| “ | In order for some to live, others must die. That is the law of nature. From the moment of birth, life is one endless struggle and only the strong can survive. | „ |
| ~ The Wolf |
| “ | For the world I live in is a hell where death is always close by. You'll need stamina, determination, and the will to survive. | „ |
| ~ The Wolf to Chirin. |
| “ | You have learned well. To turn out like this is the fate of every wolf. I always knew it would be like this, that I would die in some feud, at the hands of someone stronger. But I'm glad that the one who did it was you... Chirin. | „ |
| ~ The Wolf's last words to Chirin. |
Uô, or Wolf in the English translation, is the main antagonist-turned-deuteragonist of the Japanese children's book Chirin No Suzu (Ringing Bell) and its 1978 anime short film adaptation.
He is a fearsome, ruthless wolf who inhabits the harsh mountains and preys on other animals, especially farm sheep, with the belief that he is enforcing the rules of nature and keeping balance. On one of his hunting trips, the Wolf kills the mother of the protagonist, the lamb Chirin, and the latter will pursue the predator, seeking to be trained by him and become strong enough to kill him and avenge his mother.
He was voiced by the late Seizô Katô in Japanese and the late Bill Capizzi in English.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He sees his predatory hunting as necessary for the balance of nature to be maintained, as he believes the weak need to be killed, as Nature is an endless struggle where some must die for others to survive.
- Due to a lifetime of living in the wild, the Wolf is a hardened predator and a fearless fighter, which is proven by him taking on a dozen guard dogs single-handedly and effortlessly fighting a bear and scaring it off, when, in real life, a sole wolf could never hope to take on a bear in battle and win.
- He is a competent predator, knowing he needs to kill off guard dogs before being able to attack the livestock and choosing to start the attack when the wind changes.
- He is not a mindless killer, choosing to kill off only some of the sheep every time and not killing and devouring Chirin when the lamb confronts him in his lair, instead telling Chirin to return to the farm, grow up and get fat for the Wolf's next hunt.
- When Chirin asks to become his apprentice, he is initially completely dismissive towards the lamb, seeing him as foolish, but later accepts to take Chirin under his wing and train him after the lamb shows to be very determined in following the Wolf, even fighting off a snake at one point.
- This is only in the anime, as, in the original book, the Wolf accepted to train Chirin right away, the story mentioning that the feared and reviled Wolf was touched by someone wanting to keep him company and be like him, which makes him even more sympathetic.
- He trains Chirin rigorously, teaching him to take down strong foes and wrestling with him to test the lamb.
- Although he puts Chirin through very harsh, brutal training, he is still shown to be only as harsh as he needs to be, even gently carrying an exhausted Chirin to a puddle to drink.
- In just 3 years of training, he grooms the cute lamb Chirin into a fearsome ram, making the Wolf a very harsh, but efficient mentor.
- He and Chirin become a very lethal pair as they start hunting together.
- In spite of initially wanting to be his apprentice to become strong enough to kill him and avenge his mother, Chirin eventually comes to respect and love the Wolf like a father and remains loyal to him until remembering himself at the farm.
- When Chirin impales him on his horns, the Wolf holds no grudge whatsoever and, in fact, expresses his pride and gratefulness towards his apprentice and surrogate son, being happy that Chirin was the one to end his life.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He is a merciless predator who terrorizes and kills other animals and isn't above slaughtering children.
- He routinely attacks the farm to eat some of the defenseless sheep, killing all the guard dogs every time.
- He tries to kill Chirin the lamb, the youngling being saved just in time by his mother, who is killed instead.
- In the anime, he is completely indifferent to Chirin repeatedly endangering himself to follow him.
- He puts the lamb Chirin through hellish training, the narration stating that Chirin almost died after some of the training sessions.
- He corrupts the sweet Chirin into a ram as ruthless as himself, even trying to have him attack the farm he was born in and kill the sheep just to completely vanquish his past. Even after Chirin's redemption, the Wolf's mentoring made him into a being neither sheep or wolf, feared by all other creatures, even his fellow sheep, and forced to roam the Earth alone.
Trivia[]
- As the story could be interpreted as an allegory for Nietzsche's philosophy, the Wolf is likely an allegory for the archetype of the Übermensch.
External Links[]
- Wolf at the Villains wiki
- Wolf at the Near Pure Evil wiki
- Wolf on The Ultimate Evil wiki