Shere Khan

**Shere Khan** is the main antagonist of Disney's *The Jungle Book*. A powerful, suave Bengal tiger, Shere Khan is deeply feared as the most ferocious predator in the jungle. His reputation was such that he needed only to show himself to intimidate his victims. Khan is also notorious for his animosity towards man, due to his fears of guns and fire.

## Background

As a cub, Shere Khan was best friends with Baloo, Bagheera, Louie, Hathi and Kaa. However, he was pretty egotistical and cocky, which sometimes led to his friends bailing him out. Nonetheless, he was shown many times to be fond of his friends and often act protective of them when there was danger and in many episodes he even saved their lifes. He was also shown to be very affectionate and loving toward his old grandmother. Despite this, Khan always acted tough as he thought the other animals wouldn't respect him anymore if they think he is soft. The group went on many adventures together, but at some undetermined time, Shere Khan became a vicious predator, feared by all the inhabitants of the jungle. Shere Khan then lost his friends, who would become his enemies from that moment forward. Despite this, in the DVD scenes of Jungle Cubs: Born to be Wild, Baloo, now an adult, says that while Khan "first eat and then ask questions" he doesn't do it out of malice, implying that like the other predators Khan simply hunt to survive.

### Personality

Shere Khan acts as the physical embodiment of power and composure. With a dignified manner of carrying himself, and a strong sense of pride and elegance, the ruthless tiger is viewed as the uncorroborated ruler of the jungles of India; he is well aware of this reputation, as he takes advantage of it sadistically. Most, if not all residents of the jungle, are known to fear Shere Khan, and for reasons apparent: he is physically imposing, often seen with a stoic, menacing expression. The only moments where he's seen emoting otherwise is during his interrogations with potential victims, in which he speaks with a soft tone, coupled with a condescending and knowing smile, as he subtly taunts and emotionally torments his prey until he's ready to make the killing strike.

Shere Khan holds a burning hatred for mankind and vows to kill any human that steps foot within the jungle. It has been strongly implied that Shere Khan sees humans as unforgiving, and soulless creatures who continuously cause havoc on nature, using narcissistic entitlement as justification for such acts. According to Bagheera, Khan hates man "with a vengeance", with both man's gun and man's fire having been involved in the creation of such hatred. Khan's fear of fire is the most dominant of the two and acts as a crippling phobia capable of driving the tiger to immediate panic. With such anger and rage, Shere Khan's normally somber and collected demeanor can become murderous, bloodthirsty, and feral in a matter of moments, as seen during his first confrontation with Mowgli in the original film, as he was willing to kill both the man-cub, and any animal who dared to protect him, without hesitation.

In the sequel, Shere Khan's personality and overall aura take a somewhat darker turn. Unlike the first film, his polite mannerisms and calm monologues are a rarity, as his bitterness and hatred towards Mowgli drive him to deeper madness, resulting in action being taken much quicker and having no comedic quirks whatsoever. He's also far more feral in this film; constantly growling, roaring, and losing his control when pestered even slightly, even going as far as viciously mauling a vulture as punishment for mocking him.

## Differences from the source material

* In the original stories, Shere Khan is nicknamed "The Lame One" and has a crippled leg, but in the films, he has no lameness.

* In the original stories, Shere Khan was hardly a physical threat since all the other predators in the jungle were able to intimidate him because of his lameness. Nevertheless, Shere Khan was a threat to Mowgli as he was manipulative and poisoned the wolf pack against him. He even successfully managed to convince the pack that Akela was no longer worthy of leading the pack (which would allow Shere Khan to legally kill Akela and demand Mowgli's life). The 1967 Disney version of Shere Khan is the opposite. Rather than being an intellectual, he is ruthless and a physical powerhouse. The 2016 Disney version of Shere Khan is a combination of all three; he is intelligent, cunning and manipulative like in the books, ruthless, and strong enough to fight Baloo, Bagheera and the wolf pack all at once and defeat them, only losing to Mowgli because Mowgli goaded him into a trap.

* In the book, Shere Khan is assisted by his sidekick Tabaqui, the jackal. In the early drafts of Disney's *The Jungle Book*, Tabaqui was meant to appear as a secondary villain. But director Wolfgang Reitherman did not want another canine villain so soon after *The Sword in the Stone*.

* In the book, Shere Khan is eventually killed by a buffalo stampede organized by Mowgli and Grey Brother. Mowgli then skins the tiger and brings the skin to Akela, ending his exile from the pack. In the Disney version, Mowgli uses fire to scare Shere Khan away, ruining the tiger's reputation in the jungle. A buffalo stampede occurs in the 2016 film, similar to the novel, but does not kill the tiger, instead preventing him from killing Mowgli.

* In the book, Shere Khan was aware of Mowgli's presence in the jungle from the very beginning and it is implied that he killed his birth parents (though Kipling left this to interpretation) and he was tracking down Mowgli when he made his way to the wolf den. Since then, Shere Khan had been trying to manipulate the wolves into giving up Mowgli. Whereas in the Disney version, Shere Khan was completely unaware that Mowgli had been living in the jungle for 10 years until he overhears a conversation between Bagheera and Hathi. In the 2016 version, Shere Khan is the reason Mowgli is orphaned in the jungle; he personally kills Mowgli's father when they were traveling between villages and had stopped in a cave for the night. Shere Khan was burned in the attempt to kill them both, and remembers the boy from the incident.

* The book Shere Khan has different motives than the Disney version. In the book, Shere Khan holds no grudge against humans more than any other animal despite being afraid of what man is capable of. His reason to kill Mowgli had more to do with pride than anything as he believes Mowgli to be his rightful kill and that he has been disgraced when he was denied his prey. Whereas Disney's Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli because he is a primary target for human hunters and does not want to risk Mowgli to grow up to become one of them. In the 2016 version, Shere Khan's motives are much the same, but with the added motive of wanting to prove to the jungle's creatures that Mowgli is as destructive and dangerous as any other human and wanting to eat him in revenge for Mowgli's father burning him.

## Trivia

* Shere Khan appears in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventure Series to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends for foiling his plans to kill Mowgli and reluctantly join forces with Kaa despite their dislike for each other.
* Shere Khan is Scar's partner since they're evil felines.
* Despite his hatred of man, Shere Khan join forces with human villains for the sake of getting revenge on Thomas and Twilight Sparkle.

## Gallery

Shere Khan in the original film.Shere Khan in The Jungle Book 2 after Lucky teases him.Shere Khan as a cub in Jungle CubsShere Khan in House of MouseShere Khan in TaleSpinShere Khan with KaaShere Khan's defeat (1st film)Shere Khan's second defeat (2nd film)Shere Khan with Kaa in the sequelShere Khan in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (2016)Shere Khan's death (The Jungle Book 2016)Shere Khan with ScarShere Khan hears Kaa singingShere Khan in Jungle Cubs: Born to be Wild