The White Wolf

**The White Wolf** is a minor character that appears briefly in *Balto*. He encourages Balto to embrace his wolf heritage and use it to get the medicine to Nome.

 Appearance

The White Wolf is a long furred, tall, snowy white wolf with black tipped ears and yellow eyes.

## Character Summary

The White Wolf appears after Balto falls over the cliff with the medicine and gives up hope. He finds the white wolf standing before him, encouraging him to howl with him, but Balto refuses. The wolf turns away, but Balto remembers Boris' words to him and howls back at the wolf, who quickly returns, and they howl together.

## Movie Appearances and Storyline

The White Wolf appears after Balto falls over the cliff with the medicine. Balto closes his eyes and begins to sob, giving up hope of saving Rosy. He suddenly hears and smells something and opens his eyes to see the great wolf standing before him.

The White Wolf raises his head and howls at Balto, expecting him to join him, but Balto turns his head away. The wolf looks at him for a moment longer, then turns away. Balto sees the medicine crate and looks up the mountainside, remembering Boris' words, "A dog cannot make this journey alone, but maybe a wolf can". He feels a rush of inspiration and looks back in the wolf's direction where he has vanished in the blizzard.

Balto narrows his eyes and gets to his paws, placing his paw in the print left by the wolf. Seeing that it fits perfectly and he must embrace who he is, he raises his head and howls. The wolf reappears and returns to Balto, and the two howl together.

## Gallery

\*NOTE - These are a select few images. More images can be found in Balto Screenshots, as well as the movie and reference art pages.

## Trivia

* In Balto 2: Wolf Quest, the White Wolf is revealed to be Balto's mother. However,in the official novel, based on the original film, the White Wolf is male, meant to encourage and inspire him to embrace his wolf side. In this regard, he can be assumed to be a different character from Aniu.
* The script confirms the White Wolf being a male.
* In *Balto: The Junior Novelization*, after Balto embraces his wolf ancestory and howls, the White Wolf appears and howls to Balto from the top of the cliff, where the sled dogs sit. When Balto howls back, the dogs hear the howl. Hence the White Wolf was neither spirit nor real wolf, but a metaphor.
* Simon Wells, the director of the original film, said this about the White Wolf in interview:
	+ "Whether the White Wolf is Balto's father or some kind of ephemeral Spirit of the Wolf is deliberately unstated. The White Wolf Sequence is still my favorite part of the movie, and James Horner's extraordinary score that accompanies it still raises the hairs on the back of my neck. We wanted to keep it mystical and vague - is this a real event or is it some kind of hallucination that Balto is experiencing? All of these were reasons to not have the White Wolf speak or in any way explain himself. Perhaps the Wolf is a manifestation of Balto's inner voice, telling him to take ownership and use that part of him that he has always been ashamed of - certainly that is the message Balto takes from the encounter, real or not (and by the way, if it was really his dad why didn't the old man help him drag the antitoxin up the cliff?)"
	+ That confirms the White Wolf is a symbol of Balto's wolf side and Balto's self-acceptance.
* Early version of the scene had extended ending, where Balto and the White Wolf howl together, the White Wolf disappears in the blizzard near Balto during their howilng, Balto is confused and tries to find the wolf, but then he encouragely howls again, and the sled dogs hear exactly Balto's howl. This scene confirms that the White Wolf was a symbol, not a real wolf or a spirit.