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With the armies of the brothers fractured, the kingdom collapsed into darkness, and the blight of the Great, Black Mor'du fell across his domain. Desiring power over the bonds of family, Mor'du has wandered endlessly, his soul forever buried inside the scarred and tormented shell.
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~ The Witch about Mor'du.
Mor'du is the sole antagonist of the 2012 Oscar winning Disney/Pixar film, Brave. He is a monstrous, 13-foot tall black bear with huge claws, a misaligned jaw, and long, sharp teeth. His body is covered in scars and broken weapon hilts and arrows. Mor'du lacks fur on his back, suggesting that he had been burned in the past.
When Mor'du was a human, he had once possessed a close familial bond with his father and three younger brothers. However, he was confident in his strength but confused this for character and thus led to his arrogance, a trait that caused him to struggle with his loved ones. Like Merida, he let his pride control his actions and clashed with his family, but unlike Merida, he was willing to let hatred and desire get the better of him instead of realizing his mistake and mend what was left of his broken family. His desire for power drove him to go far enough to start a violent war, and then ultimately killed his own brothers in cold blood.
The Prince before he became the bear Mor'du
As a black bear, Mor'du's hatred and rage manifested through his actions and carnage, especially when he slaughtered his remaining family. However, after fighting his own men, his violent nature would eventually consume what was left of his humanity, leaving his human mind and conscience buried deep within the mind of his cursed form. As a result, Mor'du was left as a cruel, vicious, malevolent, destructive, and bloodthirsty monster who was incapable of sapience. His uncontrollable violence was so prominent that even a young woman could fall victim to his murderous intentions and all of Scotland knew and feared him.
When he was finally killed, the spirit of the eldest prince was finally released and, apparently learning from his tyrannical mistakes and what his intense lust for power had turned him into, thanked Merida with respect for releasing him and moved on peacefully to the afterlife; becoming a will-o-wisp.
History
Origins
Mor'du was once a human prince and the eldest of four brothers. All of them were sons of a wise king ruling a peaceful kingdom. As time grew, the eldest prince was known for his strength, which he mistook for character. At the king's deathbed, he announced that he will divide the kingdom among the four sons so that they can rule together peacefully. However, the eldest prince refused to accept this, believing that he alone should rule the kingdom. His selfishness destroyed the bond with his brothers, which resulted a war within them and their armies. As the battle remained a bitter stalemate, the eldest prince cursed his fate and went through the woods, where he finds a witch's cottage. The eldest prince convinced the witch to give him a spell that will grant him the 'strength of ten men', paying her with the ring of his house, which bore two crossed axes. After the witch formulated the spell and put in a goblet, she warned him of making a choice: either he'd fulfill his dark desire or mend the broken bonds with his brothers.
Apparently taking no notice of this, the prince took the spell and lured his three younger brothers back to their father's throne-room under the pretense of a false truce. After they refused to surrender, the eldest prince drank the spell, which grant him the strength of ten men, but to his surprise, in the form of a great black bear. Though the eldest prince would've taken the chance to mend his family bond torn by his pride, he instead accepted his new form and killed his brothers in cold-blood. Victorious, he returned to command his army, but they only see him as a monster and turned against him. As a result, the eldest prince, now coming by the name Mor'du, slaughtered many of his former soldiers while the extreme few survivors fled, and the fracturing of the armies led to the kingdom's collapse. As such, Mor'du's quest for power failed and he lost all his humanity as his human mind was forever clouded by the monster he had become.
Brave
Mor'du appears three times in the film. He was first seen near the beginning, watching a young Merida retrieving a bow that she shot into the forest. The Will O' the Wisps were able to lead her out of the forest, but Mor'du follows her to the camp and reveals himself. Queen Elinor takes Merida to safety while King Fergus and the guards attack Mor'du. But, Mor'du shows no fear to fight them by breaking Fergus' spear, but Fergus takes out his sword to face the bear. As Elinor and Merida ride away on a horse, Fergus urges Mor'du to attack, and he lunges at Fergus, destroys his sword, and bites off his leg, and left into the forest. No one saw Mor'du since, but Fergus fought and trained for the day Mor'du returned.
After many years, Merida had become a teenager, and made a deal with the same witch that cursed Mor'du so that she could change her mother's decision to make her marry one of the three princes. This caused Elinor to be transformed into a bear like Mor'du, and Will O' the Wisps led the two into the ruins of the ancient castle. Merida fell in and stumbled onto a portrait of the four brothers, including Mor'du, and found it split like the tapestry of her family. She came to the realization that Mor'du was the prince, and at that moment, Mor'du himself appears. Merida fires an arrow straight at his head, but it did no damage whatsoever. Mor'du charged at Merida as she climbed up the ruins of the castle to get to the opening. Mor'du lunged at her, but she was pulled out by Elinor. Mor'du bursted out of the ruins, but Elinor pushed a giant rock down on Mor'du, and he was caught inside the rubble, allowing Merida and Elinor to escape.
Mor'du, however, escaped and wandered around in the forest. He saw Merida and her baby brothers, who had also turned into bears, riding on their horse, and hid behind a tree. Watching them ride away, Mor'du follows close behind. Merida saves Elinor from getting killed by Fergus, who believed she was Mor'du, when the demon bear thundered onto the warriors and bellowed out a challenge. The lords and their warriors charged, but were knocked aside effortlessly. Fergus punched Mor'du in the jaw and challenged him to a fight, but was quickly knocked down and thrown into a pillar. As Mor'du gave a roar of victory, Merida shot him in the throat with two arrows, but they've done little damage and he pinned her to the ground. He opened his mouth and tried to devour her, but Elinor, seeing her daughter in danger, escaped from her bonds and charged at Mor'du. She tackled him, but he knocked her off him and turned his attention to Merida once more, but was challenged by Elinor. The two bears engaged a fierce fight. Mor'du was able to gain the upper hand and threw Elinor into a pillar, but she dragged him back and started to slam him up against the pillar repeatedly, but he struck her down. As Mor'du stalks towards Merida and her injured mother, the menhir falls, crushing him.
The bear's claws protrude from under the menhir, but his death finally releases the Prince's tormented spirit and soul, who nods thankfully to Merida and her mother before he takes on the form of a wisp and disappears.
Physical Abilities
Mor'du is the strongest character in the film; he is immensely powerful and his strength is described in the whole film as "Strength of Ten Men". But he is shown to be far stronger than that; he defeated an entire army all by himself, slaughtered anyone who is on his way, easily breaks through stone, and can easily toss another bear that is almost as big as himself.
In addition of his immense strength, it appeared that the very curse that turned him into monstrous bear also resulting Mor'du's bodily tissues substantially harder than that of either humans' or regular bears'. A testament of his durability is his ability to remain unfazed and tenacious in spite of having various weapons remained stuck on his back and able to shrug off everything that Scottish warriors throw at him without much discomfort. Even Elinor whom cursed in the same way with Mor'du unable to inflict significant damage to his cursed body. Even so, Mor'du's durability still have its limits and therefore, not invincible. When Elinor caused a menhir fall onto him, the resulting impact proved too much for him to survived it, and he finally dies.
Mor'du's name may come from "mortus", the Latin word for "death". It may have also come from "murh deugh", the Gaelic words for "Great Black".
Mor'du is the fourth main Pixar movie villain to actually die at the end of his film, after Hopper, the main antagonist of A Bug's Life, Syndrome, the main antagonist of The Incredibles, and Charles Muntz, the main antagonist of Up.
Mor'du bears some resemblance to the bear that attacked Amos Slade and Copper at the end of The Fox and the Hound, which likely served as an inspiration. It also bears resemblance to the grizzly bear from Balto.
Mor'du is very similar to the white whale, Moby Dick, from Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick.
Both are animals that are considered evil by everyone who have encountered them.
Both have several weapons sticking out from their bodies from past battles.
Took the leg of a man, making them their greatest nemesis.
Mor'du is the first main Pixar movie villain who never says a word.
He is also the first main villain in a Disney Princess who never says a word.
He's even the main antagonist of a Pixar movie that features a Disney Princess.
He's even the main antagonist of a Pixar movie who actually redeems himself on-screen.
He is the second main Pixar movie villain to be a bear, after Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear in Toy Story 3.
After he became a monster, Mor'du was possibly immortal or maybe had longevity, as the kingdom he came from was lost from memory.
Mor'du is not a werebear, as a werebeast creature that can transform into a bear which is also least popular in some Norse mythology. For Mor'du to be a werebear, he would be able to resume human form, but he was cursed forever to live as a monster.
Mor'du's story may also be based on Prince Bjorn from a Norse folktake, a prince who was turned into a bear by his wicked stepmother & was killed by his father, without knowing.
Mor'du has similarities to these historical villains:
Just as Emperor Nero did, he murdered members of his own family to seize power over the throne and his selfishness and lust for power caused his kingdom to fall into ruin.
Mor'du's reign of terror is also like the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot because he refused to take responsibility for the lives and traditions of his people, murdered millions of innocent citizens without remorse, and allowed his homeland to fall into decay.
Mor'du is similar to Merida while at the same time the complete opposite of her, as...
Both of them were the crown heirs to their respective kingdoms.
Mor'du was eager take the throne and rule his kingdom by himself.
Merida felt restricted by palace life and only wants to be free.
Both caused great rifts in their kingdoms due to their selfishness.
Mor'du plunged his kingdom into civil war after being denied solitary rule.
Merida refused to marry any of the princes brought to her, and thus risked a war that would destroy all their kingdoms.
Both of them damaged an item that symbolized the bonds of their family.
Mor'du destroyed a stone carving that symbolized the bond between him and his brothers (right between him and them).
Merida threw a tantrum and slashed the family tapestry (right between her and her mother) in a fit of anger during a fight with her mother, though she later fixed it.
Both had three younger brothers, but...
Merida loved her brothers, no matter how annoying they could be.
Mor'du despised his brothers for having to share his kingdom with them.
Both accepted a spell that transformed people into bears from a witch without knowing its true purpose.
Mor'du was given a potion and consumed the spell himself to gain the strength of ten men to defeat his brothers.
Merida was given a cake and gave it to her mother so she can "change", and her brothers eventually ate the spell as well, turning into cubs.
Both had a parent they disagreed with.
Mor'du's father divided the rule among the brothers upon his death, but he felt disgraced by this, believing he should be the sole heir to the throne.
Merida's mother persisted that she always act lady-like and be married to someone she didn't love, which she protested against.
In the end, both of them had to learn the hard way that there were huge consequences to what they did out of their own selfish needs, however...
Mor'du refused to take responsibility for his actions and allowed his arrogance and selfishness to consume him. He accepted his new monstrous form and killed his family without remorse, thus destroying his kingdom he wanted to rule and leaving himself as nothing more a rabid bear, forced to roam the land and killing anything he came across until finally meeting his end.
Merida, on the other hand, managed to learn from her actions throughout the movie by showing her mother that she cared by sincerely admitting she was wrong, with her mother also learning to allow her daughter to make her own decisions in life as long as she was responsible for her actions, thus mending the bond torn by pride.
It is said in the song of "Mor'du" that he has devoured dozens, including babies. Whether or not this is actually true is unknown.
It should be noted that Mor'du seemingly had a dangerous obsession with killing Merida specifically, as in every scene he was in, she was always the main target, but no one knows why.
Despite being the main antagonist, his role in the movie is rather small.
He has some similarities with Gorgon from Walking With Dinosaurs.
Both are cruel, vicious, predatory, aggressive, carnivorous, and bloodthirsty animals (even though Mor'du used to be a human).
Both made three major appearances in the film's they were in.
