Khampa

**Khampa** is the tritagonist of the film *Rock Dog*. He is Snow Mountain's guard against Linnux's Wolf Party and their plan to eat all the sheep. He is Bodi's father and authority among the people residing on Snow Mountain. A strict, structured leader, Khampa does not approve of Bodi's wishes to become a rock star at first. He is voiced by J.K. Simmons.

## Background

### Biography

*Khampa takes his duties as the village guard extremely seriously. Although he may be too militaristic or overly suspicious of outside threat, he's motivated by his love for the villagers and his son. He wants Bodi to follow in his footsteps, but more importantly - he wants him to be happy.*
### Personality

Khampa heavily contrasts with Bodi's personality. While Bodi is naive, innocent and cheerful, Khampa is sharp, strict and demanding. He does not like revolt or things not being the way they are meant to be, which renders him perfect to be a guard. Though, both Bodi and Khampa are known for being stubborn.

As a father, he can be quite strict and demanding, but this seems to be made thanks to the job and upbringing, as he is heavily anxious and remorseful after the wolves begin chasing Bodi, showing a much kinder side to him, even surprising Bodi, but happy to see, as he was also remorseful for leaving.

It is unknown how he was as a partner, since Bodi's mother is nowhere to be seen. But in the end, Khampa is a loving father that needs a little push to show his feelings.

### Physical Appearance

Khampa is a middle-aged, muscular anthropomorphic Tibetan Mastiff with brown-and-tan fur with tan fur on his muzzle, hands and feet. He has a black nose, brown eyes and black trimmed claws. He wears a green Tibetan jacket with a yellow trim, yellow cuffs and a yellow belt, and blue pants with light blue cuffs.

Like Bodi, Khampa is designed after Tibetan people. However, he does not wear a sherpa hat (Tibetan beanie) like Bodi does and the colors on his clothing resemble more of an army uniform, while Bodi's are more calming in comparison. The fabric around the edges on Khampa's clothing have a pattern whereas Bodi's does not.

When Bodi was a toddler, Khampa had a full mane of hair, but as he became more militant about protecting Snow Mountain, his mane was cut short, until finally he decided to go completely maneless.

## Story

Not much is known about Khampa's past besides what is shown in the prologue. He was, and still is, Snow Mountain's guard dog and protector of the sheep residing at the village. He comes from a line of Tibetan Mastiffs that have protected the village for generations.

At one point, he met another Tibetan Mastiff, and Bodi was conceived in that relationship, but something happened that cut that relationship short, or something happened to the mother that made her unable to raise Bodi. Instead, Khampa raised Bodi as a single parent.

Since his work as a guard dog left him unable to be a constant presence during Bodi's childhood, Fleetwood Yak, a close friend of his, took care of him when he could not. Khampa is seen, sometimes, keeping him on his job as a guard, letting him sleep on his mane.

One night, Linnux's wolf party attacked the village and Khampa realized that if they attack again, they will be stronger. Because of this, he formed the sheep army, by making costumes similar to himself, and a sheep to maneuver. He also began training Bodi, but this fell short, as Bodi couldn't concentrate due to his interest in music. Khampa saw this as a distraction, and demanded all musical instruments to be confiscated and sealed away.

In the present, the banning still continues, and Bodi is the one that needs to get the next sheep herd for guard duty. Due to him getting distracted easily, he's usually late, much to Khampa's dismay.

He still tries to train Bodi, but Bodi either does not care about the wolves enough or he is not aggressive enough to make a Deadly Mastiff Paw, which saddens him.

Khampa was grown slightly paranoid of being attacked again, which makes him take his job really seriously. By Bodi pronouncing the word "wolf", the sheep grow anxious and scared, causing one of the costumes to get broken, making Khampa believe that their cover might be blown.

After Bodi announces that he has decided to become a musician, Khampa is immediately against it, since being a guard have been a tradition for generations and his own paranoia as to who is going to take his place after he is gone and the wolves attack again. Because of this, Bodi decides to hide away, so he does not notice that he is still playing.

One day, when speaking to Floyd, he learns that the sheep barber once was more interested in astrophysics, but his father scared him straight with a book of what happens if a sheep is not groomed frequently. This made Floyd want to become a barber and never looked back, which gives Khampa the idea to scare Bodi straight. At night, Khampa drags Bodi out of the house and put him on guard duty at the post and gets three sheep for the job. This plan falls through, as Bodi couldn't concentrate enough and placed a dummy instead of himself, and rather began playing music inside the post, which angers Khampa.

Bodi mistaking him for a wolf, locks him inside the post, so Khampa goes through the other exit, scaring the other three sheep. Havoc is caused around the village, and Bodi accidentally knocks down an oil lamp, causing a fire at the firework and dry wood storages.

Khampa being angry, decides to cool off by going into the tavern, where he talks to Fleetwood. He manages to convince Khampa to let Bodi go and chase his dreams, telling him that Bodi is not himself and that he is looking for his own paradise.

Khampa gives Bodi a bus ticket, with the condition that if he fails, he must return and never speak of music ever again, which he accepts. He can't go to the goodbye party, since he is on guarding duty.

He is seen later on struggling on keeping the sheep straight and obedient, tiring him out, and noticeably missing his son, which can be seen again later on in the movie, where he is simply staring at the City under the rain.

After Bodi unintentionally blows Khampa's cover by telling Linnux that Khampa's Mastiff army are sheep, Linnux attacks Snow Mountain and ties Khampa up, unable to attack. They sit him on a table so he can watch the sheep being cooked, but not long into it, Bodi comes to save the day, showing his guitar as his weapon, confusing Khampa. Bodi reveals that he has "found his fire", that is, his own method of attack.

He grows anxious as the wolves begin chasing Bodi, and in an attempt to protect his son, he tries to attack the wolves but is quickly knocked out Linnux, but not unconscious. He tries to talk to his son one more time, reminding him about his fire and that this is a good time to show his powers.

Different from Khampa's Deadly Mastiff Paw, Bodi's Sound Wave is peaceful and soothing, which does not damage, but rather leaves foes and allies in a state of bliss, rendering them unable to attack. It apparently, does not work in people with heavy grudges or hatred, as it does not seem to affect Linnux, who is instead attacked by Khampa.

With the battle over, he hugs his son tight and amend ways. He is last seen at Bodi's debut concert, enjoying the music in his own way and mending ways with the wolves, specifically with Riff and Skozz.

## Relations

### Bodi

Khampa's relationship with Bodi is the main focus of the first half of the movie, he is a father of tradition and expected Bodi to be the next guard. The moment that Bodi told him that he wants to be a musician, their relationship became tense, which was already tense since Bodi is not aggressive enough to make a successful Deadly Mastiff Paw attack.

But beneath all his strict demeanor, he's a loving father that is scared to let go. He is seen severely worried about Bodi's wellbeing while he is in the city, and anxious when he is being chased by the wolves. And by the end of the movie, their relationship is strong again, and he is ready to let Bodi live his dream.

### Fleetwood Yak

Fleetwood seems to be his closest friend, and is often his voice of reason. He seems to vent to him when things go awry and Fleetwood seems to know when he needs to let go of stuff.

While their relationship isn't fully shown, Khampa being strict and often coming off as cold, showing some colors to someone else must mean that he truly trusts them. Counting that the rest of the population are sheep, and they have short-term memory and his partner seems to be gone.

### Floyd

Floyd is the barber of the village. Because of this, he hears a lot of idle conversation from other folks at the village. Kind of like a bartender, he is quick to give advices and opinions over stuff. He is different from the other sheep and can retain memories to an extent, as he can remember that he once loved astrophysics. He gave Khampa the idea to scare Bodi straight.

Their relationship seems to be more built like a bartender, rather a full-on friend. But they seem to hit it off well.

## Trivia

* The first four letters in his name is based off an eastern area of Tibet.
	+ In Kham, the people were reputed warriors which fits Khampa's position as a guardian.
	+ Also, the natives of the Kham region are called Khampas.
* In the nomadic cultures of Tibet, India, Mongolia and Nepal, Tibetan Mastiffs were used by local tribes of Tibet to protect sheep from wolves, leopards, bears, large mustelids, and tigers.
* The line "Bodi here is next in line to become the village's guard" is only used on the trailer and is never heard on the movie.
* He used to have a full mane, but as he became more militant about protecting Snow Mountain, his mane was cut short, until finally he decided to go completely maneless. Whenever his mane starts growing back, he has Floyd cut it.
* His clothes resemble an army uniform.
* Khampa's attack seems to power from anger and fear, while Bodi's powers from love and passion. This could also explain why Khampa's energy is red while Bodi's is blue.
* He was much older-looking mid production.
* Like Bodi, he seems to not know the names of most technological things as he calls the radio just a "thing" and does not know the city's name.
* He originally dies on the very first pages of the original story, *Tibetan Rock Dog*. This couldn't have been done since it would've been too dark and depressing for a children story, and because they also wanted to go for a father-and-son driven story.