List of The Jungle Book characters
This is a list of characters that appear in Rudyard Kipling's 1894 Jungle Book story collection, its 1895 sequel The Second Jungle Book, and the various film adaptations based on those books. Characters include both human and talking animal characters.
In the Mowgli stories
- Mowgli - Also referred to as "Man Cub," he is a boy who was raised by wolves, Bagheera and Baloo.
- Jungle characters - The following characters reside in the jungle.
- * Seeonee Wolf Pack - An Indian wolf pack that Mowgli was raised by.
- **Akela - The chief and leader of the wolf pack. He dies during a fight with the Dholes.
- ** Raksha - Also called Mother Wolf, she is Mowgli's adoptive mother. She died at some point and was buried in a cave.
- ** Rama - Also called Father Wolf, he is Mowgli's adoptive father. He died at some point and was buried in a cave.
- ** Grey Brother - The oldest of Father Wolf and Raksha's cubs. He appears on all Disney adaptions except for 1967's The Jungle Book, 1998's The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, and 2003's The Jungle Book 2.
- ** Leela - The granddaughter of Akela.
- * Baloo - One of Mowgli's mentors and friend. In Kipling's book, he is described as a sleepy old bear who teaches Mowgli the law of the jungle.
- * Bagheera - One of Mowgli's mentors and protector.
- * Bandar-log - A society of monkeys who are treated as pariahs for their scatterbrained anarchy. They kidnap the very young Mowgli, who is rescued by Bagheera, Baloo, and Kaa.
- * Kaa - Mowgli's wise mentor and friend, though also feared throughout the jungle for his/her mesmerizing "hunger dance". He is absent in 1998's The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story.
- * Hathi - The chief and leader of the jungle's elephants and the individual called "The True Master of The Jungle".
- * Tabaqui - He feeds on scraps from either Shere Khan or the wolves of the Seeonee Pack. In some adaptations, he is a hyena. Tabaqui is the only servant of Shere Khan as well as Shere Khan's spy and messenger. He is killed by Grey Brother after the Grey Brother interrogates him into admitting both what Shere Khan plans to do and where and then crushes the jackal's back in "Tiger! Tiger!". He is absent from all the Disney adaptions of The Jungle Book except 1998's
- * Mang - A bat.
- * Shere Khan by his own mother, Shere Khan is ruthless, aggressive, violent, arrogant, self-centered, and sees himself as the rightful lord of the jungle. Tabaqui is his only friend.
- * Rama - A water buffalo.
- * Mysa - A water buffalo.
- * Chil, in earlier editions called Rann - A kite that serves as a messenger.
- * Sahi - In earlier editions, he was called Sahi. In later editions, he was called Ikki.
- * Tha - The first of the elephants according to Hathi.
- * Thuu - Also called White Hood, Thuu a blind albino cobra. Mowgli gives him the derisory epithet "Thuu" upon discovering that the supposedly deadly cobra's fangs are in fact withered and dried up from age and disuse. A version of him appeared in the Jungle Cubs episode "The Treasure of Middle Jungle" voiced by Jim Cummings. This version is a giant Indian cobra who guards man's treasure in the Middle Jungle and his fangs drying out remain intact where a shrew exposed that fact to Baloo, Prince Louie, Shere Khan, and Kaa.
- * Dholes - A pack of dholes are the antagonists of the story "Red Dog." Some of the dholes died from the bee stings and the rest drowned upon being swept away by the river's current. The rest swam to shore where the fought Akela's wolf pack. Won-Tolla does a mutual kill with the dhole leader and the rest of the dholes are killed by Akela's wolf pack where Akela was mortally wounded.
- * Oo
- * Jacala - A large mugger crocodile. In "Red Dog", it is stated that Mowgli broke a knife on Jacala's back during a protracted fight with him.
- * Mao - In earlier editions, he was called Mor.
- * Won-Tolla - An outlier who warns Mowgli's tribe of the dholes who killed his mate and cubs. Before dying of his wounds during the fight between the dholes and Mowgli's tribe, Won-Tolla slays the dhole leader.
- * Chikai
- * Phao - Son of Phaona and leader of The Free People.
- * Phaona - Phao's father and member of The Free People.
- * Ferao
- Human characters - The following characters are known humans.
- * Messua - The wife of the richest man of the human village, who decides to adopt the wild Mowgli, believing that he is their long-lost son Nathoo.
- * Messua's husband - An unnamed man who is the richest man of the village.
- * Nathoo - The long-lost son of Messua and her husband, who has been snatched by a tiger.
- * Buldeo - The elderly chief hunter of Messua's village. He is boastful, arrogant, greedy and superstitious, and he is furious when Mowgli, who knows what the jungle is really like, contradicts some of his own more fanciful stories about the jungle. He hopes to kill Shere Khan so he can get a substantial reward placed out as a bounty for the tiger's skin. In the 2018 adaption, he was called John Lockwood and he is a British hunter. Mowgli found that he beheaded Bhoot and shot the tusk off an unnamed Indian elephant. During Mowgli's fight with Shere Khan, Lockwood tries to shoot Shere Khan only for Akela to take the bullet when it was heading towards Mowgli. Lockwood himself was body-slammed by the same Indian elephant.
- * Mowgli's wife - A woman who fell in love with Mowgli and meets his old friends in the jungle.
- * Mowgli's son - A son of Mowgli and his wife.
Other stories
- "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
- * Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
- * Nag and Nagaina - Nag is the Hindi word for "cobra."
- * Darzee - Darzee means "tailor" in Hindi.
- * Chuchundra - His name is derived from "chuchunder", a term used for his species in India.
- * Karait
- * The Coppersmith
- "The White Seal"
- * Kotick - "Котик" means "seal" in Russian
- * Sea Catch
- * Matkah
- * Sea Vitch
- * Sea Cow
- * Burgomaster Gull
- * Limmershin, the Winter Wren
- "Toomai of the Elephants"
- * Toomai
- * Kala Nag
- "Her Majesty's Servants"
- * Two-Tails
- * Billy
- * Vixen
- "The Undertakers"
- * The Jackal
- * The Adjutant
- * Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut
- * The Gavial - The Mugger's cousin.
Films adaptations
- King Louie - The orangutan who leads the Bandar-log. In the 2016 film, he is a Gigantopithecus. He is voiced by Louis Prima in the first movie, Jim Cummings in TaleSpin, Jason Marsden in Season One of Jungle Cubs, Cree Summer in Season Two of Jungle Cubs, and Christopher Walken in the 2016 film.
- Winifred - Colonel Hathi's wife and the mother of Hathi Jr. who serves as Hathi's second-in-command of the Jungle Patrol. She is voiced by Verna Felton in the first movie and by Kath Soucie in "Jungle Cubs."
- Hathi Jr. - The baby elephant who is the son of Hathi and Winifred and is a good friend of Mowgli. He is voiced by Clint Howard in the first movie and by Jimmy Bennett in The Jungle Book 2.
- Flunkey - King Louie's monkey servant and lieutenant. He is voiced by Leo De Lyon in the first film and by Jim Cummings in The Jungle Book 2.
- Buzzie, Dizzy, Flaps, and Ziggy the Vultures - Four vultures who closely resemble the Beatles because of their shaggy moptop haircuts and Liverpool accents. Buzzie resembles Ringo Starr, Dizzy resembles George Harrison, Flaps resembles Paul McCartney, and Ziggy resembles John Lennon. Their song "That's What Friends Are For" was sung in the style of a barbershop quartet instead of a Beatles song. Disney was originally going to have The Beatles voice them, but John Lennon refused the offer. Buzzie was voiced by J. Pat O'Malley in the first film and by Jim Cummings in The Jungle Book 2. Dizzy is voiced by Lord Tim Hudson in the first film and by Baron Davis in The Jungle Book 2. Flaps is voiced by Chad Stuart in the first film and by Jeff Bennett in The Jungle Book 2. Ziggy is voiced by Digby Wolfe in the first film and by Jess Harnell in The Jungle Book 2.
- Shanti - The girl whose song "My Own Home" lured Mowgli into the Man Village in the 1967 film. Shanti later serves as his ally/love interest in the sequel. Shanti is voiced by Darleen Carr in the first film and by Mae Whitman in The Jungle Book 2.
- Ranjan - Mowgli's adopted younger brother. He is depicted as the son of Messua and her husband. Ranjan is voiced by Connor Funk.
- Lucky - The vultures' friend who loves teasing Shere Kahn as seen in The Jungle Book 2. He is voiced by Phil Collins.
- Rocky the Rhino - Rocky is an Indian rhinoceros. In the earlier production of the first film, Rocky was to appear in the same scene as the Vultures where he would've been voiced by Frank Fontaine. Unfortunately, his part got scrapped. Rocky did appear in the 2016 film voiced by Russell Peters where he was among the animals observing the Water Truce. After telling Mowgli to watch himself after being backed into him upon being accidentally pricked by Ikki's quills, Rocky tells Raquel that Mowgli is a man-cub.
- Raquel the Rhino - The daughter of Rocky the Rhino. She is voiced by Madeleine Favreau.
- Fred the Pygmy Hog - A pygmy hog who is one of the neighbors and friends of Baloo. He was voiced by Jon Favreau, who also directed the film.
- Giant Squirrel - An Indian giant squirrel who is one of the neighbors and friends of Baloo. The Giant Squirrel was the one who supported Baloo's claim to Mowgli that the honey works to soothe the bee stings as he claims that it's nature's ointment where he puts it everywhere. He was voiced by Sam Raimi.
- Pangolin - An Indian pangolin who is one of the neighbors and friends of Baloo. No voice actor was credited for this role.
- Bhoot - An albino wolf cub and Mowgli's friend. The two of them had a falling out when Bagheera made Mowgli fail Baloo's test. Mowgli found that Bhoot was killed and beheaded offscreen by John Lockwood causing Mowgli to see that John is not a nice person. Bhoot is voiced by Louis Ashbourne Serkis.