Can-toi
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The Can-Toi are fictional creatures from Stephen King's Dark Tower series and related works. They are unofficially but more commonly known as Low Men in Yellow Coats due to their often garish yellow clothing. Their first appearance was in the 1999 collection, Hearts in Atlantis and they later made appearances in the final three Dark Tower books.
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[edit] The Can-Toi and Humans
The Can-Toi seem to possess an oddly ambivalent attitude toward humankind, both idolizing and mocking its culture at the same time. Their clothing is garish, usually consisting of vibrant colors and clashing patterns. When "Earthside" they tend to get around by driving replicas of classic American cars. Their cars are strongly hinted at being alive; in one instance a tire extruded a tentacle to snatch at a piece of litter. The Can-Toi also have a practice of adopting names from American pop culture, with occasionally absurd results. When briefing Roland's ka-tet about them, Ted Brautigan mentioned one named Van Gogh Baez.
The Can-toi are rat-faced, but wear synthetic human masks, which they believe is their first step to becoming human. They have bleeding red holes on the forehead of these masks for breathing purposes. These red holes may 'dry up' depending on what side they are on.
[edit] Functions
The Can-Toi are described as functioning in two major areas of service for the Crimson King: guards at Devar-Toi and as trackers. Their role as guards at Devar-Toi appears to be mostly in subservience to the Taheen supervisors. As trackers, they seem to be allowed a much longer leash as they direct and carry out missions as varied as the capture (and in the case of Ted Brautigan, the recapture) of new Breakers and the hunting down of enemies of the Crimson King, such as was described in Dark Tower V, through the recollections of Pere Callahan.
The Can-Toi methodology in these seeker/hunter escapades is in-line with their overall absurdist take on human culture. They communicate to their targets via lost pet posters and obscene graphitos.
[edit] In film
The 'low men' appeared in the 2001 adaptation of Hearts in Atlantis, and not surprisingly, all the Dark Tower connections were gone. Instead of being agents of the Crimson King sent to kidnap Brautigan for 'breaking' the beams, they were instead members of the government which were "recruiting" psychics to combat Communism.
