Magdalena "Maggie" Gilkeson
Played By: Cate Blanchett
A mother living with her two daughters and lover/ranch partner on a remote Southwest farm. She teams up with her estranged father to rescue her elder daughter when she is kidnapped.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop her from getting her child back.
- Disappeared Dad: The reason she's so cold to Samuel when he shows up on her ranch.
- Due to the Dead: She wants to bury some men the raiders killed.
- Frontier Doctor: She's the local healer anyone who gets hurt away from town goes to, doing things like patching up shots and pulling teeth from her ranch house.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde, and despite her sometimes gruff, mistrusting demeanor, will go out of her way to help others.
- Mama Bear: Nobody kidnaps her daughter. She even wants Sam to buy back any other girls he can.
- Rape as Backstory: How Lily came to be.
Samuel Gilkeson
Played By: Tommy Lee Jones
Maggie's father who had left his family when Maggie was just a teenager. He was accepted into a Native tribe and became one of them. Years later he finally returned to make amends with Maggie, who refuses to forgive him, though she grudgingly gives him shelter and a hot meal. When his granddaughter is taken, he helps Maggie rescue her.
- Disappeared Dad: The reason he's trying to make up with his daughter.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Throws himself and Pesh-Chidin off a cliff.
- Magical Native American: A rare white example, as he was accepted into a tribe and taught their magic.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Maggie's brother (who its implied his wife was pregnant with when he left) died at the age of six and when Maggie asks him if she has any Indian half-siblings, his reply is "None that lived." Subverted with Maggie and her daughters though, given that they survive the film.
- White Man Gone Native: Lived with a Chiricahua tribe and assimilated into their culture, marrying a Native woman as well.
Dot Gilkeson
Played By: Jenna Boyd
Maggie's youngest daughter, happy to help on the farm and is fascinated with her "Indian" grandfather. She comes along on the trip to rescue Lily, threatening to sneak out with them anyway if Maggie says no.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Lily sees her as this sometimes.
- Cheerful Child: Is a pretty friendly, warm girl who is hard to break, except when she stumbles upon some grisly murders of her friends.
- Determinator: She point-blank tells Maggie she's going to come along to save Lily even if she tries to make her stay.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blonde hair like her mother and is a kind, cheerful kid.
- Little Sister Instinct: Insists on helping her mother and grandfather get Lily back, and comforts her sweetly when she's rescued.
- Nice Girl: Is cheerful with everyone.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy who loves working on the farm and doesn't fear much, to her big sister Lily's Girly Girl.
Lily Gilkeson
Played By: Evan Rachel Wood
Maggie's eldest daughter who wants to get off the ranch and see more of the world. While riding out to the fair with her sort-of stepfather, they are attacked and she is kidnapped to be sold into sexual slavery. Her family spends the whole movie trying to get her back.
- Born in the Wrong Century: She's excited by the innovations of the Twentieth century and frustrated by what she sees as her mother holding her back from them.
- Broken Bird: Understandably shows signs of this just after being rescued. Her sister and mother are fortunately the right kind of family to help her through it.
- Child by Rape: How she came to be.
- Damsel in Distress: Is forcibly taken and held captive.
- Deadpan Snarker:Maggie: Don't you ever act helpless and pitiable to win favor with a man!Lily: It's pitiful.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She caresa about her fellow captives and is a light haired woman.
- Hidden Depths: Is curious about the wonders of the fair, tries to rescue a toddler left behind when she and other captive women are forced to move along, and bravely tells el Bruja to his face she won't sell well if he beats her up.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold is how she can come off at times, but is a good person at heart, trying to help the other captive women when she can.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Is the Girly Girl who wears a fancy dress while butchering a deer and doesn't care to live on a remote farm.
Brake Baldwin
Played by: Aaron Eckhart
The foreman of Maggie;s ranch, who has been asking for her hand in marriage for some time but been denied it. He encounters Jones when he first is arriving and tries to act aa mediator between him and the others.- Alliterative Name: Both of his names start with B.
- Beneath the Mask: He thinks that Maggie should show her father more sentiment but does respect her wishes of wanting him gone and maintains a stern mask when dealing with him.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Apache raiders burn him alive.
- Decoy Protagonist: He seems to be in a position to join any rescue party, having a strong relationship with Maggie and showing some overtures of cordiality to her father, but then he is killed in the attack.
- Friends with Benefits: Maggie won't marry him but they do have sex.
Emiliano
Played By: Sergio Calderon
Maggie's second ranch hand, who distrusts Apaches.- Chronic Hero Syndrome: When he heard the attack he told Dot to hide then raced to help. It got him killed.
- Friendly Sniper: While never actually seen shooting he is seen setting up a rifle first preparing to fire if Samuel is hostile and then trying to kill a predator after the cattle.
- In the Back: He's found with two arrows in his back.
- Jerkass to One: He's protective of Maggie and the girls and friendly with Brake but is pretty hostile towards Samuel.
Katiyah and Honesco
- Played By: Jay Tavarre and Simon R Baker
- 11th-Hour Ranger: They show up late in the movie but quickly tema up with Samuel and his family.
- Handicapped Badass: Honesco fights in the climax with an arm in a sling forma gunshot.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: After being wounded, Katiyah tells his son to go without him.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: Katiyah is made to look this way to help distract the renegades.
Lieutenant Ducharme
Played By: Val Kilmer
A Cavalry lieutenant hunting the Apaches who runs in with the family.- Armor-Piercing Question: He is initially unconvinced about Samuel's claims to be trying to reduce his granddaughter when he asks her name and Samuel doesn't know.
- As the Good Book Says...: He quotes from the bible during a funeral.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: He arrives at a massacred ranch house after the Apache are gone and due to having prisoners to take in the opposite direction, he won't accompany the family in search for Lily.
- Officer and a Gentleman: He tries to be polite and honorable to the others.
- Perma-Stubble: As per a man who serves in the field he is unshaven.
- Sympathy for the Devil: He acknowledges that the hanging of an Apache chief which kicked off the renegades was a senseless act.
Pesh-Chidin
Played By: Eric Schweig
A Brujo, or dark shaman, and army scout who deserted and is leading a raid taking white women.- Big Bad: He's the leaders of the kidnappers and killers.
- Creepy Souvenir: He takes pictures of his victims and carries them around.
- Dangerous Deserter: He's a former army scout and a ruthless and brutal killer.
- Disney Villain Death: He falls off a cliff along with Samuel.
- Magical Native American: He's capable of cursing his enemies with ease.
- Improbable Weapon User: He stabs people with the talons for a cut off birds foot.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He's a sadistic trafficker in slaves, both White and Native American.
Two Stone
Played By: Steve Revis
One of the other Apache kidnappers.- The Dragon" He runs the camp while his boss is away and seems to hold authority over the captives.
- Villain Respect: Downplayed. He compliments Lily for her escape attempt, calling her better than the bands white accomplice but not better than him and tells her to crawl.
Isaac Edgerly
Played By: Max Perlich
A white man working with the Apaches.- Attempted Rape: He tries to rape Lily at one point but is stopped.
- Lack of Empathy: He never bats an eye at the suffering and cruelty around him.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: He's shot down quickly and without fanfare in the climax.
- Token White: He's one of the few white men running with Chidin.
Russell J. Wittick
Played By: Ray McKinnon
A photographer traveling the west who is captured by The Apaches.- Dirty Coward: He cares more for his own safety than any kind of compassion or decency.
- Eye Scream: He's blinded and then killed after annoying Chidin.
- The Quisling: He takes pictures of the captives without trying to help them and offers to serve as a spy and help the Apaches capture girls in exchange for a guarantee of safety.
Sheriff Purdy
Played By: Clint Howard
The sheriff of the nearest town.- Police Are Useless: He has no interest in pursuing the kidnappers and isn't remotely apologetic about it.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a very nice suit.
- Skewed Priorities: He cares more about providing order during a fair celebrating new inventions in town than he does about pursuing killers and kidnappers terrorizing the community, or even with consoling a grieving mother.
Anne
Played By: Elisabeth Moss
The wife of a rancher kidnapped by Chidin, along with her young daughter.- Driven to Suicide: After losing her child.
- Mauve Shirt: The only captive besides Lily to get much focus.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: She insists her baby is only asleep even as the others tell her that she's dead.
