The Young-Deer•Adult-Princess Faline

**Faline** is the mate of Bambi. She and Bambi are the parents of ***Geno*** and ***Gurri***.

## Relationships

### The Biological Relatives

**Ena -**- Her Biological Mother
Geno - Her Biological SonGurri - Her Biological Daughter

### Children

Geno - Her Biological SonGurri Her Biological Daughter

### The Biological Children

Geno - Her Biological SonGurri - Her Biological Daughter

## Background

### Appearance

Faline is a deer of some sort, with many sources specifically referring to her as a roe deer. Her eye color varies greatly. As a fawn, her eyes are blue. As an adult, her eyes would alternatively appear blue or yellow.

### Biography

According to one account, she first met Bambi at a water hole in the ***meadow***. She looks at him and remarks to ***her mother*** saying, "He's kinda bashful isn't he momma?" Her mother calmly tells her, "Well, maybe he wouldn't be if you'd say hello." She goes over and says friendly, but quite outspokenly, "Hello Bambi." Bambi reluctantly says hello after his mother encourages him and they engage in a playful first acquaintance. He wouldn't meet Faline again until the following winter.

Their friendship is more developed and defined after Bambi's mother is killed. Faline is indeed very sympathetic towards him and prefers his company over Ronno's. She shows nothing, but support and kindness to Bambi. Towards the end, the two share their first kiss (by accident) as young teenagers. It is revealed that she is younger than Bambi and Ronno. Bambi got his antlers and lost his spots first while Faline kept her spots during the entire film.

After growing up, she spots Bambi drinking from the lake water resembling their original acquaintance and says with a calm, beautiful, mature voice, "Hello Bambi. Don't you remember me? I'm Faline." Bambi stunned to see her again and grown up starts to back up and stumbles into the water. She advances giggling and he tries to resist, but she licks his cheek and bats her eyes. Faline makes it clear that she always admired Bambi for years prior in her gestures. Bambi stops resisting receives her attentions and falls in love with her.

As he playfully follows her, he is stopped by his rival, ***Ronno***. He menaces him much like he did when they were children, but when menacing Faline, Bambi have to battle Ronno to defend her. After a gruesome battle, He defeats his rival throwing him off a small cliff into a pond. Faline and Bambi fall deep in love and embrace it. And that night Bambi is awakened by sounds and his ***father*** informs him that ***men*** are back to harm them. Bambi goes back for Faline, but she is already out searching for him. After saving her from Man's ***dogs***, they make it to safety from the fire that destroyed the ***forest***. The following spring, they have two newborn fawns.

## Relationships

### Bambi

Bambi is Faline's mate and childhood friend. ***Bambi's mother*** was the younger partner of Faline's mother, ***Ena***, making them maternal cousins. The two first met on the ***meadow*** when they were just fawns. At first, Bambi was very shy around her, not wanting to speak to her. They became friends after Faline licked his face several times, leading to him chasing her through the meadow.

Their friendship would continue to remain strong throughout their childhood, though Bambi would still occasionally become nervous and bashful around her. Even though he may have been somewhat intimidated by her, when the situation called for it, Bambi would willingly defend her. This could be seen in him defending her from bullies such as ***Ronno***.

The two began to feel romantically for each other as they progressed into adults, even sharing a kiss at one point. However, it would seem that shortly after, they fell out of contact with each other. They met again some months later as full-grown adults. Again, Bambi was initially somewhat intimidated by her, but became comfortable around her after she licked his face, this time romantically. Just as when they were children, Faline would inspire Bambi to be brave, as he fought and defeated Ronno, potential suitor for Faline, in order to be with her. After his defeat Ronna, he and Faline became mates.

Their love for each other could be seen again when, in the wake of the return of ***Man*** to the forest, the two tried to find each other. When Faline was cornered by Man's ***hunting dogs***, Bambi bravely battled the canines in order to let Faline escape. He risked his life and was even shot immediately following his defeat of the dogs. As an ensuing forest fire consumed much of the forest, Faline waited for her love to return, hoping he would come back love. He did, and the lovers were reunited.

Even though their relationship seemed to be at its strongest during this time, it was shortly afterwards that the two began to grow apart as Bambi began to spend more time being mentored by his father. He began to live a life of solitude and spend less time with Faline. By winter, the two hardly had any sort of relationship at all.

Even after Faline bore Bambi two children, ***Geno*** and ***Gurri***, he was still not a constant figure in her life. This was due both to his somewhat solitary lifestyle and the fact that, after the death of his father, he had become the leader of the herd and the new ***Great Prince of the Forest*** and now had duties that kept away from his family. He would sometimes visit during the day when the children were asleep and, as Geno and Gurri aged, began to visit them and Faline even more. Despite his other duties, he still showed love and affection towards Faline whenever he was with her, and she continued to admire and adore him.

### Other relationships

* **Ena** - Mother
* **Bambi** - Suitor/Mate
* **Thumper** - Friend
* **Flower** - Friend
* **Friend Owl** - Friend
* **Ronno** - Ex-Suitor
* **Bambi's mother** - Aunt/Mate's mother/Her Mother-In Law
* **The Great Prince of the Forest** - Mate's father/Her Father-In Law
* **Geno** - Son
* **Gurri** - Daughter

## Behind the Scenes

Faline first appeared in 1922 in the ***Felix Salten*** novel ***Bambi: A Life in the Woods***. She was depicted as the daughter of ***Bambi***'s ***Aunt Ena*** and, after reaching adulthood, Bambi's mate. Her twin brother, ***Gobo*** was also a major supporting character in the novel, and ***her father*** may have made a brief appearance, though the writing is vague as to whether the stag in question is actually Faline's father or not. Faline went on to be a major character in the sequel to *Bambi*, the 1939 novel ***Bambi's Children***, which chronicled her life as the mother of Bambi's twin fawns, ***Geno*** and ***Gurri***.

When ***Walt Disney*** produced an animated adaptation of Salten's original novel, Faline was slated to appear, though Gobo was cut from the story. In Salten's novels, she was explicitly referred to as a "roe deer." Disney originally planned to instead depict Faline and the other deer of the forest as mule deer, a species of deer native to California, where Disney's studio was located. Artist ***Maurice "Jake" Day*** convinced Disney to make the deer white-tailed deer instead, arranging for two white-tailed fawns to be transported from their home in Maine to the studio's home in California. The animators of *Bambi* studied these fawns from their youth to their early adulthood, and the female fawn observed would serve as the template for Faline.

Faline became a crucial part of the *Bambi* film and would also appear in related works such as the [[Bambi (Comic Strip)}''Bambi'']] comic strip and the ***Bambi*** manga by ***Osamu Tezuka***. Notably, she appeared in the 2006 sequel to Disney's *Bambi*, *Bambi II*.

### Voices

* Young Adult (*Bambi*) - **Ann Gillis**.