A Journey to the Centre of the Earth characters

Appears from the start

A young man in Hamburg who narrates the expedition. Axel studies geology under his formidable uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, but has a more cautious temperament and is deeply attached to Gräuben. He understands the cryptogram that begins the adventure before his uncle does and is appalled by the journey it proposes.

Also known as Professor Lidenbrock

Appears from the start

Axel's uncle, a Hamburg professor of mineralogy and geology whose learning is matched by impatience, pride, and extraordinary determination. After finding an encoded note in an old Icelandic manuscript, he treats its astonishing claim as a practical set of directions and immediately commits himself to testing it.

First appears in chapter 6

Professor Lidenbrock's goddaughter and Axel's beloved. Calm and resolute, she supports the expedition as an opportunity worthy of Axel and expects him to return with the confidence to marry her.

Appears from the start

Professor Lidenbrock's long-suffering housekeeper in Hamburg. She is accustomed to his volatile habits but alarmed when his obsession with the coded document disrupts the household and then sends him toward Iceland.

First appears in chapter 5

A seventeenth-century Icelandic scholar and alchemist whose runic signature appears on a hidden parchment. His message claims that a route to the planet's center begins inside the crater of Snæfellsjökull, providing Lidenbrock with both the instructions and precedent for the expedition.

First appears in chapter 11

A courteous Icelandic scholar who welcomes Lidenbrock and Axel in Reykjavík. His knowledge of Iceland's history helps them understand Saknussemm's reputation, and he assists the travelers as they arrange the overland stage of their journey.

First appears in chapter 13

An Icelandic eider-duck hunter engaged in Reykjavík as the expedition's guide. Hans is physically capable, reserved, practical, and almost impossible to panic. He agrees to remain with Lidenbrock and Axel for as long as he is paid regularly, and his steadiness balances the professor's impatience and Axel's fear.