Oy (Dark Tower)
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Oy of Mid-World is a primary character in Stephen King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower. He was introduced in the third book, The Waste Lands, and became a member of the ka-tet for the rest of the series.
Oy is a "billy-bumbler", a strange creature found in Roland Deschain's world. The creature is a cross between a raccoon and a dog. Some billy-bumblers are very smart and can even have the capacities of humans. Oy has the ability to communicate by repeating what everyone says in a manner similar to that of a parrot. There is a dispute whether or not Oy has human-like sentience or not, that is whether he just repeats or accents important phrases from other characters. This seems to be disproven in the final book, where Jake Chambers temporarily switches minds with him. In several crucial moments, Oy assists the human characters in getting out of danger.
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[edit] In Mid-World
In The Waste Lands, Roland and his ka-tet stumble upon Oy alone in the woods suffering slight bites and cuts from what appears to have been a fight with another billy-bumbler. When Jake Chambers inquires as to what the animal is, Roland tells them about billy-bumblers in his home city of Gilead. Oy seems very shy at first, but when Jake feeds him, he immediately falls in love with the young boy and begins to follow him around. Roland lets Jake keep Oy as a pet as having a bumbler brings good luck to the party. Initially, Jake simply called him "boy", which the bumbler parroted as "Oy" and the name stuck.
[edit] In Lud
As the ka-tet approaches the city of Lud, in The Wastelands an evil gangster named Gasher captures Jake. Roland and Oy set off to find him. Oy is able to track Jake by his scent, and he also helps Roland avoid some of the traps along Gasher's trail. When Roland and Oy catch up to Jake in the presence of the Tick-Tock Man (Andrew Quick, grandson of David Quick), Oy delivers a message by crawling through the vents into Jake's sight. Oy proves his worth in this instance and becomes an integral part of the ka-tet and Jake's tireless companion.
[edit] Calla Bryn Sturgis
Oy further cements his place in Roland's ka-tet by announcing himself to the residents of Calla Bryn Sturgis at the dinner welcoming the gunslingers to the community in Wolves of the Calla. At Roland's behest, Jake sets Oy down on the stage where he shakily mimics the other's bows and announces himself as a member of the group.
[edit] Maine
Oy accompanies Jake and Roland to Maine in The Dark Tower. He stays by Jake's side after he is mortally wounded, and lingers at the grave Roland digs in the forest. Roland thinks there is a chance that Oy may just decide to stay at Jake's grave and wait to die by whatever means takes him first, but he is slightly heartened when Oy decides to accompany him a little further on the journey.
[edit] Mordred
As Mordred Deschain sneaks toward Roland and Patrick Danville in their sleep at the end of The Dark Tower, Oy manages to wake up and attack Mordred. Roland wakes up in time to see Mordred mortally injure Oy by snapping his spine and then impaling him on a tree limb. Roland then shoots and kills Mordred. When Roland visits the dying Oy, the bumbler whispers his version of Roland's name, "Olan", and licks his hand once before dying. In the third issue of the comic miniseries "The Long Road Home" (an expansion of the events of Wizard and Glass) Roland, trapped in Maerlyn's Grapefruit (the titular wizard and glass) experiences visions of the future, among them Roland "The Gunslinger" walking away from an "impaled billy bumbler" who's only spoken words are "Olan."
[edit] Afterword
In the closing afterword of The Dark Tower, King implies that along with Eddie and Jake, Oy (or a parallel version of him - a dog whose barks sometimes sound like words) will be waiting for Susannah in the version of New York waiting on the other side of the door Patrick Danville draws for her.
