An author of Jewish descent living in Prague who is arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to death by firing squad. He desperately wants to finish his play, The Enemies.

The officer who condemns Hladik to death, persuaded of Hladik's preeminence by an exaggerated publisher's catalog.

The protagonist of Hladik's play, The Enemies, who spends the narrative fending off secret enemies in his library.

Römerstadt's fiancée in The Enemies, who symbolizes a real woman Hladik vainly attempts to recall.

A pitiable madman in The Enemies who once loved Julia and now believes himself to be Römerstadt.

A blind librarian wearing dark glasses who appears in Hladik's dream, having spent his life searching for God in the Clementine Library.

The military officer in charge of the firing squad who hands Hladik a cigarette and calls the final order to fire.

A person in Hladik's dream who returns a supposedly worthless atlas in which Hladik finds God.