Deliverance characters

Appears from the start

An Atlanta advertising art director who narrates the journey. Middle-aged and settled into family and office life, Ed feels dulled by routine and is drawn to Lewis's physical confidence. He joins the canoe trip hoping that danger and wilderness will reveal a more capable version of himself.

Appears from the start

Ed's intensely athletic friend and the organizer of the trip down the Cahulawassee River. Lewis trains for emergencies, distrusts comfortable modern life, and treats the threatened river valley as one of the last places where self-reliance can be tested.

Appears from the start

A sociable insurance salesman who joins Lewis's expedition despite having little wilderness experience. He is talkative and uneasy about the risks, but agrees to share a canoe with Ed.

Appears from the start

The fourth member of the canoe party, a soft-spoken soft-drink executive and accomplished amateur musician. More cautious than Lewis, Drew nevertheless commits to the trip and brings a guitar that lets him connect with a local boy through music.

Appears from the start

Ed's wife, whose calm domestic presence represents the ordinary life he is both attached to and impatient with before the trip. She knows Lewis's plans carry risk but cannot fully share Ed's need to test himself against them.

Appears from the start

Ed and Martha's young son. Ed's relationship with him is affectionate but also part of the settled suburban identity from which the river trip briefly removes him.

First appears in chapter 2

A local boy with albinism whom the men meet while arranging transport for their vehicles. Reserved in conversation but extraordinarily skilled on the banjo, he plays an improvised duet with Drew's guitar.

First appears in chapter 2

A backwoods resident who helps the party arrange for their cars to be driven downstream to Aintry. He is wary of the visitors but responds to Lewis's direct bargaining.

First appears in chapter 3

One of two armed men who confront Ed and Bobby in the woods after the canoeists become separated. He uses a shotgun to control them while his companion assaults Bobby.

First appears in chapter 3

The second man who ambushes Ed and Bobby. Missing front teeth and carrying a knife, he sexually assaults Bobby and threatens both canoeists before Lewis intervenes.

First appears in chapter 4

The sheriff in Aintry who questions the surviving canoeists after they emerge from the river. He listens to their account but recognizes its weak points and gives serious attention to a deputy's suspicions.

First appears in chapter 4

An Aintry deputy with a personal connection to a local man who has gone missing. He distrusts the canoeists' story and presses the sheriff to search for evidence that they encountered more than a boating accident.