A character guide
Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
A familiar name, but a fuzzy memory? Get reacquainted with the cast and pick up the thread, with descriptions drawn from the book itself.
This guide covers the whole book and includes spoilers. Descriptions are generated by AI and may contain mistakes.
The cast
Names as they appear in this editionLemuel Gulliver
Also known as Mr. Lemuel Gulliver · Mr. Gulliver · Captain Gulliver · the man-mountain · quinbus flestrin · Quinbus Flestrin · Grildrig
The narrator and traveler, recently expelled from Houyhnhnmland, is wounded by native people in New Holland and taken aboard a Portuguese ship. After reaching England, he remains disgusted by humans, including his family, and spends much of his time with his horses.
Gulliver’s master Houyhnhnm
Also known as my master Houyhnhnm · the illustrious master · his honour
Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master, whose kindness moves him at parting to raise his hoof to Gulliver’s mouth. He and neighboring friends watch Gulliver depart by canoe.
Sorrel nag, Houyhnhnm household servant
Also known as the sorrel nag · the valet · the master horse’s servant · my protector · my fellow-servant
A good-natured Houyhnhnm servant who loves Gulliver and calls after him to take care as he departs by canoe.
Houyhnhnm household mare
Also known as the mistress of the house · the very comely mare · my lady
Gulliver’s master’s mate, whom he takes leave of when departing Houyhnhnmland.
Houyhnhnm household horses and mares
Also known as three nags and two mares · the servants of the family
Unnamed members of the master’s household from whom Gulliver takes leave before departing.
Houyhnhnm friends accompanying Gulliver’s master
Also known as his neighbouring friends · the rest of the Houyhnhnms in his honour’s company
Unnamed neighboring Houyhnhnms who accompany Gulliver’s master to watch Gulliver leave by canoe.
New Holland native who wounds Gulliver
Also known as one of them
One of the native people who spots Gulliver and joins the group pursuing him. This individual shoots an arrow that deeply wounds Gulliver’s knee.
New Holland natives at the fire
Also known as twenty or thirty natives · the savages · the rest
A group of native people, including men, women, and children, whom Gulliver sees gathered around a fire. Five men pursue him and shoot at him as he escapes in his canoe.
Portuguese seaman who questions Gulliver
Also known as one of the seamen
An unnamed Portuguese sailor who finds Gulliver hiding in New Holland, speaks to him in Portuguese, and asks who he is.
Portuguese seamen who find Gulliver
Also known as four of them · the honest Portuguese · the men
Four armed Portuguese sailors who find Gulliver hiding, secure him, and take him aboard their ship at their captain’s order.
Pedro de Mendez
Also known as Don Pedro · the captain
A courteous and generous Portuguese ship captain who rescues Gulliver in New Holland, treats him kindly, and persuades him to return to England. He lends Gulliver twenty pounds and accompanies him to an English ship at Lisbon.
Portuguese seaman who stops Gulliver’s escape
Also known as one of the seamen
An unnamed sailor who prevents Gulliver from jumping overboard and informs the captain, after which Gulliver is chained in his cabin.
Portuguese ship’s crew
Also known as the crew · his men
Unnamed sailors aboard Pedro de Mendez’s ship, whose presence Gulliver initially finds intolerable.
Master of the English merchantman from Lisbon
Also known as the master
An unnamed captain of the English merchant ship that carries Gulliver from Lisbon to England. Gulliver does not inquire after his name and avoids contact with him and the crew.
English merchantman’s crew
Also known as his men
Unnamed sailors aboard the English ship that carries Gulliver from Lisbon to England; Gulliver keeps away from them.
Gulliver’s wife
Also known as Mary Burton · Mrs. Mary Burton · Gulliver’s wife
Gulliver’s wife, who joyfully welcomes him home after believing him dead. His aversion to humans makes him recoil and faint when she embraces him, though years later he begins allowing her to sit at a distance and answer brief questions.
Gulliver’s wife and children
Also known as my wife and family · my wife and children
Gulliver’s family in England, who welcome him home believing he was dead. He initially cannot bear their presence or touch, and later says he intends to teach them as far as they prove docile.
Gulliver’s horses
Also known as two young stone-horses · my horses
Two young horses Gulliver buys after returning to England. He converses with them daily and says they live in friendship with him and each other.
Gulliver’s groom
Also known as the groom
An unnamed stable groom who becomes Gulliver’s favorite human companion because Gulliver likes the stable smell on him.
Gulliver’s neighbour
Also known as a neighbour Yahoo
An unnamed neighbor whom Gulliver hopes eventually to tolerate in his company despite his ongoing fear and disgust toward humans.
Herman Moll
Also known as Mr. Herman Moll
Gulliver’s friend, a mapmaker to whom he communicated his view that maps placed New Holland too far east. Moll chose to follow other authors.
Portuguese sailors who fetch water
Also known as the seamen
Unnamed sailors from Pedro de Mendez’s ship who land in New Holland to collect fresh water and discover Gulliver’s canoe.
Two Portuguese sailors sent to the ship
Also known as two of the seamen
Unnamed sailors who return to Pedro de Mendez’s ship to report finding Gulliver and receive the captain’s orders.
The Lord High Chancellor
Also known as Lord High Chancellor
A public official whom Gulliver proposes as the authority before whom travelers should swear that their published accounts are true.
Ferdinando Cortez
Also known as Ferdinando Cortez
A conqueror cited by Gulliver as an example of European conquest of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Augustus
Also known as Augustus
The Roman emperor whose reputation Gulliver invokes in a Latin phrase when describing the Houyhnhnms’ powerful kicks in battle.
Gulliver’s English sovereign
Also known as my sovereign
The unnamed sovereign in whose name Gulliver says it never occurred to him to claim possession of the countries he visited.
English secretary of state
Also known as a secretary of state
An unnamed government official to whom Gulliver is told he should have submitted a report about his discoveries.
European travellers and travel writers
Also known as writers of travels · a traveller
Unnamed travelers and authors whom Gulliver criticizes for inventing or distorting accounts of distant lands.
European Answerers and critics
Also known as Answerers, Considerers, Observers, Reflectors, Detectors, Remarkers · censurers
Unnamed critics whom Gulliver predicts will be unable to find grounds to attack his account.
Two legendary first Yahoos
Also known as two of these brutes · the two originals · the two Yahoos said to have been seen many years ago upon a mountain
Two Yahoos said to have been seen on a mountain in Houyhnhnmland long ago and believed to be ancestors of the local Yahoo population. Gulliver speculates that they may have been English.
Lilliputians
Also known as the Lilliputians
The small people of Lilliput, whom Gulliver says would not be worth the cost of conquest by an English fleet and army.
Brobdingnagians
Also known as the Brobdingnagians
The giant people of Brobdingnag, whose conquest Gulliver considers dangerous and imprudent.
Houyhnhnms
Also known as the Houyhnhnms
The rational horse-like people whose virtues Gulliver admires and whose country he refuses to recommend for invasion. He wishes they might teach Europeans virtue and says he treats their kind in England with respect.
New Holland natives previously encountered
Also known as the inhabitants
The local people of New Holland, whose report, according to Gulliver, would support his claim that no European had visited their country before him.
Houyhnhnm household servant accompanying Gulliver and the sorrel nag
Also known as another servant
An unnamed servant who helped conduct Gulliver’s canoe to the seashore before his departure from Houyhnhnmland.
Gulliver’s son
Also known as Johnny · my son Johnny
Gulliver and Mary Burton’s son, whom Gulliver regards with shame and horror as a human child. He is among the family Gulliver struggles to tolerate after returning home.
Gulliver’s daughter
Also known as Betty · my daughter Betty
Gulliver and Mary Burton’s daughter, whom Gulliver regards with shame and horror as a human child. She is among the family he struggles to tolerate after returning home.
English colonists
Also known as a modern colony · colonies
People in a hypothetical colonial expedition described by Gulliver as dispossessing, abusing, and killing inhabitants of lands they claim for their sovereign.
English colonial governors
Also known as governors
Unnamed colonial officials whom Gulliver praises satirically as vigilant and virtuous servants devoted solely to their subjects’ happiness and the king’s honor.
Queen Anne
Also known as her majesty Queen Anne · the present queen
The English queen during the war with France described by Gulliver. She renewed the war begun by the Prince of Orange.
Luggnaggian person of quality who explains the struldbrugs
Also known as the gentleman · the same gentleman who had been my interpreter
An unnamed courtly man who explains the struldbrugs to Gulliver and interprets his remarks to the company. He had served as the king of Luggnagg’s ambassador in Balnibarbi and Japan.
Houyhnhnm representative arguing to exterminate the Yahoos
Also known as one of the members for the affirmative · the honourable member who spoke before
An unnamed member of the Houyhnhnm general assembly who argues that the Yahoos should be exterminated, citing their destructive and unruly behavior.
Yahoo whose buried stones are taken
Also known as one of his Yahoos · the sordid animal · his Yahoo
A Yahoo in the master’s household that hoards shining stones. When the master secretly removes its cache, it becomes distressed and violent until the stones are returned.
Leading Yahoo of a herd
Also known as a sort of ruling Yahoo · this leader
A particularly deformed and malicious Yahoo said to lead a herd. He has a favored follower who serves him and drives female Yahoos to his kennel.
Favored Yahoo of a herd leader
Also known as a favourite
A Yahoo who serves a herd’s leading Yahoo, licks him, and drives females to his kennel in return for occasional food. When dismissed, he is attacked by the herd.
Young male Yahoo caught by Gulliver
Also known as a young male of three years old · the little imp · the cub
A young Yahoo that Gulliver briefly catches while observing a nearby herd. It scratches and bites him before escaping as the older Yahoos gather.
Young female Yahoo who approaches Gulliver
Also known as a young female Yahoo · this brute
A black-haired Yahoo, about eleven years old, who leaps into the river and embraces Gulliver while he is bathing. The sorrel nag drives her away.
Houyhnhnm friend who dies
Also known as her husband
An unnamed Houyhnhnm friend of Gulliver’s master who dies on the morning he was expected to visit. His wife and two children arrive late at the master’s home afterward.
Wife of the deceased Houyhnhnm
Also known as the mistress
An unnamed Houyhnhnm who visits Gulliver’s master with her two children after her husband dies. She dies about three months later.
Children of the deceased Houyhnhnm
Also known as her two children
Two unnamed Houyhnhnm children who accompany their mother to visit Gulliver’s master after their father’s death.
Houyhnhnm servant accompanying Gulliver and the sorrel nag
Also known as another servant
An unnamed servant who helps the sorrel nag conduct Gulliver’s canoe to the seashore.
Balnibarbian customs-house officer
Also known as the custom-house officer · the officer
An unnamed customs official who examines Gulliver after he lands in Balnibarbi and confines him while awaiting orders from court.
Luggnaggian interpreter hired by Gulliver
Also known as the young man · that poor lad · my interpreter
An unnamed native of Luggnagg who had lived in Maldonada and speaks both Luggnaggian and Balnibarbian. He interprets for Gulliver during his stay and at the Luggnaggian court.
Luggnaggian escorting horsemen
Also known as a party of ten horse
Ten unnamed horsemen ordered by the court to conduct Gulliver and his interpreter to Traldragdubh.
Luggnaggian royal messenger
Also known as a messenger
An unnamed messenger sent ahead to tell the king that Gulliver is approaching and request an audience.
King of Luggnagg
Also known as his majesty · this prince
The unnamed ruler of Luggnagg, who receives Gulliver, grants him a court lodging and allowance, and later gives him a letter of recommendation to the Emperor of Japan and gifts before his departure.
Luggnaggian high-chamberlain
Also known as bliffmarklub
An unnamed court official whom the king orders to arrange lodging and a daily allowance for Gulliver and his interpreter.
Luggnaggian page who neglected the floor
Also known as one of his pages · the poor page
An unnamed page whose failure to report that the floor needed washing after an execution led to a young lord being accidentally poisoned. The king orders him whipped, then forgives him.
Young Luggnaggian lord poisoned at court
Also known as a young lord of great hopes
An unnamed young noble who is accidentally poisoned by deadly powder left on the audience-room floor after an execution.
Luggnaggian company at the struldbrug conversation
Also known as his friends and mine · the rest of the company · some eminent persons
Unnamed people of high standing who discuss the struldbrugs with Gulliver and laugh at his mistaken hopes about immortality.
Luggnaggian struldbrugs
Also known as struldbrugs · immortals
People born with a mark that means they never die. The passage describes their aging, legal status, and misery, and Gulliver later sees five or six of them.
Young Luggnaggian struldbrug girl
Also known as a young girl born about three years ago
A young girl born with the mark of a struldbrug; she is mentioned as one of the kingdom’s rare immortals.
Luggnaggian friends who bring struldbrugs to Gulliver
Also known as some of my friends
Unnamed acquaintances who bring five or six struldbrugs of different ages to meet Gulliver.
Japanese emperor
Also known as the Emperor of Japan · his imperial majesty
Japan’s unnamed ruler, who grants Gulliver safe passage to Nangasac and excuses him from trampling on the crucifix, partly to honor the king of Luggnagg.
Japanese interpreter for Dutch affairs
Also known as the interpreter · a person employed to transact affairs with the Hollanders
An unnamed official who explains the king of Luggnagg’s letter to the Japanese emperor and speaks Low Dutch to Gulliver.
Japanese commanding officer escorting Gulliver
Also known as the commanding officer
An unnamed officer ordered to convey Gulliver safely to Nangasac and ensure he is excused from the crucifix ceremony.
Dutch sailors of the Amboyna
Also known as some Dutch sailors · the crew
Unnamed sailors aboard the Amboyna who question Gulliver about his travels and whether he performed the crucifix ceremony.
Theodorus Vangrult
Also known as one Theodorus Vangrult · the captain
Captain of the Dutch ship Amboyna. He agrees to carry Gulliver to Holland at half the usual rate in return for Gulliver’s work as a surgeon.
Dutch skipper who reports Gulliver
Also known as a malicious rogue of a skipper · the rascal
An unnamed skipper who tells an officer that Gulliver has not trampled on the crucifix; the officer has him beaten.
Dutch officer who protects Gulliver
Also known as an officer · the other
An unnamed officer in Japan who has orders to let Gulliver pass and punishes the skipper who reports him.
Japanese and Dutch voyage casualties
Also known as three men · a fourth
Three unnamed sailors die of sickness aboard the Amboyna, and another unnamed sailor falls from the foremast into the sea near Guinea.
Robert Purefoy
Also known as one Robert Purefoy
A skilled young surgeon Gulliver hires for the Adventurer when he becomes its captain.
Captain Pocock
Also known as Captain Pocock, of Bristol
A Bristol captain whose ship is separated from Gulliver’s in a storm and later foundered. Gulliver says Pocock was honest and a good sailor, but too stubborn to heed his advice.
Captain Pocock’s surviving cabin boy
Also known as one cabin boy
The sole survivor of Captain Pocock’s shipwreck.
Adventurer’s mutinous crew
Also known as my men · fifty hands · the rogues · the buccaneers
Gulliver’s crew, including recruits from Barbados and the Leeward Islands, many of them former buccaneers. They conspire to seize the ship, confine Gulliver, and maroon him.
James Welch
Also known as one James Welch
A sailor who tells Gulliver that the mutineers’ captain has ordered him put ashore.
Adventurer’s mutineer captain
Also known as their new captain · the captain
An unnamed mutineer who takes command of the Adventurer and orders Gulliver marooned after the crew seizes the ship.
First Houyhnhnm encountered by Gulliver
Also known as the gray · the dapple gray · the first horse
A gray Houyhnhnm who approaches Gulliver, investigates his clothes, and leads him to his home. He becomes Gulliver’s master and teaches him the language and customs of the Houyhnhnms.
Second Houyhnhnm encountered by Gulliver
Also known as the brown bay · the bay · the second horse
A brown bay Houyhnhnm who joins the gray in examining Gulliver and discussing him. He introduces Gulliver to the word “Houyhnhnm.”
Yahoo who confronts Gulliver
Also known as one of these creatures · the ugly monster · the beast
An unnamed Yahoo who approaches Gulliver on the road; Gulliver strikes it with his hanger, prompting a herd to surround him.
Houyhnhnm household colt
Also known as the colt
The young male offspring of Gulliver’s master and the household mare.
Houyhnhnm household foal
Also known as the foal
The young offspring of Gulliver’s master and the household mare.
Yahoo brought from the kennel for comparison
Also known as the largest of these animals · the Yahoo
An unnamed Yahoo taken from its kennel so the Houyhnhnm master and servant can compare it with Gulliver.
Mare servant who opens the milk room
Also known as a mare-servant
An unnamed mare in the household who opens the room where the milk is kept so Gulliver can drink.
Old injured Houyhnhnm guest
Also known as an old steed · the stranger · his friend
An unnamed elderly horse of high status who visits the master’s household for dinner with an injured left forefoot.
Yahoos who draw the guest’s vehicle
Also known as four Yahoos
Four unnamed Yahoos who pull a sledge-like vehicle carrying the old injured Houyhnhnm guest.
White mare servant
Also known as a white mare servant of his family
An unnamed white mare who brings Gulliver oats on the master’s order.
Houyhnhnms of quality who visit Gulliver
Also known as several horses and mares of quality in the neighbourhood · the Houyhnhnms who came to visit my master
Unnamed neighboring Houyhnhnms who visit out of curiosity to see and speak with Gulliver, whom they regard as a remarkable Yahoo.
Charles V
Also known as the emperor Charles V
The emperor cited for saying that if he spoke to his horse, he would speak in High-Dutch.
Female ruler of England
Also known as a female man, whom we called queen
The unnamed queen Gulliver identifies as England’s ruler while explaining his country to his Houyhnhnm master.
Houyhnhnm horses in Europe
Also known as the Houyhnhnms among us · horses
The horses Gulliver describes to his master, explaining how people ride, work, and mistreat them.
Laputian women
Also known as the women of the island · the wives and daughters
Women of Laputa, described as lively and eager to visit the world below; they need the king’s license to leave the island. The passage says they often choose continental visitors as lovers.
Laputian husbands
Also known as their husbands · the husband
Unnamed husbands on Laputa, absorbed in speculation and often inattentive to their wives’ affairs.
Continental visitors attending at court
Also known as strangers · a considerable number from the continent below
Unnamed men from the continent who visit Laputa on public or private business; some become the lovers of Laputian women.
Laputian prime minister’s wife
Also known as a great court lady
An unnamed high-ranking woman married to the prime minister. She repeatedly escapes to Lagado to be with a deformed footman who abuses her, and has not been heard from since her latest disappearance.
Laputian prime minister
Also known as the prime minister · the richest subject in the kingdom
The wealthiest subject in Laputa and husband of the great court lady who repeatedly leaves him for a footman. The text describes him as graceful and very fond of his wife.
Laputian prime minister’s wife’s footman
Also known as an old deformed footman · the same gallant
An unnamed, deformed footman who is the lover of the prime minister’s wife. He beats her daily, and she disappears with him again after her husband takes her back.
Laputian astronomers
Also known as certain astronomers · the astronomers
Unnamed scholars who study the celestial bodies and operate the loadstone that moves the flying island at the monarch’s direction. They have catalogued many stars and comets.
Laputian astronomer who tests the loadstone
Also known as one of the oldest and expertest among them · the officer
An unnamed senior astronomer who tests the magnetic attraction above Lindalino’s towers, demonstrating why the flying island cannot descend upon the city.
Laputian king’s ministers
Also known as a ministry · his ministers · the officers
Unnamed ministers whose estates lie on the continent below; they resist the king’s attempt to enslave the country. Their interests also make them reluctant to advise destroying a city beneath the island.
Lindalinians
Also known as the inhabitants · the citizens · the proud people
The people of Lindalino, who rebel against the king after suffering oppression. They use loadstones mounted on towers to resist the flying island and win their demands.
Lindalino’s governor
Also known as the governor
An unnamed official seized by the people of Lindalino when they rebel against the king.
Laputian king’s progress party
Also known as the inhabitants of the island
Unnamed people on the flying island whom the king orders to cast stones at Lindalino during its rebellion.
Laputian king’s great lord and kinsman
Also known as a great lord at court · his kinsman · my protector · his lordship · the grandee
An unnamed lord related to the Laputian king, esteemed chiefly for his kinship but regarded by others as ignorant. He befriends Gulliver, secures permission for him to leave Laputa, gives him money and a letter of recommendation to Munodi, and is a principled, capable governor of Lagado despite his reputation.
Munodi
Also known as lord Munodi · this great lord · his excellency
A high-ranking lord and former governor of Lagado, dismissed through ministerial intrigue and regarded at court as foolish. He hospitably hosts Gulliver and maintains his estate according to sound traditional practices amid the ruin caused by projectors.
Lagado projectors
Also known as the projectors · a club of those projectors
Unnamed inventors and reformers who establish academies throughout Balnibarbi and pursue schemes that leave the country waste. A group persuaded Munodi to replace his working mill with a failed project.
Lagado academy warden
Also known as the warden
An unnamed official who receives Gulliver kindly at the academy of projectors and guides him through its rooms.
Lagado academy conductor
Also known as my conductor
An unnamed guide at the academy who escorts Gulliver among the projectors and warns him not to offend them.
Cucumber sunshine projector
Also known as the first man
An unnamed, meagre-looking projector who has spent eight years trying to extract and store sunlight from cucumbers.
Excrement-to-food projector
Also known as the most ancient student of the academy · the projector of this cell
An unnamed, filthy senior academy student who seeks to turn human excrement back into food.
Ice-to-gunpowder projector
Also known as another
An unnamed academy projector working to calcine ice into gunpowder and writing about the malleability of fire.
Roof-first architect
Also known as a most ingenious architect
An unnamed academy architect who proposes building houses from the roof downward.
Blind colour-mixing professor
Also known as a man born blind · the professor · this artist
An unnamed blind artist who teaches blind apprentices to identify and mix colours by touch and smell, though he is often mistaken himself.
Hog-ploughing projector
Also known as a projector
An unnamed inventor who proposes using hungry pigs to plough and fertilize fields by burying food for them to root out.
Spider-silk projector
Also known as the artist
An unnamed projector who proposes using domestic spiders to spin silk and hopes to control its colours by feeding them coloured flies.
Lagado sundial astronomer
Also known as an astronomer
An unnamed astronomer who plans to place a sundial on the town-house weathercock and adjust it to account for the earth’s and sun’s motions and the wind.
Lagado bellows physician
Also known as a great physician · the doctor
An unnamed physician who claims to cure colic by forcing air into and drawing it from the patient’s body. His treatment kills the dog on which he demonstrates it.
The physician’s test dog
Also known as a dog · the animal
An unnamed dog on which the physician tests his bellows treatment; it dies during the demonstration.
Universal artist
Also known as the universal artist · this illustrious person
An unnamed academy inventor who claims to have worked for thirty years on improving human life. His schemes include growing naked sheep and altering land, materials, and animals through novel processes.
Mechanical book-making professor
Also known as the first professor · the professor · this illustrious person
An unnamed professor who has built a word-shuffling machine intended to let students generate books in every field without study or genius.
Mechanical book-making professor’s pupils
Also known as his pupils · the young students · the lads · the boys
Unnamed students who operate the professor’s word-shuffling machine, identify word sequences, and record them for later compilation.
Language school professors
Also known as three professors
Three unnamed professors who debate schemes for simplifying or abolishing spoken language.
Women who oppose abolishing speech
Also known as the women
Unnamed women who join with ordinary and uneducated people to threaten rebellion if they are denied the right to speak aloud.
Mathematical schoolmaster
Also known as the master
An unnamed teacher who makes students learn mathematical propositions by swallowing wafers marked with ink.
Mathematical pupils
Also known as the student · lads
Unnamed students who are made to swallow mathematical propositions on wafers and fast while the ink is supposed to reach their brains.
Political projectors
Also known as the professors
Unnamed academy professors who devise schemes for improving government, including selecting virtuous ministers and rewarding merit.
Political doctor
Also known as a most ingenious doctor · this illustrious person · the doctor
An unnamed doctor who proposes bizarre medical remedies for political problems, such as treating senators and swapping the halves of opponents’ brains to reconcile factions.
Political doctor’s assistants
Also known as certain physicians · their apothecaries · two nice operators
Unnamed medical workers proposed for administering treatments to senators and performing the brain-swapping procedure.
Professors debating taxes
Also known as two professors · the first · the second
Two unnamed professors who argue over whether taxes should fall on vices and folly or on qualities people prize in themselves.
Plot-detection professor
Also known as another professor · the author
An unnamed professor who writes instructions for detecting conspiracies by examining suspects’ habits and bodily waste. He welcomes Gulliver’s additions, including an account of political informers in Tribnia.
Tribnian informers and prosecutors
Also known as discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers
Unnamed people who dominate Tribnia’s public life and serve ministers by inventing plots, accusing suspects, and manipulating evidence for political or private gain.
Tribnian word interpreters
Also known as a set of artists · a skilful decipherer
Unnamed specialists who claim to discover hidden political meanings in ordinary words, letters, and documents.
The gentleman who hosts Gulliver at Maldonada
Also known as a gentleman of distinction
An unnamed gentleman who befriends Gulliver while he waits for a ship to Luggnagg and proposes a visit to Glubbdubdrib.
The gentleman’s friend
Also known as a friend
An unnamed friend of the gentleman of distinction who accompanies him and Gulliver to Glubbdubdrib.
Governor of Glubbdubdrib
Also known as the governor · his highness · the head of a certain tribe
The prince and governor of Glubbdubdrib, whose family are magicians. He can summon the dead to serve for a day and allows Gulliver to question historical figures.
Glubbdubdrib governor’s family
Also known as his family
The unnamed family of the governor of Glubbdubdrib, served by spirits summoned through his necromancy.
Glubbdubdrib guards
Also known as two rows of guards
Unnamed armed guards who line the entrance to the governor’s palace.
Glubbdubdrib spectral domestics
Also known as servants of the same sort · domestic spectres · ghosts
Spirits summoned from the dead to serve the governor and his household for no more than twenty-four hours at a time.
Gulliver’s two Glubbdubdrib companions
Also known as my two companions · the two gentlemen
The two unnamed gentlemen who accompany Gulliver from Maldonada to Glubbdubdrib and are familiar with the governor’s supernatural entertainments.
Alexander the Great
Also known as Alexander
The ancient Macedonian king whom the governor summons at Gulliver’s request. He says he died of a fever brought on by excessive drinking, not poison.
Hannibal
Also known as Hannibal
The Carthaginian commander whom Gulliver sees crossing the Alps; he denies having vinegar in his camp.
Julius Caesar
Also known as Cæsar · Caesar
The Roman general and ruler whom the governor summons. He acknowledges Brutus’s glory in killing him and admits that his greatest deeds fell short of that act.
Pompey
Also known as Pompey
The Roman general whom Gulliver sees with Caesar at the head of their armies before battle.
Marcus Junius Brutus
Also known as Brutus
The Roman statesman and assassin of Caesar, whom Gulliver admires for virtue and love of country. Brutus says he is often in the company of his ancestor Junius, Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato the Younger, and Sir Thomas More.
Junius
Also known as his ancestor Junius
Brutus’s ancestor, whom Brutus says is among his regular companions in the afterlife.
Socrates
Also known as Socrates
The ancient Greek philosopher, whom Brutus names among his close companions in the afterlife.
Epaminondas
Also known as Epaminondas
The ancient Greek statesman and general, whom Brutus names among his close companions in the afterlife.
Cato the Younger
Also known as Cato the younger
The Roman statesman, whom Brutus names among his close companions in the afterlife.
Sir Thomas More
Also known as Sir Thomas More
The English statesman and author, whom Brutus names among his close companions in the afterlife.
Homer
Also known as Homer
The ancient Greek poet whom Gulliver meets among the dead. Homer does not know his many commentators, and Gulliver introduces Didymus and Eustathius to him.
Aristotle
Also known as Aristotle
The ancient Greek philosopher whom Gulliver meets among the dead. He rejects the accounts of Scotus and Ramus and discusses natural philosophy with Descartes and Gassendi.
Homer’s commentators
Also known as all their commentators
Hundreds of unnamed commentators summoned alongside Homer and Aristotle; Homer and Aristotle are strangers to them.
Didymus
Also known as Didymus
A commentator whom Gulliver introduces to Homer.
Eustathius
Also known as Eustathius
A commentator whom Gulliver introduces to Homer.
Duns Scotus
Also known as Scotus
A philosopher whom Gulliver presents to Aristotle, who dismisses him as foolish.
Ramus
Also known as Ramus
A philosopher whom Gulliver presents to Aristotle, who dismisses him as foolish.
René Descartes
Also known as Descartes
The philosopher whom Gulliver summons to explain his system of nature to Aristotle.
Pierre Gassendi
Also known as Gassendi
The philosopher whom Gulliver summons to explain his system to Aristotle; he had made Epicurus’s doctrine more palatable.
Epicurus
Also known as Epicurus
The ancient philosopher whose doctrine Gassendi presented; Aristotle rejects it.
Heliogabalus’s cooks
Also known as Heliogabalus’s cooks
Unnamed cooks from the court of Heliogabalus whom Gulliver summons to prepare a meal but who lack ingredients.
Heliotabalus
Also known as Heliogabalus
A Roman emperor whose cooks Gulliver summons from the dead.
Helot of Agesilaus
Also known as a helot of Agesilaus
An unnamed Spartan servant summoned by Gulliver who prepares Spartan broth.
Agesilaus
Also known as Agesilaus
The Spartan king whose helot prepares broth for Gulliver.
Modern European kings and their ancestors
Also known as a dozen or two of kings · their ancestors
Unnamed historical rulers and forebears whom Gulliver summons to examine aristocratic family lineages; their ancestry often includes people of humble occupations.
Polydore Virgil
Also known as Polydore Virgil
A historian whose statement about a noble family’s lack of brave men and chaste women Gulliver recalls.
Unnamed general at Glubbdubdrib
Also known as a general
A dead general who admits to Gulliver that he won a victory through cowardice and poor conduct.
Unnamed admiral at Glubbdubdrib
Also known as an admiral
A dead admiral who admits that he defeated the fleet he had intended to betray because he lacked proper intelligence.
Three kings at Glubbdubdrib
Also known as three kings
Three dead monarchs who tell Gulliver they almost never promoted merit and argue that corruption is needed to sustain royal rule.
Roman ship captain at Actium
Also known as one person · the captain · commander of a ship
An unnamed Roman captain who says his actions at Actium helped secure victory over Antony, but whose career was ruined by favoritism. Agrippa confirms his account.
The Roman captain’s son
Also known as his only son · the youth
The eighteen-year-old son of the Roman captain, killed in the battle of Actium.
Libertina
Also known as Libertina
A woman who waited on one of Augustus’s mistresses; her son, a novice sailor, received command of a ship over the experienced captain from Actium.
Publicola
Also known as Publicola
A Roman vice-admiral whose favourite page received command of the captain’s ship after the captain was accused of neglect of duty.
Agrippa
Also known as Agrippa
The admiral at the battle of Actium, whom Gulliver summons to verify the Roman captain’s account; he confirms it and adds to the captain’s credit.
English yeoman of the old stamp
Also known as some English yeoman
An unnamed representative of the traditional English yeoman whom Gulliver summons to compare the virtues of earlier generations with those of their descendants.
Lagado mill projectors
Also known as a club of those projectors
Unnamed inventors who persuade Munodi to build an elevated mill supplied by a canal and pipes; the project fails after two years of work.
The Brobdingnagian king
Also known as the king · his majesty · this prince
The king initially doubts Gulliver’s account but orders him cared for at court and later holds many conversations with him. He questions Gulliver about England’s government and condemns its corruption and violence; he also rejects Gulliver’s offer to teach him to make gunpowder and weapons. During a progress to the coast, Gulliver is carried in his travelling box.
The Brobdingnagian queen
Also known as the queen · her majesty · my mistress
The queen buys Gulliver from the farmer, receives Glumdalclitch into her service, and becomes fond of Gulliver. She presents him to the king and gives him a ring; she keeps the tiny chairs Gulliver makes from her hair as curiosities.
The farmer’s daughter
Also known as Glumdalclitch · little nurse · my little nurse · my Glumdalclitch
The farmer’s daughter who teaches Gulliver the local language and cares for him in Brobdingnag. At court she remains his devoted nurse and instructor; she accompanies him on the royal progress, but falls ill and is unable to go with him to the coast.
Brobdingnagian queen’s cabinet-maker
Also known as the cabinet-maker · my friend the cabinet-maker
An ingenious craftsperson who builds Gulliver a furnished wooden chamber and later makes two tiny chair frames at his request. Gulliver weaves the queen’s hair through them and gives the chairs to her.
Brobdingnagian queen’s barber
Also known as the barber
An unnamed royal barber who shaves the king twice a week. He gives Gulliver some of the king’s lather, from which Gulliver collects beard hairs to make a comb.
Brobdingnagian queen’s woman
Also known as the queen’s woman
An unnamed attendant to the queen who saves the queen’s combings for Gulliver, which he uses to make small chairs and a purse.
Brobdingnagian spinet teacher
Also known as a master
An unnamed music teacher who visits Glumdalclitch twice a week to teach her the spinet.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis
Also known as Dionysius Halicarnassensis
An author whom Gulliver cites as recommending that historians show a proper partiality toward their own country.
The Brobdingnagian king’s grandfather
Also known as this prince’s grandfather
A former king who ended the last civil war through a general settlement. The militia was established by common consent during his reign.
Brobdingnagian governess
Also known as the governess · Glumdalclitch’s governess
An unnamed elderly gentlewoman who oversees Glumdalclitch’s education and owns a treatise on morality and devotion. Gulliver reads the book, which argues that humankind is weak and diminished from the size of people in ancient times.
Brobdingnagian royal joiner
Also known as the queen’s joiner
An unnamed joiner who builds a tall movable wooden ladder in one of Glumdalclitch’s rooms so Gulliver can read the enormous books in the king’s library.
Brobdingnagian page trusted with Gulliver
Also known as a page · the boy
An unnamed page whom Gulliver likes and who is sometimes entrusted with his care. During the royal progress he takes Gulliver in his box toward the seashore, then leaves him unattended while looking for birds’ eggs.
Brobdingnagian eagle that carries Gulliver’s box
Also known as some eagle · the eagle
An eagle that seizes the ring on Gulliver’s travelling box and carries it high over the sea. Other eagles pursue it, and Gulliver’s box falls into the water.
Brobdingnagian eagles pursuing Gulliver’s carrier
Also known as two or three others · the rest
Two or three eagles that pursue the eagle carrying Gulliver’s box, apparently hoping to share its prey. Their attack forces the carrier to drop the box into the sea.
Thomas Wilcocks
Also known as Mr. Thomas Wilcocks · the captain
An honest Shropshire captain whose ship finds Gulliver’s box at sea and rescues him. He gives Gulliver food and rest, listens to his account, refuses payment for the voyage, and invites him to visit in Redriff.
English ship’s carpenter
Also known as the carpenter
An unnamed carpenter aboard Thomas Wilcocks’s ship who saws an opening in Gulliver’s box and lowers a ladder so Gulliver can climb out.
English sailors who rescue Gulliver
Also known as the sailors · the crew
The unnamed crew of Thomas Wilcocks’s ship, who tow Gulliver’s floating box to their ship and raise it aboard. They salvage furnishings from the box, damaging them in the process.
English long-boat crew who first inspect Gulliver’s box
Also known as his men · the men
Unnamed sailors sent by Thomas Wilcocks to investigate the object they mistake for a sail. They return frightened, calling it a swimming house, then help tow it to the ship.
English sailor who saw the eagles
Also known as one of them
An unnamed sailor aboard Thomas Wilcocks’s ship who says he saw three eagles flying north when the ship first found Gulliver’s box.
Gulliver’s household servant who opens the door
Also known as one of the servants
An unnamed servant in Gulliver’s household who opens the door when Gulliver returns to England.
Gulliver’s friends at home
Also known as one or two friends
Unnamed friends present at Gulliver’s house when he returns from Brobdingnag.
William Robinson
Also known as Captain William Robinson · the captain
A Cornish captain and longtime friend of Gulliver, who once treated him like a brother aboard ship. He visits Gulliver after his return to England and invites him to serve as surgeon on the Hopewell’s voyage to the East Indies.
The Hopewell’s second surgeon
Also known as another surgeon
An unnamed surgeon appointed to serve under Gulliver on William Robinson’s ship.
The Hopewell’s two mates
Also known as our two mates
Two unnamed ship’s officers serving under William Robinson alongside Gulliver and the other surgeon.
Japanese pirate captain
Also known as a Japanese captain · the captain
The commander of the larger of the two pirate ships that captures Gulliver’s sloop. He refuses to let the Dutchman kill Gulliver and gives him extra provisions before setting him adrift in a canoe.
Dutch pirate associate
Also known as a Dutchman · that malicious reprobate
An unnamed Dutchman of some authority among the pirates, though he commands neither ship. He angrily urges the Japanese captains to throw Gulliver into the sea and, failing that, persuades them to maroon him.
Pirate crews
Also known as the pirates · their men
Unnamed pirates aboard two ships who capture Gulliver’s sloop, bind its crew, and divide the men between their vessels.
Gulliver’s sloop crew
Also known as my men · fourteen men
Fourteen unnamed sailors placed aboard the sloop by William Robinson, including three Tonquinese. They are divided between the pirate ships after the capture.
Laputian islanders who spot Gulliver
Also known as a crowd · people moving up and down the sides of it
Unnamed inhabitants of the flying island who notice Gulliver on the shore and gather to look at him. Some confer and arrange to lower a chain and seat to bring him aboard.
Laputian person of authority
Also known as some person in authority
An unnamed authority on the flying island whom several people hurry to consult after spotting Gulliver.
Laputian person who calls to Gulliver
Also known as one of them
An unnamed Laputian who calls out to Gulliver in a polite dialect and gestures for him to come down to the shore.
Laputian king
Also known as the king · his majesty · this prince
The ruler of Laputa, an island that flies above the kingdom below. He receives Gulliver, assigns servants and a language tutor to him, and later holds court conversations with him while directing the island’s movements.
Laputian court attendants
Also known as persons of prime quality · the nobility, courtiers, and officers
Unnamed high-ranking attendants at the Laputian court who surround the king and attend him during audiences and musical performances.
Laputian royal flappers
Also known as two young pages with flaps · one of them
Two young pages who use bladders on sticks to rouse the king from mathematical absorption by tapping his mouth and ear.
Laputian flapper who approaches Gulliver
Also known as a young man with a flap
An unnamed attendant who taps Gulliver’s ear with a bladder on a stick when the king’s court assumes he needs a flapper.
Laputian servants assigned to Gulliver
Also known as two servants · my servants
Two unnamed palace servants appointed to attend Gulliver. His language tutor uses them for simple demonstrations as he teaches Gulliver Laputian words.
Laputian courtier who dines with Gulliver
Also known as four persons of quality
Four unnamed courtiers who dine with Gulliver after his audience with the king and help him learn words in their language.
Laputian language tutor
Also known as a person sent to me by the king’s order · my tutor
An unnamed Laputian scholar sent by the king to teach Gulliver the language. He uses books and demonstrations to teach him vocabulary, mathematics, and musical terms.
Laputian tailor
Also known as a tailor · this operator
An unnamed tailor who measures Gulliver with mathematical instruments and makes him ill-fitting clothes after miscalculating his dimensions.
Brobdingnagian footman with toothache
Also known as one of Glumdalclitch’s men
An unnamed footman in Glumdalclitch’s service who suffers toothache. A surgeon mistakenly extracts one of his healthy teeth, which Gulliver keeps as a curiosity.
Brobdingnagian surgeon who extracts the footman’s tooth
Also known as an unskilful surgeon
An unnamed surgeon who mistakenly removes a healthy tooth from one of Glumdalclitch’s footmen while treating him for toothache.
Demosthenes
Also known as Demosthenes
An ancient orator whom Gulliver wishes he could emulate when praising England to the Brobdingnagian king.
Cicero
Also known as Cicero
An ancient Roman orator whom Gulliver wishes he could emulate when praising England to the Brobdingnagian king.
The Brobdingnagian farmer
Also known as one of the inhabitants · the first among these enormous barbarians · the farmer · my master
A substantial farmer who finds Gulliver in his field and takes him home. He shows Gulliver for money, then sells him to the queen when Gulliver’s health declines.
Brobdingnagian reaper who finds Gulliver
Also known as one of the reapers · the huge creature · the farmer’s servant
An unnamed farm worker who spots Gulliver in the field and gently carries him to his master, the farmer.
The farmer’s wife
Also known as my mistress · the mistress
The farmer’s wife, who first recoils from Gulliver but soon becomes tender toward him. She feeds and protects him at home.
The farmer’s youngest son
Also known as the arch boy
An unnamed boy of about ten who grabs Gulliver and holds him aloft during dinner. His father rescues Gulliver and reprimands him; Gulliver asks that the boy be forgiven.
The farmer’s infant
Also known as the child · the babe
The farmer’s one-year-old child, who grabs Gulliver and puts his head in his mouth before the mother catches him.
Brobdingnagian nurse
Also known as the nurse
An unnamed nurse who brings the farmer’s infant to dinner and tries to quiet him with a rattle and by nursing him.
The farmer’s maid
Also known as the maid
An unnamed household servant who is called to remove a dead rat from Gulliver’s bed.
The farmer’s old friend
Also known as another farmer · the old fellow
A nearby farmer and friend of Gulliver’s master who visits to inspect Gulliver. He advises the master to exhibit Gulliver at a market, beginning Gulliver’s public displays.
Brobdingnagian town crier
Also known as the grultrud · the crier
An unnamed crier hired by the farmer to announce Gulliver’s exhibition at the inn on market day.
Brobdingnagian schoolboy
Also known as the unlucky school-boy · the young rogue
An unnamed boy who throws a large hazelnut at Gulliver during an exhibition, narrowly missing his head. He is beaten and sent from the room.
Brobdingnagian court gentleman-usher
Also known as a sardral · the gentleman-usher
An unnamed court usher who orders the farmer to bring Gulliver to court for the queen’s entertainment.
Brobdingnagian court lady-in-waiting
Also known as one of the queen’s ladies
An unnamed lady of the queen’s court who attends when Gulliver is first presented and is delighted by his manner.
Brobdingnagian great scholars
Also known as three great scholars · three virtuosi
Three unnamed scholars summoned by the king to examine Gulliver. They debate his nature and conclude he is a freak of nature.
Brobdingnagian queen’s dwarf
Also known as the queen’s dwarf · the dwarf · malicious little cub
The queen’s unusually small dwarf, who jeers at Gulliver and repeatedly plays cruel tricks on him, including dropping him into cream and wedging him into a marrow bone. The queen eventually gives him to a noble lady.
Brobdingnagian first minister
Also known as the first minister
An unnamed senior minister who waits behind the king and hears the king compare human grandeur to Gulliver’s tiny scale.
Brobdingnagian governess’s maid
Also known as a maid to dress her
An unnamed maid appointed at court to dress Glumdalclitch.
Brobdingnagian palace servants
Also known as two other servants · the servants
Unnamed attendants assigned to menial duties for Glumdalclitch at court.
Brobdingnagian artisan of small curiosities
Also known as a nice workman · the nice workman
An unnamed craftsman famed for making small curiosities who makes Gulliver chairs, tables, and a cabinet.
Brobdingnagian smith
Also known as the smith
An unnamed smith who makes a tiny lock for Gulliver’s chamber door after several attempts.
Brobdingnagian upholsterer
Also known as her majesty’s upholsterer
The queen’s unnamed upholsterer, who supplies a bed for Gulliver’s chamber.
Brobdingnagian queen’s daughters
Also known as the two princesses royal · the eldest · the younger
The queen’s two daughters, aged sixteen and thirteen, who dine with her and Gulliver.
Brobdingnagian palace pages
Also known as some of their pages · one of the pages
Unnamed young court attendants who help entertain the queen with Gulliver’s rowing and once put his boat into the trough.
Brobdingnagian palace servant who fills the trough
Also known as one of the servants
An unnamed servant responsible for refreshing the water in Gulliver’s rowing trough; through carelessness he lets a large frog into it.
Brobdingnagian kitchen clerk
Also known as one of the clerks of the kitchen
An unnamed kitchen clerk who owns the monkey that attacks Gulliver.
Brobdingnagian monkey
Also known as the monkey · this frolicsome animal
A large monkey that takes Gulliver from his room, carries him onto a roof, and feeds him. After Gulliver is rescued, the monkey is killed and keeping such animals near the palace is forbidden.
Brobdingnagian nurse’s footman
Also known as an honest lad · one of my nurse’s footmen
An unnamed footman who climbs onto the roof and safely brings Gulliver down after the monkey drops him.
Brobdingnagian gardener
Also known as the chief gardener’s master · the poor gardener
An unnamed gardener who knows Gulliver and is fond of him. When a trained spaniel carries Gulliver to him, he gently checks that Gulliver is unharmed and returns him to Glumdalclitch.
Brobdingnagian gardener’s spaniel
Also known as a small white spaniel · the dog
A well-trained white spaniel belonging to one of the chief gardeners. It carries Gulliver gently in its mouth to its master without injuring him.
Brobdingnagian chief gardeners
Also known as the chief gardeners
Unnamed senior gardeners at the palace; one owns the white spaniel that carries Gulliver.
The farmer’s wife’s favourite cat
Also known as the favourite cat · the cat
A large cat belonging to the farmer’s wife. It takes no notice of Gulliver when he is brought close to it.
Brobdingnagian farmer’s dogs
Also known as three or four dogs
Unnamed farm dogs that come into the room during dinner; they include a mastiff and a greyhound.
Brobdingnagian mastiff
Also known as the mastiff
A farm dog of enormous size, described as equal in bulk to four elephants.
Brobdingnagian greyhound
Also known as the greyhound
A farm dog taller than the mastiff but less bulky.
Brobdingnagian rats
Also known as two rats · the horrible animals
Two enormous rats that climb onto Gulliver’s bed and attack him. He kills one and wounds the other.
Brobdingnagian hailstorm
Also known as the hail
An unnamed natural force described as unusually large hailstones that knock Gulliver down and badly bruise him.
Brobdingnagian kite
Also known as a kite
A kite that swoops at Gulliver in the garden; he escapes beneath a thick trellis.
Brobdingnagian mole
Also known as that animal
An unnamed mole whose burrow Gulliver falls into while walking alone.
Brobdingnagian thrush
Also known as a thrush
A large thrush that snatches a piece of cake from Gulliver’s hand.
Brobdingnagian linnet
Also known as a linnet · the bird
A large linnet that Gulliver knocks down with a cudgel. A servant kills it after it strikes Gulliver with its wings, and it is served for dinner by the queen’s command.
Brobdingnagian servant who kills the linnet
Also known as one of our servants
An unnamed servant who rescues Gulliver from the stunned linnet by wringing the bird’s neck.
The maids of honour
Also known as the queen’s maids of honour · those excellent ladies
Unnamed ladies at court who invite Glumdalclitch to bring Gulliver to their apartments and handle him without ceremony.
Brobdingnagian maid of honour, aged sixteen
Also known as the handsomest among these maids of honour · that young lady
A lively, playful sixteen-year-old court lady who treats Gulliver as a toy, including sitting him astride her nipple. Gulliver asks Glumdalclitch to find an excuse to stop visiting her.
Brobdingnagian gentleman, nephew of the governess
Also known as a young gentleman · the gentleman
An unnamed young man, nephew to Glumdalclitch’s governess, who urges the governess and Glumdalclitch to attend an execution. The murdered man was one of his close acquaintances.
The executed Brobdingnagian murderer
Also known as the malefactor · a man
An unnamed man executed by beheading for murdering an intimate acquaintance of the governess’s nephew.
Brobdingnagian joiner
Also known as the queen’s own joiner · the fellow
An ingenious unnamed palace carpenter who builds Gulliver a pleasure boat and a large water trough for rowing.
Brobdingnagian page who puts Gulliver’s boat in the trough
Also known as one of the pages
An unnamed page who puts Gulliver’s boat into the rowing trough.
Brobdingnagian footmen
Also known as two others · the footmen
Unnamed attendants who accompany Glumdalclitch and Gulliver in a sedan; one wipes Gulliver clean after he falls into cow dung.
Brobdingnagian sedan bearers
Also known as four men
Four unnamed men who carry the open sedan in which Glumdalclitch takes Gulliver around the city.
Brobdingnagian boy of the farmer’s household
Also known as a boy of the house
An unnamed boy who rides behind the farmer and Glumdalclitch with the luggage on their journey to the metropolis.
Brobdingnagian ladies who visit Gulliver
Also known as some of the queen’s ladies · the ladies
Unnamed ladies of the court who come to see Gulliver and are delighted by his appearance and behaviour.
Lilliputian scholar and friend of Gulliver
Also known as a person of learning there · an intimate friend of mine in Lilliput
An unnamed learned Lilliputian who discussed appearances and relative scale with Gulliver. He said Gulliver’s skin and beard looked coarse and multicoloured at close range.
Lilliputian emperor’s court ladies
Also known as the ladies in that emperor’s court
Unnamed ladies whose supposed facial imperfections the Lilliputian scholar described to Gulliver; Gulliver could not distinguish them.
Lilliputian birds
Also known as small birds
Unnamed small birds in Brobdingnag that are unafraid of Gulliver and forage near him.
Brobdingnagian wasps
Also known as above twenty wasps · these insects
More than twenty enormous wasps that fly into Gulliver’s room and attack him while he eats cake; he kills four and keeps their stings.
Brobdingnagian frogs
Also known as a huge frog · the frog
An enormous frog that slips into Gulliver’s rowing trough, jumps into his boat, and soils him before he drives it away with an oar.
Lilliputian ladies Gulliver mentions
Also known as the ladies in that emperor’s court
Unnamed ladies at the Lilliputian emperor’s court, whose features Gulliver discusses as an example of how judgments of beauty depend on scale.
Brobdingnagian king’s military guard
Also known as a military guard of five hundred horse
Five hundred unnamed mounted guards who accompany the king on solemn public occasions.
Brobdingnagian beggars
Also known as the beggars
Unnamed people who crowd around the royal coach in the city; Gulliver observes their conspicuous physical ailments.
Brobdingnagian woman with a breast cancer
Also known as a woman with a cancer in her breast
An unnamed beggar whose enormous cancerous breast Gulliver sees from the coach.
Brobdingnagian man with a neck wen
Also known as a fellow with a wen in his neck
An unnamed beggar whose neck growth Gulliver sees from the coach.
Brobdingnagian man with wooden legs
Also known as another, with a couple of wooden legs
An unnamed beggar with two enormous wooden legs whom Gulliver sees from the coach.
Brobdingnagian royal household governess
Also known as her governess
An unnamed governess who accompanies Glumdalclitch on carriage outings around the city and shops.
Brobdingnagian private sedan attendants
Also known as two others in the queen’s livery
Two unnamed attendants in the queen’s livery who accompany the men carrying Gulliver’s sedan.
The queen’s ladies’ pages
Also known as some of their pages
Unnamed pages who blow Gulliver’s sail with their breath during his rowing demonstrations.
Brobdingnagian noble lady
Also known as a lady of high quality
An unnamed high-ranking woman to whom the queen gives the dwarf after his pranks against Gulliver.
Brobdingnagian rat that Gulliver kills
Also known as one of the rats · his comrade
One of the two enormous rats that attacks Gulliver in bed; Gulliver cuts it down with his hanger.
Brobdingnagian rat that escapes
Also known as the other
The second enormous rat that attacks Gulliver in bed. It escapes with a wound across its back.
Reldresal
Also known as principal secretary for private affairs · Gulliver’s friend
Lilliput’s principal secretary for private affairs and Gulliver’s loyal friend. He explains the empire’s conflicts to Gulliver, argues for mercy when Gulliver faces treason charges, and secretly warns him of the plan to blind him.
The emperor of Lilliput
Also known as his imperial majesty · the emperor · Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue
Lilliput’s ruler, who rewards Gulliver for capturing Blefuscu’s fleet but grows hostile when Gulliver refuses to enslave Blefuscu. He later approves a sentence to blind Gulliver and secretly supports starving him; Gulliver escapes before it is carried out.
Tramecksan
Also known as the high heels · Big-endians
A Lilliputian political and religious faction that favors high-heeled shoes and breaking eggs at the larger end. Its members are described as more numerous than the low-heel faction, though they lack political power.
Slamecksan
Also known as the low heels
A Lilliputian political faction that favors low-heeled shoes. The emperor’s government and crown offices are controlled by its side.
The heir to the Lilliputian crown
Also known as his imperial highness · the heir to the crown
The emperor’s heir, whom Reldresal says seems inclined toward the high heels; one heel is higher than the other, giving him a hobbling gait.
The emperor of Blefuscu
Also known as the monarch of Blefuscu · Blefuscu’s emperor · their master
Blefuscu’s ruler, whose fleet Gulliver captures before the two empires make peace. He receives Gulliver after his escape from Lilliput, protects him, and helps him prepare a boat to return home.
Lustrog
Also known as the great prophet Lustrog
The prophet whose scripture, the Blundecral, is invoked by Blefuscu in its argument about the proper end for breaking eggs.
The Lilliputian emperor’s grandfather
Also known as his majesty’s grandfather
A former Lilliputian emperor who, as a boy, cut his finger while breaking an egg at the larger end. That incident prompted his father to decree that subjects break eggs at the smaller end.
The Lilliputian emperor’s father
Also known as the emperor his father
A former Lilliputian emperor who issued the decree requiring subjects to break eggs at the smaller end after his son injured his finger.
The maid of honour
Also known as a maid of honour
An unnamed attendant to the empress who accidentally starts the palace fire by falling asleep while reading a romance.
Flimnap
Also known as the treasurer · the lord high treasurer
Lilliput’s high treasurer and a skilled rope dancer who becomes Gulliver’s secret enemy. He helps frame Gulliver for treason and spreads a false adultery rumor about his own wife and Gulliver.
The empress of Lilliput
Also known as the empress · her imperial majesty
The emperor’s wife, whose apartment Gulliver saves from fire. She detests the way he extinguishes it and vows revenge; she also moves away from the damaged apartment and refuses to have it repaired.
Flimnap’s wife
Also known as her grace · the treasurer’s wife · the great lady
An unnamed lady at the Lilliputian court, married to Flimnap. She treats Gulliver with friendly familiarity, but is falsely accused of a secret affair with him.
Clustril
Also known as one of Flimnap’s informers
An unnamed court informer who helps spread the false rumor that Flimnap’s wife is attached to Gulliver.
Drunlo
Also known as one of Flimnap’s informers
An unnamed court informer who helps spread the false rumor that Flimnap’s wife is attached to Gulliver.
Flimnap’s sister-in-law
Also known as her sister
An unnamed woman who often accompanies Flimnap’s wife on public visits to Gulliver.
Flimnap’s young daughter
Also known as young daughter
An unnamed young girl, Flimnap’s daughter, who sometimes accompanies her mother on public visits to Gulliver.
The Lilliputian general
Also known as the general · Gulliver’s patron · Limtoc
Limtoc, Lilliput’s general and once Gulliver’s patron, joins the ministers plotting against him. He supports a plan to kill Gulliver with poisoned arrows.
Skyresh Bolgolam
Also known as the high-admiral · the galbet
Lilliput’s high admiral and Gulliver’s mortal enemy. He opposes Gulliver’s release, helps frame him for treason, and insists he should be put to death.
Lilliputian chamberlain
Also known as Lalcon
An unnamed-by-title Lilliputian court official named Lalcon, who initially joins the plot against Gulliver but is persuaded to support sparing his life.
Lilliputian grand justiciary
Also known as Balmuff
Lilliput’s grand justiciary, Balmuff, who joins the ministers’ articles of impeachment against Gulliver.
Lilliputian court informant
Also known as a certain person
An unnamed courtier who tells Gulliver that Flimnap and Bolgolam have portrayed his dealings with Blefuscu’s ambassadors as disloyalty.
Lilliputian noble who warns Gulliver
Also known as his lordship · a considerable person at court
An unnamed court noble whom Gulliver once helped when he was in imperial disfavor. He secretly visits Gulliver with the impeachment articles and warns him of the plot to blind or kill him.
Lilliputian envoy bearing the impeachment articles
Also known as a person of quality
An unnamed Lilliputian envoy sent to Blefuscu with the charges against Gulliver and a demand that he be returned bound.
Lilliputian guides in Blefuscu
Also known as two guides
Two unnamed guides lent to Gulliver by Blefuscu’s emperor to direct him to the capital.
Blefuscudian vice-admiral
Also known as his vice-admiral
An unnamed Blefuscudian naval officer who commands three thousand sailors helping Gulliver recover a stranded boat.
Lilliputian ship carpenters
Also known as his majesty’s ship-carpenters
Unnamed shipwrights who help Gulliver smooth the timber he cuts for his boat in Blefuscu.
Lilliputian envoy to Blefuscu
Also known as the envoy
An unnamed envoy sent by the emperor of Lilliput to demand Gulliver’s return from Blefuscu.
Lilliputian reapers
Also known as seven monsters
Seven unnamed giant laborers carrying reaping hooks who come to harvest the field where Gulliver is hiding in Brobdingnag.
Brobdingnagian farmer
Also known as one of the inhabitants · the first among these enormous barbarians
An enormous unnamed inhabitant of Brobdingnag, apparently a farmer, who pursues the boat carrying Gulliver’s shipmates and later finds Gulliver hiding in a field.
John Biddel
Also known as Mr. John Biddel · the captain
Captain of the English merchant ship Gulliver encounters after escaping Blefuscu. He is a civil, capable sailor and treats Gulliver kindly, though at first he thinks Gulliver’s story is delirious.
Peter Williams
Also known as one Peter Williams
An old shipmate of Gulliver’s who is aboard John Biddel’s ship and vouches for him to the captain.
John Nicholas
Also known as Captain John Nicholas · the captain
Commander of the Adventure, the merchant ship that carries Gulliver on his second voyage, toward Surat.
Lilliputian master of the ship’s topmast
Also known as a boy on the top-mast
An unnamed boy aboard the Adventure who spots land during Gulliver’s second voyage.
The long-boat crew
Also known as our men · a dozen of his men
A dozen unnamed sailors sent ashore in search of fresh water. They flee back to the ship when a Brobdingnagian giant pursues them.
Richard Sympson
Also known as Sympson · the publisher
Gulliver’s cousin and longtime friend, who receives his travel papers and publishes them. Gulliver accuses him of allowing material to be omitted or added.
Dampier
Also known as my cousin Dampier
Gulliver’s cousin, whose book about a voyage around the world was edited at Gulliver’s suggestion.
Godolphin
Also known as the lord of Godolphin
A chief minister who served Queen Anne before the lord of Oxford.
The lord of Oxford
Also known as the second chief minister
A chief minister who served Queen Anne after Godolphin.
Gulliver’s father
Also known as my father
A landowner in Nottinghamshire who sent Gulliver to Cambridge and later helped finance his studies in Leyden.
Gulliver’s uncle John
Also known as my uncle John
Gulliver’s uncle, who helped him obtain money to study medicine in Leyden.
James Bates
Also known as Mr. Bates · Gulliver’s good master
An eminent London surgeon to whom Gulliver was apprenticed and who later recommended him for a ship’s surgeon post. He encouraged Gulliver to establish himself in London and died two years after Gulliver married.
Abraham Pannel
Also known as Captain Abraham Pannel
Commander of the Swallow, on which Gulliver served as surgeon for three and a half years.
Edmund Burton
Also known as Mr. Edmund Burton
A hosier in Newgate Street and Mary Burton’s father.
William Prichard
Also known as Captain William Prichard
Master of the Antelope, who offered Gulliver an advantageous position as surgeon on a voyage to the South Sea.
Lilliputian scout
Also known as the first little man
An unnamed armed Lilliputian who approached Gulliver while he was bound and raised his hands and eyes in astonishment, prompting the others to repeat his cry.
Lilliputian orator
Also known as the person of quality on the stage
An unnamed Lilliputian official who delivered a speech to the captive Gulliver and communicated the people’s threats and promises.
The hurgo
Also known as the great lord
An unnamed Lilliputian noble who understood Gulliver’s signs that he was hungry and ordered food to be brought.
Lilliputian royal envoy
Also known as the person of high rank from his imperial majesty
An unnamed high-ranking envoy who presented royal credentials and informed Gulliver that he would be taken to the capital as a prisoner.
Lilliputian officer in the guards
Also known as the young officer
An unnamed young guard officer who climbed to Gulliver’s face during the journey and tickled his nostril with a half-pike, waking him.
Lilliputian princes and princesses
Also known as young princes of the blood of both sexes · the young princes
The emperor’s young children, who attend his visit to Gulliver and are later seen in the palace with the empress.
Lilliputian colonel
Also known as the colonel
An unnamed military officer who orders six people who shot arrows at Gulliver to be seized and delivered into his hands.
Six Lilliputian arrow shooters
Also known as the six criminals · the ringleaders
Six unnamed Lilliputians seized for shooting arrows at Gulliver. He frightens them briefly, then releases them unharmed, earning favor at court.
Lilliputian chief scholars
Also known as the six greatest scholars · Gulliver’s language masters
Six unnamed scholars appointed by the emperor to teach Gulliver the Lilliputian language.
Lilliputian first minister
Also known as first minister
An unnamed senior minister who participates with the emperor in the court’s agility contest for awarding marks of favor.
Lilliputian general
Also known as the general · Gulliver’s patron
An unnamed experienced military leader and patron of Gulliver, who arranges troops to march beneath him for the emperor’s entertainment.
Clefrin Frelock
Also known as one of the pocket-searchers
A Lilliputian officer who, with Marsi Frelock, searched Gulliver’s pockets and prepared an inventory for the emperor.
Marsi Frelock
Also known as one of the pocket-searchers
A Lilliputian officer who, with Clefrin Frelock, searched Gulliver’s pockets and prepared an inventory for the emperor.