Character guide

Sherlock Holmes

major

Also known as Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Holmes, 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

major

Also known as Watson, 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

major

Also known as Henry, Sir Henry, Baskerville, young Baskerville, 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

supporting

Also known as Sir Charles, poor Sir Charles, old Sir Charles, the late 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

supporting

Also known as James Mortimer, Dr. Mortimer, Mortimer, James, 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

major

Also known as Stapleton, the Stapletons

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.

Miss Stapleton

supporting

Also known as the Miss Stapleton, Stapleton, Mrs. Stapleton

Living with her brother at Merripit House, she is the beautiful neighbour whose presence stirs Sir Henry Baskerville's heart almost the moment he arrives on the moor. Yet her warmth is shadowed by a strange constraint: she mistakes Watson and Sir Henry for someone else on the path, and her brother's interruptions carry an edge of control. Her warnings and her unease make her one of the earliest threads Watson cannot quite explain, and her fear quietly shapes the danger closing around the Hall.

Mrs. Laura Lyons

supporting

Also known as Laura, Lyons, Mrs. Lyons, Mrs. Laura Lyons, Coombe Tracey

Ambitious and unhappily married, she once sought Sir Charles's help to escape her situation, and her name surfaces the moment Watson and Holmes trace the letter found near the dead baronet. She insists she never kept the appointment, and her distress at the death is genuine, yet she is bound by an influence she will not name. Her silence and her fear make her the pivotal witness Watson must reach before the truth of that night can be told.

Barrymore

supporting

Also known as Mr. Barrymore, this Barrymore

He and his wife have served the Baskerville family for years, and his striking looks and grave manner give nothing away. When Watson sees him signalling through a window in the small hours, suspicion falls hard on him, and Sir Henry agrees to shadow him. His secret is not what Watson imagines, and the truth he finally confesses opens a new thread on the moor.

Mrs. Barrymore

supporting

Also known as Barrymore

Quiet and dutiful in the household, she is visibly undone by something Watson cannot name, weeping when she believes herself unobserved. Her distress is bound up with her husband's nocturnal errands, and the two of them guard a secret that has nothing to do with the hound. When it finally breaks, her loyalty to family over household exposes how much the moor itself is hiding.

Selden

supporting

A notorious killer who has broken out of Dartmoor Prison, he haunts the tors and hollows while soldiers and villagers hunt him. His presence gives the moor a second, human menace, and Watson's glimpses of a figure on the heights keep the reader uncertain what is beast and what is man. His sister's connection to the Hall quietly ties the criminal thread to the Baskerville household itself.

Lestrade

minor

A Scotland Yard detective who assists at the end.

Cartwright

minor

A boy sent by Holmes to assist Watson on the moor.

Mr. Frankland

minor

Also known as Frankland, old Frankland, Frankland v. Regina

An elderly, litigious neighbor living near the moor.

Hugo Baskerville

minor

Also known as Hugo, old Hugo

The wicked ancestor who allegedly started the Baskerville curse.

James Desmond

minor

Also known as Mr. James Desmond

A relative and the next heir after Sir Henry.

Rodger Baskerville

minor

Also known as Rodger, that Rodger Baskerville

The black sheep of the family who fled to South America.

Mrs. Oldmore

minor

A woman mentioned in connection with a hotel bill.

John Clayton

minor

Also known as John, Clayton

A man mentioned in a telegram about the convict.

Theophilus Johnson

minor

Also known as Johnson

A family friend mentioned in passing.

Elizabeth

minor

Also known as Eliza

A servant or relative mentioned briefly.

Murphy

minor

Also known as One Murphy

A local man who reported seeing the hound.

Perkins

minor

The coachman who drives Sir Henry.

Wilson

minor

A man mentioned in a telegram about boots.

Robinson

minor

A name used in a coded message.

Meyers

minor

A Toronto bootmaker mentioned in a telegram.