The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (45 page)

The author of
Charlie the Choo-Choo
in one version of reality. Without the “y,” the imaginary wife of Stephen King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman. Stephen King made her up when he was creating an author bio for Bachman when he was drunk one night. The “y” makes her part of the
Ka-tet
of Nineteen.

B
ACHMAN
, R
ICHARD
(6, 7)

A pen name used by Stephen King to publish some of his earliest novels as paperback originals. One night when King was drunk, he made up a complete author bio for him, including a wife named Claudia Inez.

B
AJ
(7)

An armless hydrocephalic Breaker at Algul Siento. He faints and falls from the wagon Daneeka Rostov uses to save him from the fire in the Study. He strikes his head on the ground and dies.

B
ALAZAR
, E
NRICO
[E
MILIO
] (2, 3, 5, 6)

A second-generation Sicilian who has become a high-caliber big shot in New York's drug trafficking trade. Known as Il Roche. He owns a bar called the Leaning Tower and likes to build houses of cards and, on one occasion, a tower. It's his Town Car that kills Jake Chambers. In 1977, he is a dumpy little guy, middle-aged, with a potbelly and graying black hair with dandruff. He works as an enforcer for Sombra Corporation in the matter of the vacant lot. Eddie thinks of him as a despot. His way of doing business is to always escalate. Roland kills him during a shoot-out in his office.

B
ARLOW
, K
URT
(5, 6, 7)

A Type One vampire who was responsible for the destruction of 'Salem's Lot, Maine. He tested Father Callahan's faith and, when it proved lacking, broke his cross and forced the priest to drink his blood.

B
EASLEY
, J
ESSICA
(5)

A friend of Odetta Holmes's mother who experienced two false pregnancies.

B
ECKHART
, D
ICK
(7)

The owner of the cabin at #13 Turtleback Lane. John Cullum has looked after it since the late 1950s. In 1977, he works in Washington for the Carter administration. Eddie, Roland and John palaver in this cabin before Eddie and Roland use the portal in Kezar Lake to go to the Fedic door. The Tassenbaums are friends of the Beckharts.

B
EEMER
, C
HARLIE
(7)

His wife, Ruth, and his sister-in-law are killed in the gunfight at the East Stoneham General Store.

B
EEMER
, R
HODA
(7)

Eldest daughter of Charlie and Ruth Beemer. She is in East Stoneham General Store when Roland returns in 1999.

B
EEMER
, R
UTH
(6, 7)

She and her sister are killed in the gunfight at the East Stoneham General Store.

B
ENZYCK
, O
FFICER
(6)

A Manhattan police officer who frequently rousts Reverend Earl Harrigan.

B
ERTOLLO
, D
ORA
(5)

One of Eddie Dean's mother's friends. Known to the kids on the block as Tits Bertollo.

B
IONDI
, G
EORGE
(2, 5, 6, 7)

One of Enrico Balazar's bodyguards and goons. Known as Big George to his friends and Big Nose to his enemies. He delivers the fatal heroin injection to Henry Dean. Shot to death by Eddie Dean in Balazar's headquarters. Eddie encounters him again (ten years earlier) in the Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind and beats him unconscious with Roland's gun. During the ambush in East Stoneham, Eddie shoots his face off.

B
ISSETTE
, L
EONARD
“L
EN
” (3)

Jake Chambers's French teacher at the Piper School. He sends Jake a letter expressing concern and support after Jake walks out of class.

B
LAKE
, K
EVIN
(2, 5)

One of Enrico Balazar's henchmen. A redhead. Plays Trivial Pursuit with Henry Dean and later lobs Henry's head into the fray to distract Eddie during the shoot-out. Killed by Roland.

B
OSCONI
, R
OBERT
(5)

A police officer from Eddie Dean's Brooklyn neighborhood, known as Bosco Bob. There were two versions of him: a friendly, pleasant man, and the unsmiling, cold cop he turned into if he thought maybe you'd done something. Eddie thinks of him when he detects similar behavior in Andy the Messenger Robot.

B
RANNIGAN
, S
KIPPER
(4, 5)

A friend of Henry Dean's friend Jimmie Polino. Polino thought that Brannigan wasn't afraid of anyone. According to legend, he beat up a teacher chaperoning a school dance. The others knew that Brannigan was a pussy.

Crossover to Other Works:
Skipper Brannigan appears in “Everything's Eventual,” which introduces Dinky Earnshaw.

B
RAUTIGAN
, T
HEODORE
“T
ED
” S
TEVENS
(6, 7)

A super-Breaker. He was born in 1898 in Milford, Connecticut. At an early age he suspects he has telepathic powers. His eyes shake in their sockets when he uses these powers. He thinks his ability to read minds would be useful to army intelligence, but he is turned away because of a heart murmur and substandard hearing. He has a talent that no one wants. He becomes an accountant after his uncle offers to pay his Harvard tuition.

He discovers that his talent is dangerous when he's mugged in Akron, Ohio. In anger, he throws a mental spear at his attacker without realizing what he's doing. He also learns that his power can be temporarily contagious.

He ends up in Algul Siento after responding to a newspaper ad. He realizes later that the Crimson King's recruiters were already watching him. The job is too good to be true and a total con. The money is real, but he can never return to Earth to spend it. He doesn't truly understand what he's breaking, but he doesn't care. Someone finally wants him to use his power. He gets along well with his fellow Breakers and is allowed to work in the Study on his own schedule because he amplifies the output of the others.

A low man named Trampas becomes his friend and lets down his guard, allowing Ted to read his mind. Once he discovers what Breakers are doing, he gets Sheemie Ruiz, who created the Gingerbread House as a place where he could relax, to help him escape.

The low men track him down and threaten to kill Bobby Garfield and the other friends he made while back on Earth if he tries again. He isn't punished when he is brought back because their work is nearly done. Aware that gunslingers are coming, he, Sheemie and Dinky Earnshaw amass a cache of arms and meet the
ka-tet
at Thunderclap Station. He also provides a recording detailing the security layout and schedule at the prison.

He is wounded during the battle. He and four other Breakers join Susannah on the train to Fedic, where they continue on toward the Callas, where they hope to find forgiveness for their part in the kidnapping of the twins and, perhaps, a doorway back home.

Crossover to Other Works:
The story of Ted's experiences after he escapes is told in “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” the opening novella in
Hearts in Atlantis
, a book the
ka-tet
discovers but does not scrutinize in Nigel's living quarters.

B
RIGGS
, M
R
. (3)

Roundhouse manager for Mid-World Railway Company in
Charlie the Choo-Choo
.

B
ROOKS
, “E
NGINEER
B
OB
” (3, 4, 5)

An engineer who works for Mid-World Railway. The only man ever allowed to drive Charlie the Choo-Choo. He turns down the chance to drive Charlie's replacement, opting instead to become “Wiper Bob.” Eddie has a dream about him driving a bulldozer in the vacant lot in Manhattan.

B
ROWNING
, R
OBERT
(3, 5, 6, 7)

The poet who wrote “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.” Jake quotes him (as Robert “Sundance” Browning) in his essay “My Understanding of Truth.” Calvin Tower has a calendar with Browning's picture on it in his office. Stephen King receives a copy of
The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Browning
and sends a photocopy of the poem to Susannah in Westring as a warning against Dandelo. Susannah read some of his dramatic monologues in college but wasn't familiar with this poem.

C
ALLAHAN
, F
ATHER
(O
R
P
ERE
) D
ONALD
F
RANK
(5, 6, 7)

An alcoholic former priest who encountered vampires in 'Salem's Lot, Maine, and fled town after being forced to drink Barlow's blood. He ends up in New York, working at Home, a wet shelter. He becomes aware of Type Three vampires and, after one attacks his friend, Lupe Delgado, makes it his mission to kill them. This brings him to the attention of the low men, so he leaves New York. The next time he comes back, the Hitler Brothers ambush him and start to carve their trademark swastika in his forehead. They're interrupted, so what's left is a cross-shaped scar.

His cross-country adventures take him through a variety of parallel versions of America. After hitting rock bottom in Topeka, he goes to work for another shelter in Detroit, but the low men find him and lure him to a meeting at Sombra's offices. Rather than be infected by the vampires, he kills himself and ends up in the Way Station, where Walter o'Dim sends him through the Unfound Door with Black Thirteen to the Doorway Cave.

At first he works in Calla Bryn Sturgis, but eventually he builds a church and holds services, always seeking a second chance to prove his faith, which failed him in 'Salem's Lot. The church is also a place to store Black Thirteen.

He speaks up at Tian's town meeting, advocating the hiring of the gunslingers to fight the Wolves. During his time with Roland, he discovers that he is a fictional character in a Stephen King novel, which causes an existential crisis. He also becomes a gunslinger, going to New York with Jake and fighting valiantly at the Dixie Pig. The White, which has been missing from his life since he left 'Salem's Lot, tells him that Jake must survive. He has the scrimshaw turtle, Jake's Ruger and his cross as weapons. Roland and Eddie speak through him, telling Jake to go on and leave Callahan behind. He is exhilarated to discover that his fear is gone and that the White stands with him. He kills a number of low men and vampires to give Jake a head start. When the tide turns, he shoots himself.

Crossover to Other Works:
Father Callahan appeared in
'Salem's Lot
.

C
ALVINS
(7)

Three men and two women who do research for Tet Corporation in 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. They do nothing every day but read the works of Stephen King, cross-referencing them by setting, character and theme. They are especially vigilant for references to people who live or lived in the Keystone World. They believe that King's references to the Dark Tower are almost always masked and sometimes mean nothing at all. They identify
Insomnia
as King's keystone book outside of the Dark Tower series. The name of their group is either homage to Calvin Tower or a joke.

C
ARVER
, M
ARIAN
O
DETTA
(7)

President of Tet Corporation after her father, Moses Carver, retired in 1997. Her office is on the northwest corner of 2 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. She shares a house with her father in Montauk Point. She stands at least six foot six and prides herself that she's made of stern stuff. Her face is savagely handsome—the face of a warrior in Roland's estimation. She believes that Tet Corporation's work against North Central Positronics will take another thirty years.

C
ARVER
, M
OSES
“P
OP
M
OSE
” (5, 6, 7)

Odetta Holmes's godfather, born in 1899. Dan Holmes turned over the financial side of Holmes Dental to Carver after his first heart attack shortly after Odetta's accident, and he continued to oversee the business after Holmes died. He was in charge of Odetta's trust fund until she turned twenty-five. As honest as the day is long, according to Susannah. Eddie suggests that they ask
him to lead the amalgamated Tet Corporation and Holmes Dental with Aaron Deepneau and John Cullum. He is Tet's president until 1997. Roland first meets him in 1999, when he is a wizened man bent from arthritis and seems incapable of bending his neck, but he's still spry and full of fire. He was seventy years old when his daughter, Marian, was born. He has become friends with Reverend Earl Harrigan of the Church of the Holy God-Bomb, much to his daughter's chagrin.

C
HAMBERS
, E
LMER
R. (1, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, M)

Jake Chambers's father. He has no middle name, just an initial. He is a Big Coffin Hunter in TV Land, known as a master of “the kill”—the ability to destroy programs on rival television networks. A light sleeper, an early riser and more than a little paranoid. He smokes eighty cigarettes a day and keeps a stash of cocaine in his home office, where he watches the competition at night on three televisions. His telephone conversations with subordinates usually start cheerfully and end up with him bent over his desk screaming at the top of his lungs. He refers to maître d' stands as Blackmail Central. One of his favorite phrases is “the fact is.” He stands five foot ten and has a crew cut. He calls Jake “hotshot” when he's around, which isn't much. Two of the three vacations he took with his family were cut short by urgent calls from work.