Enoch Root
Enoch Root is a fictional character from Neal Stephenson's novels The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon.
Root is apparently ageless, being present in novels set in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. He also has an uncanny ability to be at the right place at just the right time to influence other characters, so that they do something of import. For example, Root sees Eliza in an observatory in Amsterdam, and shouts out a cryptic message that gets her to turn the telescope to the horizon, where she spots the sails of a French ship sailing in to abduct William of Orange. Once she figures this out, Eliza rushes to the beach to help rescue the Prince.
Who and what Root is, is a mystery to both readers and his fellow characters. His last name may be a play the concept of root user, the superuser, who has godlike powers in Unix style computer operating systems (operating systems being a subject Stephenson has written about at length).
