Nela is a sixteen-year-old orphan living in the mining town of Villamojada. She resides with the Centeno family, who provide her with minimal shelter in a kitchen basket and frequently neglect her basic needs. Believing herself too frail for physical labor and lacking formal education, she dedicates her days to guiding the blind Pablo. Her connection to the natural world fuels her vivid and superstitious imagination.

Pablo is a twenty-year-old blind man who lost his mother at an early age. Raised by a wealthy father, he enjoys privileges that isolate him from the manual labor of the mines. He experiences the world entirely through the descriptions provided by Nela and the scientific texts read to him. A visiting surgeon brings the possibility of restoring his vision, which sparks his intense fixation on visual beauty.

Teodoro is a highly respected eye surgeon who travels to Villamojada at the request of a wealthy local patriarch. Having clawed his way up from childhood poverty in Madrid, he values hard work and pragmatic education. He observes the severe social divides of the mining town with a critical eye, openly challenging the superficial charity practiced by his relatives.

Florentina is Pablo's beautiful cousin who arrives in Aldeacorba alongside her father to solidify a family inheritance. She possesses a striking physical appearance that locals frequently compare to the Virgin Mary. Unlike her financially motivated father, she holds progressive views regarding wealth distribution and insists on treating the local laborers with familiar warmth.

Celipin is the youngest child of the Centeno family and a laborer in the Socrates mines. He harbors secret ambitions to escape the repetitive work of his parents and educate himself in a major city. He idolizes self-made men and actively plans his departure from the mining town, relying on small donations to fund his future schooling.

Cárlos is an engineer working at the Socrates mines who recommended his brother to the local patriarch. Like his older sibling, he survived extreme childhood poverty in Madrid, eventually mastering mathematics with the help of a military tutor. He now enjoys a comfortable middle-class life in the mining town.

Sofía is the wife of the mine engineer and a prominent figure in the local social circles. She exercises her philanthropic duties through organized social functions rather than direct aid. She lavishes attention and resources on her pet dog while openly expressing disgust at the physical realities of the local orphans.

Francisco is a wealthy patriarch living in Aldeacorba, widely considered one of the kinder affluent men in the region. Having lost his wife young, he funnels his vast resources into protecting and educating his blind son. He arranges a marriage for his boy to secure a family inheritance, hoping to guarantee his child's lifelong financial and emotional stability.

Manuel is Francisco's brother, arriving in the mining town to secure a lucrative inheritance following a relative's death. He adheres strictly to aristocratic decorum and expresses visible discomfort when his family members blur the lines between social classes.

Señora Señana is the matriarch of the Centeno family, keeping a tight watch over her household's meager finances. She views her housing of an orphaned girl as a sufficient ticket to religious salvation, rarely offering the child actual food or warmth unless prompted by others.

Señor Centeno is the overseer of the mines and the primary breadwinner for his large family. He enforces a rigid lifestyle on his children, counting his coins every night without any ambition to improve their social standing or living conditions.

Tanasio is one of the older children in the Centeno household, working alongside his family in the local mines. He constructs the large kitchen baskets, one of which serves as a makeshift bed for the family's orphaned ward.

Mariuca is a daughter of the Centeno family. Like her parents, she participates in the daily survival routines of the mining community without questioning her social station.

La Pepina is another daughter in the Centeno household, blending into the background of a family entirely focused on manual labor and basic financial survival.

Choto is Pablo's lively and loyal dog, trained to help the blind young man find his way through the hazardous paths and caverns of the Socrates mines. He serves as an essential physical support when human companions are unavailable.

Líli is a pampered pet dog belonging to the wife of the mine engineer. Doted upon and provided with luxuries denied to the local children, the excitable animal inadvertently causes conflict when she runs into dangerous brambles.