Character guide

Tarzan

major

Also known as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes, Man, Monsieur Tarzan

Tarzan grows up among the tribe of Kerchak, mastering the knife, the bow, and the language of beasts, yet he is neither fully ape nor fully man. When white strangers are marooned near his parents' old cabin, he secretly protects them, drawn especially to Jane Porter, whose kiss sears a brand into his soul and makes him long for a world he has never known. His divided nature—savage killer and yearning heir—drives the story's central question of whether he can ever belong among his own kind.

Jane Porter

major

Also known as Jane, Miss Jane, Miss Porter

Jane Porter arrives in Africa aboard a treasure-hunting expedition and finds herself abandoned on a savage shore with her father, Clayton, and a superstitious maid. Brave and quick-witted, she is drawn to the mysterious forest man who saves her life, even as she struggles to reconcile his wildness with the polished world she comes from. Her kiss in the jungle transforms Tarzan irrevocably, and her refusal to abandon him when rescue ships arrive proves she is as loyal as she is curious.

John Clayton

supporting

Also known as Clayton, Monsieur Clayton, young Clayton

Lord Greystoke arrives in Africa on a colonial posting, only to be abandoned by mutinous sailors on a hostile shore. Resourceful and dignified, he constructs a cabin from salvaged ship's timber and journals their ordeal, never suspecting that the infant he leaves behind will be raised by apes. His brief, tragic presence establishes the inheritance Tarzan unknowingly carries—a title, a name, and a fate that will eventually collide with his wild son's destiny.

William Cecil Clayton

supporting

Also known as Mr. William Cecil Clayton, Cecil Clayton, Cecil, Mister Clayton

Clayton is everything Tarzan is not: educated, well-mannered, and comfortable in drawing rooms, yet he proves surprisingly brave when the party is stranded in Africa. He genuinely cares for Jane and believes himself the legitimate Lord Greystoke, making his rivalry with Tarzan both romantic and existential. His presence sharpens the novel's tension between inherited privilege and natural nobility, forcing readers to ask which man truly deserves the title and the woman.

Lieutenant D'Arnot

supporting

Also known as D'Arnot, Paul d'Arnot, Paul, Paul D'Arnot

D'Arnot arrives in Africa with a French cruiser searching for survivors and is soon taken prisoner by a savage tribe, where Tarzan finds him near death. Grateful and perceptive, he recognizes the ape-man's humanity and undertakes the patient work of teaching him French, manners, and the ways of men. His friendship gives Tarzan a foothold in civilization and a companion who understands his divided heart, making D'Arnot essential to the novel's movement from jungle to drawing room.

Professor Porter

supporting

Also known as Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, Porter, Professor

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter is a white-haired academic so absorbed in scholarly debate that he barely notices the cannibals, lions, and mutineers surrounding him. His obsession with the treasure that brought them to Africa blinds him to practical dangers, yet his gentle eccentricity and devotion to Jane soften what could be mere comic relief. He represents the civilized mind utterly out of its element, and his presence forces Jane to be the practical anchor of the stranded party.

Samuel T. Philander

supporting

Also known as Mr. Philander, Philander, Skinny Philander, Skinny

Philander is the long-suffering companion and foil to Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, dragged along on the expedition that strands the Porter party in Africa. His testy relationship with the professor — decades of devotion punctuated by icy threats and boyhood nicknames like 'Skinny' — reveals two old friends who have forgotten how to be human with each other. When a lion traps them in a tree, their squabble over cowardice and credit becomes one of the novel's funniest and most tender scenes, and their rescue by an unseen agency plants the first hint that something extraordinary watches from the branches.

Esmeralda

supporting

Also known as the still shrieking Esmeralda, poor Esmeralda, The ubiquitous Esmeralda

Esmeralda is Jane's constant attendant, a woman whose terror at the African wilderness is as loud as it is sincere. When a manlike beast snatches Jane from beside her, Esmeralda's scream mingles with her mistress's before she swoons — and that scream is what brings Tarzan racing through the trees. Her helplessness throws Jane's own composure into sharp relief and gives Tarzan his first trail to follow, making the frightened maid an accidental hinge on which the rescue turns.

Kerchak

supporting

Also known as old Kerchak the Ape, old Kerchak

Kerchak rules the anthropoid tribe into which Tarzan is adopted, a brute monarch whose authority rests on strength and fear. He is jealous of Tarzan's cunning and growing prowess, and his 'little evil brain' searches constantly for a pretext to destroy the white ape who shames his band. His suspicion shadows Tarzan's childhood and young manhood, forcing the boy to prove himself again and again — and when Kala defies him to keep her adopted son, Kerchak's grudging tolerance becomes the fragile truce on which Tarzan's place in the tribe depends.

Kala

supporting

Also known as V The White Ape Tenderly Kala

Kala is Tarzan's ape mother, a fine young female who found the infant Lord Greystoke and refused every demand to abandon him. Against her husband Tublat's insistence that the slow, hairless child is a burden, and against Kerchak's authority, she threatens to leave the tribe rather than give him up. Her fierce, unshakable devotion gives Tarzan the only family he knows and the safety in which his extraordinary mind and body can develop — and her patient care is the reason the jungle ever has a Tarzan at all.

Robert Canler

supporting

Also known as Mr. Canler, Canler, Mr. Robert Canler

Canler is the well-heeled American who wants to marry Jane, a match that would solve the Porter family's financial troubles and which Jane herself does not love. He moves through the civilized world of the novel with the ease of money and manners, standing as the safe, conventional future Jane is expected to accept. His pursuit of her sharpens the contrast with the wild, impossible figure of Tarzan, and the pressure he applies to the Porter household makes Jane's eventual choice between two utterly different lives the emotional crux of the story's later movement.

Terkoz

supporting

Also known as the redoubtable Terkoz

Terkoz is the tribe's resident bully, a savage brute who beats an old female to provoke Tarzan and who would be chosen leader the moment Tarzan stepped aside. His hatred of the ape-man is personal and relentless, and their rivalry forces Tarzan to remain king long after he wishes to renounce the role. When the two finally fight hand to hand, Terkoz's fangs and strength nearly finish the young lord — and only Tarzan's human reason, the 'little spark' that separates man from brute, turns the battle. His savagery is the measure against which Tarzan's growing humanity is taken.

Sabor

supporting

Also known as old Sabor, the crafty Sabor, mighty Sabor

Sabor prowls the jungle as the predator every ape and villager dreads, a name mothers use to frighten children into obedience. She is the primal threat against which Tarzan's courage is measured, the beast whose memory Kala used to soothe her frightened ape-son, and whose kind he must outwit to survive. When Jane shudders in Tarzan's arms, it is Sabor and Histah the snake she is comforted against — proof that even safety in this wild world is defined by what hunts nearby.

Lady Alice

minor

Also known as Alice, the Lady Alice

Tarzan's mother, dies of grief after being marooned.

Tublat

minor

Also known as old Tublat

Kala's mate, a fierce ape who hates Tarzan.

Kulonga

minor

Son of Mbonga, killed by Tarzan in revenge for Kala's death.

Mbonga

minor

Also known as wise old Mbonga

Chief of the cannibal village in the jungle.

Black Michael

minor

Mutineer who sets the Claytons adrift.

Lieutenant Charpentier

minor

Also known as Charpentier

French officer wounded in a duel with Tarzan.

Captain Dufranne

minor

French naval captain who aids the search party.

Snipes

minor

Sailor on the ship that rescues the castaways.

Tantor

minor

Also known as Old Tantor

The elephant, a recurring jungle presence.

Numa

minor

Also known as the baffled Numa, Monsieur Numa, Madame Numa

The lion, a constant threat in the jungle.

Sheeta

minor

Also known as cruel Sheeta

The leopard, a dangerous jungle predator.

Gaberelle

minor

Also known as O Gaberelle

A French sailor who dies in the jungle.

Tarrant

minor

A sailor on the expedition to find the castaways.

Mirando

minor

A sailor on the ship that rescues the castaways.

Tobey

minor

A sailor on the ship that rescues the castaways.

Captain Billings

minor

Also known as Billings

Captain of the ship that rescues the castaways.

Reverend Mr. Tousley

minor

Also known as Mr. Tousley

A clergyman who appears briefly in the story.