Editing Captain Nemo (section)

== Character ==
[[File:20000 Nemo organ.jpg|upright|thumb|Captain Nemo is an accomplished performer on the [[organ (music)|organ]].]]

Nemo's characteristics are largely presented through the observations of Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator of ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas''. At their first meeting, the professor remarks: "Whether this individual was thirty-five or fifty years of age, I couldn't tell." He goes on to describe Nemo as a tall, self-contained man with a straight nose, broad brow, and wide-set eyes—"certainly the most wonderful physical specimen I'd ever met up with." In ''The Mysterious Island'', the captain is in his late sixties and sports a long white beard.

He avoids dry land, except for [[desert islands]] and uninhabited regions such as [[Antarctica]]. In keeping with his contempt for surface civilization, he uses few commodities that aren't marine in origin, be they food, clothing, or even [[tobacco]]. As for his political views, he reveals an intense hatred of oppression, which he associates with the world's [[imperialistic]] nations. He therefore identifies himself with the Earth's oppressed, whether [[Demographics of Sri Lanka|Ceylonese]] [[pearl hunting|pearl divers]], [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)|Cretans]] rising against the [[Ottoman Turks|Turks]], or even [[right whales]] attacked by [[sperm whales]]. When Professor Aronnax suggests that Nemo violates maritime and international law by sinking warships, Nemo responds that he does so in self-defense when attacked. He insists that terrestrial laws no longer apply to him, exclaiming in one scene:

{{quotation|The sea doesn't belong to tyrants. On its surface they can still stake their evil claims, battle each other, devour each other, haul every earthly horror. But thirty feet below sea level, their power ceases, their influence fades, their domination vanishes! Ah, sir, live! Live in the heart of the seas! Here alone do I find independence! Here I recognize no superiors! Here I'm free!<ref name="20,000 Leagues Under the Seas Chapter 10">{{cite wikisource |last=Verne |first=Jules |translator=Frederick Paul Walter |title=20,000 Leagues Under the Seas |wslink=20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (Walter)/Chapter 10 |orig-year=1870 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4384-3238-0 |noicon=yes}}</ref>}}

Nemo is devoted to his crew and grieves deeply when members are killed after a mysterious collision with a surface vessel or during a [[giant squid]] attack in the [[Caribbean Sea]]. He is equally compassionate in his treatment of the castaways in ''The Mysterious Island'', also retaining a deep attachment to his deceased wife and children. Despite these tragic losses, he rarely expresses his anger. Moreover, he is a man of immense courage, taking the lead in every emergency, from fighting sharks and squids to releasing the ''Nautilus'' from Antarctic ice—an ordeal that entailed reduced oxygen stores and consecutive eight-hour shifts. Aronnax also credits him with discovering [[Atlantis]].

An innovative engineer, Nemo both designed and manufactured the ''Nautilus'', including her electric propulsion units and navigational systems. Utilizing them with extraordinary skill, he navigated some of the ocean's most difficult underwater passages, such as those beneath the Antarctic ice barrier, as well as a fictitious tunnel under the [[Suez|Isthmus of Suez]].

He has an exhaustive knowledge of [[marine biology]], and it is his respect for Professor Aronnax's preeminence in the field that led to his befriending the professor once the latter was cast aboard the ''Nautilus''. Further, Nemo is a [[polyglot]], able to read all the books in the ''Nautilus''{{'s}} vast library, regardless of their language. He demonstrates his linguistic ability in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'', when Arronax and two other character speak to him in [[French language|French]], [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], and [[Latin]] and he understands all four languages. Other than this he also knows Indian languages [[Hindi]], [[Kannada]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], and [[Malayalam]], furthermore [[Greek language|Greek]] among others. Nemo also invents a new [[Constructed language|language]] that he and his crew use to communicate with each other.<ref name="20,000 Leagues Under the Seas Chapter 10" />

The captain has an exquisite taste in the fine arts, possessing many masterpieces of both painting and sculpture, from old masters to moderns. They are housed in the main lounge of the ''Nautilus'' along with Nemo's collection of [[pearl]]s, [[coral]]s, seashells, and other marine items, all gathered with his own hands. "No museum in Europe," Aronnax tells the captain, "has such a collection of exhibits." Yet, despite the opulence visible throughout the ''[[Nautilus (fictional submarine)|Nautilus]]'', Nemo's stateroom was furnished with little more than a bed, a worktable, and the navigational instruments essential to the ''Nautilus''. Even so, Captain Nemo claims to be extremely wealthy, boasting that "without the slightest trouble I could pay off the two-billion-dollar French national debt!"

Nemo later tells Aronnax that he will enclose his scientific findings and autobiography in a small unsinkable container: "The last one of us left on the ''Nautilus'' will throw that container into the sea, and it will drift wherever the waves take it."

Subsequently, a rather different container does wash ashore in ''[[The Mysterious Island]]'', bearing tools, firearms, navigational instruments, an atlas, books, blank paper, and even clothing. They are found in a crate lashed to empty barrels, its contents sealed in a waterproof zinc envelope and showing careful preparation, and packing. Throughout the same book, Nemo repeatedly acts in this providential way, as when the sailor Pencroff pines for [[tobacco]], then the young naturalist Harbert identifies some of the island's plant life.

<gallery widths=160 heights=220>
File:20000 graveyard.jpg|Captain Nemo and the crew of the ''Nautilus'' conduct an underwater funeral.
File:20000 Nemo South Pole flag.jpg|Captain Nemo raising his flag on the South Pole
File:20000 Nautilus Salon.jpg|The main lounge of the ''[[Nautilus (fictional submarine)|Nautilus]]''
File:Nemo s death.jpg|Captain Nemo's death in ''[[The Mysterious Island]]''
</gallery>