Not be confused with "Johan", the title of the series which Sir Johan appeared before Peewit joined the series.
Sir Johan (also called Johan, pronounced yoh-hahn) is a character that appears in various episodes of the Smurfs cartoon show, usually in the "Adventures Of Sir Johan And Peewit" stories, as well as in the "non-canonical" Smurf story "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute", where he is called Sir John during the first half-hour (then he is called Johan for the remainder of the film).
Character
He is a teenage knight who serves to protect his king and his kingdom from various kinds of threats. He has befriended a young boy named Peewit who has become his constant companion in his adventures. He rides around on a white horse (which is brown in the first few episodes) named Bayard.
Role
Johan is a squire who works to protect the king, his family, and the people. Out of the pair, Johan is the brave and the skilled one, constantly clashing with whatever villain comes up.
Johan as he appears in the show.
Johan also ends up moving from the role of a Squire to a Knight at a certain point of the story.
Johan stops peewit from singing.
Personality
Johan is very well-mannered - following the knight's code of chivalry - serious, logically thinking, and mature. He is known for having good manners towards all but foes and speaks politely in an English-esque accent. He is overall a cool and collected individual, only getting aggressive whenever someone is in danger or mad whenever Peewit is causing trouble.
Abilities
Despite his age, Johan is skilled with swords and is also showed to be a good archer. He tends to do some risky things, like jumping off tall buildings or going headfirst into battle. The most spell-binding performance he has done was in "The Goblin Of Boulder Wood", where he leapt from a window and landed on his feet, dodged two villains coming from both ways by jumping over a side wall, bounced off an outward window cover, knocked over a villain when landing, and finally stopped next to the drawbridge handle, only to be quickly surrounded by a crowd of scoundrels. He simply withdraws his sword and cuts the ropes keeping the drawbridge in place, thus giving entrance to the King's army.
Meeting and relationship with Peewit
They're good friends, despite their contrasting personalities.
Johan met Peewit when he was trying to look for a Goblin that was rumored to be terrorizing people in Boulder Woods - this was really Peewit, who was only playing around in order to steal food from others. At first, he found Peewit to be an irritating thief, but after suggesting that he should work for the King as his court jester, Peewit took the job.
The two start becoming good friends after Peewit helped save everyone and started living in the castle. Johan is rarely seen without Peewit whenever he makes trips outside the castle.
The two are close friends, even if Peewit can be irritating. They watch out for each other and work as a team to save the day.
Sir Johan in an early issue of the comic book series.
Trivia
- Johan's hair was not always dark. Originally, he was blond from his debut in 1947 until 1952 when his stories appeared in the Belgian comic magazine Spirou. His stories originally appeared in two newspapers, first in La Dernière Heure, then in Le Soir.
- His character in the cartoon show was voiced by Michael Bell.
- A French language picture book, Johan et Pirlouit, hors-série : Le Bois aux Licornes takes place decades after the comic and cartoon series, and features Johan as ruler of the Good King's castle due to the King having no heirs. Johan has white hair and appears to be about 50.
- He, Peewit, Dame Barbara, The King, and Princess Sabina make a non-speaking role in "Blue Eyes Returns".
- The episodes "Petrified Smurfs", "Smurfing For Ghosts", "Baby's First Word", and "The Littlest Viking" were the four episodes where he didn't appear with Peewit.
- Johan, along with Peewit did save the Smurfs from Lord Balthazar and Gargamel in "Handy's Kite", although neither of them mentioned the names of both Balthazar and Gargamel, encountering the two wizards for the first time.
- Johan and Peewit first met the Smurfs in "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute".
- Johan and Prince Gerard both have the same age (between 17-20 years old).
- Johan and Peewit make brief cameos in the Smurfs: The Village Behind The Wall comic "The Wandering Island".
- Johan has his name in one episode title which is "Johan's Army".