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Part of a series on The Wolfman

Sir John
John Talbot
As werewolf
Wolfman John
Background
Played by Anthony Hopkins
Films The Wolfman (2010)
Lo and behold, the prodigal son returns.

– John welcoming Lawrence Talbot.

Sir John Talbot is the main antagonist of the 2010 remake of the groundbreaking 1941 horror classic The Wolfman. He is played by Anthony Hopkins.

As opposed to the character in the original film, who plays a minor role and is remorseful in personality, Talbot is very disturbing and unforgiving. He was the father of Lawrence Talbot.

History[]

Werewolf attack[]

While traveling through India, the local natives directed John to a cave located high in the mountains where according to local legends there lived a mysterious creature. When John entered the cave, he saw a small wild feral boy who immediately attacked and bit John on his arm. John returned to the village think he had been the butt of a joke.

One month later, John was walking with his wife on the grounds on the night of a full moon. He transformed and ripped out his wife’s throat -- that was the scene Lawrence had stumbled upon -- not the mother’s suicide, but Sir John in wolf form over the dead body of his mother. All these years since then, Singh has faithfully locked him in the basement cell whenever the moon was full.

When Ben got engaged to Gwen, Sir John was stunned by how much she looked like the mother, and he was attracted to her, and it seemed to “awaken” him again.  When Ben said he would move away with Gwen, Sir John couldn’t stand the thought of it, so he got drunk and angry one night and he was so belligerent when Singh went to lock him up that Sir John managed to escape, and that is the night he killed Ben.

Lawrence Talbot[]

Lawrence steps out of the coach and enters the Manor, and we see it is in terrible disrepair. Broken furniture, dirt and cobwebs litter the front hall, leading to a large central staircase. As Lawrence enters and begins to ascend the stairs, a large dog growls menacingly and nearly attacks him.  The dog is stopped by a man’s voice at the top of the stairs.

Lawrence looks up and says “hello father.”  Anthony Hopkins appears as Sir John Talbot.  He greets Lawrence rather coolly by saying, “I wonder what you looked like.” Sir John has to calm the dog many times throughout the next 5 minutes -- it is obvious the dog is vicious.

Ben's body, found the day before, has been stored at a slaughterhouse. When Lawrence views his brother's remains, he is horrified, The body is completely mauled. Among Ben's personal effects is a medallion that Ben apparently purchased from gypsies.

Sir John Talbot's Sikh manservant, Singh, shows Lawrence the silver bullets he has and implies that something monstrous - John - is loose in Blackmoor. Inspector Aberline arrives to investigate the recent murders. He suspects Lawrence is responsible based on his mental history and masterful portrayals of mentally-ill protagonists such as Hamlet and Macbeth. As the night draws near, several hunters from the town take position in the woods, waiting for the beast to appear so they may capture it.

The next day Lawrence is out walking and Gwen joins him.  They have a nice moment together as he teaches her to skip rocks on the pond.  Suddenly Lawrence hears horses approaching, and the local priest has arrived with a posse of men, including the Inspector’s doctor.  They call Lawrence cursed and unusually healed, and try to take him away by force while the priest rambles on about curses and such.  Sir John appears with a hunting rifle and scares them off.

Worried about what might happen, Lawrence sends Gwen away. He then follows Sir John talbot to Solana's crypt. He tells Lawrence that he has been "dead" for years, then locks himself into the room alone. Lawrence then undergoes a very painful transformation into the Wolfman before running off into the woods and killing the hunters stationed there.

The next morning Lawrence awakens outside his home under a tree, and Sir John is there grinning at him. Lawrence is covered in blood, his clothes shredded.  As he begins to realize what has happened it is obvious Sir John is reveling in it.  The villagers come for Lawrence and Sir John does not stop them this time. Lawrence surrenders, still in a stupor.

The Asylum[]

The next time John is seen is when he's visiting Lawrence in the asylum. John eventually tells Lawrence about what happened during his trip to India which makes Lawrence finally remember how his mother really died. After also confessing to murdering Ben, John finally accepted the werewolf inside of him. Before leaving, John leaves a razor with Lawrence and then leaves playing a harmonica while walking down the halls.

Death[]

Lawrence arrives at night and sneaks into the manor, and immediately finds the faithful Singh, gutted. He goes to Singh’s room and finds the silver bullets and loads them into a rifle. He confronts his father in the parlor. Sir John is clearly crazy and has also killed one of the police guards.

Lawrence tells Sir John he has come to kill him, and Sir John asks if the rifle contains Singh's silver bullets.  He is proud when Lawrence says yes. He dares his son to shoot him and when Lawrence pulls the trigger, he learned that Sir John had found the bullets years ago and emptied the of their powder.

At first, Sir Talbot proves to be the more powerful of the two monsters, but Lawrence would gain the upper hand by kicking his deranged father into the fireplace, where he starts to move around roaring in pain caused by the flames. At that point, Lawrence kills his father by slashing him in the stomach and then by decapitating him as revenge for killing his mother and brother and cursing him.

Gallery[]

The Wolfman (2010)[]

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