In Hannah Hurnard’s allegory, a humble valley and the High Places of Love become the landscape of the soul. Each figure embodies a spiritual impulse or obstacle, shaping a pilgrimage from fear and limitation to freedom and union. Together, they trace how guidance, surrender, and trial work in concert to transform a heart.
Main Characters
Much-Afraid
A timid young shepherdess marked by physical deformities, Much-Afraid begins in the Valley of Humiliation longing for a life she can barely imagine. Her journey is sparked by the threat of an imposed marriage and sustained by a growing willingness to trust her divine guide, even when the path leads through deserts, cliffs, and loneliness. She learns to lay down her own will at successive “altars,” exchanging self-protective desires for love’s deeper obedience. Defined first by fear and shame, she is ultimately remade—healed, given hinds’ feet, and renamed Grace and Glory—choosing to return to the valley as a bearer of hope to those still captive to fear. Her story is inseparable from the steadfast love that guides her and the veiled companions appointed to steady her steps.
The Shepherd
The Shepherd is the Christ-figure whose voice calls, directs, and sustains every stage of the pilgrimage. Tender yet uncompromising, he delights in Much-Afraid’s smallest acts of trust and leads her by ways that appear contrary—through suffering—so that love can take root. Unfailing in wisdom and timing, he rescues her from assaults within and without, teaches her the freedom he himself exemplifies, and receives her sacrifices as priest at the final altar. On the High Places he is revealed as the King of Love, fulfilling every promise and naming her anew. His relationship with Much-Afraid is the axis of the narrative: guide and beloved, Lord and disciple, healer and transformed one.
Supporting Characters
Sorrow and Suffering
Veiled, strong, and gentle, these twin companions are appointed to accompany Much-Afraid where her own strength fails. Though feared at first, they prove the surest helpers—lifting, steadying, and protecting her across impossible ascents until she learns to love them. Their ultimate transformation into Joy and Peace reveals that divinely permitted trials are not ends in themselves but the midwives of deeper life.
Craven Fear
A bullying cousin who embodies paralyzing dread, Craven Fear seeks to dominate Much-Afraid and drive her back to the valley. He taunts her at moments of weakness and orchestrates the threatened marriage that sets the plot in motion. Yet his power evaporates in the Shepherd’s presence, exposing fear’s essential cowardice.
Pride
Handsome, persuasive, and status-obsessed, Pride tempts Much-Afraid to abandon her path by appealing to reputation, propriety, and the fear of shame. His arguments mask contempt for the Shepherd’s ways and a demand for self-exaltation over obedience. He is repeatedly unmasked and overruled, reminding readers that spiritual progress requires humility.
Other Fearing Relatives
A chorus of internal saboteurs—Mrs. Dismal Forebodings, Gloomy, Spiteful, Resentment, Bitterness, and Self-Pity—surround Much-Afraid with mists of accusation and despair. They whisper that the Shepherd is unfair and that surrender is foolish, especially along the shores of Loneliness. Collectively, they personify the reflexive responses to pain that must be renounced for love to mature.
Minor Characters
- Mrs. Valiant: A courageous neighbor who routs the invading Fearing relatives, modeling how steadfast friendship can shield the vulnerable at crucial moments.
- Mercy and Peace: Gentle housemates in the valley whose calm companionship represents a safe but limited spiritual plateau that Much-Afraid must leave to go higher.
- The Priest of the Altar: A mysterious minister who receives Much-Afraid’s final sacrifice and later proves to be the Shepherd himself, revealing divine love at the heart of surrender.
Character Relationships & Dynamics
The relationship between Much-Afraid and the Shepherd is the story’s heartbeat: her halting trust meets his unwavering faithfulness. He calls her out of the valley’s bondage, answers her cries at every cliff and canyon, and—by asking for total surrender—gives her the very life she longs for. Their bond matures from anxious dependence to joyful union, culminating in her new name and mission.
Against this love stand the Fearing relatives, whose tactics—intimidation, allure, and accusation—externalize the soul’s inner battle. Craven Fear seeks control through terror, while Pride courts her with social standing and scorn for humility; the rest fill the air with discouragement. Yet every assault becomes a proving ground where Much-Afraid learns to cling to the Shepherd’s voice rather than the clamor of her own anxieties.
Sorrow and Suffering complete the circle of grace. At first dreaded, they become the Shepherd’s most faithful gifts, enabling what love commands by lending strength where fear once ruled. Together, guide and companions draw Much-Afraid into a new community of the transformed—those who discover that on the steepest paths, love provides both the way and the feet to walk it.