Captain Hook (Fox)

Captain James Hook is a character in Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates.

Biography[]

"Cursed or no,Mullins, the treasure was my brother's. He never did like me. He denied me my share when I sailed as his midshipman. We fought most horribly."

Tumblr l 893182713193755 — A younger James Hook (left) and his brother Jasper (right)

Hook was raised by his mother, whom he loved more than anything, to the point he practically worships her in death. His father is never mentioned. Unlike his book counterpart, Hook became a pirate under his brother Jasper, before the two had a falling out due to giving Hook the same share as the lowest ranked pirates when Hook was promised they'd be "brothers in arms", leading to Hook taking Jasper's eye in a duel, causing Jasper to become "Captain Patch". His career in piracy led to his fiance, Cecilia, cancelling their wedding on Christmas day.

Captain Hook also mentions numerous times having been part of the British Royal Navy, and at one point attempts to annex Neverland in the name of the British Empire, suggesting he may have been commissioned by the British Government to act as a privateer.

According to Peter's telling of his first meeting with him, Hook landed in Neverland after sailing into a storm. After mistaking the lost boys for "natives" he captured some to use as galley slaves aboard his ship. When Peter confronted him, the two fought, and Hook had Smee cut the rope holding the boys up and be fed to the crocodile, causing Peter to lash out and cut Hook's hand off. Only after this did it turn out the boys were unharmed. It is unknown how accurate Peter's telling is, as he's shown to have terrible memory throughout the series.

What year he is from seems to be a matter of confusion. On the one hand, he dresses in a manner reminiscent of the early 18th century, but in the finale he mentions having fought in the war of 1812 (the last major war to heavily use Privateers).

Appearance[]

HookHeightFox — Hook towering over his men

Hook is a giant of a man, with most of his crewmates standing up to his elbow in many episodes. He has lightly tanned skin, long white curled hair (shown to be his natural haircolor even as a young man, though as a child his hair was more yellowish blonde), is clean shaven, wears a black coat, dark blue cape with a red interior lining, purple gloves, purple pants, dark blue boots, and a large black bicorn hat with crossbones and a hook. He is very muscular, and was even shown to be able to break ropes binding him using his strength alone.

FoxHooksHook — Hook's hook is able to open up to grab various items, as demonstrated in The Rake where he uses it to pick up an emerald

His hook is specially designed, having a hinge on it that allows the hook to split apart to grab various objects. How Hook opens and closes the hook is never shown.

These design choices were made in part due to Disney constantly threatening to sue 20th Century Fox over any resemblance to their adaptation, even if the similarities were directly from the source material.

Personality[]

"An indiscriminate bombardment of cannister and grape? Poor form old boy. Infra dig you risk maiming innocent women and children. No...PAN'S the nemesis, and he's the wretched boy I aim to excommunicate."

Being closer to his book counterpart, Captain Hook adheres to good form (though argues some things are considered good form to pirates that aren't to the rest of society), practically worships his mother, is a fan of classical literature, and has a short temper often triggered by his crew. He is shown to be chivalrous towards ladies, so long as they are unassociated with Peter Pan or otherwise causing him problems.

He is quite cunning, frequently decieving enemies and coming up with plots to trick enemies of multiple age groups. He once even successfully faked his own death using a trap door and explosion, fooling everyone in Neverland.

He fights aggressively, mostly relying on wide slashes with his cutlass, and swipes with his hook. During a fight he may become so engrossed in taking out his target that he fails to notice other threats or obstacles around him. He also reacts harshly to taunts, a trait Peter finds entertaining and takes advantage of. Unless the crocodile is concerned, Hook is near fearless, even taunting the grim reaper himself, scaring off the Kraken, and once giving a dramatic speech to taunt Peter when Peter attempted to execute him. He frowns upon cowardice, and commends acts of bravery, once even telling his men to spare a man for showing courage when face to face with Hook. Hook almost never backs down from a battle, even if the odds seem completely impossible.

Hook has low esteem for those of low intelligence, regularly berating his crew (particularly Smee) for lacking his level of wit. Hook craves an intelligent, cultured conversation partner, once being tricked into thinking Cookson could fill that role after Cookson read a philosophy book and started quoting it. Unfortunately for Hook, Cookson didn't know what any of the quotes he was spouting actually meant.

In the beginning of the series, Hook adheres to good form as if it were a strict code of honor, refusing to do things that could put innocent women and children (other than Peter's friends) in harms way, and Peter even being sure Hook could never bring himself to harm Michael. As the series progresses, however, he begins using the fact he's a pirate as a loophole around promises he made, and regularly putting innocents in harms way to get at Pan. Since he goes back to his earlier portrayals in the series finale, it's assumed to simply be an inconsistency rather than character development.

Abilities[]

Hook has a wide variety of skills related to life on the sea including swordsmanship, geography, cartography, navigation, and whaling. In addition he is also well versed in the arts, and is a writer, actor, musician, and implied to be a painter.

Captain Hook has immense strength, once bursting through ropes binding him simply by flexing his muscles.

Curiously, he is immune to most magic in Neverland, specifically any magic that alters shape or personality. This includes transforming him and mind controlling him. However, he can still use magical artifacts if he so chooses, and if he can get his hand on them.

He can play the harpsichord, but his skill level seems to be inconsistent, with some episodes having Peter himself declare him the best musician in Neverland, while other episodes suggest he is subpar. The episode "A Wee Problem" seems to solve this inconsistency by having him starting off playing well, then messing up some notes because of his hook, at which point he declares that prior to losing his hand he never played a foul note.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

He is voiced by Tim Curry who won an Emmy for this role.
His design appears to be modelled after a portrait of Captain Kidd painted by James Thornhill.

External links[]

Captain Hook on tv tropes.org