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2008-12-05 21:17:54
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Here are some common Dark Tower words and their definitions



AN-TET: The term tet refers to people linked by the same destiny or goals. An-tet implies an intimate emotional link. It can also imply sexual intimacy.

Can-Toi: Another name for the low men

CHAR: Most words in High Speech have multiple meanings. However, char is an exception to this general rule. Char has one meaning only, and that is death. Char is the root of many Mid-World terms, including Big Charlie Wind and Charyou Tree.

DINH: A dinh is a leader or king. Roland is the dinh of his ka-tet.

GUARDIANS OF THE BEAMS: Due to the scope of describing the Guardians of the Beams, a simple description is impossible. Readers can refer to The Dark Tower: A Concordance by Robin Furth for more information.

GUNNA: The term gunna appears to mean all one's worldly goods.

KA: Like many words in High Speech, ka has multiple meanings and so is difficult to define precisely. It signifies life-force, consciousness, duty and destiny. In the vulgate, or low speech, it also means a place to which an individual must go. The closest terms in our language are probably fate and destiny.

KA-MAI: Ka-mai means ka's fool.

KA-TEL: A ka-tel is a class of apprentice gunslingers.

KA-TET: Literally speaking, ka-tet means "one made from many." Ka refers to destiny; tet refers to a group of people with the same interests or goals. Ka-tet is the place where man lives are joined by fate.

KHEF: In the original tongue of the Old World, khef meant many different things, including water, birth, and life-force. It implied all that was essential to existence. At the beginning of The Gunslinger, we learn that one can progress through the khef. When we meet Roland, he has "progressed through the khef over many years, and had reached the fifth level". Those who attain the higher levels of khef (levels seven and eight) are able to have a clinical detachment from their bodies. The physical self may thirst, but the mind remains separate, a spectator.

SAI: Although used in low speech, Sai appears to be a form of address that originated in High Speech. Sai is a term of respect and can be roughly translated as sir or madam.

TET: A group of people with the same interests and goals.

THINNY, THINNIES: Thinnies are places where the fabric of existence has almost completely worn away. These cancerous "sores on the skin of existence" have increased in number since the Dark Tower began to fall.

TODASH: In Wolves of the Calla, we are told that traveling todash is similar to the state of lucid dreaming. However, unlike lucid dreaming, both body and mind travel todash.

More words coming soon

Readers can refer to The Dark Tower: A Concordance by Robin Furth
for more words and terminology used in the The Dark Tower universe.





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