The last of the gunslingers and the sole surviving member of a knightly order sworn to protect the Beams that hold the multiverse together. Roland has pursued the Man in Black across a dying world for years, driven by a singular obsession with the Dark Tower - the nexus of all realities. Trained from boyhood in Gilead, he is one of the finest warriors alive, possessed of an almost supernatural speed and accuracy with his revolvers. He is also ruthless, willing to put the quest above all else - a quality that defines him across eight books.

A heroin addict from 1987 New York, drawn into Mid-World through one of the doors on the beach. Quick-witted and irreverent, Eddie has a gift for defusing tension through humour that masks a deep well of courage. He becomes one of Roland's most capable and loyal companions.

A former Catholic priest first introduced in King's Salem's Lot, who crosses into the Dark Tower universe and eventually settles in Calla Bryn Sturgis. Callahan failed in his confrontation with the vampire Barlow in Salem's Lot and spent years wandering before finding purpose again with Roland's ka-tet. His backstory occupies a substantial section of Wolves of the Calla.

A boy from New York who finds himself drawn into Mid-World, where he becomes a companion to Roland and his ka-tet. Perceptive and brave beyond his years, Jake possesses a low-level psychic ability and bonds deeply with the billy-bumbler Oy.

An elderly Maine caretaker and local who helps Roland and Eddie escape the ambush at Chip McAvoy's store. A shrewd, laconic Yankee with a collection of signed baseballs, he provides shelter, medical supplies, and crucial local knowledge, including the location of Calvin Tower and information about walk-ins on Turtleback Lane.

A fourth personality inhabiting Susannah's body, whose name means 'mother' in the High Speech. She exists solely to protect and nourish the demonic chap growing inside her, hunting raw meat in swamps at night while believing she feasts in a grand castle. She ultimately seizes control of Susannah's body and flees through the Doorway Cave to New York to give birth.

A billy-bumbler - a raccoon-like creature native to Mid-World with limited speech ability - who attaches himself to Jake Chambers and becomes inseparable from him. Oy is capable of mimicking words, shows unusual loyalty and intelligence, and serves as both comic relief and emotional anchor for the ka-tet.

A smooth-talking agent of the Crimson King who operates through the Sombra Corporation. He contacts Mia by phone and orchestrates her journey to the Dixie Pig, making false promises about letting her raise Mordred. He also arranged the ambush against Roland and Eddie in 1977 Maine.

The author himself, who appears as a character in his own story. A young writer living in Bridgton, Maine in 1977, he created Roland and the Dark Tower saga but stopped writing it. Roland and Eddie visit him and realise he is the living twin of the rose, a key figure whose continued writing is essential to the Tower's survival.

A civil rights activist from 1964 New York with dissociative identity disorder, drawn into Mid-World through one of the doors on the beach. Her two identities - the composed Odetta Holmes and the volatile, dangerous Detta Walker - must find a way to coexist. A wheelchair user who lost her legs below the knee in a subway accident, she becomes one of Roland's most formidable companions.

The fat, mild-mannered owner of The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind bookstore in New York. His real name is Toren (Dutch for 'tower'). He owns the vacant lot at Second Avenue and 46th Street where the rose grows, making him an unwitting guardian of immense power. He is being pressured by Balazar on behalf of the Sombra Corporation to sell the lot.

Enrico Balazar's chief enforcer, known as Cully. A flat-eyed, dangerous man who pursues Eddie through the door between worlds.