Character guide

Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson

major

Also known as Jaspar Hobson, Lieutenant Hobson, the Lieutenant, Hobson, Jaspar, Lieutenant, Jasper Hobson, Mr. Hobson

Hobson is the expedition's commander, a Company child whose self-control was forged young and whose courage is quiet rather than showy. He carries the weight of every decision, weighing ambition against the lives of the men and women who trust him, and he never spares himself while granting others rest. His judgment and endurance make him the axis on which the colony's survival turns as the Arctic closes in.

Mrs. Paulina Barnett

major

Also known as Paulina Barnett, Mrs. Barnett, Paulina, Mrs. Paulina Barnett, Sabine, Mrs. Paulina Barnett of Sabine

Mrs. Barnett is the life of Fort Hope, combining a woman's grace with a man's energy, and the soldiers would gladly die for her. She refuses to be sheltered, sharing every hardship and drawing out the most reticent with warm, intelligent questions. Her presence softens the fort's harshness and gives the story its humane, curious eye on the polar world.

Sergeant Long

supporting

Also known as Marbre, Long, Sergeant Long, the brave Sergeant, Poor Long

Long is Hobson's right hand, constitutionally brave and born to obey rather than command, hard on his men only as he is hard on himself. When the colony needs someone to crawl through the snow to the fuel shed, he insists on going first, roping himself and swallowing rum 'to insure a good load of wood.' His unflinching discipline is the spine of the expedition.

Kalumah

supporting

Also known as little Kalumah, Poor Kalumah

Kalumah is the link between Fort Hope and the native peoples of the far north, remembered for her attachment to Mrs. Barnett. When she sets out to revisit her friends, she finds Cape Bathurst gone and the coast itself vanished, and she weeps for those she came so far to see. Her loyalty and knowledge of the country make her a vital ally in the colony's darkest hours.

Thomas Black

supporting

Also known as Black, poor Black, Mr. Black, Poor Mr. Black

Black is a sagacious observer with inexhaustible patience, a specialist in luminous meteors who exists only for astronomy and can talk of nothing but stars. He endures a winter journey across Company territory purely to watch the moon blot out the sun, and his single-mindedness borders on the comic. His scientific mission gives the expedition a second, stranger purpose beyond furs and geography.

Madge

supporting

Also known as poor Madge, the faithful Madge, Poor Madge

Madge is Mrs. Barnett's constant companion, faithful and unassuming, present at every bedside and crisis without ever seeking the spotlight. When a half-frozen stranger is carried in, it is Madge who feels the vital heat returning and cries out that she will recover. Her loyalty anchors Mrs. Barnett's household and gives the fort's domestic life its warmth.

Mac-Nab

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Mac-Nab, little Michael Mac-Nab, Michael Mac-Nab, the carpenter Mac-Nab

Mac-Nab belongs to the working spine of Lieutenant Hobson's party, the man who wedges shut the narrow slit through which the unwelcome visitors are watched and who speaks of holding a council of war. His craft matters most when the cold itself becomes an enemy: walrus oil freezes hard enough to need a hatchet, and the loft turns too bitter for bare hands on gun barrels. He is the sort of settler whose competence quietly decides whether a fragile outpost survives its first siege.

Corporal Joliffe

supporting

Also known as Joliffe, Corporal, the imprudent Corporal Joliffe

Joliffe is the social lubricant of Fort Reliance: when the captain is asked about the fête, his answer is simply 'Ask Joliffe,' and Joliffe has a gracious word for everybody. Yet his superstitious streak and loose tongue make him a liability as much as an asset among men bound for the far north. He and his wife are named among those who will face experiences no human foresight could anticipate, which lends his cheerfulness an uneasy edge.

Mrs. Joliffe

supporting

Also known as Rae, Mrs. Rae, Mrs. Rae Mrs. Joliffe, little Mrs. Joliffe, poor Mrs. Joliffe

Mrs. Joliffe moves through the fort's social life as one half of the Joliffe pair, named alongside her husband among those destined for terrible experiences. Her anxious, talkative temperament makes her a barometer for the community's unspoken dread as the expedition pushes toward the ice. She matters because the domestic strain she embodies — fear, gossip, and clinging to ordinary comforts — tests the party's morale as much as any storm.

Captain Craventy

minor

Also known as the Captain

Commanding officer at Fort Reliance who dispatches the expedition.

Captain Kellet

minor

Also known as Kellet, And Kellet

A naval officer mentioned in the narrative.

Norman

minor

Also known as old Norman

An old servant at Fort Reliance.

Sergeant Felton

minor

Also known as Felton, Sergeant

A sergeant in the expedition party.

Michael Hope

minor

Also known as little Michael

A young boy, son of Mac-Nab.

The Eskimo

minor

Also known as Eskimo, the young Eskimo

A generic Eskimo character encountered during the journey.

The Stranger

minor

A mysterious figure who appears late in the story.

Petersen

minor

A Danish explorer mentioned in the narrative.