History Characters / HoratioHornblower

!!!Actor: Philip Glenister

* {{Adorkable}}: He's at his most adorkable when he meets Captain Foster, a legend of the Navy, and reacts as an enthusiastic fan-boy, and when he charms people with his clumsy behaviour at his probably very first formal dinner party at the Governor of Gibraltar.

* RaceLift: Well, nationality shift. In the books, naval Lieutenant Côtard was from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernsey Guernsey]]; a British national who grew up speaking French (Hornblower borrowed him because his own French accent wouldn't be natural enough). Here, he's straight-up French, which gives him a deeper backstory as well as a lot of conflict with the British characters.

!!Colonel Marquis de Moncoutant

* CatchPhrase: "Vive le roi!" That's about his only concern about the Restoration of the monarchy, and he repeats it whenever he can.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Charette]], although he was considerably younger than portrayed here.

!!Captain Hammond
!!!Actor: Ian [=McElhinney=]

!!Colonel Moncoutant

!!General Charette

* BlueBlood: He's a French baron. General, le baron de Charette, commander in chief of His Majesty King Louis's army in exile.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Charette François de Charette]], although he was considerably younger than portrayed here.

!!!Actor: Peter Vaughan

!!Fauré

!!The Earl of Edrington

[[folder:Senora Ortega]]
!!Senora Ortega
!!!Actress: Katia Caballero
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senor_ortega_250_hornblower_2.png]]

Wife of Colonel Ortega.

* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Senora Ortega speaks English as was demonstrated during her dinner with Mr Buckland, but when she tries to seduce an unfortunate soldier who guarded the Spanish ladies, she invokes this trope and chooses to speak Spanish, a language the English guard didn't understand.
* HappilyMarried: She and her husband appear to be a happy couple, falling perhaps close to SickeningSweethearts. They are very tactile and would hold hands and touch each other a lot.
* HeroicSeductress: Her point of view when she seduces an English guard on the ''Renown''. Her people are prisoners and she tries to help them. For our heroes and from our point of view, she's an evil FemmeFatale who killed the poor stupid guy. He should have checked her for any hidden knives or daggers first, then proceed to have sex.
* HoneyTrap: She seduces an English guard when her people are prisoners on the ''Renown'' and she tries to help them.

[[folder:Ortega]]
!!Colonel Ortega
!!!Actor: Antonio Gil
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/colonel_ortega_250_hornblower_206.png]]

Leader of the Spanish.

* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: He gently caresses his wife's jaw when they exchange a [[MeaningfulLook worried look]] after they were forced to surrender unconditionally.
* DeathByAdaptation: In the novel, Ortega was last seen wounded in the leg, but alive as the prisoners were taken off in Jamaica. In the series, he's shot by Bush, and his death lends a finality to the end of the prisoners' revolt.
* FacialDialogue: When the Spanish are forced to the unconditional surrender by Hornblower's stunt, he's able to communicate to his wife that he wants her to pull the HoneyTrap on their guards. She obliges and manages to set them free.
* HappilyMarried: He and his wife appear to be happy together.

[[folder:Côtard]]
!!Major Côtard

* DismissingACompliment: He dismisses Horatio's reassurances that he's a capable officer in "The Duchess and the Devil" and "The Frogs and the Lobsters".
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: His death was inevitable, being fatally wounded from a battle, so at least he used it to save his friend from the gallows.

* AntiVillain: He's a huge hindrance to Horatio and the other lieutenants, his refusal to do anything about Sawyer puts the ship in deadly danger, and he gives Buckland the [[SarcasmMode good advice]] to drink his problems away. But it's very hard to watch a good friend lose his mind while being able to do nothing about it.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: It's clear that he's been friends with Captain Sawyer for years, which makes his enabling behavior a little more sympathetic. (In the book he was just a ninny who didn't want to take the risk.)

[[folder: Mrs Mason]]

[[folder:Maria Mason]]

!!Captain Capt. Hammond

''Spoilers ahoy! Major spoilers are unmarked.''

!Characters mostly as they were portrayed in the TV series, with dabs at the books:

[[foldercontrol]][[folder:Main Characters]]

* [[BrainyBrunette Brainy Brunet]]: Clever? Check. Brown hair? Check. Optional: Hot and a love interest? Check.

Horatio's first friend in the Navy. After suffering at the hands of Simpson and time in a Spanish prison, he starts to come into his own by the end of the first series and is a capable lieutenant in the second.

!!William Bush

[[folder:Series 1]]

!!Captain Hammond

* PatrioticFervor: No Spanish fruit, dammit! British beer and beef!

[[folder:Series 2]]

[[folder:Series 3]]

* DisappearedDad: Claims to be in Portsmouth to escape “a young lady in Leeds with a swollen belly and an angry father.”

[[folder:Other]]

* CoolBoat: Averted. She's not a fighting ship and is captained by a frail, dying older Captain. Her lieutenants are not very good authority figures. Her middies are bored with inaction and bullied by one particularly nasty midshipman. Her hands are something of an ill-disciplined rabble. And she's smelly to boot. Seriously, not a very cool ship.
* InSeriesNickname: "Slough of Despond", according to Archie. "His Majesty's ship of the line ''Justinian''. Known elsewise to her intimates as the good ship Slough of Despond."

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: [[spoiler:When he becomes The Captain, one would think that he will be sending his midshipmen and lieutenants to participate in landing parties and their missions. However, he insists that exercise will do him good and rarely stays aboard.]]

* EmbarrassingNickname: Their fellow midshipman of a bully calls him "Snotty" and [[spoiler: his wife]] Maria "Horry". The first one is clearly meant to be offensive, but Maria genuinely doesn't know that he dislikes hers. In the books, his crew uses "Old Horny".

* NiceHat: Generally speaking, naval hats are not very flattering, but one midshipman's hat that Horatio wore had a fairly good design. In "The Examination for Lieutenant", Horatio had a very cool, very dashing straw hat. Finally, [[spoiler: Captain's hats look way better that Lieutenant's.]]

* ObliviousToLove: Oblivious to [[spoiler: Maria's]] romantic feelings for him, to Pellew's fatherly love, to Bush's admiration and affection for him in Series Three.

!!!Actor: Robert Lindsay

* ImprobableAimingSkills: {{Lampshaded}} in "The Even Chance" when he shoots [[spoiler: Jack Simpson]] from a very long distance.
* AFatherToHisMen: He really cares for every single man aboard his ship.

* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler:He's severely injured when their ship is taken by escaped Spanish prisoners. He lives long enough to commit a Heroic Sacrifice and falsely testify at their trial to save Horatio's life and career.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:When Horatio finds out that Archie is injured, he's shattered and just hugs him. Archie tries to cheer him up that it's not as bad as it looks, but the ominous blood coming from his mouth indicates that he's dying.]]

* ChekhovMIA: In "The Even Chance", he gets lost in importantly inconclusive way -- lost at sea during a stealth raid, and ''presumed'' dead. [[spoiler:He resurfaces as Hornblower and Hunter's cell-mate in "The Devil and the Duchess".]]

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:His death was inevitable, being fatally wounded from a battle, so at least he used it to save his friend from the gallows.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: He decides to starve himself to death when his spirits are completely broken in the Spanish prison. [[spoiler: Horatio tries to help and he ultimately makes it through.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Interesting that he does not sacrifice his life as he was fatally wounded and dying anyway, but he sacrificed his honour and his good name which mattered a lot back then.]]

** His friendship with Clayton was very deep but when Clayton dies he appears to be too go-hung and excited by the upcoming war that he barely remembers him.
** [[spoiler: He himself becomes a forgotten pal to Horatio. Horatio never mentions Archie in "Loyalty" or "Duty", despite the fact that he was clearly established as one of the most important and closest people in Horatio's life. Fans were not pleased.]]
* GoOutWithASmile:[[spoiler:Archie smiles tearfully at Horatio before he dies.]]

* KillTheCutie: There are several scenes in "Retribution" that endear him to the audience even more[[spoiler:, only to kill him off and break the audience's hearts.]]

* MoreExpendableThanYou: [[spoiler:Archie knows he's dying anyway, so he takes sole blame for the mutiny to save Horatio's life and career.]]
* MortalWoundReveal: [[spoiler:Horatio is worried when he notices that Archie got blood on himself, and is absolutely horrified when he rips his uniform open and sees how serious Archie's wound is.]]
* MotorMouth: He talks super quickly when he's excited.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Was addressed on a LastNameBasis, thus his first name was never given in the book.
* NiceHat: A midshipman's cylindrical hat was tolerably cool. Those pointy side-to-side or front-to-back naval uniform hats look better off, even on Archie.

* SecretStabWound: In "Retribution", he tries to keep secret from Horatio that he has been shot. When Horatio notices, he insists that it's just a scratch and not as bad as it looks.

* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler:In "Retribution", he decides to take the blame for Captain Sawyer's fall, even though probably nobody ever believes him. He's legally declared guilty and as such, his truly Heroic Sacrifice counts.]]

* WouldNotShootACivilian: Finds himself unable to shoot [[spoiler:Wolfe]] in spite of Horatio's order, because the man is unarmed. [[spoiler:When Wolfe tries faking it a second time, though, Bush promptly fills him with lead.]]

* SpitefulSpit: He spits on Hobbs and calls him "Judas" after Buckland says that Hobbs will corroborate his accusation against Horatio. [[spoiler:When on the stand, however, Hobbs refuses to do so.]]

* DuelToTheDeath: He kills Clayton in a duel with pistols who fights by proxy in Hornblower's stead, and another duel with Hornblower marks [[spoiler: his demise, even though Hornblower decides for a cruel mercy and spares his screwed life. Captain Pellew shoots him from distance because Jack's going to murder Horatio by stabbing him In The Back]].

* HateSink: The man is a sniveling coward, a sadistic bully, and an apathetic, lazy leader, not to mention an attempted murderer. Simpson is scum, pure and simple. However, true to the trope, viewers love to hate him. He's a compelling villain.

* CompositeCharacter: His ultimate fate seems to hearken back to "Hornblower During the Crisis," when the commander who takes over the ''Hotspur'' after Hornblower's promotion to post-captain runs aground on a sunny day and spends his time in sullen despair [[spoiler:until he dies by hastily volunteering for a dangerous operation, hoping to save his reputation]].

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:It would seem he appeared in "Loyalty" just to contrast him with the more successful Horatio. Then they dropped an exploding cannon ball on him.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:He blew his brains out after his cause failed and his nephew is killed.]]
* HangingJudge: In the second series. He really wants to execute ''someone'' for what happened on the ''Renown'' and zeroes in on Horatio. [[spoiler: The fact that Hammond's a spy implies that he saw Hornblower as the most competent officer, and thus the one Britain would most miss.]]

* TheMole: [[spoiler:It was revealed in "Loyalty" that he has been secretly working for the Irish resistance his whole life.]]

* BurialAtSea: [[spoiler:He was shot on dry land, but Hornblower decided to take his body and give him a sailor's burial.]]
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:After two attempts at desertion, he considers Horatio's attempts at recapture to be CruelMercy since he's certain to be hanged. So he'd prefer to be shot here, thank you.]]

* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:When he attempts to desert for the last time, Hornblower catches him and wants to have him court-marshalled, which means he'll swing. Bunting considers it cruel and far worse than dying on the spot. He tries to escape and twists Hornblower's pistol, knowing that it'll force Hornblower to shoot him.]]

** She affectionately strokes Archie's forehead when he lies in bed, slowly recovering [[spoiler:from his suicide attempt by starvation]]. Lucky Duchess and lucky Archie.
* AlliterativeName: [[spoiler: Her real name is Katherine "Kitty" Cobham.]]
* BlueBlood: She is a British duchess, and appropriately titled as "Her Grace". She's quite cheeky and spirited. [[spoiler: However, she's no duchess.]]
* BrainyBrunette: She is an older, but still very sexy dark-haired woman with brains.

* MasterActor: [[spoiler:She was impersonating The Duchess of Wharfedale, and for a long time nobody suspected it. She does such a good job acting her part that if Archie and later de Vergesse hadn't recognised her, she would have been escorted home with absolutely no one suspecting she wasn't who she seemed.]]
* MrsRobinson: She's toying with Horatio, perhaps trying to seduce him, but their relationship is in all likelihood innocent.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Possibly the nearest thing he has to a redeeming feature; when the villagers and Republican forces give him a taste of his own medicine, he meets his end fearlessly with a defiant cry of "Vive le Roi!"]]

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The villagers gleefully behead him when the royalist forces collapse.]]
* OffWithHisHead: He owns his personal guillotine, and beheads quite a few villagers. [[spoiler: And it bites him in the butt, as he's executed when the republican forces reach his village.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Captain Sawyer may have been unjust, insane, and violent but seeing how far he's fallen from the officer he used to be, and by the time he is killed, it's hard not to pity him.]]

* TheDrunkenSailor: By the end of "Retribution". [[spoiler:He starts drinking when he realizes he simply isn't made for captaincy and turns full-on drunkard after he's humiliated in court. The last view we have of him is watching his wineglass overflow as he pours.]]

* TheUriahGambit: [[spoiler:Everybody suspects he sent Hornblower to blow up the fort because he felt overshadowed by Hornblower's excellent skills and his inability to command shines all the more brightly for it.]]
* WhosLaughingNow: He spends the whole story being mocked by his captain, the crew, and even Colonel Ortega makes a point of insulting his lack of leadership while tying him up. When Collins calls him the "captain who was caught napping" and the whole court bursts out laughing, Buckland goes over the edge and screams that Sawyer was pushed by Horatio. [[spoiler:But this, too, backfires when Hobbs refuses to corroborate it and Archie confesses instead.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:He's shot by the Spaniards and dies with blood from his mouth, poor thing.]]

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: He dies beside Captain Sawyer defending ''Renown'' against Spanish boarders. In ''Lieutenant Hornblower'' he survived the voyage only to later die when his cutter is capsized in poor weather during the Peace of Amiens.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:He stands up to his bully, decided to kill him and make it look like it happened during a raid, but Alas, Poor Villain! and his strong moral grounds do not allow him to shoot the Captain. They stand together and face the enemy.]]

* IOweYouMyLife: Feels this way towards Horatio and Archie. [[spoiler:Which is why he wants to kill Sawyer during the uprising so he doesn't name either man in court.]]
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Ah, as if killing off one cute beloved character in "Retribution" was not enough. He dies and it is heart-breaking. Such a waste of young life.]]

* DangerousDeserter: Randall and several men decide to desert in "Retribution" when the situation on the ship becomes difficult. Randall clonks Hobbs unconscious, not caring whether it kills him or not, and the deserters hurt or kill several {{Red Shirt}}s on their way to sea. [[spoiler:They are later discovered dead, killed by the slave rebel army who thought they were their former Spanish masters.]]

\\

* AlliterativeName: Maria Mason.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: She's mad about Horatio, but his feelings for her are strictly platonic [[spoiler:and he only marries her out of pity]].

* MamaBear: Mrs. Mason is hard on Horatio because he's not timely with his rent, but also because her husband died at sea and she doesn't want Maria to go through that. She probably thinks he's messing with her feelings.

* BeneathSuspicion: [[spoiler:A coxswain has more responsibility than an ordinary seaman, but between his low rank and Côtard's presence nobody suspects that he's actually a high-ranking Irish rebel.]]

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler:He tries to pull off this dirty trick at the end of "Duty" and tries to fight back and escape after he surrendered. It doesn't end too well for him.]]

* TheMole: [[spoiler:He joins the crew of the ''Hotspur'' and pretends to serve a King in the British Navy, but he's in fact an Irish rebel who works for the resistance and is an ally to Napoleonic France.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:He's wounded in the fight on the beach in France in "Loyalty". Blood from the mouth is an indication that he's not gonna make it.]]

* DirtyCoward: Played for sympathy. Hornblower encourages him to find a profession that is less violent and dangerous. [[spoiler:He insists on staying and winds up ditching Hornblower.]]
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Jack dies on the beach with widened eyes. Hornblower does his duty and shuts his eyes.]]

* AscendedExtra: Is ''mentioned'' as the American wife of [[spoiler:Napoleon's brother]] in ''Hornblower and the Hotspur'', but is a minor character in Series 3.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Though she was never adrift in a storm after her marriage; they traveled to France together (Jerome hoping to talk his brother around) but she was denied permission to enter the country despite being pregnant. [[spoiler:She named her son Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte and went on with her life, becoming a socialite in Europe for a time and managing a wealthy estate.]]

--> '''Hether''' And whose pretty ass did you neglect kissing to find yourself among the fleet's forgotten, eh? Well, speak, Apparition!

* HiddenDepths: He obviously loves theatre as he claims he knew Drury Lane as if it was his home. He has probably a special love for Creator/WilliamShakespeare.

* WorthyOpponent: Colonel Ortega and Wolfe consider him a worthy adversary.

* WorthyOpponent: He gains a great deal of respect for Hornblower and refuses to believe that the escape attempt was his idea.

* InsaneAdmiral: He is an Insane Captain which puts his lieutenants into a horrible, horrible position. A captain at sea is basically the emperor of his ship. Sawyer starts as viciously critical and unjust, continues to be extremely paranoid and ends up genuinely mad. The ship's surgeon, the only person who can intervene, is Captain's friend, an alcoholic and unwilling to pronounce him unfit for command due to loyalty and friendship. Whatever steps the officer consider to take would be ultimately considered a mutiny.

* TheBigBad: The villain and the main antagonist of "The Even Chance".

* TheBigBad: He is the main antagonist of Series Two. It becomes evident when he slipped from being irritable and incompetent into utter paranoia and madness.

* TheBigBad: He's the main antagonist of Series Three and does everything bad, from sabotage (causing Styles to be beaten unjustly) to [[spoiler:trying to launch a French invasion of England]].

--->'''Major Côtard:''' I was expecting a somewhat larger vessel.\\

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bush_hat_250_Hornblower_5445.png]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matthews_250_hornblower_2539.png]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Styles_250_Hornblower_9858.png]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Randall_250_Hornblower_701.png]]

* ElSpanishO: He is usually the one who tries to add the flavour of the foreign accent to his native English. It's usually French: "Come on, French-ie, this-A way-A!" Or "No steal-ie, savvy! You steal-ie, get chop! plenty!! ''damn''!! '''vite'''!!!" The ending is [[PunctuatedForEmphasis properly emphasised]].

* WideEyedIdealist: Believes that raising an army of royalists from the countryside will be effortless and that they'll retake Paris in short order.¨

* TheCaptain: He's got his first command of a captured ship in "The Even Chance". He's visibly chuffed when Matthews addresses him as 'captain', and his division regularly call him that when they're on a mission away from the Indy.[[note]]All officers in command of a vessel are called 'captain' as a matter of courtesy, no matter their rank, but in Hornblower's case it's through respect as well.[[/note]] He started as Midshipman, continued as Acting Lieutenant and Lieutenant, and finally got promoted to the rank of Commander. The third (and thus far final) series ends when he's promoted to Post Captain.

* MoreExpendableThanYou: He steps in in the first episode to get Hornblower out of a duel with nasty Simpson. He thought he should do the dirty work by himself, but he also thought he could win. Little did he know...

* NoNameGiven: Only his surname Clayton is known, even though he's such a prominent character and close to The Hero and his Lancer in "The Even Chance". He used Christian names when he talked to Horatio and Archie, but they always referred to him as Clayton or Mr Clayton. Interestingly, he also called the evil Jack Simpson "Jack", but Simpson called him Clayton.
* PluckyMiddie: He's a midshipman but when he's around and alive, there is no war and his ship is stationed at Spithead. He's probably one of the most senior midshipmen, but he did not stand up to their bully properly, and it shamed him that Horatio, a boy much younger than himself, did. He tries to make amends. Archie later mentions that it was Clayton's dream to serve on a frigate like the ''Indefatigable''.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: He was extremely kind to Horatio and Archie and tried to stand up to Simpson as well as he could, such as in the I-will-trim-the-walls-with-your-brains scene but unfortunately, he was not very effective. He died way too young and his fate was utterly tragic. Poor guy.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Though he was a steady and sensible presence since the first episode, he gets a subplot of his own in "The Wrong War" when he's assigned as Pellew's liason to General Charette and has to make a harrowing escape when the Royalist troops are wiped out.

* TheQuietOne: Lieutenant Chadd hardly opens his mouth, and mostly he only grins or looks worried, awed or amused, as the situation requires. He spoke exactly twice. First when he ordered his men to fire guns, and second when he got a splinter in his arm, he allowed Doctor Hepplewhite to take care of Hornblower's sailor ahead of him because the poor guy had lost his leg.

* DuelToTheDeath: He killed Clayton in a duel with pistols who fought by proxy in Hornblower's stead, and another duel with Hornblower marked [[spoiler: his demise, even though Hornblower decided for a cruel mercy and spared his screwed life. Captain Pellew shot him from distance because he was going to murder Horatio by stabbing him In The Back]].

Sawyer's chief toady. His loyalty is absolute and genuine, but he refuses to see how badly Sawyer's abilities are deteriorating and highly suspicious of his "fall" into the hold.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the book, Hobbes is a fat old man. Here he is neither.
* AdaptationalExpansion: Hobbes gets upgraded from merely being an old toady to someone who has a long personal history serving under Sawyer and is therefore deep in denial over Sawyer's incapacity.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Although he insists that the captain likes he men fighting, he tells Randall off for stealing Styles' drink, sensing that the unrest belowdecks is going too far. And by the end of "Mutiny" he's having a hard time remaining in denial about Sawyer's condition.
* NiceHat: Cylindrical hats for gunners had their level of cool.

* UndyingLoyalty: His loyalty towards Captain Sawyer is admirable to a certain degree, but unfortunately it's really misplaced. He failed to recognize that Captain Sawyer lost his mind and was thus unable to command his ship. He may have even realized that Sawyer was unfit for command, but stood by his captain's side because Hobbs remembered Sawyer from his glory days.

* TheAllSolvingHammer: In fact, that laudanum is his most frequent prescription.

* DoctorJerk: He's the ship's surgeon, and well... a jerk. He's nearly always extremely unhelpful outside of the context of actually performing medical tasks.
* TheDrunkenSailor: He drinks a lot. One memorable scene demonstrated it when the lieutenants tried to pronounce their Captain unfit to command. However, he tried to look cool for a time, but he was absolutely wasted.

* AgeLift: In the book, Wellard was closer to twelve than twenty.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Ah, as if killing off one cute beloved character in "Retribution" was not enough. He dies and it is heart-breaking.]]

Goes beyond surly seaman. He's a brutal bully who thrives in the ship's ill discipline, disrespecting officers and doing what he likes.

* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Takes Styles' mug off the table to antagonize him. Styles doesn't like it and immediately fights back, but it's Hobbs who makes him put it back.