Hank Rearden (Henry Rearden)

Aliases: Henry Rearden; Hank; "Mr. Rearden" at the mill; "the Steel King."

Role

Founder, owner, and CEO of Rearden Steel; inventor of Rearden Metal, the green-blue alloy that drives the second half of the novel's plot. The producer most slowly broken — through trial, blackmail, and family — into walking away from the regime he keeps feeding. Joins the strike in Chapter 26.

Personality / energy

Disciplined, work-loving, austere, slow to anger, slower to trust. Gives his loyalty completely once given. Tortured by a moral inheritance that tells him his greatest virtues are vices. Becomes harder, freer, and finally more openly tender as the novel goes on.

Physical description

Tall (~6'2"), lean and strong-shouldered, the build of a man who came up through the mill floor. Blond hair turning to gray at the temples. Clear gray eyes. A face Rand calls "the face of a man for whom thinking and feeling were one motion" — strong jaw, severe cheekbones, slightly thin lips. Mid-forties.

Outfit

• At the mill: charcoal-gray flannel suit; in the foundry, a dark coverall over the suit and steel-toed boots
• Office: charcoal suit, white shirt, dark tie, no tie clip, no jewelry except wedding ring
• Home: white tie and tails for parties; tweed and slacks at home
• In rare valley scenes: plain dark trousers, gray work shirt

Visual motifs

• Furnace pour — molten orange-white against dark mill interior
• Molten Rearden Metal in white-orange torrent
• Green-blue Rearden Metal bracelet (which he gives to Lillian, then sees on Dagny)
• Polished steel desk
• The Rearden Metal bridge over the canyon
• Walking alone along the rim of a slag heap in winter dusk

Power signature

Not applicable. His "signature" is industrial: a foundry, a furnace pour, a steel ingot, a bridge.

Chapter appearances

2, 3 (mentioned), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30.

Source references

• Wikipedia — Atlas Shrugged: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged
• SparkNotes — Atlas Shrugged character list: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/atlasshrugged/characters/

Confidence

High — Rearden gets one of the book's most explicit visual descriptions.