: A 17th-century Mohawk saint whose life of self-flagellation and spiritual devotion provides a parallel narrative for the characters' modern-day struggles. Literary Significance

: The narrator's late wife, a member of the A—— tribe, who dies in a tragic and surreal accident.

: The narrator's charismatic and manipulative mentor, a French-Canadian separatist who seeks transcendence through extreme and often depraved living.

: An Anglo-Canadian folklorist obsessed with the history of an extinct Indigenous tribe, the A——s.

The story is structured around a bizarre love triangle involving: