CENTRAL CHARACTERS
IN THE WORKS OF
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

(From a Post at ERBList, 21 DEC 2000)

Tangor's question has gotten me to thinking about the issue of central characters and so I sat down and went through the entire set. Here are some conclusions:

1. Twelve of the 80 books (15%) have two central characters; of these, in 2 cases both are male, in one both are female, and in nine the central characters are one of each.

2. Three books have THREE central characters: LTF (Bowen J. Tyler, Tom Billings, and John Bradley) and MMa (Julian 5th, Julian 9th, and Julian 20th). In both cases all three are male.

3. Of the 65 books with a single central character, that character is male in 59, female in 5, and in one book, the central character is not human — it's a Republic Truck.

Here's the breakdown:

Two central characters —

• THUVIA, MAID OF MARS — Carthoris & Thuvia
• THE CAVE GIRL — Nadara & Thandar (Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones)
• THE ETERNAL LOVER — Nu & Victoria Custer
• THE TARZAN TWINS — Dick & Doc
• THE MONSTER MEN — Townsend J. Harper & Virginia Maxon
• TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE — Tarzan & Jason Gridley
• TARZAN'S QUEST — Tarzan & Jane
• THE OAKDALE AFFAIR — Bridge & Abigail Prim
• "TARZAN JR." — "The Little Princess" & Tarzan Jr.
• THE MAN-EATER — Dick Gordon & Virginia Scott (one might argue that Ben is also pretty central in this one)
• SAVAGE PELLUCIDAR — Hodon & O-aa
• YOU LUCKY GIRL! — Anne Mason & Corrie West

One central character —

• TARZAN OF THE APES — Tarzan
• THE RETURN OF TARZAN — Tarzan
• THE BEASTS OF TARZAN — Tarzan
• THE SON OF TARZAN — Korak
• AN AUTO-BIOGRAPHY — the Republic Truck
• A PRINCESS OF MARS — John Carter
• TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR — Tarzan
• THE GODS OF MARS — John Carter
• JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN — Tarzan
• THE WARLORD OF MARS — John Carter
• TARZAN THE UNTAMED — Tarzan
• TARZAN THE TERRIBLE — Tarzan
• THE MUCKER — Billy Byrne
• AT THE EARTH'S CORE — David Innes
• THE CHESSMEN OF MARS — Tara of Helium
• TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION — Tarzan
• THE GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD — Shannon Burke
• PELLUCIDAR — David Innes
• TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN — Tarzan
• THE BANDIT OF HELL'S BEND — Bull
• THE MAD KING — Barney Custer
• THE OUTLAW OF TORN — Norman of Torn
• THE WAR CHIEF — Shoz-Dijiji
• THE MASTER MIND OF MARS — Ulysses Paxton
• TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE — James Blake
• TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE — Erich von Harben
• TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR — Tanar
• A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS — Tan Hadron
• TARZAN THE INVINCIBLE — Wayne Colt
• JUNGLE GIRL — Gordon King
• TARZAN TRIUMPHANT — Lady Barbara Collis
• APACHE DEVIL — Shoz-Dijiji
• TARZAN AND THE CITY OF GOLD — Nemone
• PIRATES OF VENUS — Carson Napier
• TARZAN AND THE LION MAN — Tarzan
• LOST ON VENUS — Carson Napier
• TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD MEN — Tarzan
• SWORDS OF MARS — John Carter
• TARZAN AND THE TARZAN TWINS WITH JAD-BAL-JA THE GOLDEN LION — Tarzan
• THE RIDER — Prince Boris
• BACK TO THE STONE AGE — von Horst
• THE LAD AND THE LION — Prince Michael
• TARZAN AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY — Tarzan
• CARSON OF VENUS — Carson Napier
• TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT — Tarzan
• SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS — Vor Daj
• THE DEPUTY SHERIFF OF COMANCHE COUNTY — Buck Mason
• LAND OF TERROR — David Innes
• ESCAPE ON VENUS — Carson Napier
• TARZAN AND "THE FOREIGN LEGION" — Tarzan
• LLANA OF GATHOL — John Carter
• BEYOND THIRTY — Jefferson Turck
• THE GIRL FROM FARRIS'S — Ogden Secor
• BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR — Tangor
• THE RESURRECTION OF JIMBER-JAW — Jimber-Jaw
• THE WIZARD OF VENUS — Carson Napier
• TARZAN AND THE MADMAN — Colin T. Randolph
• JOHN CARTER OF MARS — John Carter
• TARZAN AND THE CASTAWAYS — Tarzan
• THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT — Jimmy Torrance
• I AM A BARBARIAN — Britannicus
• PIRATE BLOOD — Johnny Lafitte
• THE SCIENTISTS REVOLT — Mackie Donovan
• TARZAN: THE LOST ADVENTURE — Tarzan
• MINIDOKA 937th EARL OF ONE MILE SERIES M — Minidoka
• MARCIA OF THE DOORSTEP — Marcia Sackett

A couple of additional thoughts that occurred to me as I was going through these:

Of ERB's main characters, only Shoz-Dijiji and Carson Napier maintained their central position throughout their entire series. All of the others got "Barney Googled" — just as Barney Google was supplanted by Snuffy Smith in the comic strip.

David Innes was the central character in only 3 of the 7 Pellucidar stories.

John Carter was the central character in 6 of the 11 Mars books.

Tarzan was the central character in 17 of the 27 Tarzan books, and one of two central characters in two more. And all of those in which he was not central, except for SON, were in the middle third of the series(TWINS through MADMAN).

Probably far more than anyone wanted to know. But that's what 32 years as a statistician does to you.

 

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