John Redcorn

John Redcorn III^[3] (voiced by Victor Aaron Season 1, Jonathan Joss Season 2 - 13^[1][2]), is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. He is addressed or referred to as "John Redcorn" or "Mr. Redcorn" by every character in the series, and very rarely just "John" or "Johnny."

A former roadie for Winger^[4] and "Licensed New Age Healer",^[5] he is Nancy Gribble's Native American^[6] masseur, her lover of 14 years (the two split up during the show's fourth season) and the biological father of Joseph Gribble. Both Dale and Joseph are completely unaware of this, although it is obvious to everyone else in the neighborhood, due to the close resemblance between Joseph and Redcorn. He has a sister, who Nancy seems to assume told everyone about their affair. A recurring gag is that whenever Dale makes a comment about being Joseph's father, John Redcorn shows up. Although John Redcorn's specific tribal ethnicity is never stated in the series, it is implied that he is a member of the Caddo tribe, whose lands occupied a large area of eastern Texas (season 7, episode 12).

In episode 38 (3:3), Peggy Hill, still oblivious to the relationship between John Redcorn and Nancy Gribble, goes to Redcorn for help with a real headache. When Hank confronts Redcorn, he says he would never "heal" Peggy the way he heals "other women". The implication is that Redcorn is somewhat known as a womanizer.

John Redcorn drives a tan Jeep Wrangler, and becomes the lead singer of the band Big Mountain Fudgecake, for which Lucky plays guitar and Dale is briefly the manager. Following the breakup of the band, Redcorn begins singing toned-down solo acoustic children's versions of his songs at the Strickland company barbecue and becomes instantly popular. It was revealed that Big Mountain Fudgecake got back together near the end of the episode "Earthly Girls are Easy". When driving, he is often heard playing Pat Benatar including the hits "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Heartbreaker". He is also notable for playing music from the band Foreigner, such as "Hotblooded" and "Double Vision." Redcorn is often seen reading a book about Native American rights in North America, entitled This Land is Our Land. A recurring gag is that when he begins speaking about matters related to Native traditions and their spiritual meanings, Redcorn's long black hair is dramatically whisked up in a breeze. Despite Redcorn's dedication to his heritage, it has sometimes backfired on him. When Bobby Hill becomes interested in Native American rights, Redcorn seems pleased (although his original intention was to get Joseph interested in his heritage). However, Bobby discovers that Redcorn's tribe engaged in cannibalism, which then causes a mortified Redcorn having to explain to everyone how that practice was discontinued centuries ago.

As a recurring gag, Dale sees several signs of the affair, but always draws the wrong conclusions; on one occasion, he finds him trying to sneak inside to have sex with Nancy, but thinks he is trying to steal his mower. When Dale reports having a vision of a Native American making love with his wife, he then assumes that means he is part Native American himself. John Redcorn's access to Nancy is caused primarily by Dale ignorantly allowing him to be her masseur, and often trusting her to him to keep her away from other men who may have affairs with her. It is revealed in Season 6 that Dale believes Redcorn to be gay, which partially explains his contentment with letting him be alone with his wife so often.

Redcorn has a predictably difficult relationship with Dale; though he considers him a good man, he is jealous of his relationship with Nancy and Joseph, and exasperated by how Dale's eccentricities influence Joseph. Redcorn seems depressed that he was not more a father to Joseph, which is later partially resolved when Nancy reveals to Joseph that since they all are "from the Earth", John and Joseph are in fact related. In Nancy's Boys, after Dale helps him with a lawsuit against the Federal government, Redcorn calls Dale "a true friend" and cites this as a reason for agreeing to split up with Nancy; he made a similar comment to Hank regarding Peggy in an earlier episode. However, later in the series, he would (unsuccessfully) attempt to get back together with Nancy.

In the episode Season 12 "Three Men and a Bastard", John Redcorn finds out he had a daughter, named Kate, by a woman named Charlene (who had a son three years after the affair with John Redcorn; the father of her son is not talked about), during the same period that he was having an affair with Nancy Gribble. Though John Redcorn had forgotten about it since, and Nancy was not happy when she learned about his double affair. This woman had fallen for Bill and had moved her family in with him; likewise, Kate and Joseph fell for each other, which disturbed all the characters aware of the children's shared parentage. At the end of the episode, Charlene and her two kids leave Bill and move in with John Redcorn, although they are never seen or mentioned for the rest of the series.

References