# Pistol — Henry V character guide

> Pistol in Henry V by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Ancient Pistol, Pistol, Aunchient Pistol

**First appearance:** 0007-act-ii-scene-i

## Snapshot

A swaggering ensign who speaks in bombast and threats, carrying Falstaff's disreputable world into a war that has no patience for it.

## Who they are

He arrives in France trailing debts, grudges, and a vocabulary of inflated nonsense, quarreling with Nym and chasing whatever profit the campaign offers. His bluster is funny until it isn't, and the play uses him to measure the distance between the old tavern life and the king's new seriousness. He matters because he shows what happens to the hangers-on of a prince who has decided to become a monarch.

## Relationships

### [King Henry V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/characters/king_henry_v)

_professional_

Pistol is a braggart soldier in Henry's army, but the king has little direct interaction with him beyond the military hierarchy.

## In the story

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Pistol is defiant and bombastic, insulting Nym with elaborate rhetoric and refusing to pay his debt initially. He eventually agrees to pay a noble and proposes a brotherhood, planning to become a sutler to the camp.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-iii)

Bids farewell to his wife and prepares to leave for France, urging his companions to follow.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-ii)

Speaks in bombastic verse, begs Fluellen for mercy, and is noted for having a killing tongue but a quiet sword.

### [Scene VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-vi)

Pleads with Fluellen to save Bardolph from execution, but is rebuffed.

### [Scene IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iv)

Captures a French soldier and demands ransom, showing his blustering and mercenary nature.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i)

Forced to eat a leek and beaten by Fluellen; learns of Doll's death and decides to return to England as a thief.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/characters/pistol
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/henry_v_se/characters