Karen Jenson
Karen is Olaf's wife and only appears in the story through Olaf's memories, as narrated by the storyteller. Olaf avoids discussing the events at the disreputable hotel with her, suggesting she is a respectable woman.

Olaf Jenson
Olaf works as the night porter at the hotel where Jim arrives seeking a room. The story kicks off the night before Olaf's sixtieth birthday. He leads a simple life, with a wife, a house, and a love for gardening. While sitting at his desk in the hotel's office, he muses that it would have been pleasant if he and his wife had children and if he had saved more money. Despite these thoughts, he remains generally satisfied with his life.

From the moment Jim steps into the hotel, Olaf is overcome with disgust and fear. It's not just Jim's race or size that impacts Olaf, but the combination of both. Olaf's reaction to Jim highlights his inability to accurately assess people, as he persists in believing Jim is a dangerous and violent man, despite Jim's behavior proving otherwise.

Jim
Jim is an African American sailor on a passenger ship who arrives at a budget hotel on the Copenhagen waterfront on the night the story begins. His attire and a large roll of cash suggest he is well-off, but his most striking feature is his size. Standing around six and a half feet tall, he is enormous in every aspect. The story describes his "gorillalike arms" and "mammoth hands." Additionally, Jim's skin is not merely brown but so black it has a bluish tint.

Upon arriving, Jim entrusts Olaf, the night porter, with twenty-six hundred dollars in cash. He also declines to let the older, much smaller porter carry his suitcase to his room. When he returns a year later, Jim gifts Olaf six custom-made white shirts—one for each night Olaf arranged for the prostitute Lena to visit him the previous year. Despite his generous actions, Jim's spoken words are somewhat elusive, revealing little about his emotions and intentions.

Lena
Lena is a prostitute who frequently visits the sailors staying at the hotel. Olaf calls Lena when Jim requests a woman on the night of his arrival. Lena is a large, strong blonde, and Olaf believes that if any woman can handle Jim, it's Lena. He also values her for giving him a larger portion of her earnings compared to the other women.

Lena, who has four young children to care for, eagerly visits Jim during his stay. She goes to see him every night for all six nights he is there. When Jim returns a year later, he stays at her house. The narrator indicates that Lena never returned to the hotel after Jim's stay ended, suggesting that Jim started providing for her.