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| “ | Clayton: WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! Tarzan: Clayton! Clayton, help! Clayton: Have we met? Ah yes, the ape-man. Tarzan: Clayton... you... you--! Clayton: So sorry about the rude welcome, old boy, but I couldn't have you making a scene when we put your "furry friends" in their cages. Tarzan: Why? Clayton: Why? For 300 pounds sterling a head! Actually, I have you to thank, my boy. Couldn't have done it without you. Lock him up with the others. |
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| ~ Clayton revealing his true nature. |
| “ | I could use a challenge, because after I get rid of you, rounding up your little ape family will be ALL TOO EASY! | „ |
| ~ Clayton taunting Tarzan. |
| “ | Clayton: Go ahead, shoot me. (chuckles) Be a man. Tarzan: [places the shotgun's barrels on Clayton's throat and fakes a gunshot with his own voice, startling Clayton] Not a man like YOU! [shatters Clayton's rifle] Clayton: NO! |
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| ~ Clayton's last words before beginning his pursuit on Tarzan which would inevitably lead to his death. |
Clayton is the main antagonist of Disney's 37th full-length animated feature film Tarzan, which is based on the 1912 American novel Tarzan of the Apes by the late Edgar Rice Burroughs.
He is a poacher that is initially set up as a protector to Jane and her father Archimedes Q. Porter while they are on an expedition to search for gorillas, though as the film progresses he is revealed to be using their trip in order to hunt the gorillas for himself, intending to sell them at the black market. He is also Tarzan's arch-nemesis, as well as Kerchak's murderer.
Portrayals
- In the film as well as in both its video game tie-in and Kingdom Hearts, he was voiced by Brian Blessed, who also played King Richard IV in Blackadder, El Supremo in Freddie as F.R.O.7., The Nekross King in Wizards vs. Aliens, and Mr. Avericci in Archie's Weird Mysteries.
- In The Legend of Tarzan, is voiced by Jeff Bennett.
- In the musical adaptation, he was portrayed by Donnie Keshawarz.
Personality
Clayton initially appears as a 48-year-old chivalrous and polite gentleman, albeit with a delicate temper and intolerance for treating the African expedition as a vacation experience rather than a business endeavor. He often carries a 600 Express double rifle and shown to have a hatred towards animals as he finds gorillas to be savage beasts, despite Jane suggesting otherwise.
As time goes on throughout the film, Clayton's true nature begins to unfold: a manipulative, vicious and cruel poacher who plans to make wealth through selling gorillas. According to the audio commentary of Tarzan on DVD, Clayton's actions (during his final moments) in the film were meant to mirror the ferocious leopard, Sabor, symbolizing Clayton's increasing lack of humanity and descent into animalistic madness. This is further supported by the fact he initially had no lethal intention for heroes or the gorillas (except Kerchak because he nearly killed him earlier) but he soon spends his final moments trying to kill Tarzan in complete anger (although he still makes no attempt to harm Jane or her dad).
Biography
Tarzan
Meeting and Betraying Tarzan
Clayton first appeared about 30 minutes into the movie as a veteran hunter and guide hired by Jane and her father Archimedes Q. Porter on an expedition to Africa in search for gorillas to study. Upon returning back to their camp after spotting several gorilla nests, Jane confessed that she saw the gorillas messing around in the camp before they fled along with Tarzan, a man who was raised by the gorillas during childhood. At first, Clayton finds Jane's story to be ridiculous, but this was not the case when Tarzan appeared in person.
Realizing now that Jane was telling the truth, Clayton made several attempts (all unsuccessful) to get the location of the gorillas from Tarzan, who was far more fascinated by what Jane had to teach him about humans. Days later, a cargo ship arrived to pick up the explorers and escort them back to England, much to their dismay. As the ship's crew loaded up their luggage and supplies, Clayton blamed Jane for distracting herself with teaching Tarzan, but Jane retorted that she was just as upset about not being able to find the gorillas. Upon witnessing Jane tearfully declining Tarzan's proposal to stay in Africa, Clayton manipulated the ape-man into believing that Jane would change her mind if he took them to the gorillas. Having no choice, Tarzan agrees to do so, much to Clayton's delight.
In order to ensure this, Tarzan had his friends Terk and Tantor distract Kerchak (the leader of the gorilla troop) so that he could lead the Porters and Clayton to the gorillas. Upon their arrival and witnessing the gorillas gazing down, Clayton smiles at this and details the gorillas' current location on his map. However, Kerchak returned unexpectedly, though, and was angered by the trespassers and attacked Clayton after the hunter threatened one of the family during a skirmish. Tarzan saves Clayton as he was then forced to restrain Kerchak to let Jane, Professor Porter and Clayton return back to camp, resulting in his exile from the gorilla pack.
Deciding that he is better off with the humans, Tarzan decides to go to England with Jane and her father. However, while boarding onto their ship, they (along with the ship's captain and his officers) were ambushed and taken hostage by several thugs. Clayton then reveals his true colors by admitting that he was behind the mutiny, revealing his true plan to capture the gorillas and sell them (possibly on the black market) for £300 each, sadistically thanking Tarzan for leading him to the gorillas. As Clayton orders several of his men to lock up Tarzan and the others inside the brig, he and his other men left in a small boat loaded with large cages and made way for the gorillas' nests.
Final Battle and Death
The poachers eventually reach the nests and began capturing the gorillas through nets, cages, and burlap sacks. Kerchak attempted to rescue his troop, but too ends up being netted. Clayton attempts to shoot down Kerchak but was interrupted when he and his men heard Tarzan's trademark yell. Tarzan and his friends (who had escaped imprisonment earlier) ambushed and frightened Clayton's men by bringing other animals to help out, freeing the gorillas and trapping several of Clayton's men in the cages. Clayton the orders some of his men to take Kala, the only gorilla they had left, to the boat while Clayton stays behind to wait for an opportunity to strike his enemies. From the undergrowth, Clayton sees Tarzan and Jane rescue Kala and shoots his gun at Tarzan, but the bullet just grazes his arm. Witnessing this, Kerchak furiously charges at Clayton but ends up being fatally shot in the stomach. Tarzan furiously lunges at Clayton, but Clayton shoots again, forcing Tarzan to retreat up to the tall trees. Clayton decides to follow Tarzan up the trees. Jane tries to stop him, but Clayton knocks her aside with his rifle, then follows Tarzan up the trees, declaring that once he's finished the ape-man, he will finish with capturing his family.
Clayton scans the mossy branches for his prey when Tarzan leaps onto his shoulders, causing him to drop his gun. The two men wrestle each other as they tumble from branch to branch. Clayton spots his gun in some nearby vines and reaches for it, but Tarzan pulls him back and retrieves the gun himself and points it at Clayton. Rather than plead for his life, Clayton instead goads Tarzan to "be a man" and shoot him, firmly certain that he wouldn't actually do it. After some contemplation, Tarzan realizes that doing it would only make him no better than Clayton, but as Clayton laughs, Tarzan furiously puts the gun's barrel at the hunter's throat, though Clayton still refuses to show fear. Out of spite, Tarzan then mimics a gunshot sound with his mouth, which does make Clayton wince in fear, and upon seeing where the sound actually came from, looked shocked and humiliated. Declaring that he will never be a man like Clayton, Tarzan then swings the gun at Clayton, who thought the ape-man intended to hit him with it, but instead smashes it on the tree branch, causing it to shatter into pieces.
After watching the remains of his favorite weapon fall to the jungle floor, Clayton flies into a vicious rage, drawing a machete from his belt and lunging at Tarzan. Tarzan jumps back into a mass of vines to escape Clayton's furious swipes. Thinking quickly, Tarzan tosses a vine at Clayton's wrist to block his blow, then pulls down several more vines to entangle Clayton. However, this only serves to drive Clayton into a blind fury and he aggressively slashes at the vines, unaware that one of them has slipped and coiled like a noose around his neck. Seeing this, Tarzan tries to warn him, but in his blind rage, Clayton ignores his warnings and chops through the last vine holding him up, plummeting downwards with the one still wrapped around his neck. The vine then pulls tight with a loud snap, hanging and killing Clayton instantly. Tarzan lands safely just as a flash of lightning briefly reveals the shadow of Clayton's hanged corpse, swaying ever so slightly in the breeze. Seeing Clayton's corpse, Tarzan can feel nothing but pity for the hunter before comforting a dying Kerchak and taking over the gorilla troop as its new leader.
The Legend of Tarzan
Clayton does not physically appear in the series, though his role in the death of Kerchak, combined with Tarzan gaining Kerchak's trust after protecting the gorillas from Clayton, serves as the main driving force of the series, with Tarzan becoming the new leader of the gorillas. Much of the show revolves around Tarzan adapting to this new responsibility, and gains a newfound rivalry with Tublat as a result of taking his desired position as leader. Additionally, Tarzan, as well as several other characters, appear to display traumatic memories surrounding Clayton in a few episodes.
In the episode Race Against Time, when Tarzan gets bitten by a spider, he sees Tantor as a mad elephant. This same thing happens with Professor Porter as he sees him as Clayton who is ready to shoot him.
In Trading Post, after Terk inadvertently uncovers one of Renard Dumont's cages, Terk and Tantor are visually stunned at the sight, while Tarzan has flashbacks about the incident when Clayton had his pirates locking the gorillas in cages, causing him to see Dumont as a potential threat at first, only letting Dumont stay in the jungle under the condition that he doesn't harm the gorillas, though he is hesitant to consider him an ally.
During the episode Gauntlet of Vengeance, Clayton's sister Lady Waltham comes after Tarzan, seeking vengeance for what she saw as her brother's cold-blooded and traitorous murderer, despite the fact that her brother's death was an accident. However, when Tarzan managed at great risk to save her from a fate similar to Clayton's, she came to realize that the man who did this for her could never be a savage killer, learned about her brother's true nature and left the jungle.
Other Media
Kingdom Hearts
| “ | What am I doing with these imbeciles? Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them! I'll track them down somehow. I'll stake my life on it. | „ |
| ~ Clayton right before being taken by the Heartless. |
Clayton serves as a supporting antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts game, serving as the main antagonist of the Deep Jungle world.
He is first seen where he finds Donald and Goofy and brings them back to the tent where they are reunited with Sora. Clayton meets Tarzan and asks for the whereabouts of the gorillas, and Tarzan obeys and reveals the location. Clayton soon finds Terk the Gorilla and tries to shoot her, but is stopped by Donald. He says that he tried to shoot a dangerous snake attacking Terk, but they do not believe him. Furiously, his anger attracts the Heartless, whom he decides to use to kill off the gorillas.
He later kidnaps Jane and Terk and hides them in the forest and then brings the Heartless to the gorilla location. As the Heartless are about to attack, Tarzan arrives, joined by Sora, Donald and Goofy, and a battle erupts. Clayton takes aim at his enemies and uses his gun as a club, but is defeated. Clayton was not done yet and called upon the Stealth Sneak to help fight his enemies. Now a bigger threat than before, Clayton battled once more but was knocked down by Sora. As he takes aim at Sora, the Stealth Sneak is subdued and falls upon him, crushing his body and killing him.
Victims
- Kerchak (posthumously) - Shot with an elephant gun.
Trivia
- In the Tarzan books, Clayton's full name is William Cecil Clayton and was Tarzan's biological younger cousin who had inherited the family estate after the disappearance and deaths of Tarzan's parents John II and Alice Greystoke. He was Jane's bumbling fiancée and had some jealousy of Tarzan. Ultimately a goodhearted man, Clayton ends his engagement with Jane before dying of fever.
- If the movie had addressed the relationship between these two, Clayton would more likely be Tarzan's older cousin given his appearance and age between his forties and fifties.
- The Disney version of Clayton appears to take a lot of influence from the character of Rokoff, the villain of the Tarzan novels. Like Rokoff, Clayton is a savage from civilized society as opposed to Tarzan, the civilized from a so-called "savage" society.
- Aspects of Clayton were made into Robert Canler, who was also named after a minor character from the novel. Interestingly, Canler was also a villain.
- According to the film commentary, Clayton's outfit was designed to appear like Sabor's yellow fur to designate him as the new villain. When he is introduced, he is covered in shadows that give him the look of spots similar to Sabor's.
- Brian Blessed cited Clayton as one of his two favorite roles which is why he has returned to voice him in multiple media aside from the film.
- Brian Blessed also performed the trademark Tarzan yell for the film after Tony Goldwyn was unable to provide his satisfactory version of the Tarzan yell (though ironically, Goldwyn would do the Tarzan yell in the Kingdom Hearts video games).
- Clayton is marked as one of the few Disney villains to have an excessively brutal and terrifying death, as hanging is a gruesome image, especially for children, as evidenced by a shadow of his corpse in the movie.
- Clayton's death is somewhat ironic, in how he saw Tarzan and his apes as nothing more than savage animals, but in the end, he gave into his own savagery while Tarzan attempted to save him.
- In The Legend of Tarzan episode "Tarzan and the Gauntlet of Revenge", when Lady Waltham reveals to Tarzan that she's Clayton's younger sister via her locket, the flashback that recalled Clayton's own death has the shadow of his corpse not being shown onscreen. This was likely done due to the already haunting nature of the corpse itself.
- Clayton's supervising animator is Randy Haycock.
- Clayton's actions have an impact on the franchise since it was his murder of Kerchak which led to Tarzan becoming the new leader of the gorillas and later facing Tublat for leadership when they reunited years later. His death also leads to his sister Lady Waltham traveling to the jungle to avenge him by attempting to kill Tarzan by poisoning him, unaware that it was only an accident and of his true colors.
- Clayton claims to have taught a ferret to sing “God Save the Queen” in the scene where he and the professor first meet Tarzan, and try’s to teach him English.
- Clayton serves as a dark reflection to Kerchak. Both have acted as representative leads for their respective species (gorillas for Kerchak; humans for Clayton) and got to know Tarzan with conflicting views about him. However, Kerchak's purpose as a leader is to protect those within the jungle (not just his fellow gorillas) from any serious danger, and has since grew to accept Tarzan, even showing some remorse for his own past behavior against his adoptive son. Clayton, on the other hand, is actually only using his leading role for his poaching business, and doesn't really care about Tarzan at all, to which they became archenemies towards each other. Had not Kerchak fully accepted Tarzan as part of the jungle family that he led, he would’ve ended up like Clayton.
External Links
- Clayton on the Disney Wiki
 Villains
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