Character guide

Simplicissimus

major

Also known as Melchior, Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim, young Simplicissimus, Herr Simplicissimus, the good Simplicissimus, poor Simplicissimus

Raised in a Spessart hovel he proudly compares to a prince's palace, Simplicissimus loses home, family, and name in a single raid and is pitched into a war that will remake him repeatedly. His defining tension is between the fool's coat he keeps being handed and the gentleman's lineage he keeps claiming, while greed, fear, and a stubborn appetite for survival pull him from hermit's cell to soldier's camp to fortune and back. His early wanderings—captured, adopted, renamed, exploited—set the novel's pattern: a blank soul onto whom the age writes its worst and funniest lessons.

Ulrich Herzbruder

supporting

Also known as old Herzbruder, young Herzbruder, the honest Herzbruder, good old Herzbruder, So poor Ulrich

Herzbruder moves through the war as a man of faith and conscience in a profession that rewards neither, bound to Simplicissimus by a friendship that outlasts their changing fortunes. His defining tension is between the honest life he wants and the miserable straits his goodness keeps landing him in—released from a musket here, stripped of everything there. He matters because he gives Simplicissimus something the war never does: a fixed point of moral reference against which the hero's own sliding scale can be measured.

Oliver

supporting

Also known as the traitorous Oliver

Oliver is the war's darker apprenticeship: a marauder whose hut, tree-cache of money, and casual violence introduce Simplicissimus to the economics of theft and the fragility of trust. His defining trait is a self-interest so pure it becomes almost instructive—he is the lesson Simplicissimus must survive rather than the friend he wants. His fate at the hands of pursuing musketeers, and the peasant who betrays him for his hidden gold, launch the hero into his first real fortune and his first real taste of how quickly a companion becomes a corpse.

The Governor

supporting

Also known as the Governor, The governor

The Governor stands at the hinge between Simplicissimus's vagabond years and his life as a paid, uniformed servant of a Protestant war machine. He represents the institutional war—bureaucratic, watchful, and always awake to its own affairs—and his decision to employ the boy gives the hero his first stable footing and his first taste of rank and favor. His importance lies in that sponsorship: without the Governor's household, Simplicissimus's later rise through plunder, disguise, and fortune would have no base to fall from.

The Hermit

supporting

The Hermit is Simplicissimus's first real teacher and the source of the name Melchior, pulling the feral child out of the forest and into a world of scripture, discipline, and a faith the war will spend the rest of the book testing. His defining tension is between the peace he has chosen and the violence he cannot keep out—he shelters the boy precisely because the world outside has become unbearable. His death, early and formative, gives Simplicissimus both a moral inheritance and a wound, and sets the spiritual question the novel keeps circling: whether a soul can stay good in a land at war.

Jupiter

supporting

Also known as great Jupiter

Jupiter attaches himself to Simplicissimus as a companion and self-appointed oracle, lucid for weeks at a time and then gone again into his divine delusion. His defining irony is that the man everyone calls mad is the one who tells the hero to give his blood-money away, warning that gold breeds envy, murder, and care—advice Simplicissimus's greed refuses. He matters because he voices the novel's recurring judgment on wealth and self-interest at exactly the moment the hero's fortune makes that judgment hardest to hear.

Springinsfeld

supporting

Springinsfeld belongs to the wandering, plundering world of the Thirty Years' War, a man who has learned to survive by his wits rather than by birth or virtue. Where Simplicissimus stumbles through life with rustic innocence, Springinsfeld moves through it with practiced guile, trading on charm, opportunism, and a soldier's hardened pragmatism. His companionship sharpens the novel's central contrast between natural simplicity and worldly corruption, and his escapades pull the young hero deeper into the picaresque adventures that define the book's middle stretch.

The Huntsman of Soest

minor

Also known as Soest, The Huntsman, the Huntsman, Huntsman

A legendary marksman and trickster whose exploits Simplicissimus hears of.

Monsieur Canard

minor

Also known as the good Canard

A French quack doctor and stage player who employs Simplicissimus.

Governor Ramsay

minor

Also known as Ramsay, Susanna Ramsay

A Scottish governor and father of Susanna, involved in Simplicissimus's marriage.

Count von der Wahl

minor

Also known as the Count von der Wahl, the said Count von der Wahl, Count von Wahl

A nobleman and military commander who employs Simplicissimus as a page.

Torstensohn

minor

A Swedish general mentioned in the narrative of the war.

Count Götz

minor

Also known as General Count Götz, Count von Götz, the said Count Götz

A German general and military leader during the Thirty Years' War.

Duke Bernhard of Weimar

minor

Also known as Weimar

A prominent Protestant general in the Thirty Years' War.

Count Mansfeld

minor

Also known as Mansfeld

A famous military commander of the early Thirty Years' War.

Hans Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen

minor

Also known as Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, Jacob, Hans

The author, who appears as a character in the framing narrative.

Simon Meron

minor

A carpenter who is shipwrecked with Simplicissimus and becomes his companion.

The Mummelsee

minor

Also known as the Wonderful Mummelsee, Mummelsee

A magical lake spirit who guides Simplicissimus to the center of the earth.

Burchiello

minor

A character encountered during Simplicissimus's travels in Italy.

Jean Cornelissen of Harlem

minor

Also known as Jean Cornelissen, Cornelissen

A Dutch painter whose works are mentioned in the narrative.

Ghirlandus

minor

A character referenced in the context of Simplicissimus's adventures.

John of Hembach

minor

Also known as Hembach

A minor character appearing in the narrative.

Antonio Quevara

minor

Also known as the Franciscan friar Quevara, Quevara

A Franciscan friar whose writings are cited in the text.

Daniel St. André

minor

Also known as St. André, Daniel

A character encountered in Simplicissimus's later travels.

Herr von Schönstein

minor

A nobleman mentioned in the context of Simplicissimus's service.

The Provost Marshal

minor

Also known as the wicked old Provost Marshal, Provost, the Provost

A cruel military official who torments soldiers.

Jump-i'-th'-field

minor

Also known as Jump, Whereupon Jump

A soldier known for his leaping ability, a minor character.

Robert Fitzroy Bell

minor

Also known as Anna, Ann, Mary

A character mentioned in the later part of the book.

Hading

minor

A minor character mentioned in the story.

Torquemada

minor

A historical figure referenced in the text.

Ganymede

minor

Also known as Dear Ganymede, dear Ganymede

A mythological figure mentioned in the narrative.

The Branntwein

minor

Also known as Branntwein

A personification or character associated with brandy.

Wesel

minor

A location personified or a character associated with the town.

Wallenstein

minor

The imperial generalissimo, a major figure in the war's background.

Count Adam Terzky

minor

Also known as Adam

A nobleman and associate of Wallenstein mentioned in the story.

Tittmann

minor

A character mentioned in passing during the narrative.

The Accurate Dahlmann

minor

A character referenced in the narrative.

Fortunatus

minor

A legendary figure whose story is alluded to.

Rehnen

minor

A minor character mentioned in the narrative.