# Journey to the Center of the Earth — Character guide

> Key figures in Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

- [Axel Liedenbrock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/narrator_axel.md): A reluctant young narrator torn between his uncle's volcanic ambition and his own terror, Axel records every wonder and dread of the descent into the Earth.
- [Professor Otto Liedenbrock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/professor_liedenbrock.md): An imperious geologist who treats a runic cipher as a summons, dragging his nephew and a silent Icelander toward a crater he believes leads to the planet's core.
- [Hans Bjelke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/hans_bjelke.md): A taciturn Icelandic guide whose wordless competence and unshakable calm make him the expedition's true anchor beneath the Earth.
- [Gräuben](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/grauben.md): Axel's gentle, clear-eyed beloved, whose quiet courage and matter-of-fact faith in science push him toward the adventure he dreads.
- [Arne Saknussemm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/arne_saknussemm.md): A sixteenth-century Icelandic alchemist whose coded runes, hidden in an ancient manuscript, map a route no living man has dared to follow.
- [Martha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/martha.md): The Liedenbrock household servant who worries about the Professor and Axel during their absence.
- [M. Fridrikssen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/m_fridrikssen.md): A professor of natural sciences in Reykjavik who assists the explorers with local knowledge.
- [M. Thomsen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/m_thomsen.md): The Danish consul in Reykjavik who provides letters of introduction and hospitality.
- [Baron Trampe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/baron_trampe.md): The governor of Iceland who receives the explorers and offers official assistance.
- [Captain of the Valkyria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/captain_of_valkyria.md): The commander of the Danish schooner that transports the explorers to Iceland.
- [M. Ruhmkorff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/ruhmkorff.md): A German inventor whose electric device is used for illumination during the underground journey.
- [Scartaris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters/scartaris.md): A mountain peak whose shadow is mentioned in Saknussemm's instructions for timing the descent.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/journey_to_the_center_of_the_earth_se/characters