History Literature / TheJungleBook

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place.

* ScavengersAreScum: While Shere Khan the tiger is the main villain, Tabaqui the jackal is shown as his lackey, reporting to him in the hopes of eating his leftovers and avoiding fights, in contrast to the wolves who are presented to be honorable hunters. In fact, wolves who side with Shere Khan are compared to jackals by Mowgli.

* BigBadEnsemble: Shere Khan the Tiger as the main animal villain and Buldeo the hunter as the main human villain. The former is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place. After his death, Buldeo takes over, driving Mowgli out of the village and attempting to have Mowgli's adoptive human mother Messua burned at the stake, causing Mowgli to have a negative view of humans.

* DemotedToExtra: While the main antagonist of ''Mowgli's Brothers'', Shere Khan has a reduced role in ''Tiger, Tiger'', being spoken of, but only appearing once due to the actual focus being Mowgli's alienation from human society.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: After Shere Khan's death in ''Tiger, Tiger'', Buldeo, who has more of an on-stage presence than the former in the story, takes over as the BigBad, driving Mowgli from the village and later tries to have Mowgli's adoptive mother Messua burnt at the stake in ''Letting in the Jungle.''

* ScavengersAreScum: While Shere Khan the tiger is a major villain, Tabaqui the jackal is shown as his lackey, reporting to him in the hopes of eating his leftovers and avoiding fights, in contrast to the wolves who are presented to be honorable hunters. In fact, wolves who side with Shere Khan are compared to jackals by Mowgli.

* StarterVillain: Shere Khan. Yes, the vicious man-eating tiger is merely first in-line for villains, given Buldeo takes over his spot after Shere Khan dies halfway through "Tiger! Tiger!"

* TeenPregnancy: In the first Mowgli story ''In The Rukh'', Mowgli (presumably 17) marries the thirteen-year-old daughter of his employer's butler. They following year, they have a child.

* TranslationConvention: Mowgli and the animals hear each other speak English, but normal humans can't hear them speak English and just hear animal noises. Mowgli eventually learns how to talk to humans, although it's unclear if the humans ''really'' speak English or just ''think'' they're speaking English. But it's implied that they just think they're speaking English, since in the prototype Mowgli story, "In the Rukh", when the German Muller is speaking to the Englishmen, his accent is rendered atrociously, but when he's speaking to Mowgli it's in the same archaic and poetic English as everyone else.

* AdaptationalBadass: Several adaptations tend to play Shere Khan as much more fearsome and terrifying.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place. After his death, Buldeo takes over, driving Mowgli out of the village and attempting to have Mowgli's adoptive human mother Messua burned at the stake, causing Mowgli to have a negative view of humans.

* ScavengersAreScum: While Shere Khan the tiger is the main villain, Tabaqui the jackal is shown as his lackey, reporting to him in the hopes of eating his leftovers and avoiding fights, in contrast to the wolves who are presented to be honorable hunters. In fact, wolves who side with Shere Khan are compared to jackals by Mowgli.

On the other hand, the great animation genius, Creator/ChuckJones, produced three animated TV specials in the 1970s, ''Mowgli's Brothers'' (1976), ''Rikki Tikki Tavi'' (1975) and ''The White Seal'' (1975) that were much more faithful to the original stories.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: After Shere Khan's death in ''Tiger, Tiger'', Buldeo takes over as the BigBad, driving Mowgli from the village and later tries to have Mowgli's adoptive mother Messua burnt at the stake in ''Letting in the Jungle.''

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place. After his death, Buldeo takes over, driving Mowgli out of the village and attempting to have Mowgli's adoptive human mother Messua burned at the stake.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place. After his death, Buldeo takes over, driving Mowgli out of the village and attempting to have Mowgli's adoptive human mother Messua burned at the stake.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place.

There is also a Soviet animated series called ''[[Animation/AdventuresOfMowgli]]'', that is extremely faithful to the stories and to the general mood and style. No human-like mimics in animals here. However, some of the animal characters changed their gender -- most notably, Bagheera is female (since the word "panther" is always feminine in Russian) in this adaptation. ''Rikki Tikki Tavi'' has also been adapted twice in the Soviet Union: first, as a 1965 cartoon, then, in 1975, as a live action film.

There is also a Soviet animated series called ''Animation/AdventuresOfMowgli'', that is extremely faithful to the stories and to the general mood and style. No human-like mimics in animals here. However, some of the animal characters changed their gender -- most notably, Bagheera is female (since the word "panther" is always feminine in Russian) in this adaptation. ''Rikki Tikki Tavi'' has also been adapted twice in the Soviet Union: first, as a 1965 cartoon, then, in 1975, as a live action film.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place. After his death, Buldeo takes over, driving Mowgli out of the village and attempting to have Mowgli's adoptive human mother Messua burned at the stake.

* BigBad: Shere Khan the Tiger. He is Mowgli’s ArchEnemy as well as the most reoccurring villain, and his attempt to kill Mowgli as a baby leads to Mowgli being raised in the jungle in the first place.

On the other hand, the great animation genius, Creator/ChuckJones, produced three animated TV specials in the 1970s, ''Mowgli's Brothers'', ''Rikki Tikki Tavi'' and ''The White Seal'' that were much more faithful to the original stories.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Played for drama, but the title character of "Rikki Tikki Tavi" in the animated feature is initially afraid of Naga the snake until he suddenly remembers that he's a mongoose and ''built'' to kill snakes.

** Played with in "Letting in the Jungle". Mowgli does not tell ''Bagheera'' why he needs to call Hathi when the pather asks, but Bagheera ends up finding out when Mowgli tells Hathi what he wants to do.

The stories detail Mowgli's childhood and youth; of his upbringing with the wolf-pack and his battles with the great lame tiger [[BigBad Shere Khan]]; of his friendships with Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear, and Kaa the python; of his abduction by the Bandar-Log of the Cold Lairs and his great war against the Dhole; and of his meeting with the White Cobra and his vendetta against his old people. Not all of the stories concerned Mowgli; the most well known exceptions being "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and "Toomai of the Elephants" in the first, and "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" and "The Undertakers" in the second.