Character guide

T.E. Lawrence

major

Also known as Unknown, I., myself, mine

He arrives in the revolt as an outsider and becomes its indispensable synthesizer, welding Feisal's scattered raids into a coherent campaign while riding, eating, and suffering alongside the tribesmen. Yet the closer the Arabs come to Damascus, the more sharply he feels his own doubleness: at the moment of their triumph he hears a call to prayer and recognizes that the joy is theirs alone. His fractured loyalty—to England, to the Arabs, to his own dissolving sense of self—is the engine of the book's moral weather.

Emir Feisal

major

Also known as Feisal, Sherif Feisal, the Sherif, Emir

Feisal is the political and spiritual center of the Arab movement, the son of Sherif Hussein whose lieutenants—Nasir, Sharraf, Ali—execute his plans with head and heart. He carries the revolt's contradictions: a leader who needs Lawrence's synthesis but insists the Arabs justify their renown themselves, and whose patience with tribal politics is both his strength and his daily trial. Without his willingness to hold disparate sheikhs together, the campaign would scatter into unrelated incidents.

Auda abu Tayi

major

Also known as Auda, old Auda, the abu Tayi

Auda is the revolt's most feared tribal commander, a man whose name alone can bring Howeitat riders to the charge, but whose sense of honor is so raw that a single recalled gibe can drive him bitter from Feisal's tent. He measures himself against every other leader, resents slights real and imagined, and yet delivers the plateau at Aba el Lissan when shamed into it. His volatility is the campaign's constant risk and its occasional decisive weapon.

Sherif Hussein

supporting

Also known as Hussein, King Hussein, the martyred Hussein

Hussein is the revolt's origin and its absent center: the father whose authority legitimizes Feisal, Ali, and Nasir, but whose decisions reach the front only as rumor and instruction. His lineage—descended from the Prophet's family, respected second only to the Emirs of Mecca—gives the movement its claim to speak for Arab Islam. The sons he sends into the field must translate his ambition into victories he will never witness firsthand.

Sherif Ali ibn el Hussein

supporting

Also known as Ali, Sherif Ali, young Ali

Ali is one of the Sherifian brothers whose presence turns a tribal raid into a movement with dynastic weight. He operates in the northern theater, far from Feisal's immediate circle, and his authority rests on the same Hashimite lineage that gives the revolt its claim to speak for Arab Islam. The campaign's early–middle arc depends on men like him holding distant fronts while Feisal and Lawrence concentrate on the Hejaz railway and the march toward Damascus.

Sherif Nasir

supporting

Also known as Nasir, Poor Nasir, the gracious aristocratic Nasir

Nasir is the revolt's opener of roads: a man of gardens and sensitive eyes who has been at war since boyhood and whose record from Medina to Aleppo is, in Lawrence's telling, unblemished. He supports Feisal as second in command and leads the expeditions that carry the movement north, his aristocratic ease masking the strain of endless campaigning. When Lawrence needs companions for the hardest raids, Nasir is the one whose judgment and steadiness he trusts.

General Allenby

supporting

Also known as Allenby, General Allenby, little Allenby

Allenby arrives in Lawrence's narrative as the one man who comes nearest to his longing for a master — an idol 'prismatic with the unmixed self-standing quality of greatness,' before whom ordinary intelligence and imagination look silly. Lawrence admits he had to avoid him, 'not daring to bow down for fear lest he show feet of clay.' As commander-in-chief in Palestine, Allenby is the hinge between the Arab irregular war and British strategy, and his looming presence tests whether Lawrence's revolt can keep its own soul while serving an empire.

Mohammed el Dheilan

supporting

Also known as Mohammed, el Dheilan, Dheilan

Mohammed el Dheilan is the seasoned Howeitat voice at Auda's shoulder, a man whose long black plaits and loose, sensual mouth give him a good-humoured, half-cynical air. His past is a catalogue of expulsions — from Nejd, Kuwait, Hail, and the Sherifian police — each ending in stripes or a knife drawn too publicly. He matters because he embodies the tribal world Lawrence must navigate: loyal when useful, dangerous when slighted, and utterly unsentimental about the causes he serves.

Sherif Abdulla

supporting

Also known as Abdulla, Sherif Abdulla ibn Thawab, Abdulla el Deleimi

Abdulla is one of Feisal's lieutenants, a leader whose instinct is to wait for exact word from his advance-guard before committing his men. Lawrence finds this caution exasperating — 'they knew I was a sham soldier, and took licence to hesitate over my advice' — and simply rides off to prejudge the matter himself. His presence in the early campaigns shows the friction between Arab command culture and Lawrence's improvised, forward-leaning style, and his reports from the front shape how the revolt's battles are understood.

Nuri Shaalan

supporting

Also known as Nuri, old Nuri Shaalan, the Shaalan

Nuri Shaalan presides over the Ruwalla as a brooding, mean, but brave patriarch, surrounded by sons and retainers like the Khaffaji and the laughing boy Bender. When Lawrence refuses Bender's plea to join his bodyguard, Nuri's sombre look meets his 'in approval' — a small, wordless signal that the alliance is holding. His tribe is one of the great prizes of the northern campaign, and Feisal and Lawrence work the council like a double act, melting the Rualla with 'a touch and a word.'

Joyce

supporting

Also known as Young, Young for Joyce

Joyce belongs to the small cadre of British officers who translate the Arab revolt's scattered raids into something an army can actually sustain. He is the quiet counterweight to Lawrence's theatrical self-invention — a man of logistics, liaison, and patient coordination among tribes and generals who otherwise share nothing. His presence in the narrative marks the unglamorous scaffolding of the campaign, the part of the war that does not make it into the poetry but without which the poetry could not be written.

Ibn Zaal

minor

Also known as Zaal, Ibn Zaal

A Howeitat sheikh and fierce warrior, often fighting alongside Auda.

Emir Abd el Kader el Jezairi

minor

Also known as Abd el Kader, the Emir

An Algerian Emir who causes trouble among the Arab forces.

Sherif Zeid

supporting

Also known as Zeid, Emir Zeid, young Zeid

Zeid is the youngest of the Sherifian brothers in the field, a commander whose instinct is to wait for confirmation before moving his men. At Tafileh, Lawrence wants him forward at once, but Zeid insists on exact word from Abdulla; Lawrence, exasperated, rides off to the front alone and plants Zeid's Ageyl on the skyline as a makeshift reserve. His caution is not cowardice but a different theory of command, and his presence shows how much of the revolt's success depended on Lawrence's willingness to act without permission.

Gasim abu Dumeik

minor

Also known as Gasim

A Howeitat tribesman who becomes a notable figure in Lawrence's journey.

Guy Dawnay

minor

Also known as Dawnay, Roberts, Guy Dawnay

A British staff officer involved in planning the Arab campaign.

Farraj

supporting

Farraj belongs to the small, ragged band of Arab irregulars who ride with Lawrence on raids, where he and his companion Daud are the ringleaders of every mischief. Punishment only irritates his muscles into wilder activity, and his refusal to yield on the hot rocks reveals a master-spirit wrapped in soft form. To Lawrence he is one of the sunlit beings on whom the world's shadow has not yet fallen, and his fate shadows the campaign's cost.

Nuri Said

minor

Also known as Nuri, Nuri Pasha Said

An Iraqi officer who serves as a staff officer in the Arab army.

Sherif Shakir

minor

Also known as Shakir

A Sherif and relative of Feisal, known for his energy and loyalty.

Colonel Bremond

minor

Also known as Bremond

The French military representative in the Hejaz, often at odds with Lawrence.

General Clayton

minor

Also known as Clayton

British intelligence chief in Cairo, Lawrence's superior.

Awad

minor

A Howeitat tribesman and guide, known for his endurance.

Tallal

minor

A sheikh of the Beni Sakhr tribe, a fierce fighter.

Nesib el Bekri

minor

Also known as Nesib, the notorious Nesib

A Syrian nationalist and Arab officer, often difficult to work with.

Tafas el Raashid

minor

Also known as Tafas, old Tafas

An old and respected sheikh of the Beni Sakhr.

George Lloyd

minor

Also known as Lloyd

A British politician and intelligence officer who visits the Arab front.

General Chauvel

minor

Also known as Chauvel

Australian general commanding the Desert Mounted Corps.

Sherif Abd el Kerim el Beidawi

minor

Also known as Abd el Kerim, ibn Beidawi

A Sherif and leader of the Beni Atiyeh tribe.

Sergeant Stokes

minor

Also known as Stokes

A British sergeant who operates a machine gun with the Arabs.

Colonel Buxton

minor

Also known as Buxton

British officer commanding a camel corps unit.

Ronald Storrs

minor

Also known as Storrs

British oriental secretary in Cairo, instrumental in early Arab contacts.

Nash

minor

Also known as Abdulla

A British officer serving with the Arab forces.

Colonel Newcombe

minor

Also known as Newcombe

British officer who leads early sabotage missions on the Hejaz railway.

Maulud el Mukhlus

minor

Also known as Maulud, old Maulud

An Iraqi officer and loyal commander in Feisal's army.

Sheikh Mifleh

minor

Also known as Mifleh, Mifleh el Gomaan

A sheikh of the Beni Sakhr tribe, known for his thrift.

Rasim

minor

A loyal Arab soldier and machine-gunner in Lawrence's unit.

Sheikh Fahad el Hansha

minor

Also known as Fahad, the eager Fahad

A sheikh of the Beni Sakhr, eager for battle.

Colonel Wilson

minor

Also known as Wilson

British governor of Jeddah and liaison with Sherif Hussein.

Alan Dawnay

minor

Also known as Dawnay, the unwearied Dawnay

A British staff officer who helps organize the Arab regular army.

Sheikh Talal el Hareidhin

minor

Also known as Talal el Hareidhin, Talal

A sheikh of the Beni Sakhr, involved in the Dead Sea campaign.

General Barrow

minor

Also known as Barrow

British general commanding a division in Palestine.

Daud

minor

Also known as Daud the hasty

Lawrence's young servant, companion to Farraj.

Sherif Abdulla el Feir

minor

Also known as Abdulla el Feir, Sherif Abdulla

A Sherif who commands a force in the Arab army.

Sherif Sharraf

minor

Also known as Sharraf, the outraged Sherif Sharraf

A Sherif who commands a force and is known for his pride.

Peake

minor

A British officer who helps train the Arab regular army.

Bartholomew

minor

A British officer involved in mapping and intelligence.

Jaafar Pasha

minor

Also known as Jaafar

A former Ottoman officer who becomes commander of the Arab regular army.

Captain Pisani

minor

Also known as Pisani

A French artillery officer who serves with the Arab forces.

Jemal Pasha

minor

Also known as Jemal, Ahmed Jemal Pasha

The Turkish governor of Syria and a key enemy commander.

Turki

minor

Also known as Little Turki

A young Sherif and relative of Feisal.

Lewis

minor

A British officer who commands a machine-gun section.

Enver Pasha

minor

Also known as Enver

A leading Turkish politician and war minister.

Fakhri Pasha

minor

Also known as Fakhri

The Turkish commander defending Medina.

General Lynden Bell

minor

Also known as Lynden Bell, Belinda

A British general commanding a division in Palestine.

Sir Reginald Wingate

minor

Also known as Wingate, General Wingate

British High Commissioner in Egypt, supporting the Arab revolt.

Old Dakhil-Allah

minor

Also known as Dakhil-Allah, ibn Dakhil

An old and trusted guide in the desert.

Captain Boyle

minor

Also known as Boyle, Ginger Boyle

A British naval officer commanding the Red Sea patrol.

Sheikh Yusuf

minor

Also known as Yusuf

A sheikh of the Juheina tribe.

Saleh ibn Shefia

minor

Also known as Saleh, ibn Shefia

A sheikh of the Beni Atiyeh tribe.

Rahail

minor

Also known as young Rahail

A young tribesman who serves as a guide and fighter.

Sir Henry McMahon

minor

Also known as McMahon, the unfortunate McMahon

British High Commissioner in Egypt who corresponded with Sherif Hussein.

Khallaf

minor

A Bedouin tribesman and fighter.

Abdullah

minor

A common name; possibly a minor tribesman or servant.

Aziz el Masri

minor

Also known as Aziz

An Egyptian officer who briefly served as Feisal's chief of staff.

Mohammed Said

minor

Also known as the Emir Mohammed Said

A sheikh of the Howeitat, rival to Auda.

Lord Winterton

minor

Also known as Winterton

A British officer who serves with the Arab forces.

Sherif Mastur

minor

Also known as Mastur

A Sherif who commands a force in the Arab army.

Metaab

minor

Also known as young Metaab

A young sheikh of the Beni Sakhr.

Air Vice-Marshal Salmond

minor

Also known as Salmond, General Salmond

British air commander who supports the Arab advance.

General Bols

minor

Also known as Bols

British general, chief of staff to Allenby.

Stirling

minor

A British officer serving as a liaison with the Arabs.

Wodheiha

minor

A Howeitat woman who aids Lawrence and his party.

Tewfik Bey

minor

Also known as Tewfik, Ahmed Tewfik Bey, the Bey

A Turkish officer who defects and joins the Arab cause.

Junor

minor

A British officer serving with the Arab forces.

Eshref Bey

minor

Also known as Eshref

A Turkish officer captured by the Arabs.

Hamed the Moor

minor

Also known as Hamed

A Moroccan soldier in the Arab army, known for his strength.

Mustafa Kemal

minor

Also known as Mustafa, young Mustafa

A Turkish officer, later Ataturk, who fights against the Arabs.

Ali Riza Pasha

minor

Also known as Ali Riza, Ali

A former Ottoman officer who joins the Arab administration.

Kennington

minor

A British officer and artist who accompanies the Arab army.

Ferhan el Aida

minor

Also known as Ferhan

A sheikh of the Aida tribe.

Zeki

minor

An Arab officer or tribesman.

Hughes-Stanton

minor

A British officer serving with the Arab forces.

Captain Snagge

minor

Also known as Snagge

A British officer involved in river transport.