Tom Sawyer

**Tom Sawyer** is a fictional character from the works of *Mark Twain* and is affiliated with Frontierland.

## History

### Disney version

In 1835, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and Jim Harper ran-away to Jackson Island in the Mississippi which they subsequently renamed to, "Tom Sawyer Island". The three had all been presumed dead and were hiding out on the island while playing pirate with Tom declaring himself, "**The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main**". Amongst their ranks would be a young Sam Clemens who befriended the boys and played with them on the island.

## Appearances and allusions

### Liberty Belle Riverboat

On this boat, Tom Sawyer is mentioned alongside Huck Finn and Joe Harper as having been childhood companions of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

### Mark Twain Riverboat

Tom Sawyer is mentioned by the captain of the Mark Twain Riverboat while passing by Jackson Island. Following this Sawyer's voice can be heard saying,"*It’s just the life for me! You don’t have to get up mornin’s. And you don’t have to go to school, and wash, and all that blame foolishness. You see, a pirate don’t have to do anything!*".

### Tom Sawyer Island

Tom Sawyer is the namesake of this attraction where he is referenced frequently.

### Live-appearances

Sawyer, Becky and Huck used to be commonly performed characters in the Disney Parks found in Frontierland and New Orleans Square. They have since become more rare but still sometimes found.

## Connections

### Haunted Mansion

In the late 1990s, Imagineer Eddie Sotto had the idea to retheme Tom Sawyer Island, as a way to combine Pirates and the Mansion into one story. Historical pirate Jean Lafitte would have been the owner of the Haunted Mansion and the central figure of the retheme. The transformation never happened, but some remnants remain in New Orleans Square, such as the 1764 archway and the Pirate’s Lair attraction.. In the Haunted Mansion he is more frequently referenced in non-canon materials such as the comics by SLG where he was an ally to the mansion's founder William Gracey, in the 2003 film continuity where he was an affiliate of Captain Ambrose Gracey who built the mansion, or the audio-book Nuptial Doom where the sea-captain who owned the mansion was a compatriot of Lafitte. These are based on how in an unused concept for the mansion, catacombs under the manor entered through Lafitte's tomb would lead to a pirate's lair on Tom Sawyer Island.

Additionally in the non-cannon Ghost Gallery storyline the dog from Fort Sam Clemens was an ancestor of the Hellhound in the Haunted Mansion while Wilson's Tavern was also visited by Little Leota.

### Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island features many characters and entities from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. This includes the ghost of Davy Jones, a ship implied to have been destroyed by the kraken, bone cages of the Pelegostos Tribe, a chest labelled, "Blackbeard" and the pirates Pintel and Ragetti from the films who appear in their cursed state along with an unidentified imprisoned pirate seemingly suffering from the Aztec curse.

The load-area for Pirates of the Caribbean is *Laffite's Landings* and is a boat-landing on the Blue Bayou. This naming choice might indicate a connection with Laffite's smuggling operations between Baratia Bay, through the bayou and into New Orleans. In Disneyland Paris, there is a portrait of Jean Lafitte seen in the possession of a citizen of Puerto Dorado on the isle of Isla Tesoro in the early 18th century. It is shown about to be auctioned off by the auctioneer pirate of *The Wicked Wench* and his enforcer Redd during the Wench's ransacking of Puerto Dorado. The nature of this anachronistic painting is yet unknown but might be the result of the supernatural.

## Trivia

* In *Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar* is a straw-hat resembling that worn by Sawyer in the Disney Parks. Another possibility is that it references Booton 'Little Maca' MacAvoy from the film Castaway Cowboy.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.disneyparkscripts.com/liberty-square-riverboat-magic-kingdom/
2. ↑ https://www.disneyparkscripts.com/mark-twain-riverboat-disneyland/
3. ↑ https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2010/09/jean-lafitte-and-mega-theme-temptation.html
4. ↑ https://www.tikicalifornia.com/bars-restaurants/tiki-bars/trader-sams-enchanted-tiki-bar/