Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (23 page)

When we first meet Eddie he is in his early twenties and has unruly black hair and hazel eyes. He is also running cocaine for the drug king ENRICO BALAZAR, in large part to support the heroin habit of his beloved but bullying older brother, HENRY DEAN. By the time Roland enters Eddie’s mind on DELTA flight from NASSAU to New York in 1987, Eddie is already addicted to smack. Despite Eddie’s nasty habit, Roland knows that Eddie is a born gunslinger. At the beginning of their relationship, Roland compares him to a good gun sinking in quicksand. As the human embodiment of the tarot card called The Prisoner (in this case, the prison is drugs), Eddie is an integral part of Roland’s destiny, a
future foretold by the sinister wizard WALTER (aka THE MAN IN BLACK) in the GOLGOTHA located near the shores of the WESTERN SEA.

Eddie Dean is the maverick of Roland Deschain’s
ka-tet.
Roland often calls him
ka-mai,
or
ka
’s fool, and in many ways this assessment seems fairly accurate. In
The Drawing of the Three,
Eddie chose the love of ODETTA HOLMES/DETTA WALKER over caution and thus almost lost his face to a LOBSTROSITY. Yet it is Eddie’s anarchic sense of humor that fried the circuits of BLAINE the Insane Mono, allowing our
ka-tet
to win their riddling contest and outwit this seriously suicidal machine. Each member of Roland’s
ka-tet
has at least one special talent, and Eddie’s skills go beyond making bad jokes. In
The Waste Lands,
his hidden artistic vision shines forth, and he is able both to draw a magic door to bring JAKE CHAMBERS into Roland’s world, and to fashion a key to open that door.

Eddie becomes an even more important character in the final books of the series. Of all the people we meet during our travels through IN-WORLD, MID-WORLD, THE BORDERLANDS, and END-WORLD, Eddie is the most reminiscent of the traditional Arthurian knight. By his own admission, Eddie needs to be needed. While he shares Roland’s desire to reach the DARK TOWER, unlike Roland, Eddie believes that his ultimate purpose is not to serve his
ka-tet,
or even his wife, SUSANNAH DEAN, but to protect the ROSE, which is (on our level of the Tower at least) one of the most fundamental symbols of love.

When Roland and Eddie visit STEPHEN KING in the
when
of 1977, they learn that Eddie is actually the twin of Cuthbert Allgood, Roland’s old friend from GILEAD. According to King (speaking in a deep trance state), he saw both Cuthbert and Eddie when he was seven years old. They saved him from the clutches of the CRIMSON KING, Lord of the Spiders, and turned him from the grim seductions of DISCORDIA.

Without Eddie’s intuition to guide him, Roland would never have seen the formation of the TET CORPORATION, the company which protects the Rose on our level of the Tower. Nor would he have met his maker, Stephen King, in the town of BRIDGTON, MAINE. In fact, he may not even have survived the onslaught of BALAZAR’S MEN in EAST STONEHAM, if he’d made it to that town at all. However, like those of all
ka-mais,
Eddie’s days are numbered. Once our
tet
defeats the WOLVES of CALLA BRYN STURGIS and destroys the DEVAR-TOI where the BREAKERS are eroding the BEAMS, Eddie is shot in the head by PIMLI PRENTISS, the Devar Master. As GRAN-PERE JAFFORDS predicted, for men like Eddie Dean it is always a bullet that opens the way to the clearing at the end of the path.

One of the wonderful aspects of the macroverse is that somewhere, on some other level of the Tower, another version of us always survives. This is as true for Eddie Dean as for anyone else. When Susannah Dean leaves End-World through the UNFOUND DOOR, she finds herself in an alternative version of New York City. Although it is not 1987 of the KEYSTONE EARTH—people here drive Takuro Spirits and drink Nozz-A-La cola, and Gary Hart is president—she is still overjoyed to be there. The reason is simple. Waiting for her in a snowy CENTRAL PARK is none other than her beloved husband, Eddie Dean.

It seems that—on some levels of the Tower at least—stories can have happy
endings. In this
where
and
when,
Eddie is from WHITE PLAINS, not Co-Op City. His brother isn’t the bossy Henry Dean but his
ka-
mate, mate Jake Chambers. In fact, the two of them aren’t Eddie Dean and Jake Chambers at all, but Eddie and Jake TOREN—descendants of the family which (on our level of the Tower) are the custodians of the Vacant LOT and of the magic Rose.

Like Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Jake’s bumbler Oy, Eddie plays a small part in
The Wind Through the Keyhole.
In fact, their tale (which is set just before
The Wolves of the Calla
) is essentially a frame story. In
Wind,
Roland and his American
tet
have just left the GREEN PALACE and are journeying southeast along the PATH OF THE BEAM toward CALLA BRYN STURGIS when they are beset by a STARKBLAST. They are forced to haul up in the stone meetinghouse of an abandoned village called GOOK so that they can wait out the storm. While the starkblast rages outside, Roland tells his
tet
two stories. The first tale is autobiographical, and tells of Roland’s adventure with JAMIE DeCURRY in the town of DEBARIA where the two of them hunted down a murderous shapechanger called a SKIN-MAN. The second story is a folktale called “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” and it is from this narrative that the novel takes its name.

I:130
(Prisoner in prophecy of drawing),
II:25
(Prisoner),
II:34–62
(Prisoner’s door; 38–57 Delta Flight 901),
II:63–84, II:85–157
(85 twenty-one years old; 85–90 Customs; 121–57 Balazar’s),
II:161–82
(Lobstrosity Beach),
II:201–9, II:225–305
(235 twenty-three years old, born 1964),
II:306–7
(Detta thinks about him),
II:307–12, II:315, II:316
(Prisoner),
II:324–26, II:327–38, II:339, II:357, II:359–61, II:367, II:371, II:379, II:386, II:387–90, II:393–99, III:11, III:12, III:13, III:16, III:18–19, III:21–86
(25 Shardik/Mir attacks; 37 Roland’s story; 51–54 dream),
III:96, III:97
(Prisoner),
III:149–52, III:153–55
(in Jake’s dream),
III:158–66, III:170–76
(171 he is twenty-three years old),
III:177–78
(thirteen years old),
III:178–82, III:183–88, III:189–90
(drawing Jake),
III:190–92
(thirteen years old),
III:193–94
(drawing Jake),
III:201–3, III:204, III:206–13, III:219–54, III:256–67, III:268–70, III:273–85, III:286–300
(Gasher),
III:302–4, III:308–12, III:316–25, III:329, III:331–34, III:340–50, III:361–65
(363 says Eddie was a junkie for six years. In earlier books he’d been shooting up for less than a year),
III:372–73, III:378, III:382–85
(Blaine),
III:393–420, IV:3–10, IV:13–70
(riddling; 42–45 flashback to own past; 49 decides to piss off Blaine; 51 begins to do it; 58–59 crash; 64 first thinny sound),
IV:71–112
(Topeka train station. 72–77
Topeka Capital Journal
and superflu; 79 Beam disappears; 87 Charlie the Choo-Choo in Topeka; 91 The Crimson King; 95 entering thinny; 97 Oz in distance; 99–101 Eddie’s dream of bulldozer and rose; 102–3 discusses rose and Tower with Roland; 106 Roland begins his story),
IV:335–37
(interlude in Kansas),
IV:570 and 572
(Roland’s vision),
IV:581, IV:615–25
(end of Roland’s story; back in Topeka),
IV:626–68
(627 ruby Beatle-boots; 632 Green Palace; 634 gate like Wizard’s Rainbow; 646 Tick-Tock; 648 Flagg; 652 Roland’s matricide),
V:8
(strangers from Out-World),
V:29–31
(gunslingers),
V:35–47, V:49–70
(New York and Jake—1977),
V:71, V:77, V:78, V:80, V:81, V:84, V:87, V:88–119, V:122, V:123–64, V:176–85, V:187–98, V:201–39, V:241, V:242, V:243, V:244, V:245–53, V:256–57
(listening to Pere Callahan’s tale),
V:258
(listening),
V:260
(listening),
V:262
(listening),
V:264–71
(listening),
V:273–74
(listening),
V:275
(listening),
V:281
(listening),
V:284
(listening),
V:285
(listening),
V:290
(listening),
V:291–96
(listening),
V:301–2
(listening),
V:309–12, V:318, V:321, V:322, V:325, V:341, V:343–60, V:365–69, V:376–80, V:381, V:382, V:384, V:388, V:392, V:394, V:396–406, V:408, V:412
(
ka-tet
mates),
V:417–20, V:421–23, V:428–30, V:437–38, V:442–45, V:448–49, V:452–54, V:457, V:466–72, V:478, V:479, V:480, V:482, V:485–86, V:487, V:488–505, V:506–52, V:555, V:563, V:573–74
(younger one),
V:576, V:581–90, V:592, V:597, V:598, V:601–28
(waiting for Callahan),
V:629–35, V:639–40, V:641–50, V:652–53, V:654, V:658, V:662–74, V:679–705, VI:3–8, VI:10–18, VI:22, VI:24–43, VI:63, VI:64, VI:68, VI:69, VI:70, VI:71, VI:74, VI:80–82, VI:98, VI:117, VI:122, VI:123, VI:124, VI:129–216, VI:222, VI:224, VI:225, VI:230
(indirect),
VI:231, VI:233, VI:240, VI:246, VI:248, VI:259, VI:265–303
(Eddie is Cuthbert’s twin),
VI:307, VI:320, VI:324, VI:348, VI:360, VI:365, VI:373, VI:374, VI:395, VI:399, VI:404, VII:1–3, VII:17–53, VII:57–58, VII:114–32, VII:134–38, VII:141–59, VII:168, VII:169, VII:173, VI:177
(indirect),
VII:186
(
ka-tet
),
VII:187, VII:188, VII:189–220, VII:247–61, VII:262
(indirect),
VII:265–73, VII:276
(indirect),
VII:279–309
(297–302 listening to Ted’s story),
VII:316, VII:318–42, VII:350, VII:351–52, VII:362–63, VII:369–70, VII:378–85
(Eddie is shot),
VII:387, VII:388–90, VII:391, VII:392, VII:393, VII:394, VII:395
(indirect),
VII:396–97, VII:398, VII:401–4, VII:407, VII:408–10, VII:413
(indirect),
VII:416
(indirect),
VII:427, VII:428, VII:435, VII:438, VII:448, VII:453, VII:455, VII:464, VII:477, VII:485, VII:487, VII:488, VII:491, VII:495, VII:504, VII:508, VII:510, VII:518, VII:520, VII:533, VII:541, VII:549, VII:554–56, VII:559, VII:562, VII:569, VII:571, VII:601, VII:603, VII:604, VII:608, VII:629, VII:630, VII:633, VII:641, VII:642, VII:645–46, VII:662, VII:668, VII:674, VII:681, VII:683, VII:690, VII:708, VII:724–25, VII:727, VII:728, VII:729, VII:731, VII:733, VII:740, VII:744, VII:747, VII:748, VII:758, VI:762, VII:772, VII:785, VII:802, VII:807–13, VII:818, VII:819, W:3–31, W:303–7

EDDIE’S ASSOCIATES, PAST AND PRESENT:

BERNSTEIN, MISS:
Miss Bernstein (we never learn her actual name) was paralyzed in a car accident. VII:103

BERNSTEIN, MRS.:
Mrs. Bernstein’s daughter was paralyzed in a car accident in MAMARONECK. VII:103

BERTOLLO, DORA (TITS BERTOLLO):
Dora Bertollo was Eddie’s mother’s friend. The kids on Eddie’s block called her Tits Bertollo because her breasts were the size of watermelons. V:187

BOY WITH BASKETBALL:
This young black boy witnessed Eddie’s interactions with BALAZAR’S MEN in CO-OP CITY. Thinking the boy might get into trouble if he talked too much, Eddie told the kid to forget everything he’d seen. II:110, II:113

BUNKOWSKI, DEWEY:
Dewey was one of Eddie and HENRY DEAN’s friends. III:187

BUNKOWSKI, MRS.:
She was DEWEY’s mom. III:187

COTER, CHUGGY:
The Chugster was one of Eddie’s old friends. While HENRY DEAN was in VIETNAM, Eddie and Chuggy went to the movies together. They liked Westerns. VI:285

DEAN, GLORIA:
See
DEAN, GLORIA,
listed separately

DEAN, HENRY:
See
DEAN, HENRY
,
listed separately

DEAN, MRS.:
See
DEAN, MRS.,
listed separately

DEAN, WENDELL:
See
DEAN, WENDELL,
listed separately

HATHAWAY, MISS:
Eddie’s third-grade teacher. II:295

KENOPENSKY, MARY LOU:
While Eddie was still at school, he had a crush on this girl and wrote her name all over his books. VII:144

KIDS FROM NORWOOD STREET (MURDERED BY MANSION DEMON):
According to HENRY DEAN, two kids from Norwood Street went to the haunted DUTCH HILL MANSION to bump uglies. By the time the police found them, all the blood had been drained from their bodies and their eyes were wide open, as if they’d died terrified. III:187

LOONY KIDS:
When Eddie was young, these kids used to run around the neighborhood shouting, “I’m the Barber of Seville-a, You must try my fucking skill-a.” The comedy entitled
The Barber of Seville
was written by Pierre Beaumarchais and was produced in Paris in 1775. It later gave rise to several operas. The kids were probably actually thinking of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber, who killed his customers and had his baker-accomplice turn them into meat pies. V:631–32

LUNDGREN, DAHLIE:
Dahlie Lundgren owned a shop that made great fried dough. He also sold comic books, which were fairly easy to steal. Eddie, HENRY, and their friends used to smoke cigarettes behind Dahlie’s shop. We don’t know whether Dahlie approved or not. V:187, V:203, V:257

MARYANNE (MAJESTIC THEATER):
See
DEAN, HENRY
: HENRY DEAN’S ASSOCIATES

McGURSKY, MRS.:
Eddie and HENRY DEAN’s neighbor. II:175

MISLABURSKI, MRS.:
Mrs. Mislaburski was a large-bosomed old lady from CO-OP CITY who wore pink support hose. Mrs. Mislaburski would brave the icy sidewalks of Co-Op City to attend Mass and to visit the CASTLE AVENUE MARKET. VII:102–3

MR. “FUTURE CORONARY” BUSINESSMAN:
Eddie bumps into this anally retentive businessman during his first solitary sojourn (via BLACK THIRTEEN) into 1977 NEW YORK. The man’s attitude reminds Eddie of the punch line of an old New York joke: “Pardon me, sir, can you tell me how to get to City Hall, or should I just go fuck myself?” V:516–17