Daniel Dravot
Daniel Dravot, or Dan as he is known to his friends, is a large red-haired Englishman with ambition. Something of a jack-of-all-trades and a soldier of fortune, he is intelligent and quick to learn languages. He is also a Freemason, having advanced to the third degree, and knows the customary grips and words by which men of that order recognize one another. At times he travels in disguise, pretending to be a reporter or a mad priest in order to get operating capital.
Dan's plan is to become a king among the fractured, warring tribes in Kafiristan: an imaginary mountainous territory in eastern Afghanistan. In this, he enlists the aid of Peachey Carnehan.
Daniel Dravot is clever and opportunistic. He takes advantage of modern firepower to overawe some of the warring tribesmen, and, siding with the palest group, finds out accidentally that Masonry has spread almost like a religion among the men of the area, but that their knowledge only went as far as the second degree. Dravot and Carnehan, having the third degree, were therefore treated as demigods from that moment forward.
As winter closes in, Dan becomes arrogant and insists on taking a wife despite the objections of the local people, who believe that it is an abomination for gods and mortals to intermarry. Insisting on his privileges, Dan is bitten by his unwilling bride, and the sight of his blood reveals to all present that Dravot is not a god. Although he and Carnehan try to escape, he is caught and executed.
Peachey Taliaferro Carnahan
An Englishman and third-degree Freemason like his friend Daniel Dravot, Peachey Carnahan is a second-in-command throughout the story. He is not as large or physically imposing as his friend Dan, although he has a unique identifying feature: black eyebrows that come together at the middle of his forehead with no gap above the nose.
Peachey tries to be honest, or at least a man of his word, but is not as intelligent as Dan. He signs a contract with Dan, agreeing to abstain from alcohol and women until such time as they both become kings in Kafiristan. Yet, upon arriving there, he finds himself unable to learn the local language and equally unable to help Dan run the kingdom. Although the villagers make crowns for both Dan and Peachey, Dan is the actual ruler and organizer. Peachey's role is to drill the new troops and to teach the tribesmen how to use the modern rifles that give them a military advantage over everybody else in the area.
Peachey acts as the moral backbone of the duo, pointing out when and where Dan exceeds his authority. This serves him well. When the villagers find out that Dan is not really a god, they decapitate Dan but crucify Peachey overnight. When he survives, they let him go. He makes his way back to India with Daniel's head in a bag, crown and all, but loses his sanity in the process. He dies shortly afterwards in an asylum.
Billy Fish
One of the local tribal leaders in Kafiristan, Billy Fish from Bashkai, is one of the first men to meet Dan and Peachey. A Freemason of the second degree, he is the one who realize Dan and Peachey are initiates of a type of knowledge that make them revered as gods. Billy Fish is not the man's real name, but Peachey and Dan name him after a tank-engine driver they used to know.
Billy can be regarded as a collaborator. He benefits from the rifles Dan and Peachey bring into the area, and he also gains status from being given what Dan and Peachey pass off as the Third Degree. This elevates his status in the eyes of the locals. He represents the town or valley of Bashkai in Dan's war councils.
Billy learns enough English to communicate with Peachey and Dan in their own language, and warns them that Dan should not attempt to marry a local woman. When the wedding turns into a riot, Billy tries to lead Dan and Peachey to safety. His countrymen kill him for it.
The Narrator
The narrator offers very few details except to indicate that he was once a man very much like Dan and Peachey: a soldier of fortune who travels about looking for opportunities.
One night, he is witness to a very unusual contract in whch Dan and Peachey agree to go and become kings in Kafiristan, to touch no liquor or women until they have achieved their goal, and for each man to come to the aid of the other if he is in need. After the contract is signed, the narrator relates how Dan and Peachey go out disguised as a mad priest and his assistant, raising money to acquire the necessary guns and ammunition.
After the mysterious Englishmen leave, the narrator becomes a newspaperman and earns respectability. Two years pass before Peachey, horribly injured, returns to tell how the adventure finished. He attempts to help Peachey, and is rebuffed. Later he finds the crippled man by the side of the road suffering from sunstroke, and arranges to have him taken to a local asylum, where he later dies.
