Ashtar Command Book Blog : I am Captain Nemo

Friday, May 2, 2025

I am Captain Nemo

So I decided to have some fun and asked ChatGPT some questions about Jules Verne´s fiction character Captain Nemo...

Is Captain Nemo´s "race" or ethnicity (Indian) revealed in "Twenty Thousand Leauges Under the Seas"? If not, is this a potential continuity error with "The Mysterious Island"?

Captain Nemo's ethnicity is not explicitly revealed in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870). Jules Verne intentionally kept his background vague, describing Nemo as a mysterious figure with deep antipathy toward imperialism, especially British imperialism, but without naming his origin.

However, in The Mysterious Island (1875), Verne explicitly identifies Captain Nemo as an Indian prince, Prince Dakkar, the son of a raja from Bundelkhand, who rebelled against British colonial rule during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. This backstory gives a clear political and ethnic identity to Nemo, aligning his hatred of imperialism with his personal history.

Continuity Consideration

Yes, this can be seen as a continuity retcon rather than a strict continuity error. When Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues, he deliberately concealed Nemo's origins—partly due to political pressures (France's relationship with Britain at the time), which may have influenced his decision to make Nemo's animosity ambiguous. Only later, in The Mysterious Island, did Verne fully flesh out Nemo’s identity, likely taking advantage of a more favorable political climate to express his anti-imperialist message more directly.

Would you like a breakdown of textual clues from Twenty Thousand Leagues that hinted at Nemo’s identity before it was confirmed?

Yes, please.

Here are some of the key textual clues and thematic hints in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas that suggest Captain Nemo may be of Indian origin—even though Verne does not confirm it until The Mysterious Island:

1. Nemo's Hatred of Imperialism (Especially British)

Throughout the novel, Nemo expresses a deep hatred for imperial powers, particularly the British Empire, which seems oddly personal for a supposedly detached scientific recluse.

He attacks and sinks a warship identified only as belonging to a colonial power.
His condemnation of oppression is emotional and passionate, not abstract or philosophical.

🡒 Interpretation: This intensity suggests a personal history with colonial violence—later explained in The Mysterious Island by his experience during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

2. Use of Indian Art and Cultural Elements

Some passages describe decorations aboard the Nautilus that are Eastern or Asian in style.

The library and salon feature artifacts and artworks from various non-European cultures.
Verne never names India, but there's a noticeable inclusion of exotic (from a European perspective) or Orientalist elements.

🡒 Interpretation: These details hint at Nemo’s admiration for or belonging to a non-Western culture.

3. His Use of Sanskrit and Other Non-European Languages

While not emphasized in detail, the crew of the Nautilus uses a unique language, neither clearly European nor easily identified.

Some scholars argue this is a nod to Sanskrit or a constructed language influenced by Indian linguistic roots.

🡒 Interpretation: This foreshadows Nemo’s Indian identity by aligning him with ancient, sophisticated non-Western civilizations.

4. His Name: “Nemo”

"Nemo" means "no one" in Latin, underscoring his desire to remain anonymous and unbound by national identity.

However, this anonymity can also be seen as a disguise—he conceals his real identity (Prince Dakkar) due to political trauma and the fear of reprisal or judgment.

🡒 Interpretation: His refusal to be known is rooted in a backstory Verne hadn’t yet revealed, but which would make perfect sense in hindsight.

5. Sympathy for Oppressed Peoples

Captain Nemo often expresses sympathy and solidarity with the oppressed.

For example, he aids a pearl diver in India, saving the man from a shark and giving him a valuable pearl.
His broader mission involves distancing himself from a world of injustice and war.

🡒 Interpretation: These gestures suggest personal identification with colonized people—consistent with his later identity as a former Indian prince who fought the British.

Summary

All these details were subtle seeds that Verne would later clarify by making Nemo an Indian anti-colonial rebel in The Mysterious Island. What initially seemed like thematic ambiguity becomes a retrospective continuity—not a contradiction, but a reveal that recontextualizes earlier clues.

Would you like me to find or provide translated excerpts from those scenes as supporting evidence?

Is Nemo´s skin color or physical features ever described in the novels? Couldn´t this be a continuity error, since it would be difficult in real life to hide an Indian ancestry?

Excellent question—and you're right to raise this as a potential continuity issue.

Does Verne describe Captain Nemo’s physical appearance?

In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Captain Nemo is described, but Verne’s portrayal is brief, ambiguous, and somewhat racialized by 19th-century European standards. Here's a key description from the book:

“He was a man of about forty, a tall and strong figure, with a proud head, a high forehead, straight nose, a well-marked mouth, fine teeth, thick black hair, and a long beard. His eyes were dark, and had a melancholy expression, full of intensity.”

Notably:

He is described as dark-eyed with thick black hair and a long beard.
His skin color is not explicitly stated, but the general tone of his features is often interpreted as “exotic” or “Eastern” in European literature of the time.
There are no strong clues that would clearly identify him as European or non-European by skin color alone.

Does this create a continuity error with The Mysterious Island?

Possibly, but not necessarily, depending on interpretation.

Reasons it might be a continuity issue:

In 19th-century Europe, a man of clearly South Asian (Indian) appearance would likely stand out, especially to European characters like Professor Aronnax.
Aronnax does not note Nemo’s ethnicity as unusual, which could suggest he assumed he was European.

Reasons it might not be:

Aronnax describes Nemo's features with a certain romantic vagueness, focusing more on his demeanor and character than on racial specifics.
Verne might have intentionally avoided racial descriptors to preserve Nemo’s mystery—he wanted the character to be a universal rebel against tyranny, not defined by race alone.
In The Mysterious Island, Prince Dakkar is said to have received a European education and spent time abroad—possibly aiding his ability to pass in cosmopolitan or concealed environments.

So, is it a retcon or a plothole?

It’s best viewed as a retcon (retroactive continuity) rather than a hard continuity error:

Verne concealed Nemo’s origins in the first book for political reasons (his publisher pressured him not to make Nemo openly anti-British).
When political conditions changed, Verne gave Nemo a defined backstory that aligns with his anti-imperialist views.

So yes, while a realistic portrayal might make it difficult to completely hide Indian ancestry from European characters, Verne sidestepped this by writing Nemo as racially ambiguous until he was ready to reveal the truth.

Would you like a comparison between how other 19th-century authors handled non-European characters?

Were the novels illustrated? How was Nemo depicted in the illustrations?

Yes, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and The Mysterious Island were both illustrated in their original French editions, and Captain Nemo was depicted in those illustrations—most notably in the 1871 edition of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel, with illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou.

How was Captain Nemo depicted in the original illustrations?

In the original 19th-century illustrations, Captain Nemo is typically portrayed as a European-looking man:

Light-skinned, with European facial features.
Wearing naval-style or military attire, sometimes elaborate and exotic, but not overtly Indian.
He has a long beard and flowing dark hair, consistent with Verne’s written description.
His general appearance is that of a stern, intellectual, and commanding figure, often shown in dramatic poses aboard the Nautilus.

Here’s an example from the Hetzel edition (1871), showing Nemo:

In full beard and elegant dress, resembling a European noble or naval officer.
No turban, Indian attire, or visual markers of South Asian ethnicity.

Is this a continuity issue with The Mysterious Island?

Yes—visually, it is. The original illustrations reflect how Nemo was initially imagined: as racially and culturally ambiguous, but visually European, in line with what Verne had written at the time. Once Nemo was later revealed to be Prince Dakkar of India in The Mysterious Island (1875), this created a visual inconsistency:

The textual retcon of Nemo's Indian identity was not matched by a redesign in visual portrayals.
Even later illustrations often ignored or downplayed his Indian heritage, especially in European editions.

This reflects both:

The political caution under which Verne initially wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues (especially regarding British sensitivities), and
The Eurocentric visual conventions of 19th-century French publishing, which often depicted foreign or “exotic” characters through a Western lens.

In summary:

Yes, the novels were illustrated.
Nemo was shown as white or European-looking, with no overt visual signs of being Indian.
This creates a continuity inconsistency with his backstory as Prince Dakkar in The Mysterious Island.
The dissonance reflects both literary retconning and the colonial-era visual norms of the time.

Would you like me to show you some of those original illustrations?

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