J.M. Barrie's Captain Hook, The Inspiration | Literary Traveler The Real Life and Fictional Characters Who Inspired J.M. Barrie’s Captain Hook Posted on May 30, 2007 by Rachel McGinnis Captain Hook has been immortalized as one of the greatest, most infamous villains in literature. Created by James Matthew Barrie in his play in 1904 and restored for a number of novels and stories in 1911, this character has been making readers shudder from his sinister behavior for over a century. Who could forget his cadaver-like appearance or his melancholy blue eyes that burned a fiery red when he became angry or violent? For that matter, who could forget his hook that was used to menace both his enemies and his crew? He was the fearless captain of the Jolly Roger whose only apprehension stemmed from the sight of his own blood, which was described as strangely-colored and thick. Hook was said to be the only man that Barbecue, Captain Long John Silver of Treasure Island, feared.

Barrie revealed in his speech, “Hook at Eton,” which was delivered to Eton pupils in 1927, that the fictional Captain James Hook was a former student of Eton College and indicated that disclosing the identity of this character would create a scandal, implying that he was someone of great importance prior to his transformation into the barbaric captain. Captain Hook’s gentleman background is apparent through his maddening concern for maintaining good form although his reaction to others that illustrate good form, such as Smee and Peter Pan, is hardly indicative of a gentleman or the like. Hook is an exceptionally strange and convoluted character, both a villain and a gentleman, which begs the question: what inspired J.M. Barrie to create such an elaborate and complicated scoundrel? Who was J.M. Barrie’s muse when he developed this character? Although there are several theories regarding the inspiration for Captain Hook, none have been indefinitely proven as the source of Barrie’s creativity, nor did Barrie reveal a particular individual that led him to author Captain Hook. Both factual and fictional individuals have been cited as potential sources, with the earliest nonfiction source being the English sea captain Christopher Newport.

Captain Christopher Newport was, among other things, a 16th century privateer employed by Queen Elizabeth I of England. Given that the line between piracy and privateering has historically been blurred, his employment as a privateer is one of the most profound similarities connecting him to Captain Hook. Having analogous premises, the primary difference between the occupations was that privateers where employed by a respectable company that funded the excursions and took a portion of the cargo that was seized by the privateers, while pirates were not associated with any sort of organization and retained the expropriated cargo. Christopher Newport is famed for having led more attacks on Spanish ships and settlements than any other English privateer, which led to a somewhat infamous reputation and potentially created a basis for Captain Hook. Newport was a privateer for roughly twenty years and, during this time, presented King James I with two baby crocodiles to satiate the king’s lust for exotic animals. Barrie’s use of a crocodile in the story Peter Panis possibly based on Newport’s presentation of this unusual, fierce animal to the king.

Additionally, Christopher Newport was largely identified as a man of the sea who repeatedly left his wife in order to complete five dangerous voyages across the Atlantic Ocean indicating that, similar to the captain, he was both courageous and lacked a female presence for a large segment of his adult life. Nonetheless, perhaps the most striking similarity between Captain Hook and Captain Christopher Newport was that both were missing a hand. After leading his crew onto an enemy ship off the coast of Cuba, Newport lost his arm in the battle and shockingly replaced it with a hook. Similar to Barrie’s Captain Hook, Newport lost his right hand although many contemporary film versions, such as the film Hook, inaccurately portray this character without a left hand due to the difficulty of completing everyday tasks without the supposedly dominate right hand. Although there are a number of similarities between the legendary Christopher Newport and the fictional Captain Hook, there are also a number of stark differences. Captain Newport was renowned for treating Natives with respect, using trade to procure their cooperation, which is entirely distinct from the warring relationship J.M. Barrie depicts between Captain Hook and the Redskins of Neverland. Additionally, Newport reportedly used persuasion, eloquence, and example to control and command his crew.

During a time in which hangings at sea and various other brutal methods were popular forms of punishment for unruly crews, Newport’s approach to discipline was singular and unique. His concept of maintaining order was also very different from Captain Hook’s who repeatedly threatened to use violence and his hook to maintain thoughtless obedience. Another factual individual that some historians believe to have inspired Barrie’s Captain Hook is Captain James Cook. The most striking similarity between these individuals is their name, Captain James Cook and Captain James Hook. Captain Cook was an 18th century navigator and explorer known for researching the eastern coastline of Australia and mapping regions of New Zealand. He was killed in 1779 by Hawaiian natives after his ship, the Resolution, was severely damaged and forced to return to Kealakekua, Hawaii. After learning of this misfortune, the natives lost respect for Captain Cook because they did not understand how a god could have let this hardship befall him, which led to his demise. Historians have speculated that the Lost Boys who are catalysts in the downfall of Captain Hook are based on this native tribe, which was responsible for the downfall of Captain Cook. Alternatively, it has been proposed that J.M.

Barrie was inspired by various other fictional characters he was exposed to prior to composing his story, Peter Pan. Treasure Island, which was written in 1883, contains Captain Long John Silver who, similar to Captain Hook, was yet another malignant sea captain known for his duplicity. Although he is a literary figure renowned for his treachery and deceitfulness, Silver is initially portrayed by Robert Louis Stevenson as a kind, polite, almost gentlemanly figure and was based on William Henley, a crippled, clever friend of the authors. Silver is repeatedly described as merry, cheerful, and intelligent and only later does he become the dreaded Captain Long John Silver who lacks concern for loyalty or human life. Similar to Captain Silver, Captain Hook is an educated man described as both ruthless and gentlemanly. It is perhaps from Captain Silver that Barrie was inspired to create an educated man that chose a life of piracy and treachery. Evidence of Barrie’s knowledge of Captain Silver is apparent from his reference to the “Sea Cook” and “Barbecue” in his novel, which are alternative names for Captain Long John Silver. An additional similarity between Captain Silver and Captain Hook is the loss of a limb. Captain Hook lost his hand and replaced it with a hook.

Captain Silver lost a leg, but did not replace it. Instead, Silver used a crutch and was exceptionally dexterous and able-bodied, which is similar to Captain Hook who prefers and values his hook so highly that he proclaims he would pray for his children to be born with hooks instead of hands. An additional difference between the characters is their appearance. While Captain Hook resembles a cadaver and has a dark complexion and eyes that occasionally emit a red glow, Captain Silver is depicted with pale skin, robust and full of life. Finally, Captain Silver is married to a woman of African descent while Captain Hook does not have any interaction with females, which prompts him to kidnap Wendy Darling so that she can become a mother for him and his crew. Another fictional character that possibly inspired Barrie’s representation of Captain Hook was Captain Ahab of Moby Dick, which was published in 1851. Captain Ahab, similar to Captain Hook, was depicted with a black face and eyes that glowed like coals, “eyes of red murder.” Both Herman Melville and J.M. Barrie used the archetypal imagery of a darkened countenance to illustrate the astounding villainy of Captain Ahab and Captain Hook.

These men were the primary sources of evil in the stories and, as such, were given dark complexions that contrasted with the pale skin of the various other (apparently less evil) characters. The captains had unique appearances that created the facade of foreignness and, given the historical fear of the nonnative and unknown, their appearances made them increasingly frightening to the reader. The use of a hook to replace Hook’s hand consumed by the crocodile is similar to Moby Dick’s use of an ivory leg to restore Captain Ahab’s lost appendage. These characters are often identified by these trademark makeshift appendages while both characters are also said to have attended college at some point in their lives before becoming seamen. Perhaps the most important similarity between the pair, however, is the depiction of their demises. Both Captain Ahab and Captain Hook meet their doom at the mouth of a seagoing monster, a whale and a crocodile, respectively. Captain Hook, who previously relied on the ticking clock that the crocodile swallowed to alert him to the presence of the beast, was unaware that his enemy was at hand because the clock had run down and was no longer ticking the alarm.

In a strange coincidence, Melville makes a reference to a whale that has swallowed a gold watch in Moby Dick as well, yet the author makes no reference to the watch’s ticking. Finally, both captains are primarily driven by their intense, seething hatred throughout the stories, Ahab by his disdain for the “Great White Whale,” Moby Dick, and Hook for his abhorrence to the “Great White Father,” Peter Pan. Although there are a number of similarities between certain factual and fictional figures, there is no way of knowing which individuals may have inspired J.M. Barrie to create his degenerate and infamous Captain Hook. Without Barrie’s acknowledgement of a particular biographical inspiration, it can only be surmised that Barrie’s inspiration was possibly one of these individuals, a combination of these potential sources, or the result of an unknown individual that Barrie was personally acquainted with during his lifetime, such as the Davies children who inspired him to compose the story of Peter Pan. Regardless, Barrie’s combination of Captain Hook’s unique traits guarantees that this disreputable character will without a doubt continue to live on in infamy.

The Secret History of Captain Hook - The Atlantic The Atlantic The Secret History of Captain Hook Most Popular Text Size Wikimedia Commons The holidays typically lead one home. Then, quite often, to the memories of one's childhood. And then onto the stories thereof. This year, I found myself digging into the notes and bits that surround my favorite Christmas story, Peter Pan, which was staged in London each December early in the 20th century. Amid the digital wandering, I made an unexpected discovery: Eton—the world's most esteemed high school—is not only the alma mater of Prince William and Prince Harry; of Prime Minister David Cameron and 18 of his predecessors[1]; but also of Captain James Hook, commander of the Jolly Roger. A pirate whom J.M. Barrie descried as "cadaverous and blackavised, his hair dressed in long curls which look like black candles about to melt." A man whose real name, if revealed, would "set the country in a blaze ." Hook's Eton, with its tailcoat dress code and five hundred years of blue-blood lineage, is an intriguing place. The name, for many Brits, is synonymous with privilege.

And its traditions and arcane wall game, an amalgamation of rugby and soccer played against a brick wall and found nowhere else in the world, make it is as close to Hogwarts as mortals and Muggles will likely find. Yes, James Hook, or Jas., as he is now known to have referred to himself, was an old Etonian, and a Pop[2] at that. From Eton we can make sense of Hook's reverence for good form; his "distinguished slouch;" and, Barrie wrote, the fact that "[h]e was never more sinister than when he was at his most polite, which is probably the truest test of breeding." Indeed, Hook's dying words in the play are "Floreat Etona": "May Eton flourish," the school's crested motto. In 1927, more than two decades after the story was put to page, Barrie was invited to Eton to give a lecture. The prompt, as given by the provost a month prior, was to refute the statement: "James Hook, the pirate captain, was a great Etonian, but not a good one." The lecture is here ; and it is magnificent.

Barrie takes the tone of an investigative reporter or prosecutor-judge, dutifully presenting the facts he has found. "We should not even know that he had been an Etonian but for the statement 'Eton and Balliol' in a work that is probably unreliable," he told his young audience, referring to his own writing. Balliol being a college of Oxford, and the one that Hook purportedly attended. Barrie's inquiry unearths books Hook withdrew from the library while at Oxford, "all of them, oddly enough, poetry, and mostly of the lake school;" and a curious medical record indicating that Hook, when hurt on the football pitch, had 'bled yellow. And that "after the fatal affair" with Peter Pan, "a search made in the cabin of his floating hulks brought to light that throughout the years of his piracy he had been a faithful subscriber the Eton Chronicle. Hundreds of copies of it, much thumb-marked, were found littering his bunk." But the magic of the speech comes after Barrie has built his credentials as an investigator, as he describes the fateful return to Eton by a man who loved his school dearly.

A man who knew his own legacy was more damning to the school than perhaps anything else in its past. Barrie's chief source, we learn, was an old Etonian, a man who remained tethered to Windsor—as some alums tend to do—unable or unwilling to venture out. One night, wandering the campus after lights out, G.F.T.Jasparin, the informant, came upon Hook, dressed in the coattails and silk hat of an Etonian, and sitting atop the school's wall. "[N]ever, I say, could I have conceived a Colossus so shrunken," Jasparin recounted to Barrie. "It was mournfully obvious that he was gazing with peeled eyes through the darkness of his present to the innocence of his past, from the monster he had become on the Spanish Main, to the person he had been at Eton." Hook, there atop the wall, where only members of the Eton Society might sit--though Hook was such a member, a Pop--was confronted by a bobby in the night. "Are you a Pop, Sir?" the policeman asked huskily, for he knew that every stone in the wall was listening.

The Solitary not only lowered his hook, but, shocking to relate, hid it behind his back. After an agonizing struggle, "No," he said. Once a Pop always a Pop, but for the honour of Eton Society, he denied his proud connection with it. The solitary had merely to slew around his right arm to end the fellow, but for the honour of the school, he humbly got off the wall-his wall. Hook was seen later that night by others on campus. And it is clear that he had returned to tear his records from the Eton Society's logs. And that, not long thereafter, the captain died. A will, returned to his aunt Emily by a landshark of Rio, left all his belongings to Eton; the school's governor refused the marauder's pillagings. Barrie weaves together the sights and traditions of Eton, and as magnificent as his words are on the page, we are left to imagine what Eton's first hundred felt that July evening, as this knighted playwright brought his character to life in a way never witnessed before or again; there is something altogether terrific about a writer furthering his creation with the spoken word.

Closer to present day, there was J.K. Rowling's frustrated announcement that Albus Dumbledoor was gay. And J.R.R. Tolkien made a habit of giving further depth to characters in letters to his fans. Crafting elaborate back story is not altogether extraordinary, but rendering it from the podium, before live audience, is something wonderful. Perhaps, for Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies children who inspired his story[3], the characters never belonged on the page; nor to the confines of fiction. In 1960, Peter Davies, by then a celebrated publisher, threw himself in front of a train in London's Sloane Square station. He had com refer to the play as "that terrible masterpiece." Michael Davies, quietly Barrie's favorite of the boys by several accounts, drowned mysteriously while in his first year at Oxford. George was killed in 1915, in World War I. D.H. Lawrence, the English novelist and Barrie's contemporary, wrote in a letter following Micheal's death that "J.M. Barrie has a fatal touch for those he loves." Much has been made of Barrie's relationship with the boys.

He became their guardian once both parents died, actually altering Sylvia Llewelyn Davies' will to such effect. He sent all but one of the boys to Eton, the nobility of romanticism of the place capturing him like so many others. The most recent popular work to tackle the relationship was the film Finding Neverland . The homely Scotsman was certainly no Johnny Depp, and the film neglects that Barrie found his way into the family's life well before Arthur, the father, had died in 1907. The relationship between the two men was certainly complex; Arthur, a struggling lawyer whose cancer left half of his face mangled; Barrie, a wealthy and renowned playwright whose fortune was made on the imaginations of Arthur's sons. For many, the final verdict on Barrie's relationship with the boys comes from Nico, the youngest of the Davies boys and the one most fully raised by Uncle Jim. I "never heard one word or saw one glimmer of anything approaching homosexuality or paedophilia," he wrote, and "had he had either of these leanings in however slight a symptom I would have been aware.

He was an innocent—which is why he could write Peter Pan." When Peter Pan, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up was first staged at the Duke of York's theater in December of 1904, no one knew what to expect; the entire process had been shroud. London's theater goers, Andrew Birkin notes in his biography of Barrie, "had been subjected to a bombardment of 'problem plays,' concerned with social criticism and steeped in gloom,' over the preceding years." "When a curtain rose to reveal a dog preparing a small boy for his bath, it was greeted with stunned silence—followed by a gasp of astonished delight." "For the rest of the of the evening," Birkin writes, "the elite of London society, with few children among them" that night, "succumbed as one to Barrie's spell." Peter Davies was smothered beneath the weight of Barrie's tale, but it has given life to countless children around the world. And I thank the Llewelyn Davies boys for the story; and Barrie, for refusing to confine their story to page. Happy holidays.

[1] The count of Old Etonian prime ministers is either 18 or 19, depending if one includes Earl Waldergrave, who failed to form a government at the King's request in 1757. [2] Pop is the nickname of the Eton Society, the most exclusive club in the school; although the tradition has faded, they were previously the only boys allowed to sit atop the school wall. George Davies, white at Eton, was a member, as was Prince William. [3] Barrie, in his introduction to the Peter and Wendy, dedicates the work to " The Five ." He writes, "I made Peter by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produce a flame. That is all he is, the spark I got form you." Captain Hook – Neverpedia, the Peter Pan wiki Captain Hook, ill. by Greg Hildebrandt Captain James Hook is the antagonist of J. M. Barrie 's play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its various adaptations. He is the villainous captain of the galleon Jolly Roger , where he commands a crew of pirates through guile and others' fear of him.

He wears a big iron hook in place of one hand, which was cut off by Peter Pan and eaten by a crocodile. The crocodile liked the taste so much that he follows Hook around constantly, hoping for more. Luckily for Hook, the crocodile also swallowed a clock, so Hook can tell from the ticking sound when it is near. Hook has sworn revenge on Peter for this. Barrie states in the novel that "Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze." Despite some speculation as to whom Barrie was referring, it seems likely that he was simply teasing, and had no historical figure in mind. Hinting at a resumé for the character, Barrie explains that "he was Blackbeard's boatswain, and that he was the only man Long John Silver ever feared". In the play, Hook's final words are "Floreat Etona", the motto of Eton College , and Barrie confirmed in a speech delivered in 1927 at Eton that Hook had been a student there.

In Barrie's story, Hook captures Wendy Darling , the girl who loves Peter and whom Peter views as his surrogate mother, and challenges the boy to a final duel. When Hook is beaten, Peter Pan kicks him overboard to the open jaws of the waiting crocodile below. Just before his defeat, however, he takes a final jab at Peter by taunting him about his "bad form". Peter, with the callousness of youth, quickly forgets Hook and is said to go on to find a new nemesis, but Hook's popularity has made him a staple of sequels, the title character of a big-budget Hollywood feature film, and a household name. Contents 12 Cameos in other Media Creation of the character Although pirates had previously featured in Barrie's play adventures with the Llewelyn Davies boys as he was developing ideas for the play, Hook did not appear in early drafts of the play; the capricious and coercive Peter Pan was the "villain" of the story. The pirate captain was created for a "front cloth" scene to be staged in front of the curtain while the set was changed from Neverland back to the Darling nursery, depicting the children's journey home.

Barrie expanded the scene, knowing how much children were fascinated by pirates, and expanded the role of the captain as the play developed. The character was probably named (at least in part) as a play on the name Captain James Cook , the legendary 18th century navigator. The character was originally cast to be played by a woman: Dorothea Baird , the actress also playing Mary Darling . Gerald du Maurier , who was already playing George Darling (and the brother of Barrie's dear friend Sylvia Llewelyn Davies ), persuaded Barrie to let him take the additional role instead, a casting decision that has since been replicated in many stage and film productions of the Peter Pan story. Appearance His most striking feature is his hook. The script of the play and the text of the novel state clearly that the hook replaces his right hand. However, in many presentations, the hook replaces his left hand, usually for the convenience of the (right-handed) actor playing the part, who may be unskilled at handling a sword and performing other routine stage business with his left hand. This was even true in Disney's animated version, in which Hook's actions were modeled for the animators by voice actor Hans Conried , who was right-handed.

In both Hook and the 2003 Peter Pan film, the hook was shown to be removable, with various interchangeable prosthetic attachments. In the novel Peter and Wendy , Hook is described as "cadaverous" and "blackavized" (dark-faced), with blue eyes and long dark curls which look like "black candles" at a distance. In most pantomime performances of Peter Pan, and in the film Hook , Hook's hair is simply a wig. He is also described as having a "handsome countenance" and an "elegance of [...] diction" – "even when he [is] swearing". The novel further states that "In dress he somewhat aped the attire associated with the name of Charles II", and accordingly he is usually presented wearing a large feathered hat, a greatcoat (often red), and knee breeches. Barrie also said of him in "Captain Hook at Eton" as, "In a word, the handsomest man I have ever seen, though, at the same time, perhaps slightly disgusting". While Hook is an evil and bloodthirsty man, Barrie makes it clear that these qualities make him a magnificent pirate and "not wholly unheroic".

Disney Hook in the Walt Disney version of Peter Pan The version of Captain Hook who appears in the Disney animated film adaptation of Peter Pan is somewhat of a fool, prone to crying out for help as well as being called a codfish and having his clothes repeatedly ruined. Though Hook is somewhat more comically inept than other Disney Villains such as Maleficent or Jafar, he still has his evil moments and despises being made a fool. Development In early development, the story department wrote their analysis of Hook's character: "He is a fop...Yet very mean, to the point of being murderous. This combination of traits should cause plenty of amusement whenever he talks or acts." Frank Thomas was the directing animator of Hook. According to Disney's Platinum release bonus features, Hook was modeled after a Spanish King. One director insisted that Hook should be a darker villain with no comedic traits. Yet this would not work during the crocodile scenes. The animators realized he could not be truly evil, because of the children in the film that he would be threatening. The result is a "bad guy", but only to the point of matching Peter Pan.

Actor Hans Conried set the tone for Disney's interpretation of Hook, as he was the original voice for the Captain, as well as Mr. Darling in the same film. In addition Conried's acting skills were used, as he performed live-action reference for the two characters. In modern animation, Hook is voiced by Corey Burton . Appearances Captain Hook is introduced in the animated film as a sinister, frustrated man, plotting to trap Peter in his lair, but also a bit of a buffoon, hiding from the crocodile nicknamed 'Tick Tock' who took off his hand. He seeks revenge on Peter Pan for having fed the crocodile his hand amidst battle, and will keep his ship and its crew anchored in Never Land's waters until he finds the boy. Hook is a dangerous villain, without conscience, yet is dependent on his sidekick, Mr Smee. He is fairly cunning and has a bit of a taste for loopholes in contracts or deals — after he promises Tinker Bell that he will not lay a finger (or a hook) on Peter, he then lays a bomb in Peter's hideout, since he didn't say he wouldn't do that.

When Peter defeats Hook, he begs for mercy and promises to leave Neverland forever. However, Hook tries to attack Peter again, only to be foiled. At the conclusion of the film, Hook is being chased by the crocodile off into the distance. Walt Disney insisted on keeping Hook alive, as he said: "The audience will get to liking Hook, and they won't want to see him killed." In the sequel Return to Neverland , Hook's comical side is expanded to the point where the character becomes, almost, a complete fool, little more than a joke. He mistakes Wendy's daughter Jane for her thinking she is the young Wendy, and using her as bait to lure Peter Pan to his death. After this fails, he promises to take Jane home if she'll help him find the island's treasure (which leads to his taste for loopholes being made a comical trait as well). Unlike the rest of his crew, Hook is still competent enough to do something right, and takes Jane captive in the final battle. However, he is quickly subdued and thrown into the water by Peter.

His ship is sunk by the huge, almost blind octopus who believes him to be a fish, and he and the pirates flee with the octopus behind them. It is unknown if they are ever eaten or not. In the upcoming preschoolers show Jake and the Neverland Pirates , Captain Hook and Mr. Smee will continually match wits with the pint-sized pirate crew on the search for treasure. Hook also appeared frequently on Disney's House of Mouse, and was one of the main villains of Mickey's House of Villains who take over the House of Mouse. He also appeared in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Occasionally, Hook appears in the Scrooge McDuck universe of comic books as the nemesis of Moby Duck, a whaler cousin of Donald Duck. Disney's Villains' Revenge He stars in the Disney Interactive computer game, Disney's Villains' Revenge. He stole the happy ending of Peter Pan and altered the story. Peter was reduced to an elderly man and lost his fighting touch. The player went against Hook in a duel and won, defeating Hook. Captain Hook fought the player again in the final battle, but saw his ship destroyed. He retreats to Skull Rock where he fires cannonballs.

Unfortunately, one is deflected and sends him flying into the sky. As he flies past the moon, he says to himself "I hate happy endings!" Kingdom Hearts Captain Hook (フック船長|Fukku Senchō) appears in the Action/RPG game Kingdom Hearts , in cooperation with Maleficent and other villains. He uses his pirate ship to get himself between worlds. He takes Riku along with him, where Kairi is being held. Hook does not like Riku's bossiness and regrets taking him along; nonetheless, he follows his orders, as Riku now has control over the Heartless and would most likely unleash them on him should he disobey. When Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy arrive in Neverland , Riku throws them in the hold where they meet and escape with Peter Pan, who is searching for his friend Wendy. Captain Hook believed that Wendy was a "Princess of Heart" and that is why he captured her. However, Riku reports to him from Maleficent that Wendy is not a Princess of heart at all, irritating Hook. After defeating the Heartless below deck, Sora fights a copy of himself summoned by Riku in Hook's office.

After confronting Hook on the deck, Sora and company realize that Riku escaped toHollow Bastion with Kairi. Hook then flees to his office. Using a voice imitation of Smee , Hook's right hand man, Peter Pan tricks Hook into thinking everything is all clear. Hook returns to the deck and is thrown into a fight with Sora and the others. He proves a powerful swordsman and bomb expert, but no match for the Keyblade. Hook is thrown overboard and is chased into the horizon by his arch nemesis, the Crocodile , as usual. He later reappears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a figment of Sora's memories. In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, he and Mr. Smee have found a large amount of treasure maps all leading to boxes that are actually set to release Heartless once Hook opens the chest (Unknown to Hook and Smee, however, is that these chests were set up to help build Pete's Heartless army). He is absent in Kingdom Hearts II, but appears in the prequel, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. His Japanese voice actor was Chikao Ōtsuka .

Epic Mickey In the video game Epic Mickey, the Captain Hook of the game's Wasteland setting, has been captured and converted into a robotic Beetleworx by the forces of the Mad Doctor, and is now converting members of his crew into robots, save for a group of escapees lead by Mr. Smee to the town of Ventureland. Mickey and Gus must travel to the conversion machine at Skull Rock and either disable or reverse its effects, then go into the pirate town of Tortooga to find the Jolly Roger and battle Hook on their own or with the aid of Peg Leg Pete taking on the guise of Peter Pan. Live events Captain Hook also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character, as well as part of the dark ride Peter Pan's Flight . In Fantasmic! at Disneyland, there is a scene in which we see Captain Hook and Peter Pan duelling aboard the Jolly Roger (portrayed by the Sailing Ship Columbia). This is replaced by a short re-enactment of Disney's Pocahontas at Disney MGM studios. At Disney World's Dream-Along with Mickey show, Hook, along with Smee, is one of the villains that crashes Mickey's party.

This happens when Peter and Wendy appear to make Goofy's dream for some adventure come true and play a game of "Pretend to Be Pirates" with Donald Duck, who pretends to be the captain until the real Hook appears and challenges Peter to a duel. At first, Hook's appearance seems to take place for no reason other than to add some action to the show, but is revealed to actually be working for Maleficent, who is insulted after not being invited to the party. He is defeated by Mickey Mouse, who leads the audience in a chant of "Dreams come true!", and scares off the villains. At the Disney Villains Mix and Mingle Halloween Dance Party at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Hook is summoned up by Maleficent along with the other villains (Cruella De Vil, Judge Claude Frollo, Jafar, The Queen of Hearts, The Evil Queen) and co-hosts along with her, revealed by him being the only one of the villains beside her to sing and also being the villain that dances with her. Peter Pan (1954 musical) Cyril Ritchard played Captain Hook in the 1954 musical adaptation which starred Mary Martin as Peter Pan.

Peter Pan - The Animated Series (no boken) Captain Hook and crew In 1989, the Japanese Nippon Animation produced 41 episodes of Peter Pan - the Animated Series ; this was aired on World Masterpiece Theater and in several other countries. Hook's personality was far closer to the original character from Barrie's novel. Rather than the more clownish Hook portrayed in the Disney version, Hook was an aggressive strategist, feared by his crew and everyone else, except Peter. Besides his first objective, which is to destroy Peter Pan, he also is eager to become Neverland's first king. Hook also had a second hook-hand that both looked and functioned in a similar fashion as a crab claw. He was voiced in the Japanese version by Chikao Ōtsuka , who also portrayed the Disney incarnation of the character in Japanese media, particularly in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Peter Pan and the Pirates cover to episode on VHS In 1990, Fox Broadcasting Company produced the television series Peter Pan and the Pirates . Appearance wise, Hook was more early 18th century rather than the classic Charles II English Restoration period. He also had white hair, rather than black.

Hook's personality is far closer to Barrie's original character; He terrifies his crew, brutalizes his enemies, has no fear (except where the crocodile is concerned), shows great intelligence and is passionate about plays by William Shakespeare. He was voiced by Tim Curry , who won an Emmy for this part. While the original version of Hook was said to have learned the pirating trade as the cabin boy of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, this version learned it as the Midshipman of his elder brother, a notorious pirate who commanded a frigate called the Rake. Originally engaged to a young woman, one Christmas Day raid sees the Hook brothers (Hook's name in this account is given as "James Hook") capture a ship transporting Hook's fiancee, Cecilia. Also on a Christmas Day, the two brothers have a disagreement over the sharing of the loot, fighting a duel in which Hook leaves the ship after gouging out his brother's eye, thus earning him the moniker of "Captain Patch". While Hook eventually finds his way to Neverland, and thus a form of immortality, Patch perishes somewhere, his treasure eventually ending up in Neverland.

One episode involves Hook finding the treasure, and unwittingly awakening the malevolent ghost of his elder brother. This incarnation have no realy fear before the crocodile, he hates him more like Peter Pan. Hook (1991 Film) Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook In the film Hook , Captain James Hook is played by Dustin Hoffman . Hook kidnaps the children of a now adult Peter to lure his arch-enemy back. He then negotiates with Tinker Bell to let the out-of-shape Peter have three days to rekindle his spirit. He is somewhat depressed since Peter Pan, now named Peter Banning (played by Robin Williams ), has left Neverland, and worries he has nothing left to accomplish, having killed the crocodile and made it into a foundation for a clock tower. He wants to have a grand war with Peter to end all wars on Neverland, but is upset to learn Peter has grown up and has forgotten everything. He also has grown tired of killing Lost Boys.

In one scene, he attempts to shoot himself, after which he comments, "Death is the only great adventure I have left." He keeps a clock museum full of broken clocks, since he becomes gripped with fear when he hears one ticking, possibly because of the crocodile or the reminder of his old age. Ultimately, this phobia is one of the factors that leads to his defeat. At the same time, Hook tries to attempt to brainwash the children by saying the father never loved them, and he is successful with Peter's son, Jack. Peter does return and gets his children back, and to give Hook the final battle he desires. In the end he duels Peter in a circle of Lost Boys holding him at bay with clocks, and is apparently "eaten" by the crocodile who seems to temporarily come back to life and falls on top of him. His final words are: "I want my mummy!" In the film, Hook's hook is on his left hand due to Hoffman being right-handed, and has other attachments besides the hook, including a goblet and a pointer. He dresses very elegantly with a gold-trimmer red coat, matching hat, and a wig that hides his balding head.

He keeps a ceremonial captain's sword at his side, but switches it for a proper dueling sword when fighting Rufio and Peter. Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth According to the (non-canon) novel Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth , Captain Hook was born the illegitimate son of a nobleman, "Lord B", and an unnamed woman Hook has never met (however, throughout the story, there are multiple clues in the way characters act and react that the unnamed woman may in fact be the Queen). Denounced by Lord B, James Matthew is brought up by a Shakespearean actress he calls Aunt Emily. When he is fifteen he unwillingly attends Eton College as an Oppidan scholar. James strives to reach the top of his class at Eton. He is an avid reader of the Shakespeare and Shelley, and his motto is "Knowledge is Power". He describes many things as first rate - "Topping Swank", and he punctuates his sentences with "The End." He is very interested in the French Revolution.

In the novel James has only a few friends - Roger Peter Davies, whom he nicknames "Jolly Roger" and later names his ship after; and his pet Electra, a fatally poisonous spider. However, James Matthew has many enemies, particularly Arthur Darling, a seventeen-year-old Colleger, whom he rivals in studies, fencing, sports, and the attentions of the visiting Ottoman Sultana Ananova Ariadne. Although James successfully woos Ananova, their mutual affection sets off a chain of political outrage that affects the noble position of Lord B. Lord B selfishly arranges for James to leave Eton on his trading ship, the Sea Witch. But the deeply hurt James doesn't leave without defeating Arthur in a final fencing duel, terrifying him with a home-made guillotine. He also burns his own school records so there would be no traces of his well-liked "notorious" behaviour. James leaves Eton with Jolly Roger. Once on the trading ship, he meets the boatswain Bartholomew Quigley Smeethington, generally called Smee . Smee and all the other sailors live in terror of their ruthless captain, who, in a cruel twist, also happens to be a Christian priest.

James, as always, is able to empathize with the underdogs. When James discovers in horror that his father is a slave trader, he frees the slaves on the ship and overthrows the ship's captain (who then is killed by Electra), and then murders the quartermaster with a metal hook. Throughout Capt. Hook, author J.V. Hart relates events in James Matthew B's life to events in James Matthew Barrie's life and the lives of the Davies children; including naming James' arch-enemy after the Davies' father. But the author mainly expands upon details in Barrie's original play and novel, while changing a few key points - he ascribes James' strange colouring and yellow blood to a blood disorder; James' long dark hair is natural, rather than the usually suggested wig; James is christened "Hook" after murdering the quartermaster of the Sea Witch, rather than in reference to his prosthetic hand (in the original novel, Hook was known as "Hook" before he lost his hand, so this is consistent).

Peter Pan (2003 film) Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook in 2003 film Peter Pan In this 2003 film version of Peter Pan, Captain James Hook is portrayed by British actor Jason Isaacs . Jason Isaacs plays also the role of George Darling, Wendy's father, following a tradition that comes from the original play. In this version Jason Isaacs has the hook on his right hand. Even though Isaacs is right-handed this allowed him to have more mobility with the hook which the film-makers believed was more important. In this version, his hook also requires a shoulder harness to be worn while it is fastened on, presumably to help regulate the weight Hook feels while using it. Hook, in this film is portrayed in the classic, for the most part. He is feared, is ruthless, of a gentleman-like nature. He entrances Wendy for a while, but she later proclaims to him that she'd rather die than be a pirate. In this film, Hook also learns to fly, thus almost defeating Peter. Ultimately the bad thoughts bring him down and he drops, resignedly, into the crocodile's mouth.

Peter and the Starcatchers Black Stache In the novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson , Captain Hook is at his nastiest - he is described as greasy, dirty and filthy, with terrible breath, beady black eyes, and a pock-marked face. He eats raw meat in his room, often leaving the food on his bed. This grotesque image of Hook contrasts strongly with J. M. Barrie's Etonian gentleman. In Peter and the Starcatchers, which takes place before the captain meets Peter Pan, Hook is called "Black Stache" because of his moustache, and his ship is called the Sea Devil - he obtains the Jolly Roger after using a corset-shaped sail to attack a British ship named the Wasp. In this prequel, although Peter cuts off Hook's hand, he does not throw Hook's hand to the crocodile; the animal simply gobbles it up in passing. Black Stache is renamed Captain Hook in the second installment, Peter and the Shadow Thieves. Which hand is severed differs. In Barrie's original novel, his right hand was purposely cut off by Peter.

In Barry and Pearson's adaptation, his left hand was accidentally cut off by Peter. Peter Pan in Scarlet Geraldine McCaughrean's authorized sequel to Peter Pan gives Peter a new nemesis, while bringing back the old favourite. Ravello, a circus man in a constantly ragged woollen coat. Ravello offers Peter a servant and to ensure his well being in the search for the treasure. Ravello provides - through a red coat and a bad influence - that Peter Pan is increasingly in the direction of Captain Hook turns. He sees himself not as a living person, because he only eats eggs and no longer sleep there. He is revealed of the middle of the book to be the old James Hook, who escaped the crocodile, when the muscle contractions meant to crush and digest him broke the vial of poison he kept with him at all times. The poison killed the crocodile, and Hook used his hook to claw out, but he was a changed, ugly man. The scarred visage that emerged from the crocodile's belly was not the noble pirate who went forthwith from the deck of the Jolly Roger, but Ravello, the travelling man.

Ravello has many animals in front lions, bears and tigers. Ravello gives another clue to his true identity when one of the Lost Boys asks Ravello his name: He thinks for a while, as if trying to remember, and finally says the name his mother gave him was Crichton, but that names given by mothers don't mean anything. One of Ravello's trophies is an Eton trophy dated 1894. If Hook was 18 - the last year of an Etonian - in that year, then he was born in 1876, a full one-hundred and one years after his appearance at The Pirates' Conference [see below], and even further after the times of Blackbeard and Long John Silver. It must also be said that Hook in this book denies that he was ever with Blackbeard, claiming that he would never have served such an uneducated man and that all suggestions that he has are merely rumours started by his enemies. Only upon receiving Wendy's kiss, and five weeks' worth of sleep, does the real James Hook again reveal himself.

Cameos in other Media Hook in the Shrek version Captain Hook appears briefly in the animated film Shrek 2 , as the piano player in a tavern, and in the karaoke scene at the end, sings "Hooked on a Feeling". He is voiced by and partly modeled on Tom Waits, who wrote and performs his song "Little Drop Of Poison". He appears as a speaking character in Shrek the Third (voiced by Ian McShane) as a minor antagonist, and still plays the piano even while his men fight Shrek and co. While not making an appearance, Captain James Hook is mentioned in the Pirates of the Caribbean novel, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom . Although he is only mentioned only " James ", it was confirmed that James and Captain Hook are one and the same by the book's author, A.C. Crispin. Captain Hook appears briefly in the comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at a "pirate conference" that featured other notable characters such as Long John Silver, Doctor Syn, and Captain Pugwash. In the pirate themed real-time strategy video game Tropico 2, Captain Hook is listed as one of the historical figures the player can choose from.

The game even refers to Hook's fear of crocodiles and questions whether Hook really lost his hand in combat or cut it off intentionally. However, he is listed as a Spanish character, not English. Captain Hook features prominently in " The Wendy Trilogy ", a song-cycle retelling of the Peter Pan story in which Wendy accepts Hook's offer to become a pirate instead of refusing as in the original story. The Pirate Empire: A Short Biography of Captain Jas. Hook Fascinating facts about Pirates, their lives, weapons, ships, and history, by the author of The Pirate Empire, available on Amazon. Monday, June 10, 2013 A Short Biography of Captain Jas. Hook Perhaps the most famous pirate ever, James Hook (not his real name) is the villain of the Peter Pan story, created by J. M. Barrie, originally as a play and later for the novel Peter and Wendy. Mr. Barrie’s original villain for the famous play was Peter Pan himself, showing the pirates only in an image on a painted curtain as the children fly back to London. Barrie, however, soon rewrote the play to give the pirates a much more prominent part, for the simple reason that children love pirates.

Barrie states in Peter and Wendy that the circumstances of Hook’s birth are so scandalous that "knowledge of them would set the country ablaze.” A later, unauthorized book, “Capt. Hook: Adventures of a Notorious Youth” lists his parents as “a certain Lord B__” and Queen Victoria. In this book, Hook has a romantic and sports rivalry with Alfred Darling (Wendy’s father) before he burns his school records and runs away to sea. All sources agree that Hook, whatever his origins, was educated at Eton. Barrie went so far as to give a speech at the school, “Captain Hook at Eton,” and in the play, Hook’s last words are the Eton motto, Floreat Etona. Barry quickly became enamored with his second-most famous character. He variously described Hook as “the handsomest man I ever saw,” with an “Elegance of diction… even when swearing.” Hook is blue-eyed, dark haired, cadaverous, yet elegant in dress, choosing to emulate the style of English king Charles II. He has personally invented a device that enables him to smoke two cigars at once, for twice the panache.

His elaborate, curly dark hair is usually a wig, and almost always accompanied by bushy black eyebrows and a luxurious mustache. Barrie was quite clear that Hook was brutal in the extreme, but also stated that his brutality only made him a better pirate captain. Intelligent, brave and daring, Hook has only two fears. The best known is his terror of the ticking crocodile which ate his hand and now follows him, hoping for the rest. But he also fears the sight of his own blood. Barrie said that a rare disease had rendered Hook’s blood yellow in color – a shameful thing for a pirate. Another factor of Hook’s character lies in the fact that he is most often portrayed by the same actor who plays the father of the Darling children. Barrie had originally wanted the part played by the actress who portrayed Mrs. Darling, as she is the parent closest to the children’s fantasy life. But the actor, Gerald du Maurier, campaigned for the part and got it, and the portrayal of both parts by the same actor has since become traditional. In the Disney cartoon version, though the characters look very different, both are voiced by Hans Conried.

Hook’s famous rivalry with Peter Pan began when Peter cut off Hook’s hand and fed it to a salt-water crocodile. Whether this was unintentional or on purpose changes depending on who’s telling the story. Another detail is also in flux – which hand did Peter cut off? Barrie said it was the right one, and Disney’s cartoon backs him up. But Dustin Hoffman, the most famous live-action Hook, used his left hand for the hook, and most film versions have done the same. It’s very clear that Hook dies at the end of Barrie’s play. Other playwrights attempted sequels with other villains, but the public made their wishes clear: only Hook would do as a nemesis for Peter Pan. In “Peter Pan in Scarlet,” the only authorized sequel, Hook reappears as Ravello, a circus performer who becomes Peter’s valet and lures the boy into becoming a replacement pirate. The work clearly states that Ravello is what’s left of Hook after passing through the crocodile. Most other sequels dodge this point. Hook, like Pan, is immortal, timeless, and will return, no matter what. And Mr. Smee, Hook’s famous sidekick?

Bartholomew Quigley Smeethington originally met Hook on the ship, Sea Witch, and followed him onto the Jolly Roger, Hook’s magical brig that has the power to carry her pirate crew between Neverland, Earth and other magical realms. Smee has been described by various authors as “Irish,” the ship’s bosun, the ship’s first mate, Hook’s valet, Hook’s left-hand man, and the Jolly Roger’s cook. Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins put their minds together on the set of the movie Hook, trying to figure out what, exactly, the relationship between Hook and Smee might be, and decided that, more than anything the pair reminded them of an old gay couple. Hook has become such a famous pirate that he may have transcended his famous rival. He has appeared in countless stage productions, animated series guest appearances and video game plots. He can be met in the Disney parks. He’s in a Japanese TV series, Italian comic books, and the book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom. He currently appears on the TV series Once Upon a Time, sailing the Jolly Roger between worlds and betraying alliances left and right.

You see, Hook has recently achieved a remarkable feat for a fictional character. He’s outlived his copyright. Now in the public domain, available to all writers, he may just show up anywhere. Posted by TS Rhodes at J M Barrie and his predatory passion for the real Peter Pan | Daily Mail Online comments For more than a century, the story of Peter Pan has enchanted children and adults around the world. But J. M. Barrie’s magical tale of the boy who wouldn’t grow up has a darker real-life story at its heart: the author’s obsession with the boy model for his hero, Michael Llewelyn Davies. After meeting Michael and his four brothers in London’s Kensington Gardens, Barrie deftly positioned himself at the heart of their well-to-do family, becoming the boys’ benefactor and guardian after their parents’ early death. But Barrie singled out Michael for his closest attention – a possessive infatuation that the boy found it almost impossible to escape. Tragically, as this enthralling new biography reveals, Michael never really outgrew either the role of Peter Pan, or the jealous grip of J. M. Barrie. J.M.

Barrie playing Captain Hook with Michael Llewelyn Davies in 1905 in the garden of his Surrey cottage It is the summer of 1905 and in the garden of his Surrey cottage, an older man reaches out theatrically to grasp his young male companion in a scene from Peter Pan. You might describe it as the ultimate recreation. For the devilish Captain Hook, with broad-brimmed hat and moustache, is played for the camera by his creator, the author and playwright J. M. Barrie. While the five-year- old child is Michael Llewelyn Davies, the boy on whom Peter Pan was truly based. No one knows whether it was Barrie or Michael himself who came up with the famous closing lines of the play, when Peter Pan says that to die would be ‘an awfully big adventure’. We do know, however, that their relationship came at a tragically high price for the innocent child. RELATED ARTICLES Share It was from the time of this photograph that Michael’s recurring nightmares began.

The real story of Sir James Matthew Barrie’s Peter Pan is both joyous and tragic, the tale of a beautiful boy who was chosen by Barrie (Uncle Jim) to be his gateway to the magical world of childhood. Of the five Llewelyn Davies boys who were the inspiration for Peter Pan, Michael was Barrie’s distinct favourite. ‘We all knew Michael was The One,’ his younger brother Nico later wrote. Indeed, Michael’s friend at Eton and Oxford, Robert Boothby (later infamous for his sexual exploits and association with the Kray Brothers), recalls: ‘Barrie loved him with “a great love”.’ The stage play of Peter Pan opened in London in December 1904 and rapidly became the worldwide phenomenon it remains to this day. Yet the story of the man behind it remains little known and the real motivations a good deal more murky than the later Disney version would have us believe.

Overbearing: The author at the time he first met the Llewelyn Davies boys, left, and Michael in the Peter Pan costume bought for him (right) It certainly would not fit the myth to know that Barrie deliberately came between the parents of his beloved Peter Pan and inserted himself into the family long before the tragedy of both the parents’ deaths, forsaking his own wife in the process. Worse still, he inadvertently instilled in the boy a morbid fear of water – perhaps expressed by the crocodile with the ticking clock in Peter Pan. Drowning is an ever-present fear in the play. It also helped create a sentimental association between the death of Barrie’s own brother by drowning and the idea of a ‘perfect’ union of death and childhood from which the child need never grow up. Years later, this would provide a fatal conclusion to Michael’s outwardly gilded life. Michael was the fourth of five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, born on June 16, 1900, at 31 Kensington Park Gardens. Arthur and Sylvia were a handsome and well-connected couple until fate, in the shape of J. M. Barrie, entered their lives.

Barrie, a boyish figure with a round, full, sensitive-looking face and a faraway look in his eyes, often walked in Kensington Gardens dressed in overcoat and scarf to protect his chest. His constant pipe-smoking had produced a ticklish cough, which friends associated with him as surely as his thick, high-pitched Scottish accent. With his pretty young actress wife, Mary Ansell, and huge St Bernard dog, Porthos, Barrie proved a magnet for nannies, who would frequently press their charges upon him. In those days, nobody batted an eyelid at the sight of a wealthy young man taking an interest in children. It was there that he first met the older Llewelyn Davies children, George and Jack, and baby Peter in 1897. Arthur tried to rescue his family - but his attempts came too late Sylvia embraced Barrie into their lives but her husband Arthur, a successful barrister, was not so sure. He looked forward to spending time with his boys when he wasn’t at work, and found it irksome that he almost always found them at play with ‘Uncle Jim’.

Barrie’s wife, Mary, was another who doubted the growing connection between the writer and the Llewelyn Davies family. She once said that the proximity of their house to the Llewelyn Davieses’ made her husband’s ‘philanderings’ with the boys ‘ever more easy’. Mary was even more hurt when, in November 1902, Barrie took Sylvia and Michael on holiday to Paris, leaving both her and Arthur in their respective homes. By the next summer, Barrie was pinning photographs of the boys on his wall at home and confessing his love for them. When their dog died, she wrote: ‘Buried with Porthos was the first seven years of my marriage.’ Arthur Llewelyn Davies’s response was to move the whole family out of London to Berkhamsted in the spring of 1904 – just as rehearsals for the Peter Pan stage play began. The boys loved it, but the move came too late for Arthur: Barrie had already inveigled himself into the heart of the family. In January 1906, Barrie invited Sylvia and Michael to Paris again, but Sylvia declined, saying Michael was ill. Barrie was not deterred.

He commanded Charles Frohman, the West End impresario, to transport Peter Pan to Michael’s Berkhamsted bedside to act out scenes from the play. By now it was obvious that Barrie and Michael had a special relationship. His younger brother Nico would say that Barrie was in love with Michael, ‘as he was in love with my mother’. If the whole emotional situation was careering out of control, Arthur was then diagnosed with terminal cancer of the jaw. After his death a year later in 1907, Barrie was in an emotionally and financially invincible position to exercise his power over the family – he had earned the equivalent of £3.5 million today in 1906 alone. He was also been divorced from his wife Mary after she had resorted to an affair as a result of Barrie’s neglect. Jeremy Sumpter (left) as Peter Pan in a 2003 film version. The character was inspired by Michael (right), with Barrie in 1912 during a trip to Scotland Barrie stepped into the breach to become the boys’ benefactor. His obsession with Scotland became the big new influence on their lives.

He would soon take the boys there annually, often for two or more months at a time. There they would walk on the wild mountains and fish in remote lochs, which had a lasting effect on Michael. Yet the dynamic between Sylvia and Barrie was nowhere near being a ‘couple’ relationship. She needed his financial support, but it was clear to both that there would be no marriage. When Sylvia died in 1910 from cancer, like her husband, in her early 40s, Barrie was left with the family he wanted above all else. You couldn’t write it, except as a horror story. Which is why Michael continued to be plagued by nightmares about water and ghosts coming through the window, visions that Barrie said only he could calm by sitting with the child all night. Michael would never lose the aura of mysterious innocence and unconscious awareness that characterised his original state, even after the tragedies that were heaped upon him. It was what Barrie loved about him and identified him as the model for Peter Pan. He was an unhealthy little man, that Barrie, in a mental sense In May 1913, Michael went to Eton, where Barrie began to write to him every day.

He continued to write even when he went up to Oxford. More than 2,000 letters were eventually destroyed by Peter Llewelyn Davies, who found them ‘too much’. One boy at school, Roger Senhouse, a year older than Michael, took special notice of him. He had at first been bowled over by the eldest Llewelyn Davies boy, George. He’d caught sight of him standing naked in the shower opposite his room. But then came ‘the ineffable subliminity’ of Michael. Michael and Senhouse appeared inseparable and were, fleetingly, lovers, according to their fellow Etonian Robert Boothby. After Eton, Michael went up to Christ Church, Oxford. It was there that Boothby met Barrie, and saw at once where his friend’s problems lay. ‘It was an unhealthy relationship. He was an unhealthy little man, Barrie, you know? I mean in a mental sense.’ It was at Christ Church that Michael met his closest friend. Rupert Buxton was an unusual boy who had been writing poetry since he was eight. Like Michael, he worshipped Keats and Shelley.

He also had film-star looks, was 6ft 2in tall, athletic and ‘of gigantic physical strength’. By early 1920, there was an intimacy between them that was near to love. One contemporary said they were ‘inseparable… a peerless couple, and everyone who knew either of them loved them’. Another wrote that ‘whoever came into contact with them recognised that they had in more than normal abundance the gift of personality. Either of them might have become an immortal genius or a martyr’. Michael dressed as Peter Pan, the character he inspired. The writer's love for the child was possessive and all-encompassing The new self-confidence that their love gave Michael set his mind free to make his own choices. He wanted to study at the Sorbonne and was drawing away from Barrie. But Barrie wouldn’t let him go. He bought Michael a cottage in Sussex, but Michael wasn’t interested. The writer’s love for Michael was possessive and all-encompassing. Then, on a warm May afternoon during the Eights Week rowing competitions in Oxford, Michael and Rupert set off to swim at Sandford, an idyllic spot on the Thames with high and low pools separated by a weir.

It is also a notorious blackspot for swimming accidents. At 11pm that day, Barrie was approached by a stranger at the door of his flat who said he was from a newspaper and asked if Sir James could oblige him with a few words on the incident. That was how he learned that Michael and Rupert had drowned – some reports said, ‘entwined in each other’s arms’. It was never properly established whether Rupert died trying in vain to rescue Michael, or whether they chose an ‘awfully big adventure’ in the afterlife. ‘What happened was, in a way, the end of me,’ Barrie wrote. But as Peter Llewelyn Davies commented, it wasn’t long before Barrie was making notes for a story based on the tragedy – mining Michael’s death for literature as he had done in life. When Barrie had earlier commissioned the sculptor Sir George Frampton to make the famous Peter Pan statue for Kensington Gardens, Barrie sent him photographs of Michael dressed in the Peter Pan costume he had given the boy on his sixth birthday. ‘Frampton was very taken with Mick’s pictures,’ Barrie wrote to Sylvia Llewelyn Davies.

‘He prefers the Peter clothes to a nude child.’ Like Barrie’s relationship with the real Peter Pan, the comment is disturbingly ambiguous. The real tragedy is that Michael, like Peter Pan, was a boy who, because of Barrie’s obsessive love, was destined never to grow up. Extracted from The Real Peter Pan: The Tragic Life Of Michael Llewelyn Davies, published by The Robson Press on April 7 at £20. Order at mailbookshop.co.uk, where p&p is free for a limited time only.

Question: In JM Barrie's Peter Pan, what school did the fictional character Captain Hook attend?
Answer: Eton