Kludd

"What they did to us? They believe in me like no one else ever has! Metal Beak says the strong will triumph, the broken will be put out of their misery. And honor . . . honor is just another word for weakness!"

- Kludd to Soren

Metal Beak, real name Kludd, is a barn owl (a sooty owl in the movie), the first son and eldest child of Noctus and Marella, the older brother of Soren and Eglantine, the mate of Nyra, the father of Nyroc/Coryn and the main antagonist of the first half of Guardians of Ga'Hoole and the 2010 animated Warner Bros movie, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (however in this movie, Metal Beak and Kludd are separate characters; Metal Beak is the main antagonist, and Kludd is the deuteragonist turned tertiary antagonist/anti-hero).

In the Books
Kludd the barn owl was the elder brother of Soren and Eglantine. He was a bully who hated his brother, and eventually pushed Soren from the nest as part of his initiation into the evil elitist group of owls known as the Pure Ones. He later killed his parents and took Eglantine to the Pure Ones's castle to be stone-stunned. Kludd was power-hungry, and wanted to rule the Pure Ones, so be battled with their current leader and killed him, although he paid a price, as a large portion of his face was ripped off. He then had a metal mask made for him to cover the scars, and dubbed himself, Metal Beak. His mate was Nyra, an equally evil barn owl who became second-in-command of the Pure Ones.

In a later battle with Soren, who had survived and now lived at the great Ga'Hoole tree with the Guardians, Soren ripped off his mask and saw that he was his brother. Soren then melted part of Metal Beak's mask off with a burning branch, which ended the battle and Kludd went off in search of water to cool it down.

When the Guardians launched an attack on St. Aegolius Academy, an evil organization that had previously captured Soren, Metal Beak was anticipating their assault, and set up a trap for the Guardians. During the ensuing battle, he lured Soren to a cave, where he had six of his owls waiting to ambush him. Soren and his companions, however, escaped the trap and fought Metal Beak himself, but Soren could not bring himself to kill his own brother. It was until Metal Beak wounded Gylfie, Soren's friend, that he tried to kill him, but another of his fellow warriors, a great grey owl named Twilight, came in and slew Metal Beak with a fatal blow to the back (to save Soren from having to kill his own brother). The Pure Ones were defeated, but Nyra survived and hatched a son for them named Nyroc (later known as Coryn).

After his death, Kludd's bones are gathered to by Nyra for a final ceremony whilst his mask and battle claws were kept for Nyroc to inherit when he becomes the next king of the Pure Ones. Nyroc fled after failing his Special Ceremony to which Nyra warned him that the scroom (owl name for ghost) of Kludd would follow him. This proved true as Nyroc encountered images of Kludd in his mask who urged him to return to the Pure Ones. Eventually, Nyroc declared that he was only a mask and renounced being Kludd's son before charging at the mask and shattering it, indicating that Kludd was finally in hagsmire (Hell)

Nyra later wore a mask made from the remains of Kludd's during the battle of the Middle Kingdom. The mask was left behind on three blood-stained owls, but was later retrieved by Nyra who began wearing it as a tribute to Kludd and hide the wounds caused by The Striga when he saved the chaw of chaws in the Battle of the Middle Kingdoms, having her face as badly mutilated as Kludd's.

In the Movie


In the movie adaptation, Metal Beak and Kludd are two different owls, and Metal Beak was a sooty owl.

Metal Beak was the longtime leader of the Pure Ones, and his face was maimed in a battle of the past. He and his wife Nyra ordered their owls to capture young owlets and moonblink (hypnotize) them into slavery. His plan of vengeance against the Guardians was with flecks, small pieces of magnetic metal found in pellets, to create a super-weapon used to disable and paralyze owl's gizzards. During this time he made a secret deal with Allomere, a Guardian who had some time before the film became a turnfeather.

When the Guardians launched an attack against Metal Beak's stronghold, Allomere lured them into the place where the super-weapon was kept and Metal Beak's bat minions unleashed the super-weapon, downing most of the Guardians. Soren and the band, however, arrived and Soren disabled the flecks. Metal Beak watched this and, assuming that they where guardians too and that Allomere had lied to him, ordered him killed. Immediately, a pack of bats attacked Allomere and dragged him away into the darkness to eat him alive (Allomere actually managed to escape the bats and was later slain by his former apprentice Shard, but Metal never found this out). While the Guardians and the Pure Ones battled each other, Metal Beak went into combat with Ezylryb, an old warrior Guardian who had given Metal Beak his scars. The two fought fiercely and though Ezylryb came very close to defeating the much larger Owl, he was overpowered when Nyra joined Metal Beak's side.

Working together, Metal Beak and Nyra overpowered and nearly killed Ezylryb, but Soren came in and battled Metal Beak to get revenge on him for turning Kludd into a Pure One. Metal Beak soon gained the upper talon in the fight and dived at Soren in an attempt to murder him. However, Soren managed to mortally wound the evil warlord by impaling him on a flaming spear. Metal Beak then collapsed and died from the wound, his mask falling off as well (though the movie didn't show his scars). Nyra then retreated with the remaining Pure Ones.

Kludd (portrayed as a teenager and younger than Nyra [though still seems to have romantic feelings for her]) is envious of Soren at how better he is at flying and the attention he gets from their parents and gets annoyed his belief in the Guardians and wished to be appreciated and respected (something he found when he joined the Pure Ones). Following a flying lesson with their father Noctus, Kludd gets annoyed at Soren for talking about a Guardian called Lyze of Kiel and kicks at him to make him stop, but ends up with Soren knocking himself and Kludd off the branch they are on and onto the ground where they are attacked by a Tasmanian Devil. The two brothers are then captured by Jatt & Jutt, who take them to St. Aegolius for Orphan Birds (St. Aggie's for short) where they met Nyra who makes Soren and an Elf Owl named Gylfie "pickers" when they protest whilst Kludd turns against Soren and goes with Nyra to be trained to be a Pure One soldier.

At training, Kludd and several other Tyto owls try to catch a bluebird which Kludd gets and knocking another owl out of the way. Nyra is impressed with Kludd and suggests they try to recruit Soren. However when they and two Pure One guards find Soren, they see him and Gylfie being helped to escape by Grimble (an owl being forced to work for the Pure Ones to protect his family). Grimble and Nyra battle with Grimble getting the upper hand and tries to choke Nyra and tells Kludd to leave with Soren and Gylfie and go home, but Kludd says that he is home and helps Nyra who then fatally injures Grimble and knocks him out of his tree to his death. Kludd later brings Eglantine to St. Aggie's (in a attempt to recruite her into the Pure Ones) and listens to Metal Beak's speech about Tytos. Eglantine pleads with Kludd to come and find Soren, but Kludd tells her to forget about their brother as he is "weak" and tells her that they will go home tomorrow before moon-blinking her.

Kludd later gives Eglantine and another moon-blinked owlet to Allomere who takes them to The Great Ga'Hoole tree (where Soren and the Band are staying). After Soren breaks Eglantine out of her trance (by talking about the Guardians), she tells him about Kludd and Allomere, which makes Soren learn that Allomere is a traitor and sets out to help the Guardians.

During the battle with the Guardians and the Pure Ones, Kludd battles Soren in a forest fire. Soren doesn't understand why Kludd would join the Pure Ones after what they did to them, but Kludd says that the Pure Ones believe in him like no one ever has. He also talks of Metal Beak saying that the strong will triumph, the broken will be put out of their misery and that honor is just another name for weakness. Soren says he knows Kludd doesn't think like that to which Kludd replies that Soren doesn't know him at all, before the two fight again.

Kludd ends up breaking his wing and dangles above the burning forest. He pleads for Soren to help him, but when Soren tries to do so, Kludd tries to kill his brother by throwing him into the flames. This attempt fails and the branch Kludd is on breaks and he plummets into the fire, causing Soren to think that his brother is dead. However, after the battle is over and Soren, the Band and the Guardiabs have gone, a shadowy figure with red eyes (most likely Kludd) comes across Metal Beak's body and gazes at his mask and possibly takes it for himself.

Joel Edgerton voices Metal Beak whilst Ryan Kwanten voices Kludd.

Family

 * Father - Noctus


 * Mother - Marella


 * Brother - Soren


 * Sister - Eglantine


 * Mate - Nyra


 * Son - Nyroc/Coryn


 * Sister-In-Law - Pellimore


 * Nieces - Blythe, Bell and Sebastiana

Trivia.

 * Metal Beak in movie version is similar with previous leader of Pure Ones in the books, though unlike that owl, he had some history with Ezylryb.
 * While Kludd in the book is Metal Beak, in the film he is not, but likely became 2nd Metal Beak if there a sequel to the movie as he is seen staring at Metal Beak's mask with gleaming red eyes near the end of the movie.
 * In the film, Kludd is shown to look similar to his mother Marella.
 * In the books, Kludd was bad natured from childhood whereas in the film, he was neutral but turned bad when he joined the Pure Ones.