Hans Castorp

An "ordinary" young man from Hamburg who has been raised by relatives after both of his parents died when he was young. Hans has a modest regular income, a talent for mathematics, and a solid but unexciting career as a shipbuilder ahead of him when he visits his cousin Joachim at a Swiss tuberculosis sanatorium for a three-week stay. He tends to chatter and has a talent for drawing that he has never developed, although it was his detailed drawing of a ship that got him interested in shipbuilding. Hans is ready to settle into a respectable middle-class life when he visits his cousin Joachim at the Berghof sanatorium. He can work hard when he has to, but really prefers the good life - his Maria Mancini cigars, brown Kulmbach beer every morning, and long Sunday brunches. The strongest memories of Hans' young life are of his...