Cedric- * Cedric is a Saxon landowner and thus, has a lot of power. * He has strong pro-Saxon views and is seen as a die-hard patriot who despises the Normans. * His sentiments go up to the extent that he disowns his own son, Ivanhoe for supporting the Norman king, King Richard. * He has a huge chip on his shoulder because he thinks he should have greater power and that this right of his is being curtailed by the Normans. * Cedric views the Normans as bullies who look down upon the Saxons and unnecessarily over tax them. * Cedric's strong pro-Saxon patriotism leads him to make prejudiced assumptions about every Norman right until the end of the novel where we see Cedric having a slight change of heart. This happens when Cedric sees how King Richard stands up against the unfair and unjust Normans despite being a Norman himself. * Also, he eventually reconciles with his son up to a great extent.

Wilfred Of Ivanhoe- * Wilfred (Ivanhoe) is the protagonist of our story and thus plays a central role in the entire plot. * Being Cedric’s son, he is essentially a knight from a Saxon family. * However, he is seen as a strong supporter of the Norman king, King Richard and it is owing to this that Cedric initially disowns him. * Ivanhoe is a skilled warrior and a ladies man at the same time. He is shown to be madly in love with Rowena (whom he eventually marries). * While on one hand, Ivanhoe seems to be the ideal heroic figure, he also has a dark side to him. He is highly prejudiced against Jews as is seen in his encounters with Rebecca. While he does help her father, Isaac with safe passage across the forest and later even Rebecca herself, it is pretty evident that he doesn’t particularly appreciate their Jewish heritage. * Also, he does not even take Rebecca into consideration as his lover once he comes to know that she is, in fact, Jewish. * Ivanhoe’s prejudices may make him more rounded and three dimensional as a character but they also make us think less of him as a person.
Rowena-
* King Alfred’s descendant is introduced as the Ward Of Cedric and Ivanhoe’s lover. * However, Cedric wishes to marry her off to Athelstane in order to continue the Saxon lineage. * Rowena does not come off as much of a strong character and remains more of a mystery throughout. She has been described as a mild, timid and gentle woman of immense beauty. * She is also rather proud and snobbish owing to her sheltered upbringing. * Rowena has been greatly objectified and none of her relationships seem to have been based on her as a person. * She unfortunately tends to come off as a pawn for the men in the novel with her wealth and nobel blood. De Bracy decides to marry her merely based on the fact that she’s belongs to a family of higher descent and shall bring him wealth and popularity. * Ivanhoe, despite being her lover, treats her merely as an object when he first returns from the Crusades in disguise and fails to reveal himself to her even when she asks after him. * Rowena’s proud and stern façade seems to give way to her vulnerabilities when De Bracy threatens her and tries to force the idea of their marriage on her.
Athelstane-
* Athelstane is of royal Saxon descent and is shown as a rich landowner. * He is one of Cedric’s closest friends. * However, Athelstane’s impression is not quite an impressive one. He is mostly seen as an inactive, lazy and greedy man, his characteristic trait being his love for food and drink. * Cedric believes that at heart Athelstane has the makings of a great Saxon lord but to the reader he doesn’t seem the kind of guy one would choose to lead a revolution against the Normans. * Despite what Cedric believes and wishes for him, Athelstane finds Rowena alright but isn’t as interested as one would make out an actual lover to be. * There is also an interesting twist in Athelstane’s story when he seems to revive from the arms of death at his very own funeral. This adds somewhat of a comical element to his character and even the story in general.
Isaac Of York- * Isaac of York is essentially a Jewish moneylender. * He receives a lot of hatred and envy from almost all sections of the society owing to two reasons- 1. He has a fortune of gold and has a lot of what all people want, i.e. money. 2. He is Jewish. * Isaac’s confrontations with the Christians and their ill-treatment make him a highly suspicious person who is somewhat less fair as a businessman. * However, he is a very determined and hard-working man loans money to everyone equally. * Clients approach him with sweet talk but when the time of repayment arrives, they just shun him as a cheat and usurer. * Isaac’s success lies in the fact that he keeps working, no matter how much his clients abuse him. He is hugely stubborn and never gives up despite having to face immense dangers in some instances. * He is willing to take risks and though he often appears as timid, underneath his fearful mask is a tough heart and spine of iron.
Rebecca-
* Rebecca is Isaac’s daughter who leaves a great impact on the reader as a character. * She is potrayed in comparison to the perfect English beauties and is also said to be endowed with great knowledge, especially medical knowledge. * Also, she is generous and good to the poor. * She is loyal to the faith of her father and is rather proud of her Jewish lineage. In fact, Rebecca is also incredibly strong in the face of prejudice. * Overall, she is a smart, educated, generous, beautiful, faithful and tough woman. * Despite her immense love for Ivanhoe, she doesn’t shy away from taking a firm stand against his views on the Jews.
King Richard- * The character of King Richard is based on the actual King Richard who ruled England from 1189-1199 and led the Third Crusade of Christian Knights to the Middle East to fight against Muslims holding Palestine. * The character in the novel is two faceted, the first being that of the king who draws Ivanhoe to fight by his side in the Crusades. He is held captive in Germany for most part of the novel in that facet. * It is basically the absence of King Richard that even makes Ivanhoe possible in the first place. * The other side to King Richard is in his disguise of The Black Knight. The Black Knight likes jests, drinking and songs. He likes being around Wamba and Friar Tuck for their sense of humour. * As the Black Knight, King Richard is invincible and displays the qualities of a skilled warrior who stands undefeated against, Athelstane, Front-de-Beouf and Bois Guilbert.
Prince John- * Like King Richard, Prince John’s character is also based on the actual Prince John. * He is King Richard’s brother and as a character presents the traits of weakness, cowardliness and greed. * His character isn’t that prominent in the novel, except to give a sense of political instability. It is his threat that forces Ivanhoe to travel early on to York., even though he’s wounded. * When the people of the country hear that King Richard seems to have returned, they conveniently leave Prince John to his own means.
Robert Locksley- * Robert Locksley is perhaps one of the most interesting characters of the novel when it comes to mysterious identities and disguises. * He is seen as a fun loving bandit who later reveals himself as none other than the legendary outlaw and do-gooder Robin Hood. * Locksley first appears on the scene as an anonymous yeoman during the tournament who seems to have an impressive talent for archery. * He also has a big chip on his shoulder against the Normans and Prince John. * He is also a great leader of the outlaws and helps rescue Cedric. * Eventually, he pledges loyalty to King Richard. * It is while dealing with Robin Hood(Locksley) as a character that Scott actually switches from fantasy into reality.
Bois Guilbert- * Bois Guilbert is the leading villain in Ivanhoe. He has immense hatred towards Ivanhoe and thirsts after power. * He is quite a complex character. On one hand he is proud, arrogant and violent while on the other he displays immense love for Rebecca. So much so that he is ready to sacrifice everything he has and start from scratch if only she agrees to run away with him. * However, eventually we find his love for Rebecca to be quite superficial since he continues to criticize her people, the Jews. Also, he kidnaps her and tries to force her to accept him as her lover despite being aware of her love for Ivanhoe. * Her rejection angers him to the extent that in order to protect his own pride and honour, he refuses to fight for her during her trial. In fact he ends up fighting for the other side in favour of Rebecca being burnt alive.
Front-De-Bouf-
* Front-De-Bouf comes off as a particularly vicious, fierce and malignant character. * He is short tempered, blood thirsty and uses his battle scars and bulky physique to intimidate people. * Bouf’s cruelty comes into light when we see him torture Isaac into giving up his fortune to him. * Scott seems to have believed in some form of karma since the way in which Bouf reaches the end of his life is quite ironic. We see him being burnt alive within his own castle, Torquilstone.

*