Thomas Rolfe Character Analysis in Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma

The son of John Rolfe and Pocahontas. Thomas Rolfe was a young boy when his mother died. John, rather than bringing Thomas back overseas to Virginia, left his son in England, in the care of a series of wards. As a young man, Thomas Rolfe returned to the New World to claim the lands his father left him when he, too, died. Thomas found himself drawn into conflicts with the tribes surrounding his father’s lands in Jamestown—and in these conflicts, fought against his mother’s people in exchange for more land and higher social status.

Thomas Rolfe Character Timeline in Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma

The timeline below shows where the character Thomas Rolfe appears in Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

In April of 1616, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, their young son Thomas, Sir Thomas Dale, and about a hundred other passengers make their way across the sea... (full context)

Cultural Myth vs. Historical Fact Theme Icon

...the bustling crowds and polluted London air, Rolfe secures lodgings for them and their toddler, Thomas, in Middlesex, a suburb nine miles from the heart of the city. (full context)

...burial, and her grave remains unmarked by a stone. After the funeral, Rolfe, his son Thomas, Uttamatomakin, and Argall, along with the rest of the crew, continue along the river. At... (full context)

...the spring of 1618 as both Indians and colonists wish they could use the young Thomas Rolfe, back in England, as a bargaining chip. Opechankeno refuses to part with any more... (full context)

...a will. In the document, he leaves his plantation across the river from Jamestown to Thomas, and leaves a lesser property to his new wife and their daughter, Elizabeth. Rolfe dies;... (full context)

Years later, in the 1630s, Thomas Rolfe, nearly 20, travels to Virginia and assumes the lands and titles that are his.... (full context)