# Short Fiction — Character guide

> Key figures in Short Fiction by Leonid Andreyev.

- [Judas Iscariot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/judas_iscariot.md): Judas of Kerioth travels with Jesus and the disciples, keeping the money chest and testing every village with cynical predictions that keep proving wrong. He craves proof and certainty, yet invents falsehoods faster than
- [Haggart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/haggart.md): Haggart paces a motionless floor like a man imprisoned in a dungeon who does not want to escape, trading barbs and bottles with the old sailor Khorre who once nursed him aboard ship. He longs for a deck dancing under his
- [Father Vassily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/father_vassily.md): Father Vassily presides over a parish and a family equally afflicted—a drunken wife, an idiot son who eats cockroaches, and Nastya, who serves like a scullery maid and loves no one. In the gathering dusk he trades confes
- [The Governor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_governor.md): At a smoky garden fête the Governor tolerates Commissioner Pike's flattery and clumsy spycraft while unease about the workmen gnaws at him. He is loved at home but feared a little and, lately, pitied—his son's blank asto
- [Ivan Yanson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/ivan_yanson.md): Yanson robs and stabs his master, is caught striking matches behind the barn, and arrives in court in a muddy-red shawl with his hair half-plastered down. He seems not to grasp the proceedings, picking his nose and stari
- [Mitrofan Krilov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/mitrofan_krilov.md): Krilov, in an outworn coat with a torn button, adopts the manner of a police spy and finds the role deliciously alarming—strangers shrink from him, and a student girl with a torn black glove freezes under his gaze. He sa
- [The Girl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_girl.md): Natalya Vladimirovna has fallen from respectability into the ranks of "fallen women," and the imagined finger-pointing of acquaintances, students, and officers drives her away from any crowd. Clutching her newborn in a f
- [Khorre](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/khorre.md): Khorre is the frightened, reluctant companion pressed against the church window while Haggart's organ music pours out of the darkness. He complains that his hand is being broken, that he sees nothing, that he understands
- [Mariet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/mariet.md): Innocent in her beauty and silent by nature, Mariet is the woman who shares the narrator's sealed rooms during the days he spends solving chess problems and contemplating a life he holds in his hands. Her devotion is tot
- [Lazarus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/lazarus.md): Lazarus arrives in the empire of the living as an enigma no one can classify: not Christian, not dead, not fully alive, and he tells Augustus only that he was once dead. The Emperor, who boasts of life's harmony and vigo
- [The Popadya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_popadya.md): The Popadya lives inside a family where the son is an idiot who eats cockroaches and the daughter speaks of killing people as calmly as of chores. She drinks heavily, and Nastya says she would kill her too, yet the two o
- [Sergey Golovin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/sergey_golovin.md): Sergey Golovin, once a revolutionary, now answers to "Life" and treats his own existence as a role to be performed with artistic precision. He submits to a psychiatrist's examination as a calculated touch, fondles the ca
- [Sashka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/sashka.md): Sashka survives on bread his father secretly slips him, since his vodka-smelling mother has stopped feeding him altogether after he bit her finger. Bold and indomitable, he refuses to kneel or repent, answering every pun
- [Yura](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/yura.md): Yura Mikhailovich Pushkarev, a meagre, sour-faced teacher in blue spectacles and a worn coat, amuses himself by posing as a spy and watching passengers recoil. The disguise exhilarates him even as it exposes the shabbine
- [Werner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/werner.md): Werner sits in a cell with bolts and a chair screwed to the floor, counting the hours until his execution and expecting dread. Instead, a cold fatigue falls away and he sees life and death as two sparkling seas, and the 
- [Uncle Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/uncle_tom.md): Thomas seeks only the substantial and positive, interrogating Judas about names, witnesses, and proofs until the liar either confesses or invents a more plausible falsehood. Their odd friendship is noisy with vituperatio
- [The Oldest Child](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_oldest_child.md): A child character whose perspective shapes a family narrative.
- [Little Mishka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/little_mishka.md): Little Mishka moves through a world of poverty and neglect, where children are scolded, starved, and made to kneel in corners for hours. Quick and mischievous, he turns his hunger and humiliation into pranks, fights, and
- [Musya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/musya.md): Musya arrives at Matryona's door asking for Katya Nyechayeva, only to learn she has died in the hospital, and kneels on the floor sobbing as she begs someone to take the bundled infant she has nearly smothered. Her gentl
- [Father Ignaty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/father_ignaty.md): Father Vassily moves through his parish and home like a heavy shadow, presiding over a household where his wife drinks and his son eats cockroaches alive. In a hushed winter dialogue with Nastya, who loves no one and say
- [Sashenka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/sashenka.md): Sashka endures cold morning washes, beatings, and hunger, avenging himself on the world through fights, lies, and insolence — but never lies to his father, who secretly feeds him. His mother drinks and beats him; his cop
- [Vasily Kashirin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/vasily_kashirin.md): Kashirin stands as the gravitational center of a household where authority is absolute and tenderness is suspect, his shadow falling across every room and every choice. The passages that name him pulse with the tension b
- [Vladimir Mikhailovich](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/vladimir_mikhailovich.md): A character of some influence, often seen in social settings.
- [Sazonka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/sazonka.md): A minor character appearing in various narrative contexts.
- [Simon Peter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/simon_peter.md): Peter works and sings behind the wall while Judas watches Jesus sleep, oblivious to the betrayal being weighed in the next room. His sturdy, uncomplicated devotion — hammering a new table for the common meal — stands in 
- [Noni](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/noni.md): A child character whose innocence contrasts with adult conflicts.
- [Petrov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/petrov.md): A recurring surname character, often in a supporting role.
- [Liuba](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/liuba.md): Liuba confronts a lover who boasts of never having known a woman, and her fury erupts into blows, scratches, and a torrent of bitter accusation. When he seizes his revolver, she does not even see it — she is already face
- [Petka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/petka.md): Petka travels by train for the first time, his curiosity so palpable that a fellow passenger glowers and Nadejda must apologize for him. He has spent three years with a barber, and the journey opens a world whose vastnes
- [Nastya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/nastya.md): A young girl whose story touches on innocence and loss.
- [The Priest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_priest.md): A generic religious figure appearing in multiple stories.
- [Semyon Vasilyevich Kotel’nikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/semyon_vasilyevich_kotelnikov.md): A character involved in military or administrative affairs.
- [K. Walter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/k_walter.md): A German character with a role in a wartime narrative.
- [Garaska](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/garaska.md): Garaska survives on scraps his father secretly slips him and on the fear he inspires in other boys, having traded school and washing for a liberty that leaves him perpetually on the edge of starvation. His mother, reekin
- [Bargamot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/bargamot.md): Bargamot commands the street by sheer physical authority — tall, stout, strong, a man whose voice carries before his boots do — yet his dealings with the poor and the desperate reveal something softer beneath the uniform
- [Max Z.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/max_z.md): A character with a mysterious or foreign background.
- [Semen Mossyagin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/semen_mossyagin.md): A peasant character facing moral dilemmas.
- [Khinyakov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/khinyakov.md): A minor character appearing in a story of social observation.
- [Alexis Konstantinovich Saveloff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/alexis_konstantinovich_saveloff.md): A murder victim whose death sets a plot in motion.
- [Ivan Porfyritch Koprov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/ivan_porfyritch_koprov.md): A character in a story of bureaucracy or daily life.
- [The Woman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_woman.md): A generic female figure in various narrative contexts.
- [The Minister](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_minister.md): A high-ranking official whose decisions affect others.
- [Ben-Tovit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/ben_tovit.md): A biblical-era character in a story of faith and doubt.
- [Snapper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/snapper.md): A character in a story titled after him, possibly a dog or person.
- [The Artist](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_artist.md): A creative figure whose perspective drives a narrative.
- [Tatiana Nikolayevna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/tatiana_nikolayevna.md): A woman of some social position, involved in personal relationships.
- [Old Dan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/old_dan.md): An elderly character with a story of his own.
- [Pascale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/pascale.md): A character with a foreign name, possibly French.
- [Pavel Petrovich Pospeloff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/pavel_petrovich_pospeloff.md): A character facing misfortune or poverty.
- [Peter Iljitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/peter_iljitch.md): A character in a story of music or personal conflict.
- [Vera](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/vera.md): A female character involved in romantic or family drama.
- [Tanya Kovalchuk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/tanya_kovalchuk.md): A young woman in a story of revolution or personal struggle.
- [Jacov Ivanovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/jacov_ivanovitch.md): A quiet, unassuming character in a domestic setting.
- [Nurse Masha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/nurse_masha.md): A nurse caring for others in a time of need.
- [Zebedee](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/zebedee_john.md): A disciple of Jesus, known as the beloved apostle.
- [Annas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/annas.md): A high priest in the trial of Jesus.
- [The Doctor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/the_doctor.md): A medical professional appearing in various narratives.
- [Senista](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/senista.md): A minor character with limited narrative presence.
- [Dunyasha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/dunyasha.md): A servant or young woman in a domestic setting.
- [Mamma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/mamma.md): A mother figure in a family narrative.
- [Maria Petrovna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/maria_petrovna.md): A woman of some social position.
- [Aurelius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/aurelius.md): A character with a classical Roman name.
- [Nastassja Saasnova](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/nastassja_saasnova.md): A female character with a distinctive name.
- [August Karlovitch Schlippe-Detmold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/august_karlovitch.md): A character with a German-sounding name, possibly a noble.
- [Little Vassya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/little_vassya.md): A young boy in a story of childhood.
- [A Mad Officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/a_mad_officer.md): An unstable military officer causing disruption.
- [Jesus of Nazareth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/jesus_of_nazareth.md): Worn down by daily siege from the Pharisees, Jesus rests while Peter sings and builds a table nearby, unaware of the thirty pieces of silver already counted against him. He is loved with a fierce, almost maternal tendern
- [Mary Magdalene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/mary_magdalene.md): A follower of Jesus, present at key events.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters