Lud (city)
Encyclopedia
Lud is a fictional city in Stephen King
's Dark Tower series
and is briefly mentioned in Rose Madder
. In The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, the book's protagonists, led by the gunslinger Roland, travel from Lud to an alternate reality
version of Topeka, Kansas
via a supersonic monorail called Blaine
.
Lud resembles a past its prime New York City
in many ways, most notably due to a crumbling version of the George Washington Bridge
being present. This "GWB" spans a massive river canyon that protected the city from marauders after the fall of the Imperium, and later of the river baronies. The bridge, and the rest of the city, has been in disrepair for at least five hundred years. The idea of Lud being a New York in disrepair is reinforced by Roland
in the seventh book after viewing it from one of the skyscrapers during his time in the year 1999.
Lud's streets are strewn with relics from The Great Old Ones. Cars are a common sight, albeit without glass and tires, both of which were probably highly prized commodities at one time. The streets are also strewn with human bodies: either ones killed in the frequent battles between the Pubes and the Grays, or sacrificed to the God Drums.
Nearly everything created by The Great Old Ones has incredible longevity
: this applies to the robots who surface occasionally in the series as well as buildings like skyscrapers and military installations. Nonetheless, most buildings in Lud have fallen into heavy disrepair over the many years.
in Roland's own Gilead, Luddites began defending their city from roving gangs ("harriers") who pillaged any village they came across.
Lud was besieged by various armies for many years, but because of its fortunate location, the only way into the city was the "George Washington Bridge" and another bridge fallen to the river many years earlier. The "GWB" had many weak spots and holes, and was watched at all hours by both attackers and defenders. People in days of old who wanted to join the "Luddites" had to cross the bridge but many perished in the attempt.
Armies were routinely turned away by the Luddites, but their power was fading. Finally, David Quick, an "outlaw prince," mustered the "last army in the world" and attacked the city.
Eventually, the Luddites were worn down completely. They had lost all technical knowledge and dissolved into nothing more than primitive inhabitants of a once-advanced city. They still managed to prevent a complete takeover of Lud, and David Quick's army was soon reduced to the same state as the Luddites. They soon became two factions: the Pubes and the Grays.
Since the Grays were originally a predominantly male army, there were few women to inhabit the Gray part of Lud. This forces the Grays to routinely "harvest" women and children from the Pubes. Yellow bandanas are the identifying mark of the Grays.
Shortly before the Cataclysm created the waste lands next to Lud, its leaders installed large loudspeakers throughout the city. This P.A. system was still intact when the Grays took control of the city's underground, which included vast computer banks that controlled the P.A. system as well as the "brain" of Blaine the Mono
.
The Grays used the P.A. system to periodically play a deafening recording of pounding drums. The Pubes executed one of their own, usually by hanging, every time these "God Drums" were heard. The reasoning behind this was that the superstitious Pubes believed that the machinery underneath the city was inhabited by the angry spirits of the Great Old Ones, who had come to be jealous of those who were still living; the Pubes believed that the sacrifices appeased the spirits who would play the drums when they had been angered. The Pubes believed that should they not tend to the spirits, they would possess and reanimate the dead to feast upon the living
. Eddie, upon hearing the "God Drums," recognizes them as the drumbeat from ZZ Top
's song Velcro Fly
.
It is unlikely that the Grays actually planned the Drums to have this particular effect; although the Grays are the most technically advanced people remaining in All-World, they cannot use most of the thousands of computers that fill the city's underground. According to the Tick-Tock Man
:
"There's a thousand of those ever-fucking dipolar computers right under the ever-fucking city, maybe even a HUNDRED thousand, and the only one that still works doesn't do a thing except play Watch Me and run those drums! I want those computers! I want them working for ME!" (The Waste Lands, p. 516)
Blaine the Mono mentions that he had done nothing for several years but play the God Drums for the Grays. This seems to indicate that the Tick-Tock Man was unable to use the city's computers because Blaine prevented him from doing so, not because he was unable to understand their operation. Additionally, Blaine does not appear to have any particular motivation for activating the Drums other than the sadistic pleasure he takes in sensing the Pubes' fear.
, to solve a button-based riddle
or face death. By solving the riddle (calculating all the prime numbers below 100 using the Sieve of Eratosthenes
and pressing the corresponding buttons backwards), Roland and his ka-tet are allowed to board Blaine and flee Lud, just as Blaine releases poison gas (DEP3, a substance similar to what appears as a poison in another of King's books, Eyes of the Dragon.) into the city. Looking back, the group witnesses this gas wipe out the remaining population of Lud (although several villains, including the Tick-Tock Man, don gas masks and survive).
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Dark Tower series
The Dark Tower (series)
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
and is briefly mentioned in Rose Madder
Rose Madder (novel)
Rose Madder is a 1995 novel by Stephen King. It deals with the effects of domestic violence and, unusually for a King novel, relies for its fantastic element on Greek mythology...
. In The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, the book's protagonists, led by the gunslinger Roland, travel from Lud to an alternate reality
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
version of Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
via a supersonic monorail called Blaine
Blaine the Mono
Blaine the Mono is a fictional character appearing in the books The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass of Stephen King's Dark Tower series....
.
Lud resembles a past its prime New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in many ways, most notably due to a crumbling version of the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
being present. This "GWB" spans a massive river canyon that protected the city from marauders after the fall of the Imperium, and later of the river baronies. The bridge, and the rest of the city, has been in disrepair for at least five hundred years. The idea of Lud being a New York in disrepair is reinforced by Roland
Roland Deschain
Roland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society...
in the seventh book after viewing it from one of the skyscrapers during his time in the year 1999.
The State of Lud
Since the technological capacity of the Great Old Ones was lost, Lud has been slowly decaying for hundreds of years. This decay has been hastened by the siege and eventual (partial) occupation by the Grays.Lud's streets are strewn with relics from The Great Old Ones. Cars are a common sight, albeit without glass and tires, both of which were probably highly prized commodities at one time. The streets are also strewn with human bodies: either ones killed in the frequent battles between the Pubes and the Grays, or sacrificed to the God Drums.
Nearly everything created by The Great Old Ones has incredible longevity
Longevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
: this applies to the robots who surface occasionally in the series as well as buildings like skyscrapers and military installations. Nonetheless, most buildings in Lud have fallen into heavy disrepair over the many years.
Geography
Lud is uniquely situated; it is protected on one side by a deep river valley that can only be traversed by the GWB parallel (see below); on the other, by deep cliffs that drop down into the radioactive hell known as The Waste Lands. As a result, Lud is easily defensible, especially against the sword-wielding barbarians who tried to conquer Lud in the past.Post-Affiliation History
Lud possibly belonged to a River Barony during the time of the Affiliation, and millennia before that, served as a capital city of the Imperium. After the local governments were destroyed due to rebellions similar to the one led by John FarsonJohn Farson
John Farson is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. Known as "The Good Man", Farson is the leader of a revolution in In-World who appeals to the common people, wanting to end the training of Gunslingers and re-distribute power. His stated...
in Roland's own Gilead, Luddites began defending their city from roving gangs ("harriers") who pillaged any village they came across.
Lud was besieged by various armies for many years, but because of its fortunate location, the only way into the city was the "George Washington Bridge" and another bridge fallen to the river many years earlier. The "GWB" had many weak spots and holes, and was watched at all hours by both attackers and defenders. People in days of old who wanted to join the "Luddites" had to cross the bridge but many perished in the attempt.
Armies were routinely turned away by the Luddites, but their power was fading. Finally, David Quick, an "outlaw prince," mustered the "last army in the world" and attacked the city.
Eventually, the Luddites were worn down completely. They had lost all technical knowledge and dissolved into nothing more than primitive inhabitants of a once-advanced city. They still managed to prevent a complete takeover of Lud, and David Quick's army was soon reduced to the same state as the Luddites. They soon became two factions: the Pubes and the Grays.
Pubes
Pubes were the original inhabitants of Lud (after the Great Old Ones). The admittance test required quick wits and agility, and so youths more easily gained entrance than older people. The name Pubes is an apparent reference to this, as most of the members were pubescent at the time they joined. This may have originally been a derogatory term, but has become the commonly accepted name for the group. The Pubes live mostly above the ground, and are at war with the Grays. Blue bandannas are an identifying mark of the Pubes.Grays
Grays are the descendants of David Quick's army who managed to infiltrate Lud and take control of the vast underground network of tunnels. They live mostly in these tunnels, and usually leave to fight their ancient war with the Pubes.Since the Grays were originally a predominantly male army, there were few women to inhabit the Gray part of Lud. This forces the Grays to routinely "harvest" women and children from the Pubes. Yellow bandanas are the identifying mark of the Grays.
The God Drums
The God Drums are a form of psychological warfare used by the Grays against the Pubes.Shortly before the Cataclysm created the waste lands next to Lud, its leaders installed large loudspeakers throughout the city. This P.A. system was still intact when the Grays took control of the city's underground, which included vast computer banks that controlled the P.A. system as well as the "brain" of Blaine the Mono
Blaine the Mono
Blaine the Mono is a fictional character appearing in the books The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass of Stephen King's Dark Tower series....
.
The Grays used the P.A. system to periodically play a deafening recording of pounding drums. The Pubes executed one of their own, usually by hanging, every time these "God Drums" were heard. The reasoning behind this was that the superstitious Pubes believed that the machinery underneath the city was inhabited by the angry spirits of the Great Old Ones, who had come to be jealous of those who were still living; the Pubes believed that the sacrifices appeased the spirits who would play the drums when they had been angered. The Pubes believed that should they not tend to the spirits, they would possess and reanimate the dead to feast upon the living
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
. Eddie, upon hearing the "God Drums," recognizes them as the drumbeat from ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
's song Velcro Fly
Velcro Fly
"Velcro Fly" is the fifth single off ZZ Top's 1985 album Afterburner. The song peaked at #15 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.A 12" version is featured on the box set Chrome, Smoke & BBQ....
.
It is unlikely that the Grays actually planned the Drums to have this particular effect; although the Grays are the most technically advanced people remaining in All-World, they cannot use most of the thousands of computers that fill the city's underground. According to the Tick-Tock Man
Andrew Quick
Andrew Quick, known as the Tick-Tock Man to his followers, is a fictional character created by Stephen King appearing in The Dark Tower series...
:
"There's a thousand of those ever-fucking dipolar computers right under the ever-fucking city, maybe even a HUNDRED thousand, and the only one that still works doesn't do a thing except play Watch Me and run those drums! I want those computers! I want them working for ME!" (The Waste Lands, p. 516)
Blaine the Mono mentions that he had done nothing for several years but play the God Drums for the Grays. This seems to indicate that the Tick-Tock Man was unable to use the city's computers because Blaine prevented him from doing so, not because he was unable to understand their operation. Additionally, Blaine does not appear to have any particular motivation for activating the Drums other than the sadistic pleasure he takes in sensing the Pubes' fear.
Destruction of Lud
Near the end of The Waste Lands, Blaine the Mono challenges Roland's companions, Eddie Dean and Susannah DeanSusannah Dean
Susannah Odetta Holmes Dean is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series...
, to solve a button-based riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
or face death. By solving the riddle (calculating all the prime numbers below 100 using the Sieve of Eratosthenes
Sieve of Eratosthenes
In mathematics, the sieve of Eratosthenes , one of a number of prime number sieves, is a simple, ancient algorithm for finding all prime numbers up to a specified integer....
and pressing the corresponding buttons backwards), Roland and his ka-tet are allowed to board Blaine and flee Lud, just as Blaine releases poison gas (DEP3, a substance similar to what appears as a poison in another of King's books, Eyes of the Dragon.) into the city. Looking back, the group witnesses this gas wipe out the remaining population of Lud (although several villains, including the Tick-Tock Man, don gas masks and survive).
Trivia
- In Wizard and Glass, Steven Deschain believes that the green Wizard's Glass is located in Lud.
- In Song of Susannah, it is suggested that the city's name may come from LudditeLudditeThe Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life...
, reflecting the Pubes' fear of technology. The city's name means "crazy" in the Bulgarian languageBulgarian languageBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
(Bulgarian: ЛУД).