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ArthurDent


Simon Jones as Arthur in the TV series

Overview

Age

  • Approx. 30 (HHGG, ch. 1)
  • Approx. 35 (LTUAE, ch. 3)
  • Approx. 38 (SLATFATF, ch. 5)
  • Approx. 39+ (MH, ch. 7)

Family

  • Unnamed father†
  • Unnamed mother†
  • Unnamed brother†
  • Unnamed sister†
  • Unnamed godfather†
  • Random Dent (daughter)

Occupation

  • Local radio employee (formerly, briefly resumed in SLATFATF; HHGG, ch. 1)
  • BBC Light Entertainment producer (formerly, briefly resumed in ph. 4; f. 20)
  • Sandwich maker (formerly; MH, ch. 13-20)

Titles

  • Sandwich Maker (by Thrashbarg, Lamuellans)

One-Off Nicknames

  • Monkeyman (by Zaphod)
  • Apeman (by Zaphod)
  • Earthman (by Zaphod, Marvin, Slartibartfast, and others)
  • My old soup spoon (by Murray)
  • My old silver tureen (by Murray)
  • My little green baize card table (by Murray)
  • My old prosthetic limb (by Murray)
  • My old herringbone tweed (by Murray, radio only)

Names in Other Languages

  • Arthur Accroc (French)
  • ארתור פיליפ דנט (Hebrew)
  • アーサー・フィリップ・デント (Japanese)
  • 아서 필립 덴트 (Korean)
  • А́ртур Фи́лип Дент (Russian)
  • Артур Дент (Ukrainian)

Portrayed by

  • Simon Jones (radio, television)
  • Martin Freeman (film)

Biography

TBA

Physical Appearance

Radio

In the Primary Phase, Arthur is described as a "six foot tall ape descendant" (f. 1). In the Tertiary Phase, the dye has run in his dressing gown, and he has a bone in his beard (f. 13-14).
In the Quandary Phase, Arthur is described as "a little older, his dressing gown a little grubbier," and he initially carries a large plastic shopping bag, which has a large hole in its bottom; he also has a Wikkit Gate jogging towel, which Rob McKenna describes as "mucky" (f. 19). After returning home, he washes his hair, shaves, and does his laundry, which leads to his dressing gown no longer being "decorated with the junk-food condiment stains from a hundred grimy spaceports" (f. 20).
In the Quintessential Phase, Arthur is described again as a "scruffy figure in a dressing gown" (f. 23).

Novels

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur is described as "dark haired and never quite at ease with himself" (ch. 1). He is also initially clean-shaven (ch. 1).
In Life, the Universe, and Everything, Arthur is described to be wearing a "dilapidated dressing gown" (ch. 2) and bedroom slippers (ch. 33). He also has grown a beard, into which he sticks a rabbit bone, then later removes (ch. 2, 16).
In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Arthur initially is described as "wild-looking," wears a "ragged, threadbare" dressing gown and carries a "battered and threadbare" towel, along with a large plastic shopping bag with a hole in the bottom (ch. 1, 7). After returning home, Arthur cuts and washes his hair, shaves, and changes into "corduroys and a chunky sweater" (ch. 7). At the pub, in the ninth chapter, Arthur notes how he's lost weight compared to eight years prior, when the series began.
In Mostly Harmless, Arthur buys new clothes in Bartledan (ch. 11), and after crashing on Lamuella, he sustains "a broken leg, a couple of broken ribs, some bad burns," and an implied concussion (ch. 15). He is also implied to have a limp and significant difficulty running due to his broken leg not having healed cleanly (ch. 15).

Television

In the 1981 television series, Arthur is tall and has straight, short, dark brown hair, which is parted and swept mostly neatly to his right. He wears a monogrammed red plaid dressing gown, which has dark red lapels with red and white trim. Underneath his usually-closed gown, he wears a grid-patterned collared shirt, a beige undershirt, and white and greyish green, vertically striped pajama trousers, along with brown dress shoes.

Film

In the 2005 film, Arthur is shorter than his television counterpart, has messier, shorter, lighter brown hair, which is less neatly parted and swept to his right. He wears a plain, dark green bathrobe, usually open over a dark, greyish blue sweater, over a white tee shirt. His pajama trousers are red and burgundy in alternating vertical stripes, and he wears more casual plain brown shoes.

Comics

In the comic books, Arthur's appearance varies. Initially, he has messy, short, black hair and wears a light purple bathrobe with darker purple, horizontal stripes, four on the body and two on each sleeve, above the elbows. Under his robe, he wears a white undershirt and pale green shorts. He also wears dark teal socks and black slippers.
On some covers, Arthur has dark brown hair and a light brown robe with red stripes. On prehistoric Earth, Arthur has longer hair and a beard, and in addition to his original gown, now tattered, and his original undershirt, he wears dark green pants, a dark brown fur vest, and dark brown boots. In some panels on prehistoric Earth, he is shown wearing brown pants instead of green pants, and he is without his fur vest.
On Krikkit, Arthur wears a plain black vest over a white, long-sleeved shirt, with light brown pants and grey boots.

Personality and Traits

Radio

Primary Phase (1978)

In the Primary Phase, Arthur ranges from angry, to sarcastic, to anxious, to uncomfortable, to curious, to polite, to bitter, to somewhat childish. In Fit the First, Arthur is the one who convinces Prosser to lie down in front of the bulldozer, but not without first being justifiably and significantly rude and sarcastic towards him. After finding out that his house is being destroyed, he shouts and makes violent threats (f. 1). He is a mix of friendly and sarcastic towards Ford, even while anxious after finding himself in the Vogon constructor ship. In the Heart of Gold and in the Haggunenon ship, he presses buttons that he ought not press (f. 2, 6).
When meeting Zaphod for what turns out to be the second time, Arthur is shown to be bitter and somewhat petty (f. 2). Though Arthur tries to get along with Marvin, he eventually tires of him and speaks sarcastically to him (f. 3). While Arthur is initially polite with Slartibartfast, he fails to keep himself from chuckling at Slartibartfast's name (f. 3).

Secondary Phase (1978-1980)

In the Secondary Phase, Arthur mostly retains his general personality from the Primary Phase. Despite his previous bitterness towards Zaphod, he does show some concern for Zaphod's wellbeing after he crashes on prehistoric Earth (f. 8). Arthur briefly gets somewhat short with Ford due to Ford's pedantry with respect to verb tenses when discussing Earth, and he gets angry with the Heart of Gold's Nutrimatic Drink Dispenser when it refuses to make tea for him (f. 9). After this, he inadvertently jams the Heart of Gold's shipboard computer; initially, he claims that it's "not [his] fault," but he does apologize shortly afterwards (f. 9).
On Brontitall, Arthur initially refuses to let go of the bird that he lands on after falling out of the cup part of the large sculpture of himself, then reluctantly lets go of the bird, apologizing after the bird refuses to drop him off closer to the ground (f. 10). Later, Arthur becomes incredulous at the social get together between the Lintillas and Allitnils, finding the time and place inappropriate (f. 12). He asks the footwarriors who are after him and the Lintillas to hold off on firing while firing back in defense himself (f. 12). After the Allitnils are revealed to be anticlones meant to destroy Lintilla clones, Arthur kills the third Allitnil in "cold blood," though he initially feels ill at ease about it; he doesn't linger on the feeling for very long (f. 12).

Tertiary Phase (2004)

The Tertiary Phase declares that the events of the Secondary Phase were the result of Zaphod's hallucinations and treats the Secondary Phase as though it never happened (f. 13). Arthur mostly retains his personality from Life, the Universe, and Everything, though with some additions, like him referring to the trees he speaks to by species name and number (f. 13).

Quandary Phase (2005)

TBA

Quintessential Phase (2005)

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Hexagonal Phase (2018)

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Novels

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

TBA

The Restaurant at the End of the Univers' (1980)

TBA

Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982)

In Life, the Universe, and Everything, due to enduring four years of isolation after separating with Ford after one year on prehistoric Earth, Arthur initially appears more noticeably unhinged (ch. 1-2). More specifically, he takes up talking to trees and screaming every morning upon waking, has trouble recognizing that Ford invited him to shake hands, and fails to judge when to stop shaking Ford's hand, shaking it until Ford finds it "necessary to disengage" (ch. 1-2). He also is shown to get hung up over small things in conversation, like the idea of what a whelk has to do with a supernova after Ford remarks that a whelk doesn't have a chance in one (ch. 14).
Later in the book, after reasoning from his encounter with Agrajag that he logically cannot die until he's visited Stavromula Beta, Arthur shows a more reckless and prideful side of himself. At the flying party, he picks a fight with Thor for the purpose of tricking Thor into falling out of the building (ch. 22). When called out by Ford for his recklessness, Arthur angrily argues back and tries to get Slartibartfast on his side; Arthur also feels that he had been "extraordinarily brave and resourceful" in tricking Thor, and he feels hurt that Trillian hardly reacts (ch. 23). Arthur also appears to find a sense of pride in having helped save the Universe, but he is disappointed when it seems that no one is interested in hearing about it when he returns to Lord's Cricket Ground with Ford (ch. 33). Prak laughing at Arthur towards the end of the book also similarly upsets Arthur to the point of trying to think of something petty to say when asked to see Prak just before Prak's death (ch. 34).
Despite Arthur's recklessness and pridefulness, he does retain his anxiousness and caringness. He is noticeably anxious when arriving at Agrajag's Cathedral of Hate (ch. 16), and when the Starship Bistromath crew go down to Krikkit, Arthur is nervous to the point of shaking while handling his gun (ch. 27). When Arthur and Trillian go to speak to Hactar, he tries to "hold [Trillian's] hand to steady and reassure her," and when she doesn't let him, he steadies and reassures his hold-all instead (ch. 32).

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)

Arthur's characterization in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish significantly differs from that in previous books, though he does retain some of his anxiousness and awkwardness, as seen in chapter eighteen, which states that Arthur "could usually contrive to feel self-­conscious if left alone for long enough with a Swiss Cheese plant." His obsession with finding Fenchurch also leads him to make six awkward phone calls to six different hospitals (ch. 8). Arthur does, however, show a more confident and flirtatious side of himself - he is shown to be a more experienced hitchhiker (ch. 1), and though his first meeting with Fenchurch is awkward (ch. 11), once their relationship is established, Arthur is remarkably openly and publicly affectionate with Fenchurch to an extent that many people would not be comfortable being (ch. 20, 26). He also rather easily lies to his friends about having been in California for the past six months and having gotten his face "dropped" to explain the discrepancies caused by his eight years of absence (ch. 8-9).

Mostly Harmless (1992)

After Fenchurch disappears during a hyperspace jump, Arthur spends at least a year traveling around the galaxy in an attempt to find her again (ch. 7). Feeling lost, he tries living on Bartledan and visiting Hawalius for advice from seers and soothsayers (ch. 9, 11). After both of those efforts, he finds himself in a ship crash that lands him on Lamuella (ch. 13). Though he first has to recover from severe injuries, Arthur eventually settles into the community on Lamuella and becomes known as their Sandwich Maker (ch. 13). He seems fairly relaxed and happy enough with his situation (he calls his sandwiches "[his] life's work") until Trillian suddenly arrives and leaves Random, her and Arthur's daughter via sperm donation, in Arthur's care (ch. 13). Arthur very frankly tells Random that he doesn't love her yet since he's just met her but also to "give [him] a few minutes" (ch. 15). As months pass and Arthur and Random get used to one another, Arthur struggles to get on well with her, but he is determined to love her, and he makes a genuine effort to be a good father, feeling wretched at how badly he feels he's done after she runs off with the Guide Mk II (ch. 15-17).
However, Arthur's demeanor changes when things with Random and the Guide Mk II go awry, especially towards Ford. After Random runs off with the Guide Mk II, Arthur does retain his anxiousness and caringness when he sits on Ford after having mistaken him for a rock in the dark, and he worries for Ford's wellbeing, but only until exactly when he realizes that Ford is whom he had sat on (ch. 18). Arthur's frustration and anxiety reach a boiling point as Ford goes on about things that Arthur wrongly finds irrelevant, and eventually, after more than enough sarcasm, Arthur yells and curses at Ford, though once he gets it out of his system, he calms down enough to offer to share a sandwich with Ford (ch. 18). After this one-sided altercation, Arthur leaves Lamuella along with Ford to both find Random and retrieve the Guide Mk II, and Arthur remains confident that he cannot die until he's visited Stavromula Beta, leading him to be less worried about risks along the way than he may have been, otherwise (ch. 18-20).

And Another Thing (2009)

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Television

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Film

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Skills and Abilities

  • Flying (LTUAE, ch. 18)
  • Birdspeak (LTUAE, ch. 34)
  • Eating moldy food without issue (SLATFATF, ch. 8)
  • Sandwich making (MH, ch. 13)

Interests

  • Interesting stones (LTUAE, ch. 3)
  • Cricket (LTUAE, ch. 33; Infocom game)
  • Newts (Infocom game)
  • Computers (Infocom game; SLATFATF, ch. 17)
  • Astronomy (SLATFATF, ch. 17)
  • Sandwich making (MH, ch. 13)

Dislikes

  • Mathematical graphs (LTUAE, ch. 11)

Possessions

  • Rabbit skin pouch; handmade (LTUAE, ch. 1)
  • Interesting stone collection (LTUAE, ch. 3)
  • Golgafrinchan jogging towel; blue with yellow stars (LTUAE, ch. 3)
  • Small, navy-blue holdall (LTUAE, ch. 18)
  • Volkswagen Golf GTI; black (SLATFATF, ch. 11)
  • Large plastic shopping bag (SLATFATF, ch.1; f. 19)
  • Wikkit Gate jogging towel (f. 19)
  • Clockwork watch; battered and scratched back, faintly engraved with "To Albert on his twenty­-first birthday" and incorrect birthdate, from his godfather (MH, ch. 15)

Relationships

Ford Prefect

Radio

Primary Phase
TBA
Secondary Phase
TBA
Tertiary Phase
TBA
Quandary Phase
TBA
Quintessential Phase
In the Quintessential Phase, Arthur is slightly less bitter towards Ford - Arthur does raise his voice at and speak sarcastically to Ford at first, but he doesn't curse at Ford the way that he does in Mostly Harmless (f. 26; MH, ch. 18). At the Domain of the King, Arthur also asks out loud if Ford is crying rather than simply watching him and feeling disturbed (f. 26; MH ch. 22). However, Ford may not have been the last person he looked at as the Grebulons fired at Earth, like in Mostly Harmless - Trillian is instead the one to point out Club Beta's owner's name (MH, ch. 25; f.26).
Hexagonal Phase
TBA

Novels

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
TBA
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
TBA
Life, the Universe, and Everything
After parting ways for four years, after a year together on prehistoric Earth, Ford returns just as Arthur declares that he will go mad, replying to Arthur's announcement that it would be a "good idea" (ch. 2). After four years of isolation, Arthur is "so pleased and relieved to see Ford that he could almost cry," though he does also find Ford to be an "almost immediately annoying person" (ch. 2). While it is clear that Arthur has begun to behave more strangely as a result of his isolation, Ford does his best to be patient with him, though he does resort to grabbing arthur by the lapels of his dressing gown and "[speaking] to him as slowly and distinctly and patiently as if he were somebody from a telephone company accounts department" (ch. 2). As Arthur readjusts to interacting with people again, rather than trees, Ford has to grab him by the arm due to Arthur freezing in shock, and before that, Arthur prods him after getting too overwhelmed to speak after seeing Slartibartfast again (ch. 3). Ford also shows extreme concern for Arthur, "panic stricken" when they reunite on the edge outside of the flying party (ch. 20). After the party, Ford shouts at Arthur for having been reckless and picking a fight with Thor (ch. 23).
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
TBA
Mostly Harmless
By Mostly Harmless, despite how Ford had previously helped Arthur and Fenchurch, Arthur's relationship with Ford is one-sidedly rocky. Ford mostly treats Arthur the same as he had from the beginning - he tells Arthur that he thought he could rely on to be "boring" and keep the parcel containing the Guide Mk II safe by not opening it (ch. 18). On the other hand, Arthur speaks poorly of Ford to Random (ch. 15) and immediately is bitter towards Ford once Ford arrives on Lamuella - he also doesn't apologize for accidentally sitting on Ford, having mistaken him for a rock (ch. 17-18). However, after taking his frustration with the situation with Random and the Guide Mk II out on Ford, shouting and swearing, Arthur eventually calms down and doesn't stay mad at Ford - he offers to share a sandwich with Ford, and Ford accepts (ch. 18). In The Domain of the King, unlike in the Quintessential Phase, Arthur doesn't ask Ford out loud if he's crying, but once the events in Club Beta near their end, Ford is the last person Arthur looks to, overcome with a "tremendous feeling of peace" (ch. 25).
And Another Thing
TBA

Television

In the television series, Arthur and Ford's relationship doesn't differ vastly from their relationship in the radio series or the novels. However, they are noticeably physically close - they often grab one another or stand very near one another and are unbothered by the proximity.

Film

TBA

Trillian Astra

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Zaphod Beeblebrox

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Marvin the Paranoid Android

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Fenchurch

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Random Dent

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Slartibartfast

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Mella

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Lamuellans

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Murray Bost Henson

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Others

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Trivia

  • Arthur's brother was "nibbled to death by an okapi" (f. 6).
  • Arthur memorized the telephone number for King's Cross railway station passenger inquiries (LTUAE, ch. 34).
  • The songs on Krikkit occasionally got on Arthur's nerves (LTUAE, ch. 34).
  • Arthur's house was "wonderfully close" to Taunton and "only minutes away up the motorway" (SLATFATF, ch. 11).
  • Arthur's house was somewhere near the Taunton road in Bridgwater (f. 19).
  • Arthur was named Aleric B in an early pitch for the series (citation needed).
  • In The Frood, Aleric (Arthur) is implied to be a fan of Star Trek.