Shere Khan is a fictional Bengal tiger featured in the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. He is often portrayed as the main antagonist in the book's media adaptations, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, in which he only appears a third of the time. Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Khan is a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name shows that Shere Khan "is the chief among tigers".
Shere Khan is a fictional Bengal tiger featured in the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. He is often portrayed as the main antagonist in the book's media adaptations, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, in which he only appears a third of the time. Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Khan is a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name shows that Shere Khan "is the chief among tigers".
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Shere Khan () is a fictional Bengal tiger featured in the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. He is often portrayed as the main antagonist in the book's media adaptations, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, in which he only appears a third of the time. Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Khan is a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name shows that Shere Khan "is the chief among tigers".
The character was born with a birth defect, a crippled leg, so his mother gave him the derisive nickname "Lungri" ("The Lame One"). Despite this condition, Shere Khan is prideful and regards himself as the "rightful" lord of the jungle.
The Jungle Book
In Disney's 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book, Shere Khan's voice was performed by George Sanders, while his singing voice was provided by Bill Lee and Thurl Ravenscroft and his roars were performed by Jimmy MacDonald. He was designed and animated by animator Milt Kahl. This version of the character depicts him without the crippled leg he had in the source material. The inhabitants of the jungle fear him greatly; mere news of his being in the vicinity compels the wolf pack to send Mowgli away. Man's gun and fire are the only things Shere Khan fears, and consequently, he feels the urge to kill humans whenever the opportunity presents itself. Shere Khan first appears about two-thirds of the way through the film where, after having been interrupted during a hunt by Colonel Hathi, he eavesdrops on Bagheera asking the elephants to help search for a now-lost Mowgli and sets out to find and kill the boy. He later encounters Kaa just as he was going to eat Mowgli, but the snake denies any knowledge of the man-cub. Doubting Kaa's honesty, Shere Khan threatens Kaa into showing his middle by loosening his coils, inadvertently allowing Mowgli to escape after which the tiger resumes his search.
Shere Khan is depicted by Kipling as having been born with a crippled leg, so his mother gave him the derisive nickname "Lungri" ("The Lame One"). Despite this condition, Shere Khan is prideful and regards himself as the "rightful" lord of the jungle. The only creature who looks up to him is Tabaqui, a spineless and hated golden jackal.
In "Mowgli's Brothers", Shere Khan's failed attempt to hunt humans causes a human "cub" to stray from its parents. When Shere Khan discovers the infant, it has been adopted by Indian wolves, Raksha and Father Wolf, who have named the child Mowgli. Mowgli is accepted into Akela's wolf pack and is protected by Bagheera (a panther) and Baloo (a bear). Furious at losing his kill, the tiger swears that the boy will be his some day. While Mowgli is growing up, Shere Khan infiltrates the wolf pack by promising the younger wolves rich rewards once Akela is deposed. When the young wolves manoeuvre Akela into missing his kill, the pack council meets to kill and replace him. Shere Khan threatens to take over their hunting territory if the wolves do not give him Mowgli. Having been warned by Bagheera, Mowgli attacks Shere Khan and his allies with a burning branch (the mysterious and powerful "red flower" of man) and drives them away. Akela leaves the pack to become a lone hunter. Mowgli goes to the human village but swears that he will return one day with Shere Khan's skin and lay it upon Council Rock.
Shere Khan also appears in the story "How Fear Came", which is set between the first and second halves of the "Mowgli's Brothers", and probably sometime after "Kaa's Hunting". In this story, the tiger comes to drink from the river just after having killed a human purely for sport, leading Hathi the elephant to tell the story of why tigers, out of all the animals in the jungle, are allowed to hunt humans for pleasure at certain times. This story, in which Mowgli appears mainly as an observer, may be seen as a direct ancestor of Kipling's Just So Stories.
In "Tiger! Tiger!", Mowgli is adopted by Messua and her husband and learns human ways. In this short story, Mowgli learns that the villagers have heard of the tiger Shere Khan, who also has a bounty on his head, but believe that the tiger is lame because he is the reincarnation of a money-lender injured in a riot. When Mowgli scoffs at these fanciful tales, the villagers decide to put him to work herding buffalo. He then meets his wolf friend Grey Brother, who tells him that Shere Khan is still planning to kill him. Grey Brother forces Tabaqui to tell him where and when Shere Khan is planning to strike, then kills the jackal. With the help of Akela, Grey Brother and Mowgli trap Shere Khan in a narrow canyon and incite the buffalo to stampede him to death. Mowgli then skins Shere Khan's hide, briefly interrupted by the arrival of the village hunter Buldeo, who tries to take the tiger's skin for himself only to be driven off by Akela. At the end of the story, Mowgli makes good on his promise and lays the skin of Shere Khan upon the Council Rock and dances upon it in victory before the wolves.
In the climax, Shere Khan finds Mowgli, who refuses to run and instead stands up against the tiger, saying that he is not afraid. Impressed by Mowgli's bravery, Shere Khan, for his own amusement, gives him a 10-second head start to run away. But Mowgli still refuses and grabs a stick, intent on fighting the tiger. Shere Khan becomes annoyed and immediately attempts to attack Mowgli, who flinches in fear, finally understanding the true danger of the ferocious beast. Fortunately, Baloo arrives in the nick of time and grabs Shere Khan by the tail. Mowgli then hits Shere Khan with his stick. Enraged, he chases Mowgli while dragging Baloo behind him, but the vultures manage to fly Mowgli to safety. Baloo's interference proves such a nuisance to Shere Khan that he decides to savage the bear, nearly killing him. Upon learning that Shere Khan is afraid of fire, Mowgli grabs a burning branch from
