Mor'du

Mor'du is a 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
Mor'du's history is revealed in "The Legend of Mor'du".

He was once a human prince, the eldest of his three brothers, all the sons of a wise king beloved by his people. On his death-bed, the king requested the kingdom be split between his four sons, so together they could be the pillars that would hold it together.

Alas, the eldest felt that, as the heir, he alone had the right to rule the whole kingdom, and declared war against his brothers.

Brother turned against brother in a war fought on four sides that changed the kingdom forever. While the eldest prince comanded 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 the false promise of truce, but when they met in their father's throneroom he once again declared his right to rule and demanded their obedience.

At the protests of his brothers, he drank the spell, which immediately took effect. To his surprise however, it transformed him into a great black bear. Only by mending the bonds torn by pride could he break the spell. Instead he accepted the shape of a monster and slew his brothers in cold-blood.

He returned to comand his army but they saw only a 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 to darkness and ruin, and the blight of the Great Black, Mor'du, fell across his domain.

Forsaking family for power, Mor'du had changed his fate for the worst, his soul forever buried in this scarred and tormented shell.

Brave
He 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, its sugguested 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 monster.

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 clans 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.

Mor'du's claws protrude from under the menhir, but his death frees the Prince's spirit, who nods thankfully to Merida before he takes the form of a wisp and disappears.

Trivia

 * His name could come from "Mordu", which is French for "bitten".
 * His name comes from Gaelic Mór meaning "Big" and "Dubh" meaning Black. It translates to "Big and Black", which matches his physical description perfectly.
 * 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
 * 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, and the sixth being Naveen.
 * Mor'du is the first main villain of a Pixar film never to say any dialogue.
 * 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, in a sense, is essentially the complete opposite of Merida. Mor'du is actually even a brief glimpse of the type of person Merida would have become had she become too obsessed with getting what she wanted instead of doing the right thing. This is a very rare reversal of traditional character roles that occurs in Disney films.