The City and the Stars characters

Appears from the start

A young citizen of Diaspar who, unlike everyone around him, has no earlier lives in the city's memory system. He is curious about the desert beyond the city's walls and resistant to the deep fear of open space that keeps his society enclosed.

Appears from the start

Alvin's tutor and an established citizen of Diaspar. He tries to prepare Alvin for life within the city's stable customs, but the young man's questions force him to confront assumptions that most residents never examine.

First appears in chapter 2

A young woman of Diaspar and one of Alvin's companions. She cares for him but shares the city's preference for familiar pleasures and cannot understand his need to seek a world outside it.

First appears in chapter 4

Diaspar's current Jester, a citizen given unusual freedom to disrupt habits and challenge complacency. He recognizes that Alvin may be capable of changing the city and helps him investigate routes that its people have forgotten.

First appears in chapter 7

A young man of Lys who becomes Alvin's guide outside Diaspar. Telepathic like the other people of Lys, he is thoughtful, curious, and far more comfortable with nature than Alvin is.

First appears in chapter 7

A leading figure in Lys and Hilvar's mother. She receives Alvin without hostility, reads enough of his mind to understand his importance, and helps him adjust to a community whose values differ sharply from Diaspar's.

First appears in chapter 10

The ancient intelligence that manages Diaspar's machines, memory banks, and cycles of human embodiment. It usually remains in the background, but Alvin's unprecedented questions eventually require it to explain parts of the city's design.

First appears in chapter 13

A machine left behind by a long-dead religious teacher on a remote world. Bound by old commands and burdened with secrets, it becomes an important surviving witness to humanity's forgotten age among the stars.

First appears in chapter 15

A young, nonmaterial intelligence encountered by Alvin and Hilvar beyond Earth. Its abilities are immense but undeveloped, and understanding its nature becomes central to correcting humanity's distorted account of galactic history.