Indian Killer: Character Match

John Smith

main character of the story; Indian-born man who was adopted by a white family; has identity issues and is on a quest to kill a white man and become a “real Indian”

Marie Polatkin

outspoken Indian woman who attends the University of Washington; lived on a reservation, but feels distanced from the Indian language and culture; leads powwows/protests and speaks out against Dr. Mather

Reggie Polatkin

removed from U of W for a disagreement with Dr. Mather; has an Indian mother and white father who would talk badly about his Indian blood; dad would also quiz him on historic events and hit him if he was incorrect; would hurt white men, without reason, with friends Ty and Harley

Dr. Clarence Mather

Professor at U of W; teaches the Indian literature class; has a very academic lens of Indians and thinks they all should conform to his image of Indians; has problems with Reggie and Marie; “wannabe Indian”

Jack Wilson

author of novels with a focus on Indian characters; believes he has Indian blood and frequents the Indian bar Big Heart’s; “wannabe Indian”; has a final conflict with John and has his face slit because he was decided to be at fault for John’s racial identity issues; promotes a stereotypical Indian persona in his literature

Truck Schultz

an ultra-conservative, bigoted talk-radio host; uses his show to stoke racial hatred and blame Seattle's Native American population for a string of gruesome murders of white men; popularizes the term "Indian Killer" on his radio broadcast, capitalizing on the panic to push his own political and anti-Native agenda

The Killer

scalps white men and leaves owl feathers, as a symbol of his presence — is never definitively revealed. The narrative leaves the murderer's identity ambiguous, using the killings to explore racial tensions, alienation, and historical rage in Seattle

Justin Summers

The first victim of the Indian Killer; He was found buried in the backyard of an abandoned house; had his eyes taken out by the Indian Killer

Mark Jones

little boy who is kidnapped by the Indian Killer as a statement to society; he is later returned to his house and placed back into the arms of his mother

Edward Letterman

a businessman murdered outside of an adult video store

Daniel Smith

John’s adoptive father; constantly worries about the safety of his son; believes that John is in his house, even when he is not

Olivia Smith

John’s adoptive mother; enjoys reading Wilson’s literature and thinks it is a good and authentic representation of Native people

Father Duncan

Spokane Jesuit priest who baptizes John and is a big role model in his life, as one of the only resource for information about Indian culture and history; walks into the desert and disappears

Buck Rogers

Aaron and David’s super racist dad; takes his kids to the end of their plot to shoot at an Indian family taking overgrown plants

David Rogers

classmate of Marie in Mather’s Indian literature class; has a strong interest in Marie and even asks her out; kidnapped while leaving a casino and is murdered

Aaron Rogers

brother of David; enraged at his brother's death, commits acts of violence against Native Americans. His attacks are supported by Barry Church and Sean Ward; follower of Truck Schultz, exclaiming its “Truck Time” when they commit the acts of violence

Sean Ward

one of Aaron’s friends; decides against committing acts of violence towards Indian people and reports himself and friends to the authorities

Barry Church

friend of Aaron; does not speak against committing acts of violence, but does not think it is the best idea to continue hurting innocent Indians

Ty Williams

friend of Reggie; does not speak against committing acts of violence, but does not think it is the best idea to continue hurting innocent white men

Harley Tate

close friend of Reggie, who is deaf, ends their friendship because of Reggie's violent behavior

Robert Harris

White man that Aaron and his friends beat up while he was camping out on a high school football field; Reggie was quizzing him on historic events and would beat him up if he got it wrong; this assault was being tape recorded by Reggie as well; Reggie tries to take this man’s eyes out, which left his with eyesight issues; was the target because “all white guys look alike” and Reggie thought this was Truck Schultz

Arthur Two Leaf

Native college student who gets jumped by Aaron and gang (in ski masks) on a wooded trail on campus

Paul & Paul Too

two Black men who work at a late-night donut shop frequently visited by the protagonist, John Smith; this is one of John’s safe spaces where he can escape the real world

Carlotta Lott

old homeless woman who gives John the old and rusty knife and calls it a time machine

Bird Lawrence

Reggie’s dad; believes that Reggie’s Indian half is the root of all of his issues and failures in life; quizzes him on historical events and would beat Reggie up if he answered incorrectly

Beautiful Mary

an Indian woman that Jack Wilson was enchanted by/ he thought it was true love between the two of them; she was raped, murdered, and left behind a large trash bin; her case was dismissed by police officers, which is how Wilson got into working on homicide investigations

Boo

helps Marie make sandwiches in the van for homeless individuals; homeless, white man in a wheelchair; asked Marie if she was the Indian Killer due to her short temper in their conversations

Aristotle Little Hawk

a fictional character within Jack Wilson’s series of mystery novels; to white readers, Aristotle represents the ideal, noble, and wise traditional Indian, but Native characters in the book find him cheesy and view the books as cultural appropriation; he is potentially the source of John’s image of a “real Indian”

Mick

owner of Big Heart’s, a bar that is recognized as an Indian bar; a white man who calls Jack Wilson a “fellow white man”

Father Phil

a white priest at a local Catholic church in Seattle; served as the confessor for John, while he was having an internal crisis and said that he “just killed two white men” even though he was completely unrelated to their deaths

Officer Randy Peone

responds to an elderly Native American man, Lester, who was beaten and left shoeless by white youths; attempts to have a conversation with John Smith, but recognizes his internal issues; thinks that John has schizophrenia

Terrible Ted

homicide cop who Jack Wilson has a fight with at a cop bar

Spud & Lyle

teenage cousins who kidnapped, robbed, and shot David Rogers in the head; were later murdered because they didn’t keep their promises about winning money

Dr. Faulkner

chair of anthropology department at U of W; talks with Dr. Mather in the parking lot about Marie; part of the panel to see if Marie should or should not be removed from Dr. Mather’s Indian literature class