The character of Ethan Hawke in Moon Knight has been shrouded in mystery from the moment the acclaimed actor was announced. Dr. Arthur Harrow was a name the trailer’s closed-captioning revealed to fans but even that revelation didn’t mean much to anyone due to the obscure nature of the character in the comics.
Luckily, Hawke himself has finally shed light on just who Arthur Harrow is in the upcoming show. In an interview with Empire, Hawke said:
[He’s] the head of a kind of certain religious sect. Like a lot of zealots. He has his own ideas about what might make the world a better place and they may not include you.
Hawke initially raised eyebrows when he namedropped real-world evil cultist David Koresh as one of his inspirations for the character. For the uninitiated, Harrow in the comics is a mad scientist and not a religious figure. Knowing that Harrow is indeed a cultist makes the Koresh influence clearer. Hawke revealed other real-world figures he deemed essential to the creation of his version of Harrow:
When you build a new character, you create a blender and throw things in. So I threw in David Koresh, Fidel Castro, the Dalai Lama, Tolstoy. The best villains are the ones that think they’re heroes and that’s definitely Dr. Harrow. He sees Moon Knight as an obstacle to him healing the world.
The recent trailer of Moon Knight showcased more aspects of Harrow that we weren’t previously privy to. Scenes that revealed his tattoo coming to life and his peculiar crocodile staff summoning a burst of energy are telling of the character’s reach in the supernatural. Whether he ends up being a truly larger-than-life character remains to be seen but it’s exciting to think about.
Source: Empire
