# Lieutenant Klenze — Short Fiction character guide

> Lieutenant Klenze in Short Fiction by H. P. Lovecraft.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Klenze, poor Klenze, the madman Klenze

**First appearance:** 0028-the-temple

## Snapshot

A German U-boat officer whose mind fractures at sea, leaving him raving of a pursuer beneath the waves that no depth charge can reach.

## Who they are

Klenze commands a wartime submarine whose crew watches him unravel as something in the water begins following the boat. His terror is not cowardice but recognition — he alone seems to understand what is hunting them, and his shipmates dismiss his warnings as madness. His collapse turns the vessel itself into a trap, making every man aboard doubt whether the enemy is British, German, or something older.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Lieutenant Klenze is a military or police officer who interacts with the narrator in an official capacity, often regarding investigations of strange events.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Lieutenant Klenze is a military or police officer who interacts with the narrator in an official capacity, often regarding investigations of strange events.

## In the story

### [The Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se/chapters/the-temple)

A deceased officer who went mad and perished after carrying an ivory image back into the sea; his fate foreshadows the narrator's own.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se/characters/lieutenant_klenze
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_26_se/characters