Shere Khan (2018)

"My, my, how you've grown."

- Shere Khan upon seeing Mowgli. "You can not be leader forever. The day you miss your kill, the man-cub's blood will run down my chin!"

- Shere Khan vowing to Akela that he will kill Mowgli.

Shere Khan is the main antagonist of the 2018 Netflix live action adventure drama film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. He is a ruthless Bengal tiger with a crippled front leg and the murderer of Mowgli's parents, whom he is obsessed in killing.

He was voiced and motion-captured by, who also played Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek: Into Darkness, Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit trilogy, Dormammu in Doctor Strange, and The Grinch in the 2018 film of the same name.

Killing Mowgli's Parents
Shere Khan first appeared chasing after men after they trespassed in the jungle. He killed Mowgli's parents, leaving him orphaned. He then showed up at the wolves' council meeting after Tabaqui told him about Mowgli. Shere Khan bragged to them that he killed the man-cub's parents and that his blood was his right. Akela and the wolf pack refused to hand Mowgli over to him, as did Bagheera and Baloo. Akela told Shere Khan that Mowgli was under protection of the pack and that their part of the jungle was closed off to him. Shere Khan warned Akela that if he missed his kill, he would no longer be leader of the pack and left with Tabaqui.

Hunting Mowgli
After many years, Mowgli grew and lived amongst the wolf pack. One day, Mowgli went swimming alone and went underwater, then saw Shere Khan taking a drink. Shere Khan suspected that he sensed Mowgli in the water. After Mowgli comes out and runs, Shere Khan chased after him. He ultimately fails to kill the man-cub when his attempted victim fell into a pit and was saved by Hathi, a benevolent Indian elephant missing a tusk.

Later on, when Mowgli failed the wolf pack's final trial that would determine if he could become a full member of the pack thanks to the actions of an unrestrained Bagheera, he was kidnapped by the Bandar Log, a gang of Hanuman langurs, on Tabaqui's orders for Shere Khan while Baloo and Bagheera fought over the issue. Shere Khan attempted to kill Mowgli while he is unconscious, slicing his arm with a claw on his crippled paw, but was stopped by Baloo and Bagheera. During their battle with Shere Khan's monkey minions, they were overwhelmed, only for Kaa herself to appear and save Mowgli.

After Mowgli learned that Kaa has been watching him the whole time and that she believes that he has the power to change the jungle. He was then directed by the python to face Shere Khan, who was again challenging Akela for Mowgli. Mowgli stopped the tiger and Akela's challengers with fire taken from the Man-Village, but shamed himself in Akela's eyes and was forced to leave for the Man-Village.

Final Fight and Death
With Mowgli gone, Shere Khan was free to drive the wolves loyal to Akela to the edge of the jungle. Mowgli met with Baloo, Bagheera and the wolf pack, declaring that Shere Khan must die. The animals felt obligated to remain out of the conflict as it would break jungle law to fight Shere Khan, but Mowgli proceeded with his plan and lured the killer of his parents to the edge of the village, where, with the help of the bull elephants, he severely wounded his nemesis with a knife while Tabaqui fled. However, a British colonial hunter named John Lockwood accidentally injured Mowgli with a bullet while trying to kill the tiger and shot Akela when the wolf sacrificed himself to save Mowgli from Shere Khan. Lockwood was stopped and injured by Hathi, a moss covered elephant (whom he robbed of his right tusk) before he could do more harm and the other animals rallied to Mowgli upon seeing his resolve. Wounded, exhausted and outnumbered, Shere Khan retreated into the jungle.

Akela gave Mowgli his blessing to lead the jungle's creatures and the wolf pack before he died peacefully. Mowgli decided to leave the village behind and returned to the jungle, where he found Shere Khan lying on the ground, seemingly dying from his wounds. Shere Khan tried to lure Mowgli in by playing dead, but Mowgli failed to let his guard down and stabbed Shere Khan as he lashed out at him, finally killing the tiger and ending his reign of terror forever.

Personality
Shere Khan is known throughout the entire jungle as a tiger without mercy as well as ruthless, sadistic, psychopathic, arrogant, hateful, power-hungry and hypocritical, who mainly kills for his own pleasure instead of survival. His most defining personality trait is his unbounded hatred towards mankind, possibly due to a previous encounter with them, and was willing to break the law of the jungle to satisfy his thirst for their blood. He always makes grand gestures about the ever-changing nature of the jungle, ranting to Akeela how he allowed man to live among the inhabitants, but was also incapable to think that perhaps he was also one of the reasons that he are cruel towards their environment.

He becomes obsessed with Mowgli, the only human to survive his wrath after killing his parents and goes to great lengths to achieve his one mission to kill him whatever it takes. During their final fight, he would openly mock him for using a man's weapon to kill, asking what Bagheera and Baloo would think of them now; and as he attempted to kill during this, he mocked him about how he killed the boy's mother. In his final moments, he showed no signs of being sympathized with as his final attempt to kill Mowgli led him to his death.

Trivia

 * Like Shere Khan in Mowgli's Story, he's the master of Tabaqui the hyena.
 * Like Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, he is portrayed as being crippled with a deformed leg.
 * This is by far the darkest version of Shere Khan. Even more than the 2016 version.
 * Despite having one lame leg, it doesn’t hinder Shere Khan’s fighting skills. Shere Khan is still shown to be fast and agile, being able to run with hardly any difficulty and at one point being able to climb a tree. According to Bagheera, Shere Khan would have been able to kill Mowgli and "tear the pack apart".

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Shere Khan (2018)