# Filby — The Time Machine character guide

> Filby in The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** himself

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

A red-haired, argumentative dinner guest who objects at every turn — 'It's against reason' — and refuses to be convinced by any amount of clever geometry.

## Who they are

Filby is the Time Traveller's sharpest foil at the table, the man who interrupts the fourth-dimension lecture with 'There I object' and 'Don't follow you,' and who finally declares that you can show black is white by argument but you will never convince him. His stubborn common sense gives the reader a place to stand while the Time Traveller's paradoxes unspool, and his skepticism is the exact resistance the Traveller's story must eventually overcome. He matters because he voices the doubt the whole frame narrative is built to answer.

## Relationships

### [The Time Traveller](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se/characters/the_time_traveller)

_friendship_

Filby is a skeptical but loyal friend who hosts the dinner parties where the Time Traveller recounts his adventures.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se/chapters/i)

An argumentative guest who questions the Time Traveller's ideas and laughs at the notion of time travel.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as a contrast to the Time Traveller; his straightforwardness would have made the model more believable.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se/characters/filby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_time_machine_se/characters