Character guide

John Jasper

major

Also known as Mr. Jasper, Jasper, Friend John Jasper, the Choirmaster, Mister Jarsper, Mr. Jarsper, Jarsper

Cloisterham's choirmaster, whose angelic music and tender devotion to his nephew Ned conceal an opium-fed hunger for his own sister's child.

Rosa Bud

major

Also known as Miss Rosa Bud, Miss Bud, Miss Rosa, Rosa, Pussy, Miss Pussy, little Rosebud, Rosebud, Miss Rosebud

Orphaned, pretty, and betrothed since childhood to Edwin Drood, Rosa is the bright Rosebud of Cloisterham — and the object of a grown man's unwanted, watchful desire.

Edwin Drood

major

Also known as young Drood, Edwin, Master Edwin, Ned, Edwin Drood, Mr. Edwin Drood, Eddy, Mr. Drood, Master Eddy, Dear Eddy, Edward

Easygoing young engineer bound for Egypt and an inherited share in a firm, Edwin is engaged to Rosa less by love than by a promise made over his cradle.

Neville Landless

major

Also known as Mr. Neville, Neville, Neville Landless, young Landless, Mr. Landless, Mr. Neville Landless

Raised in Ceylon and burning with a temper he cannot govern, Neville arrives in Cloisterham already half in love with Rosa and half at war with Edwin.

Helena Landless

supporting

Also known as Helena, Miss Helena Landless, Miss Helena, Miss Landless

Neville's twin sister, dark-eyed and fearless, who has survived more than she says and answers Jasper's pleasantries with a coolness that unsettles him.

Mr. Grewgious

major

Also known as Grewgious, Angular Mr. Grewgious

A dry, angular London lawyer who guards Rosa's interests with rigid honesty, Mr. Grewgious takes seriously what others in Cloisterham would rather leave vague.

Septimus Crisparkle

supporting

Also known as Mr. Crisparkle, Minor Canon, the good Minor Canon, Crisparkle, Canon, the Reverend Septimus Crisparkle, the Reverend Septimus, Septimus, Reverend Mr. Septimus, the Reverend Mr. Septimus, the Rev. Mr. Septimus

Crisparkle is the good clergyman of Cloisterham, a muscular Christian who takes the hot-tempered Neville Landless under his roof and defends him against suspicion. His loyalty is his virtue and his vulnerability: he cannot believe his pupil capable of violence, yet the town's whispers and his own restless night walks to the Weir betray a mind that will not let him rest. He matters because he stands between Neville and the growing suspicion that will shape the novel's central mystery.

Thomas Sapsea

supporting

Also known as Mr. Thomas Sapsea, Mr. Sapsea, Sapsea, Mister Sapsea

Sapsea is the self-satisfied civic dignitary of Cloisterham, an auctioneer whose vanity is matched only by his love of hearing himself speak. His absurd epitaph for the late Mrs. Sapsea — demanding that strangers blush if they cannot look up to him as she did — reveals a man incapable of seeing himself truly. He matters as a comic emblem of the town's complacency, and his position as Mayor gives him a role in the investigations that follow Edwin's disappearance.

Durdles

supporting

Also known as Stony Durdles, Stony, The Stony One, Mr. Durdles

Durdles is Cloisterham's chartered libertine of the burial ground, a stonemason and tomb-maker so steeped in graves that he seems half-dead himself. He drinks to keep his spirits up — both kinds — and lets a ragged boy pelt him home with stones for a penny when he lingers too late. His intimate knowledge of the crypt and his moonlit expeditions with Jasper make him a crucial, unsettling witness to the novel's darkest movements.

Mr. Datchery

supporting

Also known as Said Mr. Datchery

Datchery arrives in Cloisterham as an idle man of means, renting rooms at the gatehouse and cultivating the acquaintance of the verger's wife and a sharp-eyed boy named Deputy. He pleads confusion about the town's recent scandal, but his careful attention to comings and goings suggests a purpose beneath his easy manner. He matters because his investigation reopens the mystery at the very point when the town has begun to settle into uneasy silence.

Miss Twinkleton

supporting

Also known as Twinkleton, the erudite Miss Twinkleton

Miss Twinkleton presides over the Nuns' House with a scholar's air and a spinster's theatrical sighs, especially when the subject is Rosa Bud's arranged engagement to Edwin Drood. Her girls unanimously dismiss her as a pretending old thing, yet her school is the sheltered world in which Rosa's childish whimsy and growing unease take shape. She matters as the guardian of the novel's most vulnerable figure and as a comic counterpoint to the darker currents gathering outside her walls.

Mr. Tartar

supporting

Also known as Tartar, Behold Mr. Tartar

Tartar is the retired sailor who lives in the chambers above Neville Landless in London, a man so genial that he offers to extend his flower garden to a stranger's windows. When Grewgious needs a discreet place for Rosa and Helena to meet, Tartar's rooms and his unflappable good nature make him the natural choice. He matters because his simple decency offers Neville a rare friendship and gives the novel's beleaguered characters a safe harbor.

Bazzard

minor

Also known as Mr. Bazzard, the Bazzard

Clerk to Mr. Grewgious, with literary aspirations; appears at the office and later in Cloisterham.

Mrs. Billickin

minor

Also known as Billickin, the Billickin, The Billickin

Landlady of a lodging house in London, where Rosa and Helena stay; quarrelsome but protective.

Mr. Honeythunder

minor

Also known as Honeythunder

Loud, self-righteous philanthropist and guardian of the Landless twins; later a magistrate.

Mr. Tope

minor

Also known as Tope, Mrs. Tope, the tearful Mrs. Tope, Mr. and Mrs. Tope

Cathedral verger and his wife; minor servants of the cathedral community.

Deputy

minor

Street urchin who taunts Durdles and Jasper; appears around the cathedral and graveyard.

Jack Chinaman

minor

Also known as Said Chinaman, the Chinaman, The Chinaman, Jack, dear Jack, Dear old Jack

Opium dealer in London, where Jasper has his visions; appears in the opening scene.

Kimber

minor

Jailer or officer in Cloisterham, involved in the arrest of Neville Landless.

Mrs. Tisher

minor

Also known as one Mrs. Tisher, the departed Tisher, Tisher

Companion or assistant at Miss Twinkleton's school; mentioned as having departed.

Miss Brobity

minor

Mentioned as a former pupil or teacher at the Nuns' House; not a major presence.

Poker

minor

Nickname for a minor character, possibly a servant or worker; not clearly identified.

Mr. Peartree

minor

Also known as Peartree

Minor character, possibly a tradesman or resident of Cloisterham.

Mrs. Crisparkle

minor

Mother of Septimus Crisparkle, a widow living with her son.

The Lascar

minor

Also known as Lascar

Another opium addict in the London den, seen by Jasper; not a major character.

The Dean

minor

Also known as The Very Reverend the Dean, Dean

Dean of Cloisterham Cathedral, a background authority figure.

Joe Tyler

minor

Also known as Joe

Minor character, possibly a servant or worker in Cloisterham; mentioned briefly.

Peter the Wild Boy

minor

Historical figure mentioned in passing, not a character in the narrative.

Miss Ferdinand

minor

Also known as the daring Miss Ferdinand

One of the girls at Miss Twinkleton's school, mentioned among Rosa's companions.

P. J. T.

minor

Initials appearing in a note or inscription, possibly a clue in the mystery.

Monsieur La Fontaine

minor

Also known as Monsieur La

Mentioned as a foreign visitor or name-drop; not a developed character.

Mr. Lobley

minor

Also known as Lobley

Minor character, possibly a boatman or worker in Cloisterham.

The Late Mrs. Sapsea

minor

Also known as Mrs. Sapsea

Deceased wife of Thomas Sapsea, mentioned in his self-important recollections.