- “When I get in a fight, I go all crazy, and I'm a raging ball of brown fur!”
- ―Koda[src]
Koda is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2003 animated feature film Brother Bear and the tritagonist of its 2006 sequel.
Background
Koda's early years are full of experiences, which he deeply enjoys recanting to others. He had a bad experience trusting the sanitary status of snow colored yellow or green and learned "the hard way" that white snow is best to trek in. He also had a friend named Bucky, who licked an icicle and had to get his tongue peeled off in order to free him.
Personality
Koda is a young, energetic, and playful cub. He is always up for an adventure, which has led to various occurrences throughout his life. Despite his intelligence, his mother still took care of him. Because he has experienced much in his young life, Koda always has a story to tell (much to the initial chagrin of Kenai) and sometimes tends to talk non-stop. His stories often mention something questionable, as he was speaking at one point "...my eyes were watering, my tongue was swollen, and from that moment on, I was more careful about what I lick."
Though small and young, Koda is a lot more clever and smarter than he looks (knowing how to undo a hunter's trap to get Kenai down), but he seems to be lacking somewhat in common sense (as he tried to get Kenai down first by continuously whacking him with a stick, letting Kenai get it for himself, and not just undoing the trap, to begin with). Despite this, it might have been intentional, as Koda wanted Kenai to escort him to the salmon run. Furthermore, Koda has apparently traveled far with his mother before he met Kenai, as he knows various landmarks throughout the Alaskan Wilderness, proving he is street-smart. Koda's bond with Kenai was originally a working relationship, as the cub needed the older bear to escort him to the Salmon Run, whereas Kenai needed Koda to show him to where The Lights Touch the Earth. However, as they journey, they begin to bond and grow close over various adventures to the point where Kenai himself calls Koda a little brother. Sadly, this bond is broken when Kenai admits to Koda that he killed his mother. Finally understanding why Kenai had always been grumpy around him from the moment they met and didn't want to take him to the Salmon Run, a heartbroken Koda ran and refused to speak to Kenai, much less forgive him. Later, when he is alone, he witnesses an argument between the moose brothers Rutt and Tuke, which reminds Koda how much he and Kenai care for each other. He risks his life to save Kenai and was blown away when Kenai regained his humanity. In the end, their brotherhood proves true when Kenai forsakes his humanity, stating Koda needs him more than his people. Koda is overjoyed to have his brother back and witnesses his manhood ceremony. Koda is also innocent and sensitive, he loves his mother more than anything, he is also very forgiving and sensible as he forgave Kenai for his mother and he understood that he also had a family.
By the next film, the two brothers have come out of hibernation and could not be closer. However, when they meet Kenai's old friend, Nita, Koda grows jealous, as the two old friends start ignoring him and he fears Kenai will go back with Nita. After an avalanche, Kenai and Koda make up. However, after Nita leaves, Koda can tell Kenai's heartbroken, so he puts Kenai's happiness before himself, asking his mother to remake Kenai a human, proving Koda cares more for Kenai's happiness than his own. Despite this, thanks to the spirits' guidance, Nita finds her heart belongs to Kenai and she and Koda have developed their own bond and, thus, she becomes a bear herself, marrying Kenai, giving Koda a newly adopted older sister-in-law figure.
Physical appearance
Koda is a cute, small bear cub. He has dark brown fur, a cream muzzle with a brown nose, brown eyes, and brown ears, on his hands and feet, sharp brown claws, five fingers on each hand, and five toes on each foot. He also has soft squishy brown pads on the bottom of his feet (in the hands, he has it too).
Appearances
Brother Bear
Koda is first seen rescuing Kenai (who was turned into a bear as punishment for killing one as revenge for killing Sitka) from a snare, and telling him that he and his mother were separated by several hunters (or "monsters" as Koda described them). At first, Kenai finds Koda annoying, but eventually, he becomes attached to him. After a human hunter--actually Kenai's remaining brother, Denahi, who is pursuing Kenai unaware of Kenai's situation--arrives and attacks, Koda helps Kenai escape by hiding in a glacier and later introducing himself. However, Kenai is focused on becoming human again and dismisses the cub. Koda convinces Kenai to accompany him to the salmon run in exchange for showing him to the mountain "where the (Northern) lights touch the Earth," which is adjacent to the location of the salmon run. On their journey, they meet a pair of moose named Rutt and Tuke, who follow them to avoid being taken by Denahi, who is still hunting Kenai. To throw Denahi off their trail, Kenai suggests they ride on woolly mammoths. After getting off their mammoths, but leaving the moose behind, Koda admits to being lost. This frustrates Kenai, and the two get into a yelling match, causing Koda to get angry with him and storm off. After helping Kenai escape Denahi again while in the fumarole fields, Koda, who now sees Kenai as his older brother, brings him to a waterfall at the base of a mountain where the salmon run is taking place and introduces Kenai to the troupe of bears who have gathered to catch some salmon. After Kenai and the other bears start getting used to each other and showing him that they are not the monsters Kenai thought, Kenai joins in their storytelling game. Koda is eager to tell his story, but the rules of the game dictate that he must catch a fish that's being tossed around the group. Since he's the smallest in the group, the fish keeps going over his head. Eventually Kenai catches it and talks about going on "the longest, most exhausting journey with the biggest pain in the neck [he's] ever met," finishing with a grin at Koda before teasing him for being a typical little brother, showing he's accepted Koda as family. Once it is Koda's turn, Koda tells the other bears the story of how a trio of human hunters separated him from his mother. He gets to the part where "the monster had her backed up against this giant glacier," and Kenai realizes that the bear he had mercilessly hunted and killed had been Koda's mother. Kenai runs off in a panic, causing Koda to go searching for him. Once Koda finds Kenai, Kenai says he has a story to tell Koda that's "kind of about a man, kind of about a bear, but mostly it's about a monster." After Kenai confesses to Koda that he killed the cub's mother, Koda runs away, heartbroken for the loss of his mother, leaving the remorseful Kenai to head towards the mountain alone after Koda refuses to answer his desperate apologies. However, after meeting the moose again and watching them make up after an argument of their own, Koda realizes that Kenai needs him just as much as he needs Kenai, and ascends the mountain, where he sees Kenai about to be killed by Denahi. Koda saves him by taking Denahi's spear, only for Denahi to try to kill him instead, prompting Kenai to rush in to save him. At that moment, Sitka scoops Kenai up and turns him into a human again. Koda is shocked and frightened when he sees Kenai as a human, but Kenai assures him of who he is. Kenai turns to speak with his brothers, and Koda sees the spirit of his mother appear behind him, giving him the chance to say goodbye. Kenai realizes that Koda has no living family and chooses to remain a bear to live with and care for Koda. For this act of love and seeing through another's eyes, Kenai is declared to have become a man. In the credits of the movie, Koda is seen trying to teach the moose brothers martial arts.
Brother Bear 2
In Brother Bear 2, Kenai and Koda awaken from hibernation to find that spring has arrived. Even with snow on the ground and the trees still bare, love is decidedly in the air. Kenai and Koda scoff at the notion of romance, but an old bear (Tug, who they were laughing at because a female bear that he likes was calling over for him to come to her) cautions them (Kenai in particular) that "You can't run from love. It has a way of tracking you down." Kenai laughs, but later has a dream about Nita, a girl he used to know when he was young and a human.
Meanwhile, in her own village, Nita is preparing for her wedding to a man named Atka. Surprisingly, when the big moment arrives, it is revealed that Nita cannot marry Atka. The reason for this is that when they were children, Kenai gave Nita an amulet as a gift. What neither Kenai nor Nita realized was that the amulet bound them as one. The only way for Nita to marry Atka now is to go with Kenai to Hokani Falls, where he first gave her the amulet, and burn it.
Nita finds Kenai and manages to convince him to help her. Initially, Koda gets along with her better than Kenai, relating a number of embarrassing stories about Kenai's early blunders; despite this, during the course of their three-day journey, their old friendship sprouts anew and flourishes- with the ultimate result that Koda feels left out. When Nita asked Kenai if ever thought of becoming human again, Kenai says "Yes, I thought about it", but Koda, who eavesdrop on the whole conversation, runs off, thinking Kenai will abandon him. After rescuing Koda and Nita, Kenai reassures Koda that while he miss his life as a human, Koda will always be his brother and he'll never leave him. After Kenai and Nita burn the amulet (despite their feelings for each other) and Nita returns to her village, Koda decides that Kenai's happiness is more important to him than having a brother. To that end, he asks his mom to tell the spirits to turn Kenai back into a man so he can be with Nita. Then he goes into the village to inform Nita of this and is subsequently attacked by the villagers, prompting Kenai to come to rescue him.
When the spirits show up, Koda explains that he asked them to change Kenai back. Kenai decides, however, that he cannot do that. Surprisingly, Nita decides that as long as the spirits are there, they can turn her into a bear. This they do, and shortly thereafter Kenai and Nita are married and Atka gets banished by the village. This, in return, gives Koda a new sister-in-law figure.
Other appearances
In Ralph Breaks the Internet, a screenshot depicting Kenai and Koda can be seen on a banner in the background of Oh My Disney.
In Once Upon a Studio, Koda and Kenai are seen joining all other Disney characters in taking a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney. When Goofy accidentally breaks the camera, Koda, Kenai and many of their cohorts sadly prepare go back inside the animation building until they hear Alan-A-Dale playing "When You Wish Upon a Star". This lifts Koda, Kenai and everyone else's spirits where they sing the song together and successfully take the group photo.
In Wish, Koda was among the Disney animated characters that made cameos during the credits.
Disney Parks
Koda is a rare meetable character in the Disney theme parks. At California Adventure, He appeared as part of the Magic of Brother Bear theme at Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, appearing in a totem ceremony show, a wood-carved sculpture at the entrance to the area and the namesake of Kenai's Spirit Cave, where guests are able to find their animal totem by placing their hand on glowing pawprints. In the summer of 2011, the Brother Bear theming would be removed and replaced with an Up theme inspired by the Wilderness Explorers. Though Kenai and Koda no longer appear in the area, the Spirit Cave was mostly untouched with the exception of signs removing Kenai's name.
He and Koda can currently be found at Storyteller's Cafe in Disney's Gand Californian Hotel during breakfast time for meet-and-greets.
Gallery
Trivia
- Koda's personality, cub-like nature and ability to highly annoy Kenai while still maintaining both of their affections for each other is a lot like Ujurak in The Quest Begins from Erin Hunter's novel series Seekers.
- Originally, Koda was going to be an adult bear named Grizz who would serve as an older brother figure to Kenai, who teaches him the concept of brotherhood, and was going to be voiced by the late Michael Clarke Duncan, who ironically voiced Tug in the final film. However, this did not work out so well, and as a result, the character was changed into a young bear cub like what viewers see in the film. Another reason why his age was lowered in the first place was so that the writers would find it better to make Kenai the more responsible older bear brother instead of the bratty younger bear cub brother.
- In the original film, he is the equivalent of a four-year-old human, and in the sequel, he is the equivalent of an eight-year-old human.
- In real life, there was a real grizzly bear named Koda that was used in the movie Snow Dogs; during the scene where Ted Brooks gets chased by a bear.
- Originally, his name was going to be Kodi, short for Kodiak, the name of an island well known for its huge brown bears (the largest of their species, of similar size to polar bears). His name would've thus meant "island" in Sugstun, the language of the Sugpiaq people.
- Koda serves as a foil to Kenai. Koda made no attempt to avenge his mother even after learning that Kenai was responsible for his mother's death. This stands in contrast to Kenai, who sought revenge on Koda's mother, whom he blamed for Sitka's death.
- It could be possible that the reason why Koda never sought vengeance is because he knew that trying to avenge his mother would anger the Spirits, prompting them to punish him similarly to the way Kenai was punished for his misguided revenge.
v - e - d  | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|