Who wouldn’t want to have that kind of power? As a kid, every time I jumped in a lake or even a swimming pool, I liked to pretend I was Captain Nemo. I could sink enemy ships with impunity, go all over the world undetected, explore depths no one had ever visited, and uncover fabulous ruins and priceless treasures. I could submerge into my own secret realm and never return to the surface world （which was kind of horrible anyway）。 When I eventually wrote about Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, you can bet that my old daydreams about Captain Nemo and the Nautilus were a big reason I chose to make Percy a demigod of the sea.
Now, I’ll be honest, I found Verne’s novels slow going when I was a kid. But I did enjoy my uncle’s old Classics Illustrated editions, and I loved watching the Disney film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – even the cheesy bits like Kirk Douglas dancing and singing, and the giant rubber squid attacking the ship. Only when I was older did I realize how rich and complex the original stories were. Nemo was even more interesting than I had imagined. And I began to see little openings in the narrative where Verne had left room for a possible sequel …
Why does Captain Nemo still matter?
Verne was one of the first writers of science fiction. Looking back from the twenty-first century, it can be difficult for us to appreciate just how revolutionary his ideas were, but Verne imagined technology that would not exist for hundreds of years to come. A self-powered submarine that could circle the globe continuously and never have to dock for supplies? Impossible! In 1870, submarines were still newfangled inventions – dangerous tin cans that were more likely to blow up and kill everyone on board than to complete a trip around the world. Verne also wrote Around the World in 80 Days at a time when making the trip that quickly was unthinkable, and Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a feat that is still far beyond human technology, though some day, who knows?
The best science fiction can shape how humans see their own future. Jules Verne did that better than anyone. Way back in the 1800s, he suggested what could be possible, and humans rose to the challenge. When people talk about how fast a plane or a ship can circle the world, they still use Around the World in 80 Days as a benchmark. At one time, eighty days was an incredibly short trip for circumnavigating the globe. Now we can do it in less than eighty hours by plane, and less than forty days by sea.
Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth inspired generations of cavers to explore the earth’s cave systems and spurred geoengineers to figure out how the layers of the earth function.
Captain Nemo, on the other hand, raised awareness of the importance the oceans would have for the future of the planet. We know most of the earth is covered with water, and eighty percent of the oceans are still unexplored. Figuring out how to tap the power of the sea, and to live with the power of the sea as our climate changes, may be key to human survival. Verne envisioned all of that in his books.
Nemo and his crew are able to live self-sufficiently without ever touching dry land. The sea provides all their needs. In 20,000 Leagues, Nemo tells Aronnax that the Nautilus is entirely electric and draws all its power from the ocean. In The Mysterious Island, Cyrus Harding speculates that when coal runs out, humans will learn to draw energy from the abundant hydrogen of the ocean. That is still a goal people are trying to achieve today, and one of the reasons I decided that Nemo must have unlocked the secret of cold fusion.
In 20,000 Leagues, Nemo’s crew uses electrical Leyden guns that are more effective and elegant than standard arms. They have almost limitless wealth thanks to the many shipwrecks they’ve plundered. They’ve discovered the secrets of subaquatic agriculture, so food is never an issue. Most importantly, they have freedom. They are independent of any nation’s laws and can come and go as they please. They answer to no one except Nemo. Whether that is good or bad … I guess that depends on what you think of Nemo!
The importance of the sea, the importance of imagining new technological advances – these are great reasons to still read Jules Verne. But there’s one more critical thing to consider. Verne made Captain Nemo an Indian prince whose people suffered under European colonialism. His character explores themes that are just as critical now as they were in Victorian times. How do you find a voice and power when society denies you those privileges? How do you fight injustice? Who gets to write the history books and decide who were the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’？ Nemo is an outlaw, a rebel, a genius, a scientist, an explorer, a pirate, a gentleman, an ‘archangel of vengeance’。 He’s a complicated guy, which makes him a lot of fun to read about. I was fascinated by the idea of fast-forwarding his legacy into the twenty-first century and looking at what his descendants would be dealing with all these years later.