Zaphod Beeblebrox

Zaphod is described as having two heads and three arms, the third arm having been attached "to improve his ski-boxing." As the President of the Imperial Galactic Government, Zaphod was presiding over a ceremony unveiling the Heart of Gold, which was the first ship to run on Infinite Improbability Drive, when, on impulse, he paralyzed all of the onlookers and stole the ship.

Zaphod is not sure what compels him to do the things he does. For most of the book he assumes that his freewheeling, happy-go-lucky personality drives him to seek danger and allows him to talk his way out of it. "And then whenever I stop to think—why did I want to do something?—how did I work out how to do it?—I get a very strong desire just to stop thinking about it." Thinking about this, he runs a...