The call of the wild

Buck

A powerful St. Bernard–Scotch shepherd mix and sled dog. After John Thornton is killed by the Yeehats, Buck avenges him, then joins the wolf pack and becomes the legendary Ghost Dog.

The moose herd

A band of twenty moose moving toward the winter valleys. The younger bulls repeatedly help their wounded leader rejoin the herd before abandoning him to Buck.

The wounded bull moose

A great bull moose wounded by an arrow and separated from his herd by Buck. Buck pursues and kills him after four days.

The young bulls

Several young bulls in the moose herd who repeatedly charge at Buck to help their wounded leader rejoin the herd.

The cows and calves

The cows and half-grown calves of the moose herd. The bull moose is described as having fathered the calves.

The gray squirrel

A sleek gray squirrel Buck glimpses flattened against a dead limb as he follows the trail toward camp.

Nig

A huge, friendly black dog belonging to John Thornton. He is killed by an arrow during the Yeehat attack on the camp.

The sled dog bought in Dawson

An unnamed dog bought by John Thornton in Dawson. Buck finds it mortally wounded on the trail near camp.

Hans

One of John Thornton’s partners. Buck finds him dead, pierced by arrows, after the Yeehats attack the camp.

The chief of the Yeehats

The leader of the Yeehat hunters who is the first to attack Buck; Buck tears open his throat.

The Yeehat hunters

Hunters who attack John Thornton’s camp and kill Thornton, Hans, Pete, and Nig. Buck kills many of them while driving the survivors away.

The young Yeehat hunter

An unnamed young hunter who throws a spear at Buck, accidentally driving it through another hunter.

Pete

One of John Thornton’s partners. Buck finds him dead in his blankets after the Yeehats attack the camp.

Skeet

A little Irish setter belonging to John Thornton. Buck finds her dead by the pool, faithful to the end.

John Thornton

A wilderness traveler who rescued Buck and became the object of his deep devotion. The Yeehats kill him during their attack on the camp, and Buck follows his trail into a pool where his body lies.

The wolf pack

A pack of wolves that crosses into Buck’s valley in search of prey. After Buck fights them, the pack accepts him and he runs with them.

The wild brother

Also known as the timber wolf

A long, lean gray wolf Buck previously befriended and ran with. He returns with the wolf pack, recognizes Buck, and runs beside him after Buck joins the pack.

The old wolf

A gaunt, battle-scarred wolf who approaches Buck after the fight and begins the pack’s howl.

The bold wolf

The boldest wolf in the pack, who leaps at Buck and is killed when Buck breaks its neck.

The other wolves who attack Buck

Three wolves that successively try to attack Buck and are driven back with slashed throats or shoulders.

The Ghost Dog

Also known as Evil Spirit

The Yeehats’ name for the great wolf that runs at the head of the pack. It is Buck, now feared for raiding camps, stealing from traps, killing dogs, and attacking hunters.

The Yeehat women

Unnamed women who grow sad when they hear the tale that the Evil Spirit chose the valley as its home.

The Yeehat hunters who fail to return

Hunters who disappear from their camps; some are later found with their throats slashed and enormous wolf prints nearby.

The moose

Moose migrating through the valleys that the wolf pack hunts for food.

Billee

A good-natured husky in Buck’s sled team. Exhausted and unable to rise, he is killed by Hal.

Joe

Billee’s sour, combative brother and a member of Buck’s sled team. The journey leaves him too weak to show his usual hostility.

Sol-leks

Also known as the Angry One

An old, lean, one-eyed husky and experienced sled dog. He replaces Dave in the traces, later suffers from exhaustion and limps, but remains faithful to the work.

Dave

A gloomy, experienced husky who works as the team’s wheeler. Gravely ill, he refuses to leave his place in harness and dies after being allowed to work until he can no longer follow the team.

The Scotch half-breed

An unnamed dog-driver who takes charge of Buck and the team after Perrault and François leave, leading them toward Dawson. He returns to camp and shoots Dave after the dying dog can no longer travel.

Pike

A clever, sly husky in Buck’s sled team who used to feign injury and steal food. Exhaustion and a real leg injury leave him limping and eventually barely conscious.

Dub

An awkward, blundering husky in Buck’s team who is often caught and punished. After his shoulder injury worsens, Hal shoots him.

Teek

A native husky added to Buck’s team at Rink Rapids. Less worn by the winter trail than the others, he is beaten more severely under Hal’s handling.

Koona

A native husky added to Buck’s team at Rink Rapids. She dies during the disastrous journey with Hal, Charles, and Mercedes.

Charles

A middle-aged man from the States who buys Buck and the exhausted sled team with Hal. He is Mercedes’s husband and Hal’s brother-in-law; incompetent on the trail, he perishes with them when the ice breaks.

Hal

A young man from the States who buys Buck and the sled team with Charles. He mistreats and overworks the dogs, and dies when the ice breaks beneath his party’s sled.

Mercedes

Charles’s wife and Hal’s sister. She interferes with the team’s work, rides on the overloaded sled, and dies with the others when the ice breaks.

The three men from a neighboring tent

Unnamed onlookers who advise Charles, Hal, and Mercedes about their overloaded sled and help them sort their supplies.

The kind-hearted citizens of Skaguay

Unnamed townspeople who catch the runaway dogs, gather the scattered belongings, and advise the inexperienced travelers.

The Outside dogs

Six individually unnamed dogs Hal and Charles buy to enlarge the team: three short-haired pointers, one Newfoundland, and two mongrels. Unaccustomed to the trail and given too little food, they all die during the journey.

The toothless old squaw

An unnamed elderly Indigenous woman who offers Hal frozen horsehide in exchange for his revolver when the dog food runs out.

Black Burton

Also known as “Black” Burton

An evil-tempered, malicious man at the Circle City bar who strikes John Thornton. Buck attacks and seriously wounds him; a miners’ meeting rules that Buck was sufficiently provoked.

The tenderfoot at the bar

An unnamed newcomer whom Black Burton is quarrelling with at a Circle City bar before John Thornton intervenes.

Matthewson

A Bonanza King who bets John Thornton that Buck cannot start and pull a thousand-pound sled for a hundred yards. He loses the wager.

Jim O’Brien

A Mastodon King and old-time comrade of John Thornton. He lends Thornton a thousand dollars to back Buck’s sled-pulling wager.

The Skookum Bench king

An unnamed member of the latest wealthy mining dynasty who offers to buy Buck after the sled-pulling feat. Thornton refuses.

The hairy man

Also known as the short-legged hairy man

A prehistoric human figure in Buck’s recurring ancestral visions, associated with fear, fire, and life in the wild. Buck imagines traveling and surviving alongside him.

The black bear

A large bear blinded by mosquitoes while fishing. Buck kills it after a hard fight.

The wolverenes

A group of twelve wolverenes quarrelling over Buck’s bear kill. Buck scatters them, leaving two dead.

Judge Miller

Also known as the Judge

Buck’s former owner, whose Santa Clara Valley estate is Buck’s home. He is away at a meeting when Manuel steals Buck.

Toots

The Judge’s Japanese pug, who rarely leaves the house.

Ysabel

The Judge’s Mexican hairless dog, who rarely leaves the house.

Mollie

One of Judge Miller’s daughters; Buck accompanies her on walks.

Alice

One of Judge Miller’s daughters; Buck accompanies her on walks.

Judge Miller’s grandsons

The Judge’s grandsons, whom Buck carries on his back and watches over during their adventures on the estate.

Elmo

Buck’s father, a huge St. Bernard and the Judge’s inseparable companion.

Shep

Buck’s mother, a Scotch shepherd dog.

Manuel

A gardener’s helper on the Judge’s estate who steals Buck and sells him to cover his gambling debts.

The stranger who buys Buck

Also known as the kidnapper

The unnamed man who pays Manuel for Buck, puts a rope around his neck, and takes him away by train. He later sells Buck to the man in the red sweater.

The saloon-keeper

An unnamed saloon-keeper on San Francisco’s waterfront who helps the kidnapper and sees Buck in his crate.

The baggage-car driver

Also known as the driver

An unnamed railroad employee who finds the kidnapper struggling with Buck and later delivers Buck’s crate in Seattle.

The man in the red sweater

Also known as Buck’s breaker

An unnamed dog-breaker in Seattle who defeats Buck with a club, teaches him to obey its force, and later sells him to Perrault.

Perrault

A French-Canadian courier for the Canadian Government who buys Buck and leads a sled team carrying important dispatches.

Curly

A good-natured Newfoundland dog bought with Buck. She is killed by a pack of huskies soon after reaching Dyea.

François

A French-Canadian half-breed and dog-driver who works with Perrault. He trains and handles Buck and the sled team.

Spitz

A large white husky from Spitzbergen and the team’s original lead dog. He becomes Buck’s rival and is killed by him in a fight for mastery.

Dolly

The last husky added to the team at Dyea. She later goes mad and is killed by François as she chases Buck.

The man who carries the stone club

Also known as the primitive man

A prehistoric human whom Buck seems to glimpse in his memories beside an ancient fire. He is fearful of the dark and carries a stick with a heavy stone fixed to it.

The starving huskies

A pack of several dozen famished dogs that raids Perrault and François’s camp and attacks the sled team.

The snowshoe rabbit

A rabbit pursued by Buck and a pack of dogs during a nighttime chase. Spitz intercepts and kills it.