Summary
In the vast multiverse found in Stephen King’sThe Dark Towerseries, there are many creatures and supernatural threats that Roland Deschain, the last of the gunslingers and the main protagonist of the series, faces along his journey to the Dark Tower. From powerful and ancient magic and slow mutants to bounty hunters, old and mighty technologies, and so much more, these threats all work to slow down or stop Roland and his allies, and many of them either work for or are servants of The Crimson King, the potent and nearly demonicantagonist of theDark Towerfranchise. Yet there is one group of servants that work for the Crimson King who populate All-World more so than any other foe, and that is the Low Men in Yellow Coats.
Also known as the can-toi, the low men in yellow coats are seemingly humanoid beings who are the product of humans and creatures known as Taheen coming together. While the creatures are shown as humans, they all appear slightly off and make up a great number of the Crimson King’s forces, working as foot soldiers in every world to see his goals met.Mike Flanagan’sDark Towerseriesneeds to explore the Low Men in Yellow Coats in their entirety.
History of the Low Men
The Can-Toi were first introduced as the low men in yellow coats, enemies who were hunting down the powerful psychic Ted Brautigan in Stephen King’sHearts of Atlantis. The book showed the low men wearing flashy clothing, putting up lost pet signs in an area with the name of the potential psychic (or breaker as theDark Towerrefers to them), and eventually taking them. Eventually, Ted is taken, and their appearance often resembles descriptions of contactee and UFO cases describing the Men in Black.
Father Callahan expands upon their historyin Book 5 of the Dark Tower Series,Wolves of the Calla. The priest tells Roland and his group about the can-toi as he spotted them upon his travels. They appear human from a distance, but upon closer inspection, they resemble humans vaguely at best, with loud clothing like yellow raincoats, checkered suits, and flashy jewelry masking faces that appear artificial looking and spot bleeding, oozing red patches on their foreheads.
The truth of the can-toi is revealed by Susannah Dean in the sixth book of the series,Song of Sussanah, when she rips one of the creature’s faces off in a struggle and shows the can-toi have rat-like appearances, with a wound on their forehead that acts as an orifice from which their human masks are produced naturally. Ted Brautigan later explains in the final bookof the series,The Dark Tower, that the can-toi are the offspring of humans and Taheen, animal-headed humanoids working for the Crimson King. They hold a religious belief that they are becoming human, which is why they often pass the time wearing their human faces. They imitate human culture with their name choices and fashion but often miss the subtlety of human culture in the process.
The Can-Toi in Live Action
While Roland and his allieshave many big-name enemies to face, from Blaine the Mono and the Tick Tock Man to Randall Flagg and the Crimson King, the forces they often face on their journey are the everyday foot soldiers that work for the Crimson King and his agents. The can-toi are an invaluable class of enemies which Roland will come up against repeatedly, becoming more and more prominent as the story progresses.
They also add much-needed backstory andculture to the supernatural side of theDark Towerfranchise, particularly the mythos surrounding the Crimson King and his forces. While the Crimson King has become the stuff of nightmares and legend, his presence has drawn many different kinds of allies to his chaotic cause, with supernatural and magical-based figures having the most draw to him. The live-action series could take the time to really flesh out the culture and the identity of the can-toi themselves, from their obsession with human culture to the religious belief system they established for themselves that makes them believe they are turning into humans and even how the Taheen and humans first came together years earlier to create the can-toi.
They also play a significant role in hunting down the breakers of the Dark Tower, powerful psychic beings from the multiverse who the Crimson King uses to tear down the beams holding the Dark Tower in place, including famous breakers like Ted Brautiganand Dinky Earnshaw (from Everything’s Eventual). The series could take the time to establish their operations across the multiverse and show just how far the Crimson King’s reach is, a tactic Stephen King did beautifully across theDark Towerfranchise.
Stephen King
Stephen King is one of the most prolific living authors. A master of horror, King’s classic works include The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, It, and the Dark Tower series. Many of his books and short stories have been adapted to film and television, including The Shawshank Redemption, Lisey’s Story, 1408, Secret Window, and The Stand.
