# David Innes — At the Earth’s Core character guide > David Innes in At the Earth’s Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs. **Role:** major **Also known as:** David, Innes **First appearance:** 0000-prologue ## Snapshot A young Connecticut mine owner's son who trades a safe inheritance for an impossible journey into the hollow earth and narrates what he finds. ## Who they are David Innes was raised to run his father's mining business, but Perry's iron mole offers him adventure instead of ledgers. He narrates his own story with disarming honesty, admitting he cares more about survival than scientific glory, yet he proves resourceful and brave when captives and captors alike test him. His growing devotion to a woman he meets underground turns a geological lark into a personal quest. ## Relationships ### [Dian the Beautiful](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/characters/dian_the_beautiful) _romantic_ David and Dian share a deep romantic bond, with David risking everything to rescue and be with her. ### [Dian the Beautiful](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/characters/dian_the_beautiful) _romantic_ David and Dian share a deep romantic bond, with David risking everything to rescue and be with her. ## In the story ### [Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/prologue) The man encountered in the Sahara who tells his story of the inner world. ### [I: Toward the Eternal Fires](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/i-toward-the-eternal-fires) Narrator and protagonist; recounts his background and the perilous journey in the Iron Mole. ### [A Strange World](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/ii-a-strange-world) Narrator; revives Perry, explores the landscape, and helps Perry escape the bear-like creature. ### [A Change of Masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/iii-a-change-of-masters) Narrator; uses his baseball pitching skill to defeat a hyaenodon in an arena; is captured and later chained with other human prisoners. ### [IV: Dian the Beautiful](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/iv-dian-the-beautiful) Learns the language of the captives from Dian; feels protective of her and regrets his unintended affront; uses Perry's prayers to bluff the Sagoths. ### [Slaves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/v-slaves) Plans escape, considers killing Mahars, grows determined to find Dian. ### [The Beginning of Horror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/vi-the-beginning-of-horror) Narrator; fears Dian is the captured woman, feels relief when she is not; separated in the stampede. ### [VII: Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/vii-freedom) Narrator and protagonist; escapes Phutra, struggles with guilt over Perry, and shows compassion by saving his pursuer from a sea serpent. ### [The Mahar Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/viii-the-mahar-temple) Narrator; escapes the Mahar temple and meets Ja. ### [IX: The Face of Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/ix-the-face-of-death) Narrator and protagonist; awakens on island, finds canoe, returns to mainland, and is saved from labyrinthodon by Ja. ### [Phutra Again](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/x-phutra-again) Determined to return to Phutra to rescue Perry and Dian; attempts to teach Ja about gravity and the outer world. ### [XI: Four Dead Mahars](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/xi-four-dead-mahars) Sentenced to the experimental pits, escapes, kills four Mahars, and discovers the Great Secret. ### [Pursuit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/xii-pursuit) Narrates the escape from Phutra and the flight toward Sari; wounded in the arm, he uses a Mahar skin disguise and a dead Mahar head to intimidate a Sagoth guard. ### [The Sly One](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/xiii-the-sly-one) Narrator and protagonist; sacrifices himself to lead Sagoths away from Ghak and Perry; kills two Sagoths with bow and arrow. ### [The Garden of Eden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/xiv-the-garden-of-eden) Explores and settles in a valley, returns to confront Dian, and fights Jubal to protect her. ### [Back to Earth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/chapters/xv-back-to-earth) Returns to the outer world, prepares to journey back to Pellucidar, leads a battle against Sagoths and Mahars, and later disappears; his fate remains unknown. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/characters/david_innes - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/at_the_earth_s_core_se/characters