Elmer Fudd

"Shh! Be vawy, vawy quiet. I'm huntin' wabbits!"

- Elmer's Catchphrase Elmer J. Fudd is the secondary antagonist of the Looney Tunes franchise who was Bugs Bunny's original archenemy. This has varied over the years with the addition of other villains such as Yosemite Sam and Marvin The Martian. Nevertheless Elmer Fudd remains the most villain that is associated with Bugs Bunny and the rivalry between the two has become legendary.

History
Although a villain, Elmer Fudd is not necessarily what you'd consider "evil" - in fact he has come across at times as being a victim. However, this doesn't mean he is entirely innocent either and Elmer is forever trying to hunt Bugs Bunny (and Daffy Duck, to a lesser extent), his actions often lead to Bugs tricking him in many ways and this angers Elmer to the point he has threatened to kill the rabbit - though it's worth noting whenever Bugs tricks Elmer into believing he has succeeded in this Elmer shows great remorse, suggesting he doesn't truly wish to kill Bugs at all.

Elmer's nonthreatening disposition was the subject of criticism for many of the Warner Bros creative team, particularly director Friz Freleng, who thought Elmer's mild mannered and dim witting personality made it harder to place him against Bugs without the latter coming off as a bully rather than a retaliative trickster. As such several other, more menacing adversaries such as Yosemite Sam and Marvin The Martian were created to take his place. Despite this, Elmer remained a recurring antagonist in many Bugs cartoons, though their rivalry became somewhat more laid back.

It is worth noting that Elmer, despite his incompetence, is actually among the few villains to outright defeat Bugs in a cartoon. He spent the entirety of "Rabbit Rampage" tormenting Bugs with the artist's pen (something of a karmic throwback to Bugs doing the same to Daffy in "Duck Amuck"). After the two suffer a slippage in sanity in "Hare Brush", Elmer undergoes a role reversal with Bugs, convinced they are now in each other's respective roles. The cartoon ends with Bugs arrested over the massive debts "he" has left since Elmer lost his mind while "Bugs" shows relief at least this screwy wabbit won't be going to Alcatraz. He has also been victorious over other secondary protagonists such as Daffy Duck in many other cartoons.

Elmer Fudd is famous for pronouncing "r" and "w" - especially when he says "wabbit", in fact this trait alone is what many people associate with Elmer: of particular fame is his catch-phrase: "be vewy, vewy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits!" followed by a signature laugh, it's worth noting Elmer breaks the fourth-wall when doing this phrase and talks directly to the audience.

Elmer Fudd is depicted, in all forms, as a human and he is almost always a hunter of some description - though it is doubtful how experienced he is since he seems incapable of utilizing skills associated with hunting - though he does have a shotgun and seems to know some basic tracking-skills via identifying "wabbit tracks".