The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sherlock Holmes

Holmes enters the Baskerville affair through Dr. Mortimer's cane and legend, already several moves ahead of everyone in the room. His method is cold reason applied to hot superstition, and he treats Watson less as an assistant than as a conductor of his own genius. He matters because the novel's central question — whether a hound can be supernatural — is really a question about whether Holmes's logic can survive the moor.

Dr. Watson

Watson trades Baker Street for Baskerville Hall and finds himself the sole guardian of a man marked for death. He is brave, observant, and quietly proud of his own growing deductive skill, yet he knows he is the conductor rather than the light. His reports from the moor are the reader's eyes, and his fear in the dark — the hound's cry shaking even 'the man of iron' — makes the terror feel earned.

Sir Henry Baskerville

Sir Henry arrives from Canada to claim Baskerville Hall, cheerful and skeptical of the family legend, yet earnest enough to ask Stapleton twice whether the supernatural could be real. He is active, warm, and a little reckless — exactly the kind of man a lonely moor and a beautiful neighbor can draw out. His presence forces the curse to become a live threat rather than a dusty story, and his safety becomes the clock the whole plot runs on.

Sir Charles Baskerville

Sir Charles was the wealthy, well-liked squire whose body was found on the yew alley, his face frozen in a look of horror no doctor could explain. He had been nervous, waiting alone at night, and his heart — already weak — gave out under something the coroner could not name. His death is the wound the novel opens on: it gives Dr. Mortimer his errand, Holmes his puzzle, and the hound its first confirmed victim.

Dr. James Mortimer

Mortimer is the old-fashioned practitioner whose worn Penang lawyer and C.C.H. presentation stick tell Holmes everything before the man even speaks. He is scholarly, superstitious in a careful way, and genuinely frightened for Sir Henry, which is why he brings the case to London at all. He bridges the two worlds of the novel — the rational consulting room and the fog-bound moor — and his trust in Holmes sets the investigation in motion.

Mr. Stapleton

Stapleton lives at Merripit House with his sister Beryl, collecting specimens and playing the friendly neighbor to Sir Henry. He is guarded, dry, and quietly forceful — Watson notices a hidden fire beneath the calm and a marked influence over his sister, who glances at him for approval as she speaks. His knowledge of the moor and his convenient proximity to every clue make him both the most useful and the most unsettling figure in the early investigation.