White Worm characters

Many of the characters in The Lair of the White Worm are associated with an animal creature. The main protaginist, Adam Salton possesses a mongoose which he uses to test and hypothesize his suspicions about the Lady Arabella March. Bram Stoker not only makes comparisons of Edgar Caswall and Lilla, through the eyes of Adam, as a hawk and a pigeon (sometimes dove), but also names the chapter as such: Chapter 7: Hawk and Pigeon. Oolanga the servant behaves as the Hound, a ‘lost devil-ridden child of the forest and the swamp’. These analogies strengthen the predatory dimension of their relationships reaching its climax with the Lady Arabella—who out of tradition, is a snake-woman.

The characters of The Lair of the White Worm.


 * Adam Salton, the main protaginist, is a very wealthy twenty-seven year old Australian who was invited to central England by his grand-uncle, Richard Salton, as heir of Lesser Hill. Adam utilizes the mongoose to test his suspicions concerning the Lady Arabella.


 * Richard Salton of Lesser Hill, is the grand-uncle of Adam Salton. Approaching eighty years old, Richard invites and introduces Adam, not only to his inheritance, but also to the neighboring community that occupy an ancient land known as Mercia.


 * Sir Nathaniel de Salis of Doom Tower, is a well-travelled gentlemen and President of the Mercian Archæological Society. He was a freeholder near Castra Regis—whose estate is Doom Tower, just over the border of Derbyshire, on the Peak. Sir Nathaniel indulges Adam with the histories of the land, and its current residents.


 * Lady Arabella March of Diana’s Grove, is an aristocrat and Mistress of the most ancient estate—which is believed to have druidical origins. She is a main antagonist, the modern-day medusa, with a voice of notes and a cold-blooded heart.


 * Edgar Caswall of Castra Regis, is in his thirties, and a minor antagonist. Castra Regis is the highest point in the ancient land of Mercia, where his Castle sits. His bloodline is that of the Romans, and his ancestor a student of . Edgar has a predatory personality, hawking over Lilla Watford of Mercy Farm.


 * Oolanga, Caswall’s West African servant, is also a minor antagonist as a Voodoo-man. He fails in his attempt to woo the Lady Arabella, and ultimately meets his demise within her coils.