Richard ‘Dodge’ Forthrast
Famous owner of a gaming company. He started by smuggling marijuana and created a ‘money bridge’ to launder money to gamers in China, who would play and acquire virtual gold only to sell it for money to western gamers. He was finally able to fund his own gaming company using that money. He is shown as an ambitious man who has a strong personality. He is a practical person, and somewhat awkward in emotional situations.
Zula Forthrast
An Eritrean orphan, originally from Sudan from where she was adopted by the church missionaries and adopted by Richard’ sister, Patricia and then later by John after Patricia’s death. She is an intelligent woman, who has an attraction towards men with independent education. She is also kind-hearted and quite empathetic.
Peter Curtis
Zula’s boyfriend who gets involved with Russian mafia when the data he sells to them is rendered encrypted by a ransomeware called Reamde. He is a shallow person who doesn’t care about Zula, a fact that makes him hated by almost all who know Zula.
P. T. “Pluto” Olszewski
A geologist genius with Asperger’s Syndrome, whose ability to transform landforms as algorithms based on their complexity, lands him a job in Corporation 9252, in development of the game T’rain.
Nolan Xu
Richard’s partner in Corporation 9252, who helped him launder money that Richard had earned smuggling marijuana across border and which he later used to found the gaming company which make the business legal.
Abdallah Jones
A welsh terrorist who converted from Christianity to Islam. Wanted by several organizations, he was being tailed by Olivia, and later kidnaps Zula when he and his band is ambushed by the Russians. He is quite intelligent, and has a charming personality which he uses to trap people for his gain.
Ivanov
A Russian mobster who embezzles his bosses and in a bid to get the money back traces and follows the Troll across China. He is shown as a very charming person, with a high blood pressure problem. Sokolov suspects he may be beginning to go insane from the shock of it all.
Sokolov
An ex-Russian military security consultant, who is employed by Ivanov to find the Troll. He begins to lose faith in Ivanov and after getting most of his men killed and Zula kidnapped, decides to get Zula back safely to her home.
Olivia Halifax-Lin
A British-Chinese undercover MI6 spy, who was tailing Abdallah, and gets entangled with Sokolov during their confrontation.
Csonogr
A Hungarian hacker hired by Ivanov to trace the Troll. He develops feelings for Zula and decides to help Marlon recover money from T’rain to get out of China.
Qian Zuxia
A Chinese up-start, she sells tea to Zula and becomes an accessory to Ivanov’s ambush of Abdallah Jones. Worried for Zula, she manages to follow Abdallah after he kidnaps her and is captured by him.
Marlon
The creator of Reamde, he escapes after Zula uses the electric fuses of his apartment to warn him. He feels responsible for Zula as she had saved his life.
