Neuromancer: Encyclopedia II - Neuromancer - Characters

Neuromancer - Characters

Case (Charles Henry Dorsett Case): The anti-hero, a drug addict and cyberspace hacker. Prior to the start of the book he attempted to rip off some of his partners in crime. In retaliation they used a Russian mycotoxin to damage his nervous system and make him unable to jack into Cyberspace. When Armitage offers to cure him in exchange for Case's hacking abilities he jumps at the offer. Case is the underdog who is only looking after himself. Along the way he will have his immune system fixed to stop him getting high; meet the leatherclad Razorgirl, Molly; hang out with the drug-infused space-rastas; free an artificial intelligence (Wintermute) and change the landscape of the Matrix.

Molly: A "Razorgirl" who is recruited along with Case by Armitage. She has extensive body modifications, including retractable, double-edged blades under her fingernails which can be used like claws, an optimized reflex system and implanted lenses covering her eyesockets with added optical enhancements. Molly also appears in a number of other stories by Gibson, including the short story Johnny Mnemonic.

Armitage: He is (apparently) the main patron of the crew. Formerly a Green Beret named Colonel Willis Corto, who took part in a secret operation named Screaming Fist. He was heavily injured both physically and psychologically, and the "Armitage" personality was constructed as part of experimental "computer-mediated psychotherapy" by Wintermute (see below), one of the artificial intelligences seen on the story (the other one being the eponymous Neuromancer) which is actually controlling the mission. As the novel progresses, Armitage's personality slowly disintegrates.

Peter Riviera: A thief and sadist who can project images using his implants. He is a drug addict, hooked on a mix of cocaine and meperidine.

Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool: The shared current leader of "Tessier-Ashpool SA", a company running Freeside, a resort in space. She lives in the tip of Freeside, known as the "Villa Straylight". She controls the hardwiring that keeps the company's AIs from exceeding their boundaries of intelligence.

The Dixie Flatline: A famous computer hacker named McCoy Pauley known for surviving 3 "flat-lines" or brain deaths while trying to crack an AI. Before his death, Sense/Net saved the contents of his mind onto a ROM. Case and Molly steal the ROM and Dixie helps them complete their mission.

Wintermute: One of the two Tessier-Ashpool artificial intelligences. Somehow, Wintermute gained a minute amount of control of different computer systems all over the earth and on Straylight. His goal is to combine with Neuromancer and become a superintelligence.

The Finn: A fence for stolen goods and one of Molly's old friends. He has all kinds of debugging and sensor gear that allow Case to confirm Armitage's toxic sac threat. Later in the book Wintermute uses his personality to talk with Case and Molly.

Julius Dean: A black marketeer in Chiba. He is 135 years old with a fetish for fashionable, if archaic, suits. He is very paranoid even around friends and is constantly chewing ginger candy (Ting Ting Djahe). Case often went to him for information or jobs.

Linda Lee: Case's girlfriend in Chiba. The book hints that she is killed by Julius.

Lupus Yonderboy: Leader of the Panther Moderns, a technofetishistic Sprawl youth gang. Has pink hair, a chameleon suit, and many ear ports. He and the Moderns help steal the Dixie Flatline from Sense/Net. The term "yonderboy" is likely derived (consciously or unconsciously) from the late John Brunner's influential 1968 New Wave SF novel Stand on Zanzibar, in which "yonderboy" is a futuristic slang term used to refer to commercial astronauts.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki