Mr. John Thornton (Richard Armitage)
Mr. John Thornton is a wealthy cotton mill owner in Milton. He brought his family up from the dust of poverty after his father committed suicide. He's a deceptively brooding and surly character but is really a good man. He is known for being more honest and fair than the other mill owners in Milton. He is also characterized my moral steadiness. He loses everything because of his honesty. The other mill owners participate in a risky speculation, and he refuses because he knows he's risking more than his own interest. The venture ends up being successful and he loses everything. He is initially repulsive to Margaret because she witnesses him beat a man for smoking in his mill after being warned. She later discovers that he witnessed a whole mill go up in smoke and 300 people die from it. This doesn't, however, change her opinion of him, and their movie-long relationship is fraught with disagreement and tension. He represents the industrial North and cannot help but think logically. He's not very idealistic. He's harsh and calculating except when it comes to her. For some reason, he loves her the entire time. This love softens him until the last scene when he reaches the pinnacle. She is offering him a substantial sum of money to run his failed mill. Despite this good financial news, he is thinking only of her.