John Thornton is the deuteragonist of the 2020 adaptation of The Call of the Wild. He is a miner who meets Buck in the Klondike.
Character History[]
Ever since the death of his son, Tim, John departured with his wife and went to live in the Klondike. One day, he comes across Buck, who retrieves his harmonica before being taken away as he gets onto the boat.
He is later seen writing a letter to his wife and delivers it to Perrault and Francoise the next day before they leave. After Buck's departure with Perrault and Francoise, he and the team are bought by Hal and his family. Thornton comes across and stops Charles from striking Buck as they struggle to pull the sled. Thornton informs Hal that the rudders are frozen and pulls them out. Thornton tries to warn Hal about the dangers ahead, but he ignores him and they leave.
Later, Thornton heads out to rescue Buck and arrives just in time to stop Hal from shooting Buck. Thornton takes Buck and Hal and his family proceed to cross the frozen lake, despite Thornton's warnings. Two days after Buck slowly recovers, Thornton informs Buck about the dogs' supposed deaths and heads off to a bar, where he is attacked by Hal, who blames him for making him lose his dogs and his fortune. Buck bolts into the bar and attacks Hal. Hal threatens to shoot Buck, but is stopped by Edenshaw and thrown out of the bar.
Back at home, Thornton continues to drink whiskey and Buck takes the bottle away from him before burying it, much to Thornton's dismay. Thornton then shows the map of the Yukon to Buck and decides to go off the map in search of gold. They travel through a river until the boat breaks and they go on foot. They finally arrive at the abandoned cabin and Thornton gets rid of the old stuff in there. Thornton finds a gold nugget in the river and Buck helps him find more. Buck then notices a white wolf named Carol running by and Thornton lets him go.
When Buck becomes part of the wild, Thornton follows him to the wolf den and decides to let him run free with his kind. Thornton then tosses some of the gold nuggets back into the river and decides to head back home the next day. However, the following night, Hal has followed him to the cabin and attacks him, resulting in the cabin to catch on fire. Thornton fights Hal with his rifle until he fatally wounds him. Hal demands to know where the gold is and Thornton tosses the nuggets at him. Thornton tells him that this won't change anything and Hal prepares to finish him off until Buck comes to the rescue and attacks Hal. As Hal prepares to strike Buck, Buck stops him and kills him by pushing him into the cabin, causing it to collapse onto him. Buck rushes over to Thornton's side and retrieves his stuff. Thornton reminds Buck that he is home and passes away shortly after.