Jack Torrance
Jack is a writer who takes on a job as the isolated Overlook Hotel's acting manager during its winter closure. Having lost his job as a prep school teacher, Jack believes his new job will provide the fresh start that he and his family need, as well as the time and space to write, his new profession. Jack begins the film as a relatively sympathetic character and might even be mistaken for its protagonist at the beginning of the film, as he is ambitious and intelligent, even though he has a history of abusing his son. As the film plays out, however, Jack takes on a role as the story's clear antagonist, possessed as he is by the evil spirits of the Overlook Hotel, which compel him to become increasingly possessive of his writing and dangerous to his wife and son.
Wendy Torrance
Wendy is the fragile, timid wife of Jack and mother to Danny. She is a good mother and often present for her son's strange bouts with telepathy, as opposed to her often absent husband, Jack. Although Wendy initially attempts to remain sympathetic to Jack's increasingly volatile fits of rage in response to her intrusion on his writing, she eventually comes to see him as a threat to her and Danny. She is forced to summon her strength to fight against him as her once semi-harmonious family life morphs into one of the bona fide horror movies she used to love.
Danny Torrance
Danny is the son of Jack and Wendy Torrance. He is gifted (or cursed) with powerful telepathic and psychic abilities that enable him to communicate with the evil spirits present in the Overlook Hotel and to see visions of the future before it happens. Danny has an imaginary friend named Tony, who often speaks through Danny to warn him and his mother of danger. Danny is shy and secretive about his psychic abilities, telling only the hotel's chef, Dick Hallorann, about his powers. Much of the film is explored through Danny's point of view, and many identify him as its protagonist.
Tony
Tony, who Danny calls the "little boy that lives in my mouth," is Danny's imaginary best friend and often the messenger of imminent danger, speaking through Danny to warn him and his mother that something bad is about to happen. Moments when Tony talks through Danny are distinguishable from Danny's regular speech through Tony's rough, deep voice, and through Danny's use of his index finger as a puppet indicating Tony.
Dick Hallorann
Dick is the Overlook Hotel's chef during the regular season. He shares the ability to "shine," as he calls it, with Danny, and connects with him about their shared psychic abilities when Danny arrives at the hotel. Later, Dick is the one to receive worrisome visions about what's going on at the hotel, and he travels there despite the snowstorm to see if the Torrance family is in trouble. Dick is a generally moral, heroic character, but is still secretive about the history of violence at the hotel when confronted by Danny.
Delbert Grady
Delbert Grady is a butler that Jack meets at a mysterious, perhaps imagined, party being thrown in the hotel's Gold Room one night, when Grady, supposedly accidentally, drops some drinks on him. Jack recognizes Grady's last name from his conversation with Stuart Ullman earlier, where Ullman tells him about the old caretaker, Charles Grady, who went mad at the hotel and killed his family. Although Delbert Grady says he knows nothing about the story, he eventually pressures Jack to get rid of his wife and child just as he did.
Lloyd
Lloyd is the bartender, real or imagined, that Jack talks with when drinking in the hotel's Gold Room.
Stuart Ullman
Mr. Ullman is the manager of the Overlook Hotel, who hires Jack as caretaker during the off-season.
Bill Watson
Bill Watson is Stuart Ullman's associate at the Overlook Hotel.
Larry Durkin
Larry runs a Snowcat rental business in the town near the Overlook Hotel. Dick Hallorann lies to him so Larry will rent him a Snowcat.
The Grady Twins
The little girls that appear to Danny at several points in the film are the twin daughters of Charles (or Delbert) Grady. They were tragically murdered by their father years ago.
Young/Old Lady in Bath
The woman in the bath—who first appears to Jack as a young, desirable woman but later turns into an old, rotting lady—is probably Charles (or Delbert) Grady's wife, whom he killed.
