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Book Home  Books Information Lud
Lud
Lud is a fictional city in Stephen King's Dark Tower
series. In The Waste Lands, the book's protagonists travel from Lud
to an alternate reality version of Kansas via a supersonic monorail.
However, they also pass through a thinny before reaching Kansas; therefore
there may be no relationship at all between the Kansas of our reality
and Lud.
Lud resembles New York City in many ways, most notably
in a version of the George Washington Bridge. 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
two thousand years.
The state of Lud
Since the technological capacity of the Great Old Ones was lost, Lud
has been slowly decaying for thousands 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: this applies to the robots who surface occasionally
in the series and also to the more important buildings, i.e. skyscrapers
and military installations. Most, if not all, of the skyscrapers in
Lud are in quite good condition for having been abandoned for over
two thousand 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 Wastelands. 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.
After the local governments were destroyed due to John Farson, 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 a small foot bridge.
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" simply had to cross the
bridge; few survived 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
with what few advanced weapons he had.
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 and 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. Blue
bandannas are a 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.
Since the Grays were originally a predominantly male
army, there were few women to inhabit the Gray part of Lud. This forces
the Greys 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 against the
Pubes.
Shortly before the Cataclysm created the Wastelands
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 superstitious Pubes executed
one of their own, usually by hanging, every time these "God Drums"
were heard. These sacrifices, the Pubes believed, appeased the evil
spirits and prevented them from possessing the bodies of the dead
to attack the living. Eddie Dean, 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 ones that still work don't do a thing except
play Watch Me and run those drums! I want those computers! I want
them working for ME!"
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.
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