Martell, a brilliant doctor passionately concerned with social justice, is presumed to have died in a Nazi prison camp.

A passage from the book was adapted for use in the song "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)" by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip.

[6][5] The paraphrase comes in the song's last verse: There's no simple explanation For anything important any of us do And yeah, the human tragedy Consists in the necessity Of living with the consequences A number of elements from the novel are believed to reflect MacLennan's life.

Another major character, Jerome Martell, is generally thought to have been inspired by Norman Bethune, a claim the author denied.

However, Mr. MacLennan, in a 1965 newspaper article referring to his neurologist, Dr. Reuben Rabinovitch of Montreal wrote: “When my novel, ‘The Watch That Ends The Night,’ appeared, it was widely believed that its doctor-protagonist, Dr. Jerome Martell, was modeled on the famous Dr. Norman Bethune.

[citation needed] Douglas Gibson, Hugh MacLennan's friend and publisher, wrote: "Hugh later suggested that a real-life model for Jerome Martell was actually Frank Scott, the poet, McGill Law School scholar, and leader of Montreal left-wing politics who became one of the founders of the CCF party.