Line #46 Literature/TheWastelands


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iii_4.jpg]]
2	Preceded by ''Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree''.
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4	''The Waste Lands'' is Book III of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'', released in 1991, and has two parts. In the first, the TemporalParadox the [[Literature/TheDrawingOfTheThree previous book]] created makes [[TheGunslinger Roland]] begin to [[SanitySlippage lose his mind]]. In the second, the [[TrueCompanions ka-tet]], now including the [[DeathIsCheap recently resurrected]] Jake Chambers and the billy-bumbler Oy, fight their way through the ruined city of Lud to catch the very last train out of town...
5
6	To see the character sheet for the whole book series, go [[Characters/TheDarkTower here]].
7
8	Followed by ''Literature/WizardAndGlass''.
9	----
10	!!''The Waste Lands'' provides examples of the following tropes:
11
12	* AfterTheEnd: In this book the results of the collapse of the Great Old Ones' civilization are made apparent in the eponymous Waste Lands. When looking at the horrific landscape and the nausea-inducing creatures that live there, Eddie is dumbstruck:
13	-->''"This was no nuclear war," Eddie said. "This...this..." His thin, horrified voice sounded like that of a child.\
14	"NOPE," Blaine agreed. "IT WAS A LOT WORSE THAN THAT, AND IT'S NOT OVER YET."''
15	* AIIsACrapshoot: Shardik, Blaine, and Patricia all went crazy years before the start of the series.
16	* ArcWords: Among others, "Blaine is a pain."
17	Also "all things serve the Beam". Or, as Eddie says it, "all things serve the f*in' Beam."
18	* ArcVillain: [[spoiler: Andrew Quick/The Tick-Tock Man is the third major obstacle on Roland’s quest after The Man in Black and The Pusher. He is the leader of the Grays, occupying the city of Lud, who orders the kidnapping of Jake to make him show him how the long-dead machines work, as he wants to defeat The Pubes, a rival faction and take over the city.]]
19	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Shardik, a gigantic cyborg bear attacks the protagonists at the beginning of the book.
20	* BearsAreBadNews: Especially 50-foot tall, millennia old parasite-ridden cyborg god bears.
21	* TheBermudaTriangle: After encountering a crashed Nazi plane, Eddie wonders if the people who go missing in the triangle end up in Mid-World.
22	* BigBrotherBully: Eddie's big brother Henry is revealed to be one. Eddie seems to realize it for the first time, though covertly watching the duo, Jake notes that Eddie has (consciously or otherwise) developed quite good Henry-managing techniques.
23	* CargoCult: The inhabitants of Lud sacrifice people [[LotteryOfDoom several times a day]] when what they think is the drumming of angry ghosts is heard. Eddie is not amused to recognize the drums as the beat of "Velcro Fly" by Music/ZZTop with the lyrics muted, played over the [[CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker public address speakers]]. However Blaine, who's entirely willing to take on the role of a [[MachineWorship mad god if that's what the humans want]], later implies that [[RealAfterAll it's sent "angry ghosts" for real]] if they don't play along.
24	-->"You're killing each other over a piece of music that was never even released as a single!"
25	* CliffHanger: Mighty fine one. Readers had to wait six years for the resolution.
26	* CoolTrain: Blaine the Mono.
27	* DangerousKeyFumble: Jake has to go through a HauntedHouse to reach a magical doorway that will take him to the others in Mid-World. Just as the house comes alive and tries to eat him, he drops the key that will let him open the portal and it falls through the floorboards.
28	* DrivenToSuicide
29	** [[spoiler:Patricia]], egged on by [[spoiler:Blaine]].
30	** [[spoiler:Blaine]] also plans on committing suicide.
31	** Many [[spoiler:Pubes and Grays]] when Lud starts going mad.
32	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The citizens of Lud think it is this when Blaine begins running the city into the ground.
33	* FanDisservice: How the ''ka-tet'' holds off the Oracle.
34	* FauxAffablyEvil: The Tick-Tock Man.
35	* ForeverWar: The gang war in Lud between the Pubes (descendants of the original inhabitants of Lud, which tended to be younger, thus the name) and the Grays (descendants of the army of harriers led by Andrew Quick to conquer Lud, who were generally older, thus the name) has been going back and forth for Gan knows how long by the time the book takes place.
36	* GeniusLoci
37	** The Plaster Man[=/=]Doorkeeper.
38	** Blaine, who is actually just an extension of the computer that controls all of Lud.
39	* GivingThemTheStrip: While in the haunted house, Jake slips out of his jeans in order to escape from the Plaster Man.
40	* IHaveManyNames: Richard Fannin says something similar to this.
41	* InsultBackfire: Jake to Gasher:
42	-->'''Jake:''' Go fuck yourself.
43	-->'''Gasher:''' Why not? Give me a chunk of broken glass and I'll rip it right off and stick it right in, for all the good it's doing me these days.
44	* ItTastesLikeFeet: Eddie asks Roland if billy-bumblers make good eating. Roland answers no, they're horrible: tough and gamy, and he'd sooner eat dog. When quizzed, he confirms that, yes, he's also eaten dog meat.
45	* JediMindTrick: The key.
46	* {{Jerkass}}: Blaine. ''Dear God''.
47	* KickTheDog: Gasher kicks Oy, in case we didn't realize that he's a villain.
48	* LargeAndInCharge:
49	** The Great Old Ones, who once ruled All-World, were much larger than regular humans, judging by the size of the seats inside Blaine's Barony Coach.
50	** Tick Tock Man leads the Grays, and is described as much larger, healthier, and younger-looking. He may or may not be descended from the Great Old Ones.
51	* LightningBruiser: The Tick Tock Man is an enormous, chiseled specimen. When he draws his knife, Jake swears that he's as fast or faster than Roland. [[spoiler:It doesn't help him one bit]].
52	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: To Creator/TSEliot's "Literature/TheWasteLand". Part of the poem is used as an {{epigraph}} and in-story Susannah quotes it.
53	* LivingLieDetector: Blaine can determine if someone is lying with 97% accuracy by using voice analysis.
54	* MadnessMantra: "SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR. AFTER A WHILE, CROCODILE. DON'T FORGET TO WRITE"
55	* MeaningfulName: The city of Lud, whose surface inhabitants have forgotten what technology is and now fear it. At one point near the end, the point is made explicit when they are referred to as Luddites.
56	* {{Mordor}}: The titular Waste Lands, a vast area beyond the city of Lud which Roland and his ''ka-tet'' must cross with Blaine's dubious help.
57	* MustMakeAmends
58	* NightmareFuel: [[invoked]] Charlie the Choo-Choo's smile disturbs all the characters.
59	* NoIndoorVoice
60	** Blaine. The Big Blaine personality at least.
61	** Also true of Jake's father.
62	* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: Blaine forces our heroes to display their knowledge of... [[spoiler:prime numbers!]] They must also come up with a riddle that Blaine can't solve. [[spoiler:They can't until the next book.]]
63	* PokemonSpeak: Oy is given his name because he repeats the word "boy" several times as "oy."
64	* RiddleForTheAges: We never do learn who Beryl Evans was, or how she came to write Blaine's biography.
65	* RippleEffectProofMemory: Deconstructed. Roland remembers two versions of a certain crucial event, and it slowly drives him insane. Jake suffers from the same problem. Jake crossing over into the Mid World solves this problem for both of them.
66	* SeriousBusiness: Riddles. Roland takes it personally when Eddie tells (what Roland considers to be) a stupid one. Back in the day, he also saw [[SadistTeacher Cort]] kill a man for cheating in a riddling competition.
67	* TheSeventies: Jake comes from 1977.
68	* ShoutOut:
69	** Eddie thinks that Blaine's god-drums are ''almost'' as loud as the time he saw Music/{{Anthrax}} in concert.
70	** Along with references to ''Literature/TheWasteLand'', at one point Blaine paraphrases a line from another Creator/TSEliot poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.''
71	* SoundtrackDissonance: The Pubes killing each other to the drumbeat of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F89McWFENTs a song that is essentially about easily-removable clothing]] (warning: this music video contains dangerous amounts of [[TheEighties Eighties]]).
72	* SplitPersonality: Blaine has the A.I. version. Eddie refers to the two personalities (the aggressive one who [[NoIndoorVoice TALKS IN CAPITALS]] and the quiet, sane one who doesn't) as Big Blaine and Little Blaine.
73	* SuccubiAndIncubi: The Oracle. Sex with an incubus here is portrayed as very unpleasant and painful.
74	* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: Roland reveals that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of riddles because they were SeriousBusiness in Gilead.
75	* SubvertedKidsShow: ''Charlie the Choo-Choo'' is an example of a subverted kids' storybook.
76	* TechnicallyASmile: [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110331202731/darktower/images/b/b0/Wastelands_6_choo_choo.jpg Charlie the Choo-Choo's]]. No one trusts it.
77	* TemporalParadox
78	* ThoseWackyNazis: The ''ka-tet'' come across a downed Messerschmidt with swastika painted on it in the outskirts of Lud. Later, the Tick-Tock Man asks Jake if he's a "Not-See".
79	* WastelandElder: Eddie daydreams about meeting some of these ("wise fuckin' elves!", he muses), who would give the ''ka-tet'' some food and supplies and maybe tell them the best route to the Dark Tower, when he sees the Lud skyline from a distance. It turns out to be a quite doomed hope, though they do meet some folks in the small "suburb" of River Crossing who sort of qualify for the title.
80	* WouldHurtAChild: Gasher actually ''enjoys'' it.

Context Literature / TheWastelands