Perhaps single-handedly the most important part of a warrior’s arsenal, the Litany represents the core of the Gunslinger Creed. It is a repetitive, formulaic poem that perfectly encapsulates not only the gruelling training gunslingers are subject to to achieve their true potential, but also the importance that is given not only to the physical, but also to the spiritual within such training.

We are never given the original text in High Speech. Below you will find not only the translation into High Speech, but also a discussion of some of the more interesting and textual-based choices I have made when translating it and devising new words.

English Version

I do not aim with my hand.

He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my hand.

He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun.

He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.

I kill with my heart.

High Speech Version

Nai afe man-kas viro ka1.

Man-emi virah e dinh-sai2-emi-visa a-obliah em.

Afe aia-kas viro ka.

Nai afe man-kas turo ka.

Man-emi tuah e dinh-sai-emi-visa a-obliah em.

Afe khef3-kas turo ka.

Nai afe childe4-kas charyro ka.

Childe-emi charyro e dinh-sai-emi-visa a-obliah em.

Afe kes5-kas charyro ka.

Translation Notes

1. Ka: Robin Furth in the Concordance defines ka as “life force, consciousness, duty and destiny” (page 526). It is a concept inherently tied to the individual and the manifestation (and realisation) of their own destiny. However, High Speech is identified by Furth as a language that values both unity and interconnectedness, a concept chiefly represented by that of the ka-tet (“one from many”), the union through fate (ka) of people who share similar goals (tet). While ka exists to mean “fate”, it also appears clearly enmeshed in the concept that, at least according to High Speech, the individual cannot exist without those who surround them. Without ka, the individual (the “one”), there cannot exist a tet as both complement and depend upon each other. As such, I have decided to utilise ka to also mean “I”, as in the first person singular, as a way to encompass both of the aforementioned concepts, individuality and interconnectedness, that on the one hand exist within ka, and on the other hand are made to exist within High Speech as a whole. Also based on the translation of ka-Gan as “Gan himself”.

2. Dinh-sai: High Speech is an agglutinative language, often allowing for fairly complicated constructs — furthermore, it is a polysemantic language, therefore allowing multiple meanings for single words. Robin Furth defines dinh as meaning leader or king, but also “father”. The title of sai is given to figures of great importance one wishes to show respect towards.

Therefore, I find that having dinh-sai mean “father” not only emphasises the respect that gunslingers ought to feel towards the dinh of their family, but also once more references the multi-faceted, often complex meanings that words in High Speech can take on. In her introduction to the Concordance, Furth explains that “the body of the king is the body of the land” (page 3), and the continued existence (and prosperity) of both is inherently connected. As “king” can be one of the possible meanings of dinh, by having gunslingers remember the face of their dinh, they are also remembering the face of their land, the debt that they owe it for giving birth to them, and the obligation they owe it insofar that they must defend it.

3. Khef: Furth tells us that khef, in “psychological terms” means “all parts of ourselves, even those aspects we wish not to see” (page 528). Khef is both the knowledge one gains from oneself, and the knowledge one gains from those they are connected to and are surrounded by, for better or for worse. It is a concept that vastly exceeds the somewhat reductive English term of “mind” found in the text of the Litany provided in the books, as English lacks the complexities of High Speech and the ability to portray as many meanings in a single world as High Speech is able to. Still, “mind” lays out the groundwork of the concept behind the word, and allows us to begin to glean possible High Speech meanings that may hide behind that: think of the English as a door, and behind it are worlds upon worlds of meanings, just as there are worlds upon worlds rotating along the axis of the Tower.

As Furth explains, khef represents the essence of what a person is, or isn’t, and a person’s inherent possibility to do both good and evil in equal measure. This moral struggle is mirrored, in a way, in the progression through the different stages of khef. As we are told in The Gunslinger, an individual can progress through the various stages of khef until an innate detachment from the physical is obtained: for example, one may feel thirst on the physical plane, but emotionally and spiritually be entirely divorced from it. Metaphorically, the gunslinger’s progression through khef may also symbolise the progressive detachment from empathy the mind must go through in order to be honed into a merciless instrument of violence.

4. Childe: In The Dark Tower VII, Roland remarks that childe was a “formal term, and ancient … it means holy, chosen by ka” (page 691) a term used to describe a knight, or a gunslinger. As High Speech words carry so much more than just one meaning, I have designated childe as meaning three distinct things: it is an honorary title for a gunslinger, it means “falcon”, and it means “gun”. All three of these things are connected and, I would argue, share in the same khef of holy violence and inevitable destiny. As falcons are, per Cort’s definition, “God’s gunslingers”, so guns are the weapon all questing knights use in their travels. Imbibed with the same solemnity and holiness that the gunslingers themselves have, the guns are an extension of them and of their will, similarly to the role hawks seem to hold within gunslinger culture, as extensions within nature of a gunslinger’s fighting prowess.

5. Kes: As Furth once more tells us, kes is linked to “vitality” (page 461), and belongs even to inanimate objects, including the Beams. Certainly, vitality can be seen as being connected to hearts — but what matters most is the connection of gunslingers and Beams through kes. As defending the Tower is the centre of a gunslinger’s purpose, the “heart”, so important to the Litany, is represented by a word that connects gunslingers not only to creation and the world at large (as all things participate in khef to some extent), but also to the Tower itself, and the Tower’s Beams, sources of its stability.

Sources

Furth, Robin. 2012. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance. New York, NY: Scribner.