Journey to the Center of the Earth

Gruff, impatient German geology professor in Hamburg who decodes the runic note and leads the expedition into the volcano.

The professor's young nephew and the book's narrator, a cautious student who is engaged to Gräuben and reluctant to go underground.

Calm, taciturn Icelandic eider-duck hunter hired as guide, who stays steady in every emergency on the journey.

The professor's goddaughter, from Vierlande, who is engaged to Axel and waits for him in Hamburg.

Sixteenth-century Icelandic alchemist whose coded note, hidden in an old manuscript, sets the expedition in motion.