Great Animal

The Great Animal is a hybrid animal and the main antagonist of The Swan Princess. He is the animal form of Rothbart, who transforms into this form twice in the film; once in the beginning when he has assassinated King William and kidnaps Odette, and at the climax where he fights Prince Derek. The Great Animal himself is a hybrid with the head of a wolf, the wings of a bat, the talons of an eagle and the tail of a lizard.

Role

The Great Animal is the most feared creature in the kingdoms of King William and Queen Uberta. The creature is first seen briefly on the road leading from Queen Uberta's kingdom as King William and his daughter Odette are returning home after the engagement between Odette and Prince Derek has been cancelled. Rothbart causes the King's carriage to draw to an abrupt halt on the road as he stands defiantly in the middle of it, blocking their path. As the King steps out to take notice of who is in the way, he recognized Rothbart after having believed he would never see him again after banishing him from the kingdom. To the king's dismay, Rothbart returns with all of his previous powers restored and quickly summoned his alternate form as the Great Animal and attacks the royal escort.

All this happens seemingly in the blink of an eye as William's guard captain returned to Derek's castle with news of the attack. During the storm that follows, Derek rides out in search of Odette. Instead, he finds the aftermath of the Great Animal's attack, having left a destroyed carriage, missing guards and a mortally-wounded King William. The King spends his final moments, struggling to explain what has happened and only managed to inform Derek that Odette is gone before dying of his injuries before Derek screams for Odette and makes echoes in tears.

The Great Animal will remain the focus of Derek's mission to train intensely for the day when he will challenge the creature and save Odette. That time comes when Derek tracked down Rothbart to the lake and demands him to restore Odette's life after she has fallen victim to his curse. Rothbart's only bargain is that he will restore Odette to life if Derek can defeat him in mortal combat. This prompts Rothbart to turn for the last time into the Great Animal, much to Derek's horrible shock, even Puffin, Speed, and Jean Bob's terrible shock as well. The battle begins as Prince Derek draws his sword to attack, but the Great Animal thrusts itself into the air, then lands on Derek, who disorients the beast by throwing dirt at its face. Quickly jumping to his feet, Derek picks up his sword, drawing first blood when he cuts the beast's shoulder with his sword, angering his foe. The daring prince stood his ground and showed no fear, swearing he will not let Odette die, then watches on as the sneering beast ascends high into the sky. Derek lost sight of Rothbart and waited, looking around for the beast. At the last moment, the Great Animal jumped out of hiding, breaking a tree and lands on Derek again, grabbing the prince in its talons, then bites the sword in its jaws, breaking it into pieces. While pinned under the Animal's feet, Derek picks up a rock and smashes it on the beast's talon, freeing himself and provoking the Great Animal.

During the fight while watching in pure shock, Puffin remembers Derek's bow that has previously been thrown into the lake by Rothbart after he learns of Derek's first visit to the lake bottom during an earlier adventure in the area. Balling up Jean-Bob, Puffin throws him headlong toward the lake to retrieve the bow, causing Jean-Bob to obey and swim into the bottom of the lake to get the bow, hoping to save Derek.

Above them soared the Great Animal, while Derek lands hard on the ground, tumbling away. Before he could stand, the beast attacks again, grabbing the prince in its talons and lifted him off the ground. Derek is carried high into the air, struggling in the Great Animal's clutches, as he is flown high into the air and then dropped the prince. Derek yelled, falling to the ground, only for the Great Animal to catch him in its talons. Crying out in triumph, it flung Derek into a tree. With a sickening thump, Derek smacked against the tree, then grabs a tree branch to fight against the beast. Then as the Great Animal hits the tree, Derek falls to the ground, knocking the wind out himself. The Great Animal is biding his time, circling overhead like a vulture. Just as the daring prince faces certain defeat from the merciless beast, while down below, Jean-Bob has successfully relayed the bow to Derek, and with a few comical slaps to the face, revived him in time to see the approaching Great Animal flying down for the kill. Instinctively reaching for an arrow that is not there, Derek realizes he cannot make use of his bow. However, he soon hears the familiar panicking mumbling prayers of his faithful friend Bromley behind him across the lake with a bow and arrow set. As Brom fires directly toward his friend, Derek uses his "Catch and Fire" technique to catch the arrow before it strikrd him and then aims with dead-on precision at the incoming Great Animal and fires his arrow right at him.

Halted in flight at the shock of the shot to his chest, the Great Animal yells in pain and plummets into the lake wherein Rothbart's sorcery is undone and as agreed, his spell of death over Odette is lifted, restoring her life.

In The Swan Princess Christmas, after Rothbart returns from the dead, he becomes the Great Animal again and battles Derek. However he gets defeated when Odette shows her Christmas spirit by singing "Season of Love".

The Swan Princess

The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale

Trivia

• The "Great Animal" is somewhat similar to Smaug from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - though the Great Animal's true species is never fully specified in the films, according to behind-the-scenes features, it is supposed to be some sort of shape-shifting wyvern.
• The Great Animal is a beast that's like a mix of a wolf, a bat, a lizard and a hawk.