An Interview with Endeavour
An interview I did with Counter-Currents.
The following is an interview I did with Ondrej Mann, a friend of mine who writes for Counter-Currents. His work can be found here.
Endeavour was born in Canada in the 1990s, but has lived in several different countries. He writes essays and makes videos on various topics, including politics, history, culture, classic films, and technology, from the perspective of a Canadian nationalist, or more broadly, from the perspective of a white advocate and traditional conservative. He’s a good and entertaining companion. I think we’ll be hearing more about him and his work. In addition to writing for our website, he also has a Substack and a popular YouTube channel.
In the interview, we talked about the meaning of his name, travel, music, healthy lifestyle, motivation, the red pill, Morgoth’s Review, board games, and funny moments during his live streams.
Ondrej Mann: Could you shed some light on the origin and meaning of your pseudonym? Are you familiar with the occult and philosophical doctrine of the four virtues of the Sphinx, made famous by the French magician Éliphas Lévi in the 19th century? To Know (Knowledge), To Will (Endeavour), To Dare (Courage), To Remain Silent (Discretion). I’ve always associated your pseudonym with the four virtues of the Sphinx; that’s what immediately came to mind when I saw your pseudonym on CC.
Endeavour: I chose the pseudonym back in 2017 when everyone online chose some kind of cool avatar to represent them. I wanted to choose something related to the British Empire and pioneership. James Cook is one of my favourite historical figures so I chose to name my channel after one of his ships. I settled on Endeavour because both the name and Cook’s voyage on the ship reflect the pioneer spirit of the settlers who built the Empire (in Canada and Oceania). The psudonym isn’t ideal as it was chosen as an impersonal YouTube avatar and feels a little outdated now, but now that all my work is known by this name, I have just stuck with it.
OM: What made you happy in 2026?
E: The thing which brings me the most happiness is the people I know. Building and maintaining personal relationships with those who you feel a sense of belonging among is the most important factor in attaining happiness for me.
OM: I know you’re interested in fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Could you share a few thoughts on this topic with our readers?
E: Self-discipline is everything. I find that if people are given the opportunity to be lazy, most will. The modern world certainly provides ample opportunity for laziness. In order to live a healthy lifestyle, one’s resolve must be stronger than the temptation of laziness which leads one into unhealthy habits such as inactivity or poor diets. There is no secret. Routinely exercising and eating well just require a degree of self-discipline.
OM: What motivates you in life?
E: On a personal level, I try to live a fulfilling life. Personal growth through things like improving my physical and mental health, developing useful skills, expanding my knowledge, and gaining life experience has brought me the most fulfillment as an individual.
Politically, what motivates me is a love for and desire to preserve that which I identify with and which I feel enriches my life. First and foremost in that is our people. For me, this is primarily the Canadian nation which I am part of, but I extend that affection to the broader family of people of European ancestry who make up the tapestry of Western Civilization. An extension of that is the culture, lifestyle, and sense of self under which our people flourish. The fact that all of this is in the process of being erased is what motivates me to do the work that I do for our cause.
OM: How did your “red pill” moment go?
E: The most pivotal moment for me was the Bataclan Attack which happened in Paris in 2015. Firstly, the fact that the attacks happened disproved the notion pushed by the media that any opposition to the influx of migrants at the time was simply irrational “racism” and “xenophobia.” Secondly, the way that the media and politicians spent hardly any effort empathizing with the victims and almost all of their effort accusing those who were angry about the attack of “Islamophobia” and “racism” revealed to me just how anti-white the zeitgeist in the West is.
From there, I started looking for Right-leaning alternative media and began watching a variety of channels on YouTube. After about a year, I came to the conclusion that what the nationalist Right offered a critique of the system and the most coherent solution to the problem.
OM: How did you discover CC and start writing for our website?
E: I was introduced to Greg Johnson through the network of bloggers and vloggers I became part of after I started my YouTube channel. Once I started producing work in written format on Substack, he asked to republish several of my essays on Counter-Currents. I began publishing everything I write on Counter-Currents in addition to Substack.
OM: You write a lot about decadent and depressing political issues—do you consider that important? What fascinates you about these topics? “Woke,” “Accelerationism,” ”Dystopias,” ”Quixotism,” ”Panzaism,” ”Slopulism.”
E: I write about a wide variety of topics which I feel offer some kind of meaningful insight for the sphere of politics which I belong to. These includes both concepts which I believe function as an effective critique of the current system (dystopian literature, egalitarian ideology, etc.) and ones which serve the purpose of much-needed self-criticism of our own sphere (slopulism, accelerationsim, etc.)
OM: You have a fairly well-known YouTube channel featuring movie reviews and analyses of famous films. How did you get into this, and why did you choose this particular format?
E: My channel was primarily political when I started, but I wanted to branch out into culture and look at the ways in which it has influenced politics. I did a few videos about certain films with themes which I thought were relevant to political issues of the day. Morgoth, who had done similar content, came up with the idea of us doing a monthly stream on a classic movie (one month on his channel, the next on mine) which we had a lot to say about. We’ve been doing our series for almost six years now.
OM: How did you start collaborating with Morgoth’s Review? Do you collaborate with any other famous people, or who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
E: I saw Morgoth’s appearance on Millenniyule in 2018 and really enjoyed the stream, so I messaged him about doing a stream on my channel. Him and I began speaking regularly from then on. We started doing our monthly Classic Movies streams in 2020. We’re now friends outside of online commentary as well. I’ve visited him several times in Britain and we always record a video on the state of the world together when I’m there.
I’ve met Millennial Woes a few times in person as well and I have become a regular on his annual Millenniyule stream marathon. I have attended Counter-Currents’ events the past two years and I’m a guest on Counter-Currents Radio from time to time. I’m always happy to collaborate with anyone in the scene who I feel does good work in pushing our message.
OM: You also have a pretty successful Substack account. Is there a risk of fragmentation and “Substackization” on the Right Wing at the moment? Do you have any insights on this as a Substack creator?
E: I think we should try to be on as many platforms as possible. Unfortunately, the algorithms of the various online platforms have reduced crosspolination between each other. As a result, content creators often don’t have a unified followership, but seperate followings on different platforms. I find those who follow me on one platform often don’t follow me on my others. Therefore, I try to get my work out wherever I can, be it a dedicated webzine like Counter-Currents, a growing intellectual marketplace like Substack, or the mainstream platforms like X and YouTube.
OM: It’s clear that you enjoy both movies and written film reviews. For example, your excellent review of the film 12 Angry Men. Which 10 movies do you think CC readers should see?
E: Here are ten of my favourites which I think everyone should see: Doctor Zhivago, Zulu, The Grey, 55 Days at Peking, The Road, Scott of the Antarctic, Joyeux Noël, Lawrence of Arabia, High Noon, Inception.
OM: You probably also really like board games. I’d welcome this kind of review on CC, because no one is systematically covering them. What board games do you like to play?
E: I actually wrote an article on Settlers of Catan for Counter-Currents a few years ago about why I enjoy the game, how the game derives its themes from European history, and how the game has come under attack from anti-white intellectuals. I also really like poker. I love the way the game challeges one’s skills in both mathematical and psychological analysis. I find that no matter how long you’ve known someone, you’ll learn something new about them in a game of poker. However, I have a personal rule that I never bet more in a game of poker than I’d spend on a night out. That way, it just remains a form of entertainment without the ills which gambling has the potential to bring about.
I like board games because they provide an opportunity to bring people together face-to-face which is valuabe in an increasingly online world. It’s much more conducive to a healthy social life to get together with a group of friends for a game of Catan or poker than staying home alone playing online video games. I am not a hardcore board gamer. I prefer games which can be finished in an hour. I enjoy the social aspect the most.
OM: You travel a lot—which countries have you visited?
E: Canada, the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic, the United Kindom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Finland, Montenegro, Greece, Slovenia, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia.
OM: Do you have any insider insights about the countries where you’ve lived?
E: I was born and raised in the North York region of Toronto. As a kid, life was great. We had a house in the suburbs and two cars which was the norm among my peers. My elementary school was majority white, but the demographics quickly started changing from middle school onward and Toronto began to feel increasingly alien to me. Though I’ve never lived there full time, the towns surrounding my family cottage like Perry Sound, North Bay, and Sudbury felt a lot more like home than Toronto, but unfortunately, they are now undergoing the same process too.
I’ve also spent significant time (at least a few months) in Saint Petersburg, Prague, and Tallinn. Honestly, I am a little jealous of them. These cities are still supermajority white, they have beautiful architecture and rich histories, and the lifestyle they offer is a lot better. While I was still a foreigner in these cities, I felt a lot less like a foreigner than I do in my hometown these days. If in the future, our cities in Canada look like these cities in Europe do today, I’ll consider our work a success.
OM: Do you like fine art? What do you prefer in that regard?
E: I like fine art, but admittedly I don’t know very much about it. It is one area which I am severly lacking in knowledge. What I can say is that my favourite present-day painter is Kieron Williamson and my favourite historic painter is Windslow Homer.
OM: What kind of music do you listen to?
E: I listen to Rock, Metal, Punk, Jazz, and Folk. I have played piano on-again, off-again for years, but I’m not particularly good at it.
OM: Have you experienced any funny moments during your live streams?
E: Yeah, there have been some. Morgoth and I sometimes have some hilarious exchanges during our Classic Movies streams. The most memorable was during our stream on the Rambo films when Morgoth attempted to immitate Agent Co Phuong Bao in Rambo II. Commenters have tried to get him to repeat the immitation on other streams.