A Tangled Tale · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Clara
major
Also known as poor Clara
Clara arrives in London expecting a town where everyone knows everyone, and her innocent misreadings of strangers' pity make her both comic and touching. When her aunt's riddling arithmetic traps her alongside Hugh and the others, she meets each impossible problem with the same impetuous spirit she brings to everything. Her blend of eagerness and exasperation gives the story its human pulse, reminding readers that behind every knot lies a person tangled in it.
Balbus
major
Balbus has been the inseparable companion of Hugh and Lambert since childhood, named after the hero of their Latin exercise-book and trusted absolutely. He rescues floundering conversations, presides over dinner with proverbs of his own invention, and hands down problems with the serene confidence of a man who has never been wrong. His unshakable certainty is the story's quiet engine: the boys accept his every startling claim on faith, and the puzzles he sets ripple outward into the lives of everyone around him.
Hugh
supporting
Also known as spokesman Hugh
Hugh bounds from crag to crag with the agility of a fawn, chattering statistics he barely understands and teasing his grave elder companion. When a simple question about distance plunges him into an abyss of calculation, his convulsed features reveal how thin his confidence really is. As one of Balbus's two pupils, he embodies the story's central joke: the cheerful amateur who wants answers and finds only more elegant questions.
The Captain
supporting
The Captain paces his deck in never-ending parade, towering over idle passengers and explaining, with lofty condescension, the curious customs of the islands he visits. He takes quiet pride in his ship, his precision, and his unshakable sense of his own importance. His deadpan reports of fishermen carrying money by the sack and ports with unpronounceable names give the voyage its comic texture, grounding the story's absurd geography in one man's absolute confidence.
Dinah Mite
supporting
Also known as Simple Susan, Susan
Dinah Mite moves through the story's drawing rooms and chance meetings, her aliases hinting at a life lived under more than one name. She belongs to the world of London galleries and whispered asides where Clara loses her way, part of the social fabric that tangles strangers together. Her appearances keep the narrative's human web taut, reminding readers that the puzzles are not solved in isolation but among people who misunderstand, pity, and surprise one another.
Norman
supporting
Norman walks beside his anxious father through a land of chained peacocks and talk of beating, answering fearful whispers with gentle, indifferent-sounding questions. When his father clutches his shoulder in sudden panic, Norman staggers, recovers gracefully, and diagnoses the moment as a problem in precession and nutation. His dry wit and steady nerves make him the reader's calm companion through the story's strangest episodes, even as he quietly admits he must think things over.
Lambert
supporting
Also known as Robert
Lambert has just come in from a walk with his brothers and their old tutor, and he is the one who answers Hugh's riddles with unshakable confidence — 'Always,' he says, when Balbus counsels 'Sometimes.' That blunt certainty is both his charm and his liability: it makes him a natural foil to the cautious Balbus and a fresh target for the mathematical traps that structure the household. His gloom when a problem defeats him shows how much his pride rides on getting the answer right.
Mad Mathesis
supporting
Mad Mathesis drags Clara through galleries and cabs, converting Chelsea buns, veterans' limbs, and picture-hanging into arithmetic ambushes she always wins. Where Clara feels and sighs, her aunt calculates, briskly overriding sentiment with data and delighting in the niece's terror. Her relentless games set the book's comic and mathematical machinery in motion, making her the engine of every tangle Clara must struggle through.
Mimi
minor
Also known as Spinner, Money Spinner, Mary, Magpie
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the puzzles.
Algernon Bray
minor
Also known as T. R. Algernon Bray
A character who appears in the story and participates in the action.
Jane E.
minor
Also known as Magpie, J. D. W.
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the puzzles.
Old King Cole
minor
A character referenced in the story, possibly as a puzzle participant.
Lieutenant Brown
minor
Also known as Brown
A military officer who appears in the story.
Tympanum
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the puzzles.
Star
minor
Also known as Old Hen, Polar Star
A character who appears in the story and participates in the action.
Matthew Matticks
minor
Also known as Old Cat
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the puzzles.
Lolo
minor
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the events.
Zuzu
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the puzzles.
Vis Inertiæ
minor
Also known as Inertiæ
A character who appears in the story and is part of the mathematical discussions.
Bradshaw of the Future
minor
Also known as F. Lee
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Simple Susan
minor
Also known as White Sugar
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the action.
Hecla
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the events.
Vindex
minor
Also known as Class List . Vindex
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Scrutator
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the events.
Nolens Volens
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the action.
Delta
minor
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Kgovjni
minor
Also known as The Governor of—what - you - may - call -, Governor of Kgovjni
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the events.
Mrs. Sairey Gamp
minor
Also known as F. B., Mrs. Gamp
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Galanthus Nivalis Major
minor
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Smith
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the action.
Ayr
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the events.
Trojanus
minor
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Cheam
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Fifi
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the action.
Guy
minor
Also known as Clifton C., Adeline
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
The Shetland Snark
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Meggy Potts
minor
Also known as Mophi, E. R. D. L. Meggy Potts
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Winifred
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the action.
Jack-a-Minory
minor
Also known as Little Jack
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Gogo
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the events.
The L
minor
Also known as L
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Tom-Quad
minor
Also known as Tommy
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the action.
Alumnus Etonæ
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the events.
Xerxes
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Lardner
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the action.
Crophi
minor
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Bo-Peep
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the events.
Froggy
minor
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Old Crow
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the action.
Alice
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Blithe
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the events.
Valentine
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the action.
Bee
minor
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Mad Hatter
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the events.
Martreb
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
Cheeky Bob
minor
Also known as Bobby, Bob
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the action.
Peter
minor
A character who appears in the story and participates in the puzzles.
Apollo
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and is part of the events.
Achilles
minor
A character who appears in the story and is involved in the puzzles.
Nabob
minor
A character who appears in the narrative and participates in the action.
Taffy
minor
A character who appears in the story and is part of the puzzles.
M. Rix
minor
Also known as An Old Fogey . E. M. Rix, Rix, E. M. Rix
A character who appears in the narrative and is involved in the events.
