Bagheera

Bagheera is a Zhu-Fari pet

**Bagheera** is the tritagonist of Disney's 1967 animated feature film *The Jungle Book*. He is an honorable, albeit short-tempered panther (leopard) that served as the guardian of the "man-cub", Mowgli. To protect Mowgli from the threat of the murderous tiger Shere Khan, Bagheera volunteered to escort the man-cub to the Man Village. Along the way, Bagheera's ideology clashes with that of the laid-back sloth bear Baloo.

## Background

Bagheera is the wise and respectable black panther who lives in the Seoni jungle in India. His life changes when he discovers the infant man-cub, Mowgli, in a wrecked canoe and dedicates himself to ensure the safety of the young boy by putting him in the care of the wolves and watch over him until he is ready to rejoin humanity.

*The Jungle Book* takes many creative liberties that deviate from the source material. However, Bagheera deviates the least from Kipling's works out of all the characters in the film. Like in the books, Bagheera is Mowgli's elegant, no-nonsense mentor, but does not spoil Mowgli occasionally, nor is he as effeminate as his book counterpart.

### Personality

Bagheera is presented as a wise figure. Level-headed and intelligent, the panther is amongst the most down-to-earth residents of the jungle. When first introduced, he is seen as a selfless and caring individual, rescuing the orphaned Mowgli, and going out of his way to ensure his safety from that moment forward. Although he cares a great deal about the man-cub, Bagheera is also easily frustrated and intolerable of tomfoolery. This would result in rather heated arguments against the two, specifically in regards to whether or not Mowgli should remain in the jungle or return to the Man Village to live amongst his own species. Bagheera's temper can occasionally blind his sense of judgment, resulting in careless behavior such as abandoning Mowgli in the jungle despite the knowing dangers that lurk. Nevertheless, he is quick to reform and repeatedly finds himself by Mowgli's side once again. He is a devoted ally and makes it a crucial objective to protect those he cares about.

Bagheera is also commonly known as the foil of Baloo the bear, whom the former views as a "stupid, jungle bum". The two have opposite personalities, and continuously annoy one another with their need to push their own personal opinions onto each other. Nevertheless, these conflicts mostly centered around Mowgli's fate, and the two generally share a brotherly bond. Following the climax, when it appeared Baloo had met his demise, Bagheera revealed that he truly did care for the bear, and was notably embarrassed to see that Baloo had overheard his heartfelt eulogy. Once Mowgli made the decision to return to the Man Village, Bagheera and Baloo joyfully returned to their lives in the jungle, setting aside their differences and remained together as best friends.

### Physical appearance

Bagheera is a slender, black panther (Indian melanistic leopard). He has a gray muzzle, a pink nose, and black eyebrows. He has yellow eyes with black pupils, and a pair of numerous whiskers.

Full name: Bagheera the Panther

Other names: Baggy

Home: Seoni Jungle

Likes: safety, responsibility, cooperation and being correct

Dislikes: Mowgli's stubborn and childish behavior, his tail being pulled, danger, immaturity, Baloo's laziness and monkeys

Powers and abilities: animalistic capabilities

Status: active

Children: Mowgli (ward)

## Differences from the source material

* In the books, Bagheera was the polar opposite of his Disney counterpart. In Kipling's works, Bagheera was sassy, cheerful, reckless, and cunning while Disney's version was strict, no-nonsense, level-headed, and short-tempered. In many ways, one might say that Disney swapped Bagheera and Baloo's personalities.
* In the books, Bagheera was born in captivity. As a cub he was a pet owned by the prince of Udaipur until he escaped into the wild. Because he could relate to Mowgli being an orphan and an outsider, Bagheera quickly befriended Mowgli. Bagheera's origin was a secret that he shared only with Mowgli. In the Disney version, Bagheera was born and raised in the wild.
* In the books, Bagheera was not the one who discovered Mowgli (Mowgli made his own way to the wolves while fleeing from Shere Khan) and they did not meet until word spread of Raksha adopting a man-cub. In the Disney version, Bagheera discovered Mowgli abandoned by a river. Feeling sorry for the child, Bagheera brought him to Raksha and Rama, who agreed to care for him.
	+ However, in the books, Bagheera sided with Raksha when the wolf council discussed Mowgli's fate and bought Mowgli's life with a hunted bull and gave the man-cub to Raksha.
* Unlike the Disney version, Kipling's Bagheera was not a personal friend of Akela nor an honorary member of the pack. He was, however, a close friend to Mowgli, Grey Brother, Baloo, and Raksha.
* In the books, Bagheera occasionally spoiled Mowgli a bit. In the Disney version, Bagheera took discipline and responsibility very seriously. It should also be noted that in the books, Bagheera was not a parental figure for Mowgli like in the 1967 film, but rather he saw Mowgli like a younger brother and Mowgli looked up to him as an older brother.

## Trivia

* In the original film, Bagheera has a thick British accent, while in *Jungle Cubs*, he speaks without a British accent.
* In the Soviet animated version of *The Jungle Book* Bagheera's gender was swapped due to the fact that the Russian word for "panther" is considered feminine. In *The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story*, Bagheera is also a female.
* Bagheera was an honorary member of Akela's wolf council, in spite of being a panther.
* In the 2016 film, Bagheera and Shere Khan do battle twice. In real life, tigers and leopards are competitors and enemies; tigers will drive leopards from their kills and will kill both adults and cubs to rid themselves of competition. Leopards will also kill tiger cubs if and when they can find them to rid themselves of competition for food and territory.
* Ironically, Bagheera's name actually means "black tiger" in Hindi. (Furthermore, some black leopards have often been mistaken for black tigers, though it is unknown if true black tigers ever existed.)
* In some parts of the first movie, like when he slapped Kaa's mouth to save Mowgli and when he grabbed Baloo's cheeks when he asked the bear to tell him what happened to Mowgli, Bagheera had five fingers and in other parts, like when he was demonstrating a lethal swipe at Baloo in their argument, he had four, whereas in the second movie he had five fingers when he was holding onto Colonel Hathi's tusks.
* Bagheera experiences a lot of bad luck in the film, mainly for the purpose of slapstick. The most notable instances include:
	+ Being hypnotised by Kaa.
	+ Falling backwards into a stream and hitting his head on a log when trying to get up.
	+ Being bellowed at or startled by Baloo and Hathi (causing to comedically vibrate).
	+ Getting squashed by a door Baloo opens up, leaving him with a black eye.
	+ Being inadvertently hit on the head by Baloo at one point.
	+ Having a large chunk of rock fall on his tail while escaping the falling temple, making him shriek in pain.
	+ Accidentally falling off a hole in a log and into the river when trying to stop Baloo from going near the Man-village to take Mowgli (in the Jungle Book 2).
	+ Being caught by one of his legs by one of Colonel Hathi's soldiers, then tossing him into the air (In the Jungle Book 2).
	+ Being smashed by Colonel Hathi and his elephant patrol in a cave.
* Even though he and Shere Khan knew each other since childhood, they never interact or see each other in the first or second *Jungle Book*. However, they do interact with one another in the cutscenes of *Born to Be Wild* and the 2016 remake.
* In the *DuckTales* episode "Nothing to Fear", Duckworth is chased by a panther (although is it just an illusion) that strongly resembles Bagheera.
* While Bagheera himself was left out of the television series *TaleSpin*, Shere Khan's team of elite panther pilots bear a striking resemblance to him. It is more than likely that they serve as a homage to him.