History Main / GreatWhiteFeline

Note: MegaNeko with white fur do not qualify as this. This trope applies to jungle cats with white fur. A MegaNeko is a giant domestic cat.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/BlackPanther https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clean_3.jpg]]]]

** ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Bast, the patron god of the Panther cult, often appears as an enormous white panther (pictured above), though she may also appear as a white or black [[CatFolk cat person]].

There's something visually incredible about a large member of the cat family with white fur. Given white often represents [[LightIsGood purity and innocence]], a feline creature with fur can be seen as majestic and divine. Often, these cats have a mystical origin to them.

Examples of this trope are usually white tigers but it is possible to have white lions. White lions and tigers also exist in real life as do snow leopards who have white-gray fur. Big white cats are also pretty rare in real life, especially those that are mutations as with the aforementioned white lions and tigers. Lionesses prefer males with darker mane, and white tigers cannot camouflage themselves effectively, leading to them not even existing in the wild and only in domesticity.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'': [[TheBlacksmith Bengali]] is based on a white tiger. He is one of three new [=ThunderCats=] discovered in Season 2. His skills as a blacksmith prove useful when the Sword of Omens is broken again.

* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Bast, the patron god of the Panther cult, often appears as an enormous white panther (pictured above), though she may also appear as a white or black [[CatFolk cat person]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': Thokk aka Battle Beast is a lion-like alien with white fur. He is one of the most powerful beings in the comic, having nearly killed Invincible and fought Thragg for days [[spoiler:before being killed by him]].

* ''ComicBook/WhiteTiger'':
** Hector Ayala is the original White Tiger, a superhero whose costumed alias was modeled after a white tiger. He gains his powers from the Jade Tiger amulet. The identity has been wielded by other characters, namely Kasper Cole, Angela del Toro and Ava Ayala, Hector's youngest sister.
** The Tiger God that resides within the Tiger Amulets has occasionally taken the form of a white tiger though it has also been depicted as green.
** The second White Tiger was an actual white Bengal tigress evolved into a woman of East Indian descent by the High Evolutionary. She was part of the short-lived ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'' revival in the 1990s.

Examples of this trope are usually white tigers but it is possible to have white lions. White lions and tigers also exist in real life as do snow leopards who have white-gray fur. Big white cats are also pretty rare in real life

Generally this trope applies to heroic characters but rare [[LightIsNotGood villain examples do exist]].

* ''Literature/TheWhiteTiger'': A consistent motif throughout in the story. In the book's TitleDrop, Balram is compared to the titular animal because his intelligence and potential to rise above his station is as rare and valuable as the white tiger. When he visits a zoo and sees a white tiger in a cage; he sees himself in the animal and [[spoiler:kills his boss]], giving himself freedom.

* Bai Hu the White Tiger is one of the leaders of Heaven in Kylie Chan's ''Literature/DarkHeavens''. He is characterized as a guy whose favorite things in life are (in no particular order) fighting, eating and screwing.
* A consistent motif in ''Literature/TheWhiteTiger''. In the book's TitleDrop, Balram is compared to the titular animal because his intelligence and potential to rise above his station is as rare and valuable as the white tiger. When he visits a zoo and sees a white tiger in a cage; he sees himself in the animal and [[spoiler:kills his boss]], giving himself freedom.

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* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': Tigatron's alt mode is a white tiger. He is much more in touch with his animal instincts than the other Maximals and is more at home in the wild than on the ''Axalon''. He was also friends with a normal white tiger named Snowstalker who was killed during the conflict between the Maximals and Predacons.
* ''Anime/BeastWarsII'': Lio Convoy is the leader of the Maximals and his alt mode is a white lion with a golden mane.
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* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'':
** Byakko is based on the White Tiger of the West fitting with Hoshiyomi's [[EliteFour four ninja underlings]] being based on the Four Symbols from Chinese mythology.
** Like Byakko, Jūra's design is based on the White Tiger of the West and is part of a team based on the Four Symbols. He has fangs, cat-like eyes and white-and-black striped hair.

-> "White Tiger!"

* In UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} symbology, the snow lion (a large white lion with a turquoise mane) sometimes features as a supporter of the Buddha. To this day it is an important part of UsefulNotes/{{Tibetan}} folklore and iconography.

* The eponymous character of ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'' is a white lion and the KingOfBeasts. In ''Journey into Time'' [[AlbinosAreFreaks he is bullied by other lions for having white fur.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'': Rodolfo's superhero persona is literally "White Pantera", fitting the Rivera family's cat superhero motif while highlighting that he's the unambiguous hero of the family. He wears a white suit and a luchador mask with cat ears, as well as superpowered boots that give him incredible running speed and superpowered kicks and can make anybody who touches them tell the truth.

* ''Anime/BeastWarsII'': Lio Convoy is the leader of the Maximals and his alt mode is a white lion with a golden mane.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': Tigatron's alt mode is a white tiger. He is much more in touch with his animal instincts than the other Maximals and is more at home in the wild than on the ''Axalon''. He was also friends with a normal white tiger named Snowstalker who was killed during the conflict between the Maximals and Predacons.

!!Examples

* Some African tribes such as the [[http://www.whitelionjourneys.com/ancient-legends.html Zulu]] view white lions as divine messengers. [[http://messybeast.com/genetics/lions-white.htm There is an oral story about how white lions first appeared in the region now known as Timbaviti when it was ruled by Queen Numbi]]. A shining star was seen to fall to the ground, but when Queen Numbi and her people approached, they found it to be a shining ball of metal, brighter than the sun. Queen Numbi, who was an elderly and infirm woman, was swallowed by its light and received by strange beings. When she emerged again, she had been restored to health and youth. The fallen star remained there for some days and then rose back into the sky. Animals with strange deformities were born in that region - cattle with 2 heads, white impala and green-eyed white leopards and lions.

* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': Thokk aka Battle Beast is a lion-like alien with white fur. He is one of the most powerful villains in the comic, having nearly killed Invincible and fought Thragg for days [[spoiler:before being killed by him]].