The Left Hand of Darkness is the story of Genly Ai, ambassador of an intergalactic confederacy known as the Ekumen, and his journey to the planet Winter. The human inhabitants of Winter are ambisexual, spending most of their time in an androgynous state and adopting male or female sexual characteristics during a monthly mating period. Genly's story explores Western conceptions of sex and gender, as well as the idea of androgyny.
Genly Ai is the protagonist of the novel; a male native of Terra, or Earth, who is sent to Gethen by the Ekumen as a "first mobile" or envoy. He is called "Genry" by the Karhiders, who have trouble pronouncing the letter "L." He is described as rather taller and darker than the average Gethenian. Although curious and sensitive to Gethenian culture in many ways, he struggles at first to trust the ambisexual Gethenians. His own masculine mannerisms, learned on Terra, also prove to be a barrier to communication. At the beginning of the book, he has been on Gethen for one year, trying to gain an audience with the king, and persuade the Karhidish government to believe his story. He arrives equipped with basic information about the language and culture from a team of investigators who had come before him.
In Karhide, the king is reluctant to accept his diplomatic mission. In Orgoreyn, Ai is seemingly accepted more easily by the political leaders, yet Ai is arrested, stripped of his clothes, drugged, and sent to a work camp. Rescued by Estraven, the deposed Prime Minister of Karhide, Genly realizes that cultural differences—specifically shifgrethor , gender roles and Gethenian sexuality—had kept him from understanding their relationship previously. During their 80-day journey across the frozen land to return to Karhide, Ai learns to understand and love Estraven.
Therem Harth rem ir Estraven is a Gethenian from the Domain of Estre in Kerm Land, at the southern end of the Karhidish half of the continent. He is the Prime Minister of Karhide at the very beginning of the novel, until he is exiled from Karhide after attempting to settle the Sinnoth Valley dispute with Orgoreyn. Estraven is one of the few Gethenians who believes Ai, and he attempts to help him from the beginning, but Ai's inability to comprehend shifgrethor leads to severe misunderstanding between them. Estraven is said to have made a taboo kemmering vow to his brother, Arek Harth rem ir Estraven, while they were both young. Convention required that they separated after they had produced a child together; however, because of the first vow, the second vow he made with Ashe Foreth, another partner, which was also broken before the events in Left Hand , is called a "false vow, a second vow". In contrast to Ai, Estraven is shown with both stereotypically male and female qualities, and is used to demonstrate that both are necessary for survival.
Argaven Harge XV is the king of Karhide during the events of the novel. He is described both by his subjects and by Estraven as being "mad." He has sired seven children, but has yet to bear "an heir of the body, king son". During the events of the novel he becomes pregnant but loses the child before it is born, triggering speculation as to which of his sired children will be named his heir. His behavior towards Ai is consistently paranoid; although he grants Ai an audience, he refuses to believe his story, and declines the offer to join the Ekumen. The tenure of his prime ministers tends to be short, with both Estraven and Tibe rising and falling from power during the two Gethenian years that the novel spans. Argaven eventually agrees to join the Ekumen due to the political fallout of Estraven's death and Ai's escape from Orgoreyn.
Pemmer Harge rem ir Tibe is Argaven Harge's cousin. Tibe becomes the prime minister of Karhide when Estraven is exiled at the beginning of the novel, and becomes the regent for a brief while when Argaven is pregnant. In contrast to Estraven, he seems intent on starting a war with Orgoreyn over the Sinoth valley dispute; as well as taking aggressive actions at the border, he regularly makes belligerent speeches on the radio. He is strongly opposed to Ai's mission. He orders Estraven to be killed at the border at the end of the novel, as a last act of defiance, knowing that Estraven and Ai's presence in Karhide means his own downfall; he resigns immediately after Estraven's death.
Obsle, Yegey, and Shusgis are Commensals, three of the thirty-three councilmen that rule Orgoreyn. Obsle and Yegey are members of the "Open Trade" faction, who wish to normalize relations with Karhide. Obsle is the commensal of the Sekeve District, and was once the head of the Orgota Naval Trade Commission in Erhenrang, where he became acquainted with Estraven. Estraven describes him as the nearest thing to an honest person among the politicians of Orgoreyn. Yegey is the commensal who first finds Estraven during his exile, and who gives Estraven a job and a place to live in Mishnory. Shusgis is the commensal who hosts Genly Ai after Ai's arrival in Mishnory, and is a member of the opposing faction, which supports the Sarf, the Orgota secret police. Although Obsle and Yegey support Ai's mission, they see him more as a means of increasing their own influence within the council; thus they eventually betray him to the Sarf, in order to save themselves. Their Open Trade faction takes control of the council after Ai's presence in Karhide becomes known at the end of the novel.
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