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Professor Von Hardwigg (Professor Hardwigg)

A German professor of philosophy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and many other sciences, approximately fifty years old—tall, thin, wiry, and possessed of extraordinary energy. He is choleric, impatient, and single-minded to the point of obsession, yet deeply learned and capable of great warmth toward his nephew. His discovery of the Saknussemm parchment sets the entire journey in motion, and no argument of reason or personal danger can dissuade him from the quest.

Harry (Henry) Lawson

The narrator and nephew of Professor Hardwigg, a young man of English descent raised in Hamburg under his uncle's roof. He shares a love of mineralogy and geology with his uncle but is far more cautious, fearful, and rational about the dangers of the proposed journey. He is affianced to Gretchen and is the one who accidentally discovers the key to decoding the Saknussemm cryptograph by reading it backwards.

Gretchen

Professor Hardwigg's god-daughter and Harry's fiancée, described as the best part of the professor's household. Far from discouraging the expedition, she greets news of it with enthusiasm and declares it magnificent and worthy of the professor. She remains behind in Hamburg when the journey begins, keeping the house keys.

Arne Saknussemm

A celebrated Icelandic alchemist and scholar of the sixteenth century who actually descended to the centre of the Earth and left a cryptic Runic parchment as his record. His inscription, hidden inside an ancient Icelandic book, directs future travelers to descend into the crater of Sneffels when the shadow of Mount Scartaris falls upon it before the kalends of July. He is the spiritual forerunner and inspiration for the entire expedition.

Captain Bjarne

The pragmatic Danish captain of the schooner Valkyrie, sailing between Copenhagen and Reykjavik. He is businesslike and experienced, taking advantage of Professor Hardwigg's enthusiasm to double the passenger fare. He navigates the difficult northern seas competently and delivers the party safely to Iceland.

M. Fridriksson

Professor of natural science at the college of Reykjavik and the most useful local contact the expedition finds in Iceland. He speaks only Icelandic and Latin, which allows Harry to communicate with him fluently. He is described as a modest scholar of invaluable ability who helps orient the travelers on arrival.

Baron Trampe

The Governor of Iceland, a civil servant wearing a military-style uniform who meets the expedition on their arrival at Reykjavik. He receives Professor Hardwigg's letters of introduction from Copenhagen and places himself entirely at the professor's disposal, smoothing the party's passage into Icelandic society.

Hamburg — Konigstrasse

The home city of Professor Hardwigg and Harry, specifically the Konigstrasse (King's Street), where the professor owns a handsome old house partially spared by the great fire of 1842. The house contains his study and museum crammed with geological specimens, minerals, and rare books. It is the narrative's starting point and intellectual heart before the journey begins.

Mount Sneffels (Snæfellsjökull)

An extinct volcano on the western peninsula of Iceland, approximately five thousand feet in height, described as one of the most remarkable mountains on the island. Its crater, indicated by the shadow of the neighboring peak Scartaris at the end of June, serves as the designated entrance to the interior of the Earth according to Saknussemm's inscription. The mountain is visible from the bay of Faxa at Reykjavik as a double-peaked cone covered with eternal snow and glacier.

Mount Scartaris

A neighbouring peak to Sneffels whose shadow, cast before the kalends of July, falls precisely on the one crater of Sneffels that constitutes the correct entrance to the Earth's interior. It functions as a natural sundial, providing the directional clue left by Saknussemm to distinguish the right shaft from the many other craters on the mountain.

Reykjavik

The capital city of Iceland, situated on a flat marshy plain between two hills with a vast lava field on one side and the large bay of Faxa on the other. The town has two streets, wooden log-hut homes painted red, a bishop's residence, a college of natural science, a public library, and a small population. It serves as the expedition's Icelandic base of operations before the ascent of Sneffels.

The Centre of the Earth — Interior World

The ultimate destination of the expedition, as promised by Saknussemm's inscription. The chapter titles hint at a vast subterranean realm containing tunnels, a coal mine, a whispering gallery, a great Central Sea navigable by raft, prehistoric saurian creatures engaged in combat, sea monsters, and a volcanic shaft that eventually returns travelers to the surface. The interior represents an entire hidden world beneath the Earth's crust.

The Saknussemm Parchment

A small scrap of parchment approximately five inches by three, covered in Runic script and hidden inside an ancient Icelandic copy of the Heims-Kringla. Written in backwards Latin by the alchemist Arne Saknussemm, it instructs the reader to descend into the crater of the Yocul of Sneffels when the shadow of Scartaris falls upon it before the kalends of July, promising that this path leads to the centre of the Earth. Harry accidentally deciphers it by holding it up to the light and reading it in reverse.

Heims-Kringla of Snorre Tarleson

An ancient Icelandic manuscript volume written in the original Runic tongue, attributed to the twelfth-century Icelandic author Snorre Tarleson, containing true accounts of the Norwegian princes who reigned in Iceland. Professor Hardwigg acquires it as a rare bibliographic find, only to discover the Saknussemm parchment hidden within its pages. It serves as both the physical container of the journey's catalyst and as proof of the parchment's authenticity.

The Valkyrie (Schooner)

A small Danish schooner captained by M. Bjarne that sails between Copenhagen and Reykjavik, carrying cargo such as coal, furniture, pottery, woolen clothing, and corn. It serves as the expedition's transport from Denmark to Iceland, enduring rough seas through the Kattegat, around the Faroe Islands, and along the Icelandic coast before anchoring in the bay of Faxa at Reykjavik.

Expedition Equipment

Before departure from Hamburg, Professor Hardwigg assembles a substantial array of gear including ropes, rope ladders, torches, gourds, iron clamps, crowbars, alpenstocks, and pickaxes—enough to load ten men. This equipment reflects the physical demands anticipated in climbing, descending volcanic shafts, and navigating subterranean passages, and signals the paramilitary scale of the scientific expedition.

The Saknussemm Inscription (Translated)

The decoded message reads: 'Descend into the crater of Yocul of Sneffels, which the shade of Scartaris caresses, before the kalends of July, audacious traveler, and you will reach the centre of the earth. I did it. Arne Saknussemm.' Written in backwards Latin disguised within a Runic-letter cipher, it was composed in the sixteenth century. The kalends of July reference and the shadow of Scartaris together pinpoint a precise annual window for the correct entry point.

Yocul — Icelandic Glacial Volcanoes

The word 'Yocul' (Jökull) is Icelandic for glacier, and on Iceland all major volcanoes bear this name because their eruptions emerge from ice-bound caverns. There are approximately three hundred volcanoes on the globe's surface, the majority extinct; Sneffels is among them, having last erupted in 1219. This geological classification is central to the expedition's premise—only an extinct volcano provides a passable crater entrance.

The Theory of Earth's Interior Heat

The dominant scientific theory of the era holds that heat increases by one degree for every seventy feet of descent into the Earth, implying that the deep interior is in a state of total incandescence—gold, platinum, and even the hardest rocks existing in a state of fusion. Professor Hardwigg disputes this, arguing that if such heat existed the Earth's crust would have shattered long ago, and that no one truly knows the interior's real state. This debate frames the scientific controversy that makes the journey both daring and contested.

Runic Script and Icelandic Language

The Runic alphabet used in the Saknussemm parchment is the writing system of the original population of Iceland, associated in legend with Odin. The Icelandic language is praised by Professor Hardwigg as one of the most magnificent and yet simple idioms in the world, with highly varied grammatical combinations. The existence of the double-M letter, only added to Icelandic in the twelfth century, allows the professor to date the parchment as written two hundred years after the Heims-Kringla volume it was found in.

Key Dates of the Expedition

The narrative begins when Professor Hardwigg acquires the Heims-Kringla and finds the parchment. Departure from Hamburg occurs at five o'clock in the morning shortly after the discovery is decoded. The party sails from Copenhagen on the second of June aboard the Valkyrie, arriving in Reykjavik approximately eleven days later. The critical astronomical window for descending into the correct crater of Sneffels is before the kalends of July (i.e., before July 1st), when the shadow of Scartaris indicates the entrance.