Character guide

Ralph Rover

major

Also known as Ralph, Rover

Ralph is the tale's narrator and the middle presence between Jack's command and Peterkin's comedy, a boy whose shipmates nicknamed him Rover for the wanderlust that rules him. That same passion that drives him to sea also strands him, and his open, observant temperament turns the island into a place of genuine discovery rather than mere survival. His voice is what makes the early chapters feel like an invitation: curious, candid, and hungry for whatever lies past the reef.

Jack Martin

major

Also known as Jack, Whereupon Jack

Jack is Ralph's first friend aboard ship and the eldest of the three boys, a general favourite whose firm, good-humoured face and quiet disposition mask decisive action. He takes charge without fuss, whether showing a new messmate his berth or sizing up a black flag on the horizon, and his calm is the counterweight to Peterkin's mischief and Ralph's wonder. The island's early survival—and the boys' first taste of real danger—rests on his judgment.

Peterkin Gay

major

Also known as Peterkin, Master Peterkin, Poor Peterkin

Peterkin is the comic pulse of the trio, beloved for mischief that never quite turns cruel, and the first to shout a discovery from the rocks. His impudent wit—mocking the sailors' Cape Horn tales, cutting capers on the ledge—keeps the boys human when the island turns grim. When a black flag rises over the lagoon, his fear is as quick as his laughter, and his presence makes the danger feel personal.

Bloody Bill

supporting

Also known as Bill, XXIV Bloody Bill

Bill is the bridge between the boys and the Fijian world, a man whose nickname admits what he once was and whose halting decency shows what he is trying to become. He translates Tararo's anger, explains the awful meaning of 'long pig,' and risks himself to do good among people who answer kindness with murder. His presence gives the middle chapters their moral weight: a man who knows the darkness because he came from it.

Tararo

supporting

Tararo rules his island with the easy authority of a man who has never been refused, and his anger at Avatea's stubbornness is the anger of a chief whose word has been publicly thwarted. He is neither cartoon villain nor friend—he took the Samoan girl in war and raised her, yet threatens to send her to a rival as a 'long pig' if she won't marry. His refusal to bend is what forces the boys and Bill into the story's most dangerous gamble.

Avatea

supporting

Avatea is the still center of the novel's later tension: a young woman already engaged to a chief Tararo hates, stubborn enough to 'kick up a desperate shindy' rather than be handed to a rival. Her refusal to submit makes her both admirable and imperiled, since the penalty for continued defiance is to be sent as a long pig. Her fate is the lever that pulls the boys out of their island idyll and into the moral machinery of the Pacific.

Romata

minor

A fierce and warlike native chief who threatens the boys.

The Captain

minor

Also known as captain, our captain

Captain of the pirate schooner who captures the boys.

The Pirate Captain

minor

Leader of the pirates who briefly holds the boys captive.

Missionary

minor

A Christian missionary who converts the natives on the island.

Dick

minor

A young sailor on the pirate ship who befriends the boys.

Hercules

minor

A mythological figure briefly referenced by the boys.

Venus

minor

A mythological figure briefly referenced by the boys.