Character guide

Dejah Thoris

major

Also known as Dejah Thoris of Helium, Thoris

Dejah Thoris is the wife John Carter crosses a hostile planet to reclaim, and her captivity drives the novel's pursuit. When she mistakes Carter for a stranger in disguise, her righteous fury reveals both her pride and the depth of her devotion. Facing Salensus Oll's jealous demands, she refuses to trade her husband's memory for a throne, declaring she would rather be a slave beside such a man than queen of Okar. Her public defiance raises the stakes of Carter's rescue and anchors the story's moral center.

John Carter

major

Also known as Carter

John Carter narrates his own relentless pursuit of Dejah Thoris, moving through hostile courts and hidden fortresses with sword and fists. His disguise as a yellow-skinned stranger backfires when his own wife fails to recognize him, a mistake that costs them both dearly. Even disarmed before a tyrant's throne, he fights half a hundred warriors rather than yield, and the loyalty he inspires in allies and beasts alike repeatedly saves him. His devotion and recklessness set the pace for the entire rescue.

Thurid

major

Also known as Dator Thurid, Dator

Thurid is a rival and conspirator among Barsoom's scheming factions, quick to seize advantage when Dejah Thoris is within reach. He lunges to cut Carter down on the balcony and later abandons him for dead, showing a pragmatism that borders on contempt. His alliance with Matai Shang is uneasy, each man watching the other for betrayal. As a recurring antagonist, he embodies the treacherous politics Carter must survive while chasing his wife.

Kulan Tith

supporting

Also known as Kulan, O Kulan Tith

Kulan Tith presides over an audience chamber where accusations and old alliances collide, and he does not suffer blasphemy lightly. Convinced by Matai Shang and Thurid that Carter is a heretic and assassin, he orders him to the pits without hesitation. Only the intervention of a visiting jeddak stays his hand, exposing how easily pride and faith can be manipulated. His court becomes a crucible where Carter's reputation and Barsoomian chivalry are tested.

Woola

supporting

Also known as Only Woola, the fierce Woola, the faithful Woola

Woola is the loyal calot who waits faithfully in a courtyard ringed by twelve growling banths, held back only by Thuvia's command. When Carter returns, the beast bounds aboard the flier in such exuberant happiness that he nearly causes a crash. His devotion is simple and absolute, a counterweight to the betrayals and political schemes surrounding his master. In a story of capture and pursuit, Woola represents the loyalty that never wavers.

Salensus Oll

major

Salensus Oll rules the yellow men of Okar with absolute authority, and his desire for Dejah Thoris curdles instantly into rage when John Carter appears. He tears the couple apart with a hundred ruthless hands and decrees that Carter shall die a natural death while Dejah Thoris becomes his queen. His tyranny provokes the invasion that eventually reaches his own throne room, where his corpse becomes a symbol of fallen power. He is the obstacle that transforms a rescue mission into a war.

Thuvan Dihn

supporting

Also known as Dihn

Thuvan Dihn rules Ptarth as its jeddak, but his authority matters less here than his fatherhood: his daughter Thuvia is a prisoner, and he has joined John Carter's pursuit to get her back. When Kulan Tith's palace proves complicit in her captivity, Dihn's self-mastery is the only thing standing between him and open war. His heavy hand on Carter's shoulder, restraining rather than joining the violence, marks him as the story's model of measured, paternal resolve.

Matai Shang

major

Also known as wise old Matai Shang, Shang

As head of the thern religion, Matai Shang commands reverence across Mars, but his power rests on fraud and he knows it. When confronted, he shrinks back and calls truth a lie, dragging Dejah Thoris from a balcony while others fight his battles; his fear shows through the white of his rage. He is the engine of the early pursuit, the man whose schemes force Carter and Thuvan Dihn to chase him toward the frozen pole.

Phaidor

supporting

Phaidor is thern royalty and a rival for Carter's devotion, and she makes her case with a raised blade rather than a plea. Her jealous rage at Dejah Thoris drives her to violence inside the Temple of the Sun, and the memory of that knife stroke haunts Carter for the entire novel. She is the story's most personal threat: not an army or a god, but a woman who would rather destroy what she cannot have.

Carthoris

supporting

Also known as Carthoris of Helium, Jeddak of Helium

With his father refusing the crown and his grandparents presumed dead, Carthoris is named Jeddak of Helium by acclamation, a young man handed a nation in the middle of a crisis. He is the reason Carter cannot simply vanish into the north: every risk Carter takes is weighed against the son left governing in his stead. His presence in the early chapters grounds the adventure in family stakes rather than pure conquest.

Thuvia

supporting

Also known as Thuvia of Ptarth

Thuvia is a prisoner through much of the story, passed between therns and First Born, but she is never merely a hostage. Her kindness toward the banths of the Golden Cliffs has made them her devoted guardians, a loyalty that pays off when Carter needs them to spare Woola. She is also the woman whose dagger-stopping leap once saved Dejah Thoris, tying her fate to Carter's quest for reasons deeper than politics.

Lakor

minor

A yellow man of Okar, a minor antagonist.

Solan

minor

A yellow man of Okar, a guard or minor official.

Tardos Mors

minor

Jeddak of Helium, grandfather of Carthoris.

Talu

supporting

Also known as Prince Talu, Prince Talu of Marentina

Talu belongs to the yellow race of the far north, a people Carter knows nothing about when he crosses the ice barrier in pursuit of Matai Shang. As a prince of Marentina, he offers the kind of local allegiance that turns an impossible chase into a viable campaign, giving Carter allies where he expected only enemies. His presence signals that the frozen pole is not empty but inhabited, and that its politics may decide whether Carter ever sees Dejah Thoris again.

Tars Tarkas

minor

Also known as Tarkas

Jeddak of Thark, a green Martian ally of John Carter.

Mors Kajak

minor

Father of Dejah Thoris, a Heliumite noble.

Issus

minor

Also known as Dator of Issus, cruel Issus

Goddess of the First Born, a powerful antagonist.

Xodar

minor

A dator of the First Born, later an ally.

Sorav

minor

A yellow man of Okar, a minor official.

Kantos Kan

minor

A Heliumite noble and ally of John Carter.

Torkar Bar

minor

A yellow man of Okar, a minor antagonist.

Dotar Sojat

minor

A name used by John Carter among the Tharks.