Line #120 WMG/TheSmurfs


1	[[WMG:The Smurfs are [[Franchise/MassEffect Asari]] in terms of reproduction.]]
2	They live long, and they can breed with a female (or male) of another species, mainly because the male-to-female ratio of their race is 9.5. to 0.5. Also, in ''Papa's Wedding Day'', Painter makes a painting of Papa Smurf and Flowerbell's marriage, and their children are smurfs.
3
4	[[WMG:The Smurfs are Genderless]]
5	* They reproduce by stork, females are not naturally occurring, and the only reason that Papa Smurf has distinguishing male characteristics (i.e. his beard) is simply because he is secretly Santa Claus.
6	** See below theory about the other Smurfettes, that might prove this theory to be jossed.
7
8	[[WMG:Papa Smurf is Santa Claus]]
9	* Yes.
10	** Actually, The Smurfs (Papa included) meet the Ol' Saint Nick multiple times during the [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas episodes]], so jossed.
11
12	[[WMG:The Smurfs are communists!]]
13	Their clothing is either uniform white or revolutionary red. They don't use money, they all work regardless (except for Lazy), and they share everything. Their conformity may even be genetic; few are clearly physically different; they are [[Main/TheSmurfettePrinciple mostly one gender]] and effectively sexless. Their leader is a Karl Marx lookalike; their allies are pagan nature spirits (Mother Nature, Father Time); and their enemy is a stand-in for Christian religion (Gargamel wears Franciscan friar robe and has a bald spot/tonsure) and capitalism (he wants to eat them or turn them to gold). He has a [[Main/CatsAreMean cat]] named after the angel Azrael and gets advice from a magic tome (Literature/TheBible). Gargamel the alchemist himself is often claimed to a Jewish stereotype, due to his features (he's got that hooked nose) and his obsession with gold.
14	* A milder theory is ''the show [[Main/TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong promotes conformity and groupthink]]''. Individual smurfs inevitably get into trouble whenever they work contrary to the community's opinions. To make sure that groupthink is regularly promoted, one non-conformist smurf is allowed to exist and be continually humiliated.
15
16	** Except... that theory doesn't really work at all, does it? Outside of looking alike (and the Smurfs themselves act like they all look totally different, so they're clearly able to tell each other apart even if we aren't) and dressing similarly (which seems to be a fashion thing, or maybe just that most Smurfs don't want to spend a lot of time deciding what to wear today), the Smurfs aren't particularly conformist. Outside of "working for the common good" in which each Smurf uses his particular talents for the good of the village, they're very clearly allowed to be as individualistic as they like, and individualism is celebrated rather than frowned upon. Otherwise characters like Grouchy, Jokey and especially Lazy would never have been allowed to continue the way they do, and really the only reason why Brainy gets so much beef from the other Smurfs is that he's an annoying, snotty suck-up who thinks he knows everything better than everyone else, not because he doesn't conform.
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18	* Not only does Papa Smurf look like Karl Marx, but also Brainy (the Smurfs' killjoy) resembles Trotsky.
19	* The final seasons with the kid smurfs represent glasnost. Grandpa Smurf, who wore gold, symbolizes the peaceful "destruction" of the USSR.
20	* One problem with that theory: In early 20th-century Russia, white was generally seen by Communists as the color of the enemy, those who supported the old regime (or at least the old style of regime).
21	* Their hats look very much like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap Phrygian caps]], hats that aren't necessarily Communist but have been an emblem of many radical revolutionary movements throughout history (most notably during the French Revolution).
22
23	* Actually this is true, except for it being described as a negative thing. Communism basically means we live together, work together, and share everything as a whole. Communism in practice and in small communities- like the community the smurfs live in- works; its when you reach a scale where every person won't know every other person as a matter of course that inefficiencies, tyranny, and corruption sneak in. After all most Monasteries around the world function via communism, so do the Amish. So yes the Smurfs are 100% communists, they're just not "the evil reds" the media during the Cold War made Communism out to be, at least until they expand from the "small village" scale to the "nation-state" scale, which isn't anywhere near the foreseeable future.
24	* Don't you see it? "SMURF" is an [[FunWithAcronyms acronym]] for Soviet Men Under Red Father!
25	* Having a leader is incompatible with communism.
26	** Correct. Smurfs by classical definition are socialist. Their "government" designates their division of labor and they all work together on bigger projects. Everyone works as best and are rewarded by the "government". Except here their "government" is one smurf, Papa Smurf. In real life this often turns into a dictatorship. However Papa Smurf is probably a role model for how a socialist leader should be. Able to make decisions but not live that much above his people. As while Papa has his own jobs, you notice he also partakes in plenty of community tasks.
27	** While at the same token it's important to remember the "theory of communism" states it should start with socialism, but in real life no one ever really achieved a communist state. If anything our real life equivalents were dictatorships made by corrupt socialistic ideals. If one is to turn all means of production and society to the government to bestow equally to the people, you would really need a Papa Smurf for it to turn out anyway other than a dictatorship. Once they get power they'll make themselves great and everyone else equal in poverty. Which if far removed from what the ideals of socialism and communism are supposed to be about.
28	* Another part of this theory states that the word "Smurf" is used for nearly everything and is a way of dumbing down words for society, like in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.
29
30
31	[[WMG:The Smurfs are Klansmen, and the show is KKK propaganda.]]
32	They all wear pointy white hats and white clothes, except the leader, who wears a pointy red hat and red clothes. It's an all-male group except for the blonde-haired blue-eyed female. Sometimes they dance around a big fire. They are terrorized by Gargamel (who, as mentioned above, has distinctly Jewish features); his cat, Azrael, is named for an angel of death. Both Gargamel and Azrael want to eat the Smurfs because they are threatened by the superior blue people.
33	* Additionally, the [[WesternAnimation/TheSnorks Snorks]] are a similar species to the Smurfs who fled to the sea to escape the persecution of the blue skinned, snorkless "master race" [={UberSchmurfen).=]
34
35	[[WMG:The Smurfs are two distinct races]]
36	One is the common male type; the other is the Smurfette, the female type. The normal life cycle for smurfs is this: a mushroom house grows and produces a Smurf. The Smurf cares for the house until the house dies, at which point the Smurf takes root and grows into a new house. This explains the strange balance of gender in the town; the Smurfette is either a mutant or a separate species.
37	* {{Canon}} states - and ''shows'' - that Smurfette was a construct made by Gargamel who was [[HeelFaceTurn turned face]] by Papa Smurf. (Yes, there was an episode all about this.) When another female smurf was finally made, much later, she too was a construct (same recipe plus a dash of explosive, different proportions); she too had to be turned face (though it went much faster that time). Before the original Smurfette was made, Smurf Village was entirely male (or entirely asexual, if we're right here). This leaves other questions... Disturbing questions.
38	** Not two distinct races - the mushroom houses are actually female smurfs. Immature smurfs are produced by them, and most will eventually take root and grow into more mushroom houses. Some however will grow a beard-like structure on their face, which produces spores to impregnate the female smurfs. They're probably asexual until they reach maturity, with only the most successful smurfs (ie, those most suited to passing on their genes) GrowingTheBeard. This explains the multitude of strange things that immature smurfs do; they're trying to prove their reproductive fitness. When a smurf does grow a beard, he will immediately leave his own village and seek out another, where he will either gather a group of immature smurfs to himself or kill its Papa Smurf and take over. This explains why Papa Smurf's clothes are red rather than white.
39	** Another possibility is that Smurfs are immortal or all of them are artificial. That's why we only see one Smurf village and no means of reproduction- that's all there are and will ever be unless somebody creates more. They could even be Gargamel's creations that escaped his lab but nobody mentions it.
40
41	[[WMG:Smurfette is the Smurf Queen]]
42	...In the eusocial, egg-laying sense. All the "male" smurfs except Papa Smurf are [[strike:drones]] worker "bees"-- neutered females. Only the male, Papa Smurf, can mate with the Queen. The "smurflings" are males from another nest and a proto-queen, who are exchanged between nests to promote genetic diversity (and because the lone true male is getting too old to perform his Smurfly duties). As soon as the smurflings mature, Smurfette and Sassette will fight to the death to determine [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne who will be Queen]]...
43	* People would pay to see the Smurfette / Sassette smackdown.
44	* Baby Smurfs are delivered by Storks on the night of a blue moon. The female Smurfs are created by Gargamel's black magic, and the young Smurfs we see are de-aged formerly adult Smurfs. This is all in the canon
45	* Smurfberries are their equivalent to honey. They occasionally steal some herbs from Gargamel's lair and mix it with mashed Smurfberries to create royal Smurfjelly in order to yield a new Smurf Queen.
46
47	[[WMG: Papa Smurf is the queen bee of the colony.]]
48	He's past the smurf equivalent of menopause, during which time the elder female grooms an heir. Bees don't need to do this because they're not sentient like Smurfs. The hormones in royal jelly are the only thing necessary for a new queen bee.
49	* [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros Oh my god, you're crazy! They're so totally mammals!]]
50
51	[[WMG: Male smurfs have female reproductive systems, and female smurfs have male reproductive organs.]]
52
53	[[WMG: The events in the infamous UNICEF ad take place before the entire series]]
54	The series is nothing more than Papa Smurf's dying hallucinations.
55
56	[[WMG: The Smurfs were real, and went extinct in Medieval times]]
57	They lived in a remote, inaccessible part of western or central Europe (possibly in the Ardennes or Burgundy), and were observed by a hermit or reclusive alchemist. The alchemist first learnt of the smurfs' existence after his cat killed one of them and brought it home. The corpse of this strange little blue creature intrigued him, and later on, he actually managed to save one of these little creatures from his cat. The little creature spoke a language of sorts, but it was not familiar with any spoken or written language the alchemist was familiar with. Nonetheless, the creature gradually learnt enough words to allow him to communicate with the alchemist, though it kept infusing its sentences with appearantly meaningless words or sounds, such as "schtroumpf". The alchemists became friends with the smurf, and he also managed to establish some sort of friendship with the other smurfs (though their general distrust for him remained until after his cat died later that year). After this, the alchemist described the smurfs' society - how they lived in a small, curious village, in which some houses were partially made of local mushrooms, and how they were led by a single elder, who dressed in red rather than in white. In his talks with the elder, the elder smurf revealed that they have a very long lifespan, but that they were nonetheless the last of their kind. Female smurfs, he stated, had existed in the past, but none of them survived, and he was the last smurf who had seen a female of his own kind. Then, a few years later, a particularly harsh winter forced the smurfs to leave their village in search for food. Whatever happened to them after that, they never returned.
58	* Centuries later, a certain Belgian comic artist decided to do some reading up on Medieval alchemy and folklore in order to get some ideas for [[ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit his comic]], and then he came across some book that happened to discuss, among other things, the surviving fragments of this alchemist's writings. He decided to do something with these strange little blue creatures the alchemist mentioned, and thus he worked them into his comic, and later even made a separate comic series about them. Several aspects of the original story were adapted or altered; the alchemist became an evil yet incompetent sorceror, his cat didn't die and continued to terrorize the smurfs, the smurfs did return after their exodus (e.g. the entire story of ''La Faim des Schtroumpfs''), and a female, baby and child-smurfs were introduced later on. Then the comic caught on, a cartoon was made, and the {{Disneyfication}} was tuned up even more.
59	* Really? I thought the bubonic plague killed them.
60
61	[[WMG: They were killed indirectly]]
62	As it turns out, the smurfs were little more than cattle to a subterranean species that shared a common ancestor with the smurfs. If I remember right, they were called Schlocks. And they referred to smurfs as Smurloi. Well, the schlocks built everything the smurfs used and distributed them evenly amongst the smurfs to keep them nice and fit. While it may have seemed like the smurfs lived happily at the schlock's expense, the schlocks came out at night to abduct smurfs and take them to their underground lair to feast on them. Papa Smurf himself was part schlock and tried his best to hide the sad truth from the smurfs.
63	* After Gargamel discovered the schlocks, he found that melting them down could turn lead into diamond-covered platinum filled with saffron, and they made a good substitute for the smurfs. The schlocks were driven to extinction by Gargamel, and as a result, the lazy smurfs pined away and died.
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65	[[WMG: They did not die out and are, in fact, still around -- they just remain hidden from humans.]]
66	Well, there should be at least one "Smurfs are real" WMG that doesn't end in genocide.
67
68	[[WMG:Smurfette and Sassette are male cross-dressers]]
69	Every male Smurf has a "theme"-- Smurfette's is being a transvestite, Sassy's is being a tomboy, but both are actually male. No wonder all the Smurfs are blue...
70
71	[[WMG:The Smurfs are hyper evolved Pokemon]]
72	Smurfs are Pokemon who have evolved into a higher state of being and achieved enlightenment as a race, giving them innate (rather than learned) speech and allowing them to live in a peaceful society. The only relic of their genetic past is the continued use of the word 'smurf' as both a Noun and a Verb, a throwback to when 'Smurf' was the entire vocabulary.
73
74	[[WMG:Likely history of the Smurfs]]
75	The guessing is that Grandpa and Nanny Smurf were the first two Smurfs, and they were supposed to be the respective father and mother figure to the Smurfs brought by the stork, thus explaining why Nanny is the only natural-ocurring female smurf. During that time, Grandpa wasn't known as "Grandpa" yet, but as Papa Smurf (and maybe Nanny as Mama Smurf), and his little Smurflings wore red rather than white. The current Papa Smurf was then one of the little Smurfs (maybe the Sorcerer Smurf?), and the first Black Smurfs plague happened when he was 100 years old, as told in the "The Black Smurfs" book (likely solved more easily than the return of the plague during the book). When Grandpa (then Papa) Smurf became older, the current Papa Smurf was chosen to raise the new generation since he was the more mature among his brothers, and the now Grandpa Smurf decided to know the world beyond the village and went traveling along with Nanny. The stork brought 99 Smurfs to Papa Smurf to raise, but one got lost (the Smurfs trying to find the lost Smurf during the flashback in the "The Wild Smurf" book were likely Papa Smurf's brothers), which would cause trouble several years later in "The Hundredth Smurf" when 100 Smurfs were needed for theDance of the Moon. Maybe even Papa Smurf's brothers became Papas of other villages, far away and much smaller, with an average number of 15 Smurfs (cousins to the Cursed Land Smurfs).
76
77	[[WMG: Gutsy Smurf (from the live-action movie) is a [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Nac Mac Feegle]].]]
78	I lean, ''look'' at him! The Scottish accent, the kilt, the gung-ho attitude, the greater-than average strength (he's strong enough to hogtie Neil Patrick Harris)... he even has reddish sideburns! Clearly he's not a Smurf at all, but a Feegle with a drinking problem (i.e. he doesn't drink, which ''would'' be viewed as a problem for a Feegle) who somehow got lost while skipping through alternate realities, and was adopted by the Smurfs. Life with them has mellowed him out somewhat, so he's not as violent or prone to stealing things, but he retains much of the traditional Nac Mac Feegle attitude.
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80	[[WMG: The Smurfs are blue because of the SquareCubeLaw.]]
81	Because they are human-shaped, have no fur, and are [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal generally shirtless]] (with the exception of Smurfette, who was an artificial Smurf who wears a skirt anyway), they've adapted to being in a constant state of near-hypothermia and no longer recognize being at a "comfortable" temperature as comfortable.
82
83	[[WMG: There WERE multiple female smurfs in the past; patriarchal misogyny phased them out.]]
84	If you want to call the smurfs Communist, look at the crisis China has undergone recently - the One Child Policy coupled with classic patriarchal misogyny led to a bride shortage so bad that the government had to provide financial "incentives" to get families to have daughters instead! Something similar happened with the smurfs, except it went to the farthest point possible; they undervalued females and disdained raising female baby smurfs until there were none left! None of the smurfs from the current generation had ever seen a female before Gargamel created Smurfette, and neither had Gargamel, since a human life span is only about the tenth of a smurf's.
85
86	[[WMG: Brainy Smurf has Asperger's.]]
87	Isn't it obvious?
88	* Brainy actually does fit the diagnostic criteria for autism, which aspergers is a subset of.
89
90	[[WMG: [[WesternAnimation/TheSnorks Snorks]] evolved from Smurfs]]
91	One day, Gargamel flooded the Smurf's village and they all got washed out to sea. Papa Smurf put a spell on everyone to allow them to survive underwater. As a side effect of a spell, the Smurfs form changed, and it also caused them to start reproducing normally without the need of a stork or a blue moon, which resulted in more females being born.
92
93	[[WMG: In the movie continuity, Peyo was a wizard]]
94	From the Wikipedia scene, we know that Peyo existed in the movie continuity, where the Smurfs, even though less famous than in our world, were nevertheless drawn by him as the subject of at least one children's book. That book contains detailed accounts of the Smurfs' lives, as well as ''functional spells'' that the Smurfs can use to open the portal that leads them to their village. From that, we can infer that Peyo has invented, or at least used, those spells, and wrote that book because he visited the Smurfs' village himself.
95
96	[[WMG: Gargamel knows where the Smurfs' village is.]]
97	If you think he didn't know, think again. Maybe he implanted something on Smurfette after he created her to track down where the Smurfs' village is. This is something that Papa Smurf didn't get rid of.
98
99	[[WMG: Baby Smurf will become the successor of Papa Smurf.]]
100	Despite being... well, a baby, he has magic powers that no other Smurf has. Those powers would be very handy, not only in preparing magic potions like Papa Smurf does, but also in doing different types of magic, beyond what Papa Smurf can do. In addition, his first word was "Gargamel", which was interpreted as a sign that he is destined to become a great leader.
101	* We don't know. It could also mean he'd became a traitor to smurfhood.
102	** Based on the episode more likely he'll be the one to finally make peace with Gargamel.
103	*** Gargamel was already middle-aged during the show, living in an almost derelict House in the Woods. Unless baby smurf could mature way fasters than humans, chances are that Gargamel won't live long enough to see Baby Smurf as a teen!
104
105	[[WMG: The Smurfs came from multiple unknown locations around the world.]]
106	While most interpretations would consider that the Smurfs all originated from a single unknown location and were brought to the village by stork, what would possibly explain the UnexplainedAccent is that perhaps they all came from multiple unknown locations.
107
108	[[WMG: Smurfette's smurf trait isn't being The Girl.]]
109	She's actually Action Smurf, the one who's supposed to spearhead events and kick serious butt.
110
111	[[WMG:[[CaptainErsatz Vexy]] will change her name to Sassette.]]
112	In-universe, she'll want a new name to go with her new life with her new family. Out-of-universe, come on! Who are they fooling?!
113	** About the in-universe version, such a change wouldn't be a good idea. The Smurfs "names" are actually more akin to nicknames, and the same BigEater Smurf can be called Greedy Smurf or Sweety Smurf at different times, while others are just called "Smurf" until they get find what do they want to do, therefore Sassette has an OddNameOut due to being an actual name. Now, in American media these are portrayed more like actual names, but given that the english names of the better known Smurfs tend to end in -y. In any case, changing her name would also make her fit less than before.
114
115	[[WMG: Brainy's trait is NOT being the smart one]]
116	It is something else. In Baby's First Word, he remembers that his first word was [[spoiler: gobbledygook]]. Knowing that it indicates smurf's occupation, do the math. Because that, whatever it is, isn't related to anything smart. His little intelligence and a large ego somewhat confirm that.
117
118	[[WMG: Azrael has descendents - one of them is a certain [[WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}} human-hating cat]]]]
119
120	It SO makes sense. Seriously - [[spoiler: Claudandus also lived in a lab, and he wanted to make a strong and fierce breed that looks like Egyptian primordial race. Azrael looks like them and looks like Claudandus as in the book]]. Who are they fooling?
121
122	[[WMG: There are Smurfettes, they are just not around]]
123
124	1. Nanny Smurf. [[spoiler: It is uncertain if she was a magical smurf.]]
125
126	2. Various Smurfs fell in love with Smurfette and [[spoiler: females of other species]]. If they were ACTUALLY one-gendered, they wouldn't have any interest in them because love for females would not be on their minds.
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128	3. Storks get Smurflings and Baby Smurfs from somewhere because Smurfs don't have many females in their village.
129
130	4. In the "Once In A Blue Moon", [[spoiler: the stork that gave them a Baby Smurf wanted to return it because of an error.]] To WHERE, exactly? Maybe to [[WesternAnimation/SmurfsTheLostVillage another village]]? Or to his real family?
131
132	5. It's not normal for Mother Nature to make one-gendered, sapient, human-like species.
133
134	[[WMG: Brainy Smurf is a CaptainErsatz of The Riddler]]
135	He's obsessed with proving his intelligence to everyone around him, but due to his milder upbringing in the Smurf village he never gained the psychopathic inferiority complex that would otherwise have led him to a path of crime.
136
137	[[WMG: The Smurfs aren't actually real.]]
138	Everyone who sees them is actually on mushrooms and hallucinating. Gargamel, as a potion-brewer, has the most contact with components that aren't exactly conducive to good mental health, so his obsession with capturing the little creatures is a sign that he's permanently insane.
139
140	[[WMG:Smurfs being made out of clay by wizards is their normal reproduction, storks merely transport new smurfs.]]
141	This explains how papa smurf was able to turn Smurfette into a real smurf.
142
143	[[WMG: Azrael isn't evil.]]
144	Wanting to eat small animals is simply a normal cat instinct, after all, and even a creature that's blue and able to speak is still just three apples high and, thus,fair game. If he occasionally mocks or torments Gargamel, well, that's well deserved... he may be a good master, after a fashion, but he's still a bumbler and a barely passable wizard.
145
146	[[WMG:Papa Smurf is secretly a Redcap.]]
147	No reason, just an extra evil Smurf theory.
148
149	[[WMG:Gargamel is NotEvilJustMisunderstood - with his "evilness" being the result of ThenLetMeBeEvil.]]
150	Yes, Gargamel has proven to be cruel and evil, with him even having those moments where he's proud of someone else giving him negative adjectives or calling himself "evil". But this is just the exterior, heavily coating his true self - a lonely old man who only wants love and respect, but gets none and is so used to being surrounded by those who want anything but genuine friendship with him that he can almost no longer see those who do care about him. There's some evidence of this:
151	* In "They're Smurfing Our Song", he goes about his villainous business as usual, cursing Woody's panflute and capturing several Smurfs. And then Sassette comes and tells him she loves him, and is genuine about it. A truly evil person would most likely scoff at this, but what Gargamel does instead is kneel in front of Sassette and cry, telling no one's ever said that to him. Laconia then takes Woody's panflute and plays it, which brings Gargamel's inner goodness out and proves that deep beneath his dark personality there's still good in him. And if that wasn't all, Gargamel himself says he hasn't been his true self due to living in hate, strongly implying that the "evil" he possesses is in fact a facade.
152	** Additionally, the kind of spell he puts on the flute and what he says the spell is may be hinting at this. Namely, Gargamel says that the spell will make all those who hear it become evil and have them do bad things, but when some on-screen characters do become affected by the spell, [[InformedAttribute their behavior is nowhere near evil]]. If anything, the affected characters act less evil and more hostile; Woody becomes extremely pissed and leaves Laconia, two kings who were playing chess get angry and declare war on each other, and a couple of bluebirds turn aggressive and attempt to attack Smurfs in their village. An evil person wouldn't just turn hostile and suddenly attack others in a fit of anger, they would (also) do things such as lie and manipulate others to gain an advantage over them, whereas here the spell-induced "evilness" fills its victims with unbridled rage instead of desire to actively cause pain to others for their own satisfaction. Gargamel wasn't turning others evil, he was making them feel the great wrath that plagues his heart.
153	* In "The Tear Of A Smurf", Gargamel gets angry at Azrael after a yet another failed attempt to capture Smurfs, but doesn't immediately notice that the latter disappeared due to the cat being kidnapped by Priscilla. Once he realizes Azrael is gone, Gargamel is quick to become depressed and becomes even more angry when he encounters the Smurfs than he normally does, convinced that they did something to Azrael. He also has a little gray kitten come to his doorstep in his saddened state, but swiftly rejects its presence and keeps thinking about Azrael. This should tell that Gargamel actually ''cares'' for his cat in spite of everything, and is certainly not willing to replace what's quite likely his one and only friend, something that a truly evil villain likely wouldn't possess as a genuine trait.
154	** The episode "Brainy Smurf, Friend To All Animals" shows even more of Gargamel's love towards his cat. When Balthazar arrives on the scene and is about to shoot at the wildcat he's hunting for - with Azrael standing right next to it - Gargamel suddenly becomes very worried and warns his godfather that he might hurt Azrael. Then, Balthazar outright states ''he doesn't care'', and Gargamel keeps pleading him by saying Azrael is all he's got. A truly evil and apathetic person wouldn't do what Gargamel does here.
155	---> '''Gargamel: ''' My cat is mangy... and full of fleas, I know, but... I-it's all I've got...!
156	---> '''Balthazar: ''' [still pointing his weapon, smirking] It is in the gruel you feed it.
157	* Sometimes, Gargamel objects to motives of other villains. For instance, in "Puppy", his godfather Balthazar is completely indifferent to ''beheading a young, innocent animal'' just to get his hands on a magical locket, while Gargamel has second thoughts up until he submits to Balthazar's demand. Combine this with the fact Gargamel is typically portrayed as weak, and it quickly becomes apparent that the likely reason Gargamel is cruel to begin with is due to his family basically teaching him to act so to hide his fragile nature, like a wounded cat that doesn't want to show itself as easy prey.
158	* As a possible subtle {{Foreshadowing}}, the first episode "The Astrosmurf" has him ask his crystal ball to show him "the most miserable creatures of all", and the crystal ball responds by showing a picture of him and Azrael. While the word "miserable" can be used to describe a contemptible person (which Gargamel and Azrael are depicted to be), time and time again the show prove there are people more despicable than they are (e.g. Balthazar), so why didn't the crystal ball show one of those (if there's no {{Retcon}} involved)? The answer is, the word "miserable" can also mean "unhappy" when describing a person, and the show drops clues later on that hint at just who Gargamel really might be. Put two and two together, and it's instantly obvious: the crystal ball misinterpreted Gargamel's description as "the saddest" instead of "the most contemptible", and so it showed us that Gargamel is in fact the saddest person in the world!
159	* In "Crying Smurfs", Gargamel captures Weepy and is getting ready to eat him, when the little Smurf begins pitying the wizard in tears, and Gargamel also begins crying and explaining how he feels for a minute or two before he relapses into his usual behavior. As short as it was, he tells how no one respects him at all - not his fellow wizards, not his mother, not even his own cat. Remember that he also told this to a ''Smurf'', a creature he despises more than anything.
160	* There are rare times - both in the comics and cartoon show - when Gargamel was perfectly willing to put his villainy aside. Examples include the comic book story where he meets Roxanna who he falls in love with (and not only does he stop chasing Smurfs, he also lets them come close to help him [[NoSocialSkills improve his socialization skills]]), getting a job as a court mage in one cartoon episode, and giving up chasing Smurfs in favor of birdwatching in another. And all of these times, something happens that [[StatusQuoIsGod prevents him from performing a]] HeelFaceTurn; in the comic book his mother slips him a love potion (which implies she's one of the people keeping him evil) and Roxanna reveals she's been married, leaving Gargamel utterly heartbroken, and in the cartoon episodes he's thwarted by the Smurfs who anger him by showing up and/or bothering him (and it's a known fact that he despises Smurfs for his repeated humiliations so much that he can't stand them by default). No wonder Gargamel refuses to become good, he believes that [[BeingGoodSucks being a good guy won't lead to a happier life than being a bad guy]]!
161	* Quite possibly, his life story would go like this:[softreturn]As a very young boy, Gargamel was genuinely kind (if also a bit brash due to having a harsh witch for a mother) and he looked to impress his demanding family. Then he grew up a little and began socializing with others, which is where the problems began. As it had turned out, Gargamel was different from the others; he was scrawny, weak and clumsy in contrast to them despite his best efforts, and his physical appearance made him stick out in a crowd like a sore thumb. Seeing him as a bullying target thanks to him being less capable of success than them, his peers soon began heckling him. Unfortunately, Gargamel did not take this very well, instead perceiving the heckling as his peers being malicious towards him for no reason - [[StartOfDarkness igniting his inner resentment towards others that would grow over his lifetime]]. But at the same time he kept doing his best to succeed in hopes of earning respect, yet his flawed nature kept getting in the way... so he kept failing and failing, over and over, and his peers continued heckling him, establishing a vicious cycle Gargamel was unable to escape from. Even after growing up some more, his failures still kept coming and others kept ridiculing him even as teenagers and adults, festering Gargamel's ever growing wrath and desire to not be humiliated. He eventually gave up and stopped trying to impress all but those of high class, abandoning the wizard school he once attended and moving on to live alone in a nearby forest where he was born. After having consumed him completely, his resentment soon manifested as profound malice and desire to harm others as revenge for all the abuse he's endured - also known as his "evilness".[softreturn]Then there's his relationship with his godfather Balthazar. Have you ever seen how terrified Gargamel becomes when Balthazar is around? That's because he learned to fear him as a child. Namely, during his childhood, every so often he and his mother would pay a visit to Balthazar. Gargamel didn't mind at first, but like his mother Balthazar never showed him any positive emotions and was also quick to berate and belittle him whenever Balthazar heard something from either Gargamel or his mother that he didn't like. He would also occasionally deliver physical punishment whenever Gargamel made some sort of mess in his castle - and given Gargamel's clumsy nature, this wasn't uncommon. As a result, Gargamel's mindset became conditioned to follow one particular rule: 'Balthazar is stronger than you. You have to fear him. No fear means dire consequences.'[softreturn]And now we come to Azrael, his pet cat. Gargamel met Azrael as a kitten during his teenage years, when his dark heart grew at a steady pace but was still open enough to accept a new friend. Azrael, as a non-human, didn't judge Gargamel at all, and so the two were quick to become the best of friends. As years passed however, Gargamel's anger breached the surface and clouded his view on Azrael as someone he loves, leading to him sometimes being violent to his cat in a fit of anger and seeing him as more of a partner or underling than a friend. But as the aforementioned "Tear of a Smurf" shows, he does still care about his cat and wouldn't want to trade him for anything in the world.
162	* Have you ever noticed the dead tree near Gargamel's hovel? If you take a closer look, in the cartoon at least, the tree stands behind the dwelling. It may actually be a hint towards Gargamel's true nature; the tree is withered and weak, just like he is physically, and it stands behind a solidly built hovel that's mostly built of stone, while Gargamel's personality is cold and distant - like stone. Not to mention we see and explore the hovel on a frequent basis but not the tree, which doesn't display any purpose in the show. So in this case the hovel would be a facade, and the tree would be the truth that hides behind said facade - in turn hinting at Gargamel possibly hiding his true nature behind what we see as villainy and cruelty with very little insight on what he's truly like.
163	* Gargamel has only one tooth left, a partially bald head and a face and body reminiscent of an old man. This would imply that he's older than 45-50 years or so. But here's the thing... We've seen a couple of his relatives that should be even older than him by default (his mother and godfather Balthazar), yet they're still alive and well and one of them looks almost like Gargamel (his mother) while the other doesn't look elderly at all (his godfather). Gargamel has also been shown as a younger person who has more hair and a considerably less saggy face, and on at least a couple of occasions he also had his age advanced to a point where he truly became an old man, possibly putting his actual age in the middle range of 30-40 - where a person his age ''shouldn't'' be looking old quite yet, especially around relatives like Balthazar. The possible explanation? His aging was accelerated, and in real life accelerated aging can be caused by emotional stress conditions such as loneliness and depression.
164	** Another thing to note is that in "Gargamel's Time Trip" (which showcases a younger Gargamel) Azrael was a kitten at the time when Gargamel went to school, and it's quite likely Gargamel was a late teenager at most. A housecat's typical lifespan as a pet is up to around 20 years - perhaps a little more if the cat is well cared for - so if Gargamel were to be older than 40, chances are Azrael would be either dead or too worn to chase Smurfs in the time period that the show normally takes place in (unless Gargamel was able to use some sort of spell to slow his cat's aging and extend his lifespan considerably). So if Azrael was a kitten when Gargamel attended school, and he's now a healthy adult cat while his master appears to be old, then it's even more likely that Gargamel is actually middle-aged and that his old looks were caused by emotional stress...
165
166
167	[[WMG: Some of the smurfs we perceive as “male” are actually female.]]
168	Think about it. Smurfs aren’t human, so there’s no reason for them to have human sexual dimorphism. Think lizards, you can’t tell the difference between a male and female lizard at first glance, right? And unless you look in a smurf’s tights, you can’t tell their biological sex. As for the pronouns, they could always be like {{Discworld}} dwarves, where gender is a private thing and most are assumed to be male in public. Smurfette may have been the first female smurf resembling a human female, but she was not the first female smurf ever.
169	* As for which smurfs are females, I have some ideas. In the episode Smurfquest where the smurfs were subjected to rapid aging, some smurfs grew beards and some didn’t. Perhaps the ones that didn’t are females? I know Brainy, Grouchy, and Greedy didn’t grow beards, as well as some other smurfs.
170	** Not all old men have beards (at least that's how I always interpreted why some smurfs didn't had beards in this episode).
171
172	[[WMG: Grouchy is Baby Smurf's biological father.]]
173	Think about it: knowing that Grouchy is a very private guy, it is not unlikely that he met some smurf girl from the [[WesternAnimation/SmurfsTheLostVillage female smurf village]] and had a brief affair with her, without ever having told anyone about it (he doesn't even need to know the other village, as they can meet by chance in the forest). The relationship likely ended abruptly, with the girl hurting Grouchy in some way, as well as announcing that she was pregnant with him.
174
175	In "Once In a Blue Moon", after Baby Smurf mysteriously appears in the village, Grouchy, at first, seems even more revolted than usual, as if he has a big imbroglio to settle. But when Grouchy sees Baby Smurf mimicking his crossed-arms gesture and bitter grimace, he marvels, as if thinking, "he's my blood!" And Grouchy smiles genuinely. Later, when the stork announces that it made a mistake and that it will have to take Baby Smurf back (where?), Grouchy revolts and kidnaps Baby, taking him to an island far away from the village. It's as if he thought, "If my son doesn't have a place in the village, neither do I!" Why would he sacrifice so much for a baby that isn't even his? Still, what would he have to gain by leaving the comforts of the village and leading a solitary life in the woods with a mysterious baby? If he already complains all the time with the good life he leads, imagine what it would be like with a much tougher life with Baby. But he doesn't care and takes the baby with him anyway. There had to be a very strong reason for him to do this.
176
177	[[WMG: Smurfette climbed the Mountain of Mists to commit suicide.]]
178	In "Squeaky", Smurfette is so upset by the death of her pet mouse that she falls into a depression and locks herself in the house. Then she has a nightmare involving [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bftmZlpAkPg a certain UNICEF ad]] and decides to kill herself before she sees all smurfs die before her eyes.
179
180	So she writes a goodbye letter and runs away in the middle of the night, without anyone noticing. No special clothes, no backpack, no food, nothing. All she does is climb the Mountain of Mists to lie down and freeze to death, in a sleep without return, as Squeaky himself died. But once on the mountain, she stops a squirrel from becoming a hawk's lunch, and in the midst of the melee, she falls off the cliff and clings to the branch. Then she starts screaming for help, either because she has given up on suicide or because she doesn't want to die so violently. Fortunately the Smurfs appear and rescue her, and she is convinced that she has done a great stupidity, returning to the village at last.
181	[[WMG: The African witch girl appearing at the Broomstick Ball in episode "Scruple's Sweetheart" is ForeignExchangeStudent.]]
182	She is the daughter of African sorcerer couple who decided to send her to european magic school, in order to have her learn more complex spells and/or basics of magic, due to the fact that most famous sorcerers live/lived there. Due to her being [[TokenBlack only black girl in a school full of white students]] she becomed an outcast, but luckily formed friendship with Brenda due to her [[CommonalityConnection also being the outcast]] (she was bullied in her previous school, which was only for [[WickedWitch evil witches]]), which lead to Brenda sympathizing with her. Her accusing Brenda for turning wizard boys into pigs in the same episode was just a JerkassBall.

Context WMG / TheSmurfs