Animal Motifs

"Ah, the Animal Kingdom offers many useful ideas!" —Dr. Otto Octavius, The Spectacular Spider-Man, "The Invisible Hand"

Humans have always been fascinated by animals. Love them or hate them, they usually provoke a strong reaction in people, from the Jerkass who turns to mush when confronted by a playful puppy to the tough guy who freaks out when he encounters something slithery. Most mythologies feature animals in starring roles; some belief systems feature animals as guides, oracles, or totems representing certain qualities or certain people.

So of course animals are going to turn up as symbols in popular media.

This animal isn't around to be petted or kicked, or to assist in taking over the world... well, it might be, but only as a side job. The real purpose of these animals is that of most motifs: they're there to underline a theme, or make a statement about a certain character. They might not even be physically present at all. The "animal" might be the name of a football team, a charm on a bracelet, or an ornament on the mantelpiece.

Animals are used to depict characters more often than they describe themes. Even in the real world, describing a person by comparing them to an animal is a good way to convey your opinion of them: phrases such as "lion-hearted," "eagle-eyed," or "dirty doity rat" are popular to the point of cliche. Therefore, many Animal Motifs are also Characterization Tropes. The wimp who spends his time watching the tigers at the zoo will most likely be stronger than you think. As for the girl doodling big black spiders with suspicious red hourglasses on their underbellies... well, think twice before accepting her invitation to "coffee."

Animals, like flowers, are a motif that tends to be gendered. Men are usually compared to animals that are clearly predatory: wolves, lions, and bears, for example. Women generally get the cute and fluffy animals as motifs, such as bunnies and suchlike. However, women have historically had a strong association with the cat which, while cuddly and furry, is also a predator. Cats are therefore a common motif for female characters, but one aspect of the feline mystique will most likely be emphasized over the others—the woman will either be a predator, a seductress, or a sweet little kitten. (Lionesses are especially popular for Action Girls: they look very different from male lions, and most people know it's lionesses who do the hunting, so a lioness motif conveniently emphasizes both femininity and ferocity.) Women are also frequently associated with foxes, also a predatory animal, although it is the fox's attractive nature or reputation as a trickster that is being invoked. A woman represented by a large, predatory animal is twice as dangerous as her male counterparts - after all, women are traditionally characterized as pretty and helpless, not aggressive and scary.

In the world of fiction, someone who doesn't like animals at all is either a nasty piece of work or obsessively clean and germ-phobic. "Animal hater" is quite a strong term though, so to dilute the "hard-heartedness" of this character, expect to see one particular animal that they just can't resist.

Usually overlaps with Animal Stereotypes. Animal-Themed Superbeing is the superhero/super villain's answer to this trope.

Examples of Animal Motifs include:

By Medium

• Anime and Manga
• Fanworks
• Literature
• Video Games

Other Examples

Art

• The Weimaraner is the trademark of William Wegman's works.

Comic Books

• Spiders appear as a motif in Marvel 1602, usually around Peter Parquagh. Given who his modern counterpart is, spiders seem to be a symbol for destiny (perhaps a reference to the web of Fate).
  • Many Spider-Man foes also have animal motifs. J. Michael Straczynski's run posited that Spidey is being assaulted by jealous pretenders who subconsciously realize that he is a true totemic champion.
• Not much needs to be said about Batman.
• Played for Laughs in this strip by Quino.
• Psychic operatives in Matt Fraction's Casanova all seem to have differing animal totems that manifest when they use their powers. The protagonist had spiders then upgraded to crows and his villainous sister had snakes.

Film

• The last shot of The Departed, a movie about a pair of moles within the Boston Mob and the Mass. "Staties" hunting each other, features a rat scurrying across a balcony
  • Spoofed on The Simpsons which did a parody of this movie. As the rat scurries by at the end, Ralph pops up and tells the audience, "The rat represents obviousness!"
• Psycho also has a bird motif, associating Norman Bates' female victims with the birds he stuffs. He comments that Marion Crane (note the surname), from Phoenix, Arizona, eats like a bird shortly before killing her. In the finale we learn that he has preserved the corpse of his mother with his taxidermy skills.
  • There are many, many different references to the bird motif throughout the film. Try to find them all!
• On the Waterfront has a bird motif. There are many references to birds that mirror the various human interactions in the plot.
• In Rebecca, the animal favored by the nameless heroine is the lap-dog, Jasper. Rebecca, however, is regularly mentioned in conjunction with horses. The second Mrs. de Winter is meek, mild and childish, always eager to please and desperate for her husband's approval, to the point where she is almost pathetic. Rebecca, however, is wild and dangerous and too powerful for Max De Winter to keep control of - especially since the horses mentioned alongside her are crazy with pain, as Rebecca whips them into a frenzy.
• Ghost Dog the Way of Samurai has this, but only a few animals show up more than once.
• At one point in Star Trek, McCoy indirectly referred to Kirk as a stallion, who had started out wild, reckless and proud. Eventually, he does grow up and becomes "tamed" and more controlled of his emotions.
• In The Dark Knight, the Joker makes some references about dogs and their loyalty. Bonus points for reinforcing his ideals on actual dogs, starving them and gaining their loyalty that way.
• Many of the characters in Blade Runner are associated with an animal, including all of the (confirmed) Replicants. Roy Batty, in fact, has two.
• From Sherlock Holmes, a crow is always seen whenever Blackwood is about to kill someone. So at the end, when Blackwood really does die for real, it flies away. Of course, the crow turns out to be nothing more than a normal crow.
• In the opening credits of the 1939 film version of The Women has each major character represented by an animal, which dissolves into the face of the actress. (It should be noted that, as with the human characters, all animals in the movie were female.)
• In Ever After, when preparing for the masque, Marguerite is dressed as a peacock, beautiful and vain. Compared to her sister, Jacqueline, who is kind and sweet, is dressed as a horse. The brief conversation they had before leaving also reflected Jacqueline's situation. She complained that she always wanted to be the peacock (someone beautiful and admired like her sister), in which her mother then told her a horse is still a noble creature. In the end, she chooses to help Danielle and falls in love with the captain, living happily in the castle with her stepsister, unlike her mother and sister.
• Original Piranha has a sea life motif.
• The Howling is filled with wolf motifs.
• James Cameron has stated that he used a butterfly motif on Rose in Titanic. Most evident in the (in)famous "I'm flying!" scene.
• Jafar, the villain of Aladdin, was actually given a snake motif: his hat and robes resemble the hood and body of a cobra, he has vaguely serpentine eyes, teeth resembling a venomous snake's fangs, a constant tendency to flick out his tongue while speaking, he always carries a cobra-headed staff with him all the time, and at the end of the film, he even turns into one.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula has the obvious bat, rat and wolf associations for the titular character, but there's also a snake motif for Lucy: her first appearance has her wearing an evening gown with snake embroidering and a hairdo resembling coiled snakes, the nightgown she wears when attacked by Dracula resembles a snake's belly, and her wedding/funeral dress was inspired by frill-necked lizards.
• Drago Bludvist the villain of How To Train Your Dragon 2 has a subtle eagle motif about him: his nose is sharp and hooked like the beak of an eagle and he uses his foot to stand on the heads of dragons as part of his method of subduing them to obey him similar to like how an eagle's main weapons it's talons on it's feet to subdue it's prey. Complete with his black dreadlocks Drago almost resembles a Bateleur Eagle. According to the official art book for the movie this was done because the artists described Drago with a predator like profile.

Live Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • Rose Tyler has a lot of wolf motifs. Even putting aside the "Bad Wolf" meme, wolves mate for life, representing Rose's Single-Target Sexuality towards the Doctor and her hopes to one day settle down with him, which she eventually does with his half-human clone.
  • Lampshaded in "Blink", in which Muggle Sally Sparrow's best friend, Kathy Nightingale, advises they start a detective company based on their surnames. Sally says that that sounds too ITV.
  • In a discussion comparing the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh, Steven Moffat compared the latter to a household cat. Cute, clumsy and loyal but also aloof and, despite the fluffy exterior, far more dangerous than most people give him credit for.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's Big Ol' Eyebrows led to a few comparisons to an owl, emphasizing his old and wise nature. And fittingly, he had one of the Darker and Edgier eras, just as owls are nocturnal.
  • Clara Oswald had a few shades of a raven. While this seems at first just to hint at her cleverness, it actually foreshadows that she will die.
• Every Wesen in Grimm so far has had one:
  • Bauerschwein are Pig or Boarlike
  • Daemonfeuer are similar to Dragons
  • Blutbaden are Wolflike.
  • Fuchsbau are foxlike.
  • The exception so far have been Hexenbiests (eyeless hag-like creatures) and Siegbarstes (ogres).
• Kings seems to have a new one every episode, from butterflies to pigeons to deer.
• Most Kamen Riders have an insect or arachnid theme; in some series it's obvious (such as Kabuto, where the characters' Transformation Trinkets are their theme creature) while others are less so.
• Power Rangers and Super Sentai use animal themes often. This is most obvious with the mecha.
• In Criminal Minds, Gideon loves birds and is associated with them. When his successor Rossi debuts, the first thing he does is shoot a bird, to indicate that he's nothing like Gideon.
• In The League of Gentlemen, Tubbs & Edward have porcine features, live in filth, and Tubbs even breast-feeds a piglet in one scene. Also, Harvey Denton is obsessed with & raises toads, and his appearance and household reflect this.
• The Boys associates bald eagles with Vought International. While bald eagles are the symbol of America (as Vought paints itself as), they were also used as such by Nazi Germany, emphasizing that Vought is just A Nazi by Any Other Name.

Professional Wrestling

• One of The Rock's many, many nicknames is "The Brahma Bull."
• Countless wrestlers have "Dragon" in their names or nicknames. It's universally a sign of respect.
  • Ultimo Dragon. Though WCW announcers due to call him "Ultimate Dragon" completely destroying it's meaning.
  • Super Dragon.
  • "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, one of the few non-Japanese to ever win that honor.
  • So does Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.
  • And of course, there's Dragon Dragon.
• The Rabid Wolverine.
• When the current Masked Luchador Rey Mysterio, Jr. began his wrestling career he used the name "Colibri," which is Spanish for "hummingbird." It's fitting for someone so agile and small.
  • Not to mention that Huitzilopochtli (aka The Left-Handed Hummingbird Wizard) was the patron god of Tenochtitlan.
• Early on his career Chris Jericho had a number of lion-based names and nicknames, which fit well with his long blond hair. He hasn't gone by any of those names in years, even since before he cut his mane short...but his version of the springboard moonsault is still called the "Lionsault".
• In Japan and Japanese-influenced promotions, up-and-coming wrestlers are called "young lions."
• Rhino/Rhyno is powerfully built and fights by charging at his opponents.
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts was named such for his serpentine movements, generally villainous nature and tendency to bring live snakes to the ring to frighten his opponent.
  • Stone Cold Steve Austin's nickname "The Rattlesnake" emphasized his untrustworthy temperament and habit of striking out at anyone, friend or foe, with little reason.
  • Randy Orton's recent nickname "The Viper" refers both to the speed with which he can strike with his Finishing Move and his callous disregard for others.
• Since she came to TNA Tara has taken after Jake Roberts and started bringing a tarantula to the ring.
• The Ring of Honor tag team of Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards call themselves "The American Wolves," referencing their ferocity and team mentality.

Sports

• 1960s Portuguese soccer player Eusebio was also known as "The Black Panther" because of his speed, his powerful strike, and the fact that he was black.
  • Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin was "The Black Spider" for its impressive saves and an all-black uniform.
• Quite a few national soccer teams have animals on the logo (France has a rooster, England has three lions), or as a nickname (Brazil are the "Little Canary team", Nigeria the "Super Eagles", Cameroon "The Indomitable Lions").

Tabletop Games

• In 3rd Edition D&D, the familiars of wizards, sorcerers, and adepts bestow minor skill bonuses to their masters, which vary with the familiar's animal type. While some grant bonuses derived from their genuine aptitudes (e.g. Move Silently for a cat), other bonuses reflect the animal's anthropomorphized reputation (Bluff for snakes, Appraise for ravens).
  • This was present in 4th Edition too, with the Arcane Familiar feat available to those playing a class with the Arcane power source.

Theater

• Most of the Cirque Du Soleil shows directed by Franco Dragone from Saltimbanco through La Nouba invoke bird imagery, usually through one or more characters and their costume(s).
  • Saltimbanco: The Songbird (the lead singer).
  • Mystere: The Red Bird, the Birds of Prey, and the bungee trapeze artists.
  • Alegria: The evil nobles are known as the Nostalgic Old Birds, and wear masks that appear a cross between human and bird faces.
  • Quidam: Zoe has a pet bird in a cage in the opening scene.
  • La Nouba: The Green Bird.

Webcomics

• Gunnerkrigg Court has several animals associated with particular characters:
  • Antimony is associated with Wolves. She carries a stuffed wolf doll around with her, and she's named after an element that the alchemists of old associated with the wolf. Others often find her hard to approach. And she keeps running into supernatural canines.
  • Kat has decorated a few of her possessions with cartoon felines. Also, not to be Captain Obvious, but her name is Kat. And she has an unhealthy obsession with birds.
  • Alistair was associated with birds. Besides the obvious connection, both his room at the Court and his old home had artwork of birds on the wall. Since his departure, Kat had developed an interest in birds (perhaps too much of an interest).
  • Zimmy is associated with insects and spiders. She was first introduced beneath a sign that read (in Greek) "Danger: insects", and her anger tends to be visualized by symbolic swarms of bugs. When she gets energetic, she likes to pass time by hunting spiders in the library.
    • After Jack is accidentally transported to Zimmy's bizarre mental Dark World, his astral body gains a spider image on its face. The two hairs on his forehead look an awful lot like spider fangs, too.
• El Goonish Shive has a little bit of this.
  • There's a minor character named Catalina Bobcat, whose character design and choice of hairstyle (along with her personality) does make her seem rather catlike. Word of God states that this was intentional and that no, she cannot transform into a cat.
  • Grace has a much more obvious squirrel theme, but this makes sense: thanks to Bizarre Alien Biology and Lego Genetics, she's actually literally part-squirrel.
• Sister Claire is absolutely obsessed with cats, even beyond the obvious fact that one is the Big Bad. Claire herself is a Friend to All Living Things who loves playing with the local strays, her room is decorated with cat posters and dolls, the chapel has banned all cats, and of course Sister Catherine seems to be a bit too connected to the animals...
• The Beast Legion universe involves characters who literally transform into powerful beasts with Awesome powers.
• In Sakana each of the primary characters' design is based on some kind of seafood: Jiro has hair similar to a shark fin, Taro's design is based on a whale, Taisei's hair looks like jellyfish and Yuudai resembles an eel.
• Several of the trolls in Homestuck have animal motifs, associated with their lusus and their Zodiac sign. Karkat - crabs, Nepeta - cats, Terezi - dragons, etc. Vriska's spider motif is the most obvious though, working its way into her typing quirk. John seems to be picking up on it. The kids (with the exception of John) each have one as well, relating to what their sprites were prototyped with: Dave's crows are the most obvious, then Rose's cat (in addition to her affinity for all things tentacled), and Jade's radioactive god dog. Finally, there's Roxy's cats and Dirk's seagulls.
• Azure Striker Gunvolt's Lumen and Joule both have a butterfly motif to their design. The Sumeragi Seven, the bosses of the main story, all have animal motifs in their weaponized forms along with their more apparent motifs of the Seven Deadly Sins.
  • Zonda's design takes inspiration from a scorpion, with a stinger tail (in their female form) and pincer-like armor pieces.
  • Stratos's fly motif is made especially apparent by his Septima ability to separate into fly-shaped particles of energy, and the piece of armor resembling a crowned fly's head around him.
  • Jota, fitting his spot as the sin of Pride, has a peacock motif due to the fan of blades on his back.
  • Elise's animal motif is a snake, fitting her cobra-hood like armor and Septima ability to resurrect herself and others.
  • Viper's motif is the horse or the unicorn, as he can unfold the boosters on his hips into a centaur-like second set of legs, and his head armor has a giant horn protruding from it.
  • Carrera, although, not apparent at first, has a hedgehog motif. His weaponized design doesn't feature heavily into this aside from the spikes on his armor, however.
  • Merak's motif is the bear, an animal sometimes associated with his sin of Sloth, seeing as his chair has big, bulky arms, much like the animal.
    • Interestingly enough, his bear motif was more apparent in earlier iterations of his design.

Web Original

• Communications Workers of America has a See 'n' Say toy which depicts people in various positions as animals representing what they'll tell you if you bring up the issue of forming CWA unions.

Western Animation

• Moral Orel has a blue bird appearing in key shots throughout the two-parter "Nature."
• Mummies Alive: Each mummy has an animal motif for their Powered Armour - falcon (Ja-Kal), cat (Nefertina), ram (Armon) and snake (Rath). Big Bad Scarab also has one in his (much less friendly-looking) transformed state.
• Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender had an animal motif in the theme of dragons, creatures associated with fire. However, his motifs were of two dragons, one blue and one red, representing the dual aspect of his nature. The dragons also refer to his Uncle Iroh, the Dragon of the West who protected the last of the dragons, from whom Zuko and Aang later learn the true source of Fire Bending from.
• Thundercats
• Silverhawks
• Megatron in Transformers Prime has rather shark-like facial features, which fits into his powerful, bloodthirsty and frightening character.
• The main characters of Motorcity all have Cool Cars named and designed after animals:
  • Mike: Mutt (dog)
  • Julie: 9 Lives (cat)
  • Dutch: Whiptail (scorpion)
  • Texas: Stronghorn (rhino)
• The Simpsons:
  • Homer is often compared to some kind of ape, usually a gorilla. "The Monkey Suit" features probably the best comparison.
  • Chief Wiggum has a lot of pig motifs. Any examples of Baleful Polymorph will most likely turn him into one.
  • Birds for Mr. Burns, specifically vultures.
  • Snakes for Snake Jailbird.
• Steven Universe:
  • Pearl has a lot of bird motifs, particularly in her large nose and how her organized storage is akin to a bird bringing everything to their nest.
  • Amethyst has a lot of puma motifs. Her Evil Counterpart of Jasper has shades of a tiger.
• The Owl House:
  • Luz has snake motifs. Though hers lean more into the Ancient Greek idea of snakes being symbols for healing, emphasizing the positive impact Luz has on the Boiling Isles.
  • As indicated by the title, Eda has a lot of owl motifs, though this is more related to appearance rather than Eda's personality. Her sister Lilith has raven motifs but again, this is more related to her appearance and serve as a foil to Eda.
  • Amity has a lot of cat motifs, including her palisman. And like cats, she starts out as cold and aloof before becoming more affectionate.
  • Belos has an amalgam of them. He starts out the series as a mixture of various birds (to show how he's above the Isles and watching over them) but the amalgamation is actually a hint that he's an outsider and doesn't naturally fit into the Isles. As the series progresses, he gains an appearance most like a deer. This has no deeper meaning other than to show that he's best represented by an animal that people would not normally associate with witchcraft, highlighting his nature as a outsider who has perverted the Isles for his benefit.
• Visionaries had the title characters fight through animal totems that emphasize their nature. Galardia for example is associated with dolphins, creatures often seen as peaceful and intelligent. Her Evil Counterpart Virulina is associated with sharks, emphasizing her threatening and bloodthirsty nature.
• Hazbin Hotel:
  • Heaven and the angels have a lot of bird motifs:
    • Ducks for Lucifer. He loves making rubber ducks and what's implied to be his true form is shown as swan-like, drawing a comparison to The Ugly Duckling, emphasizing his nature as an outsider and non-conformist in Heaven.
    • The Exorcists have something of a vulture flair with their dark wings, emphasizing their nature as predators who prey on those too weak to fight back.
  • Deers for Alastor. His design has several deer aspects (most keenly his antlers) but it also serves to emphasize that he's a Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond. A deer is a regal animal, and perhaps more dangerous than most think, but ultimately not very high on the food chain.
  • Vox has a lot of shark aspects, even owning one as a pet, emphasizing his bloodthirsty nature.
  • Valentino's design has a lot of insect flairs, specifically moths, a creature that thrives in dark places but is drawn to light, just as Valentino exists behind the scenes but is drawn to the glitz and glamour of showbiz.
  • Carmilla has a few bat motifs, her Anime Hair looking like bat ears and she often looks down on everything, like a bat hiding in the rafters.
  • Sir Pentius is based on a cobra. Which is to say he looks very scary but a lot of his fighting is based on tricking people into thinking he's more a threat than he really is.

Real Life

• Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nickname was "Monkey" (Saru), allegedly given by Oda Nobunaga because of his facial resemblance to a monkey. This recognition directly contributed to the popular image of Toyotomi Hideyoshi being a monkey styled person, both in appearance and mode of behaviour
• Most countries have an animal they use as a symbol for the nation as a whole. The United States have their bald eagle, of course, while Russia has the bear, the United Kingdom the scrappy but lovable bulldog (officially it's actually the Lion but the bulldog characterisation stuck), India has the tiger, Thailand has the elephant, Israel the Lions of Judah and China has its whiskered dragon. Other countries apparently had to take whatever animal mascots were left over: Canada has the mighty beaver, Spain has the black bull, while France is unofficially associated with the Gallic rooster. Empires with great reach or which were viewed as secular and religious authorities often adopt the double-headed eagle: the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the old Russian Empire, the Imperium of Man, etc.
  • Actually, Judah has the Lion of Judah; each of the tribes has its own animal motif. However, due to the loss of the Ten Tribes, most modern Jews descend from the tribe of Judah. Hence the term "Judah-ism", or Judaism. Or "Jew" and derivatives thereof, for that matter.
• Australia's Coat of Arms features a Kangaroo and an Emu, two fearsome, Australia-only animals that can't walk/jump/run backwards. Seriously. That's why they picked them.
  • Not to mention said animals are more dangerous than they look.
  • Not to mention that these two animals are popular barbecue options that can be purchased at supermarkets & butcher shops. Yes, friends. Australia may be the only country in the world that regularly devours BOTH its national symbols.
    • See France, above - they do still eat chicken in France. Others that are willing (even if it's not frequently on the menu) include pretty much every country that has a variety of deer as a symbolic animal (including Norway), Spain (who uses the bull), and several countries that have the camel as their symbol (at least among those for whom it isn't a taboo to eat them).
• The late great Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was ubiquitously dubbed the "Liberal Lion" of the Senate.
• Vladimir Putin's recent PR propaganda news coverage has increasingly linked him with tigers. First he saved a camera crew from an angry tiger and then there was some talk about him getting one as a pet or something. Right-Hand-Cat indeed.
• Continental officer Francis Marion was known as the "Swamp Fox" in the American Revolution because he could disappear into the South Carolina swamps like an elusive fox.
• Similarly there was Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox" of Germany in WW 2.
• Some Goths have the raven motif

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