Amir (hay Amir Qadiri trong bộ phim chuyển thể cùng tên ra mắt năm 2007, tên đệm không được tác giả cung cấp) là nhân vật chính và người dẫn chuyện của tác phẩm. Khaled Hosseini từng thừa nhận rằng Amir là "một kẻ hèn nhát không thể lay chuyển, kẻ đã thất bại trong việc giúp đỡ người bạn thân nhất của mình" trong suốt diễn biến truyện. Về sau, Hosseini đã chọn cách xây dựng cho nhân vật này thiện cảm thông qua hoàn cảnh, tình huống hơn là những tính cách mà ông đã tạo cho anh trước một phần ba cuối của cùng của cuốn tiểu thuyết.[16] Sinh ra trong một gia đình dòng dõi Pashtun vào năm 1963, mẹ Amir đã mất ngay khi sinh ra cậu. Khi còn là một đứa trẻ, Amir yêu thích những câu chuyện kể và nhận được sự động viên, ủng hộ của người chú Rahim Khan để theo đuổi ước mơ trở thành một nhà văn nổi tiếng. Năm 18 tuổi, cậu cùng cha mình sang Hoa Kỳ tị nạn sau khi quân Liên Xô xâm lược. Tại mảnh đất này, cậu quyết định theo đuổi ước mơ trở thành một nhà văn.
Hassan is Amir's closest childhood friend. He is described as having a China doll face, green eyes, and a harelip. Hosseini regards him as a flat character in terms of development; he is "a lovely guy and you root for him and you love him but he's not complicated".[17]
Assef is the main antagonist of the novel. He is the son of a Pashtun father and a German mother, and believes that Pashtuns are superior to Hazaras, although he himself is not a full Pashtun. As a teenager, he is a neighborhood bully and is enamored with Hitler and Nazism. He is described as a "sociopath" by Amir. He rapes Hassan to get revenge on Amir. As an adult, he joins the Taliban and sexually abuses Hassan's son, Sohrab and other children of Sohrab's orphanage.
Baba is Amir's father and a wealthy businessman who aids the community by establishing businesses for others and building a new orphanage. He is the biological father of Hassan, a fact he hides from both of his children, and seems to favor him over Amir. Baba does not endorse the extremist religious views of the clerics at Amir's school. After fleeing to America, he works at a gas station. He dies from cancer in 1987, shortly after Amir and Soraya's wedding.
Ali is Baba's servant, an Hazara believed to be Hassan's father. He was adopted as a child by Baba's father after his parents were killed by a drunk driver. Before the events of the novel, Ali had been struck with polio, rendering his right leg useless. Because of this, Ali is constantly tormented by children in the town. He is later killed by a land mine in Hazarajat.
Rahim Khan is Baba's loyal friend and business partner.
Soraya is a young Afghan woman whom Amir meets and marries in the United States. Hosseini originally scripted the character as an American woman, but he later agreed to rewrite her as an Afghan immigrant after his editor did not find her background believable for her role in the story.[18] The change resulted in an extensive revision of Part III.[18] In the final draft, Soraya lives with her parents, Afghan general Taheri and his wife, and wants to become an English teacher. Before meeting Amir, she ran away with an Afghan boyfriend in Virginia, which, according to Afghan culture, made her unsuitable for marriage. Because Amir is unwilling to confront his own past actions, he admires Soraya for her courage in admitting to, and moving beyond, her past mistakes.
Sohrab is the son of Hassan.
Sanaubar is Ali's wife and the mother of Hassan. Shortly after Hassan's birth, she runs away from home and joins a group of traveling dancers. She later returns to Hassan in his adulthood. To make up for her neglect, she provides a grandmother figure for Sohrab, Hassan's son.
Farid is a taxi driver who is initially abrasive toward Amir, but later befriends him. Two of Farid's seven children were killed by a land mine, a disaster which mutilated three fingers on his left hand and also took some of his toes. After spending a night with Farid's brother's impoverished family, Amir hides a bundle of money under the mattress to help them.
