# The Chessmen of Mars — Character guide

> Key figures in The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

- [Tara of Helium](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/tara_of_helium.md): Tara of Helium moves through her father's palace trailed by suitors she refuses to take seriously, dismissing Djor Kantos's devotion as mere friendship with her brother. When she is captured and sold into slavery, her im
- [Gahan of Gathol](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/gahan_of_gathol.md): Gahan of Gathol is a ruler who would rather earn a woman's love than command it, so he sheds his identity and serves as a nameless wandering warrior. His pride and his secret cut both ways: Tara, not knowing who he is, t
- [Turan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/turan.md): Turan the panthan is a mercenary with no land and no lord, which makes him invisible to the highborn — exactly what he needs. He attaches himself to Tara's fate with a devotion that seems inexplicable for a hired blade, 
- [Ghek](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/ghek.md): Ghek belongs to a race that has abandoned individual feeling for cold collective efficiency, his kind treating their own bodies as disposable mounts. Exiled or estranged from that logic, he becomes fascinated by Tara's f
- [O-Tar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/o_tar.md): O-Tar rules Manator through fear and self-regard, but when danger touches him personally his nerve fails, and his own nobles watch him choose humiliation over courage. He has taken the unwilling Princess Haja and persecu
- [Luud](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/luud.md): The chief of the kaldanes in Bantoom, a powerful brain creature.
- [A-Kor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/a_kor.md): A-Kor is a Manatorian noble of conscience in a court ruled by a tyrant, and his refusal to bend has landed him in the pits alongside the very strangers he will help. U-Thor demands his release before the assembled jeds, 
- [U-Dor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/u_dor.md): A Manatorian chief who opposes A-Kor.
- [U-Thor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/u_thor.md): The Jed of Manatos, an ally of Gahan.
- [John Carter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/john_carter.md): The Warlord of Barsoom and father of Tara, who appears in the prelude.
- [Tasor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/tasor.md): A Gatholian warrior loyal to Gahan.
- [E-Thas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/e_thas.md): A Manatorian chief who serves O-Tar.
- [I-Gos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/i_gos.md): An old Manatorian who helps the heroes in the pits.
- [Uthia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/uthia.md): A privileged woman of Manator who befriends Tara.
- [Djor Kantos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/djor_kantos.md): A Heliumite warrior and friend of Tara.
- [Val Dor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/val_dor.md): A Heliumite warrior who accompanies Tara's rescue party.
- [Olvia Marthis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/olvia_marthis.md): A noblewoman of Helium and friend of Tara.
- [Lan-O](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/lan_o.md): A Manatorian warrior who serves O-Tar.
- [Floran of Gathol](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/floran_of_gathol.md): A Gatholian warrior loyal to Gahan.
- [Dejah Thoris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_chessmen_of_mars_se/characters/dejah_thoris.md): Princess of Helium and mother of Tara, mentioned but not present.

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