John Hartigan
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This article concerns the fictional character John Hartigan in a series of graphic novels. For the United States federal judge, see John Patrick Hartigan.
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Detective John Hartigan is a major protagonist in the Sin City series of graphic novels, written by Frank Miller. He is the central character in That Yellow Bastard, and has a small cameo in Just Another Saturday Night. Miller has announced he will be the main character of another story, set before That Yellow Bastard.
Hartigan may be described as the most noble and heroic protagonist in the whole of the Sin City yarns. He differs from the other protagonists in that he represents the law, and is possibly the only character who strives to enforce it.
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[edit] Appearance
At the start of That Yellow Bastard, Hartigan is "pushing 60". He has a distinguishing cross-shaped scar on his forehead, the cause of which is unknown. He is a large, muscular, imposing man, more than capable of holding his own in a fight. He also suffers from angina, which sometimes slows him down even as he uses every shred of willpower to ignore it.
[edit] Personality
A veteran police detective in the bloody, corrupt streets of Basin City, Hartigan is gruff, stoic, and cynical. He is also completely selfless; he cares little about his own well-being as long as he can protect his fellow citizens. He risks his own safety and reputation to achieve that end throughout the graphic novel; in the process, his life is destroyed.
[edit] In That Yellow Bastard
Hartigan's last case before he was scheduled to retire was investigating a serial killer who preyed on prepubescent girls. He eventually discovered that the killer was Roark Junior, the scion of Basin City's most powerful family. He pursued the case relentlessly, even while his colleagues took bribes to look the other way and the killer's father, a senator, repeatedly tried to have him killed.
On his last night on the job, Hartigan was called to rescue Junior's newest intended victim, 11-year-old Nancy Callahan, who was being held at the Projects. His partner, Bob, begged him to let the case go, but he refused, punching his old friend out and going it alone. He burst into the warehouse where Nancy was being held, dispatched Junior's goons and saved the girl by shooting off Junior's left ear, right hand, and genitals. However, Bob, who was on the Roark family's payroll, shot him in the back several times and in the chest shortly thereafter. That night, Senator Roark visited him in the hospital, told him he would be framed for raping Nancy, and threatened to kill anyone who learned the truth. He even paid to cure Hartigan's angina to make sure he had a long, miserable life. Hartigan never exactly confessed, but he didn't say a word about Junior's guilt and allowed himself to go to prison as a child rapist. Over the next eight years, everyone he loved abandoned him — except for Nancy, who wrote him a letter every week and thought of him as her hero. Nancy became his only reason to live; he accepted his fate so long as Nancy, his only friend, was safe.
Eventually, the letters stopped coming, and Hartigan thought that Nancy had merely outgrown her childhood hero. One day, however, he received a letter containing a human finger, and was visited by a stranger with bright yellow skin who smelled like rotting garbage. Fearing for Nancy's life, he finally confessed to the murders so he could be released. Senator Roark, satisfied that Hartigan was beaten, consented to his being put on parole. Hartigan sought Nancy out at her last known address, which turned out to be Kadie's Saloon, a strip club where she worked as an exotic dancer. Nancy recognized him immediately, jumped into his arms, and kissed him. The little girl he saved was now a beautiful, full-grown woman — and completely unharmed, leading Hartigan to realize that he had been tricked into revealing her whereabouts. He fled with Nancy, pursued by the stranger who had visited him in his cell. They hid in a cheap motel and Nancy, who still loved him, tried to seduce him. Hartigan was tempted, but resisted at the last minute, ashamed of lusting after a girl he still thought of as his surrogate daughter. Just then, they were surprised and taken hostage by the stranger, who turned out to be none other than Junior himself, who had been resurrected through unnatural means, but left a hideous freak. Junior kidnapped Nancy and left Hartigan at the end of a noose to die, knowing that Nancy's death was all his fault.
Through sheer will, however, he escaped and pursued Junior back to the Roark family's farm, where he rescued Nancy and finally vented his rage out on Junior, re-castrating him with his bare hands and beating his head into a bloody pulp. He then promised Nancy that he would tell the world what had happened to them, and shared one last, decidedly unplatonic kiss with her. Once she was gone, however, Hartigan realized that the Roark family could never truly be defeated, and that Nancy would never be safe as long as they were hunting for him. In an act of pure love and sacrifice, he turned his gun on himself and committed suicide.
[edit] Film Appearance
Hartigan is portrayed by Bruce Willis in the 2005 film adaptation. According to many interviews, Willis, upon seeing one or two minutes of the Customer is Always Right short that Robert Rodriguez had brought with him as a proof of concept tool to get actors and other talent on board, he paused the DVD, turned to Rodriguez and said that whatever he saw from that point onwards, he wanted to be part of the project. Michael Douglas was considered for the role before Willis came on board.
| Sin City | |
|---|---|
| Yarns | The Hard Goodbye | A Dame to Kill For | The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories | Silent Night | The Big Fat Kill | That Yellow Bastard | Daddy's Little Girl | Lost, Lonely, & Lethal | Sex & Violence | Just Another Saturday Night | Family Values | Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story) | Booze, Broads, & Bullets |
| Films | Sin City | Sin City 2 (in production) |
| Characters | Marv | Jack Rafferty | Nancy Callahan | John Hartigan | Dwight McCarthy | Wallace | Miho | Kevin | Cardinal Roark | Ava Lord | Junior/That Yellow Bastard | Senator Roark | The Girls of Old Town | List of characters from Sin City |
| People | Frank Miller | Robert Rodriguez |
