The Martian Chronicles

Martian woman who receives telepathic dreams of an approaching Earth man; sings Earth songs involuntarily; longs for contact her husband suppresses.

Cold, controlling Martian husband who dismisses Ylla's dreams and will later prevent her from meeting the astronaut.

Martian psychologist who diagnoses the Second Expedition captain as a 'psychotic genius,' shoots the crew, then shoots himself when they fail to dissolve.

Leader of the Second Expedition who attempts to prove his reality to Martian authorities and is shot by Mr. Xxx.

Frantic Ohio citizen who demands passage on the Third Expedition rocket to escape an atomic war; dragged away by police.

Leader of the Third Expedition who deduces the Martian trap too late; trapped in a simulacrum of his 1926 hometown, killed in his 'childhood bedroom.'

Crew member who proposes the time-travel hypothesis and is lured to his death by simulated grandparents.

Crew member who originally suggested the hypnosis/crowd-hysteria theory to explain the simulacrum town.

Crew member who discovers the Martian dead and adopts their philosophy; kills six crewmates out of grief and rage at their disrespect; shot by Captain Wilder.

Measured, philosophically sympathetic commander who understands Spender's motives but must stop him; shoots Spender cleanly and buries him with Martian honors.

Loud, disrespectful crewman who vomits on ancient Martian tile; the act triggers Spender's break; killed by Spender on his return.

Crewman with Cherokee heritage who sympathizes with Spender's Martian-defender stance when asked.

Colonist operating a sand ship who shoots a Martian girl warning him of something important; survives a Martian fleet confrontation to find Earth has been destroyed just as he prepared his hot-dog stand for incoming settlers.

A robot constructed by Hathaway to replicate his dead wife; cannot age, cannot cry, calmly explains her nature and purpose to Wilder after Hathaway's death.

Solitary tree-planter on Mars; fainted on arrival from thin air and dedicated himself to oxygenating the planet by planting thousands of Earth trees across the wilderness.

Young Mexican-American colonist driving a truck to a party; receptive listener to the old gas-station attendant's Martian philosophy.

Elderly gas-station attendant who came to Mars to retire; advocates abandoning Earth expectations and embracing Martian difference as perpetual novelty.

Racist hardware-store owner who rages impotently at the mass departure of Black residents for Mars, demanding militia intervention while his wife mourns the loss of her housekeeper.

Elder on the hardware porch who calmly informs Teece of the logistics of the Black exodus—self-built rockets, African construction in secret.

Wealthy aesthete who built a replica of Poe's House of Usher on Mars as revenge against the Society for the Prevention of Fantasy; orchestrates elaborate Poe-themed murders of censors.

Stendahl's robotic-effects technician; constructed the murderous literary automata; formerly a filmmaker whose work was seized and burned by censors.

Government inspector from the Society for the Prevention of Fantasy; lured to the House of Usher and walled alive in a catacomb enacting Poe's 'Cask of Amontillado.'

Unnamed Martian who takes the form of the LaFarges' dead son Tom and later the Spauldings' dead daughter Lavinia; trapped by the mental force of the Spaulding household, ultimately agrees to return with LaFarge before being overwhelmed.

Elderly colonist who tracks the shapeshifting Martian through town at night, pleading with it to return home as their dead son Tom rather than remain as the Spauldings' Lavinia.

Sam's wife on the sand ship; cold, observant witness to his violence and delusion; her eyes brighten only when Earth's destruction becomes visible.

Unnamed Martian who appears on Sam's sand ship warning him to return for an important meeting; shot by Sam and dissolves like melting snow.

Tall, thin man with a remote placer mine who wanders an evacuated Martian town alone for a week, enjoying freedom but growing desperate with loneliness; hears a telephone ringing.

Crew member who first notices John Hathaway's impossible age; attempts to shoot the robots but cannot bring himself to do it.

Robot built to replicate Hathaway's son; claims to be twenty-three despite the chronological impossibility that triggers Wilder's suspicion.

Planned the family's escape to Mars for twenty years; deliberately destroys their rocket to prevent return or detection; burns Earth documents and reveals the apocalypse to his sons.

The eldest Thomas boy, perceptive enough to sense the adults' concealed fear and understand what is really happening; plays along with Dad's 'game' framing to protect his brothers.

The youngest Thomas boy; enthusiastic, asks direct questions, cries when told Earth is gone, wants to see Martians.

The middle Thomas boy, eight years old; participates in the outing without grasping its full significance.

The Thomas mother; slender, perceptive, reads the situation through her husband's eyes and accepts their new fate; pregnant (hinted by Dad's 'be careful of your sister').