Billy Prior
Billy is the central character in the novel. He is a fatalstic young officer who has risen above his working class routes and been promoted to the rank of "temporary gentleman", temporarily giving him the officer, upper class status of his military rank. He is a working class man at heart and does not like the way in which other officers view the lower classes, and is conflicted within himself about where his loyalties lie. Billy has a voracious sexual appetite for both men and women and by his own admission is a sexual sadist. Within camp, he notices some of the shirtless young men around him and is aroused by them, but also conscious of his own tenedencies and urges, and is careful not to be seen to pay too much attention to them, not wanting to be "that guy". Billy is a courageous young man who feels a genuine bond with the soldiers under his command. He cares greatly for them and feels that he is meant to lead them. However, his is also aware of the shortcomings of the preparation for battle and knows that the soldiers are viewed as nothing more than cannon fodder by the generals and politicians directing the course of the war. Billy, although fictional, is friends with some of the historical figures in the book, such as Wilfred Owen, and is also a patient of renowned real-life Dr William Rivers, with whom he likes to argue and debate, viewing every exchange at his appointments as a chess game rather than a doctors appointment. For every piece of information about himself that he gives Rivers, Billy expects a similar revelation from his doctor in return.
Billy suffers from both asthma and shell shock; his asthma is seen as a potential reason for his not going back to France but it inexplicably improves and does not stop him from returning. His shell shock has improved but is still not completely resolved, but this is not a condition recognized by the medical board. Billy almost makes it to the end of the war alive but is killed leading his troops at the Sambre-Oise bridge. He is awarded a military cross for his bravery in going out into No Man's Land to bring back the dying Hallet.
Charles Manning
Manning, a Captain, has received an honorable discharge from the military due to a knee injury. Although he wants to keep Prior from going back to France he knows that he would go back again immediately if the opportunity for him to do so was there. He is a married father of two but is also in a relationship with Billy Prior and seems to care greatly for him, finding him a job in the War Office to give him safe passage through the rest of the war. Manning is unnerved by the possiblity of being outed and hardly recognizes himself anymore; the war has changed him to such a degree. He is also a patient with Dr Rivers.
Dr William Rivers
Dr Rivers was a renowned psychiatrist taken from history and most famous for treating both Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. He worked out of Craiglockhart Military Hospital and by the time we meet him in this novel he is finding the entire war experience mentally and emotionally exhausting and realizes that he is patching up broken men just so they can be sent back to the war again. He is also physically run down in this book and contracts the Spanish Influenza which incapacitates him and gives him incredibly vivid hallucinations and nightmares of his time as a younger man in the South Pacific Islands of Melenesia, meeting a colony of head hunters and trying to understand their beliefs and culture. He and his fellow researcher, Hocart, always intended to produce a book about their time in the islands and although they managed to produce several papers, no book was produced. Dr Rivers has a stammer that began in childhood after an un-remembered traumatic incident; prompted by memories unlocked by the 'flu he starts to wonder if he was molested by Lewis Carroll, who was a family friend. Rivers' frequently makes reference to his own neuroses when in appointments with Billy Prior.
Sarah Lumb
Sarah is Billy's fiance. She is a factory worker from his home town and is a permanent shade of yellow due to working in the munitions factory. She is a matter-of-fact young girl who has already lost one fiance in the war.
Ada Lumb
Ada is Sarah's mother, and is a dominating and fearsome woman who is absolutely committed to preventing Sarah and Billy from ever having time on their own. She is an enthusiastic attendee at many seances and is also a devout woman who likes to be seen to be devout as well.
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen, the war poet, is, like Prior, an alumnus of Dr Rivers and Craiglockhart and views the experience with an "old boy network" kind of slant. He is creative and sensitive on one hand, and completely desensitized to what he sees in the war on the other hand. He is a close friend of Siegfried Sassoon and has feelings for him. Owen serves in the 2nd Manchesters regiment, alongside Prior, and is killed in November 1918, shortly before the end of the war. His poetry is still studied and appreciated today.
Ian Moffet
Moffet is one of Dr Rivers' patients and presents a challenging case of hysterical paralysis, meaning that his mental anguish manifests itself as a physical inability to move his legs. It has lasted a long while and is clearly a sign of his fear of being sent back to France. When the paralysis is cured by River, Moffet tries to commit suicide by slashing his wrists in the bathtub, but is unsuccessful.
Geoffrey Wansbeck
Wansbeck is an exemplary soldier who, with no prior warning, suddenly murdered a German prisoner of war with a bayonet. His guilt about this manifests itself by haunting him with a smell of rotting flesh that nobody else can smell. Wansbeck knows he is imagining it but cannot do anything about it. He is distressed that he has more memory of the corpse that he stole the bayonet from than the man he killed.
Officer Hallet
Hallet is biletted with Prior and seems to stick to him like glue. It is his first time to France and he is concerned that as a new officer he will find it hard to lead men with the experience of three or four campaigns behind them. He is almost young enough to have missed being called up to fight at all. He is an ernest young man who pretends that he is looking forward to joining in the war but this belies his terror. He is in love with his fiance and talks readily about her. Hallet is wounded horrifically during trench warfare and has the side of his head blown away so that he is unable to speak as his jaw is unconnected. Suspecting this might be mental as well as physical, the army send him to Craiglockhart and Dr Rivers. The problem speaking is all physical, as he is well aware of what he wants to say, and frustratingly unable to say it. He manages to make his family and Rivers understand what he is trying to tell them - that the war is not worth it. He dies very slowly over weeks in hospital, surrounded by his family.
Longstaffe
Longstaffe is Prior's servant in France and is an over-theatrical actor who tends to make bayonet practice seem like a rehearsal for a Shakespearian performance. He is deceptively tough. He is killed in the trenches in his first battle.
Colonel Marshall Of The Ten Wounds
Colonel Marshall is a highly decorated officer and is seemingly indestructible as he bounces back from ten serious war wounds. He is fearless, brave, and operates with courage and skill. He is a historical character and is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously after being killed leading his men across the canal at Sambre-Oise, with no regard for his own safety, and every regard for theirs.
Njiru
Njiru is the leader of the Melanesian head hunting colony whom Rivers met in the course of his south Pacific research. He is leader, witch doctor and fearsome warrior. He suffers from curvature of the spine, which makes him walk with an off-center gait. He views the "white men" with suspicion, but is savvy enough to be able to separate the white men who have come before, and the man that Rivers is. Njiru does not understand why head hunting has been abolished as it was the only thing that his people lived for, and in saving the people on other islands, the abolishion has started to wipe out the generations on Melanesia. Njiru operates using gentle threats rather than force and his word is law on the island. Although a genuine historical figure who was well documented by Rivers, it is not known what happened to him.
