Banjo (Banjo-Kazooie)

Banjo the Bear is one of the two titular main protagonists (alongside Kazooie) of the series. 
He is a brown honey bear from Spiral Mountain, who often spends his days sleeping, playing the banjo, and eating honey with his best friend, Kazooie. This all changes when his sister, Tooty, is kidnapped by an evil witch named Gruntilda, causing Banjo to go on an adventure and rescue her. With the help of local shaman Mumbo Jumbo, Banjo can also transform into creatures that originate from certain worlds.
==Appearance==
Banjo is usually seen wearing yellow shorts with a belt, a shark tooth necklace, and a bright blue backpack.
==Personality==
In stark contrast with Kazooie, Banjo is polite and well-mannered, and will often go out of his way to help others without even stopping to think about it. In fact, one notable running gag is that when Kazooie says something rude or snarky, he will reprimand her by exclaiming "Kazooie!" He is also very laidback, so if he doesn't have a particular reason to go on an adventure, he'd prefer to just stay at home, play video games and the like. However, when there is someone to save or something important to do, he will immediately jump into action, as shown with his unfailing determination to save Tooty in the first game. 
Banjo is also often portrayed as being simple-minded and somewhat gullible. However, he is far from outright stupid. In particular, by the sequel, Banjo-Tooie, he often knows when a NPC character is going to ask him to do some dangerous tasks on their behalf in order to get a jiggy before they say so. He also has a fair amount of common sense in general, to the point he often comes off as something of a straight man/voice of reason to some of the more wacky and quirky side characters. For instance, in Tooie, he actively suggests to Klungo and eventually convinces him to leave Gruntilda after he gets repeatedly beaten by her for his repeated failures to defeat them. On a similar note, he also shows a lot more tact than Kazooie and tries to avoid unnecessary conflicts whenever possible.
Although he's still very nice and helpful for the most part, he is not incapable of immoral traits. During the time of the sequel, Banjo begins to pick up on some of Kazooie's snarkiness and cynicism as a result of already having gone through the motions and knowing full well what other characters, particularly antagonistic ones, are going to do and speak. He is also shown to have a remorseless side where he does immoral things to those around him without apologizing or feeling bad about it. Such examples include where he was physically abusive to Gobi the camel by slamming down on his hump several times to force water out in order to collect several needs, killing sapient beehives in attempt to get recovery honeycombs, and when he killed an innocent sapient ice cube couple by shattering, burning and/or exploding the wife (dependent upon player choice) and shoving the husband off the edge of a cliff to fall into a pond of lava (thought this was completely accidental).
Overall, despite having a few negative traits, Banjo himself is a very caring bear with a honey-colored heart who is always willing to help those in need and protect his friends from evil threats. He is willing to get out of his comfort zone of being a lazy gamer to put his loved ones first when the time calls for it and thinks of others more than himself often, even those who oppose him such as the aforementioned occasion when he consoled Klungo from Gruntilda's abuse and persuaded him to join his side to have a happier life despite harming him several times before, showing that he is very merciful and has very little unjustified vengeance.
==Biography==
===Diddy Kong Racing===
Banjo is one of the racers who helps win back Timber's Island from the control of Wizpig. He is considered a heavyweight driver with low acceleration, good handling and great top speed.
===Banjo-Kazooie===
Banjo is first seen sleeping inside his house where Kazooie is trying to wake him up so they can go on an adventure. He is soon woken by a commotion outside and learns from Bottles the Mole that his sister has been kidnapped by the witch Gruntilda. After scaling Spiral Mountain, Banjo and Kazooie cross the bridge into Gruntilda's Lair and enter several grand worlds full of Jiggys and Notes; objects required to ascend higher inside the witch's tower. Eventually, they make it to "Grunty's Furnace Fun", a quiz show-like gauntlet that sees the duo answering questions relating to their adventure in order to rescue Tooty. Once they complete the quiz and save Tooty, they return home and have a barbecue, only for Tooty to remind them that their adventure is not over, as Grunty is still out there to pose as a threat. The heroes return to Gruntilda's lair where they battle Grunty atop her tower and manage to defeat her by burying the witch under a massive rock in Spiral Mountain.
===Banjo-Tooie===
Set two years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie, Gruntilda escapes from under the boulder and blows up Banjo's house in an act of revenge. Although Banjo and Kazooie survive the attack, their friend Bottles, who was visiting at the time, does not, thus triggering the duo's next adventure to stop the witch once again. Banjo ventures out of Spiral Mountain and receives his first Jiggy from King Jingaling, ruler of Jinjo Village, just before the monarch's palace is drained of life by Grunty's B.O.B. machine at Cauldron Keep.
The bear continues on his adventure, getting help from allies both old and new until reaching Cauldron Keep where he and Kazooie used B.O.B. to restore Bottles and King Jingaling back to life. The heroes fought and defeated Grunty on the castle's rooftop; blowing up her skeletal body before racing to Bottle's house to celebrate. Unfortunately, they missed the celebration being held there, but Banjo suggests they play a game of "kick-a-round" instead and are last seen kicking Grunty's head around at Cauldron Keep.
===Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge===
Set two months after the events of Banjo-Kazooie, Gruntilda uses a spell to transfer her spirit into a robotic suit called Mecha Grunty to escape from under the rock and kidnaps Kazooie while Banjo is cleaning his house. The witch travels to the past with a plot to alter history while Mumbo Jumbo sends Banjo back in time to stop her and save Kazooie. Upon arrival, Banjo explores Spiral Mountain's past while collecting Jiggys to access new worlds. He eventually finds and saves Kazooie at Breegull Beach before they work together to gather more Jiggys and face off against Grunty atop her newly built lair. The duo manages to defeat the witch once again and return to the present, where the game files percentage will determine whether Banjo will encounter multiple time clones of himself or be congratulated by Jinjos.
===Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts===
Set eight years after the events of Banjo-Tooie, Banjo and Kazooie are overweight and lounging in front of their house when Gruntilda (who is still a head from the previous game) returns to challenge them to a showdown. However, their dual is paused by a powerful figure called the Lord of Games who explains he wants to put an end to the rivalry between them one and for all. He restores Banjo and Kazooie to fighting fit shape before sending them to Showdown Town so they can collect Jiggys in order to get back to Spiral Mountain and win the deed to their home.
Although Grunty tries to stop them in her new animatronic body, she is ultimately defeated by the duo and sent to work at the Lord Of Games' video games factory for her failure. Banjo and Kazooie are then rewarded the deed to Spiral Mountain in a ceremony surrounded by friends.
==Other Media==
===Banjo-Pilot===
===Super Smash Bros. Ultimate===
Banjo (alongside Kazooie) was added in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC in the first fighter pass. His Final Smash is summoning The Mighty Jinjonator.
==Powers/Abilities==
Strength: ???
Hand-to-Hand Combat: ???
Stunt skills: ???
==Gallery==
===Images===
Banjo.png|Banjo and Kazooie in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
WueoC3L.jpg|Banjo in the instruction manual for Diddy Kong Racing.
Banjo & Kazooie SSBU.png|Banjo and Kazooie as they appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Banjo-Kazooie 64 banjo and tiptup.jpg
Banjo-Kazooie banjo and the gnawty.jpg
Banjo-Kazooie banjo in 1st place in freezeezy peak.jpg
Banjo-Kazooie banjo in warlus mode in 1st place in freezeezy peak.jpg|Banjo as a walrus.
Banjo-Tooie 64 Banjo The Stony in mayan kickball stadium.jpg|Banjo as a Stony.
Banjo-Tooie 64 banjo in baby rex mode.jpg|Banjo as a baby T-Rex.
Banjo-Tooie 64 banjo in papa rex mode.jpg|Banjo as an adult T-Rex.
Banjo-Tooie 64 banjo in snowball mode.jpg|Banjo as a snowball.
Banjo-Tooie 64 Banjo Kazooie and King Jingaling.jpg
BKGRMobile.png
Banjo and Kazooie and Paper Mario by Brandon Santiago.jpg|Banjo and Kazooie drawn by Brandon Santiago, writer and artist of Erma.
==Trivia==
*He's determined to save his sister no matter the hazards awaiting on their journey, but when he isn't doing some heroic rescuing, he'd rather slack around and play video games.
*Banjo and Kazooie eventually became playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Their inclusion was first announced during E3 2019.
==External Links==
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