He apparently doesn't believe in Santa or Christmas, but all his negativity is secretly testing Hero Boy's faith. He actually isn't human, as he manages to appear and disappear into snow. He also helps Hero Boy many times, one time grabbing him from falling off the train, another time tapping the manual brake wheel on the speeding runaway observation car with his cup before disappearing. (Eventually Hero Boy realizes the wheel slows down the car). Voiced by Tom Hanks. At one point, Hobo asks Hero Boy if he "believes in ghosts." When Hero Boy's replies "no," all Hobo says is "interesting." As a result (and from the way he mysteriously vanishes and suddenly appears), it is reasonable to assume that Hobo may be a "ghost." The Conductor also notes that on his first ride of the Polar Express, he was saved from falling off the train by someone. In the DVD "extra song" the engineers tell the kids about Hobo, that he was sitting on the top of the train for free, and the train headed for Flatop. He then collided with the top of Flatop, and was killed. It is also theorized he is the ghost of Scrooge, due to his attitude towards Christmas (which may just be a ruse to test Hero Boy). Also, he uses a Scrooge marionette to scare Hero Boy in one scene.
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