Kludd

"The strong will dominate the weak!"

- Metal Beak

Metal Beak, also known as Kludd, is an anthropomorphic barn owl (a sooty owl in the movie) and a main villain in the book series, Guardians of Ga'Hoole as well as the movie, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

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. Kludd was power hungry, and wanted to rule the Pure Ones, so be battled with their current leader and won, although he paid a price, as part of his face was ripped off. He then had a metal mask made for him to cover the injury, 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. The Pure Ones were defeated, but Nyra survived and hatched a son for them.

In the Movie
In the movie adaptation, Metal Beak and Kludd are two different owls, and Metal Beak was a sooty owl. He 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 the internal navigation systems of owls. Kludd, Soren's brother, joined the Pure Ones and quickly rose in the ranks. When the Guardians launched an attack against Metal Beak's fortress, he unleashed the super-weapon, downing most of the Guardians. Soren, however, disabled the flecks, and Metal Beak went into combat with Ezylryb, an old warrior Guardian who had given Metal Beak his scars. Metal Beak and Nyra together almost defeated Ezylryb, but Soren came in an battled Metal Beak, eventually killing him by impaling him on a burning branch. Kludd, who had survived the battle, found Metal Beak's helmet and presumably took it for himself.