Kaa

**Kaa** is the secondary antagonist of *The Jungle Book*. He is an enormous snake with an equally large appetite—specifically for Mowgli the man cub. Kaa's most dangerous attributes are his hypnotic eyes, which he uses to seduce unsuspecting prey and lure them into his jaws.

## Background

### Development

In Kipling's books, Kaa was Mowgli's wise mentor, akin to Baloo and Bagheera, and was very protective of him. When the characters were adapted in the film, Walt Disney did not like the idea of a benevolent snake and so Kaa was given an antagonistic role that would serve as one of the many reasons why Mowgli must leave the jungle.

He was animated by Frank Thomas in his entrance appearance where he first met Mowgli and nearly ate him. Due to the popularity of the character among the developers, he was given another scene and his own song ("Trust in Me", a recycled and revised version of "The Land of Sand", a scrapped song from 1964's *Mary Poppins*), this time animated by Milt Kahl. Sterling Holloway, Kaa's voice actor, also brought his own essence to the character by using a lisped voice.

### Personality

Kaa is a sly, devious Indian Rock Python. He speaks with a soft, often entrancing tone to either lure his victims into a weary, dreamlike state or manipulate them into bestowing their trust, only to devour them unexpectedly. He furthers this by the use of his iconic ability to hypnotize his prey with his eyes, rendering them enchanted and under his command. A powerful and dangerous ability, Kaa is a feared inhabitant of the jungle. This is evidenced when the usually composed and fearless Bagheera was visibly terrified and pleaded with him when the panther stopped him from eating Mowgli. Such fear, however, does not resonate with the unofficial ruler of the jungle, Shere Khan the tiger. Kaa holds a disliking for Khan, seeing him as a hypocrite and believing the act of killing for pleasure—as opposed to survival—to be dishonorable. The two beasts are often at odds, though Shere Khan views Kaa as an "eyes and ears" of the jungle, relying on him to assist his search for Mowgli at one point in the film.

While not inherently malevolent, Kaa is still a fairly villainous character. His first attempt to devour Mowgli was a casual and opportunistic means to eat and survive. However his later goal to eat the man-cub was mainly driven out of spite, swearing revenge on th boy after his first attempt to eat Mowgli ended in humiliating defeat. Furthermore, he is perfectly willing to kill those who get in the way of his meals, as seen when he sadistically hypnotized, and almost harmed Bagheera.

His sadism is further emphasized by how he gloats over Mowgli's helpless situation before eating him. He displayed even more sadism towards Shanti as he did not only gloat over her helplessness, but also outright revealed to her that he intended to eat her knowing she was unable to do anything about it. He enjoys teasing and playing with his food, hypnotized or not. He playfully tugged at Mowgli's wrists and ankles to stop him from escaping, and later savoured the time before the kill when he hypnotized the man-cub and made him sleepwalk over his body.

Nevertheless, Kaa seems to insist on giving his victims a merciful end as he hypnotizes them into a state of bliss or sleep before eating them. Although powerful enough to choke the life out of his victims, he prefers to swallow them alive and whole unable to feel pain or fear. Kaa has even admitted to himself that he is sympathetic towards Mowgli to a certain extent, before remembering his own intentions to make a meal out of the boy.

Kaa seems to have a taste for humans, calling them "delicious" and "succulent". Even when very young, he seemed to relish the idea of eating man. Whether he has ever successfully caught and eaten a human is unknown.

Though dangerous, manipulative and cunning, Kaa is not without his faults. Although he only hypnotized Mowgli when he was sure Bagheera was too sleepy to notice him, it was his own cockiness that woke the panther and made him lose his supper. He can be clumsy and easily sidetracked from his primary objective: to hypnotize and eat Mowgli. This results in his interactions with the man-cub to often end in humiliation to some degree.

## Trivia

* In the original book by Rudyard Kipling, Kaa was one of Mowgli's friends and his wisest mentor. Throughout the book, Kaa was quite loyal to Mowgli and very protective towards him, but in the film and following appearances, Kaa is very dangerous threat to Mowgli's life.
	+ The reason Kaa is an antagonist is because Walt Disney found it hard to believe that a snake would be well received as a protagonist.
	+ Ironically, Kaa has proven to be one of the movie's most popular characters and one of Disney's most recognizable villains.
	+ Interestingly enough, the incarnation of the character in *Jungle Cubs* is by far the most accurate depiction of said character when compared to the original novels.
* Despite popular belief, Kaa is not a henchman to Shere Khan, being the fact that he does none of his evil biddings and the two appear to dislike each other. In fact, Kaa even sympathizes with Mowgli for a moment after he finds out Shere Khan intends to kill him for immoral purposes (while Kaa does technically have the right to eat Mowgli, since he is just a simple predator who wants food).
* In the books, Kaa and Mowgli have a deeper relationship. Initially, Kaa cared nothing about Mowgli and only saved him from the bandar-log because Bagheera lied to him that they insulted the python. However, once he meets Mowgli for the first time, the latter shows his gratitude for saving him. Kaa is surprised by his fearless attitude and begins to respect him for that. Later on, Kaa and Mowgli develop a brother-like relationship.
* Originally, Kaa was not going to be a villain in the 1967 animated film. Wolfgang Reitherman suggested that they should give that role to Tabaqui (Shere Khan's henchman from the books). However, Walt Disney turned down that idea as he wanted to refrain from using canine villains so shortly after releasing *The Sword in the Stone*.
* In the books and movies, Kaa is depicted as being an Indian Rock Python (Python molurus), a species that usually grows to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Kaa, however, is closer to 9 meters (30 feet long), much larger than normal for his/her species. The only snakes capable of reaching such sizes, in reality, are Green Anacondas and Reticulated Pythons, both of which can grow to such lengths and weigh from 200-500 lb.
* In the book, Kaa was able to hypnotize via dancing. Whereas in the Disney films, he does so via colorful spirals in his eyes. But in the book, humans are immune to Kaa's hypnosis while in the films his hypnotic powers appear to work on anyone who looks directly into his eyes. In the 2016 film, Kaa's hypnosis via color-changing patterns in her eyes remains and is further augmented with undefined psychic powers, as Kaa is able to show Mowgli a vision of the man cub's past.
* Kaa means "possession" in Hindi.
* Kaa is the second character who was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway and later taken over by Jim Cummings, the first being Winnie the Pooh.
* Although Kaa is colored golden yellow in the original film and all of his other animated appearances, in *The Jungle Book 2*, however, he was a shade of green.
* Sir Hiss of the 1973 *Robin Hood*film is heavily based on (and is often confused for) Kaa, being both the same kind of head design and having the same hypnotic powers.
* Though Kaa was not one of the ringleader villains in *Mickey's House of Villains*, he is featured on the cover of the DVD and VHS. However, he does assist in kicking Mickey and Minnie out of the club.
* Kaa is the only Disney villain voiced by Sterling Holloway. The other Disney characters Holloway voiced were protagonists (or anti-heroes, as with the Cheshire Cat).
* Even though Kaa wants to eat Mowgli in the films, real life pythons do not usually view humans as a part of their food chain or prey in any way and usually do not attack humans unless threatened or provoked. Moreover, real Indian Rock Pythons are too small to eat a human; only the closely related Reticulated Python, African Rock Python, and the Green Anaconda are known to have tried to eat humans.
* The decision to make Kaa a female in the 2016 film was due to the need for gender diversity within the primarily male-driven cast of the 1967 animated film.
* Kaa became the minor villain in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Jungle Book.*

* Kaa appears in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventure Series to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends for foiling his plans to eat Mowgli, tries to eat them and reluctantly join forces with Shere Khan despite their dislike.
* Despite being the secondary antagonist, Kaa is the only Jungle Book villain to have a villain song, Trust In Me.