Joe Coutts
Joe is the protagonist and the first-person narrator of The Round House. At the time of the narrative, which is told in flashback and takes place in 1988, Joe is thirteen years old and lives with his parents on a Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. In many ways, the novel highlights Joe's typical adolescence—he is beginning to discover alcohol, drugs, and sexuality. He passes his time with his group of friends—Cappy, Angus, and Zack—and maintains strong ties to his family's Native American traditions. However, once his mother is brutally raped and nearly murdered, his life changes forever.
Following the attack on Geraldine, Joe is forced to take on the role of caregiver. As he witnesses his entire family suffer following the incident, he begins to think about how to bring justice to his family. After the investigation is repeatedly butchered by the authorities, Joe takes matters into his own hands. Eventually, Joe decides to shoot Linden dead.
Bazil Coutts
Bazil Coutts is Joe’s father and Geraldine’s husband. He lives on the reservation and works as a tribal judge. Although Joe respects his father for his profession and position within the community, his admiration falters as time progresses and Geraldine's case remains unsolved. Bazil tries to maintain the home while Geraldine is recovering, but he often finds himself hoping his wife can get better and take over her domestic responsibilities. Bazil cooperates with law enforcement officers, but he knows in his heart that Linden committed the crime. Though he attacks Linden in a grocery store out of anger, he is shocked and worried when he suspects that his own son could be responsible for Linden's death.
Geraldine Coutts
Geraldine is Joe’s mother and Bazil’s wife. In the novel's opening scenes, she is raped by an unknown man near the round house. The round house, a significant place of worship and ritual for the indigenous community, remains a motif throughout the novel. After the attack, Geraldine becomes a shell of her former self. She is horribly traumatized and spends most of the novel bed-bound, which deeply upsets both Bazil and Joe. Although she knows the identity of her attacker, Geraldine refrains from passing the information to the authorities because she worries about the safety of Mayla's baby. Once it becomes clear that Linden is being pursued, she slowly begins to heal and participate in family life again. Her healing rapidly accelerates once Linden is killed and she no longer fears his violence.
Cappy Lafournais
Cappy is one of Joe's three closest friends on the reservation. The boys regularly behave like average thirteen year olds, playing pranks and pushing boundaries. Ever since his mother passed away, Cappy lives with his father and his brother, Randall. Cappy is known for his good looks and he is envied by his friends due to the attention he receives from girls his age. He falls in love with Zelia, a Mexican missionary from Montana, who visits in hopes of converting the tribal community to Christianity. Cappy teaches Joe how to shoot a gun and ultimately is the one who shoots the fatal shot, killing Linden. After Linden's death, Cappy and Joe turn to alcohol in order to quell their feelings of anxiety and guilt. At the end of the novel, Cappy dies in a car accident while driving under the influence.
Linden Lark
Linden Lark is Linda Lark's twin brother. From childhood, Linden suffered from anger issues and drug and alcohol abuse. Linden was in love with a woman named Mayla, who was having an affair with South Dakota Governor Curtis Yeltow. His anger and embarrassment towards Mayla's relationship with Curtis manifested in incredibly violent behavior, and he later murdered Mayla and violently raped Geraldine, a government worker who knew about Mayla's history. Linden continues to hang around the community after Geraldine's attack, which puts the entire Coutts family on edge. One morning, Linden is murdered by Joe and Cappy when they shoot him on the golf course.
Linda Lark
After Linda Lark was born with birth defects, she was left to be adopted by a native family. Her twin, Linden Lark, was raised by their birth parents. Linda had a relatively healthy upbringing with Betty, her adoptive mother. After Betty passed away, Linda's biological mother reached out to Linda in order to tap into her land inheritance. Her biological mother also hoped to have Linda donate her kidney to Linden, who was gravely ill due to his drug and alcohol abuse. When Linda and Linden reconnect, he makes offensive comments about Linda's appearance and disregards her generosity. Linda firmly believes that Linden was the one who attacked Geraldine, and after Linden's death, Linda shows no anger or resentment towards Joe.
Mooshum
Mooshum is the name Joe gives to his grandfather. Mooshum is very old, and Joe enjoys spending time with him and listening to his stories. Mooshum helps keep the family grounded, but he also shows his humanity and indulges his own vices on a few different occasions throughout the story. Mooshum teaches Joe about certain native traditions and rituals, such as wiindigoos and the round house.
Sonja
Sonja is Whitey's girlfriend, and Joe's aunt. Throughout the story, Joe has a crush on Sonja—she is an object of his affection during a period of Joe's budding sexuality. Sonja used to be a stripper, which heightens her sexualization by men in the Coutts family, particularly Joe and Mooshum. Her past is also stigmatized, and Whitey often fears that she will be unfaithful to him. Sonja takes Joe under her wing after Geraldine's attack, and he often stays at her home with Whitey. When Joe discovers the large sum of cash in the doll's head in the lake, he confides in Sonja and she helps him deposit the money into various accounts.
Sonja's relationship with Joe changes drastically after he witnesses her do a striptease for Mooshum. She eventually leaves town with the money from the doll, leaving Joe only a fraction of what he discovered.
Whitey
Whitey is Joe’s uncle and the owner of a gas station. He went into business after the Larks' gas station was exposed for being discriminatory towards people from the reservation.
Whitey is in a relationship with Sonja. After Joe and Cappy shoot Linden, Whitey gives the police an alibi that absolves the boys from being at the scene of the crime.
Father Travis
Father Travis is the new preacher in town. He moves to the reservation towards the beginning of the novel, and his presence is initially suspicious. Joe believes that Travis could be the one who raped Geraldine, but after spying on Travis in his house, Joe realizes that he has damage around his genitals from the war. Father Travis's spirituality is questioned throughout the novel, and Joe and his friends are able to understand him more as a human than as a religious leader.
Zeila
Zeila is a Mexican missionary from Montana. She comes to the Ojibwe reservation in order to convert the community to Christianity. She soon falls in love with Cappy. Later in the story, Zeila's parents attempt to put an end to her relationship with Cappy. Cappy drives to Montana in hopes of winning her back, but he dies in a car accident while on the way there.
Doe Lafournais
Doe is Cappy and Randall’s father. Joe steals Doe’s gun, which later becomes the murder weapon used against Linden.
Clemence
Clemence is Joe’s aunt. She lives close to the Coutts family, and she takes care of Mooshum. Following Geraldine's attack, Joe spends a lot of time at Clemence's house.
Angus
Angus is another one of Joe's friends. Angus is intrigued by Christianity and goes to church a few times throughout the story.
Mayla
Mayla is a young Native American woman who worked for Governor Curtis Yeltow and was romantically involved with him. Linden Lark was obsessed with Mayla, and he was annoyed by her affair with Yeltow. Mayla eventually became pregnant with Yeltow's baby, but he paid her cash to keep the situation hush. Mayla hoped to register her baby with the tribe, which is how Geraldine Coutts became involved in their lives. Out of jealousy, Linden killed Mayla at the lake. He also raped and tried to kill Geraldine due to her knowledge of their affairs.
Curtis Yeltow
Curtis Yeltow is the Governor of South Dakota. He impregnated a young woman named Mayla, who worked in his office. He tried to pay Mayla cash to keep their affair a secret, but the money eventually falls into different hands and Mayla meets a tragic end.
Soren Bjerke
Soren is an FBI agent sent to help the tribal police with the rape investigation. While Soren wants to help Bazil find Geraldine’s attacker, the family has difficulty trusting someone that is not a part of the Native community and thus doesn't understand the dynamics at play.
