| NOTE: The page is only for the version from the 2016 film and its novelization. |
| “ | Shere Khan: Does my face not remind you of what a grown man can do? Shift your hunting grounds for a few years and everyone forgets how the law works. Well, let me remind you; a man-cub becomes man, and man... is... FORBIDDEN! Raksha: What do you know about law? Akela: Raksha. Raksha: Hunting for pleasure. Killing for power. You've never known law. The cub is mine! Mine to me, so go back to where you came from, you burnt beast! |
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| ~ Shere Khan shows his scars and expresses his hatred for mankind, before Raksha stands up to him by revealing the true personality of the evil tiger. |
Shere Khan is the main antagonist of the 2016 Disney live-action/photorealistic computer-animated film The Jungle Book, a remake of the 1967 animated classic.
He is a notorious, fearsome, and scarred Bengal tiger who serves as the tyrannical king of the jungle and is obsessed with killing the man-cub Mowgli, due to him having a vendetta against mankind after getting his face burned which blinded his left eye and gave him facial scars. He also serves as the most feared animal of the jungle, as well as the one responsible for Mowgli being adopted and raised by Bagheera and the wolf pack in the first place.
He was portrayed by Idris Elba via motion capture, who also played Colin Evans in No Good Deed, The Commandant in Beats of No Nation, and Brixton Lore in Hobbs & Shaw.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Unlike his original counterpart, he is not played for laughs at all and is taken completely seriously. He also doesn't have any redeeming qualities or comedic moments that his animated incarnation had in the original film while showing no remorse for the atrocities that he committed.
- In the past, when Mowgli was only an infant, he brutally killed his biological father after having his face burned with a torch which blinded his left eye and gave him facial scars, leading to Mowgli being found by Bagheera before being adopted and raised by the wolves.
- While him being blinded and scarred may be a motivating factor at first, this doesn't make him sympathetic or tragic as it would be far too petty an excuse for his atrocities, and he seems completely past it and even oblivious to it in the present day.
- It is implied that he murdered other animals prior to the events of the film, given how vultures follow him wherever he goes and Raksha calling him out for having hunted his prey for pleasure and killed for power as a hobby in the past. This shows that he is not just a normal predator that hunts for food and survival and instead just hunts for the fun of it.
- He threatened the wolf pack with violence for harboring Mowgli as humans are barred from living in the jungle, even though it was his own fault they raised him in the first place.
- He ambushed Mowgli and Bagheera on their way to the Man-Village, where he severely injured Bagheera while fighting him before attempting to kill Mowgli, only failing to catch him due to the intervention of a buffalo stampede.
- When learning that Mowgli had left the jungle and was on his way to the Man-Village upon arriving at Seeonee hill and demanding the boy be turned over to him, he ferociously killed Akela by throwing him off a cliff to his death out of spite for seemingly no reason other than sadistic pleasure, rejecting the former's offer of peace.
- As a result of Shere Khan killing Akela, his death would spread quickly throughout the jungle and have far-reaching consequences, causing Mowgli to later avenge him after hearing it from King Louie.
- After taking control of the wolf pack, he tells the wolf pups a story about how the "cuckoo bird" cares for its young (by sneaking its eggs into the nests of simpler birds) while reigning as the pack's leader and directed said story at Raksha, mocking her for raising Mowgli. He then admitted he didn't want Mowgli to leave, and that he wanted him dead. He also threatened to kill and eat one of Raksha's cubs if Mowgli isn't turned over to him.
- In the novelization, The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack, he ate a jackal who gave him useful info on Mowgli's whereabouts in exchange for scraps.
- When confronted by Mowgli with a burning torch that he had stolen from the Man-Village to the point he accidentally started a forest fire, he tried to manipulate the jungle inhabitants and have them turn against the former, lying that Mowgli is dangerous and being an enemy to them, even though it was an honest accident due to a stray ember falling off the torch and spreading, and this only happened in the first place because Mowgli was informed of Akela's death by King Louie and was determined to stand up to Shere Khan.
- Even after watching Mowgli throw away the torch, he sadistically smiled, knowing that it be a perfect opportunity to strike the boy down defenseless.
- When confronted by Baloo, Bagheera and the wolf pack, who cite their code as they defy him, he angrily vows to kill them for siding up with Mowgli when they come to his aid, saying he will have them all in his teeth.
- He brutally overpowered and wounded Baloo, Bagheera and the wolf pack while fighting against them when they tried to stop him from killing Mowgli in an attempt to protect him so they can give the boy enough time to build a trap for Shere Khan.
- Not to mention when he fought Baloo, he viciously bit the bear on the neck which could've easily killed him, although he's later shown to have survived it.
- Even when he had Bagheera at his mercy when the panther attempted to stop him from going after Mowgli, he came the closest to mauling him to death which would've succeeded if not for the wolf pack's intervention.
- When cornering Mowgli on a dead fig tree, he heartlessly mocked him by saying that he never would allow him to grow old while that he will kill him as he killed Mowgli's father and Akela, while even mockingly asking how much longer Mowgli thought he would last against him than they did. He then attempts to attack him for the last and final time, only failing to kill Mowgli due to the trap he had set up.
- While his death is brutal due to falling into a fiery pit and being incinerated to death, it was completely well-deserved for what he did rather than being played for sympathy given how murderous and sadistic he was.
- In the novelization, he rejected Mowgli's offer for peace to kill him instead.
- While he claims to be an extremist by forbidding man from entering the jungle, it is likely it is for his own sake, given the fact that when everyone starts protecting Mowgli, he starts attacking them, proving he isn't really well-intentioned and is merely consumed by his own hatred of them.
- Even Raksha calls him out on this saying that he doesn't know law and that he kills for pleasure.
- What's worse is that when he hears that the wolves released Mowgli and let him out of the jungle instead of turning him over to him, he kills Akela for disobeying him and threatens the other wolves, further proving that he's not an extremist.
- While he seems to let the wolves protect Mowgli, this was likely pragmatic since he expects to kill the wolves with his line "ask yourselves how many lives is a man-cub worth", implying he is aware that even the full pack wouldn't be enough to stand up to him.
- Not to mention, he breaks this promise when the wolves let Mowgli go by killing Akela, as mentioned earlier, showing he's not honorable either.
Trivia[]
- This is the only version of Shere Khan to be Pure Evil, as his original counterpart cannot qualify due to his actions being too bog-standard and having many comedic moments, and he is an extremist as well.
External Links[]
- Shere Khan on the Villains Wiki
- Shere Khan on the Disney Wiki
