Around the World in Eighty Days: Character Profiles

Lord Abermarle

Lord Abermarle is an elderly man who bets 5,000 pounds on Fogg’s success. He himself is paralyzed and the idea of Fogg’s adventure makes him feel part of it. He wants Fogg to succeed for the glory of England.

Aouda

Aouda is the Parsee princess who was going to be burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre but was rescued by Fogg and Passepartout. She is the daughter of a Bombay merchant and because she is light skinned and has an English education, she can pass for European. Originally, Fogg takes her to Hong Kong to stay with a relative but when that does not work out, he takes her under his protection. She travels around the world with him and falls in love with his noble nature. Fortunately, she knows how to play whist and captures Fogg’s heart. He marries her when they return to England

The Honorable William Batulcar

Batulcar is the Proprietor of the Long Noses of the god Tingou. He is a sort of Barnum with a circus in Yokohama which Passepartout joins as an acrobat and clown. They wear long fake noses on which they stand in a pyramid. Passepartout is on the bottom when he sees Fogg in the theater and drops the rest of the pyramid. Fogg has to pay damages to Batulcar to get Passepartout out of the circus.

British Consul at Suez

The Consul stamps Fogg’s passport to show that he came through Suez, and is not persuaded by Fix to detain Fogg. He thinks Fogg acts like a gentleman.

John Bunsby

John Bunsby is the pilot of the Tankadere which Fogg hires from Hong Kong to Shanghai to catch the steamer to San Francisco. Passepartout is separated from the party having been drugged and put on board the Carnatic to Yokohama. Fogg generously offers to take Detective Fix with them on the Tankadere, and they reach Yokohama in time to rescue Passepartout.

Sir Francis Cromarty

Sir Francis is a Brigadier General retired in India. He is Fogg’s whist partner on the Mongolia, then joins him in a train ride across India. He is tall and fair, a man of 50 who distinguished himself in the Sepoy revolt. On the way to his corps in Benares he travels with Fogg and serves as commentator on Indian ways and history. He helps to rescue Aouda.

Samuel Fallentin

Samuel Fallentin is a Banker and one of the members of the Reform Club who bets with Fogg.

Thomas Flanagan

Thomas Flanagan is a Brewer and a member of the Reform Club, one of the members who bets with Phileas Fogg.

Detective Fix

Mr. Fix is a detective from Scotland Yard who believes Fogg is the robber of the Bank of England and follows him around the world. He wants the reward money. Fix is a little dense and unscrupulous in his methods believing he is righteous in stopping Fogg any way he can, though he has no proof. Fix is small and nervous with twitching eyebrows and piercing eyes. He is intelligent but not wise or intuitive. He goes by his fixed ideas and is not flexible.

Phileas Fogg

Fogg is the main character, a mysterious and rich man of forty, tall and handsome with light hair and whiskers. He is never flustered by any event, a gentleman of the Reform Club of London who is interested in science and whist. He orders his life precisely by the clock, and makes a bet with fellow club members that he can travel around the world in the least amount of time it takes. He bets half his fortune on it and takes the other half with him in a carpet bag, going by train and steamboat around the world in 80 days. He travels with his French servant Passepartout and is followed by Detective Fix who thinks his mysterious fortune was stolen. Although Fogg appears to be uninterested in other people, he rescues Princess Aouda in India and marries her at the end of the journey. He is also generous to his servant Passepartout and rescues him several times though it puts his mission in jeopardy. Fogg is not interested in money but in knowledge. He is kind, giving money to a poor woman on the street and even giving money to Fix who is his enemy. Magnetic and bold, he draws others to him who help his cause.

Forster

Forster is the Yankee engineer of the American train that rushes it over the suspension bridge at Medicine Bow at 100 mph, as the bridge crumbles behind them.

Elder William Hitch

Elder Hitch is the Mormon missionary on the American train who gives Passepartout a history of the Mormons and invites him to join their religion.

Lord Longferry, MP,

Lord Longferry is one of Passepartout’s former English masters who was not orderly but had to be brought home every night from the tavern. Passepartout did not respect him.

Kiouni

Kiouni is the elephant that Fogg’s party used to cross India to Allahabad. Fogg paid 2000 pounds for him and then generously gave him to the Parsee guide who drove the elephant.

Mudge

Mudge is the American man with the sledge with sails who takes Fogg and party over the frozen prairie from Fort Kearney to Omaha when they miss the train because of fighting the Sioux.

Judge Obadiah

Judge Obadiah of Calcutta, at Fix’s request, sentences and fines Fogg and Passepartout for desecrating the Hindu temple at Bombay, but Fogg pays the bail and leaves on time for Hong Kong.

Jean Passepartout

Passepartout is the French servant Fogg hires before they leave London. He is about thirty and single, with multiple past occupations, such as acrobat, gymnast, valet, fireman. He is looking for stability in life as the valet of an English gentleman since the English are known for their regularity.  He goes through 10 irregular English masters before finding his ideal, Fogg. Passepartout is an emotional man of simple perception. He does not comprehend the mind of Fogg, but he is touched by his integrity and kindness to others, despite his apparent coldness. He becomes loyal to Fogg and desires to help him win the bet, though he often complicates the journey, such as getting drugged by Fix and not telling Fogg of the boat schedule change, and not telling Fogg about Fix. He is offered part of the reward money by Fix to turn in his master to Scotland Yard for the robbery, but he refuses to betray Fogg. He is the one who rescues Princess Aouda and who detaches the engine from the train to save it from Indians. In rescuing Passepartout from Indians, Fogg almost loses the bet.

Colonel Stamp Proctor

Colonel Proctor is in the political rally in San Francisco and hits Fix as he swings to punch Fogg. Both men are roughed up by the party politics of the unruly crowd who fight over their candidates. Fogg challenges Proctor to a duel, and they agree to meet again some day. Later, Fogg meets Proctor on the train to New York, and they are ready to duel in the train when Indians attack the train. Instead, Fogg and Proctor fight side by side against their common enemy.

Gauthier Ralph

Gauthier Ralph is a Director of the Bank of England and a fellow club member of Fogg’s at the Reform Club. He tells about the bank robbery and the fact that the robber is a gentleman. He like the others, bets Fogg he can’t go around the world in 80 days.

Reverend Decimus Smith

Rev. Smith is a fellow passenger on the Mongolia with whom Fogg plays whist. He is also a tax collector of Goa, India.

Captain Andrew Speedy

Captain Andrew Speedy from Cardiff owns the Henrietta, a trading vessel going to Bordeaux from New York that Fogg hires. He pays $8,000 for the passengers and eventually buys the boat for $60,000 so he can tear it apart for fuel to stoke the furnaces to Liverpool.  He hijacks the boat from Speedy and locks him in his cabin until the end of the journey. Speedy ends up happy with his money. He calls Fogg a “Yankee.”

Andrew Stewart

Andrew Stewart is an engineer and fellow club member of Fogg’s at the Reform Club in London. He is one of the people with whom Fogg wagers.

James Strand

James Strand is the real bank robber of the Bank of England, caught on Dec. 17, a few days before Fogg gets to England. Fix does not hear about it until after he locks Fogg up.

John Sullivan

John Sullivan is a banker and one of the five members of the Reform Club who bets with Fogg.