# Jeremiah — The Castle character guide

> Jeremiah in The Castle by Franz Kafka.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Jeremiah

**First appearance:** 0005-iv

## Snapshot

One of K.'s two indistinguishable assistants, who sheds his servant's fear the moment he's dismissed and carries Frieda off to the Herrenhof.

## Who they are

Jeremiah arrives with Arthur as one of K.'s assigned assistants — identical, useless at surveying, and impossible to tell apart, so that K. insists on treating them as a single man. Frieda reveals that Jeremiah was her childhood playmate on the Castle Hill, and that only his service held him back from claiming her; once K. drives the assistants away, that restraint vanishes. His defection turns K.'s private life into a public defeat and exposes how much of K.'s authority in the village was borrowed rather than owned.

## Relationships

### [K.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/k)

_rivalry_

Jeremiah, one of Frieda's former assistants, is openly hostile and competitive with K. for Frieda's affection and status.

### [K.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/k)

_rivalry_

Jeremiah, one of Frieda's former assistants, is openly hostile and competitive with K. for Frieda's affection and status.

### [K.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/k)

_rivalry_

Jeremiah, one of Frieda's former assistants, is openly hostile and competitive with K. for Frieda's affection and status.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/iii)

One of the assistants; watches K. and Frieda with the other assistant.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/xi)

One of the assistants; lies beside K. in the dark, causing K. to strike him; cries after being hit.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/xii)

Jeremiah is one of the assistants who points at K. when asked who broke the woodshed door.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/xvi)

Jeremiah reveals he has taken Frieda from K. and now works as a waiter at the Herrenhof.

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/xvii)

Sneaks into Erlanger's room ahead of K. and Gerstäcker, claiming to be a waiter, and is greeted by Momus.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/chapters/xviii)

Jeremiah is now with Frieda, having taken her from the schoolhouse. K. accuses him of manipulating Frieda for his own purposes.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters/jeremiah
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_castle_se/characters