Josef K. is a thirty-year-old chief financial officer at a large bank. He is meticulous and slightly arrogant, maintaining a well-ordered life that is abruptly upended by opaque legal proceedings. Though he initially dismisses his arrest as a joke, he soon becomes consumed by the need to understand the bizarre court system.

Uncle Karl is K.'s domineering uncle from the country. Exhibiting a commanding attitude, he acts as an authoritative figure who worries deeply about the family's reputation. He insists that K. take his legal situation seriously and utilizes his own connections to secure K. legal counsel.

Leni is the young nurse who resides with and cares for the lawyer Herr Huld. She is deeply entwined with the court system and harbors a peculiar attraction to accused men. She aggressively pursues a romance with K. almost immediately upon meeting him, drawing him away from his legal strategy.

Herr Huld is an elderly, bedridden lawyer who takes on K.'s case. He frequently boasts about his extensive connections within the court's shadowy bureaucracy. Despite his promises to help maneuver through the legal system, his methods are confusing, and his treatment of clients can be highly erratic.

Frau Grubach is K.'s landlady, a gentle and conservative woman who runs the boardinghouse where he lives. She holds K. in extremely high regard, considering him her favorite lodger. She tends to pry slightly into the personal lives of her boarders out of a desire to maintain a respectable establishment.

Fräulein Bürstner is a young typist who has recently rented a room in Frau Grubach's boardinghouse. Her personal space is used by the authorities during K.'s initial arrest without her permission. She is fiercely independent and maintains a socially active life that draws mild moral judgment from her conservative landlady.

Titorelli is a talkative painter who lives in a poor part of town, constantly surrounded by raucous teenage girls. Having inherited the position of official court painter from his father, he possesses extensive knowledge of the lower court's inner workings. He paints identical landscapes to sell to anxious defendants seeking his favor.

Rudi Block is a merchant and another client of Herr Huld. His legal case has been dragging on for five years, draining him of his energy, dignity, and professional focus. He essentially lives at the lawyer's house, serving as a cautionary figure of what the prolonged anxiety of a trial can do to an accused man.

The Vice President is K.'s primary rival at the bank. He frequently exploits K.'s growing distraction with his trial to undermine him professionally, poaching clients and scrutinizing K.'s behavior under the guise of collegial helpfulness.

The Priest, who also serves as the court chaplain, is an authoritative figure K. encounters in the dark cathedral. He acts as an instrument of the court but speaks to K. with a surprising level of directness, sharing an allegory about a doorkeeper to help K. comprehend his dire position.

Willem is one of the two warders sent to arrest K. He behaves casually, eating K.'s breakfast and offering little explanation for the arrest beyond his orders from an opaque authority.

Franz is the second warder assigned to K.'s mysterious arrest. Like Willem, he lacks any real understanding of the law or the charges, functioning merely as a low-level worker in the bizarre judicial bureaucracy.

The Flogger is a terrifying, nameless figure of the court tasked with administering physical punishment to officials who step out of line. He is uncompromising and rigidly bound to his duties, disregarding any pleas for mercy from K.

The Usher's Wife lives rent-free in the court building and assists the local examining magistrate. She finds herself surrounded by the court's low-level functionaries and law students, attempting to leverage her attractiveness to gain influence within the system.

The Law Student is an entitled young man training within the corrupt court system. He is primarily focused on seducing the usher's wife and acts as an errand boy for the examining magistrate, demonstrating the casual abuses of power prevalent among court officials.

The Court Usher is a low-level official who guides K. through the stifling and run-down attic offices of the court. He is deeply frustrated by his inability to protect his wife from higher-ranking officials but remains entirely subservient to the system that employs him.

Fräulein Montag is another boarder at Frau Grubach's establishment. She acts as a buffer and spokesperson for Fräulein Bürstner, formally advising K. to cease his attempts to contact her friend.

Elsa is a waitress at a tavern whom K. regularly visits at the end of his workday. She represents K.'s normal, routine life outside of the court's influence, serving as a distraction from his mounting legal anxieties.

The Inspector is the official overseeing K.'s initial arrest. Despite his formal authority, he possesses no actual information regarding the charges, serving only to inform K. that his daily life will not be restricted despite his new legal status.

The Manufacturer is a prominent client of K.'s bank. He is perceptive enough to realize K. is distracted by his trial and utilizes his own knowledge of the court to point K. toward the painter Titorelli for unofficial help.

The Captain is Frau Grubach's nephew, who temporarily sleeps in the living room of her boardinghouse. He maintains polite relations with the other boarders but inadvertently becomes a witness to K.'s strained interactions with the women of the house.

Hasterer is a prominent public prosecutor who forms an unexpectedly close personal friendship with K. They spend late evenings drinking together, demonstrating K.'s attempts to embed himself in legal circles outside his direct trial.

Helene is a woman who briefly lives with Public Prosecutor Hasterer. She becomes increasingly intrusive regarding Hasterer's late-night drinking sessions with K., ultimately leading to her expulsion from the apartment.

The President is the head of the bank where K. works. He maintains a friendly, professional relationship with K. but is entirely unaware of the depth of K.'s legal distraction, occasionally expressing surprise at K.'s social connections with legal figures.