Maali Almeida is the central protagonist and titular character of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Through a second-person point-of-view, he is also the narrator. The reader journeys with Maali through the afterlife and flashbacks of his lived existence. As the narrator, Maali has an omniscient perspective because he can witness everything and even get into people’s dreams.

The external adventures of the novel inform Maali’s character development. He has two arcs: The person he was becoming while alive, and the person he becomes in the afterlife. In his lived existence, Maali is characterized by his flaws. He has a gambling addiction and possibly a sex addiction, which he calls his “sluttiness.” Maali is in love with DD but has a difficult time committing to him. He lives life on the edge; he has multiple sexual partners, even though the discovery of his sexuality could get him arrested in Sri Lanka, and he photographs Civil War atrocities, thereby experiencing the brutal violence of the war firsthand. Maali identifies as Sri Lankan and refuses to identify based on his ethnic heritage. This highlights that Maali is not interested in ethnic factions and divisions; he is instead interested in the culture, beauty, and history of his nation.