Character guide

Trirodov

major

Also known as Giorgiy Sergeyevitch Trirodov, Giorgiy Trirodov, Mr. Trirodov, M. Trirodov

A reclusive poet of strange, exquisite verses who can call sleeping children from their beds and graves, and who now finds himself drawn into revolution and forbidden love.

Elisaveta

major

Also known as Comrade Elisaveta, IX Elisaveta, XIV Elisaveta

A barefoot revolutionary comrade who walks the river paths with her sister, defends Trirodov against slander, and discovers her own heart betraying her to him.

Kirsha

supporting

Also known as Little Kirsha, Kirsha Trirodov, nurse Kirsha, XXX Kirsha

Trirodov's young son, who moves between the ordinary world and the quiet white children, carrying messages about sleepers in graves who are not quite dead.

Ostrov

supporting

A shabby, insinuating man who claims old acquaintance with Trirodov, prowls his walls for information, and trades in suspicious rumors for unclear purposes.

Matov

supporting

Also known as Piotr Matov, Piotr, Piotr Ivanitch

A government official with dark rumors trailing him, whose quarrels, disappearances, and mysterious death leave his two sons in Rameyev's care.

Egorka

supporting

Also known as XXVI Egorka

An eleven-year-old commoner's son in a torn red shirt who follows the white boy Grisha into a fabulous land, and whose grave-sleep becomes the center of Trirodov's strange power.

Elena

supporting

Also known as the charming Elena

Elena moves through the Rameyev household as one of the marriageable daughters, openly admired by Piotr yet unbothered by his possessive sulking. When Piotr rails against Trirodov as a charlatan and magician, she deflates him with a light joke—'it's only just a little as far as I am concerned'—revealing a temperament that refuses to be managed by other people's anxieties. Her easy independence makes her a quiet counterweight to the household's mounting hysteria over the mysterious visitor.

Doulebov

supporting

Also known as Grigory Vladimirovitch Doulebov, the Vice-Governor Doulebov, The angry Doulebov

Doulebov glides through the provincial bureaucracy with pleasant manners and a slender, squealing voice, never drunk, always accompanied by the shrewd wife who manages his affairs. He engineers the Vice-Governor's visit to the town school precisely so that a subsequent raid on Trirodov's colony will look like the government's own idea rather than his. His careful indirection—praising a shabby school to disguise his real target—shows how the apparatus of reaction works through flattery and misdirection rather than open force.

Rameyev

supporting

Also known as The old Rameyev, Presently Rameyev, Nevertheless Rameyev

Rameyev presides over a household where Piotr's hostility to Trirodov keeps erupting into open rudeness, and he spends his authority trying to smooth it over—'it isn't hospitable,' he chides, 'you shouldn't have done that.' He is the reasonable voice that keeps insisting on fairness even as he admits he cannot fully explain the strange man everyone is talking about. His mildness matters because it marks the boundary between ordinary social decency and the feverish, almost superstitious dread that Trirodov provokes in others.

Alkina

minor

A female character with connections to the revolutionary circle.

Stchemilov

minor

Also known as Aleksei Makarovitch Stchemilov, Aleksei, Mr. Stchemilov

A landowner or official who interacts with the main characters.

Zinaida

minor

Also known as Zinaida Grigorievna, Zinaida Grigorievna Doulebova, Doulebova

Doulebov's wife, a society lady with her own concerns.

Dmitry Matov

minor

Also known as Dmitry Alexandrovitch Matov, Matov

A relative or associate of Piotr Matov, possibly a student.

Misha

minor

A young boy, possibly a friend or relative of Kirsha.

Zherbenev

minor

Also known as this Zherbenev, Andrey Lavrentyevitch Zherbenev

A character involved in the local administration or police.

Kiril

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or worker.

Sergey Svetilovitch

minor

Also known as Doctor Svetilovitch, Doctor Sergey Lvovitch Svetilovitch, Svetilovitch

A doctor who treats various characters in the story.

Shabalov

minor

Also known as Inspector Shabalov, Leonty Andreyevitch Shabalov

A police inspector investigating revolutionary activities.

Grisha

minor

Also known as Rouse Grisha

A minor character, possibly a servant or peasant.

Voronok

minor

A minor character, possibly a nickname for a spy or informant.

Kerbakh

minor

Also known as Nikolai Ilyitch Kerbakh

A government or police official.

Prince Davidov

minor

Also known as Immanuel Osipovitch Davidov, Davidov

A prince who appears in society scenes.

Borodulin

minor

Also known as These Borodulin

A minor character, possibly a merchant or official.

Nadezhda Vestchezerova

minor

Also known as Nadezhda, the golden-haired Nadezhda, The radiantly sad Nadezhda

A young woman with a poetic and melancholic nature.

Poterin

minor

Also known as Inspector Poterin

Another police inspector involved in the investigation.

Bodeyev

minor

Also known as The instructor Bodeyev

A school instructor or tutor.

Krovlin

minor

A minor character, possibly a revolutionary or criminal.

Ksenofont Polupavlov

minor

A minor character with a distinctive name.

Sonya Svetilovitch

minor

Also known as Sonya, Svetilovitch

The doctor's daughter, a young girl.

Zakrasin

minor

Also known as Father Zakrasin, Priest Zakrasin

A local priest who performs ceremonies.

Poltinin

minor

Also known as Yakov Poltinin

A minor character, possibly a worker or revolutionary.

Miss Harrison

minor

Also known as the imperturbable Miss Harrison, the usually composed Miss Harrison

An English governess or tutor in a household.

Irinushka

minor

Also known as Poor Irinushka

A poor or unfortunate woman, possibly a servant.

Peredonov

minor

A character from another Sologub novel, briefly mentioned.

Elikonida

minor

Also known as old Elikonida, Old Elikonida

An elderly female character, possibly a relative or servant.

Poterina

minor

A female character, possibly related to Inspector Poterin.

Glafira Konopatskaya

minor

Also known as Glafira Pavlovna Konopatskaya

A society woman who appears in social gatherings.

Lunitsin

minor

A minor character, possibly a student or revolutionary.

Aldonza

minor

A character from a play or literary reference within the story.

Maria

minor

A minor female character, possibly a servant.

Dulcinea

minor

A literary reference, possibly an ideal or fantasy figure.

Katya

minor

A young girl, possibly a friend of Sonya.

Khavriukin

minor

A minor character, possibly a merchant or official.

Liudmilla

minor

A minor female character.

Vetochka

minor

A minor female character, possibly a child.

Klavdia

minor

A minor female character.

Queen Ortruda

minor

Also known as Ortruda

A queen from a play or fantasy sequence within the novel.