The old oak tree (Atropos's den)

The old oak tree (Atropos's den) is the subterranean lair of the rogue entity Atropos, located near the Derry County Airport and the Runway 3 picnic area. This grotesque space, hidden beneath a lightning-struck oak, serves as both Atropos's living quarters and a vast, nightmarish warehouse of souvenirs taken from the victims of his random killings, including the stolen wedding ring of Ed Deepneau that becomes the crucial token in Ralph and Lois's mission.

Location and Appearance

The den is concealed beneath a massive, lightning-scarred oak tree that stands near the abandoned railroad tracks and the Cyclone fence marking the edge of the airport. The lightning strike had peeled one side of the tree like a banana and yanked its root-system out of the ground, creating a bell-shaped opening in the fence. The entrance is a dark, root-lined hole at the base of the tree on its western side, which Ralph and Lois discover by following Atropos's trail of pinkish, corrosive spoor from the Civic Center. The space beneath the tree is a narrow, stinking staircase that descends into a red-tinged darkness, the air thick with a revolting monkeyhouse aroma that makes both Ralph and Lois vomit upon entry.

Atropos's Living Quarters

At the bottom of the staircase lies Atropos's small, mean chamber, a combination kitchen and bedroom. The room is lit by a sourceless red glow and contains a low round table made from the amputated top half of a barrel, where a meal of gray, rancid gruel congeals in a chipped soup tureen. A single dirty folding chair stands beside a primitive commode consisting of a rusty steel drum with a toilet-seat balanced on top, the smell rising from it incredibly foul. The only decoration is a full-length brass-bordered mirror on one wall, its reflective surface so age-darkened that captured figures look as if they are floating in deep water. The sleeping accommodation is a filthy mattress and a burlap sack stuffed with straw or feathers, both glowing and raving with the nightsweats of the creature who uses them.

The Warehouse of Souvenirs

Beyond the living quarters, through a higher arch, lies a vast, surreal storage area that resembles a warehouse or an underground suburb. Aisles wander among great, tottery piles of junk, creating a maze of two parts and a booby-trap of three parts. The objects are the souvenirs Atropos has taken from his victims over countless years, each one a mute reminder of a random death. The collection includes a child's battered Flexible Flyer sled, a majorette's baton, a cameo brooch, a buck knife, a Boy Scout's compass, the sneaker of a little boy named Gage Creed, and countless other rings, magazines, key-chains, umbrellas, hats, glasses, rattles, and radios. Each object retains a faint, sorrowful aura, singing with the voice of its former owner, who is still alive somewhere. The most recent additions are objects taken from the people who will be at the Civic Center, including Helen Deepneau's blood-stained sneaker and, crucially, Ed Deepneau's wedding ring, which is the master-cord that ties all these lives together.

The Shrine of the Master-Cord

In a small, cramped chamber at the end of a narrow corridor, Atropos has created a shrine around Ed Deepneau's wedding ring. The ring, inscribed "HD – ED 5–8–87," is wrapped in a deathbag as impenetrable as the center of a black hole, which buzzes and screams, trying to suck the life-force from the surrounding objects. Ralph and Lois discover that the ring is the hub of a wheel, the token that binds the fates of the two thousand people at the Civic Center. Ralph cuts open the deathbag with scissors formed from his own aura, taking the original ring, which causes a series of identical replacement rings to materialize, like the hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. The original ring, which Ralph keeps, is the key to changing the future.

Narrative Significance

The old oak tree den is the physical and symbolic heart of Atropos's power, a profane church where he takes his own version of Communion. It is the place where Ralph and Lois confront the full horror of the Random, witnessing the accumulated grief of countless lives cut short. The den is also the site of Ralph's final, brutal confrontation with Atropos, where he uses Lois's earring to blind the creature and forces a promise from him, before escaping with the ring that will allow him to alter the course of events. The den's location, near the airport where Ed Deepneau's madness first manifested, completes a thematic circle, bringing Ralph back to the origin of the conflict to retrieve the token that can end it.