The Coming Race · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
The Narrator
major
Also known as Unknown, the stranger
He enters the Vril-ya commonwealth as a curiosity — a Tish, or inferior being — and narrates everything through the double lens of wonder and dread. His growing conviction that these people could one day destroy the surface world gives his account its anxious, prophetic edge. What keeps him sympathetic is his honesty about his own fear, vanity, and helplessness in a society where he is at once guest, specimen, and potential threat.
Zee
major
Also known as Zee
Zee is a Gy of high standing whose intellect and command of vril set her apart, yet she is drawn to the narrator with a tenderness that startles even her. Her affection collides with her people's contempt for a Tish, and she knows the cost of that preference better than he does. When the Silent Hours come, she proves that her loyalty outlasts any hope of being loved in return.
Taë
supporting
Also known as Taë
Taë is still a child by Vril-ya reckoning, which makes him the one native who treats the narrator without ceremony or suspicion. He invites the stranger on walks, sings with the young Gy-ei, and speaks with unsettling frankness about death and emigration. His gravity — and his willingness to plead for the narrator's life — turns a casual friendship into one of the story's quiet moral hinges.
Aph-Lin
supporting
Also known as Aph, Aph - Lin
Aph-Lin is a man of property and standing whose household becomes the narrator's refuge, but his protection comes with conditions — the stranger is never to wander alone or speak freely of the upper world. He is courteous, calculating, and quietly aware that his daughter Zee's attachment to a Tish could end in a flash of vril. His caution shapes the narrator's confinement and, eventually, the deliberations over his fate.
Bra
minor
Also known as Bra
A Vril-ya sage and philosopher who explains their society.
Gy
minor
Also known as A Gy, a Gy, the Gy, the Gy - ei, the young Gy, the tall Gy, The young Gy
A female Vril-ya child who interacts with the narrator.
Tur
minor
Also known as Tur, the Tur, The Tur
A Vril-ya official or leader mentioned in the narrative.
Koom-Posh
minor
Also known as Koom, Koom - Posh, a Koom - Posh, the Koom - Posh
A Vril-ya title or character associated with governance.
Krek
minor
Also known as Krek
A Vril-ya individual mentioned briefly in the story.
