Meet the Cast
Wade Owen Watts a.k.a. Parzival
World of Wade's CraftMeet our narrator, Wade Owen Watts: initials W.O.W. Wow, that's a great name for a superhero, isn't it? He's the hero of our story, and like most superheroes, he had a tragic u...
James Halliday
Oompa Loompa Doompadee Doo, He's Got Another Puzzle For You USA Today described Ready Player One as "Willy Wonka meets The Matrix" (source). This is a good comparison, making James Halliday, t...
Art3mis a.k.a. Samantha Evelyn Cook
Swoon & BoardWade, and we readers, know quite a bit about Art3mis before we even meet her. You see, Wade's just a smidge cyber-obsessed with her, and pores over her blog on '80s pop culture, "A...
Aech a.k.a. Helen Harris
Super FriendsAech is Parzival's best friend inside the OASIS, and Wade's best friend even though the two have never met in real life. Common interests—movies, music, and video games—and a commo...
Nolan Sorrento
He's Not Bad, He's Just Programmed That Way… No, Wait. Never Mind. He's Bad. Nolan Sorrento is the bad guy. There are no shades of grey here. He's all bad. Cline says he named Nolan after Nolan B...
Ogden Morrow
Comparing Apples to ApplesOgden Morrow and James Halliday are described as the Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs of MMO gaming, in that they're a "partnership destined to alter the course of human histo...
Daito and Shoto a.k.a. Akihide Karatsu and Toshiro Yoshiaki
Samurai KingsThe brothers Daito and Shoto round out the High Five—the first five gunters who find the Copper Key, including Wade, Aech, and Art3mis. Out of the five, we learn the least about Dait...
I-R0k
Good Grief!I-R0k is what you would call a griefer, also known as… a lot of words we don't feel comfortable printing here. Basically, they're the jerks of the Internet. I-R0k only appears twice in...
Aunt Alice Deppert
She Makes Privet Drive Look Like ParadiseAunt Alice is Wade's only living relative (but not for long!). Like Sorrento and the other bad guys in the story, Aunt Alice has no redeeming characteristic...
Mrs. Gilmore
Crazy Cat Ladies are People, Too Old Mrs. Gilmore is Wade's only real-life friend. She lives in the stacks, in a trailer below Wade's aunt's trailer, and is, in Wade's words, "a total sweetheart" (...
Kira Morrow
The Siren of OASIS Kira Morrow, née Underwood, died in a car crash ten years before the events of the book get rolling, but without her, the whole book wouldn't have happened. She's the reason why...