Station Eleven Characters/Major Figures

Arthur Leander

Arthur is a successful older actor who dies playing King Lear onstage at the beginning of the novel, right before the Georgia flu devastates the world. The novel’s timeline travels back into his life, then forward to post-collapse society, showing how the events of his past impact the future. The failures of his personal life—his pursuit of fame over all else and realization, right before his death, of what he had squandered—make him a tragic figure.

Kirsten Raymonde

Kirsten was a child actor onstage with Arthur when he died. She subsequently survives the Georgia flu and travels the post-pandemic world with the Traveling Symphony. While she forgets much of her life from before the pandemic, she remembers Arthur. He gave her two Dr. Eleven comics, which she keeps with her on the road. Kirsten’s love of Shakespeare is a constant thread from the old world to the new: While everything else in her world has changed, Shakespeare’s words and her pleasure in speaking them remain.

Jeevan Chaudhary

Jeevan is a former paparazzi who is training to be a paramedic when the Georgia flu breaks out. His character intersects with Arthur (and others) throughout the novel. He first appears as an aspiring hero, trying to save Arthur’s life; however, flashbacks reveal that as a paparazzi, he was far less honorable. Ultimately, Jeevan has one of the happier storylines of the novel; he manages, despite the collapse of the world order, to more or less fulfill his dreams.

Miranda Carroll

Miranda is Arthur’s first wife and a counterpoint to his character throughout. Young and poor when he was a successful actor, she has built herself up to become a successful businesswoman by the time the pandemic hits. She travels regularly for her job, constantly working on her comic Dr. Eleven, and ultimately paying to make a limited edition run of the first two issues. She gives Arthur copies as a gift, and they ultimately have tremendous impact on the characters in the story, even after the collapse and her own death.

Tyler Leander/The Prophet

Tyler is Arthur’s son by his second wife Elizabeth. He and Elizabeth are stranded at Severn City airport as the pandemic hits but leave with a passing cult. Elizabeth’s belief that everything happens for a reason influences Tyler’s metamorphosis into the Prophet. As the Prophet, Tyler preaches that the flu killed the unworthy and that more deaths will follow. The Prophet becomes a cult leader in his own right, taking multiple brides and terrorizing those who disagree with him.

Elizabeth Colton

Arthur’s second wife and the mother of Tyler, Elizabeth’s fascination with history and belief that everything happens for a reason lead her to view the pandemic as a cleansing act meant to purify the Earth. This belief fed her son’s delusions of good and evil, ultimately leading him to his role as the Prophet.

Clark Thompson

Arthur’s best friend from college, Clark, like others in the book, appears and reappears until the seemingly disparate threads of his story converge at the end. After the collapse, he ends up at Severn City airport with Tyler and Elizabeth. Unlike them, he stays and starts up the Museum of Civilization to commemorate the minor artifacts of life before the pandemic.

Sayid

Sayid is a member of the Traveling Symphony and Kirsten’s ex-boyfriend. Their relationship showcases the awkwardness of their tiny closed society, where everyone knows everyone’s history. He is captured by the Prophet but survives.

Dieter

Dieter is one of the older members of the Traveling Symphony who has been moving with the Conductor almost from the beginning. He and Kirsten are close friends, often debating the same topics in well-worn patterns. He is kidnapped by the Prophet and dies accidentally while in custody.

August

August is a member of the Traveling Symphony and one of Kirsten’s best friends. He joins her in exploring deserted houses, looking for old TV Guides as reminders of the pre-pandemic world. He says prayers over the dead that they encounter during their travels.

The Conductor

The Conductor was in a military orchestra at the time of the collapse and ultimately led the remaining musicians as the Symphony. They merged with a traveling acting troupe in the early years, and she became the leader of the Traveling Symphony.

Frank Chaudhary

Frank is Jeevan’s brother, a former foreign correspondent who lost his legs in an attack overseas and uses a wheelchair. When Jeevan is warned about the Georgia flu, he stocks up on supplies and brings them to his brother’s apartment to wait out the pandemic. Frank kills himself because he believes Jeevan has a better chance of survival without him.

Charlie (Charlotte)

Charlie is a member of the Traveling Symphony and one of Kirsten’s best friends. She and her husband remained in one of the Symphony’s frequent village stops two years earlier because she was pregnant, and the Symphony is eager to meet up with the couple again when the troupe returns. However, Charlie and her family are gone, and the Prophet is there instead.

Dr. Eleven

Dr. Eleven is the fictional hero of the Dr. Eleven comics, created by Miranda and given by Arthur to Tyler and Kirsten before the collapse. Dr. Eleven lives on a space station called “Station Eleven” that is meant to resemble a planet and that is beset with dangers. The Dr. Eleven books, like Shakespeare and Kirsten’s paperweight, symbolize the enduring power of art.