The Inferno of Dante characters

Appears from the start

The first-person traveler who finds himself lost in a dark wood midway through his life. Frightened away from a sunlit hill by three beasts, he needs guidance through the realm of the dead before he can hope to regain the right path.

Appears from the start

The ancient Roman poet whom Dante reveres as a master. He appears in the dark wood and offers to guide Dante by another road, through Hell and onward as far as his own spiritual limits permit.

First appears in chapter 2

A blessed woman who descends from Heaven to ask Virgil to rescue Dante. Her concern overcomes Virgil's hesitation, and she represents both Dante's personal devotion and the divine help directing his journey.

First appears in chapter 3

The harsh ferryman who drives the newly dead across the river Acheron into Hell. He objects because Dante is still alive, but the journey has higher authorization and his resistance cannot stop it.

First appears in chapter 5

The infernal judge stationed at the entrance to the circles of active sin. He hears each soul's confession and coils his tail to indicate the depth to which the soul must descend.

Also known as Francesca da Rimini

First appears in chapter 5

A noblewoman swept forever through the storm of the lustful beside Paolo, the man she loved. She speaks courteously with Dante and explains that reading about another pair of lovers helped lead them to the act for which they died.

First appears in chapter 6

A Florentine punished among the gluttonous in cold, filthy rain. He recognizes Dante, discusses the political divisions awaiting Florence, and asks to be remembered among the living.

Also known as Farinata degli Uberti

First appears in chapter 10

A proud Florentine political leader who rises from a burning tomb among the heretics. Even in punishment he remains absorbed by party, city, and family, meeting Dante as a political opponent worthy of direct conversation.

First appears in chapter 13

A former imperial minister whose soul is enclosed in a thorn tree among those violent against themselves. He tells Dante that courtly envy destroyed his reputation and that despair led him to take his own life.

Also known as Brunetto Latini

First appears in chapter 15

A respected Florentine teacher from Dante's earlier life, encountered running beneath a rain of fire. Their affectionate exchange preserves mutual regard even as Virgil's route reveals the judgment under which Brunetto suffers.

First appears in chapter 17

A creature with an honest-looking human face, a reptilian body, hairy paws, and a venomous tail. As the living image of fraud, he carries Dante and Virgil down the sheer drop into the eighth circle.

First appears in chapter 21

The leader of a troop of demons who police the pitch where corrupt officials are submerged. He claims that a nearby bridge offers a usable route and assigns an armed escort, leaving Dante uncertain whether any part of the guidance can be trusted.

Also known as Odysseus

First appears in chapter 26

The Greek hero concealed with Diomedes inside a divided flame among fraudulent counselors. Speaking through the fire, he recounts the final voyage in which his hunger for experience carried him and his crew beyond the limits imposed on human travel.

First appears in chapter 27

A military strategist who became a friar late in life but is punished among fraudulent counselors. He explains how Pope Boniface VIII promised absolution in advance to obtain his advice for a deceitful campaign, a bargain that could not cancel unrepented fraud.

Also known as Count Ugolino della Gherardesca

First appears in chapter 33

A Pisan noble frozen in the lowest circle while gnawing the head of Archbishop Ruggieri. He pauses to recount the imprisonment in which he and his children were shut in a tower and left to starve.

Also known as Dis

First appears in chapter 34

The gigantic fallen angel fixed at the center of Hell in the frozen lake of Cocytus. His three faces weep as his six wings beat the air that keeps the lake frozen, and his three mouths chew Judas, Brutus, and Cassius.