace any of King’s characters who live or may once have lived on KEYSTONE EARTH.

According to the Calvins, the novel
Insomnia
is of central importance to Roland’s quest since it contains a direct reference to the CRIMSON KING, and since it predicts that the artist PATRICK DANVILLE may play an important part in Roland’s future. VII:509, VII:511–14

CARVER, MARIAN ODETTA:
Marian Odetta Carver was born when her father, MOSES CARVER, was seventy. She is a tall, stately black woman with the beautiful but hard face of a warrior. (She stands six foot six.) Marian has been president of the Tet Corporation since her father retired in 1997, at the age of ninety-eight. VII:498–520

CARVER, MOSES:
See
FOUNDING FATHERS
,
listed below

CULLUM, JOHN:
See
FOUNDING FATHERS
,
listed below