Hiro
Hiro is the main character in the story, a young brilliant man who lives in the future, a time where the technological advancements infiltrated every aspect of a person’s life. Hiro works in the beginning as a pizza delivery man but in the past he used to be hacker and a programmer. Hiro is a powerful man who has an acute sense of justice and who wants to make the world a better place. Because of this, when he finds about the existence of a drug that affects the programmers he knows, he does not hesitate to act and to try and help them.
Y.T.
Y.T. is the young girl that ends up helping Hiro in his quest to defeat Bob Rife. Y.T. is a fearless girl who runs errands and does various deliveries for people and she helps Hiro when his car crashes during a pizza delivery. Together, the two defeat Bob Rife and save the other people in their world. While Y.T. appears as an independent woman, she is extremely attached to her mother and would do anything just to make sure that her mother is alright.
Raven
For the first part of the novel, Raven is the antagonist of the story. He first appears in the metaverse where he wants to offer Hiro a free sample of Snow Crash. His avatar is described as being tall and with a blank face, suggesting his dangerous nature. When Raven appears in the real world, he is described as a tall man with a tattoo on his forehead and an extremely violent nature. Towards the end of the novel, he redeems himself when he saves Y.T. and it is suggested that the two may have gotten involved after the events.
Bob Rife
Bob is the antagonist of the story. In the fictional universe, Bob Rife is a powerful and wealthy man who is extremely interested in religion. Rife lives on a floating city called the Raft and he is the one who invented the drug that affected the programmers and hackers in the society. Bob Rife is killed at the end by Hiro.
Uncle Enzo
Uncle Enzo is the head of a mafia organization that delivers pizza. Initially, Hiro was employed by Enzo to make deliveries. When Y.T. made a delivery for Hiro, Uncle Enzo became close with the girl, even going as far as offering her his protection.
Juanita
Juanita is an important character in the novel, Hiro’s former lover and Da5id’s former wife. Juanita is an intelligent woman, a programmer who was given the job to design the faces for the avatars in the metaverse. Juanita meets with Hiro in the metaverse and warns him about the drug and the effects it has on people. At the end if the novel, Juanita and Hiro reconcile and become a couple again.
Lagos
Lagos is an important character in the novel, the inventor of a program called The Library. While Hiro and Lagos were friends, Hiro is against the way Lagos became one with the programs he created. In the end, Lagos dies because of his inventions.
Y.T.'s mom
The mom remains unnamed but she plays an important role in Y.T.’s life. She works for the government and when Y.T. hears that the virus infects only programmers she rushes home to save her mother.
Da5id
Da5id appears at the beginning of the novel. Da5id and Hiro used to work together but then they went separate ways. Da5id is the one affected in the metaverse by the Snow Crash and in the real world he becomes comatose. While it remains uncertain, it is implied that Da5id recovered after Bob was killed.
