Character Analysis
Robert Ludlum specialized in spy novels where one character goes up against thousands of bad guys plus your maiden aunt and possibly a puppy or two. The Bourne Identity is typical in that there are just bushels of characters. They pop out of the page like semi-anonymous, barely differentiated groundhogs. Then Bourne shoots them, and they give little groundhog squeals and zoop back down into their holes as another groundhog pops up.
Most of these folks don't even have names; many of them don't have speaking parts. They're just canon fodder or background noise. Below, we at Shmoop have tried to list most of those who can be considered even vaguely important, but there are lots, lots more.
South of France
Marquis de Chamford
A rich nobleman who cheats on his wife with prostitutes. Bourne learns about his infidelity and uses the knowledge to rob him, which finances his trip to Zurich.
Claude Lamouche
The mean-spirited skipper on the sailing vessel that Bourne (who doesn't yet know his name) signs onto at the beginning of the novel to test his reaction to stress.
Ambassador Howard Leland
An American ambassador to France.He was assassinated by Carlos in Marseilles. Cain took credit, much to Carlos's annoyance. (Bourne at first thinks he himself killed Leland.)
Geoffrey Washburn
An old drunk doctor with a heart of gold who patches Bourne up when he's pulled out of the Mediterranean. He gives Bourne a passport and papers to alter as well as some sage advice, plus the occasional use of his name. (See also our "General Villiers" character analysis.)
Zurich
Walther Apfel
A managerial-level official at the Zurich bank.
Chernak
An underworld figure who worked as a go-between for payments for Cain. He tries to kill Bourne when they meet in hopes of payment from Carlos. We later learn that he was an interrogator at the concentration camp at Dachau during World War II.
The fat man
A restaurant owner who was involved in making payments to Bourne while Bourne was pretending to be Cain (before he had amnesia). He puts the amnesiac Bourne in touch with Chernak.
Johann
One of Carlos's hired killers. He sees Bourne's face in Zurich and is then sent to Paris to identify him. In Paris, Bourne kills him.
Herr Koenig
A secretary at the Zurich bank who turns out to be in cahoots with Carlos.
The owl
One of Carlos's minions who wears gold-rimmed spectacles. Bourne (you guessed it) kills him.
Herr Stossel
The desk clerk at the hotel where Bourne stays in Zurich. He knows Bourne because Bourne has stayed at the hotel before, and he inadvertently helps him figure out that his last name is "Bourne."
Paris
Antoine d'Amacourt
A banker Bourne deals with. He is thoroughly, unabashedly corrupt. It is rather appealing.
The beggar
One of Carlos's minions; he's sneaky and smart.
Dennis Corbelier
A Canadian at the Paris embassy. Also killed by Carlos.
Angélique Villiers
General Villiers's wife, and also Carlos's cousin and lover. She married Villiers at Carlos's command. Villiers finds out because of Bourne and eventually kills her.
Les Classiques
René Bergeron
A rising, impressive young designer. He is probably Carlos in disguise (see our "Carlos" character analysis).
Monique Brielle
Lavier's second in command. She is not part of Carlos's network.
Philippe d'Anjou
The switchboard operator at Les Classiques. He's Carlos's minion. He also knew Bourne back during Operation Medusa when Bourne was known as Delta.
Janine Dolbert
An employee at Les Classiques. She's selling Bergeron's designs to another fashion house. She doesn't know anything about Carlos.
Jacqueline Lavier
The head of the fashion house Les Classiques and one of Carlos's minions. The story makes much about how she's old and is trying to look young, only to end up looking hideous. And then she gets brutally murdered by Carlos. She had a bad novel.
Claude Oreale
Another employee who doesn't know anything about Carlos.
Pierre Trignon
The bookkeeper at Les Classiques. Not a Carlos minion.
United States
The European
An agent of Carlos. He leads the attack on Treadstone.
Alfred Gillette
An academic from the National Security Council. Like most of those point-headed academics, you can't trust him: he ferrets out Treadstone and then betrays it to Carlos. (Also like most of those pointy-headed academics, he's stupid. Carlos betrays him, and he gets killed for his troubles.)
Morris Panov
A psychiatrist. Conklin consults him about Bourne and the possibility that Bourne's gone insane. Panov also cares for Bourne (David Webb) at the end of the novel. He's supposed to be jaunty and sincere and likable.
Elliot Stevens
Senior aide to the President. He's gathering information about Treadstone for a report to the President. He gets killed before he can report back, though.
Congressman Walters
A congressman providing intelligence oversight. He's supposed to be gruff and no-nonsense and likable.
Treadstone
David Abbott
The Silent Monk of covert operations, he's the person in charge of Treadstone. We hear a lot of talk about how smart and competent he is, but all we see him actually do is make stupid errors and get himself and everyone involved with Treadstone killed.
Alexander Conklin
An intelligence agent involved with Treadstone, formerly a deep cover agent with Medusa and a long-time associate of Bourne (when he was Webb). He walks with a cane. He's irascible and thinks Bourne (a.k.a. Webb) has turned and killed everyone. Not the brightest pencil in the sea, but his heart's in the right place, supposedly.
General I. A. Crawford
An army intelligence muckety-muck, formerly involved with controlling Medusa.
The Gray-haired woman
An old intelligence officer who lives at Treadstone. She's married to the yachtsman and is killed in the assault on Treadstone.
Major Gordon Webb
Bourne's brother.Back when he was Delta, Bourne rescued Webb from the Viet Cong. Later, Webb became involved in Treadstone. He is killed in the assault on Treadstone, leading Alexander Conklin and others to believe that Bourne killed his own brother.
The Yachtsman
An old intelligence officer who lives at Treadstone, married to the gray-haired woman. He's killed in the assault on Treadstone.
Miscellaneous
Peter
Marie St. Jacques's ex-boyfriend and a section head at the Canadian Treasury. He is killed by Carlos's people.
Sheik Mustafa Kalig
An Arab oil sheik who was assassinated. It was probably an internal murder by one of his staff, but Cain (a.k.a. Bourne) took credit for it, which really annoys Carlos.