156 articles
Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne, heroine of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), a Puritan Boston woman punished for adultery with a scarlet A; mother of Pearl, lover of Dimmesdale, wife of Chillingworth, later a feminist icon.
Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield is the teenage narrator and protagonist of J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, who wanders Manhattan after being expelled from Pencey Prep.
Ichabod Crane
Ichabod Crane is the lanky, superstitious Yankee schoolmaster of Washington Irving's 1820 tale 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (Sketch Book), rival of Brom Bones, victim of the Headless Horseman, possibly modeled on Jesse Merwin or named for Col. Ichabod B. Crane.
Inigo Montoya
Inigo Montoya (Íñigo Montoya), fictional Spanish swordsman in William Goldman's 1973 novel The Princess Bride and Rob Reiner's 1987 film, played by Mandy Patinkin; avenges his father Domingo, killed by the six-fingered Count Rugen.
Ishmael (Moby-Dick)
Ishmael is the first-person narrator of Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), a young Pequod crew member who opens with "Call me Ishmael", vanishes for long stretches, and is debated as an unreliable narrator and Ahab's democratic foil.
Jack Twist
Jack Twist is a fictional character created by Annie Proulx in "Brokeback Mountain", a Wyoming ranch hand portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal in Ang Lee's 2005 film adaptation.
Jackal (The Day of the Jackal)
The Jackal is the fictional professional assassin of Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal, hired by the OAS to kill de Gaulle; portrayed by Edward Fox (1973 film), Bruce Willis (1997), and Eddie Redmayne (2024 series).
Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley is the fictional ghost in Dickens's 1843 A Christmas Carol, dead business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge, chained by cash-boxes and ledgers, who warns Scrooge and introduces the three Christmas spirits.
Jarndyce and Jarndyce
Jarndyce and Jarndyce (Jarndyce v Jarndyce) is the fictional endless Court of Chancery inheritance suit in Dickens's Bleak House (1852–53), often linked to the Jennens Case and Thellusson v Woodford, ending when costs devour the estate.
Javert
Javert is the police inspector antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables, who pursues Jean Valjean from the Toulon bagne to Paris until mercy breaks his moral system and drives him to suicide.
Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby, born James Gatz, is the title character of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby: a bootlegger-made millionaire of West Egg who throws lavish parties to win back Daisy Buchanan and dies in his pool.
Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean, hero of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862), a convict jailed for stealing bread, reborn as mayor Monsieur Madeleine, hunted by Javert, Cosette's savior.
Jim Hawkins (character)
Jim Hawkins is the boy protagonist and first-person narrator of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883), an innkeeper's son who finds Captain Flint's map, survives Long John Silver's mutiny aboard the Hispaniola, and matures; also the hero of Treasure Planet and many adaptations.
John Blackthorne
John Blackthorne (the Anjin) is the English pilot protagonist of James Clavell's 1975 novel Shōgun, based on William Adams; played by Richard Chamberlain in 1980 and Cosmo Jarvis in FX's 2024 series.
John Galt
John Galt is the fictional engineer and strike leader at the center of Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, inventor of a revolutionary motor, subject of the question "Who is John Galt?", and later a byword in American political culture.
Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is the young English solicitor and first narrator of Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula, imprisoned in Castle Dracula and later a vampire hunter; adaptations often merge his role with Renfield or sideline him.
Judah Ben-Hur
Judah Ben-Hur is the fictional Jewish prince protagonist of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, betrayed by Messala, enslaved, adopted by Arrius, and famously portrayed by Charlton Heston in the 1959 film.
Juliet
Juliet, or Juliet Capulet, is the female protagonist of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), a Verona girl who secretly marries Romeo of the rival Montague family.
Kaa
Kaa is the giant rock python in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, introduced in "Kaa's Hunting" (The Jungle Book, 1894) as a wise mentor and rescuer of Mowgli. Disney's 1967 film recast him as a comic hypnotic villain voiced by Sterling Holloway; Scarlett Johansson voiced him in the 2016 film.
King Claudius
King Claudius is the antagonist of Shakespeare's Hamlet: Denmark's king who murdered his brother, married Gertrude, and rules through rhetoric until Hamlet's revenge kills him.
Kunta Kinte
Kunta Kinte, also known as Toby Waller, is the central character of Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots and its adaptations: a Mandinka man kidnapped in 1767 and enslaved in Maryland.
Kurt Barlow
Kurt Barlow, born Kurt Breichen, is the ancient German vampire and main antagonist of Stephen King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot, posing as an antiques dealer with familiar Richard Straker; portrayed by Reggie Nalder (1979), Rutger Hauer (2004), and Alexander Ward (2024).
Kurtz (Heart of Darkness)
Kurtz is the Belgian ivory trader and antagonist of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899), the man Marlow travels up the Congo to find. Known for the 'Exterminate all the brutes!' postscript, his final words, and Brando's Apocalypse Now portrayal.
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is Shakespeare's wife character in Macbeth (First Folio, 1623), who incites Duncan's murder via the 'unsex me here' speech and collapses into the 'Out, damned spot' sleepwalking scene; famous on stage for actresses from Siddons and Terry to Cotillard and, in Verdi's opera, Lise Davidsen.
List of Catch-22 characters
Characters of Joseph Heller's 1961 satirical novel Catch-22: bombardier Yossarian, Orr, Milo Minderbinder, Doc Daneeka, Colonel Cathcart, Chaplain Tappman, Major Major, Scheisskopf, Wintergreen, and the squadron around them.
List of Moby-Dick characters
Moby-Dick characters: Ishmael the narrator, Captain Ahab, first mate Starbuck, mates Stubb and Flask, harpooner Queequeg, cabin boy Pip, and the White Whale of Melville's 1851 novel.
List of One Thousand and One Nights characters
Characters of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights): frame figures Shahryar, Scheherazade, Dunyazad, the vizier, Shah Zaman, and tale heroes Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sindbad, with Persian name meanings.
List of The Hobbit characters
Characters of The Hobbit (1937): Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, Thorin Oakenshield and his thirteen dwarves, Smaug, Gollum, Bard, Beorn, Elrond, and Dain, with early-draft names Bladorthin and Pryftan.
List of The Neverending Story characters
Characters of Michael Ende's 1979 novel Die unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story) and its adaptations: Bastian Balthasar Bux, Atreyu, the Childlike Empress, Falkor/Fuchur, Gmork, Coreander, and the 1984 film cast.
List of The Stand characters
Characters of Stephen King's The Stand: Stu Redman, Frannie Goldsmith, Larry Underwood, Nick Andros, Harold Lauder, Nadine Cross, Mother Abagail, and Randall Flagg, split between the Boulder Free Zone and Flagg's Las Vegas, with 1994 and 2020 TV portrayals.