Natty Bumppo
Natty Bumppo is the Deerslayer of the title. Raised to be brave, modest and honorable by the Delaware tribe, Natty is the embodiment of goodness and innocence. It is now time to become a man. Allying himself with the March and Hutter families, he sets off to lose his innocence, but gain his manhood by helping his Mohican friend Chingachgook retrieve his beloved betrothed who has been abducted by the Huron tribe.
Chingachgook
Delaware chief and the embodiment of the white man’s concept of the “noble savage.” When the Deerslayer gets captured, he and his beloved, Wah-ta!-Wah escape, but he returns to save Natty as well as Hurry Harry from an ambush planned at Hutter’s castle.
Harry March
Nicknamed “Hurry Harry” because he is a bit on the reckless side and because he seems to always be in physical motion. There is more to his flawed nature than recklessness, however. Unconscionably greedy and irretrievably self-concerned, he is the epitome of the dashing antihero who comes through the in the clutch. In this case, redemption arrives in the form of playing a major role in saving the life of the Deerslayer.
Tom Hutter
Hutter was a pirate who saw a better future as a trapper. He is old, grizzled and lives with two adopted daughters in a place he calls Muskrat Castle. A fanciful name for what is essentially a houseboat. He makes a valiant aim for heroism by joining with Hurry Harry, but winds up being taken prisoner by hostile natives and, ultimately, being scalped and tossed into the lake.
Judith Hutter
Tom’s stepdaughter who acts the coquette, but reveals herself to be far shrewder than she seems. At the same time she is haughty and nearly as self-concerned as Harry March, though in a more superficial way. She rejects Harry because she desires the Deerslayer, but Judith receives from as good as she gives to March.
Hetty Hutter
Judith’s sister and Tom’s other stepdaughter, she is considered simple. Which, given the period in which the novel was both written and set, means she is the embodiment of Christian values. She seems to intuit what is vital and important, thus becoming an opposite mirror image of her sister.
Wah-ta!-Wah
Engaged to Chingachgook, she is captured by hostile Indians. She manages to escape with her beloved, but eventually returns back to the enemy’s camp along with the Hutter sisters in an attempt to save Nattty Bumppo.
