Antônio Vicente Mendes Maciel, known as the Counselor, is a mysterious and charismatic figure whose enigmatic presence inspires a large following and instigates the novel's plot, with his motivations largely left open to interpretation.

An influential landowner embodying the old aristocratic class in Bahia, the baron is characterized by his political cunning and nostalgia for a bygone era, contrasting with both revolutionary and authoritarian ideologies.

A fictional character inspired by Euclides da Cunha, he starts as an amoral journalist writing propaganda but evolves into a reflective figure questioning the true meaning of the events he witnesses in Canudos.