Fred

Fred is a male meerkat. He is a member of Duke Meerkat's colony.
Initially, Fred worked as a castle guard. One day, he encouraged his best friend Timon to abandon his post in order to go on a date with Tatiana. However, in Timon's absence, a cobra infiltrated the colony and kidnapped Tatiana, which led the Duke Meerkat to demote Fred to back gate guard and permanently banish Timon.
After Timon's banishment, Fred visited him and his friend Pumbaa in the jungle. During the visit, he played many pranks on the two and even invited Pumbaa to join in. Pumbaa refused out of loyalty to Timon, and so Fred set his sights on Timon instead. However, Timon made the same decision and left with Pumbaa to go flamingo-fishing. Even so, Fred continued to pull pranks on the duo, including impersonating Timon's mother and a billy goat.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Fred lived in a meerkat kingdom located within or close by the jungle. He was a member of Duke Meerkat's colony, for whom he served as a castle guard. He was best friends with Timon, who called the two "a zany pair." Fred pulled many practical jokes on Timon, such as the squirting flower, handshake buzzer, and whoopee cushion, and the duo did many activities together, including "bowling for buzzards." Fred was particularly fond of Timon's hyena jokes.
===Demotion to back gate guard===
One day, when the Duke Meerkat left the colony for the day, Fred sneaked away to get an apple snack from a grocery store. He then went to Timon, who was guarding the back gate, to tell him that since the Duke Meerkat was out of the colony, he should go on a date with Princess Tatiana, a female meerkat whom Timon had a massive crush on. Timon told him that it was not possible since he had to guard the back gate and that he could get banished for leaving his post. However, Fred told him that he would not get banished if he did not get caught.
After his conversation with Fred, Timon used a mop as a dummy to guard his post. After Timon left the back gate unattended, a cobra showed up and invaded the colony. When it approached the castle, a napping Fred assumed that it was just another visitor until he looked up and saw the cobra, which made him scream in terror. After the cobra kidnapped Tatiana, Fred showed the other meerkats the princess's tiara, which was covered in red paint that resembled blood. This made everyone think she was dead.
The meerkats saw that Timon had left his post and so went to his house. After Timon got away from the guards, he ran into the Duke Meerkat, who banished him from the colony. As Timon left, he saw Fred guarding the back gate, which indicated that he had been demoted for failing to protect the castle. He gave Timon a sympathetic look before resuming a guarding stance.
===Visiting Timon===
Timon told Pumbaa that Fred was coming to visit them in the jungle. He informed the warthog that Fred loved pulling practical jokes and enjoyed hyena jokes in particular. After Timon told Pumbaa his latest hyena jokes, Fred showed up. He tricked Timon by making him believe that he had reformed. However, when he shook his friend's hand, Timon got shocked by a hand buzzer.
Pumbaa started telling Timon's hyena jokes to Fred, who thought it was Pumbaa who had made up the jokes. This made Timon angry and prompted him to send Pumbaa away. Fred told Timon that Pumbaa did not have to leave and suggested that the three do some activities together. Throughout the games, Fred hung out more with Pumbaa than Timon. After realizing that he had made Timon feel left out, Fred suggested that his old friend sit at a tree. He then told Pumbaa that the tree Timon was sleeping under had howler monkeys and asked the warthog to knock the monkeys onto Timon. Pumbaa refused to carry out the prank because that was not what friends did to each other.
While Pumbaa went to find bugs for Timon like he had promised, Fred convinced Timon to pull a humiliating practical joke on Pumbaa. While Timon was doing so, Pumbaa told him that he would not be friends with someone who pulled a humiliating practical joke on him, which made Timon feel guilty.
Timon and Pumbaa got to a big hole filled with leaves, which was a trap. When Timon whispered something to Pumbaa, the warthog knocked into the tree Fred was standing on, and the meerkat fell into a hole. Pumbaa had a feeling that he and Timon had gone too far and got in the hole to see if Fred was all right. Fred used a ladder to climb back up and laughed at Timon and Pumbaa. The duo climbed up, and Timon kicked Fred back into the hole, as he and Pumbaa planned to go flamingo-fishing.
===Impersonating Timon's mother===
As an April Fools' prank on Timon and Pumbaa, Fred impersonated Timon's mother. He sent Timon a fake telegram saying that his mother was coming for a visit. After Timon read the telegram, he built a new house, purchased a briefcase that made it look like he had a good job, and made Pumbaa pretend to be his wife, as his mother expected him to be a "responsible contributing member of the meerkat society."
When Ma arrived, Timon showed her everything and tried to make her leave, but she returned and sat on the couch. After Timon showed his mother everything "his wife" could do, Ma did not think "Patty" was good enough for Timon to live with, so she decided to move in. She then told Timon that she would not leave unless she met a rich old movie star.
Timon made Pumbaa pretend to be a rich old movie star who had romantic feelings for Ma and asked her to marry him. But Ma first wanted to meet "Patty's" entire family and said that she would never bother Timon again. So Timon made Pumbaa disguise himself as Patty's entire family. When Pumbaa became tired, he told Ma that he was actually Timon's friend.
After Ma made Timon tell her the truth, she revealed that she was actually Fred and that it was April Fools' Day. An angry Timon and Pumbaa then put Fred in a rocket and sent him to the moon.
===Impersonating a goat===
Fred impersonated a goat guard. When Timon and Pumbaa got to the Matterhorn while on their way to Paris, France, they ran into the "goat," who asked them for papers. Timon and Pumbaa did not have the right papers to pass him, so they tried various ways to pass the goat, all of which ended in failure.
Timon got an idea and convinced the goat that a dollar could be the right kind of paper. When the goat was about to let them through, he made the duo do a dance of "cha-cha-cha." While Timon and Pumbaa did so, they realized that they had gotten tricked and saw that the goat was Fred in disguise. After Fred told Timon and Pumbaa that they were on television, Timon and Pumbaa revealed that they were actually a couple of goats in disguise, then used Fred as a volleyball.
==Physical appearance==
Fred is a tall and slender meerkat. He has grayish-brown fur, with a cream chest, a red nose, and blond hair. Additionally, he has brown ears, hands, and stripes on his back. His eyes are black.
==Personality and traits==
Fred is a joker. He loves to laugh and play around. He often uses Timon and Pumbaa as his victims, but they don't find his jokes and pranks quite as funny. Sometimes, Fred takes his jokes too far. For instance, he once made Timon lie down on a tree with sleeping howler monkeys on it and tried to make Pumbaa knock into the tree so that the monkeys would fall on Timon.
Much like Timon, Fred has a laidback personality and does not seem to take work too seriously, as shown when he left his guard post to get a snack. He is also encouraging of and caring for Timon's feelings, as shown when he noticed the Duke Meerkat going away for the day and so convinced Timon to speak with Tatiana.
==Appearances==
* The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
** "Tanzania Zany"
** "Mombasa-In-Law"
** "Once Upon a Timon"
** "Mind Over Matterhorn"
* Once Upon a Timon
==Trivia==
* Fred was voiced by S. Scott Bullock.
** Bullock also voiced El Toro in "The Running of the Bullies".
* In The Lion King 1½, there is a meerkat who looks strikingly similar to Fred in both appearance (minus the red nose and buck teeth) and personality. He says, "Dig!" at the end of the song "Digga Tunnah".
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa characters
Category:Males
Category:Meerkats