Character guide

The Unknown

major

Also known as Unknown, the doctor, my secret friend, Bhrign

A nameless doctor and self-styled secret friend who records his descent through sleeplessness, dread, and visions, asking whether his life is a bad joke or a punishment for forgotten sins.

August Strindberg

major

Also known as Strindberg, August

The author who turns his own daily journal into evidence, insisting that his hell on earth is not invention but an elaborated extract of real torment.

Swedenborg

supporting

Also known as VIII Swedenborg

The mystic whose hells mirror the narrator's own landscape — crater, pigsty, ravine — convincing him that earth itself is the dungeon of the damned.

Popoffsky

minor

Also known as Frau Popoffsky, And Popoffsky, the Popoffsky

A mysterious figure encountered during the narrator's wanderings in Paris.

Job

minor

Biblical figure invoked as a model of suffering and patience.

Providence

supporting

The inscrutable force that rewards virtue with the cross, the stake, and dreadful dreams, arranging coincidences the narrator cannot dismiss as chance.

Christina

minor

A woman associated with the narrator's past sins and guilt.

The Dane

minor

A fellow traveler and acquaintance in the narrator's European exile.

Saul

minor

Biblical king referenced as a parallel to the narrator's spiritual blindness.

Christ

supporting

The suffering redeemer against whom the narrator measures his own trials, wondering whether God is Science Itself or only the Punisher of unknown sins.

The Eternal

supporting

Also known as the Eternal

God as the narrator experiences him — a punishing, hidden presence whose justice looks indistinguishable from cruelty, driving the soul toward conversion or despair.

Madame Blavatsky

minor

Occultist whose theosophical ideas influence the narrator's worldview.

David

minor

Also known as Davy

Biblical king and psalmist, a figure of repentance and divine favor.

The Devil

supporting

Also known as Robert the Devil

In the narrator's hellish visions, the Devil presides as both accuser and prosecutor, the power who condemns mortals to wickedness and rewards virtue with sleeplessness and dreadful dreams. He works through a Babel of authorities — Augustine, Aquinas, Luther — all insisting demons are real and busy, which makes the narrator's own journal entries feel less like invention and more like evidence. His presence forces the central question of the early arc: if the Punisher exists, are the sins being punished even remembered, or are they committed somewhere else entirely?

Nietzsche

minor

Philosopher whose ideas on suffering and power are debated.

Luther

minor

Reformer whose theological struggles mirror the narrator's own.

Sar Peladan

minor

Occultist and writer referenced in the narrator's esoteric interests.

Sphinx

minor

Also known as the Sphinx

Mythical creature symbolizing mystery and the narrator's riddles.

St. Vincent de Paul

minor

Also known as St. Paul

Saint invoked as a model of charity and spiritual guidance.

Orpheus

minor

Mythical poet who descends to the underworld, paralleling the narrator.

Dante

minor

Poet whose Divine Comedy inspires the book's structure and themes.

Balzac

minor

Novelist mentioned in passing during the narrator's literary reflections.

Ezekiel

minor

Prophet whose visions echo the narrator's apocalyptic experiences.

Adam

minor

First man, symbol of original sin and fall from grace.

Ibsen

minor

Playwright whose works are referenced in the narrator's reflections.

Francis Schlatter

minor

Also known as Schlatter

Healer and mystic briefly mentioned in the narrator's travels.

The Russian

minor

A mysterious acquaintance encountered during the narrator's exile.

Satan

minor

Adversary figure in the narrator's infernal visions.

Napoleon

minor

Also known as a Napoleon

Historical figure used as a symbol of ambition and fall.

Schumann

minor

Composer whose music is referenced in the narrator's emotional states.