Mor'du is a demon-bear and the main antagonist from Disney/Pixar's 2012 film Brave. He also appears in Temple Run: Brave and the Legend of Mor'du.
Background
Physical Appearance
As a human, Mor'du was powerfully built and was the tallest of his brothers. He had brown hair and a beard, and wore a dark colored robe and fur cloak. He did not wear a shirt, which showed that his body was covered with various tattoos. He also had unnaturally glowing yellow eyes.
As a bear, Mor'du is completely black, very large and is taller than King Fergus. He has many hideous scars and wounds across his body as well as arrows sticking from his upper back due to all the fighting, carnage and murder he had committed (killing men, women, and children). This makes him appear malformed and rugged, but still very large. His face is the most disfigured of all, and has one glowing yellow eye and one dead red eye.
Personality
When Mor'du was human, he had once possessed a close fatherly-brotherly love for his father and three younger brothers. However, he was confident in his strength but confused this for character and thus led to his arrogance, a trait that caused him to struggle with his loved ones. Like Merida, he let his pride control his actions and clashed with his family, but unlike Merida he was willing to let hatred and desire get the better of him instead of realizing his mistake and mend what was left of his broken family. His desire for power drove him to go far enough to start a violent war, and then ultimately killed his own brothers in cold blood.
As a black bear, Mor'du's hatred and rage manifested through his actions and carnage, especially when he slaughtered his remaining family. However, after fighting his own men, his violent nature would eventually consume what was left of his humanity, leaving his human mind and conscience buried deep within the mind of his cursed form. As a result, Mor'du was left as a vicious, malevolent monster incapable of sentience. His uncontrollable violence was so prominent that even a young woman could fall victim to his murderous intentions.
When he was finally killed, the spirit of the eldest prince was finally released and, apparently learning from his tyrannical mistakes and what his intense lust for power had turned him into, thanked Merida with respect for releasing him and moved on peacefully to the afterlife; becoming a will-o-wisp.
Appearances
The Legend of Mor'du
Mor'du was once a human prince, the eldest of four brothers, all the sons of a wise king beloved by his people. One dark autumn, the king grew ill. On his death-bed, the king requested the kingdom be divided among his four sons, so together they could be the pillars that would hold it together and maintain peace. Alas, his firstborn son felt that, as the eldest and the technical heir, he alone had the right to rule the whole kingdom and a seed of selfishness grew in him like a poison. To his brothers, he claimed his right to rule and demanded their obedience, shattering the bonds of their brotherhood by breaking the family stone.
Mor'du as human
Words turned to war. Brother turned against brother in a war fought on four sides that changed the kingdom forever. While the eldest prince commanded a powerful army, the battle remained a bitter stalemate. Starving for victory, the prince cursed his fate and stalked the woods until he came to an ancient circle of stones. The Will-o-the-wisps appeared and led him to a dark loch where, not far from the shore, was the cottage of a witch. He demanded from her a spell that could change his fate. The strength of ten men he desired, and to persuade her he offered his signet ring. The bargain was struck though the Witch could see his wounded soul. She completed the spell in the form of a potion but offered him a choice: To fulfill his dark wish or heal the bonds of family he had broken.
The prince baited his brothers with a false truce, but when they met in their father's throne room he once again declared himself the sole ruler and demanded their obedience. When his brothers defied him again, he drank the spell, which immediately took effect. It gave him apparently unlimited strength, but, to his surprise, it also transformed him into a great black bear. Only by mending the bonds torn by pride could he break the spell. Instead he accepted the form of the monster, and slew his brothers in cold blood.
He returned to command his army, but they saw only the dreaded beast and so turned against him. He slaughtered a great many while the rest fled the kingdom in terror. With the armies of the brothers fractured, the kingdom fell into darkness and ruin, and the blight of the Great Black, Mor'du, fell across his domain.
Brave
Mor'du first appears at the beginning when King Fergus and Queen Elinor, with their child Princess Merida celebrating Merida's birthday. When Merida fires an arrow off into the woods and goes to find it, the wisps appear and try to lead her with them. From the undergrowth, it shown that Mor'du is watching her. When Merida finds herself back at the camp, her mother begins taking her away, but Mor'du attacks and Fergus with his household guard rushes to defend his wife and child. Though they give the princess and the queen time to escape on horseback, Mor'du shows no fear nor vulnerability to them, even striking the head off a spear when Fergus tries to stab him. As Fergus draws his sword and goads the bear to attack, Mor'du strikes, cutting to black. Later, it is revealed that the sword shattered when Fergus struck the bear and his leg was eaten, giving him a great hatred of the monstrous bear.
When Merida shows her upset at having to marry one of the three lords' sons as her duty to the family, Queen Elinor tells Merida the story of four princes (one of which was Mor'du) who were to have the kingdom split for each, Mor'du plunged the kingdom into chaos by wanting to rule over them and be the best of them, suggesting that he waged war against his brothers. When Merida goes to the witch's hut, the Witch takes Merida's pendant as payment and says that a Prince came to her and asked for the strength of ten men. When Merida asks if this changed his fate, the witch confirms it, showing Merida his clan's ring, the crossed axes.
Later, Merida and her mother (now turned into a bear) follow a trail of wisps to a foggy ruin, bearing the crossed axes of Mor'du's family. Merida explores, falling after walking on an unsteady piece of rubble. Inside, she finds a throne room very similar to her own family's and a shattered stone carving of four brother, one of the brothers broken from the others. She slowly realizes that the Prince who asked for the strength of ten men indeed had his fate changed, and that man became Mor'du. Mor'du appears, stalking Merida from the shadows and he charges. Merida fires an arrow straight at his head, but the arrow does no damage whatsoever. Merida hurriedly tries to crawl up through the ruins and reach her mother's paw, with the gigantic bear trying to devour her. At the last second, she leaps and just manages to grab her mother's paw in time as Mor'du snarls and snaps after her. Merida and her mother run as fast as they can away, running to the great standing stones and bashing into them a bit harder, making a hairline crack along one of the great menhirs.
Merida realizes she must mend the bond torn by pride (as the Witch said,) fixing a tapestry her mother had made of Merida and the family, thereby breaking the spell. However, her mother is attacked by King Fergus and chased to the ring of stones. As Merida rushes to save her mother and change her back, Mor'du stands from the shadows, following her. Mor'du attacks and her father and the lords fight against the bear, but fail. When Merida herself becomes endangered by Mor'du as he prepares to eat her, Queen Elinor attacks, using her claws and teeth to defend her daughter, but Mor'du, proving much older and more dangerous, beats her down with his vast strength. Elinor, seeing the menhir they damaged earlier, smashes Mor'du against the menhir and damages it more, but is struck down. As Mor'du stalks towards Merida and her injured mother, the menhir falls, crushing him.
The bear's claws protrude from under the menhir, but his death finally releases the Prince's tormented spirit and soul, who nods thankfully to Merida before he takes on the form of a wisp and disappears.
Trivia
- His name comes from Gaelic Mór meaning "Big" and "Dubh" meaning Black, which translates to "Big and Black", which matches his physical description perfectly.
- Mor'du is French for "bitten".
- Mor'du is also Latin for "bite".
- In the movie poster, Mor'du can be seen in the background and is in most concept art pictures where it involves large rows of rocks lined up next to each other.
- Mor'du is directly referenced in the original title of Brave which was The Bear and the Bow
- Though he redeems himself, Mor'du is still widely regarded as one of the most evil Pixar villains of all, the others being Syndrome, Hopper, and Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear.
- Mor'du is the seventh male character to be turned into an animal through magical means, the first is Arthur Pendragon, the second being the Beast, the third being Jafar, the fourth being Kuzco, the fifth being Kenai (who also became a bear), and the sixth being Naveen.
- Mor'du is the first main villain of a Pixar film never to say any dialogue.
- Mor'du is similar to Prince Hans from Frozen, since they are both princes and wanted to kill the female lead (Merida and Anna respectively), were selfish, and were motivated to hurt others out of pride.
- Like Lotso, from Toy Story 3, Mor'du is another bear antagonist that appeared in one of the Disney/Pixar Films.
- His appearance is very similar to the Bear from The Fox and the Hound.
- Mor'du's real name is unknown (from when he was human), as he is known by this name as a demon bear.
- His scar on his eye like Scar from The Lion King represents evil and darkness inside his soul.
- Mor'du is completely different from who Merida is and what she did. Both clash with their families because of pride, but go in two different directions. While Merida wanted to be free and frequently clashes with her family, she cares for them and showed no hesitation to try and break the spell when she accidentally cursed them. Mor'du, on the other hand, only wanted to rule the kingdom because of himself being heir to the throne, and instead of realizing his mistake and breaking the spell he inflicted on himself, he allowed his pride to get the better of him and murdered his family without remorse. Also, Mor'du is what Merida would have become if she had become too obsessed with her anger towards her family and exchanged their love for getting what she wanted.
- No one really knows why Mor'du wanted to kill Merida (or her family and possibly the Lords and their sons).
- However, it can be presumed that as the Willo-the-Wisps can lead anyone to their fate, Mor'du (having encountered the wisps before as a human) might have wanted to kill Merida as she is the one following the wisps.
- It can also be presumed that he wanted someone to kill him, as it seems that he's thanking Merida and her mother for felling the monolith before he turns into a Willo-the-Wisp. Possibly because he's lived for so long and wanting peace.
- Weapons do not seem to hurt Mor'du, the beast's hide has several spears and arrows sticking out of him, as his body is riddled with many scars and along with a scarred face all show he has been in many battles and committed many murders over the years. Also, Fergus' sword shattered when he struck the great black bear, which many weapons might have.
- Mor'du has fought with all 4 clans.
- Eurasian bears are brown (light brown to dark brown) but Mor'du is all black, possibly to represent the darkness in him.
- Like Scar, Mor'du killed members of his family to seize power over his kingdom.
- Mor'du has similarities to the vile Cambodian ruler Pol Pot. Just as Pol Pot did, Mor'du refused to take responsibility for the traditions and the lives of his people. On top of that, he allowed his nation to fall into destruction and decay, leaving behind a tragic legacy of misery and mass graves.
- Mor'du hold similarities to the Nemean Lion of Greek mythology. They both hold an impervious hide that have led many warriors who dared to face them to their deaths and in the end died not from a sharp weapon, but through blunt force of strength (the Lion from strangling by Heracles, Mor'du from a giant stone).
Gallery
External Links
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