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==Characters== ===Johnny Truant=== Johnny Truant serves a dual role, as primary editor of Zampanò's academic study of ''The Navidson Record'' and protagonist as revealed through footnotes and appendices. In the beginning of the book, Truant appears to be a normal, reasonably attractive young man who happens upon a trunk full of notes left behind by the now deceased Zampanò. As Truant begins to do the editing, however, he begins to lose the tenuous grip he has on reality, and his life begins to erode around him. He stops bathing, rarely eats, stops going to work, and distances himself from essentially everyone, all in pursuit of organizing the book into a finished work that, he hopes, will finally bring him peace. Initially intrigued by Zampanò's isolative tendencies and surreal sense of reality, Johnny unknowingly sets himself up as a victim to the daunting task that awaits him. As he begins to organize Zampanò's manuscripts, his personal footnotes detail the deterioration of his own life with analogous references to alienation and insanity: once a trespasser to Zampanò's mad realm, Truant seems to become more comfortable in the environment as the story unfolds. He even has hallucinations that parallel those of Zampanò and members of the house search team when he senses "...something inhuman..." behind him (page 26). ===Zampanò=== Though Truant attributes Zampanò as the author of ''The Navidson Record'', Truant offers few concrete details about Zampanò's character or past, citing only information learned from his former acquaintances. These include neighbors and various students and social workers, exclusively female, who volunteered as readers for Zampanò's research. Unable to even determine Zampanò's full name, Truant only confirms that Zampanò became blind some time during the 1950s, and was approximately eighty years old at the time of his death. Truant also learns that Zampanò was erratic and capricious in his lifestyle and writing habits, diagnosing him with [[graphomania]]. Danielewski made Zampanò blind as a reference to blind authors [[Homer]], [[John Milton]] and [[Jorge Luis Borges]].<ref>[http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_infl_danielewski.html Borges: Influence and References: Mark Z. Danielewski]. Retrieved March 15, 2007. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015084120/http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_infl_danielewski.html |date=2014-10-15 }}</ref> ===Pelafina H. Lièvre=== Pelafina, more commonly referred to as simply "P.", is Johnny's institutionalized mother who appears in the appendix to the text. Her story is more fully developed in ''[[The Whalestoe Letters]]''. ===Minor characters=== '''Lude''': Johnny Truant's best friend, Lude is also the one that informs him of Zampanò's vacant apartment. Lude is a minor character, but some of his characteristics and actions are important in understanding Johnny. Lude assists Johnny many times in obtaining phone numbers of girls when they visit bars, clubs, and restaurants. Several times, Johnny mentions that he wishes he had not answered Lude's call late at night. Every time Johnny and Lude are together they seem to involve themselves in difficult situations. He is killed in a motorcycle accident near the end of the novel. '''Thumper''': A stripper who is a regular client of the tattoo parlour where Truant works. Although Johnny has encounters with many women, he remains fixated on Thumper throughout. Thumper's real name is eventually revealed to Johnny, but never to the reader. ===''The Navidson Record''=== ====Will Navidson==== Will Navidson is described as having become a successful [[war photographer]] thanks to an early military career in war-torn regions, though haunted by his role as an impartial documentarist of war. Navidson is said to be a [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer]] winner and recipient of prestigious arts grants, who has jeopardized his relationship with Karen due to years of prolonged absences while working overseas. As a conciliatory gesture, Navidson commits to prioritizing family over work by moving to the countryside. After promising Karen not to enter the hallway, he sends a crew in his stead to explore the maze, but privately chafes at this prohibition and breaks his word behind Karen's back. Many citations to critics, scholars, and media coverage present Navidson as a well-known public figure, with his notoriety further compounded by the film's release; the extent of this public interest is such that academics are supposedly divided into three conflicting schools of thought interpreting his unexplained motivations for returning to the house. ====Karen Green==== Karen Green is described as Navidson's partner of many years, and a former fashion model. Despite rearing two children together, Karen is said to have refused marriage to maintain her independence, particularly during Navidson's absences. Karen is seen to have kept a collection of letters from would-be suitors, and interviews with associates reveal that she committed at least one adulterous affair. Karen is also seen, after discovering Navidson's furtive exploration of the hallway, to have momentarily given in to one of the exploration crew's advances. During the explorations, with Navidson lost in the maze for days, Karen is seen to have confronted this loss and is said to have overcome her dependency on him, finally making good on her ultimatum to depart with their children. Afterwards, while separated, Karen produced a short film focused on her relationship with Navidson, which led to her returning to Virginia in search of him. Zampanò's text emphasizes Karen's psychological state well beyond the scope of the film. Zampanò cites research and medical records as evidence that Karen radically transformed her personality while in high school to become indifferent and aloof, and also that Karen suffered from chronic [[claustrophobia]]. ====Tom Navidson==== Tom is described as Navidson's fraternal twin, the two brothers once being close but estranged for eight years for unknown reasons. A [[handyman]] by trade, Tom is said to be a contented underachiever with no fixed residence or attachments, as well as a recovering alcoholic. He is also described as comical and well-liked by all his acquaintances, in contrast to Navidson's cold professionalism. Much of this information is attributed to a supposed 900-page scholarly treatise analyzing the Navidson brothers as parallels to the Biblical brothers [[Esau]] and [[Jacob]]. Zampanò's text includes an entire chapter extending this analysis, but most of the text is destroyed without explanation. Arriving at the house to help Navidson measure its dimensions, Tom is said to have improved the family's relationships and mood during his presence. Tom extended his stay to assist in the hallway explorations and subsequent rescue, in which he camped alone for days in the maze to maintain radio contact, built an improvised pulley to assist in the rescue, and, ultimately, saved the Navidsons' children from the house at the cost of his own life. ====Billy Reston==== Billy Reston is described as an African-American engineering professor at the [[University of Virginia]], rendered paraplegic by a construction site accident near [[Hyderabad]]. Reston is said to be a longtime friend of Navidson, who photographed the very moment of Reston's accident. Intellectually engrossed by the anomalies of the house, Reston capably helped Navidson in measuring the house, organizing the explorations, and even rescuing the explorers, journeying through the maze himself despite his disability. ====Holloway Roberts==== Holloway Roberts is described as an accomplished professional hunter and explorer, contacted by Reston to lead the explorations in Navidson's place. Roberts and Navidson were said to have developed a rivalry on first meeting, Roberts coveting Navidson's success and fame, and Navidson resenting relinquishing his discovery to another. Over several explorations, Roberts, accompanied by assistants Kirby "Wax" Hook and Jed Leeder, found the spiral staircase but could not reach the bottom after many hours. In "Exploration #4", an expedition planned to last over a week, Roberts exhaustively provisioned his team, and also brought a gun. On their return after reaching the bottom of the staircase, they found their own caches of supplies vandalized by unknown causes. Believing an unseen creature roamed the maze, Roberts set out to hunt it, imperiling the team's return journey. When he accidentally wounded Hook, Roberts began hunting his own team to cover up his crime, ultimately killing Leeder. After Navidson and Reston rescued Hook, Navidson found Roberts' camera, which recorded footage of his final moments: lost and alone, with no supplies, Roberts ranted about the unseen creature he believed to be stalking him. After Roberts committed suicide, the camera captured shadows abruptly extinguishing the light of Roberts' remaining [[flare]] to seemingly consume his body. The text cites extensive academic debate stirred by the mystery of this footage.
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