John Galt

John Galt is a symbol of everything Ayn Rand has been teaching in her novel. The first time we meet him, we feel as Dagny does: as if we have known and loved his character from the start of it all, even though he is a stranger to us at the moment. When Dagny crashes in the valley, she is reborn. Like a child, she must gain the strength to walk, and slowly come to grasp the world around her that is so different and yet, so natural. Initially, Galt takes care of her almost with the love of a father; he protects and shelters her as a naive and precious newcomer to the valley. His love for her is unconditional, and he seems to have been waiting for her all his life.

Galt's tenderness paired with his inability to be torn down makes him the most powerful character in the novel. Although we have followed and supported Dagny all along, Galt is even stronger than our protagonist. He has won every battle they have fought against one another, and ironically, as an audience we hope that he will win the final one as well. Galt is Dagny's ultimate opponent; she has been fighting him all along. The twist in the novel is the fact that Ayn Rand makes the audience plead for the "destroyer" to destroy Dagny as well. 

John Galt stands for the idea that everyone deserves the world that they accept. He is placid and serene, yet his character is full of life and the ability to fight for what he knows is right. He does not force ideas on others; he puts into words their deepest thoughts. He gives each resident of the valley a moral sanction and allows them to think what they know to be true without guilt. Galt is essentially the enabler of everything that is right and true. 

The first time she sees him, Dagny knows Galt is the man she has been looking for all her life. He is the face she has always imagined but never understood, and he holds the ideas she has always felt but never acknowledged. As an audience, we hope Dagny will stay in Atlantis, and it pains us that she is still a "scab". The reader discovers in part three that John Galt is not Dagny's ultimate opponent, but instead her ultimate need.