The Kite Runner Characters

Meet the Cast

Amir

(Click the character infographic to download.) Like most good narrator-protagonists, Amir is a fairly complex character because the reader not only has to pay attention to Amir's actions but also h...

Baba

(Click the character infographic to download.) Baba the LegendRahim Khan gives Baba his "famous nickname, Toophan agha, or 'Mr. Hurricane'" (3.2). At times Baba seems untouchable – unreachable â€...

Hassan

(Click the character infographic to download.) Hassan is a truly good and beautiful person even though he's had his fair share of hard times. In fact, Hassan has it tougher than Amir from the begin...

Assef

(Click the character infographic to download.) If Hassan represents all that is good and kind, Assef represents all that is evil and cruel. This guy is a flat-out villain. Even if we thought really...

Sohrab

We only meet Sohrab at the very end of the novel – so there's not much room for Hosseini to develop this character. Hosseini does tell us, however, just how much Sohrab resembles Hassan. When...

Ali

This guy takes some serious abuse in the novel. First off, Baba has an affair with Ali's wife and fathers Hassan. Then, Amir forces Ali and Hassan to leave Baba's house. Finally, in the random viol...

Soraya

Amir meets Soraya at the flea market – isn't that romantic? We think it kind of is. In the course of a few chapters, she and Amir get hitched. She's beautiful, kind, and has a complicated pas...

Rahim Khan

Some characters in plays and novels simply aren't rich, fully developed characters. And that's OK – they might serve another purpose. Rahim Khan, we think, serves as the novel's moral center....

General Taheri and Khanum Taheri

How can you not be amused by Soraya's parents? We find these two, especially Khanum Taheri, to be lovable and cute. Khanum Taheri dotes on both Soraya and Amir and the General strikes us as the bum...

Sanaubar

Sanaubar is the sexiest character in The Kite Runner. Baba sounds like a good-looking guy, but really, Hosseini reserves his raciest prose for Hassan's mother, Sanaubar: "I have heard that Sanaubar...

Sofia Akrami

We never see Amir's mother in the novel, but nonetheless she exerts an influence. Baba perhaps blames Amir for her sudden death (she dies giving birth to Amir). In a way, she's the wedge between Ba...