Midas Mulligan (Michael Mulligan)

Aliases: Midas; "the wealthiest man in the world"; "the banker."

Role

The wealthiest banker in America, who walked away after a federal court ordered him to grant a loan to a man he judged unworthy of repaying it. Founder and owner of the Colorado valley that becomes the strikers' refuge — Mulligan's Valley, "Atlantis," "Galt's Gulch." Mints and circulates the strikers' gold currency.

Personality / energy

Plainspoken, blunt, tough-fibered, generous to those who earn it. Speaks like a man who has known how to buy and sell since boyhood. The most "self-made" of the strikers in the populist sense — a Roman patrician in working clothes.

Physical description

About sixty-five. Heavily built — Rand calls him "shaped like a wrestler" — broad shoulders, thick neck, large hands. Iron-gray hair worn short. Strong square face — Rand evokes a Roman senator: high forehead, strong nose, heavy jaw. Steady gray eyes.

Outfit

• In the valley: plain wool trousers and work shirt, sometimes a tweed jacket; sturdy boots
• In flashback as banker: a dark conservative three-piece suit, gold watch chain, white shirt
• At a valley dinner: a soft cardigan over the work shirt, no tie

Visual motifs

• A small bank vault stamped with the dollar sign
• Stacks of stamped gold coins
• A log house with a wide porch in mountain light
• A heavy hand on a polished oak desk

Power signature

Not applicable. His "signature" is stamped gold coins and a Roman-senator face under iron-gray hair.

Chapter appearances

21, 22, 30. (Off-page reference earlier in the book — the famous "Hunsacker case" is alluded to.)

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 — Mulligan's physical signature is consistent across guides.