Character guide

Prince Arthur

major

Also known as Arthur, the Prince, the Briton Prince, Prince Arthure

Arthur rides without a fixed quest, appearing wherever another knight's strength fails, his shield a mirror that unmasks falsehood. Spenser names him the embodiment of Magnificence, the virtue that contains all others, yet he cannot find the Faerie Queene he has served for seven years. His arrival in the middle books gives the poem its hidden spine: every scattered adventure quietly bends toward him.

Sir Calidore

major

Also known as Calidore, the courteous Knight

Calidore's quest is to muzzle the many-tongued Beast that tears reputations apart, but his weapon is courtesy rather than force, and courtesy keeps leading him astray into pastoral idylls and other men's troubles. When he hears of a lady despoiled, his fury is immediate and righteous, yet he pauses to comfort her before pursuing the villain. His story asks whether the gentlest knight can ever finish the harshest errand.

Sir Artegall

major

Also known as Artegall, the righteous Artegall, the noble Arthegall

Artegall is the knight who steps out of the crowd when a boaster claims another man's deeds, stripping the lie bare with evidence and wounds. Trained by Astraea and armed with Chrysaor, he embodies justice as equity, but his severity often needs tempering by mercy he does not naturally possess. His mission to rescue Irena sets him against a world where power has replaced right, and his own rigidity becomes the test.

Sir Guyon

major

Also known as Guyon, the good Guyon

Guyon's quest is to capture the enchantress Acrasia, whose garden turns men into beasts by giving them everything they want. He is young, courteous, and severe with himself, refusing wrath even when provoked, and his aged Palmer steers him past temptations he cannot always see. When his horse is stolen by a braggart, he keeps walking, because temperance means the journey matters more than the mount.

Britomart

major

Also known as fayre Britomart, the warlike Britonesse, the brave Mayd

Britomart loves Artegall before she has ever met him, having glimpsed his image in Merlin's glass, and sets out in disguise to make that vision real. As the Knight of Chastity, she fights men who assume a woman cannot, and her chastity is not abstinence but a fierce, active loyalty to a love not yet returned. Her search gives the poem its most surprising engine: a woman questing for a man, and outriding most of them.

Redcrosse Knight

major

Also known as the Redcrosse Knight, Saint George

Redcrosse begins as a clownish farm boy who asks the Faerie Queen for the first adventure offered, and is given the arms of a Christian man instead of a hero's. His companion Una is truth itself, but he is easily separated from her by the enchanter Archimago, whose forged visions turn his own senses against him. His story is the poem's opening argument: that holiness is not a gift but a long, humiliating education in trusting the right voice.

Una

major

Also known as Fayre Una, Dame Una, Fidelia

Una travels a hostile land with only a lion and a dwarf for company, her patience and pity set against the world's appetite for slander and disguise. When the Redcrosse Knight is turned from her by a counterfeit vision, she neither rails nor repents, but keeps searching, and her constancy quietly shames every false claimant to beauty or virtue. Her reunion with her knight is the poem's first great argument that truth, though slow, outlasts every lie.

Florimell

major

Also known as Fayre Florimell, the snowy Florimell

Florimell is the poem's most pursued woman: desired by Marinell, hunted by a beast, and eventually counterfeited by a snow-white impostor who wears her face at court. Her flight from lust and violence exposes how little protection beauty offers in Faerie, and her rescue becomes a test of which knights actually deserve the name. Her reunion with Marinell turns desire into something the poem can finally call love.

Marinell

supporting

Also known as Sir Marinell, the lucklesse Marinell

Marinell is the poem's great refuser of love, raised by a sea-nymph to believe that desire for a woman will be his death. When Florimell's beauty overwhelms him, he is wounded not by her but by his own fear, and his recovery becomes a slow education in courage. His story matters because it shows that the poem's knights are not only tested by monsters but by the private prophecy each carries against his own heart.

Talus

supporting

Also known as swift Talus, the Souldan

Talus serves Artegall as squire and executioner, a figure of metal who can neither be wounded nor reasoned with, and whose flail settles disputes that words cannot. He is the poem's hardest question: what happens when justice becomes a machine, and when the knight who wields it must decide whether to let it swing. His presence shadows every scene of Artegall's quest, reminding readers that the poem's virtue is never merely gentle.

Duessa

major

Also known as false Duessa, Fidessa, the proud Duessa

Duessa is the poem's great counterfeit, a witch whose gorgeous surface hides a foul and diseased body, and whose talent is not violence but persuasion. She attaches herself to the Redcrosse Knight at the exact moment he is most vulnerable, and her power lies in making falsehood feel like comfort. Her exposure strips both the knight and the reader of the illusion that evil announces itself.

Archimago

supporting

Also known as subtill Archimago, Archimage

Archimago is the poem's first villain and its most patient, a hermit whose cell hides a laboratory of illusions and whose weapon is the false image. He engineers the rupture between Una and the Redcrosse Knight by conjuring a counterfeit Una in a dream, and his mischief sets the entire first book in motion. He matters because he shows that the poem's real battlefield is perception, and that the deadliest lies are the ones we half-want to believe.

Scudamour

supporting

Also known as Sir Scudamour, the gentle Scudamour

A gentle knight whose love for Amoret drives him to assault an enchanter's castle, only to fail where a stranger's sword succeeds.

Amoret

supporting

Also known as the gentle Amoret, fayrest Amoret

Scudamour's beloved, held captive by Busirane's hard enchantments, whose rescue becomes a test of what knightly devotion can and cannot accomplish.

Sir Calepine

supporting

Also known as Calepine, the good Sir Calepine

A courteous knight whose readiness to aid Serena and confront the Blatant Beast shows courtesy as active virtue, not mere manners.

Serena

minor

Also known as the faire Serena, Of faire Serena

A lady rescued by Sir Calepine from a savage attack.

Pastorella

supporting

Also known as Fayre Pastorell, faire Pastorella, the fayrest Pastorell

A shepherdess whose beauty and bounty captivate Sir Calidore, raising the question of whether true worth needs noble birth to shine.

Braggadocchio

supporting

Also known as Braggadochio, Proud Braggadocchio

A boastful coward who steals Guyon's horse and Florimell's girdle, mistaking loud self-praise for the substance of knighthood.

Trompart

minor

Also known as crafty Trompart

Braggadocchio's cunning squire.

Belphebe

supporting

Also known as Belphœbe, the faire Belphebe

A chaste huntress whose fierce independence and radiant beauty embody a virtue that both attracts and resists the world's desires.

Timias

supporting

Also known as young Timias, the foule foster Timias

Timias serves Prince Arthur as squire, riding with him through Faery land in pursuit of the fleeing Florimell. When six knights try to force him to abandon his sworn lady for a castle's mistress, he refuses alone against their odds until Britomart rescues him — proving a fidelity that costs him blood. His devotion makes him the poem's quiet emblem of constancy, and sets up the wound of love he will suffer when he meets Belphoebe.

Satyrane

supporting

Also known as Sir Satyrane, the good Sir Satyrane

Satyrane is the son of a satyr and a mortal woman, a knight whose woodland upbringing gives him unusual strength and a plain, unfeigned goodness. He offers shelter and help to strangers, and his honest counsel — urging lords to fly from wrath rather than heap blood-guilt on blood-guilt — marks him as a moral counterweight to the poem's proud and treacherous knights. He matters because he shows virtue can grow outside courts, and because his steadiness aids the heroes in the middle cantos.

Paridell

supporting

Also known as Sir Paridell, false Paridell, Sir Paridel

Paridell arrives at Malbecco's castle as a guest and promptly turns his rhetoric on the host's wife, Hellenore, playing the courtly wooer while his ancestry ties him to the ruin of Troy. His deceit exposes the gap between noble lineage and noble conduct, and his seduction of Hellenore drives one of the poem's sharpest satires on jealousy and false love. He matters because his smooth betrayal tests the very ideals of courtesy and chastity the book is built on.

Hellenore

minor

Also known as Dame Hellenore

The unfaithful wife of Malbecco who elopes with Paridell.

Malbecco

minor

Also known as IX Malbecco

A jealous old husband who is tormented by his wife's infidelity.

Radigund

supporting

Radigund rules a city of women who have sworn to subject men to their law, and she meets Artegall — the knight of Justice — in the field and beats him. Rather than kill him she enslaves him, dressing him in feminine garb and setting him to women's work, a reversal that humiliates the very figure of masculine justice. Her reign forces the poem to ask whether justice can be gendered, and her defeat becomes one of Britomart's defining deeds.

Merlin

minor

Also known as the great Magitien Merlin

The legendary wizard who prophesies Britomart's destiny.

Gloriana

supporting

Also known as Gloriane, the Faery Queene

Gloriana reigns over Faery land as the source of every quest and the object of every knight's devotion, praised as the flower of grace and chastity whose glory shines like the morning star. Yet she is almost never seen directly: Arthur has wandered seven years hoping to glimpse her, and Guyon speaks of her bounty as something known by report and faith. Her elusiveness is the point — she is the ideal that drives the poem's action, and the reason its heroes keep riding.

Palmer

supporting

Also known as the Palmer, Sir Palmer

The Palmer walks beside Guyon as companion, conscience, and interpreter, a reverend figure whose plain words calm inflamed knights and whose judgment names the moral stakes of each encounter. Where Guyon acts, the Palmer advises — urging patience, exposing false outrage, and refusing the easy violence that other knights mistake for honor. He matters because Temperance in the poem is not solo heroism but disciplined guidance, and without his steady voice Guyon's quest would collapse into the very passions he opposes.

Pyrochles

minor

Also known as rash Pyrochles, Lord Pyrochles

A fiery and wrathful knight, brother of Cymochles.

Cymochles

minor

Also known as proud Cymochles

A knight of intemperance and brother of Pyrochles.

Até

minor

Also known as vile Atè

The goddess of discord and mischief who stirs up strife.

Cambell

supporting

Also known as Cambell victour, Cambel

A devoted brother-knight who stakes his strength on his sister's happiness, fighting any champion who would claim her hand without her heart.

Triamond

supporting

Also known as Sir Triamond

A courteous knight whose fierce loyalty to his brothers-in-arms turns a mortal duel into an unbreakable bond of sworn brotherhood.

Blandamour

minor

Also known as Sir Blandamour

A false and fickle knight who pursues Florimell.

Grantorto

minor

Also known as the great Grantorto

A giant tyrant who oppresses Irena, slain by Artegall.

Irena

minor

Also known as the faire Irena

A lady whose kingdom is usurped by Grantorto, rescued by Artegall.

Mercilla

minor

Also known as Mercilla

A queen representing Mercy, who judges Duessa.

Adicia

minor

A hag representing Injustice, wife of the Souldan.

Sansfoy

minor

Also known as Even stout Sansfoy

A Saracen knight representing Faithlessness, slain by Redcrosse.

Sansjoy

minor

A Saracen knight representing Joylessness, defeated by Redcrosse.

Sansloy

minor

Also known as the bold Sansloy

A Saracen knight representing Lawlessness, enemy of Una.

Coridon

minor

Also known as the shepheard Coridon

A shepherd who loves Pastorella but loses her to Calidore.

Meliboe

minor

Also known as old Melibœ, the good old Melibœ

An old shepherd who fosters Pastorella.

Tristram

minor

Also known as young Tristram, Chyld Tristram

A young squire who becomes Calidore's page.

Sir Turpine

minor

Also known as Turpine, the coward Turpine

A discourteous knight who attacks Calepine and Serena.

Briana

minor

Also known as the sad Briana

A lady who demands a lock of hair from passing knights.

Crudor

minor

A cruel knight who forces Briana to collect hair for him.

Alma

minor

Also known as gentle Alma

The lady of the House of Temperance, representing the soul.

Orgoglio

minor

A giant representing Pride who imprisons the Redcrosse Knight.

Despair

minor

A wretch who tempts knights to suicide in his cave.

Mutability

supporting

A Titaness who claims dominion over all change, challenging the gods' authority and threatening to unsettle the very order of Faery land.

Dame Nature

minor

Also known as dame Nature, Nature

The judge in Mutability's trial before the gods.

Jove

minor

Also known as almightie Jove, high Jove

The king of the gods who opposes Mutability's claim.

Cynthia

minor

Also known as fayre Cynthia, faire Cynthia

The moon goddess, also called Phoebe or Diana.

Faunus

minor

Also known as Dan Faunus, silly Faunus

A satyr who spies on Diana bathing and is punished.

Molanna

minor

Also known as this Molanna

A river nymph who helps Faunus spy on Diana.

Diana

minor

The goddess of the hunt and chastity.

Venus

minor

Also known as Fayre Venus, dame Venus

The goddess of love who aids her son Cupid.

Busirane

minor

An evil enchanter who tortures Amoret with love spells.

Malecasta

minor

Also known as faire Malecasta

A lustful lady who tries to seduce Britomart.

Acrasia

minor

The enchantress of the Bower of Bliss, representing intemperance.

Mammon

minor

Also known as Forthy great Mammon

The demon of wealth who tempts Guyon in his cave.

Cambina

minor

The sister of Triamond who brings peace between the knights.

Philomela

minor

A mythological figure referenced but not a character in the poem.

Medina

minor

A temperate lady who hosts Guyon and debates with her sisters.

Perissa

minor

Also known as young Perissa

Medina's intemperate sister who represents excess.

Elissa

minor

Medina's other sister who represents deficiency.

Sir Huddibras

minor

Also known as Huddibras

A knight who fights with Guyon over a lady.

Fradubio

minor

A knight transformed into a tree by Duessa's sorcery.

Aeolus

minor

Also known as Dan Æolus

The god of winds who appears in the Mutability Cantos.

Cupid

minor

The god of love who appears in the House of Busirane.

Guyon

major

The Knight of Temperance, whose measured virtue is tested by wrath, seduction, and a stolen horse as he journeys to avenge Acrasia's wiles.

Charissa

minor

Also known as faire Charissa

A lady representing Charity in the House of Holiness.

Fidelia

minor

A lady representing Faith in the House of Holiness.

Speranza

minor

A lady representing Hope in the House of Holiness.

Celia

minor

Also known as Dame Cælia

The matron of the House of Holiness.

Contemplation

minor

A hermit who shows the Redcrosse Knight his vision.

Mordant

minor

Also known as Sir Mordant

A knight poisoned by his wife Acrasia in the Bower of Bliss.

Amavia

minor

Mordant's wife who dies of grief after his poisoning.

Genius

minor

Also known as Old Genius

The porter of the Bower of Bliss, a figure of natural generation.

Phaedria

minor

A wanton lady who ferries knights on the Idle Lake.