Capricorn (Inkworld)

Infobox character
colour = lavender
colour text =
name = Capricorn
series = "Inkworld"


caption = Andy Serkis as "Capricorn" in Inkheart movie
first = "Inkheart"
last = "Inkheart"
creator = Cornelia Funke
portrayer = Andy Serkis
age =
family = Mortola (mother)
Unnamed father

Capricorn is a fictional character in the "Inkworld" trilogy by Cornelia Funke. He is to be played by Andy Serkis in the film adaptation of "Inkheart" to be released in 2009.

Character biography

The principal villain in the first novel of the "Inkworld" series, "Inkheart", Capricorn was read out of his fictional world by Mortimer Folchart, who can bring characters to life by reading aloud (the fictional novel from which Mortimer read Capricorn is also titled "Inkheart").

Described in Funke's "Inkheart" as being a tall, gaunt, pale man with light, crew cut hair and eyes so pale that it appears "as if the color had drained out of them", Capricorn is marked by his cruelty. ["Inkheart", Chapter 14] Dustfinger remarks to Meggie Folchart (Mortimer's daughter, who shares her father's unique ability) that, if Capricorn found a bird being eaten by a cat, he would "feed the bird to the cat on purpose, just to watch it being torn apart". ["Inkheart", Chapter 3] Fenoglio, the author of the fictional "Inkheart", states he chose the title "Inkheart" based on his character's heart being "as black as ink"."Inkheart," Chapter 34]

According to Fenoglio, Capricorn was born to a maid, Mortola, and a blacksmith father. His father was abusive, forcing the young Capricorn to play with hot coals, and beating him whenever he showed weakness. Capricorn's mother, like his father, also valued strength above mercy, and nurtured her son's cruel side. Capricorn himself denies this story, claiming that his mother was a princess, and his father the royal armourer at her court. Capricorn's original name is forgotten even to himself, as, at the age of fifteen, he styled himself after his astrological sign.

After being read out of Fenoglio's "Inkheart" along with Basta and Dustfinger, Capricorn found he liked Mortimer's universe more than his own, and assembled a group of followers in a deserted village in remote Italy. To ensure that he would he never have to return to his own world, Capricorn set out to find and destroy all the copies of Fenoglio's "Inkheart", retaining a single copy of the book for himself.

Fenoglio and Mortimer together devise a plan to foil Capricorn's schemes. Capricorn kidnaps Meggie hoping to get her father to come to her rescue, and get captured himself, but finds out that Meggie has the same gift that her father has. When Capricorn orders Meggie to read The Shadow — a terrible monster which had served Capricorn in his own universe — out of Fenoglio's "Inkheart," she instead reads a new coda which Fenoglio had secretly written. Mortimer takes the book from Meggie, and, after reading the closing words of Fenoglio's addition, Capricorn falls dead. His mother Mortola vows revenge. ["Inkheart", Chapter 56]

Miscellaneous

* Capricorn bears many similarities to Nazi-dictator Adolf Hitler. Both men had abusive blacksmiths for fathers but received affection from their mothers. Both also burn large piles of books.

References