Father Neptune

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This is a maritime Badass Grandpa. He has endured storms, pirates, fog, and all the perils of the sea. He has been in a Bar Brawl in every port and he has never lost. Sometimes he is a Drill Sergeant Nasty to all the scurvy foc'sle swabs. Sometimes he develops a Big Brother Instinct toward the Plucky Middie. But he is a lord of the sea and all sailors must heed him or endure his wrath. Often wears a Seadog Beard.

If he actually serves in a Navy then he's likely to cross over with Old Soldier.

Examples of Father Neptune include:


Advertising

  • The Gorton's fisherman.

Anime and Manga

  • Too many examples to name in One Piece. Edward Newgate and Shanks come to mind, though the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the rest of the Four Emperors, and several Marine Admirals could very well qualify.
    • Luffy's grandpa Garp, who is depicted as one of the oldest (Or at least, oldest-looking) Navy man in the series. Has a beard, too.
    • Then there is the mermaid king named Neptune who is a father as well.
  • Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four is shown in the Pokémon anime to be a ship captain, befitting his naval uniform. However, his Pokemon are Dragon types instead of Water types in both media.

Comic Books

  • Captain Haddock from the Tintin comics.

Film

Literature

Live Action TV

Newspaper Comics

  • Popeye's father Poopdeck Pappy.
  • Captain Eddie from the Non Sequitur comic strip likes to portray himself as this. How much of if is purely in his own mind is open to debate.

Theatre

  • Cap'n Carl (Phil Hartman) in the original verison of The Pee Wee Herman Show.
    • He was replaced by Cowboy Curtis (a character from the TV show) in the new verison of show, out of respect for the late Hartman.

Video Games

Western Animation

"All the way to Davy Jones Locker! And Micky Dolenz's locker! And Peter Tork's locker! All The Monkees had lockers!"


Real Life

  • The Trope Namer is Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy during the American Civil War. Although a political apointee, he became an invaluable asset to the Lincoln administration during the war.
  • Admiral William Halsey (though the USN is a little embarrassed about some of his decisions).
    • Granted, they were the same decisions that Spruance had been criticized for not making just a few months prior.
  • Admiral Marc Mitscher.
  • Horace Beck
  • Tristan Jones, the first man to sail a boat from the Dead Sea to Lake Titicaca, the highest and lowest bodies of water on Earth. He also spent months trapped in an iceberg in the Arctic Circle, and continued sailing even after losing his leg. That is, if you believe him.
  • Samuel Eliot Morison: Historian, Intrepid Reporter and writer of History of US Naval Operations in World War II.