This is a list of fictional badgers. Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. The personality and behavior of the real badger has greatly informed the development of personality and characteristics of the badger character in fiction. Specifically, authors of fictional works employing badgers have often emphasized their natural reclusive privacy and their ferocity and courage when protecting themselves (this aspect drawing its origins from the early tradition of badger-baiting).[1]
The badger's role as a character in fiction can be traced back to the folklore of Europe and Asia where their nocturnal habits have given them an air of mystery. In Chinese and Japanese folklore, the badger character is a shapeshifter.[2] In European folklore the badger character is intimately associated with the bear and is considered a forecaster of the arrival of spring. Older versions of these stories ascribed similar powers to the bear, but as bear populations dwindled, the folklore shifted to use the badger (in Germany and England), and the groundhog (in the United States).[2] In England, the badger character has been adopted in many quarters as a mascot—an evolution from the historic practice of using the badger in heraldic design.[3]
Anthropomorphic badgers have frequently appeared in children's literature, although their personalities have never settled in one particular manner. Characters like Beatrix Potter's Tommy Brock represent the negative side of badgers and reflect the farmer's view of the real badger as a predator of small livestock.[4] On the other hand, characters like Kenneth Grahame's gruff and ascetic Mr. Badger[4] or Susan Varley's Badger (Badger's Parting Gifts)[4] represent the positive side of badgers and reflect the real badgers' purposeful privacy in a way that allows authors to project human characteristics on them. Rural Economy and Land Use Programme fellow, Dr. Angela Cassidy, has noted that the literary figure of the "good badger" has become dominant since the early 20th century, but that more recently the figure of the "bad badger" (now a verminous character usually defined by stench and disease) has made a slight resurgence.[5] Children's book critic, Amanda Craig, has also noted a modern trend away from any instances of the badger character in literature and has identified the lessening of interaction between humans and badgers in modern times as the underlying cause.[4]
In more recent years fictional badger characters have become increasingly abstract, with thoroughly human characteristics and only the appearance of the badger. Indeed, Dr. Cassidy has noted that since 1990, the tendency with badger characters has "accelerated into surrealism and comedy" with the most prominent example being the "Badger Badger Badger" meme arising online in 2003.[6] Modern badger characters have shown up in numerous visual media including animation, commercials, live-action film, the internet, and in video games.[6]
Martin Badger, from The Love of Simon Fox, by Jonathan Schork (sms2, 2016), introduced in chapter 6 as an unnamed, ill-mannered, semi-wild beast, returns in chapter 7 with "a cane & good manners", and emerges as one of the heroic, ferociously loyal characters of the book.[17]
Egbert, the main antagonist of the animated series Poppy Cat.
Cornelius the inventor, and his niece, Michelle whose poisoning propels the plot and the protagonists' quest in the Hanna Barbera 1993 movie Once Upon A Forest.
Several badgers were featured in British comedian Harry Hill's 1996 TV programme Saturday Live. The badgers (glove puppets) were expected to take part in a badger parade -- somehow always averted. The named badgers included Gareth Southgate Badger, Tasmin Archer Badger, Jools Holland Badger, Windsor Davies Badger, Gazza Badger, and Michael Owen Badger. There were also several unnamed badgers.[21]
Dennis the Badger, one of the main supporting characters from Doctor Snuggles, an animated children's television series produced in 1979.
Badgers in tabletop, card, and video games
Captain Bayback, Bronco, Sery, Grandpa Ruskin, Chubb Chubb, and Pup, from the Wales Interactive release Gravity Badgers[22]
Gulo, the rare golden honey badger of the Kyrat region of Far Cry 4,[23] as well as the nameless badgers in the Oros region of Far Cry Primal and honey badgers in the Kyrat and Oros regions of Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal.
In Root, The keepers in Iron are a faction of exiled badger knights sent to the woodland to find and retrieve artifacts.
In the game Postal III, the Postal Dude can use a badger as a chainsaw with the unique name "Badger Saw".
^ abcSax, Boria. The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature - Beaver, Porcupine, Badger, and Miscellaneous Rodents. ABC-CLIO. Pp.32-33. 2001. ISBN978-1-57607-612-5
^ abcd"Human-Badger Conflict". Understanding Conflicts about Wildlife: A Biosocial Approach. Berghahn Books. May 2017. pp. 71, 84. ISBN978-1-78533-463-4.