- Dunyazadiad
Scheherazade: Also referred to as "Sherry," she is the key storyteller from One Thousand and One Nights and much of this novella's plot revolves around her and her power of crafting stories. She is nevertheless not the principal narrator of the Dunyazadiad.
Dunyazad: Also referred to as "Doony," Dunyazad is the sister of Scheherazade and being held captive by the King. Doony narrates the first and longest of the three chapters in the novella.
Shahryar and Shah Zaman: The King and his brother. Both men were cuckolded by their wives, so together they devise a revenge plan whereby they each deflower and then kill a new woman from their kingdom each night, initializing the conflict of the story.
The Genie: Actually a writer - likely a representation of Barth - who magically transports through time and space from 20th century America to Sherry and Doony's room. Scheherazade is his favorite author/narrator and he falls intellectually in love with her. With the help of the Genie, Sherry and Doony devise the plan to tell the King stories every night to forestall sex and execution. This plan involves the Genie reading a section of One Thousand and One Nights every day and then reporting back to Sherry, complicating notions of authorship.
- Perseid
Perseus: The hero of Greek mythology who beheaded the Gorgon Medusa. He narrates his own life story to Calyxa with the aid of elaborate temple murals, paying particular attention to his life after most of his great deeds are over. In the novella, he suffers through a midlife crisis and struggles to understand his relevance now that he is no longer a heroic young man. He repeatedly struggles with impotence through his story.
Andromeda: Perseus's wife who's grown dissatisfied with marriage and Perseus's obsession with his past triumphs.
Calyxa: A nymph and priestess charged with the task of caring for certain gods' and heroes' temples, including Perseus's. A very devoted individual, Calyxa appears obsessed with Perseus's stories and craves his sexual attention, despite his impotence.
Medusa: Beheading Medusa had been Perseus's major heroic accomplishment, but now the figure troubles Perseus because of his lost glory and issues of guilt.
- Bellerophoniad
Bellerophon: The Greek mythic hero who first tamed Pegasus and slayed the Chimera, becoming the King of Lycia. Also called "Bell," he's Perseus's younger cousin and he constantly compares himself self-consciously to the older hero.
The Narrator: Somewhat a version of Bellerophon, he was "transformed by the seer Polyeidus into a version of Bellerophon's life" in order to tell this story (138). He constantly questions his own adequacy for the task, and his narrative doubts perpetually intrude in the story.
Philonoe: Bellerophon's wife. She loves Bellerophon and is comfortable in her life, but she sees every delight in life as a "net loss" (148)
Melanippe: An Amazonian woman that Bellerophon has as a "lover and alleged chronicler" in the second half of his life (146). Intrudes on narration periodically.
Polyeidus: He tutors Bellerophon and his twin, Deliades, when they were children, and he is the marsh seer who turns Bellerophon into the narrator of the "Bellerophoniad." Polyeidus has trouble controlling his magical abilities and prophesying. Intrudes on narration periodically.
