Captain Hook seems to be a bit of a mystery. There’s not really a straightforward answer as to who he is or how he got to Neverland.

Disney does offer an explanation in Jake and the Neverland Pirates, saying his full name is James Bartholomew Hook, but this show deviates from established canon, and it’s just dumb that his actual last name is Hook. Another explanation was presented in Peter and the Starcatchers, saying that Hook was previously a notorious pirate known as Black Stache, but this book is even further off established canon (Ridiculously so. I might even make a full post about how much Ridley Pearson pisses me off). The only way to find a canon answer is to go to the source material.

The original Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie, states that “Hook was not his true name” and “those who read between the lines must already have guessed”. Ok, so if it’s guessable without stating his name outright, then he must be either a famous pirate or an already established literary character. The largest clue presented was is relationship with the famous pirate Barbeque. Barrie says that, “He is the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid.” and that he taught Hook a sword-fighting maneuver. One Google search later and I found out that Barbecue is another name for Long John Silver of Treasure Island. Peter Pan was set in 1904, and Treasure Island was set in 1754. Captain Hook graduated Eton in 1894 (according to Peter Pan in Scarlet, not written by Barrie but stated by him to be canon). The timing works out if Hook spent some time in Neverland before going to University.

So, to recap, we are looking for someone who is already a famous pirate or literary character, was a young man close to John Silver around 1754, and was uneducated at the time. His first name is James, and he is described as having dark hair and blue eyes. Only one other person matches that description.

Captain Hook is Jim Hawkins.

The blue eyes tipped me off. Why would Captain Hook have blue eyes unless he was already based on someone with that description? He had dark hair, and his skin was tanned from the sun. Everything about him had a certain aura of darkness. From a literary perspective you would think that his eyes would be brown, almost black, so that looking in his eyes was like staring into the abyss.

J.M. Barrie was a fan of Treasure Island as well as a close friend of Robert Luis Stevenson. Having James Hook be Jim Hawkins would be a great secret tie in between the two friends. It explains away the blue eyes and Hook’s introduction to piracy. I’m surprised this isn’t a more common theory, because all the clues point in this one direction.