Jorge Luis Borges
In some stories, such as Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, the narrator is Borges himself. The fiction of the story is grounded in the invented texts which Borges finds and critiques, and allows him to write directly as his own person.
Bioy Casares
An Argentine novelist, as well as a close friend and collaborator with Borges. A real person, he is featured in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius as the man who finds the Encyclopedia entry on Uqbar, piquing Borges' interest in the region.
Silas Haslam
Author of History of the Land Called Uqbar and A General History of Labyrinths. A member of the secret society responsible for the invention of Uqbar.
Herbert Ashe
An engineer for the Southern Railway Line, and a close friend of Borges' father. A member of the secret society responsible for the invention/propagation of Uqbar.
Ezra Buckley
The American millionaire from Memphis, Tennessee, who funded the invention of Uqbar, Tlön, and Orbis Tertius.
Ezequiel Martínez Estrada
A 20th-century Argentine writer favored by Borges. Borges writes him into the debate over the existence and veracity of documents regarding Uqbar and Tlön.
Pierre-Eugene Drieu La Rochelle
An editor of a French literary review, Nouvelle Revue Française, who thought highly of Borges after visiting Argentina in 1933. Borges writes him into the debate over the existence and veracity of documents regarding Uqbar and Tlön.
Alfonso Reyes
Noted 20th-century Mexican essayist, humanitarian, and poet. He was a friend of Borges, and Borges writes him into the debate over the existence and veracity of documents regarding Uqbar and Tlön.
Néstor Ibarra
A French writer and critic whose French translation and critique of Borge's work were largely responsible for the worldwide appreciation for Borges. Borges writes him into the debate over the existence and veracity of documents regarding Uqbar and Tlön.
Xul Solar
Pen name of Alejandro Schultz, a friend of Borges throughout his life. Borges writes him into Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius as the figure responsible for translating the verbiage of Uqbar's language.
Philip Guedala
A literary critic who reviews The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim by Mir Bahadur Ali.
Cecil Roberts
A literary critic who reviews The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim by Mir Bahadur Ali.
Mir Bahadur Ali
A Bombay attorney and author of The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim.
Nameless Bombay Law Student
The protagonist of Ali's The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim, who embarks on a literal and spiritual journey to find Al-Mu'tasim.
Al-Mu'tasim
The namesake of Mir Bahadur Ali's novel. Al-Mu'tasim is the theorized font of all moral goodness, and the protagonist of the novel spends the novel searching for him by using the goodness of people he meets as signposts.
Attar
Author of Conference of the Birds, a story referenced as a point of comparison to The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim. Note that Attar is a real historical figure, and that this story is truly attributed to him.
Pierre Menard
The fictional 20th-century Frenchman who set out to write Don Quixote by drawing from his own experiences.
Cervantes
The 17th-century Spaniard who originally wrote Don Quixote.
"The Foreigner"
The protagonist of The Circular Ruins, who hails from southern Persia and flees to ruins in the north in the hope of dreaming a man into reality.
The Foreigner's Son
The youth who is dreamed into reality by the foreigner in The Circular Ruins.
Fire
The god who empowers the foreigner to dream his son into reality. Fire is described as being a hybrid of a horse, tiger, bull, rose, and tempest (99).
The Babylonian
Narrator of The Lottery in Babylon. He describes the history and nature of Babylon's lottery to the reader.
Herbert Quain
An invented 20th-century mystery novelist, whose works, which Borges critiques in A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain, are devoted to the themes and motifs of labyrinths.
Man of the Library
The unnamed narrator of The Library of Babel, who surveys its design, metaphysics, and history.
Captain Liddell Hart
An Allied forces captain quoted in The History of the World War, referenced by Borges at the start of The Garden of Forking Paths. He recounts the delay of an Allied offensive against the Serre-Montauban line, which was the ultimate consequence of the actions taken by Dr. Yu Tsun (119).
Dr. Yu Tsun
A professor of English at Tsingtao's Hochschule, and a German spy in World War I. His statement of events leading up to his capture form the main body of Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths.
Captain Richard Madden
The Allied captain who pursues Yu Tsun and eventually arrests him. He is also responsible for killing Viktor Runeberg.
Victor Runeberg
Alias of Hans Rabener, a Prussian spy, who purportedly turned his pistol on Captain Madden when Madden attempted to arrest him. He was subsequently killed by Madden.
Dr. Stephen Albert
The Sinologist whose house Yu Tsun is directed to by a group of loitering boys while he is fleeing Captain Madden. Albert explains the meaning of Ts'ui Pen's labyrinthine manuscript to Tsun, and is ultimately murdered by Tsun.
Ts'ui Pen
Yu Tsun's ancestor, a governor of the Yunan province of China who retired in order to write a manuscript longer than the Hung Lu Meng and to build the ultimate labyrinth, an endeavor which lasted 13 years until a foreigner murdered him (122). Albert reveals to Yu Tsun that the labyrinth was the book itself, which was why it appeared nonsensical: it followed different potential futures diverging from single events, a style similar to that of Herbert Quian.
The Leader
The head of German's armed forces during World War I, to whom Yu Tsun reports. We can assume that the Leader is Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor.
Emma Zunz
The protagonist and namesake of Emma Zunz. The story revolves around her avenging the suicide of her father, who was framed for embezzlement by Aaron Loewenthal, former manager and present owner of the mill where her father had worked.
Emmanuel Zunz
Emma Zunz's father, who changed his name to Manuel Maier, presumably to distance himself from his family after he was disgraced by false charges of embezzlement by Aaron Loewenthal, and subsequently imprisoned.
Elsa Urstein
Emma Zunz's best friend. Emma spends the day prior to her father's murder with her, during which time they join a women's club. Elsa has some knowledge of the fact that Emma's father was framed for embezzlement.
Aaron Loewenthal
The former manager and present co-owner of the mill where Emmanuel Zunz worked. He framed Emmanuel for the embezzlement of which Emmanuel said he was guilty. Emma murders him and frames him as having had raped her.
King of Babylon
One of the kings in The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths. He orders a labyrinth built out of hubris.
King of the Arabs
One of the kings in The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths. He is a devout follower of Allah and leaves the king of Babylon for dead in the labyrinth of the desert as punishment for his hubris.
