The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy (64 page)

M
AN
J
ESUS
(1, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, M)

The name people from Mid-World have for Jesus Christ.

M
ANCHESTER
(4)

Susan Delgado's mother's maiden name. The family considered themselves poets and painters but were, according to Cordelia Delgado, drunk most of the time.

M
ANNI
(1, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, M)

A peaceful sect of the Old People. Called the Friends or the Friendly Folk or the Seeking Folk. They resemble Quakers, say “thee” and “thou,” and usually live in enclaves near but outside of towns and villages, rarely coming into town. When they do, they bring their own rations. The men grow long beards, wear purple cloaks and often hold hands. They are allowed to cut their fingernails only once a year. They are known to be great travelers who are always looking for holes they can use to travel to other realities—not for treasure,
but for enlightenment. They believe todash is the holiest of rites and most exalted of states and spend long periods fasting to induce the right state of mind. They use plumb bobs and magnets during their rituals.

People who leave them are called the forgetful ones, a term also applied to any non-Manni. They revere Arthur Eld and foresaw the coming of Mordred, half man and half god, who would oversee the end of humanity and the return of the Prim, which they call the Over.

M
ARCHLY
, S
LOW
E
RNEST
(4.5)

Peter Cosington's woodcutting partner. While Cosington is recovering after a tree fell on him, Marchly is smart enough to not go woodcutting by himself. He and Cosington were friends of Jack Ross, who said they were good fellows who wouldn't go deep in the Endless Forest.

M
ARIAN
, M
AID
(5)

Lady Oriza's maid. She went on to have many fanciful adventures of her own.

M
ARK
(1)

Cort's predecessor as teacher of student gunslingers in Gilead. He died of a stab wound from an overzealous hand in the proving ground behind the Great Hall.

M
ARSH
, J
AKE
(4.5)

One of the miners from Little Debaria who did time in Beelie Stockade.

M
ARY
(L, M)

The most senior of the Little Sisters of Eluria, also known as Big Sister. She dispatches punishment to the others and resents the fact that Jenna has been chosen to wear the Dark Bells. A dog bearing a white patch of fur shaped like a cross kills her.

M
AUD
(3, 4, 5)

A member of the Pubes in Lud. Winston's partner. She and “Jeeves the Butler” take Eddie and Susannah to the Cradle of Lud.

M
C
C
ANN
, J
AMIE
(4)

The pallid and whey-faced boy who was supposed to be the Reaping Lad with Susan Delgado.

M
C
C
URDY
, S
HEB
(1, 2, 3, 4, 7, M)

Piano player at the honky-tonk in Tull that bears his name. Former lover of Allie. He also played in the Travellers' Rest in Hambry.

M
C
V
RIES
, P
ETER
(4.5)

A gunslinger who died—probably from poison—three years before Roland's trip to Debaria.

M
EIMAN
(6, 7)

A taheen that looks like a bird with dark yellow feathers. His hands have talons rather than fingers. Susannah thinks of him as Canaryman. Jake calls him Tweety Bird. He is left behind to make sure no one gets through to Fedic from the Dixie Pig. Father Callahan shoots him.

M
ERCY
(3)

Resident of River Crossing. Harriers blinded her with a branding iron. Wife to Si.

M
IA
(5, 6, 7)

Daughter of none. Her name is the High Speech word for “mother.” Mia seems like a new personality of Susannah Dean's, but she is actually a demon possessing Susannah in much the same way that Roland did when he entered Eddie's body during the flight from the Bahamas.

She survived and adapted after the Prim receded, wandering the world. Whenever she saw a vulnerable man, she fucked him to death. It wasn't about sex or killing—she has an overwhelming but futile imperative to conceive a child. She realized this only after coming to Fedic, where she was enchanted by a human baby but was barred from getting close to it.

Walter o'Dim saw what she was and exploited her obsession. After being stranded in Fedic alone for centuries, she gives up immortality in exchange for the chance to bear the Crimson King's son, whom she calls her “chap.” She doesn't remember much about the actual process of becoming mortal in the Fedic Dogan. She knows her baby will grow fast and she might get to raise him for only five or six years, but she believes that is ample reward. Even as a human she is unable to conceive, so she takes over Susannah's body and transmits her baby a bit at a time over to herself.

At first, Mia is passive, coming forward only to lead Susannah on
foraging missions at night. There's nothing for her to eat in Fedic that isn't poisoned. She won't let Susannah go near the rose in the vacant lot because it might do something dreadful to her. On the day she is to give birth, she becomes more dominant. By then, Susannah knows she exists and brokers a deal whereby Mia agrees to help Susannah play her part in the battle with the Wolves if Susannah will go with her afterward. Mia cheers Susannah on during the battle.

In New York, she and Susannah form an uneasy alliance, often struggling for control of Susannah's body. When she is in control, Susannah has legs, though they're white. She is shy, afraid. She has access to Susannah's memories and can read anything Susannah can read. She betrayed Eddie and Roland to Sayre.

When Susannah shows her scenes from her life, especially a tender moment with her mother, Mia realizes how much she missed about being human, how much she gave up and how little she would receive in return. Her son, Mordred, kills her moments after he's born.

Physical description: As a demon, she appears to men as a blindingly beautiful woman about five foot six or seven, with shoulder-length black hair. Her mortal aspect is still beautiful, but her face is marked with painful experience. She looks to be in her late twenties.

M
ICHAEL
(6)

A baby born in Fedic two centuries before the advent of the Wolves, when most people were sterile. Mia coveted the child but couldn't go near it. When he was three or four, Michael left Fedic with his parents on Patricia the Mono after the Red Death.

M
ICHELA
(L, M)

One of the Little Sisters of Eluria.

M
ILL
, A
UNT
(1, M)

A resident of Tull.

M
OGGINS
, G
ERT
“D
EBORAH
” (4)

A fifteen-year-old prostitute who works at the Travellers' Rest in Hambry. Roy Depape's girlfriend. He calls her “Her Nibs” (though it was Clay who started that). She has a bowlegged clumping walk and a way of squinting off into the distance that betrays the fact that she's probably a cowgirl, but she has
delusions of grandeur. She takes a temporary job at the Piano Ranch to earn extra money.

M
ORGENSTERN
, C
ONCHETTA
(4)

The chief seamstress at Mayor's House in Hambry. A woman of few words. Blade faced.

M
ORPHIA
(7)

Daughter of Sleep. Roland warns Stephen King to refuse her offer of ease and pleasure if she comes to him after his accident.

M
UDMEN
(4.5)

Tim Ross's nickname for the mutants who assist him in Fagonard Swamp. He reassesses his nickname, thinking that they are actually more like plantmen who have become part of the swamp they live in. They bow to Tim as a gunslinger and provide him with food for his journey, as well as a North Central Positronics device that acts as a GPS, and carry him to solid ground in their makeshift boat. Tim thinks they are a dying tribe, but their time is shorter than he realizes: the impending starkblast will kill them all.

M
UÑOZ
, R
OSALITA
(R
OSA
, R
OSIE
) (5, 6, 7)

Father Callahan's “woman of all work” (more of an executive secretary than a housekeeper) in Calla Bryn Sturgis, a midwife of great experience and, for a while, Roland Deschain's lover. A good-looking woman of around forty with eyes so dark brown they're almost black. She smokes a pipe, is one of the most skillful Sisters of Oriza—a lefty—and a skillful Watch Me player. She gives Roland medicine to help him withstand the discomfort of his arthritis (dry twist).

N
IGEL THE
B
UTLER
(7)

An eight-foot tall Asimov robot who is in charge of domestic services and maintenance in the Fedic Dogan. Serial number: DNK 45932. He brings an incubator to the delivery room at Scowther's request. Susannah shoots out his eyes to disable him, remembering Eddie's experience with Andy, whom he resembles. He can still navigate using infrared sensors, but the damage causes a total systemic breakdown a few hours after the shooting. In the interim, he is helpful, both to the
ka-tet
and to Mordred, bringing them food. When forced to lie, his head snaps to one side and he counts in German or French.
He is a fan of Stephen King novels, but his collection doesn't contain any of the Dark Tower series.

N
IS
(5)

God of dreams.

N
ORMAN
, J
AMES
(L, M)

A young man from Delain killed by the slow mutants. Roland finds his body in a trough in Eluria and uses his name as an alias when the Little Sisters capture him. Brother to John Norman. Loved of family, Loved of God, according to the medallion around his neck.

N
ORMAN
, J
ESSE
(L)

Father to James and John Norman.

N
ORMAN
, J
OHN
(L, M)

One of the Little Sisters of Eluria's patients. Originally from Delain. He and his brother, James, were hired as scouts to protect a long-haul caravan taking goods and mail-order brides to Tejuas. Slow mutants ambushed the caravan in Eluria. By the time John and his fellow scouts caught up, the fight was over. He was hit over the head and woke up in the infirmary tent. Killed by the Little Sisters.

N
ORT THE
W
EEDEATER
(1, 2, 3, 5, 6, M)

A man from Tull raised from the dead by Walter o'Dim. He knows the High Speech.

N
OT-MAN
(1, M)

An invisible man. Roland knew of one who was hung for committing rape. In the Marvel comics, the not-men are ordinary men who make themselves invisible using special jackets from a Dogan near Kingstown.

N
UTTER
, E
LROD
(4.5)

Foreman at the Jefferson Ranch in Debaria. An excellent rider and roper, but a mean drunk. Sheriff Peavy arrested him several times. When drunk, he teases Young Bill Streeter mercilessly and meanly. Most of the other men at the ranch are afraid of him because of his size and because he carries a knife. When the skin-man attacks in the shape of a bear, Nutter fights it off with his knife, but the bear rips off his arm and hits him in the face with it before biting off his head.

O'
D
IM
, W
ALTER
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, M)

The man in black. Also Marten Broadcloak, the Ageless Stranger, Randall Flagg and many others. He thinks of himself as Walter of End-World or Walter of All-World, but he started life fifteen hundred years ago as a country boy called Walter Padick, son of a miller. He ran away from home when he was thirteen. How he came to be part demon is a mystery—perhaps the Crimson King endowed him with special powers. (In the Marvel comics, he is Maerlyn's son.)

His travels have taken him to Delain and Garlan, where he was known as Walter Hodji. Like the Crimson King and John Farson, whom he serves, he enjoys chaos. One of his favorite pastimes is visiting peaceful kingdoms and stirring up trouble. He always escapes before the worst happens, which is how he has survived for so long. As Marten Broadcloak, he infiltrated Gilead and gained the trust of the gunslingers, which made it easier to betray them.

His magical powers are impressive—he can even raise the dead—and yet he's never quite as smart as he thinks he is. He's also vain, petulant and unduly sure of himself. He seems genuinely hurt when Father Callahan suggests he's cruel. One of the worst crimes he takes credit for is shooting Cuthbert in the eye with an arrow at Jericho Hill.

Attempting to foil Roland gives him a purpose in life. He sets many traps for the gunslinger, but most of them fail and some have the opposite effect to what he intended—Black Thirteen, for example, is a boon rather than a curse in Calla Bryn Sturgis. He probably manipulated Jack Mort into pushing Jake, knowing the boy would play a part in Roland's moral downfall. He passes the Way Station shortly after Jake arrives, but circles back to meet up with Father Callahan. He apparently knows about Roland's many attempts to save the Tower, but still can't defeat him despite this knowledge.

Ultimately, his true goal is the same as Roland's: to reach and enter the Dark Tower. The Crimson King is of no use to him, trapped on a balcony of the Tower. He proves to be no match for Roland's son, though, another person he underestimated.