Governor Ratcliffe

At first, Ratcliffe leads an expedition to Virginia to search for gold and other riches (which he wants to keep for himself). He fails to tell any of the other crew of his real reason for traveling to Virginia and recites the "Adventure of our lives" and "Freedom" speech to cover it. When they see land, Ratcliffe meets with John Smith, who the crew admire, about his plot on dealing with the "savages" and "filthy heathens" (what he calls the Native Americans) and Smith assures his success and the meetings through. Ratcliffe shows up on the Shore of Virginia shortly after Smith and Thomas, a new recruit, takes some land in the name of King James and calls it Jamestown afterwards (which is named after the king). After Smith departs to search for the Native Americans, Ratcliffe tells his men to build a fort and clear the ship while he has the rest of the men dig for gold everywhere. After several days of digging with no results, he begins to grow worried and frustrated. When Wiggins bursts in, seemingly shot with an arrow, he realizes the Native Americans must have it. When John Smith returns from talking to Pocahontas, he demands to know where he has been, and after the former makes up the excuse of scouting the terrain, he concludes that he must know where the Native Americans are. But to his chagrin, Smith tries to dissuade the settlers into attacking, saying they can help them by navigating the rivers and providing them with food, even saying there isn't any gold. Ratcliffe refuses to believe this, and declares that it is his land and his laws now, one of which is that any Native American must be shot on sight and anyone failing to do so will be branded a traitor and punished with execution by hanging. Later that night, when he Thomas sees Smith running off somewhere, he sends him to follow him, hoping the "poor excuse for a soldier" will be of some use. After John Smith was captured by the Native Americans, Ratcliffe overhears the men talking about Smith's capture

Like most Disney villains, Ratcliffe is very power-hungry and autocratic. He is unbelievably greedy, avaricious and materialistic, as evidenced by his insatiable craving for gold, which would make him a very wealthy and extravagant man. He is also highly xenophobic (even for the period in which he lives), ruthless, cruel, pompous, and incredibly manipulative. While he exudes great confidence and gives the impression of being rather vain, Ratcliffe actually seems to have very little self-esteem, admitting in a sad voice that he has never been a popular man. However, Ratcliffe has no respect for anyone and is pretty much a rude and selfish person who loves killing people, hates the Native Americans, and all he does is think about himself. He even outright admits that he is fine with killing anyone who does not comply with his rules and he loves to make others miserable. Because his mission to colonize the Americas is his last chance to prove himself, he cannot afford to return empty-handed, as his reputation was already damaged to the point where his failure would mean permanent disgrace, throwing his dreams of fame and power out the window forever. Despite his self-confessed lack of popularity, Ratcliffe also seems to be quite persuasive, charismatic, authoritative and glamorous, as he commands the respect of his troops until the end of the film.

Ratcliffe is a tall and obese adult man with long black hair tied up into two short pigtails with red ribbons, thick black eyebrows, green eyes, and notable lavender eyelids. He is most often seen in a lavender long-sleeved shirt with a long V-cut neckline underneath a magenta coat with a lavender collar and cuffs, black linings on the chest and waistline, and a magenta colonial hat with a turquoise blue feather on its black band, and a blue medallion resting around his neck to top his sophisticated look off. He also wears magenta keen-length pants, lavender calf-high socks, black colonial boots, and a red cape with a black satin lining. In his imagination at the King's ball, he wears a golden-yellow version of his uniform with a red medallion.