The Fountainhead: Character Profiles

Henry Cameron :  Henry Cameron was once a highly successful architect but has fallen from grace for his individualist thinking. Roark greatly admires him and insists on working for him. Cameron stands in opposition to Guy Francon.
Lois Cook :  Lois Cook is a nonconformist writer of nonsense and is controlled by Toohey. She insists writing should not be confined by sentence structure and grammar and she also hires Keating to build her the ugliest town in New York's ugliest neighborhood.
Mike Donnigan :  Mike Donnigan is a dedicated electrician who befriends Howard Roark and follows him from job to job for the sheer joy of working on magnificently designed buildings. He demonstrates that individualistic heroes exist on every social level.
Roger Enright :  Roger Enright is a businessman who hires Roark to design an innovative apartment building. A successful entrepreneur, he thinks for himself, unencumbered by the past.
Dominique Francon :  Dominique Francon is a highly idealistic woman who loves Howard Roark. She begins as a friend of Toohey's but winds up his enemy when she finally sees the depth of his corruption. She marries Peter Keating and Gail Wynand to punish herself. She is the pessimistic force to Roark's positive force and must wait for him for years while she learns the value of not caring what others think.
Guy Francon :  Guy Francon is the charming and witty father of Dominique and the business partner of Peter Keating. Unlike Henry Cameron, with whom he is juxtaposed, Francon copies from designers of the past. From his example, Dominique learns that the world wallows in corruption, and Keating learns the ways of that corruption.
Catherine Halsey :  Katie Halsey is the Toohey's wishy-washy, easily controlled niece and Keating's fianc�e. She is sweet and agreeable to a fault, never thinks of or for herself. In short, she is a doormat. In time, her uncle comes to completely dominate her.
Austen Heller :  Austen Heller is the rich journalist who gives Roark the young designer his first commission.
Peter Keating :  Peter Keating is an unprincipled architect whose life negatively mirrors Roark's. Keating contributes to the death of Francon's partner and takes over his position. He secretly runs to Roark for help with difficult designs and marries Dominique even though he knows she does not love him. He is the ultimate conformist.
Mrs. Keating :  Mrs. Keating is Peter's mother. She prepares him to climb the social ladder and manipulates him into doing what she thinks, rather than encouraging him to think for himself.
Steven Mallory :  Steven Mallory is a talented sculptor who follows his vision but, unlike Roark, lets others control his emotions. He attempts to shoot Toohey, and he sculpts Dominique's nude image.
Gordon L. Prescott :  An architect, Gordon L. Prescott is another of Toohey's nonconformist slaves.
Howard Roark :  Howard Roark is the protagonist of the novel. He seeks, as architect, to follow his vision by creating the world's most beautiful buildings on his own terms without answering to or bowing down to others. Rand casts him in the role of creator, a member of that race of giants who have stood alone against the opposition of others in the effort to follow their vision.
Ellsworth Toohey :  Ellsworth Toohey is an architectural critic who works for Gail Wynand's Banner. He is Roark's nemesis. Sprouting Marxist collectivism, he achieves a cult following of nonconformist artists who obey him without question. He attempts every means to bring about Roark's destruction because he believes people who think for themselves cannot be controlled.
Gus Webb :  Gus Webb is a young architect controlled by Toohey who designs architectural mish-mash and helps disfigure Roark's masterpiece.
Gail Wynand :  Gail Wynand is the publisher of the trashy Banner newspaper. Despite his desire to succeed by doing things his own way, he sells his soul by utilizing his publishing empire to give the masses what they want while he reaps the financial rewards. He falls deeply in love with Dominique and marries her, knowing she doesn't love him. He and Roark become close friends, but he ultimately sells his soul to remain in power.