Captain Fortesque

This article is about the cowardly living Dan. For the undead hero, see Sir Daniel Fortesque.

Sir Daniel Wigginbottom Fortesque IV (born 1254), better known as Captain Fortesque, is the cowardly living version of the legendary Sir Dan. Originally destined to die a failure at the Battle of Gallowmere as part of Zarok the Sorcerer's evil scheme, his fate was changed when his future self took his place in the battle using a Body Swap Potion, trapping the Captain in a skeletal body. Hundreds of years after the fact, the Captain would recount the story to Professor Darrow of Cambridge Archaeology.

Captain Fortesque
MediEvilTheGamePrequel-CaptainFortesque.png
Biographical information
AKA
Captain F (by Griff)

Lord Fopdoodle (by Griff)
Gib-faced hornswoggler (by Zarok)
Chicken-hearted fribble (by Zarok)
Lily Liver Fortesque (by Noreen)
Yella belly (by Noreen)

Title(s) Captain of the Militia (1286)
Age 32
Born 1254[1][a]
Gallowmere, Britain
Family Sir Daniel Fortesque (future self)
Lord Cedric Fortesque (father)
Granny Fortesque (grandmother)
Unnamed Fortesque (close relative)
Colonel Freddie Fortesque (relative)
Unnamed younger sibling(s)
Signature MediEvil-RetailerLaunchKit-SirDanSignature-Traced.svg
Coat of arms MediEvilTheGamePrequel-CaptainFCoatOfArms.svg
A purple wolf biting its tail on white.[1]
Behind the scenes information
Designed by Jason Wilson
Appears in The Game Prequel icon.png MediEvil: The Game Prequel
"Lupo! It's time I pay visit on sweet Widow Lucinda! She can pay me this week's rent! Ha! It's good to be me!"
― Captain Fortesque, off to see Widow Lucinda.

History

Early life

Dan was born in the kingdom of Gallowmere in 1254 as the eldest son of Lord Cedric Fortesque. Dan was a spoilt and bratty child who grew up to be a lazy, arrogant teenager. Daniel decided to become a knight solely to impress the maidens. He trained with the best weapons masters in the land, showing a degree of natural talent, but was too lazy to ever deliver on his potential. No matter! With daddy's money behind him, he rose through the ranks of the king's army. And then one day the king's champion, his horse spooked by a toad, was thrown head-first into a well where he promptly drowned. Against all good sense, the king - listening solely to the words of a new advisor - appointed Daniel to be the new Captain of his army.[1]

As a captain

 
The Captain and his hound.

Captain Fortesque was first seen by his undead future self while he was out hunting with his hound Lupo. The Captain decided to return to the castle to pay a visit to Widow Lucinda. His plan was interrupted when the guards at the gates told him that the king wished to see him at once.

In their meeting, the king revealed that the army of the undead was marching upon the castle and that they will reach it within a day. The Captain promptly excused himself as he had wet his pants.

Some time later, the Captain was waiting for Widow Lucinda in his bedchambers. He was startled when the undead Dan walked in instead. Griff, the undead Dan's fairy companion, tried to fajazzle the Captain, but failed, so the undead Dan knocked him out.

 
Griff and a fajazzled Fortesque.

The night before the upcoming battle against the undead, Fortesque tried to escape from the castle. However, he was captured by Griff and his sister Noreen who fajazzled him properly this time, leaving him in a trance-like state. After Noreen's friend Wartilda successfully brewed a Body Swap Potion, the Captain found himself inside the body of his undead future self, who in turn took his body and place on the battlefield. The Captain was left tied up in Wartilda's hut where Lupo watched over him and a gift left behind by the future Dan.

Modern day

 
Captain Fortesque reveals himself.

Hundreds of years later, in the present day, a disguised Captain Fortesque met with Professor Darrow in Cambridge and recounted the story of the Battle of Gallowmere to her.[b] The Professor found his story difficult to believe and questioned how he could have such intimate knowledge of the events. In response, the Captain revealed his identity to the Professor, causing her to scream.

Characteristics

Appearance

13th century

 
The Captain awaits his lover.

The Captain was not a good looking man.[1.1] This was largely due to his massive overbite, which was a familial trait.[4] Captain F had dark hair and blue eyes. He sported a bowl cut with slight sideburns, as well as a moustache and a goatee. He was not in very good shape, as was evident by his pudgy midsection.[1.2]

In terms of dress, Captain F was a man who dressed flamboyantly. His clothes and personal armour were very colourful and flashy. In addition, he would usually wear a codpiece and a gold necklace with a giant pendant that had the letter "F" emblazoned on it.[1.3]

21st century

 
The Captain's disguise.

By the modern day, Captain Fortesque had to adopt a disguise that covered everything due to having his body swapped with his undead self some 700 years prior.[1.4] He wore a grey ensemble consisting of a flat cap, a coat, a scarf, and pants. He also wore brown gloves and shoes. His head was bandaged and he wore coloured glasses with a prosthetic nose. He explained his appearance as being the result of an unpleasant condition.[1.5]

Underneath the disguise, the captain was a skeleton without a jaw. In place of his missing left eye he wore the Eye of Amon Ra.[1.6]

Personality

 
Dan kicks Lupo.
"Erm... I -- er, think I need to go change my britches, I'm ah - very sweaty from all that drilling."
― Captain Fortesque after wetting himself.

As a child, Dan was spoilt and bratty.[1.1] As a teenager, he was arrogant and lazy.[1.1] As an adult, he was just the worst.[5][5.1] Firstly, Dan was a coward: When he learnt that he would have to lead Gallowmere's army against the undead marching towards the castle, he proceeded to wet his britches.[1.7] Secondly, he was a cheat and a braggart; he spent years regaling Gallowmere's nobility with tall tales of slain dragons and vanquished legions.[6][6.1] Thirdly, he was a philanderer, sleeping with women such as Widow Lucinda in lieu of their rent money.[1.8] Finally, and worst of all, Dan was abusive towards his loyal hound Lupo, kicking the dog for wandering off during a hunt.[1.3]

Behind the scenes

Development

See also: MediEvil 3: Fate's Arrow

Captain Fortesque was designed by Jason Wilson for the MediEvil: The Game Prequel comic in 2018. As a character, he was originally conceptualised by Chris Sorrell as part of the 2003 MediEvil 3: Fate's Arrow concept pitch that the comic was based on. Captain Fortesque's eventual role in the comic ended up being largely similar to his role in the concept pitch. However, the idea that Sir Daniel Fortesque was a pompous failure in life originally came from script doctor Martin Pond during the development of the original MediEvil.[7] Chris Sorrell revealed that Captain Fortesque's depiction in the comic was largely inspired by the show Blackadder, specifically the titular main characters from its first two seasons.[3]

The Captain's modern day look pays homage to the character Jack Griffin from the 1933 film The Invisible Man.[8]

Trivia

  • In his room, Captain Fortesque has portraits of himself and a close relative. A similar portrait of the Captain ends up in the possession of Professor Darrow hundreds of years later.

Notes

  1. The years given in MediEvil: The Game Prequel are 100 years off from the dates given in MediEvil 2. For the sake of consistency with MediEvil 2, 100 years have been added to years from MediEvil: The Game Prequel on this page. See GP:CANON for more information.
  2. Though the identity of the modern day Dan is deliberately left unclear,[2] the original outline for Fate's Arrow had the cowardly Dan stay in his heroic counterpart's undead body. Chris Sorrell has also confirmed that Sir Dan is stuck in a time loop,[3] which lends more credibility to the modern day Dan being Captain Fortesque.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    1. 1.1.0 1.1.1 1.1.2 Page 3 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    2. Page 20 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    3. 1.3.0 1.3.1 Page 9 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    4. Page 39 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    5. Page 5 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    6. Page 42 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    7. Page 12 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
    8. Page 10 of   MediEvil: The Game Prequel. Written by Chris Sorrell. Art by Jason Wilson. Published by Titan Comics in 2019.
  2.   "That’s a secret for now and up for discussion. :) It’s something Chris and I had some interesting chats about at length."Jason Wilson (@GunnWriter) on X (formerly Twitter) (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine). Published November 13, 2019.
  3. 3.0 3.1   Q&A with Chris Sorrell on MediEvil Boards. Published February 3, 2020.
  4.   Jason Wilson (@GunnWriter) on X (formerly Twitter) (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
  5.   MediEvil. Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment on October 25, 2019.
    1. Book of Gallowmere in   MediEvil. Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment on October 25, 2019.
  6.   MediEvil manual. Written by Jim Sangster. Designed by Steve O'Neill. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment in October 1998. Download.
    1. Page 8 of   MediEvil manual. Written by Jim Sangster. Designed by Steve O'Neill. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment in October 1998. Download.
  7. Retro Gamer - The Making of... MediEvil on The Mean Machines Archive (PDF file). Published March 27, 2008.
  8.   "We also payed[sic] homage to The Invisible Man in the short story follow up/prequel/sequel to “MediEvil.” So I had to have a little figure of him to stick on my shelf."Jason Wilson (@GunnWriter) on X (formerly Twitter) (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine). Published February 5, 2022.

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