The corrupt governor of Jamestown
Governor Ratcliffe is the main villain of Pooh's Adventures of Pocahontas. His evil plan was to trick the settlers into mining gold for Bowser and to destroy the Indians. Thankfully, he was defeated by Pooh Bear and his friends and was sent to jail. Suprisingly, in the Walt Disney World version of Winnie The Pooh In Fantasmic!, Ratcliffe returned to repeat his scheme as if nothing had ever happened.
History[]
Pocahontas[]
At first, Ratcliffe leads an expedition to Virginia to find gold and other riches (which he wants to keep for himself). He fails to tell any of the other crew of his real reason for going to Virginia and recites the "Adventure of our lives" and "Freedom" speech to cover it. When they see land, Ratcliffe meets with John Smith, whom the crew admire, about his plan on dealing with the "savages" and "filthy heathens" (what he calls the Native Americans) and Smith assures his success and the meetings through. Ratcliffe arrives on the Shore of Virginia shortly after Smith and Thomas, a new recruit, then takes some land in the name of King James and calls it Jamestown (which is named after the king).
After Smith leaves to search for the Native Americans, Ratcliffe orders men to build a fort and clear the ship while he has the rest of the men dig for gold everywhere. When he sees John Smith running off somewhere, he sends Thomas to follow him, hoping the "poor excuse for a soldier" will be of some use. He overhears the men talking about Smith's capture and realizes that he could steal the Powhatan's gold once they are through with them (though it is noted earlier by Smith that they have no gold, Ratcliffe refuses to believe it). He wages war against the Powhatans, but to assure the men's back up, he states that it is to rescue Smith. After the two sides march their way to one and other, they are stopped abruptly by the film's heroine Pocahontas, who tells everyone that they were led onto the path of hatred.
Even though Chief Powhatan and the Powhatans are touched by Pocahontas' speech, Ratcliffe is unmoved and orders his men to fire at the Native Americans. Eventually, they refused to do so, as they no longer see any reason to fight the Native Americans just because they have different societies, just as Smith told them before. Ratcliffe then tries to gain the upper hand by firing a shot at Chief Powhatan, but Smith takes the bullet but not fatally. Finally seeing Ratcliffe for the corrupt and greedy monster that he truly was, Thomas and the other men turned on their commander, and drag him away tied up and gagged. Ratcliffe is then roughly loaded into a boat back to England to await punishment for his crimes, despite his muffled protests that he will swear vengeance against his crew. As Ratcliffe was sent on a rowboat that was heading back to the ship and send him to the brig, his servant Wiggins weeps for him as he mentioned how Ratcliffe was highly recommended for the expedition.
Pocahontas II: Journey to the New World[]
Ratcliffe returns in the second movie and his personality changes from mere greed to pure menace. He allows Smith to "fall to his death" after Smith tries to escape the English soldiers (he has been framed by Ratcliffe as a traitor). Working with King James, he learns of Pocahontas' visit to court to speak with the king (he and the king were expecting the chief, but ultimately let that fact pass) and invites her to the ball to prove that she is not too savage. However, knowing her savage instinct, he gets circus performers to bear bait in front of Pocahontas and the king's court in order to framed Pocahontas act savage and be punished by the king to get her out of the way. He plans to lead England's Armada to attack the Powhatans.
After Pocahontas is freed and John Rolfe discover and put forth that Smith is alive in front of the king's court, it proves to the king that Ratcliffe has lied from the start. Ratcliffe's new army was just getting ready to set sail when Ratcliffe orders a rush anchor release after realizing he is being targeted. After the ships have crashed (thanks to Pocahontas, Rolfe, and Smith), Ratcliffe attempts to end Pocahontas' life in revenge. When Smith gets in the way, he attempts to do away with him in execution style with his firearm after their sword fight turned stalemate. Rolfe comes in from behind and "hangs" Ratcliffe on a boat post, Smith then cuts the rope holding Ratcliffe and the latter falls into the sea, which he cannot swim. Ratcliffe swam to the shore decks where the angry King and his guards are waiting for him.
Exposed, Ratcliffe attempts to lie once more to the King about the heroes sabotaging the armada. However, the King had enough of this and learned the truth, so he warns him to never speak any more lies again, quoting "no more lies". The King then orders his guards to arrest Ratcliffe (it is unknown if he is hanged or not, though the former choice is more likely to happen, since Ratcliffe is certain on committing high treason). With Ratcliffe defeated, King James grants Pocahontas and her people with peace and friendship, hires Rolfe as his new lord advisor (though Rolfe declines it to be with Pocahontas for the rest of her life), and Smith with a new ship for himself to travel around the world.
Trivia[]
- Ratcliffe became the FT Squad's enemy in The FT Squad Meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe and Wiggins are the only Disney villain and henchman to share the same voice actor.
- Ratcliffe is regarded as one of Disney's least popular villains, but he is one of the only two Disney animated villains to be loosely based on an actual historical person, the other being Prince John from Robin Hood. The rest of Disney's animated villains are indeed fictional.
- He is one of the few Disney villains to return for the sequel, along with Jafar and Cruella De Vil.
- He is the second Disney villain to have two completely different songs in the same film, the first one is Gaston.
- He was voiced by the late David Ogden Stiers, who also played Wiggins in the same film, the Penguin in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast and Jumba Jookiba in Lilo and Stitch.
- Ratcliffe is a minor guest character in the House of Mouse, He also appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. He also makes a possible cameo appearance in Mickey's House of Villains, but he does not take part in the takeover.
- Ratcliffe will become the enemy of Ash, Simba, Littlefoot, SpongeBob and their friends in Ash Ketchum Meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become Danny's enemy in Danny Meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become Yogi Bear's enemy in Yogi Bear's Adventures of Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become the enemy of Bloom, Alex, and their friends in Bloom's Adventures of Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become the enemy of Tino Tonitini in Tino Tonitini Meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become the enemy of Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become Theodore Tugboat's enemy in Theodore Tugboat meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe will become Roary's enemy in Roary the Racing Car meets Pocahontas.
- Ratcliffe faced against Pooh and his friends again in Pooh's Adventures of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and he will face them again in Pooh's Adventures of Avatar.
- Ratcliffe will become the enemy of Connor Lacey and his adventure team in The Irelanders Meets Pocahontas. and it’s sequel. He will face Connor again in The Irelanders' Adventures of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.
- Ratcliffe will become Ryan Freestar's and his team's enemy in Ryan Freestar Meets Pocahontas.
- He will face Ryan, Meg and friends again in Ryan Freestar Meets Pocahontas 2: Journey to the New World and Ryan's Adventures of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.
Gallery[]
