Character guide

Molly Stark Wood

major

Also known as Miss Mary Stark Wood, Molly Stark, Molly, the old Molly Stark, the young Molly, Stark, Miss Molly Stark Wood

Molly Stark Wood belongs to a Vermont family that has always lived like gentlefolk, until the mills fail and she must earn her bread teaching music and making preserves. Bennington gossips are scandalized that she works for money yet still holds herself above Sam Bannett, the rising young man they consider good enough for anybody. Restless and quietly stubborn, she writes to Mrs. Balaam about migrating west to Bear Creek, and it is this decision that carries her into the Virginian's world.

The Virginian

major

Also known as Virginian, the embarrassed Virginian, The saturnine Virginian

The Virginian is a cowpuncher the narrator meets on the westward train, a man whose stillness unnerves and whose manners surprise. When Steve tosses him a term of heaviest insult, he takes it as a compliment, and when the wash-trough towel runs short, he charms a clean one out of the pretty proprietress without a fuss. His quiet is volcanic; he is the man other men watch, and the man Trampas cannot leave alone.

Trampas

major

Also known as Therefore Trampas, Saving Trampas, Mr. Trampas

Trampas is the man at the ranch who lost a powerful friend when Roberts went, and the men around him sense that he has no shield left between himself and the Virginian. When Judge Henry appoints the Virginian foreman on the spot, Trampas finds himself plump at his enemy's mercy, and the cowboys cheer while the Judge washes his hands of the particulars. His sulking spreads through camp like leaven, and everyone waits to see what he will do when the time arrives.

Scipio Le Moyne

supporting

Also known as Scipio, the prompt Scipio, the complete Scipio, Presently Scipio, Scipio Le Moyne

Scipio Le Moyne is the friend who watches the Virginian sleep like a child while the men around him are on the ragged edge of mutiny, and who tells the narrator plainly what he thinks. He reckons Trampas will pull his freight, casual-like, and he argues that beating a man at his own game is all the revenge a man who isn't a hog could want. His dry, patient voice turns camp gossip into something close to prophecy.

Balaam

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Balaam, Mr. Balaam

Balaam is the ranchman who owes Judge Henry horses and keeps putting off their return, greeting the Virginian's reminder with a struck fist and a demand for explanations. He rages about Indians off the reservation, cuts his own bewildered horse across the jaw for shying at water, and grins at Shorty's battered overalls while angling for the boy's good pony. The Virginian can scarcely interfere between another man and his own beast, but he looks on, and he remembers.

Shorty

supporting

Also known as the excellent Shorty, Poor Shorty, the docile Shorty, the ruffled Shorty, poor stupid Shorty, So Shorty, poor Shorty

Shorty is the boy who carries Balaam's overdue letter to the Virginian and gets nothing for it but a little pay already lost at poker in Drybone, where his money went into Trampas's pocket. He has one valuable possession left, his horse Pedro, and Balaam eyes it across Butte Creek while Shorty sits in the shade. Turned off the roundup for sleeping on night-herd, poor and docile, he is the kind of man the range uses up, and the kind Trampas finds useful.

Judge Henry

supporting

Also known as The Judge, Henry, Hank

Judge Henry presides over Sunk Creek Ranch, an oasis of milk, eggs, and civilized fare in a territory of sowbelly and beans. Having once worn the robe of an upright federal judge, he now finds himself asked to defend conduct that looks like defiance of the law itself — and he does not relish it. His struggle between the convictions that are his soul's riches and the demands of the Cattle Land gives the novel its central moral weather.

Steve

supporting

Also known as Medicine Bow, Steve of Medicine Bow, the Steve

Steve grins at the Virginian, calls him a son-of-a-⸻ in perfect friendship, and moves through the cow-country with an offhand charm that makes him hard to dislike. But his path bends toward cattle rustling, and the easy camaraderie he shares with the Virginian becomes the story's sharpest test of what friendship can survive. He is the warmth and the warning in the Virginian's past.

Taylor

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Taylor, Mr. Taylor, Now Mr. Taylor

Taylor runs the store and post where Bear Creek gathers its mail and gossip, and he is father to young Georgie. When he hands the Virginian a sheet of note paper on which a girl has written as women the cowpuncher has known never wrote, he becomes the unwitting sower of a seed that will bloom across wide spaces. His bafflement at the letter's easy talk of spinsterhood marks the distance between his world and hers.

Dr. MacBride

supporting

Also known as the Rev. Dr. Alexander MacBride, the doctor, the Doctor, The Doctor

Dr. MacBride serves Bear Creek as both preacher and doctor, officiating weddings and tending bodies while preaching a theology of wrath. His sermon to the cowboys — 'They are altogether become filthy' — offers no ray of hope, no homely talk of their special hardships, only dogma naked as iron. He matters because his failure to reach the men he shepherds throws into relief the human warmth the frontier must supply for itself.

Lin McLean

supporting

Also known as young Lin McLean, McLean, Mr. McLean

Lin McLean is the cowboy the whole territory watches — signed for one month of good behavior, spooning the schoolmarm, the subject of every fireside guess. His name circulates through the dance at Swinton's even when he himself has not arrived, and the Virginian's quiet notice that Lin is nowhere near Miss Wood carries a weight of its own. He is the road not taken, the wildness the Virginian has already outgrown.

Em'ly

minor

Also known as VI Em'ly

Molly's spirited horse, central to a chapter and a symbol of her independence.

Uncle Hughey

minor

An elderly, talkative cowboy who tells tall tales and annoys the younger men.

Monte

minor

Also known as Monte hawss

The Virginian's beloved horse, a constant companion throughout his adventures.

Mrs. Henry

minor

Judge Henry's kind wife who befriends Molly and offers her hospitality.

Sam Bannett

minor

Also known as Sam

A cowboy who participates in the lynching of Steve and later aids the Virginian.

Honey Wiggin

minor

Also known as Wiggin, Honey, the agile Wiggin

A slick-talking cowboy and gambler who causes trouble for the Virginian.

Colonel Cyrus Jones

minor

A pompous military man who visits the ranch and clashes with the Virginian.

Georgie Taylor

minor

Also known as Taylor, Little George Taylor, George Taylor, George, little George Taylor

The young son of Mr. Taylor who becomes attached to the Virginian.

Grandmother Stark

minor

Molly's stern grandmother who disapproves of her relationship with the Virginian.

Pedro

minor

A horse owned by Balaam, subjected to cruelty and central to a key scene.

Mrs. Wood

minor

Also known as John, poor Mrs. Wood, Mrs. John Stark Wood

Molly's mother, a widow living in Bennington who supports her daughter's choices.

Bob Carmody

minor

Also known as Poor Bob Carmody, Bob, poor Bob, Bob Carmody

A cowboy who gets into a fight with the Virginian over a card game.

Mr. Ogden

minor

Also known as Ogden, Mrs. Ogden

A neighbor of Judge Henry who hosts social gatherings and is a cattleman.

Mrs. Flynt

minor

A boarding house keeper in town where the Virginian sometimes stays.

Sarah Bell

minor

Also known as Sarah

A woman mentioned in correspondence, possibly a relative of Andrew Bell.

Edward

minor

Also known as Ed, Poor Ed

A minor character who appears in a scene with the Virginian and others.

The Drummer

minor

A traveling salesman who appears in a stagecoach scene with the Virginian.

Jim Westfall

minor

Also known as James, Westfall, Jim, young James, James Westfall, good James

A young man from Bennington who courts Molly before the Virginian appears.

Delmonico

minor

Also known as Lorenzo Delmonico, Lorenzo

A famous New York restaurateur referenced in a story about the Virginian's travels.

Henry Dow

minor

Also known as Henry

A local man who marries Anna Maria and is involved in a subplot with Molly.

Anna Maria Dow

minor

A friend of Molly's who marries Henry Dow and moves West.

Andrew Bell

minor

Also known as Mrs. Andrew Bell, Andrew, Mrs. Bell

A friend of the Virginian from his past, mentioned in letters.

Little Alfred

minor

Also known as Alfred

A young boy who appears briefly in the story, possibly related to the Taylors.

Ben Swinton

minor

Also known as Swinton, The Swintons, the Swintons

A rancher and neighbor involved in cattle disputes and social events.

Uncle Hewie

minor

An elderly man mentioned in passing, possibly a relative of a character.

Buck and Muggins

minor

Also known as Buck, Muggins

Two dogs owned by Judge Henry, often mentioned in ranch scenes.

Bokay Baldy

minor

Also known as Baldy, Bokay

A cowboy with a distinctive nickname, part of the ranch crew.

Laramie Widow

minor

A woman in Laramie who is briefly mentioned in a story about Shorty.

A Large Stranger

minor

An unnamed man who confronts the Virginian in a saloon early in the book.