# Plague of Pythons — Character guide

> Key figures in Plague of Pythons by Frederik Pohl.

- [Chandler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/chandler.md): A reluctant everyman whose body is borrowed like a telephone by distant possessors, he narrates a world where a thousand execs rule two billion slaves.
- [Rosalie Pan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/rosalie_pan.md): A vanished musical-comedy star turned gracious executive, she drives Chandler through Honolulu and gently defends the masters who own everyone's flesh.
- [John Hsi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/john_hsi.md): A leader among the Orphalese resistance, he reads Kahlil Gibran aloud as scripture and turns captured hunters into brothers under the rules of this chessboard.
- [The Girl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/the_girl.md): A watchful young Orphalese who binds newcomers to chairs and tests them for flame spirits, guarding the resistance with cheerful, unsparing suspicion.
- [Koitska](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/koitska.md): A fat, wheezing exec in a leather wheelchair, he tinkers with submillimeter microwaves and coronets while possessed bodies shuffle through his workshop.
- [Guy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/guy.md): An Orphalese elder whose broken jaw keeps him from presiding, he remains the standard Walter hopes to match when reading the Prophet aloud.
- [Peggy Flershem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/peggy_flershem.md): Peggy moves through the story under shifting names—Peggy, Margot, Meg—each tied to a different man's memory or mission. When Chandler is seized mid-assault on her in the culture room, she becomes the living proof that po
- [The Judge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/the_judge.md): When Guy's jaw is broken in the scuffle, Walter takes the rostrum—steel-rimmed glasses, ornate book, a sip of wine—and presides over the strange liturgy of the Orphalese, quoting the Prophet to explain why flame spirits 
- [Ellen Braisted](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/ellen_braisted.md): A named female character with a limited but notable role.
- [Mrs. Porter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/mrs_porter.md): A woman who appears as a narrator or focal character briefly.
- [Walter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/walter.md): A minor character with a few mentions.
- [Jack Souther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/jack_souther.md): A named character with a small role.
- [Meggie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/meggie.md): A minor character, possibly a variant of Peggy.
- [Judge Ellithorp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/judge_ellithorp.md): A specific judge named in the story.
- [Orphalese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/orphalese.md): A group or entity referenced in the narrative.
- [Andrei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/andrei.md): A named character, possibly a false lead.
- [Tripler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/characters/tripler.md): A character mentioned by name.

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