Vlad Vladikoff

“
Now you're going to get it! Get ready for the best!
„
~ Vladikoff to Horton
Vlad Vladikoff (also known as Vlad or Vladikoff), also simply known as Vladikoff, is a large, carnivorous vulture and the secondary antagonist of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!. He is somewhat clumsy and has a slight Russian accent. Despite being referred to as an eagle in Dr. Seuss's book, he is actually a vulture in the film.
== Biography ==
=== Book ===
The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant who (in the afternoon of May 15 while splashing in a pool located in the Jungle of Nool) hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called Whoville, inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos and led by a character known as the Mayor.
The Whos ask Horton (who, though he cannot see them, is able to hear them quite well, due to his large ears) to protect them from harm, which Horton happily agrees to do, proclaiming throughout the book that "even though you can't see or hear them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small.". In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a cage by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. His chief tormentors are Vlad Vladikoff, the Wickersham Brothers and the Sour Kangaroo. Horton tells the Whos that, lest they end up being boiled in "Beezelnut Oil", they need to make themselves heard to the other animals. The Whos finally accomplish this by ensuring that all members of their society play their part. In the end, it is a "very small shirker named JoJo" whose final addition to the volume creates enough lift for the jungle to hear the sound, thus reinforcing the moral of the story: "a person's a person, no matter how small.".
Now convinced of the Whos' existence, Horton's neighbors vow to help him protect the tiny community.
=== TV special ===
In the Chuck Jones cartoon, he goes by the alternate name of Whizzer MacWoff.
He was voiced by the late Chuck Jones.
=== Film ===
In the film, the Sour Kangaroo hires Vladikoff to attack Horton and destroy the clover that he is carrying (the clover that holds the microscopic city of Whoville) to show what the wind means to the citizens of Whoville.
He is the vulture in the scene where he tries to get the clover. There is a confusing matter about a good Vlad who is a rabbit (which bakes cookies) and a bad Vlad. Vlad is a reclusive vulture who lives in a tree stump in a mysterious swamp surrounded by thorns, feasting on a zebra carcass. The Sour Kangaroo hires him to get rid of Horton's clover. At first, he agrees to do it in exchange for a brand new pair of objects never specified beforehand, but he stated her son Rudy. After "thinking" it over, she uses reverse psychology to get him to do it for free. He speaks in a thick Russian accent and is extremely theatrical in his wickedness to the point of embarrassing himself. He finally manages to get rid of Horton's clover, but after Horton successfully found it, the Sour Kangaroo becomes mad at him and calls him an "IDIOT!".
At the end, Vladikoff is touched by the beauty of Horton befriending Sour Kangaroo.
== Trivia ==
* Despite being described as a vulture, Vlad actually looks more like a condor.
* In the 2008 film, despite being the secondary antagonist, Vlad possibly turned out to be more dangerous than the Sour Kangaroo in terms of appearence.
** Some people believe he is the main antagonist of the movie. But he has a few brief minutes of screen time in the movie and his attitude is more helping the Sour Kangaroo in his plans rather than having his own plans, making him the film's secondary antagonist.
* He and the Lone Gunslinger from Ice Age: The Meltdown share the same voice actor, they are both vultures, they are both secondary antagonists of movies, and they appear in movies produced by Blue Sky Studios.
* His design in the 2008 film is very similar to Fagin from War of the Birds.
Category:Birds
Category:Characters
Category:Animal characters
Category:Male
Category:Villain
Category:Antagonists
Category:Redeemed
Category:Trickster
Category:Anthropomorphic