The angel is the supernatural figure who drives the novel’s conflict. She is also an enigmatic and amoral being who functions as a powerful, multifaceted symbol. Her first appearance in the novel is as the unidentifiable “shrieker” (93), a source of organic, agonizing pain that the soldiers are ordered to euthanize. This introduction immediately subverts traditional expectations of a heavenly being, framing her instead as a victim of the human conflict that has literally shot her out of the sky. Once rescued, she remains silent and passive, acting as a mirror that reflects the deepest desires, fears, and narratives of the soldiers who encounter her. To the orphaned Lewis Arno, she is a mother; to the lustful Hugh Popkin, she is his unobtainable love interest, Effie; to the grieving Ben Veck, she is his lost daughter, Naomi; and to the glory-obsessed Major General Reis, she is Minerva, the Roman goddess of war. This reflective quality suggests she has no inherent identity of her own, or rather that her identity is overwritten by the desperate needs of those who witness her.

Her power is intrinsically linked to destruction, illustrating the theme of The Ambiguous Nature of Faith and Miracles. While she performs supernatural miracles, like saving Bagger and Arno from a mortar, healing Arno’s mortal wound, and resurrecting a dead kitten, these acts are either accompanied by or directly result in death and greater violence. Bagger comes to understand that she is a conduit for the wills of those who wield her powers, describing her as “not the hand that kills. I am the sword in the hand” (190). Her power is a weapon, and its morality is determined by the person whose desires she enacts. In Bagger’s case, this leads to the deaths of his comrades. In Reis’s hands, she becomes a tool for perpetuating global war. Her final transformation from a serene Marian figure into a monstrous, winged “Adversary” (281) occurs only after Bagger makes a conscious choice to kill, suggesting that her form ultimately embodies the moral consequences of human actions. She is a symbol of how faith itself becomes a volatile and destructive force when introduced into a world defined by violence.

Lewis Arno is a 14-year-old orphan who serves as the story’s moral and emotional center, as well as Bagger’s sidekick. Though he lied to join the army, Arno represents a profound innocence and a desperate search for belonging that stands in stark contrast to the cynical survivalism of Cyril Bagger and the industrialized brutality of the war. Arno’s illiteracy makes him dependent on Bagger, forging an unlikely bond between the two as Bagger reads him adventure stories like The Son of Tarzan. The recurring motif of this dime novel establishes Arno’s character as one who seeks refuge in romanticized narratives of heroism, a coping mechanism that highlights the vast gap between the ideals of adventure and the grim reality of the trenches. He is a round character, but his core nature remains largely static, functioning as the unchanging heart that prompts Bagger’s transformation.

Arno’s primary role is to act as Bagger’s conscience. His persistent loyalty and guileless affection gradually erode the emotional walls Bagger has built. It is Arno’s horror at the idea of leaving the shrieker to die that first prompts Bagger’s turn toward action. His willingness to face No Man’s Land alone forces Bagger to follow him out of the trenches. Arno perceives the angel as a mother figure, the fulfillment of his deepest longing as an orphan. This perception underscores how each character projects their own needs onto the divine.

When Arno is killed by Hugh Popkin, Bagger’s decision to bargain with the angel for the boy’s life solidifies his shift from self-preservation to selfless sacrifice. Arno is the human connection that gives Bagger a reason to fight for something beyond himself, embodying the small, personal loyalties that retain meaning even when grander ideals have failed.

Major General Lyon Reis is the novel’s primary antagonist, a division commander whose leadership is defined by vanity, insecurity, and a dangerously outdated philosophy of war. His entire identity is shaped by a desperate need to compensate for his limitations, which Kraus symbolizes with Reis’s underdeveloped right arm, a physical defect he actively conceals from view. Reis overcompensates with a rigid, theatrical martial posture, which signals his personal need to perform his masculinity. He is obsessed with the concept of “élan” (31), a zealous spirit of attack that he believes can overcome the technological realities of machine guns and artillery, a belief that leads him to needlessly sacrifice his men in frontal assaults. This disconnect from the reality of the front lines showcases the theme of The Brutal Reality of War Versus Idealized Masculinity, as Reis clings to a romantic, pre-industrial notion of combat that drives massive collateral damage in the context of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Reis’s motivations are purely selfish. He views the war as a vehicle for personal glory, openly reserving a space on his uniform for the Medal of Honor he feels entitled to receive but has not yet earned. He despises Bagger, whom he calls “Private Gravedigger” (22), because Bagger’s cynical survivalism is the antithesis of the relentless patriotic sacrifice Reis demands from him. Upon discovering the powers of the angel, Reis sees her as a “wondrous weapon” (222). He projects his own ambition onto her, naming her Minerva, the goddess of war. His wish is to prolong the war, creating a manufactured moment of crisis and using the angel to emerge as the world’s sole savior. This ultimate expression of megalomania reveals him as a man willing to sacrifice humanity for his own ego, making him a personification of the corrupt leadership that drives the unending slaughter of the war.

Hugh Popkin, a brutish and slow-witted private, serves as a foil to Bagger’s cunning intellect and a secondary antagonist. Known to Bagger as “the lummox” (27), Popkin is driven by base impulses, chiefly his obsessive and unrequited love for a young woman back home, Effie Inez Barbeau. His desire to be a “fighting man” for Effie is a simplistic interpretation of masculinity that makes him susceptible to Bagger’s manipulation through storytelling. Bagger convinces Popkin to undertake the dangerous mission into No Man’s Land by weaving a narrative in which Popkin returns a decorated hero and finally wins Effie’s affection. This interaction demonstrates the power of narrative to control even the least sophisticated minds.

Popkin represents a raw, unthinking violence. He has trench mouth and a chemical burn on his scalp, which are both presented as physical manifestations of the war’s corrupting influence. When he encounters the angel, his desperate psyche projects the image of Effie onto her, transforming his mission into a violently possessive quest to claim her for himself. This delusion drives him to murder a French civilian and to initially kill Lewis Arno as he absconds with the angel. Popkin’s death under a falling wall is a direct, symbolic consequence of his loss in the game of Rochambeau, underscoring the fated nature of death in the trenches.

Vincent Goodspeed, known derisively as “Vincent the Vulture” (43), is a private who embodies the opportunistic capitalism that flourishes amidst the war’s destruction. While other soldiers fight, Goodspeed combs the battlefield for souvenirs and valuables, looting the bodies of the dead and dying, both Allied and German. He is characterized by his suspicious cleanliness and his avoidance of direct combat, preferring to profit from the suffering of others. His actions represent a different kind of survival instinct from Bagger’s; whereas Bagger manipulates systems to avoid death, Goodspeed exploits death itself for material gain.

Goodspeed’s reaction to the angel is purely commercial. He sees her not as a divine being or a loved one, but as a priceless commodity. He calls her “Theda” (105), after the silent film star Theda Bara, imagining the fortune he could make by putting her on display in a traveling show. His plan to abscond with the angel and sell her to the highest bidder reveals a complete moral vacuum. Like Popkin, his fate is sealed by the game of Rochambeau. Having lost with “paper,” he attempts to make off with the angel, but his plan is cut short when he is sliced in half by shrapnel, a death that gruesomely evokes the “scissors” that beat him.

Ben Veck is a flamethrower operator and the only Black soldier in Company P, having been transferred from the segregated 368th Infantry Regiment. He experiences a constant tremor from shell shock, yet he also carries a quiet dignity and pride. Veck initially clings to the belief that Major General Reis personally selected him for the company, a validation that he sees as a form of acceptance and respect within the racist structure of the US Army. His role highlights the compounded struggle of Black soldiers, who fought against both a foreign enemy and the prejudice of their own comrades and superiors.

Veck’s worldview is shattered when he discovers a note revealing Reis’s contempt for being sent a Black flamethrower. This revelation strips him of his last hope for honor and drives him to a nihilistic despair. He sees the angel as a manifestation of his beloved daughter, Naomi, a symbol of the innocent life he can no longer protect. His ultimate wish is for the angel to destroy the entire world, an apocalyptic plea born from the conviction that the world is irredeemably unjust. The fact that the note provokes the actions that lead to Veck’s fiery death is a fate foreshadowed by his loss in Rochambeau to Bagger’s “paper.”