Bear (The Fox and the Hound)

The Bear is the overarching antagonist of Disney's 1981 animated feature film, The Fox and the Hound. He is a giant bear with black fur and red eyes with no tolerance for intruders or trespassers, attacking and killing anyone who enters his territory.

His vocal sound effects were provided by Jimmy MacDonald.

Background[]

Physical appearance[]

The bear is a gigantic and burly animal with black fur and red eyes. He is likely a melanistic grizzly or Kodiak bear. He seems to be stocky than muscular.

Personality[]

The bear is portrayed as an ordinary bear albeit slightly more territorial. He does not tolerate trespassers, and if they cross into his territory or attack him in any way, he will not hesitate to kill them. However, he is not necessarily evil as he is a simple creature defending his territory. When encountering Amos Slade and Copper, he merely tried to scare them away and did not attack until after being shot by Amos.

Role in the film[]

The bear first appears after being accidentally awakened by Amos and Copper, who are looking for Tod and Vixey, only to stumble upon the territory of the wrathful animal, who awakens and looms over them as a warning that Amos and Copper are in his territory and should leave immediately. Amos, with a look of fear on his face, and with shaky hands, panics by raising his gun, and fires at the beast to hopefully kill him, but only grazes the bear’s shoulder to just only hurt him, provoking him further. The enormous bear, now very angry, growls, lumbers onward, and lunges forward toward Copper and the alarmed hunter, who is struggling to reload his gun and managing to put only a few ammo into it, and as some ammo bullets fall loose, Amos tries to shoot the bear twice, but fails when the bear swipes at him, causing the alarmed hunter to drop his gun, lose his hat in the progress, and tumble down the slope of a hillside, but fall lose from his gun landing on a small tree sapling as the bear continues pursuit to chase after the frightened hunter.

While trying to escape from the bear, Amos looks up, gasps at the bear coming, and gets up, but fearfully starts walking backward to flee from the bear, and ends up getting his foot caught in one of his own steel traps while his gun has landed on a small tree, slightly out of his reach. Furious that Amos and Copper are not leaving his territory, the bear continues to encroach in on the injured, defenseless, and terrified hunter. As the bear reaches Amos, Copper fearlessly lunges at the bear to protect his injured master. He bites into the bear's neck and slashes him in the snout. But despite being smaller and more agile, Copper is no match for the giant bear as he swats the dog, and has Copper soon easily overpowered by the bear and beaten up in a very violent and brutal fight. Not too far away, Tod hears Copper's yelping echo, turns around, and is horrified to see his childhood friend nearly getting killed.

Against his better judgment, Tod quickly runs back to save his friend. As the colossal bear prepares for a final blow on the wounded Copper, Tod leaps onto the bear's back and bites his ear, pulling with all his might, which allows the beast to turn his attention on him. The Bear becomes more distracted by Tod, but tosses him off his back, then chases him up the cliff. Biting and scratching wildly, Tod manages to lead the bear away from Amos and Copper, as the bear follows him further and further. As Tod reaches the top of the cliff, the bear slaps him to the cliff's edge, then lumbers toward him. Tod leaps at the bear again and bites into his snout and neck, but the fed up bear then swats Tod with his paw, sending him onto an old log bridge protruding high above a tall raging waterfall. While Tod hangs on for dear life, the bear climbs onto the fallen trunk, which sags under his immense weight. Upon reaching Tod, the bear then raises his paw in an attempt to deliver the final blow, but fails when he then accidentally breaks the log, sending both of them plummeting down the reserve's waterfall several dozen meters below. Tod survives and defeats the bear, who is not seen afterward.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The Bear's roars, snarls and growls are the same ones from Shere Khan from Disney's The Jungle Book, and Brutus and Nero from The Rescuers.
Despite the Bear's death, some books based on the film showed that the Bear survived the fall.
The Bear was animated by Glen Keane who did Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective.
The Bear was the only antagonist in the first film to die in the end.
Some people have believed that the Bear isn't a villain, although he is a villain because he's actually the sentient predator who attacking and killing anyone who enters his territory.

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Bear (The Fox and the Hound)

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