Santiago Nasar - The protagonist of the story. He is killed the day after Angela Vicario's wedding.
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in-depth analysis of Santiago Nasar.
Angela Vicario - The dishonored bride. She becomes a seamstress after being returned home on her wedding night. She was very beautiful in her youth.
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in-depth analysis of Angela Vicario.
Pedro Vicario - The more serious of the two twins. It is his idea to kill Santiago Nasar. He spent time in the army, and after being released from prison he joins the army once again.
Pablo Vicario - He is the twin who insists that the twins go through with the crime. He is betrothed to Prudencia Cotes, who he marries when he is released from jail.
Bayardo San Roman - The man who marries Angela Vicario. He comes from a wealthy and prestigious family. When he arrives in town, he is described as having a slim waist and golden eyes.
Purisima del Carmen - The mother of Angela Vicario. When her daughter is brought home by Bayardo San Roman, after he discovers she is not a virgin, Purisima beats her daughter; she is a strict mother.
Poncio Vicario - He is Angela's father. He used to work as a goldsmith until the strain of the profession made him go blind. He dies shortly after his twin sons are sent to prison.
Placida Linero - Santiago's mother. She has a well-earned reputation as an interpreter of dreams. She never forgives herself for misinterpreting the dream about trees and birds that her son had the night before his death.
Maria Alejandrina Cervantes - An elegant whore with eyes like an "insomniac leopard." She eats excessively to mourn Santiago Nasar's death.
Prudencia Cotes - Pablo Vicario's finance. She says she would not have married Pablo if he had not upheld the honor of his sister by killing the man who took her virginity.
Ibrahim Nasar - Santiago's father, an Arab. He seduced Victoria Guzman when she was a teenager. He taught his son the art of falconry and his love of firearms.
Victoria Guzman - The Nasars' cook. She violently guts rabbits on the morning of the murder. She had an affair with Ibrahim Nasar when she was a teenager.
Clothilde Armenta - The proprietress of the milk shop where the Vicarios wait to kill Santiago. She is an insightful woman, and can tell that the Vicario twins are tired and are killing Santiago only out of obligation.
Don Rogelio de la Flor - Clothilde Armenta's husband. He doesn't listen to her when she warns him about the Vicario twins' plan. He dies of shock at age eighty-six when he sees the brutal way that the Vicarios murder Santiago.
Divina Flor - Victoria Guzman's daughter. Santiago desires her sexually, but Victoria watches carefully to make sure he does not do anything to her.
Margot - The narrator's sister. She feels that Santiago Nasar would be a good catch for any girl, since he is young, handsome, and wealthy.
Cristo Bedoya - A friend of the narrator's and of Santiago Nasar. He runs all over town at the end of the book trying to warn Santiago of the Vicario's plan.
Luis Enrique - The narrator's younger brother. He plays the guitar very well, and goes around with Santiago, Cristo, and the narrator when they go to serenade Bayardo and Angela on the night of their wedding.
Father Amador - The local priest, who forgets to warn Santiago Nasar about the plot against him.
Colonel Lazaro Aponte - The lazy Colonel who fails to prevent Santiago's murder because he is checking on his game of dominoes.
Faustino Santos - The local butcher who alerts a local police officer that the Vicario brothers are talking about murdering Santiago.
General Petronio San Roman and Alberta Simonds - Bayardo San Roman's parents. Alberta Simonds used to be the extremely beautiful; General Petronio San Roman and she drive up in a model T Ford. The General is impressively bedecked with war medals.
Yamil Shaium - An Arab man who warns Cristo Bedoya about the Viacrio twins' plan to murder Santiago. He and Santiago have an Arabic play on words that they exchange whenever they meet.
Flora Miguel - The pretty, but uninteresting woman that Santiago Nasar was betrothed to marry.
Nahir Miguel - The father of Flora Miguel. He is the one who warns Santiago that the Vicario brothers are waiting to kill him.
Xius - A widower who owned the most beautiful house; he died of sadness because he sold it; the house held all of his dead wife's possessions.
Mercedes Barcha - The narrator's eventual wife (and the name of Gabriel García Márquez's real wife). The narrator proposes to her at Angela and Bayardo's wedding party.
