Kenge

Little Lizard (by Bunga, Ushari & himself)

–Kenge, **The Bite of Kenge**

**Kenge** is a monitor lizard character that appears in the Disney Junior animated series *The Lion Guard*.

## **Appearance**

Kenge is a long, sleek lizard with shiny swamp green scales. Some dark, muddy grey stripes go along his back, and cover his forelegs and feet, inverting the swamp green colors. Towards the top of his body, the stripes are outlined with a pale yellow line. He has a cream underbelly and five sharp black claws on his feet, and a few muddy grey spots. His irises are light brown, and he has a mouth full of fangs, and his upper fangs show when his mouth is closed. He has a forked blue tongue.

## Personality

Kenge has been described as having an "intimidating, ferocious nature". Much like **Makuu** before he reformed, he does not take orders from anyone, and will quickly assert himself as the leader. He is very self conscious about his size, and reacts with severe rage at being called little in any way or even to the sound of the word little. Although he will work with others to achieve a goal, he will not befriend his teammates and prefers to get down to business quickly. Kenge has a very short temper, and resorts to violence very quickly. He is very confident in his abilities and will happily challenge anyone. Like **Kiburi**, he is ruthless as he viciously attacked **zebras** and **gazelles** and then bit Fuli, Kion, and Beshte even though they confronted him. He is shown to be cunning, namely when he attacks the Pride Landers just to lure the Lion Guard so he can bite them.

### Abilities

* **Venom:** His venomous bite is able to paralyze any animal in seconds aspect for immunity animals like Honey badgers. The effect takes a while to wear off. The effects wear off sooner with the right herbs.
* **Hunting:** Kenge is a hunter, thus he is resourceful and cunning to track prey.
* **Speed and Agility:** Kenge is fast and agile enough to catch Fuli to bite before she could use her full speed, was able to bite Kion before he could get back up and could catch up to Bunga. He is flexible enough to swing his body and tail.
* **Strength and Combat:** Thanks to his size, Kenge can concentrate his natural strength to deliver blunt force and grip, most notably with his jaws and tail.
* **Endurance and Stamina:** He was able to take an attack of melon on his head. Also, his stamina is quite high to attack the Lion Guard and able to travel a distance before attacking Bunga.
* **Intelligent:** He proved to be smart enough to know that Lion Guard will be easily lured out by attacking animals in the Pride Land.

## Role in the Series

### **The Bite of Kenge**

Kenge makes his debut appearance in "The Bite of Kenge" as an antagonist. He is the most powerful and dangerous of Ushari's minions.

Janja and his clan return to their den, where they explain how they tried to take some tikiti melons, but were thwarted by the Lion Guard, to Scar and Ushari. After hearing Janja's story, Scar deduces that destroying the melon supply could offset the Circle of Life, as it would dehydrate the elephants who need the tikiti melons, and orders the hyenas to return to the fruit patch. Janja protests the idea as foolishness, but Ushari volunteers to connect them with a powerful friend of his who can help them. He then sings "Big Bad Kenge", in which he boasts of his friend Kenge's great speed and deadly bite.

Once back in the Pride Lands, the hyenas meet Kenge for the first time. They are thoroughly intimidated by his massive size and strength and ask him if he will help them find the Lion Guard. Kenge merely declares that he is going to wait until they find him.

Later that day, Ono spots a skirmish at the Watering Hole, and the Lion Guard arrives to find Kenge making a scene. The team leaps into battle, but Kenge manages to bite Kion, Fuli, and Beshte, paralyzing them. Just in time, Bunga steps in and breaks wind in Kenge's face, causing the lizard and his hyena minions to retreat.

At the melon patch, Kenge quickly assumes authority over the hyenas, ordering them to roll the melons out of the patch. Just in time, Bunga and Ono arrive, with Bunga taking on Kenge while Ono stops the hyenas from stealing the melons. At first, the two seem to succeed in their endeavor, but then Kenge manages to bite Ono on the wing, paralyzing him and effectively removing him from the fight. Bunga attacks Kenge but is bitten himself, allowing Kenge and his hyena allies to escape with the melons. However, once the danger is over, Bunga realizes that he is immune to Kenge's venom.

Bunga and Makini follow Kenge and the hyenas to Embamba Canyon, where Bunga distracts the thieves while Makini steals their melons and hides them behind rocks. While ridiculing his enemies, Bunga stumbles upon Kenge's trigger word, little He uses the word to his advantage, spinning Kenge into a fury and causing him to chase Bunga around the canyon. In his attempts to catch Bunga, Kenge accidentally bites Cheezi and Chungu, paralyzing them. He nearly bites Janja when a melon is thrown his way, and he turns his attention to Makini. She throws her bakora staff at him to keep him back, but he simply snaps it in half with his teeth.

Just then, a fully healed Lion Guard approaches. The hyenas attempt to run but are hindered by their paralyzed legs. Taking advantage of this, Kion uses the Roar of the Elders to blast Kenge and the hyenas back to the Outlands.

### **The Scorpion's Sting**

In "The Scorpion's Sting", Kenge is seen to take down the Lion Guard along with the rest of Scar's army but defeated when Kion uses the Roar of the Elders to clear a path out.

## Friends

* **Ushari**

* **Scar**
* **Ushari**
* **Janja**
* **Cheezi**
* **Chungu**
* **Nne**
* **Tano**
* **Reirei**
* **Goigoi**
* **Dogo's Siblings**
* **Kiburi**
* **Tamka**
* **Nduli**
* **Shupavu**
* **Njano**
* **Nyeusi**
* **Nyata**
* **Waza**
* **Mzingo**
* **Mwoga**
* **Male Vulture**

## Enemies

* **Kion**
* **Bunga**
* **Beshte**
* **Fuli**
* **Ono**
* **Makini**
* **Pim**
* **Thurston**
* **Shingo**
* **Mtoto's Mom**

## Trivia

* Kenge was first mentioned over a year before his debut along with **Dhahabu**, **Kuchimba**, **Shujaa**, and **Hodari**.[1]
* Exactly what species of monitor lizard Kenge is is unclear, but given his head shape and the fact that he lives in the Outlands he is probably an African rock monitor, or one of its subspecies. However, his coloration and body built are also akin to that of a Nile monitor. He could possibly be a hybrid of the two species. It should be noted he is bigger than both species; at his size, he is comparable to a Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard and the largest living monitor species.
* Kenge is one of the two members of Scar's army not to appear in the Battle for the Pride Lands, the other being Sumu.
* Due to a comment from Ford Riley, Kenge apparently defected from the Army of Scar, not wanting to be roared at again.
	+ Whether or not he continued to reside in the Outlands and reform along with the other Outlanders under the rule of Jasiri, or left the Outlands prior to the battle for the Pride Lands is unknown.
		- It's likely the latter occured as Kenge is not shown during or after the battle, implying he fled the Outlands.