| Tug | |
|---|---|
| |
| Physical information | |
| Gender |
Male |
| Species | |
| Eye color |
Black |
| Distinguishing features |
Massive |
| Biographical information | |
| Status |
Living |
| Residence | |
| Affiliations | |
| Relationship information | |
| Family |
Hoonah (mate) |
| Friends | |
Tug is a male bear. He is the mate of Hoonah.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
When he was a small cub, Tug hibernated three winters straight through. When he finally woke up, his mother hardly recognized him and his brothers would not go near him because of how awful he smelled due to not cleaning his fur for so long. At some point, after becoming a strong and level headed bear, Tug became the leader of the bears’ of the Salmon Run.
During his latest year, Tug toppled a tree that was blocking the view from his cave; unfortunately, the tree in question was home to a family of chipmunks, which quickly took up residence in his home as retribution for the desecration of their old home (something he felt rather awkward about).
He became very close friends with Koda’s mother and the cub, whom he loved and admired.
Brother Bear[]
A New Friend[]
One day, Tug is catching fish with the other bears in the Salmon Run, and when he emerges from the water he notices a new teen bear in front of him screaming out loud, which he finds weird. When the newcomer stops screaming, he warns him not to scare the fish, and the stranger is left stunned. Koda comes out of nowhere, and Tug happily embraces the small cub who jumped onto him, cuddling the cute and energetic kid. When Koda asks if Tug has seen his mother, the bear leader answers that he hasn’t. Koda finds it funny that he and his friend, Kenai, the stranger from before Tug encountered, had beaten her to the Salmon Run. Tug is surprised to learn that the weird bear is Koda’s friend. He clings close to Kenai, and realizing that he had never seen the newcomer in the Run before, asks the young bear where he is from. Kenai is still a little nervous and uncomfortable in the presence of the big bear, causing him to mumble on his words. When Koda reveals that he and Kenai had ridden mammoths, Tug is surprised to hear that, finding it very weird for animals on other animals. Koda concurs that Kenai does even more weird things, and starts listing them. This embarrasses Kenai, who tries to silence Koda and wishes to talk to him privately, while excusing themselves. Tug finds Kenai’s uneasy behavior rather odd, and eavesdrops on Kenai’s conversation with Koda. When Kenai reveals that he is leaving, Tug comes behind the young bear, surprised that he wants to leave after just arriving, and asks the latter if he really plans to leave. Kenai, still terrified, admits that he must leave, claiming that he does not belong in the Salmon Run among the other bears. Tug becomes confused as to why Kenai thinks he doesn’t belong among them, and assures the newcomer that every bear, regardless who they are, are welcomed and belong in the Salmon Run. To show what he means, Tug encourages Kenai to have fun among the other bears and shows him around. When they see bears catching fish in the water and offer to join them, Tug encourages Kenai to play with them, but the latter declines, wishing only to look around. While Kenai is wandering around with Koda, Tug runs off with the other bears and catches salmon with them.
Fun with the Family[]
After Kenai enjoys his time in the Salmon Run and decides to stay in the end, appreciating the life of bear, Tug and everyone gather in the evening to play their storytelling game. He tells everyone to settle down and warns a bear not to throw his fish bones without concern, fearing that someone might choke on them. Tug starts the game and wonders for a moment what was the most interesting thing that happened to him to share with everyone. Tug decides to tell everyone about the time when he knocked down the tree that blocking the view from his cave, but as a result, the family of chipmunks that used to live on that tree, took residence in Tug’s cave, which he finds very funny and starts laughing. But after noticing that the said chipmunk family was there among the bears and glare at Tug for making fun of their predicament, Tug becomes nervous and asks to pass the fish tail to somebody else. When everyone is asking wildly for the fish tail, Tug plays around with them and jokes about handing it over and instead gives it to an elder bear. After she and a Croatian Bear finish their stories, and lover bears start flirting during their turn of storytelling, Tug yells out loud for them to get a cave to cuddle privately. When Kenai catches the fish and offers it to Koda, who declines it, Tug concurs with Koda, explaining to Kenai that the one who catches the fish first must tell the story before passing it to another. When Kenai is hesitant, Tug and the other bears encourage Kenai to share his own story and not to be shy about it. Kenai caves in and tells them about his trip to the Salmon Run, being a really long and difficult journey with his companion Koda being the most bothersome and annoying bear he had ever met. But he gives the cub a hug to show that he was just joking around, and calls Koda his little brother, and the other bears coo to see their loving relationship. When it’s Koda’s turn next, Tug happily hears the cub’s story. At first, Koda coyly summarizes that he saw his mother fight in a life-and-death struggle against the most fearsome creature on Earth, and asks whose turn’s it’s next. Tug stops him, seeing that there is more to Koda’s story than he leads on, and asks for the cub to explain his thrilling story in detail for everyone to understand. Koda admits that he expected Tug to say that, and starts to tell his story again in a more comprehensive way. Koda reveals that his mother and himself were confronted by a hunter on top of a glacier and his mother fought against him, but the fight grew more vicious when more came and Koda’s mother had to face them to protect Koda, who was hiding behind the bushes. The fight ended when the glacier broke apart and Koda’s mother fell in the water, but emerged unscathed. The climax shocks Tug to learn that Koda’s mother fell off a glacier and still survived, thinking that’s unimaginable. Noticing that Kenai was panicking after he hears Koda’s story, Tug asks his friend what’s wrong with him, but Kenai runs away without saying a word. Tug stays with the other bears and has with them and Koda.
Later, when Koda and Kenai have departed to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, Tug looks with the other bears the aurora bursting from the said mountain.
In the end, Kenai decides to live in the Salmon Run with the other bears and becomes Koda’s brother. It’s likely that Tug becomes close friends with Kenai later on and they engage in many fun activities together.
Brother Bear 2[]
Tug makes a brief appearance in Brother Bear 2. Kenai and Koda meet Tug at the frozen lake, and Koda says that he and Kenai are going to Crowberry Ridge to pick some berries. When Koda starts naming the various kinds of berries that he and Kenai are going to eat, Tug slows Koda down and mentions that those are a lot of berries. He also tells them that spring is when love often happens for everyone, and that it has a way of tracking everyone down no matter how hard they run from it. Shortly after, a female bear calls for Tug, and Tug tells them that he has to go, and then leaves to be with his love interest.
Tug and his love interest later appear at the end, happily watching Kenai and Nita's wedding ceremony.
Physical appearance[]
Tug is a massive bear with black fur. He has a tan muzzle and a gray underbelly.
Personality and traits[]
As the leader of the Salmon Run, Tug is commanding and judicious. He is even-tempered and social, and makes friends with outsiders quite easily.
Trivia[]
- Tug is based on a deleted character named Grizz, who originally served Koda's role as Kenai's traveling companion in Brother Bear. The filmmakers loved Grizz's design and voice actor, Michael Clarke Duncan, so much that they reused them for Tug.