John Carter

[close] Captain John Carter is an Earthman, who originated in Virginia. He fought in the American Civil war on the Confederate side. After the war he moved to the southwest US to work as a prospector. In 1866 he and his prospector partner strike it rich, but the partner is killed by American Indians and Carter takes refuge in a cave where he is overcome by smoke produced by an American Indian woman and wakes up on Mars. Carter finds that he has great strength on this planet, due to its lesser gravity. Carter soon falls in among the Tharks, a nomadic tribe of the planet's warlike, four-armed, green inhabitants.

He effectively disappeared for ten years [while on Mars], believed dead, but re-emerged in New York in 1876, settling on the Hudson. He appeared to die in 1866, leaving instructions for Burroughs, who refers to him as an 'uncle', to entomb him in a crypt, and leaving Burroughs with the manuscript of A Princess of Mars with instructions not to publish it for another 21 years. He has no memory before the age of 30 and seems never to age. He is adept with command, horsemanship, swords and all weapons. He is 6'2" tall, with black hair and steel gray eyes.