War Horse

by

Michael Morpurgo

Captain Nicholls Character Analysis

Captain Nicholls is Joey’s second owner, a cavalry officer who buys the horse from the farmer at the start of the war. Captain Nicholls is a kind, artistic man who not only sees Joey’s value but respects him and talks to him as a friend. Nicholls treats Joey like a valuable equal, in sharp contrast to Corporal Samuel Perkins, who treats Joey like a tool to be used. And he’s a man of his word; he makes a promise to Albert to take good care of Joey, and he works hard to earn Albert’s trust. Among other things, he paints a picture of Joey to send to the saddened boy before he takes the horse to France. Along with his good friend, Captain Jamie Stewart, Nicholls sees war as a dangerous and potentially foolhardy exercise, not just a simple shot at glory. He worries about the death and destruction that it will cause and doesn’t share the hopes of many others that it will come to a swift conclusion. Nevertheless, he demonstrates personal courage in action, leading the charge atop Joey despite his own fears and worries. Tragically, Captain Nicholls dies in the very first cavalry charge he leads on the battlefields of France.

Captain Nicholls Quotes in War Horse

The War Horse quotes below are all either spoken by Captain Nicholls or refer to Captain Nicholls. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dignity and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4  Quotes

He must have known that I would follow old Zoey because he roped me up to her saddle and led us both quietly out of the yard down the path and over the bridge. Once in the road, he mounted Zoey swiftly and we trotted up the hill and into the village. He never spoke a word to either of us. I knew the road well enough, of course, for I had been there often enough with Albert, and indeed I loved going there because there were always other horses to meet and people to see. It was in the village only a short time before that I had met my first motorcar outside the post office and had stiffened with fear as it rattled past, but I had stood steadily, and I remember that Albert had made a big fuss over me after that.

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert , Captain Nicholls, Trooper Charlie Warren, Emilie , Friedrich, Farmer, Zoey
Page Number: 23-24
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5  Quotes

But it was my rider that I disliked more than anything in my new life. Corporal Samuel Perkins was a hard, gritty little man, an ex-jockey whose only pleasure in life seemed to be the power he could exert over a horse. He was universally feared by all troopers and horses alike. Even the officers, I felt, went in trepidation of him, for it seemed he knew all there was to know about horses and had the experience of a lifetime behind him. And he rode hard and heavy-handedly. With him, the whip and the spurs were not just for show.

He would never beat me or lose his temper with me; indeed, sometimes when he was grooming me I think he quite liked me, and I certainly felt for him a degree of respect, but this was based on fear and not on love.

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert , Captain Nicholls, Farmer, Corporal Samuel Perkins
Page Number: 31-32
Explanation and Analysis:

It’s just Jamie and me—we’re the only ones that don’t agree, Joey. We have our doubts, I can tell you that. We have our doubts. None of them in there seems to have heard of machine guns and artillery. I tell you, Joey, one machine gun operated right could wipe out an entire squadron of the best cavalry in the world—German or British. I mean, look what happened to the Light Brigade at Balaclava when they took on the Russian guns—none of them seem to remember that. And the French learned the lesson in the Franco-Prussian War. But you can’t say anything to them, Joey. If you do, they call you a defeatist, or some such rubbish. I honestly think that some of them in there only want to win this war if the cavalry can win it.

Related Characters: Captain Nicholls (speaker), Joey, Captain Jamie Stewart
Page Number: 33-34
Explanation and Analysis:

“Let’s say, I feel he has a mind of his own. Yes, let’s put it that way. He’s good enough out on maneuvers—a real stayer, one of the very best—but inside the school, sir, he’s a devil, and a strong devil, too. Never been properly schooled, sir, you can tell that. He’s a farm horse, he is, and farm-trained. If he’s to be cavalry horse, sir, he’ll have to learn to accept the disciplines. He has to learn to obey instantly and instinctively. You don’t want a prima donna under you when the bullets start flying.”

“[…] I asked you to train Joey because I think you’re the best man for the job. But perhaps you should ease up on him just a bit. […] He’s a willing soul—he just needs a bit of gentle persuasion, that’s all. But keep it gentle, Corporal, keep it gentle.”

Related Characters: Captain Nicholls (speaker), Corporal Samuel Perkins (speaker), Joey
Page Number: 35-36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“I tell you, my friends,” he said one day, “I tell you that I am the only sane man in the regiment. It’s the others who are crazy, but they don’t know it. They fight a war and they don’t know what for. Isn’t that crazy? How can one man kill another and not really know the reason why he does it, except that the other man wears a different color uniform and speaks a different language? And it’s me they call crazy! You two are the only rational creatures I’ve met in this stupid war, and like me, the only reason you’re here is because you were brought here […]. As it is, I’m going to live out this war as ‘Crazy Old Friedrich,’ so that I can return again to Schleiden and become Butcher Friedrich that everyone knew and respected before all this mess began.”

Related Characters: Friedrich (speaker), Joey, Topthorn, Captain Nicholls
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Albert suddenly dropped my tail and moved slowly around me running his hand along my back. Then at last we stood facing each other. There was a rougher hue to his face, I thought; he had more lines around his eyes and was a broader, bigger man in his uniform than I remembered him. But he was my Albert, and there was no doubt about it […].

“Joey?” he said, tentatively, looking into my eyes. “Joey?” I tossed up my head and called out to him in my happiness, so that the sound echoed around the yard […]. Then he turned and walked away to the gateway before facing me, cupping his hands to his lips and whistling. It was his own whistle, the same low, stuttering whistle he had used to call me [before].

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert (speaker), Captain Nicholls, Trooper Charlie Warren, Friedrich, David
Page Number: 129-130
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire War Horse LitChart as a printable PDF.
War Horse PDF

Captain Nicholls Quotes in War Horse

The War Horse quotes below are all either spoken by Captain Nicholls or refer to Captain Nicholls. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dignity and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4  Quotes

He must have known that I would follow old Zoey because he roped me up to her saddle and led us both quietly out of the yard down the path and over the bridge. Once in the road, he mounted Zoey swiftly and we trotted up the hill and into the village. He never spoke a word to either of us. I knew the road well enough, of course, for I had been there often enough with Albert, and indeed I loved going there because there were always other horses to meet and people to see. It was in the village only a short time before that I had met my first motorcar outside the post office and had stiffened with fear as it rattled past, but I had stood steadily, and I remember that Albert had made a big fuss over me after that.

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert , Captain Nicholls, Trooper Charlie Warren, Emilie , Friedrich, Farmer, Zoey
Page Number: 23-24
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5  Quotes

But it was my rider that I disliked more than anything in my new life. Corporal Samuel Perkins was a hard, gritty little man, an ex-jockey whose only pleasure in life seemed to be the power he could exert over a horse. He was universally feared by all troopers and horses alike. Even the officers, I felt, went in trepidation of him, for it seemed he knew all there was to know about horses and had the experience of a lifetime behind him. And he rode hard and heavy-handedly. With him, the whip and the spurs were not just for show.

He would never beat me or lose his temper with me; indeed, sometimes when he was grooming me I think he quite liked me, and I certainly felt for him a degree of respect, but this was based on fear and not on love.

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert , Captain Nicholls, Farmer, Corporal Samuel Perkins
Page Number: 31-32
Explanation and Analysis:

It’s just Jamie and me—we’re the only ones that don’t agree, Joey. We have our doubts, I can tell you that. We have our doubts. None of them in there seems to have heard of machine guns and artillery. I tell you, Joey, one machine gun operated right could wipe out an entire squadron of the best cavalry in the world—German or British. I mean, look what happened to the Light Brigade at Balaclava when they took on the Russian guns—none of them seem to remember that. And the French learned the lesson in the Franco-Prussian War. But you can’t say anything to them, Joey. If you do, they call you a defeatist, or some such rubbish. I honestly think that some of them in there only want to win this war if the cavalry can win it.

Related Characters: Captain Nicholls (speaker), Joey, Captain Jamie Stewart
Page Number: 33-34
Explanation and Analysis:

“Let’s say, I feel he has a mind of his own. Yes, let’s put it that way. He’s good enough out on maneuvers—a real stayer, one of the very best—but inside the school, sir, he’s a devil, and a strong devil, too. Never been properly schooled, sir, you can tell that. He’s a farm horse, he is, and farm-trained. If he’s to be cavalry horse, sir, he’ll have to learn to accept the disciplines. He has to learn to obey instantly and instinctively. You don’t want a prima donna under you when the bullets start flying.”

“[…] I asked you to train Joey because I think you’re the best man for the job. But perhaps you should ease up on him just a bit. […] He’s a willing soul—he just needs a bit of gentle persuasion, that’s all. But keep it gentle, Corporal, keep it gentle.”

Related Characters: Captain Nicholls (speaker), Corporal Samuel Perkins (speaker), Joey
Page Number: 35-36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“I tell you, my friends,” he said one day, “I tell you that I am the only sane man in the regiment. It’s the others who are crazy, but they don’t know it. They fight a war and they don’t know what for. Isn’t that crazy? How can one man kill another and not really know the reason why he does it, except that the other man wears a different color uniform and speaks a different language? And it’s me they call crazy! You two are the only rational creatures I’ve met in this stupid war, and like me, the only reason you’re here is because you were brought here […]. As it is, I’m going to live out this war as ‘Crazy Old Friedrich,’ so that I can return again to Schleiden and become Butcher Friedrich that everyone knew and respected before all this mess began.”

Related Characters: Friedrich (speaker), Joey, Topthorn, Captain Nicholls
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Albert suddenly dropped my tail and moved slowly around me running his hand along my back. Then at last we stood facing each other. There was a rougher hue to his face, I thought; he had more lines around his eyes and was a broader, bigger man in his uniform than I remembered him. But he was my Albert, and there was no doubt about it […].

“Joey?” he said, tentatively, looking into my eyes. “Joey?” I tossed up my head and called out to him in my happiness, so that the sound echoed around the yard […]. Then he turned and walked away to the gateway before facing me, cupping his hands to his lips and whistling. It was his own whistle, the same low, stuttering whistle he had used to call me [before].

Related Characters: Joey (speaker), Albert (speaker), Captain Nicholls, Trooper Charlie Warren, Friedrich, David
Page Number: 129-130
Explanation and Analysis: