Major Characters

Simoun - Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise, left for dead at the end of Noli Me Tangere, has resurfaced as the wealthy jeweler, Simoun, now sporting a beard, blue-tinted glasses, and a revolver. Fueled by his mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards and his fury at Maria Clara's fate, he has since shed his pacifist image and become the titular "filibustero", pretending to side with the upper class and encouraging them to enslave the masses, while in reality siding with the masses and urging them to revolt against the oppressive Spanish regime. This time, he does not attempt to fight the authorities with knowledge, but by force. He concocts a plot to set off a bomb disguised as a beautiful lamp at a wedding where important members of civil society and the church hierarchy are in attendance. Unfortunately for him, his plan fails and he commits suicide by consuming poison.

Basilio - after the tragic deaths of his mother and younger brother, Basilio heeds the advice of the dying boatman, Elias, and travels to Manila to study. At first he is frowned upon by his peers and teachers not only because of the color of his skin but also because of his shabby appearance, but redeems himself in their eyes by participating in a fencing contest--and winning. He soon becomes an exceptional medical student, but his plans to graduate and become a full-time doctor are postponed by an encounter with Simoun, who, upon bringing up the deaths of his relatives, convinces him to aid him in his plots. At first, the young man is reluctant, but the death of his sweetheart Juliana drives him to fight wholeheartedly by Simoun's side. He helps Simoun smuggle in a bomb into a wedding reception, but relents later on and warns his best friend Isagani of the impending danger.

Isagani - Basilio's best friend. While Basilio is an aspiring doctor, Isagani, on the other hand, is a budding poet, and he, along with Basilio, plans to establish a school wherein indios such as themselves may learn Spanish. Unlike Basilio, he does not get along well with Simoun, and is much more emotional and reactive than his friend. Isagani experiences a rocky relationship with his rich girlfriend, Paulita Gomez, who eventually dumps him and marries Isagani's fellow student, Juanito Pelaez. Heartbroken, Isagani refuses at first to listen to Basilio when the latter warns him to get away from the would-be epicenter of the explosion. Eventually realizing that Paulita would die in the explosion, he foils Simoun's plan by racing into the reception in time to prevent the explosion from happening. He later regrets his impulsive action because he had contradicted his own belief that he loved his nation more than Paulita and that the explosion and revolution could have fulfilled his ideals for Filipino society.

Kabesang Tales - Once a farmer owning a prosperous sugarcane plantation and a Cabeza de Barangay (head of the barangay), he was forced to give everything to a bunch of unscrupulous Spanish friars. From then on, everything went downhill for Tales: his son, Tano, who became a civil guard was captured by bandits; his daughter Juliana had to work as a maid to get enough ransom money for his freedom; and his father, Tandang Selo, suffered a stroke and became mute. His personality becomes darker after all this suffering and he resorts to killing people. His father, Tandang Selo, dies eventually after his own son Tano, who became a guardia civil, accidentally shoots his grandfather in an encounter.

Don Custodio - A famous "journalist" who was asked by the students about his decision for the Academia de Castellano. In reality, he is quite an ordinary fellow who married a rich woman in order to be a member of Manila's elite society. A good debater, he hates when others also believe in what he believes in and praises the indios in public, yet denigrates them in private. He has a mistress, a dancer named Pepay.

Paulita Gomez - The girlfriend of Isagani and the niece of Donya Victorina, the old Filipina, who, in Noli Me Tangere, is the wife of the quack doctor Tiburcio. In the end, she and Juanito Pelaez are wed, and she dumps Isagani, believing that she will have no future if she marries him.

Padre Florentino - Isagani's godfather, and a secular priest. He is the priest whom Simoun confides to at the end of the story. When Simoun dies, he throws the latter's treasure into the ocean. He was engaged to be married, but chose the priesthood instead. The story hints at the ambivalence of his decision when he chooses an assignment to a remote place, living in solitude near the sea. Speaking through the character of Florentino, Rizal reaffirms his condemnation of a bloody revolution and his commitment to peaceful reforms.