Meet the Cast
David Bowman
David Bowman, NobodyCharacterization doesn't matter much in 2001. You can see this in part in the way the novel skips lightly from main protagonist to main protagonist: Moon-Watcher's the hero of t...
Hal
The Imperfect ComputerHal, the Discovery's computer, is easily the most entertaining character in the book. Supposedly he's an unfeeling hunk of metal, but in reality, he's the only one in the nove...
Moon-Watcher
In the novel, you first see the man-ape Moon-Watcher disposing of the body of his dad, and feeling very little about it. After Moon-Watcher dumps his dad for the jackals:He never thought of his fat...
Aliens
The aliens aren't exactly characters—but then, other than Hal, there aren't very many convincing characters in the book anyway. David Bowman, Moon-Watcher, and Heywood Floyd all stand in for "hum...
Heywood Floyd
Floyd has more of a role in later novels in the series, but in this one he's even less of a character than Moon-Watcher and David Bowman. There's a passing reference to his deceased wife, some ment...
Minor Characters
Frank PooleThe other non-hibernating astronaut on Discovery. He is indistinguishable from Bowman in most respects, except that he's the one who gets killed.Whitehead, Kaminski, & HunterThe thre...