# An Outcast of the Islands — Character guide

> Key figures in An Outcast of the Islands by Joseph Conrad.

- [Willems](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/willems.md): Willems survives on Almayer's grudging charity in Sambir, shunned by the settlement yet unable to leave the only world that tolerates him. His hollow cheeks and forgotten speech mark a man already half-swallowed by the f
- [Almayer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/almayer.md): Almayer clings to his rotting trading post and his hopes for his daughter Nina, but his fortune depends entirely on Captain Lingard's protection and the loyalty of men like Willems. He watches his world dismantled from h
- [Captain Lingard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/captain_lingard.md): Lingard built his reputation on daring and his fortune on the trust of Malay rulers and Dutch traders alike, and he wears his honorary title like a second skin. He plucked Willems from a quay as a runaway boy and set Alm
- [Babalatchi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/babalatchi.md): Babalatchi moves through the settlement's shadows, advising Lakamba, flattering Abdulla, and measuring every white man's weakness with his single eye. He despises the strong fools who rule by force yet knows he must use 
- [Aissa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/aissa.md): Aissa gives Willems a devotion so absolute it terrifies him, demanding daily proof of a love she suspects is built on lies. She has no people of her own and clings to him with a jealousy sharpened by fear of the white wo
- [Syed Abdulla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/abdulla.md): Syed Abdulla arrives in Sambir with money, patience, and a talent for letting others take the risks while he collects the rewards. He offers Willems a place in his designs and lets Babalatchi and Lakamba do the dangerous
- [Lakamba](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/lakamba.md): Lakamba is a bull-necked adventurer who settled in Sambir expecting to dominate it and found old Patalolo already in quiet command. He schemes with the one-eyed Babalatchi in a riverside watch-house, listening to talk of
- [Joanna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/joanna.md): Joanna has lived as Willems' wife under the protection of her mother and brother Leonard, tolerated rather than loved, guarded from every bodily hurt but never from his disdain. When his ruin arrives she does not weep as
- [Omar el Badavi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/omar_el_badavi.md): Omar el Badavi was once a rover of the islands and now sits blind and venerable in the settlement, his daughter Aissa tending him while Arab traders like Abdulla pass through his enclosure. He is a figure of remembered v
- [Ali](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/ali.md): Almayer's Malay servant and occasional messenger.
- [Rajah Patalolo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/patalolo.md): The old Rajah of Sambir, father of Lakamba's rival.
- [Hudig](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/hudig.md): A wealthy merchant in Macassar who employs Willems.
- [Mr. Vinck](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/mr_vinck.md): A clerk in Hudig's office in Macassar.
- [Leonard da Souza](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/an_outcast_of_the_islands_se/characters/leonard_da_souza.md): Joanna's brother, who helps her search for Willems.

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