Jim Button and Luke The Engine Driver - List of Jim Button Characters

List of Jim Button Characters

• Jim Button (Jim Knopf): The titular hero, this character shares the "glory" with and is the sidekick of his best friend Luke, the engine driver. He grows up on Morrowland (Lummerland in German) under the care of Mrs. Whaat. He wants to be an engine driver too. His name is derived from his habit of tearing a hole in his trousers every time he does something wild. After mending the hole many times, Mrs. Whaat added a button so it could be opened, rather than torn up yet again. While he marries the Chinese Emperor's daughter and turns out to be the rightful King of Jamballa, he never gives up driving a locomotive.

• Luke (Lukas): The engine driver on Morrowland is Jim's closest friend. Where Jim represents adventurous youth, Luke is the man of experience and practicality who manages to solve almost every technical problem. He is very strong and is an expert spitter who can spit a loop. His trademark is his pipe, which he smokes in emotional situations.

• Princess Li Si: The daughter of the Chinese Emperor is rather headstrong, especially when it comes to discipline. She admires Jim for his courage and intelligence, even though for most of the story, he refuses to learn how to read and write, skills she has already mastered quite well.

• Emma and Molly: Luke and Jim's tank locomotives. Emma is quite sensitive, expressing her feelings about Luke's mood by whistling and huffing, despite the fact she often does not quite understand the reason for her owner's mood. Molly is smaller and younger.

• Mrs. Whaat (Frau Waas): The proprietor of a grocery store on Morrowland, and Jim's surrogate mother. She loves Jim dearly and worries about him constantly when he is on an adventure. Her special skill is making sweets, particularly ice cream and Gugelhupf.

• King Alfred the Quarter-to-Twelfth (König Alfons der Viertel-vor-Zwölfte): The king of Morrowland, who is named after the stroke of the clock at the time of his birth and at which he shows himself to his subjects on holidays. He is well-meaning, but can get overly nervous under stress.

• Mr. Sleeve (Herr Ärmel): A citizen of Morrowland and a subject of King Alfred. He is portrayed as a stereotypical Englishman and is most often seen taking a stroll, wearing a bowler and carrying an umbrella on his arm. He is very polite and educated and is well liked by the island's other inhabitants.

• Mr. Tur Tur: The illusory giant (Scheinriese) is a gentle and modest person and a vegetarian, but a tragic recluse due to his unusual nature. When seen from a distance, he appears to be a giant, inadvertently frightening everyone who beholds him. Consequently, he lives on an oasis in the desert, "The End of the World".

• Nepomuk: A half-dragon by birth (his mother was a hippopotamus), he bears some resemblance to his mother. Like his fellow mixed-race dragons, he is not accepted by the pure-blood dragons in Sorrowland. He tries to behave like a "real" dragon by being scary and mean, but he is neither. He is, however, able to help Ushaurishuum create the Crystal of Eternity, and becomes the keeper of the Magnetic Cliffs.

• Ping Pong: A very young and tiny Chinese boy whose head is the size of a ping pong ball. Hardly more than a year old and no taller than a man's hand, he is already very capable of behaving and thinking like an adult. He is one of the numerous descendants of the Emperor's chief cook; after saving Jim and Luke from a treacherous minister, he is made Prime Minister of China by the Emperor - a role which he fulfills surprisingly capably.

• Mrs. Grindtooth (Frau Mahlzahn): A pure-blood dragon and the main villainess of the first story. Her name comes from the single fang projecting from her long snout. She is very knowledgeable, but like all dragons, likes to torment lesser beings with her power. She runs a school for human children in Sorrowland.

• The Wild 13 (Die Wilde Dreizehn): A band of pirates completely identical in appearance and ability. Fearsome pirates and seamen, they are not particularly bright and are poorly educated, each of them knowing only one particular letter of the alphabet; therefore they are always in need of a leader. First portrayed as antagonists, they evolve into important characters and plot carriers in the sequel.