The Encantadas characters

Appears from the start

An unnamed sailor and observer who presents the Galapagos as both a real cruising ground and an imaginative landscape. He combines personal recollection, maritime history, natural description, and stories learned from other seafarers across ten linked sketches.

Also known as the Dog-King

First appears in chapter 7

A man who makes himself ruler of Charles's Isle after political authorities attempt to establish a settlement there. He maintains control with a pack of trained dogs and becomes the center of the sketch's account of unstable government on the island.

Also known as the Chola widow

First appears in chapter 8

A woman from the Peruvian coast whom sailors find alone on Norfolk Isle. She had come with her husband and brother to gather tortoise oil, only to be stranded after the men died and the vessel expected to retrieve the party failed to return.

Also known as the hermit of Hood's Isle

First appears in chapter 9

A European outcast who lives alone on Hood's Isle and is remembered by visiting sailors for his hostility, cunning, and violence. His apparent hermitage is not peaceful withdrawal but part of a history of predation against other vulnerable people in the islands.