The Bear

The Bear is the climax's main antagonist from Disney's 1981 animated film The Fox and the Hound. He is a giant black-furred bear with red eyes. He does not tolerate intruders and trespassers, and he will kill them if they do so, and he is accidentally waken up by Amos Slade and Copper.

Role in the film
The Bear first appears while Copper and Amos are trespassing in the woods to find Tod and Vixey, but while trying to get them, they accidentally antagonize the wrathful beast, that awakens and attacks Copper's owner. He swipes at Amos, causing him to tumble down a hillside, and the Bear continues to pursue him. Whilst trying his best to escape from the Bear, Amos is caught in one of his own traps and his gun is caught on a tree. Furious that the intruders aren't leaving his territory, the grizzly continues to attack them. Copper bravely tries to protect his master and attacks the Bear, but despite of being small and more agile, he is no match to the giant bear, and Copper is soon overwhelmed in a very vicious fight. Against his better judgement, Tod quickly intervenes to save his friend. He fights the much larger bear and ends up luring him up on a fallen trunk. While Tod hangs for dear life on the trunk, the Bear tries to deliver the final blow but misses and accidentally spilters the log, sending the two animals falling down into the huge waterfall many meters below. Tod survives while the Bear is dead.

Trivia

 * The Bear's snarl is the same snarl of Brutus and Nero the Crocodiles from The Rescuers and Shere Khan from The Jungle Book.
 * When Copper bites him on the muzzle, blood is shown on the north side of the bear's muzzle. This is one of the film's controversial points.
 * When Amos fires his shot at the Bear, hitting his right arm, blood is shown as well.
 * The Bear was animated by Glen Keane. Henry Selick did work on the character since he was being trained under Keane and Eric Larson. Selick would later become the director of films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.
 * The Bear's design may have been the original inspiration for that of Mor'du, the villain of Disney/Pixar's Brave.
 * Bear hideout is very similar to Lumpjaw hideout. Both are big bears, they have the same goal of killing the film's main protagonists (for Bear, Tod, for Lumpjaw, Bongo) and both of their defeats results in falling. The main differences are that Lumpjaw is a big brown grizzly bear and bear is a huge black furred bear, and when Bear falls, he falls down a waterfall, and when Lumpjaw falls, he's swept away in a river.
 * Due to the color of his fur, the bear is often believed to be an American Black Bear. But judging by his behavior towards trespassers and the visible shoulder hump, he is a grizzly with, for some reason, black fur.
 * Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, provided the roars and snarls of the bear.
 * The Bear was constantly thought to be the main antagonist of the film.