Shere Khan

Shere Khan was the primary villain of The Jungle Book. A powerful, suave tiger, Shere Khan has nothing but disdain for his victims. His reputation is such that he need only show himself to intimidate the inhabitants of the jungle. His only fear is fire, which the man-cub Mowgli uses to his advantage in the film's climactic battle.

In the bookEdit
In Rudyard Kipling's novel, Khan was treated with less respect than in many of the film adaptations. Although still feared by many jungle animals, Shere Khan was actually a lame tiger, born with a whitered leg and thus nicknamed Lungri by his own mother (Lungri meaning "The Lame One"). His disability hindered his capacity to hunt wild prey, so he became a man-eater. Because of this, he was seen with disgust by other jungle predators, like Bagheera the panther, because eating men was against the Law of the Jungle. Shere Khan, however, regarded himself as the rightful lord of the Jungle, and was seen as such by Tabaqui, his jackal minion, as well as by some of the younger wolves in Mowgli's pack. Actually, it was Shere Khan's plan to turn the young wolves against Mowgli so that they would expell him from the pack, making him easier prey for himself. Mowgli, however, managed to save himself and Akela (the old wolf pack leader) from Shere Khan and his wolf followers by scaring them away with a burning branch. Later, Mowgli decided to put an end to Shere Khan's reign by trapping him in a ravine and having a herd of domesticated water buffalo trample him to death. It is then revealed that humans knew Shere Khan very well because of his man-eating, and that the government had offered a reward to whoever killed him and took his pelt to the authorities. Also, superstitious villagers believed that Shere Khan was the reincarnation of an evil man who was also lame of one leg.

The Jungle Book (1967)Edit
While remaining as haughty as he is in the book, Khan is no longer crippled. He is quite similar to Hannibal Lecter in that he is eerily polite to his victims before he kills and eats them. Feared and renowned throughout the jungle, he is unique among villains in that he almost never loses his temper. Rather, he is able to intimidate those around him just by looking at them. He possesses great strength of will and body and appears immune to Kaa's powers. Khan deeply hates humanity, the reason being that man is responsible for the death of his family by use of guns and fire. Khan afterwards developed a fear of both man's gun and fire. When Mowgli is revealed to be lost in the jungle, he does all in his powers to destroy him. He appears in the final third of the movie, being seen stalking a deer for food. Hathi comes by with his herd and scares it away, much to Khan's disgust. Khan, after searching for a while, finally comes into contact with Mowgli at the climax of the film and is amused by the fact that Mowgli doesn't seem afraid of him. Ultimately his vanity leads to his downfall, when he gives Mowgli a sporting chance by giving him time to run. He is annoyed when the man-cub choses not to run but before he can do anything about it, Baloo arrives and grabs the tiger. Finally showing his fiery temper, Khan swiftly and easily overpowers Baloo but is set upon by a flock of vultures who bear a striking resemblance to a certain human rock band. Presently, a well-placed bolt of lightening (of the kind so often seen in Disney films) ignites a dead tree. While Khan is preoccupied fighting the vultures, Mowgli ties a burning brance to his tail. With fire being one of the two things he fears, Khan has a panic attack and flees in terror, leaving the vultures to remark "That's the last we'll see of 'im - went off like a flyin' comet 'ee did!"

The Jungle Book 2 (2003)Edit
The vulture was proven wrong in the Disney sequel The Jungle Book 2 when Shere Khan returns to the jungle, humiliated and determined to kill Mowgli, this time as revenge. He has overcome his fear of fire and searches for Mowgli in his village and later through the jungle. After finally finding him, Khan disregards Shanti and Ranjan and chases Mowgli to a temple ruin surrounded by lava. He then declares he will catch Mowgli and have his revenge. He fails, and becomes trapped under a stone tiger head on a slab surrounded by lava. He isn't killed, but misses the opportunity to kill Mowgli once again. It is unknown if he ever got out of the stone tiger head or not.

Role in Ultima
Shere Khan appears in Ultima as a member of the Organization, having been rescued from the stone tiger head by Maleficent, who gave him greater strength as well as the ability to control the Heartless mooks in exchange for allegiance to her growing army of allies. Currently, Shere Khan has the added power to change himself into an anthro form to use his rising company of Khan Industries to provide the Organization with new weapons and armor for the Organization's Army.