Original characters appearing in the Disney animated series The Legend of Tarzan. Since the series is based on the feature film Tarzan, see that film's character page for the characters introduced there.
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Animated TV series - Friends
Renard Dumont
- Voiced by: René Auberjonois
A French businessman who sets up a shop in a port near the jungle. He occasionally helps Tarzan and his friends, but his greed often causes trouble.
- Anti-Hero: He is a Pragmatic Anti Hero that often sides with Tarzan and his friends, but this doesn't make him a nice person. On the flip side, he may be a greedy businessman, but isn't without his redeeming qualities.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: As a greedy businessman, Renard Dumont will often end up haggling with any visitor from the civilized world.
- Establishing Character Moment: In his first scene, he hits on Jane, is condescending to Tarzan (and has a smarmy look in general), and talks about how there are new contruction projects and industries all across Africa that he intends to profit off. However, when Tarzan angrily confronts him about having animal cages, Dumont calmly gets rid of the cages and agrees not to hunt the local wildlife. The scene establishes him as an unapologetic French Jerk and aspiring entrepreneur, but one who is willing to make the occasional accommodation with the heroes rather than pick a real fight every time they stand in the way of his rackets.
- French Jerk: Downplayed. Not evil, but a selfish and greedy Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Greed: He is always ready to make a quick buck.
- Hopeless Suitor: He is in love with Jane and often flirts with her, when she's married to Tarzan.
- Incidental Villain: His greed and disrespect towards nature often makes him the antagonist of the episode.
- Indispensable Scoundrel: Dumont is the only human villain who doesn't get kicked out of the jungle or killed. Despite his greed and disrespect towards nature, he often sides with Tarzan and his friends out of personal business pursuits and has the distinction of owning the Only Shop in Town for the jungle which makes his business contacts, knowledge of the modern world, and resources indispensable for Tarzan's human friends.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Renard is selfish and greedy, he occasionally helps the heroes. In one episode, he pretends to be a Magistrate to save Tarzan, Hugo and Hooft from Colonel Staquait.
- Meaningful Name: "Renard" is French for "fox", fitting for a cunning businessman.
- Only Shop in Town: His trading post that he built solely to exploit this trope as the sole business in a mostly undiscovered jungle with increasing visitors. He shamelessly takes advantage of this.
Hugo and Hooft
- Voiced by: Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty
Two deserters from the French Foreign Legion who are saved by Tarzan from Colonel Staquait. They find a job at Dumont's Trading Post.
- Adaptational Heroism: They were not bumbling heroes in "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion." In fact, they were villainous outlaws.
- Affectionate Parody: Hugo and Hooft are parodies of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, respectively. The first episode in which they appear is an homage to the Road to ... movies. Their physical appearance are based on Abbott and Costello (who even made a film where they join the Foreign Legion).
- Con Artist: They are ready to trick and scam anyone, including their own friends. No wonder why Dumont sees potential in them.
- Eagle Land: Hugo and Hooft are examples of the Mixed Flavor type III. They're the first Americans shown in the series and they are presented as boorish, shady grifters prone to laziness, vulgar behavior, scamming and gambling, and all around incompetence, but are good people at heart who are loyal, abhor doing physical harm to innocent people and try to help those who give them aid.
- Everyone Has Standards: They run cons and have sizable egos, but they're against hurting people and take friendship very seriously.
- Hugo: Well Staquait ordered us to burn down a village!Hooft: But we wouldn't do it!Hugo: No!
- Fat and Skinny: Hugo is the fat one, Hooft is the skinny one.
- Legion of Lost Souls: They served in the French Foreign Legion, but their commanding officer ordered them to burn down a civilian village for no reason, then jailed them for refusing an order. They escaped.
- Loveable Rogue: While they don't have a problem with scamming their friends, they really are good-natured. For example, in "Tarzan and the Prison Break", they have the chance to abandon Tarzan after escaping prison (he broke in to try and rescue them, and got imprisoned himself), but instead they return to save him from being executed. Also, the reason they're fugitives in the first place is because they refused to obey Colonel Staquait when he ordered them to burn down a village of innocent civilians.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: They were safe from Staquait because they were presumed dead and living in obscurity. Then they started marketing a barbecue sauce and put a picture of themselves on the label. Oops.
- Those Two Guys: They escape the foreign legion together, and are inseparable since then.
- Too Dumb to Live: These two made up their own brand of barbecue sauce to sell across the world with their name and face on the labels after they managed to convince Staquait they had died during their last encounter and didn't think he'd come back for them. There's also shades of this in Tarzan and the Foreign Legion when Hooft explains his reasoning as to why Staquait would never expect them to go to the jungle.
- Hooft: Because a couple of guys like us wouldn't last a minute in the jungle!Hugo: Heh, you're a genius Hooft!Hooft: And that's why we'll be one step ahead of them my boy; superior intelligence! (Fails to realize they're leaving a clear trail of footprints in the sand for Staquait to follow)
- What You Are in the Dark: In the aforementioned prison break, they get pretty far by the time they have a chance to be by themselves and catch their breath. It's then that they dwell on how they left their buddy behind and how they can't just think of themselves.
Jabari
- Voiced by: Taylor Dempsey
A young, neurotic elephant who in many respects resembles Tantor.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: He is identical to young Tantor in every sense.
- Junior Counterpart: He's a younger version of Tantor with a similar personality, despite no indication of a family relationship between them.
- Nervous Wreck: Just like Tantor, he is afraid of everything.
Moyo
- Voiced by: Neil Patrick Harris
A young male gorilla who challenges Tarzan for leadership.
- Expy: Very similar to Kerchak in many ways, including his hostility towards Tarzan/humans in general, and even has a similar character arc.
- Fatal Flaw: Impatience and stubbornness. Since he believes that, as a gorilla, he already knows what’s best for the family, doesn’t think his ideas through and won’t listen to anyone telling him otherwise. This immediately bites him when he leads the family into a tar pit, putting them at the mercy of Hista.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He becomes friends with Tarzan after they have to cooperate in a fight against Hista the python. He also realize he was wrong to make Tarzan have to choose a family when the Porters already are (since Jane was willing to risk her life to help the gorillas).
- Hero Antagonist: He opposes Tarzan because he believes that he would be a better leader, but his primary concern is the safety of the other gorillas.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his demeanour and blunt way of speaking, Moyo cares deeply for the gorilla family, and challenged Tarzan because he felt Tarzan’s divided loyalty between Jane and the gorillas was putting lives in danger. At the end of the episode, he accepts his mistakes and that Jane is also part of the family, and steps down as leader.
- The Native Rival: To Tarzan, whom he challenges for leadership of the family since he believes that, as a gorilla, he’ll be a better leader than the human Tarzan.
- Primal Chest-Pound: As an arrogant male gorilla, he does this very often.
Mangani
A mystical spirit resembling a silvery-white gorilla.
- Gentle Gorilla: He's not just gentle, but goes around healing the injured or sick.
- Healing Hands: He has the power to heal the injured.
- Light Is Good: He has silvery-white fur, resembling the moonlight, and is very benevolent.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His true nature is never explained. He does have healing powers, but it's possible to capture and cage him.
- He also seems to have a limited ability to hypnotize others, as he nearly had Philander release him before the doctor's cronies interrupted him.
- Mythology Gag: In the books, "mangani" was the name of the species of great apes that raised Tarzan.
- Nature Spirit: He is a benevolent spirit who wanders the jungle at night and heals injured animals or people.
Basuli
- Voiced by: Phil LaMarr
The son of Chief Kiwazi and the heir to the Waziri tribe.
- The Ace: Matches Tarzan in combat, agility and resourcefulness.
- Absolute Xenophobe: Downplayed, but he and his people are vary wary of strangers, especially Western people, because in all fairness most of them only come to the jungle to reap its resources and harm them (directly or not). That one particular group of men burnt down their village only adds to this. He does warm up to Tarzan and his family, though.
- The Dutiful Son: He clearly wants to do right by his people and is willing to prove himself to his father that he has earned the right to inherit his role as chief.
- Happily Married: He and his betrothed end up this way by "Tarzan and the Eagle's Feather".
- Nice Guy: Xenophobia aside, Basuli is a charming, caring and loyal man who loves his people and will defend his home to the end.
- The Rival: A friendly variation with Tarzan, as the two love to one-up each other.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Much like Tarzan, except he's an African native.
Kiwazi
- Voiced by: James Avery
The chief of the Waziri tribe who live in the mountains of the great jungle.
- Absolute Xenophobe: Downplayed. He shares his distrust of outsiders with his people, but he's willing to give them a fair chance to prove themselves.
- Authority Sounds Deep: He has a deep and gravelly voice befitting an African chief.
- Cool Old Guy: He's a wise and benevolent ruler, but he's also not frail and can kick your ass in a few swift moves if you threaten his people.
- The Leader: Of the Waziri tribe.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Kiwazi has shown lenience for a number of the more extreme aspects of Waziri culture. He's also not keen on taking extreme measures unless necessary and he's willing to give Tarzan and his family a chance to prove themselves, which they do.
Abigail Markham
- Voiced by: Nicolette Little
A young American girl and the only child of Bob Markham.
- Cheerful Child: She's a happy and bubbly little girl who loves to play and collect flowers.
- Children Are Innocent: She's a carefree girl who doesn't really understand all of what's going on around her, even when she's struck with the virus.
- The Cutie: She was clearly designed to be as cute as possible, likely to make her and Bob more sympathetic.
- Daddy's Girl: She loves and is very close to her father. Being an only child and his sole remaining family, it makes sense.
- Delicate and Sickly: She contracts the virus in the episode and becomes very close to dying from it. Her coming down with it is what spurs everyone to hurry and find the cure.
- Flower Motifs: She wears a summer themed dress and she's also the one to have the wildflower that's the key to the cure.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Jane and Tarzan, though more Jane than anyone.
- Nice Girl: She's a sweet and kind-hearted girl who bonds with Jane and Tarzan pretty quickly. Even Terk, who usually dislikes people coming to the jungle, can't help but like her and becomes serious about helping with the viral epidemic when she learns Abigail contracted it.
Animated TV series - Enemies
Histah
- Voiced by: Frank Welker (vocal effects)
A giant python that attacks Tarzan's gorilla family.
- Achilles' Heel: His poor eyesight.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Real African rock pythons are gold with brown markings, rather than red with black markings.
- Animals Not to Scale: He's much bigger than any real life snake living today. At his size, he's comparable to a Titanoboa (though it might be possible that he is inspired by the likes of the giant Congolese snake allegedly observed and photographed
by Belgian Air Force Colonel Remy Van Lierde and his companions in 1959). - Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He is indeed at least fifty feet long, and he rampages through the jungle searching for food.
- Deadly Hug: Naturally, being a python.
- Dirty Coward: Histah prefers opponents/prey who are at a clear disadvantage. The moment someone stands up to him, he resorts to surprise/sneak attacks or retreats.
- The Dreaded: Gorillas are deathly afraid of him, and no one can fight him evenly.
- Fangs Are Evil: He possesses large, scary-looking fangs. Despite being a non-venomous python.
- The Great Serpent: He is a giant python.
- It Can Think: Hista is shown to be a very cunning fighter, striking with his tail while his opponents are focused on his head. In addition, he deliberately taunts the trapped Moyo by snapping at him, then mockingly flicking his tongue in the gorilla's face.
- Killed Off for Real: One of the few villains to suffer from this, as Tarzan lures him to his death in a tar pit.
- Mythology Gag: In the Mangani language of the original stories, "Histah" was the word for "snake".
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: A giant vicious python with red scales and black markings.
- Shown Their Work: Histah is depicted with heat-seeking vision, which is based on the pit organ of real constrictor snakes. Which the heroes exploit to defeat him.
- Snakes Are Sinister: He's a terrifying predator and a major threat for the gorillas.
- Super-Persistent Predator: He terrorized Tarzan's gorilla family for weeks in the past, and pursues them to the tar pit in the hopes of an easy meal.
- Vein-o-Vision: He has heat-seeking vision (which is inspired by the pit organ of real snakes). This is also his main weakness.
- Would Hurt a Child: His first on-screen appearance has him nearly eat a baby gorilla before Moyo intervenes.
Queen La
- Voiced by: Diahann Carroll
Mystical queen of the Lost City of Opar. She wants Tarzan to be her mate.
- Adaptational Modesty: While in the show she wears quite a Stripperific outfit, it is actually down-played compared to her literary counterpart, as from the description given of the standard female Oparian attire in The Return of Tarzan, we can discern that La was bare-breasted.
- Adaptational Villainy: She became Tarzan's ally and banned human sacrifices in the book, while in the series, she is more evil and never becomes an ally to Tarzan (other than one abortive Enemy Mine scenario against La's rebellious leopardmen that falls apart when Tarzan realizes that La is more power-hungry and sinister, while the leopardmen only want their freedom).
- Animal Eyes: Queen La, being an evil leopard queen, has leopard-like eyes.
- Animal Motifs: Leopards. She commands an army of leopardmen, she decorates her palace with leopard skins, wears clothes trimmed with leopard fangs, carries a leopard-headed staff, and has cold, leopard-like eyes.
- Bad Boss: Especially in her debut episode, where she has a habit of disintegrating minions for no reason whatsoever other than they happen to be there when she's in a bad mood. One of the episodes deals with her Leopardmen getting fed up and revolting.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Sports a black and red bandeau top and skirt combo.
- Black Widow: She implied to Tarzan that he is not the first male to be the object of her advances, and the human skeletal remains chained in her catacombs she hinted at implies she had all her male love interests killed for displeasing her in the past.
- Dark Is Evil: She wears a black crop top, sarong and cape and is a villain.
- Evil Brit: While she's obviously not from Britain, she has the accent and is certainly a villain.
- Played straight when she briefly possessed Jane.
- Evil Sorcerer: She owns a magical staff by which she can control an army of leopardmen.
- Foil: To Jane. Both of them are beautiful women who are attracted to Tarzan, but while Jane is kind, caring and thoughtful, La is bad-tempered and possessive.
- Forced Transformation: One of her powers is to turn people into animals, or animals into humanoid monsters.
- Fountain of Youth: Her magic staff is implied to be this to her, as when Jane smashes it, La quickly begins to age until her body becomes dust.
- Fur Bikini: Her regular outfit is a black bikini decorated with leopard fangs.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: She's the only character who bears the "queen" title, and one of the most vile villains.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: In "Tarzan and The Return of La", La sends two giant stone warriors to finish off Tarzan, but she later possesses his body to attack Jane, and one of her warriors tries to attack her, confusing her for Tarzan.
- Hopeless Suitor: La is obsessed with Tarzan who is in love with Jane.
- Irony: While possessing Tarzan, she tells a cornered Jane that "she's trapped like a rat", soon she's forced to leave Tarzan's body and possess a rat to avoid being killed by one of her own warriors and a Waziri named Usula traps her in a brown bag, with Jane saying "trapped like a rat indeed."
- Lady of Black Magic: Queen and high priestess of Opar, and an evil sorceress.
- Magical Barefooter: One of the reasons why she goes barefoot could be that she needs contact with the ground for her magical powers to work. Either that, or it's just because she lives in the jungle.
- Ms. Fanservice: A seductive sorceress in a Stripperific outfit.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: La had the mindset if she killed off Jane, she'll have Tarzan to herself.
- Mystical White Hair: Unexplained in the show, but it's rumored that had the show continued, she would have been revealed as an Atlantean. This would have been fitting, considering her literary counterpart was also an Atlantean native.
- Occult Blue Eyes: She has light blue eyes and a practitioner in witchcraft.
- Older Than They Look: Usula reveals that La used forbidden magic to immortalize her spirit and the Waziri tribe has battled La for centuries.
- Ominous Opera Cape: She wears one over her Fur Bikini.
- Race Lift: From Atlantean to Waziri, but she looks more like the former than the latter. There's also rumors that, as far as the Disney Animated Canon is concerned, she indeed was an Atlantean. Though it's possible she's half-Waziri/half-Atlantean.
- Seven Deadly Sins
- Lust: She lusts after Tarzan and tries to force him to become her mate.
- Envy: She's jealous of Jane for being Tarzan's mate instead of her.
- Wrath: She loses her temper when things don't go her way.
- Pride: She gloats about her royal position in Opar and flaunts her superiority over others.
- Sloth: Her Leopard Man minions are often sent to do her dirty work.
- Greed and Gluttony: She's very power hungry, and whenever she wants something, she'll stop at nothing to obtain it.
- Slouch of Villainy: She lies on her throne very casually while Tantor presents her gifts as distraction.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: She's by far the most darkest villain that Tarzan ever faced.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: She finds Tarzan as the only mate worthy of her.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Wicked, vile, and white-haired.
- Yandere: She wants to either get Tarzan as her mate, or kill him.
Leopard Men
Half-leopard, half-human creatures in the service of Queen La.
- Cat Folk: Humanoid leopards.
- Cats Are Mean: They are humanoid leopards and enforcers for the villainous Queen La.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: They wear Loincloth, hoods and bracers, but are shirtless.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: They enlist the help of Jane so she can use Queen La's magic to return them to normal leopards.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The leopard men eventually have enough of Queen La's Bad Boss tendencies and rebel against her with the help of Jane.
- Mooks: Of Queen La.
- Mook Lieutenant: The one who led the rebellion against Queen La.
- Uplifted Animal: Revealed to be regular leopards, turned humanoid by Queen La's magic.
- The Voiceless: Despite being anthropomorphic, they do not speak and only communicate with growls and roars.
Mabaya
- Voiced by: Frank Welker (vocal effects)
A rogue elephant who has turned into a mindless monster that occasionally threatens Tarzan's gorilla family.
- Ax-Crazy: Completely mindless, he charges at everything he sees.
- The Berserker: Is a bloodthirsty, rampaging brute.
- Cruel Elephant: In complete contrast to Tantor and the other elephants.
- The Dreaded: He is this to the other elephants due to his bloodlust. When he first arrives in the jungle, he causes a mass panic of species alike.
- Ear Notch: His ears look torn with several holes in them.
- Evil Counterpart: To Tantor. Both of them are solitary male elephants, but while Tantor is a nice and somewhat cowardly fellow, Mabaya is a mindless, nonverbal, rampaging monster.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: In "The Missing Link", he ends up chasing away two gangsters brought to Africa by Philander to capture Tarzan.
- Face–Heel Turn: Was once a normal elephant, but went rogue and turned on his own herd.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Is it "Mbaya" or "Mabaya"?
- Incorrect Animal Noise: Strangely, most of his vocalizations are bear roars and growls, which is especially notable in his debut episode. Hardly a case of Rule of Scary, as elephants are well known for making some of the scariest and most powerful noises in the animal kingdom.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has red, pupil-less eyes.
- Red Is Violent: His eyes and skin are both red.
- Shown Their Work:
- Jabari's mother speculates that rogue elephants like Mabaya may be the result of developmental disorder, as many of them come from broken herds; this has basis in real life, as young male elephants that grow in the absence of adult males (e.g. as a result of natural disasters or poaching) tend to be prone to pathological aggression and violence.
- Furthermore, Mabaya's permanent state of rage appears to be an exaggerated version of the musth state, which is typically periodic, can last for 2-3 months at a time, and causes male elephants to become highly aggressive towards both fellow elephants - even juveniles - and other animals for the entire duration.
- The Speechless: While other elephant characters in the franchise are shown speaking, Mabaya never says a single word in either of his two appearances and only lets out roars and bellows. Most likely, his anger has reduced his mental state to the point where he can't speak.
- Uniformity Exception: He is missing half his right tusk.
- Unstoppable Rage: He's in a perpetual state of fury and always goes on a rampage.
- Would Hurt a Child: Shows no qualms about attacking Jabari, who barely comes up to his knee.
Professor Samuel T. Philander
- Voiced by: Craig Ferguson
An egotistical and amoral scientist, Professor Porter's academic rival.
- Adaptational Villainy: He was Professor Porter's friend in the book. Here, he is Porter's nemesis.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed. In his first appearance, he legitimately outdoes Prof. Porter, Jane and Tarzan, leaving them to die in Pelucidar while he gets all the photographic proof of its existence. Though they survive, he doesn't even care since he had what he came for... until he returns to England. It turns out that a monkey stole his camera and ruined all of his film, but neither he nor the heroes had any idea at the time, and the latter react as though he had legitimately beaten them. Really, it turned out to be a Pyrrhic Victory since thanks to said monkey, he winds up embarrassing himself at a public seminar when he presents nothing but photos of the monkey and its unmentionables up close.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite being the goofiest of the Rogues Gallery, he comes the closest to killing Tarzan, even moreso than Sabor or Clayton. It's only by the grace of Mangani, the Silver Ape with healing powers being in a cage near him, that Tarzan survives.
- Evil Counterpart: To Professor Porter. Both are British scientists, but Porter is motivated by curiosity towards the natural world and is honorable, whereas Philander is motivated by fame and glory - and is willing to do immoral acts Porter would never even think about.
- Glory Hound: His biggest character trait. His main motivation is to become a famous and acknowledged scientist - preferably more acknowledged than Porter.
- Laser-Guided Karma: First time we saw him in his debut, he was a professor and a lecturer in a university. After his humiliation, he was in debt to gangsters. And after that, he was a total wreck, all of it blaming Archimedes for his misfortune.
- Jerkass: He is a Glory Hound who doesn't shy away from immoral actions to advance his scientific reputation.
- Mad Scientist: After failing to present his discovery of living dinosaurs, he loses all his scientific credit, which drives him more and more crazy.
- Mysterious Middle Initial: It's unknown what the "T" in his name stands for.
- Never My Fault: Professor Philander always blames Professor Porter for his own misfortunes.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance is designed after the British comedian Terry-Thomas, including his trademark tooth gap.
- Stealing the Credit: Philander has a nasty habit of taking credit for Professor Porter's discoveries and exploits, and has done so since they were in their university days together. It's why the Professor hates him so much and the prime reason Philander even comes to Tarzan's jungle in the first place. He's apparently done this to the Professor since they were schoolboys.
- The Rival: The academic rival of Professor Porter.
Lieutenant Colonel Jean Staquait
- Voiced by: Jim Cummings
A cruel, ruthless colonel of the French Foreign Legion, he is one of the recurring antagonists of the show.
- Colonel Badass: He's a colonel, and not only one of the most competent fighters in the French Foreign Legion, but also one of the only men shown to be capable of fighting one-one-one with Tarzan for a period of time.
- Determinator: He will not stop until he can execute Hugo and Hooft. This became ultimately subverted when Dumont posed as a magistrate to put an end to Staquait's actions. Because of this, Staquait doesn't try anything else, considering the fact that since he tried to execute Tarzan, Hugo and Hooft without filing the proper documents and getting approval, it means that if he DOES go after them again, then he'll be exposed for breaking his own laws and stripped of his job. As such, he's forced to suck it up and let them go.
- Dirty Cop: A corrupt French Foreign lieutenant who doesn't take kindly to any types of insubordination; even willing to imprison and/or execute those without approval from higher-ups, which almost puts him in real trouble.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He wants to execute Hugo and Hooft for disobeying his order to burn down a village of innocent people.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Defied. He knows Tarzan will always fight to the bitter end, but not if it meant his friends being harmed.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Jim Cummings gives him a deep, guttural voice.
- French Jerk: Unlike Dumont, Staquait is outright evil.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar over one of his eyes which only emphasizes how scary he is.
- I Am the Noun: When Jane tells him he's breaking the law by attempting to execute Tarzan, Hugo and Hooft, he angrily declares: "Ridiculous! I am the law!"
- Icy Blue Eyes: Colonel Staquait has blue eyes and is a ruthless Sadist.
- Moral Myopia: He considers the idea of insubordination to be a capital offense, and the idea of sparing innocent women and children to be utter nonsense. This was shown when he tried to have Hugo and Hooft executed for refusing his order to burn down a village full of women and children.
- Staquait: When a soldier is given an order, HE FOLLOWS IT! He doesn't carry on about women and children!
- Noble Demon: He may be a draconian and brutal soldier, but he is consistent and rigid when following his own rules and will not break them for circumstances of aggression or revenge. After Hugo and Hooft were supposedly killed from falling off a cliff, he immediately decided to leave instead of having Tarzan killed for attacking him.
- No Social Skills: Hugo zings him as a man with an evil sneer and poor people skills.
- Punny Name: His name is pronounced identically to “stockade,” as in a military prison.
- Reused Character Design: He looks a lot like Jafar in a military uniform instead of a sorcerer outfit. Their personalities, however, are vastly different.
- Sadist: He seems to enjoy torturing his prisoners at Cape Doom.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: He is in control of Cape Doom where he has pleasure in tormenting the prisoners, and would execute Tarzan without any permission from the Magistrate. Lucky that Dumont showed up, disguised as the Magistrate, to stop him from doing so.
- Taught by Experience: In his second appearance, he refers to Tarzan as an unknown variable during his first visit to the jungle, and that he will be ready for him this time. He proves it a few times over.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Tarzan, Hugo, and Hooft slip through his fingers for the last time and rub that in his face, he screams in a violent rage.
- Villainous Cheekbones: He has prominent cheekbones and is a cruel military commander.
- Wardens Are Evil: A strong textbook case, as he forces prisoners to hard labor and punishes those for little to no reasons; such as throwing Tarzan into solitary confinement for getting into a fight with another prisoner. He even does the same to another prisoner after the latter passed out from mere exhaustion due to scorching heat, to which Staquait considered as 'pure laziness'.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He sincerely thinks that he’s doing the right thing, by enforcing the law and giving criminals what they deserve, despite his inhumanly brutal tactics, penchant for Disproportionate Retribution, and All Crimes Are Equal attitude (like trying to have Hugo and Hooft executed for mere insubordination).
Tublat
- Voiced by: Keith David
An enormous male gorilla with an uncontrollable temper, Tublat was once part of Kerchak's gorilla family, but he was exiled for his violent tendencies. He seeks revenge since then.
- Adaptational Villainy: If ones goes by the name. Tublat was Kala's mate and Tarzan's unfriendly father figure in the book (much like Kerchak in the movie). While Tublat was hostile with Tarzan in the book too, he wasn't the monster he is in the show, having more or less exchanged names with Kerchak.
- Ascended Extra: In Tarzan of the Apes, Tublat was a minor antagonist. In this series, Tublat is one of the Big Three of Tarzan's Rogues Gallery.
- Beard of Evil: He has a tuft of hair on his chin resembling a beard.
- Blood Knight: In Kala's words, he would get into fights "for any reason and with anyone." He also relishes the idea of fighting with Kerchak.
- Kerchak: Tublat! Get away from him.Tublat: Whatever you say, Kerchak. (Throws the ape he has in a headlock away from him) I was looking for a bigger challenge anyway.
- Composite Character: Of the book's Tublat (his name) and Kerchak (personality).
- Dark Is Evil: His fur is almost completely black, unlike the rest of the gorillas who are various shades of grey or brown.
- The Dreaded: The other gorillas fear him, due to his unusually vicious and sociopathic nature. He's so infamous that they even know him by his footprint alone.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kerchak. Both of them are silverback gorillas who are antagonistic towards Tarzan, but while Kerchak is a Hero Antagonist who only attacks outsiders to protect his family and only mistrusts Tarzan because he's a human, Tublat is a violent Killer Gorilla who terrorizes even his own family and attempts to outright kill Tarzan several times over the show's run.
- Evil Is Bigger: He's bigger and stronger than any ape shown (except for Kerchak) and as evil as he is big.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His growling voice is provided by Keith David.
- Fangs Are Evil: He has the largest fangs out of all gorilla characters. He shows them a lot too when he's roaring or snarling.
- Improvised Weapon: In his first appearance, Tublat would often grab the nearest object to use as a weapon rather than fight with his bare hands, as most of the Gorillas in this show tend to do. In his fight with Kerchak, it was a nearby tree branch. With Tarzan, he would use stalactites.
- I Shall Return: When Kerchak drives him out of the family, he invokes this.
- Tublat: You won't live forever Kerchak. This tribe will be mine!
- Killer Gorilla: The only gorilla character in the show that plays this trope straight. He's an enormous and senselessly violent ape who, considering the animal bones littering his cave, may have Ascended to Carnivorism.
- Made of Iron: His durability reaches into Made of Diamond territory. He's survived tangles with Kerchak in the past, having his nose broken, being thrown off a cliff into a raging river, pummeled by a group of gorillas, getting blasted by dynamite, and lived through falling from a moving train before being crushed by several tons of coal and tree logs unscathed.
- Malicious Misnaming: He always refers to Tarzan as a "hairless runt".
- Mythology Gag: As a child, Tarzan broke Tublat's nose by hurling a coconut at it. The meaning of his name in the Mangani language of the books was 'Broken Nose'.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Implied with Tublat's statement that Kerchak would not live forever, suggesting he was the latter's junior. By the time of the present however, he is the elder of Kerchak's successor and adoptive son Tarzan.
- Primal Chest-Pound: He pounds his chest while letting out a Victorious Roar when he believes he has defeated Tarzan. He's a gorilla after all.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed. Only one of Tublat's eyes are red, but he's still a dangerous and violent antagonist.
- Red Right Hand: He misses a toe on one of his feet. He also has heterochromia with black iris in his left eye and red iris in his right eye.
- The Rival: To Kerchak in the flashback scenes.
- Skyward Scream: Whenever Tarzan defeats him.
- Spared by the Adaptation: At no point does Tarzan ever kill him nor does he get killed off.
- Token Evil Teammate: Back when he was part of Kerchak's troop, he was the only known Killer Gorilla out of the normally peaceful gorillas.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After Tarzan saves him from a pair of poachers, he attempts to kill Tarzan in change.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Downplayed. In the books, Tublat was Kala's mate and Tarzan's unfriendly adoptive father. Both of these roles were taken by Kerchak in the Disney adaptation.
- Would Hurt a Child: When Tarzan breaks his nose with a coconut in Kala's flashback, he angrily jumps toward him with clear intent to kill Tarzan.
- Tublat: You hairless RUNT! YOU BROKE MY NOSE!
- You Can't Go Home Again: It's implied that despite Tublat's aggression continually driving him to attack the other members of the tribe, Kerchak only really slapped him back down again as punishment time and again. However, it's when Tublat takes a cheap shot at Kerchak by slugging him with a tree branch after saying "uncle," and then tries to go after Tarzan when he stopped him from finishing off Kerchak that the silverback finally decides the family has had enough and exiles Tublat.
- Kerchak: (Pounds his chest and lets out a roar) Tublat, you're no longer part of this family. LEAVE...and never return.
Lady Waltham
- Voiced by: Amanda Donahue
Clayton's sister, who seeks revenge against Tarzan for "murdering" her brother.
- Anti-Villain: Is ultimately misguided rather than evil, and does genuinely let it go after realizing that it was Clayton's own cruelty and greed that destroyed him.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: She's a cunning, vengeful noblewoman.
- Avenging the Villain: Seeks to make Tarzan suffer like she did. She gets over it when Tarzan saves her even after she endangered his loved ones and poisoned him.
- Evil Brit: She is an English lady, and a vengeful villain.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: She's not a bad person (see Anti-Villain above) and loved her brother deeply. However, she didn't seem to realize just how much of an evil bastard Clayton actually was.
- Females Are More Innocent: She's just as capable of doing a bunch of questionable stuff like her brother Clayton, only that she's much more openly humane than he ever was, especially since her vengeance towards Tarzan is a misguided one (as well as the fact that she later felt remorseful about her actions).
- Heel–Face Turn: Pulls one after Tarzan saves her and she discovers that Clayton was responsible for his own death.
- I Lied: She sends Tarzan to climb up a mountain for the antidote to his poison when really it is on her person the whole time.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Tarzan saves her even after everything she's done, she finally realizes that Tarzan was telling the truth about Clayton's death being an accident and deeply regrets her actions. Tarzan naturally forgives her.
- Smug Snake: Once she shows her true colors, she takes delight in rubbing it into Tarzan's face how he fell for her plan and how he'll feel the same pain she did when Clayton died.
- Villainous BSoD: After Tarzan saves her life she realizes that she's the one who's being despicable and is overcome with guilt.
- Villainous Rescue: Saves Tarzan's life after he saves her.
Bob Markham
- Voiced by: Mark Harmon
An American businessman who starts a logging company in the jungle to provide for his daughter Abigail.
- Anti-Villain: Type IV. Markham isn't really evil at all and is very sympathetic, but he's willing to destroy the jungle and its resources if it means his lumber trade will thrive. And even then, he's only doing so because he's sunk every penny into the business and needs it to work or else he'll be bankrupt. In fact, he's the only antagonist in the series Tarzan was willing to give some of the jungle to.
- Benevolent Boss: His small team of lumberjacks all clearly like and respect him. When the outbreak occurs, he's more concerned with their wellbeing than he is the production of his lumber.
- Doting Parent: He's a loving father to Abigail, the only family he has left.
- Heel–Face Turn: While never really a bad person, he sees the error of his ways and helps Tarzan restore the parts of the jungle he and his crew demolished. He also vows to find a more eco-friendly means of providing for his loved ones.
- The Lost Lenore: When having tea with Tarzan and his family, he mentions it's been three years since his wife died and is evidently still mourning her, especially now that he has to raise Abigail alone.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He has this reaction when they arrive at the field with the wildflowers, only to find his logging crew has destroyed any trace of them.
- Nice Guy: His destructive business and stubbornness aside, Bob is a kind, loving and respectable gentleman who simply wants to provide for his daughter. It's quite telling that Tarzan, Jane and Archimedes take to him and his daughter well enough to keep his logging business going (despite their environmentalism) and readily agree to help him when the outbreak occurs.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Thankfully subverted. His logging company is responsible for unearthing the microbes that caused the virus outbreak. When the Professor discovers a cure and tasks he and Tarzan with collecting the ingrediants, they discover to their horror the final ingredient was a special breed of flowers that only grew by the river bank. Unfortunately, Markham's crew had already dug the whole area up and destroyed all the flowers. However, his daughter just happened to have collected the last surviving flower, which they use to create the cure and use its seeds to restore the flower population.
Zutho
- Voiced by: Jason Alexander
A shady, conniving mandrill whom Tarzan met as a child, and who turns up after twenty years to collect on a debt Tarzan owes him.
- Affably Evil: Talks to Tarzan like an old friend, but is quick to show his true colors when he doesn't get his own way.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He called in the moral debt on Tarzan for the sole purpose of chasing off some howler monkeys (in Africa) that were keeping him awake at night.
- Dirty Coward: Has no problem bullying Tarzan due to holding the secret over his head, but when confronted by a furious Kala, it's his turn to beg.
- Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. Zutho really did believe that he had Tarzan wrapped around his finger, and that Tarzan wouldn't have the spine to stand up to him or confess to starting the fire. When Tarzan does, and when Kala forgives her son for the mistake, neither of which the mandrill expects, his entire plan falls apart.
- Jerkass: Has no qualms about forcing a moral debt on a child, making Tarzan owe him for what was basically an accident.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He's the one who ends up getting scolded by Kala after Tarzan is forgiven for his mistake.
- Secret-Keeper: When Tarzan was a child, he accidentally started a fire while trying to teach Zutho and his mandrill friends how to make spears. Seeing an opportunity, Zutho agreed to keep the secret, but warned Tarzan that he owed him and that he could come back to collect someday.
Sheeta and Nuru
A pair of vicious panthers that Tarzan will battle on occasion throughout the series.
- Artistic License – Biology: Besides being implied to be a mated couple, they are also frequently shown banding together with other leopards. This is entirely fictional, as real-life leopards are solitary animals and only come together while mating.
- Cats Are Mean: They are dangerous and ferocious black panthers.
- Dark Is Evil: They have black fur and are recurring foes to Tarzan.
- Mythology Gag: "Sheeta" was the apes' term for a leopard in the original novels.
- Panthera Awesome: Both of them are ferocious panthers.
- Punch-Clock Villain: While they are dangerous and will menace Tarzan and friends if they cross paths, they are ultimately just predators doing what predators do, and are nowhere near as vicious and mindlessly relentless as Sabor.
- Shown Their Work: The show acknowledges that black panthers are just melanistic leopards. Highlighted by Nuru and Sheeta often hunting together with other, spotted leopards.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Played straight in their debut in "The British Invasion", where they go out of their way to pursue Jane and her friends through the jungle. Averted for the rest of the series, where they realistically give up if their prey puts up too much of a fight. Given that they are fighting Tarzan, this is a given.
- Unholy Matrimony: Implied to be a mated pair.
- Villainous Valor: The two are willing to continue attacking humans even while being shot at.
Dinosaurs
A population of Living Dinosaurs which Inhabit an underground ecosystem beneath the African jungles that the gorillas call Pelucidar.
Velociraptor
A pack of Velociraptors that menaced Tarzan and an individual that later managed to escape Pelucidar and rampaged through the jungle.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Just to show how dangerous they are, the one that escaped Pelucidar killed a Leopard.
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: In their first appearance, they were shown to be smart enough to use their claws to climb trees and cut a vine Tarzan was using. When they return in the Tarzan and the Beast from Below, not only did one manage to use the rope the main characters left behind from their first visit to Pelucidar to escape, but also Terk was able to convince a pack of them not to attack her and Tarzan. While Velociraptor was thought to have been smart for dinosaurs, the idea they could perform such feats and communicate with other species is something more in line with Jurassic Park/Jurassic World than real-life.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Velociraptor was only found in Mongolia.
- Raptor Attack: They are clearly modeled after the velociraptors in Jurassic Park as they are featherless and man-sized. One could possibly justify their differences from the real-life animal as being a case of Speculative Biology from 65 million years of continued evolution.
Tyrannosaurus rex
A female Tyrannosaurs rex who pursued Tarzan, Jane, the Professor and Philander after the Professor took one of her eggs.
- Androcles' Lion: Heavily averted. After spending much of the episode hunting the group for stealing one of her eggs, Professor Porter opts to return her newly-hatched baby to her to break up the fight between her and Tarzan. Mother and child share a tender reunion and Porter assures the group that she will no longer trouble them... and then she angrily roars at them and tries to kill them all anyway. Even her baby mimics her in chasing the group as they escape!
- Mama Bear: Nothing will stop her if any unfortunate creature tries to steal one of her eggs.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Tyrannosaurus rex was a North American species so how it ended up in Africa is anyone’s guess, it would have made more sense to have replaced it with Carcharodontosaurus which is a Theropod species that was actually discovered in Africa.
- Monster Is a Mommy: She relentlessly pursues the main characters to reclaim her egg.
- Non-Malicious Monster: She is not evil, just a parent trying to protect her young.
- Red Is Violent: She is covered in red scales, and is a vicious T. rex.
- Terrifying Tyrannosaur: It is one of the few enemies that Tarzan, who has defeated rogue elephants and giant snakes, could not overpower and the best he could do was briefly distract it.
Triceratops
An aggressive Triceratops that chased after Tarzan until it was scared away by Jane igniting a methane geyser.
- Always a Bigger Fish: While Tarzan is being chased by a pair of raptors he falls on the animal's head. Its angry roar causes the two carnivores to immediately retreat.
- Herbivores Are Friendly: Averted, it may be a herbivore but it is depicted as no less dangerous or aggressive than the carnivores.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Like T. rex, Triceratops are from North America not Africa.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: It has blood-red eyes that match its aggressive temper.
- Temper-Ceratops: It is very aggressive to any creature that comes close.
Robert "Bobby" Candler
- The Ace: He's handsome, charismatic, pretty much Tarzan's equal in skill and - unlike Tarzan - is highly educated. Terk even lampshades this.
- Ace Pilot: His introductory scene shows him easily outclassing his rival in flight and he shoots him down, though he does end up crashing himself.
- Broken Pedestal: Jane and Archimedes are clearly devestated by his betrayal and Jane woefully states Tarzan was right not to trust him.
- Childhood Friends: He and Jane grew up together and were neighbours back in London.
- Classy Cane: Which has a strong metal hook to it that doubles as his main weapon.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite using her to get the British Intelligence off his trail, he genuinely cares for Jane and cannot bring himself to run away from her when she's in mortal danger even when he can make a clean getaway and rescues her at the cost of his escape, leading to his capture and arrest.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's jovial and has tons of British charm and flair. but he's also a traitor to his country and only came to Africa to get his music box containing his intel back from Jane. Tarzan even lampshades how untrustworthy he finds him.Tarzan: I don't trust him. When I look into his eyes... it's like Sabor is looking back.
- Greed: He readily admits that he is willing to sell out his country to foreign enemies if it will make him rich.
- Noble Demon: Bobby does have a code of honour and noble qualities. Tarzan comforts a distraught Jane by telling her that for all his deeds and treachery, he came back to save Jane and willingly allowed himself to be captured for her sake (even though he had an easy out), which proves that there is still good in him deep down.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: He's introduced as a calm, confident and all-round gentleman from London who loves cricket and has a typical British charisma and jovial demeanour.
- Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Bobby is actually a double agent who is feeding secrets and information to Britain's enemies for monetary gain. Jane is visibly shocked and disgusted to learn this.
- Worthy Opponent: He ends the episode by confirming that while he still believes there's no trouble he can't handle, Tarzan is "the possible exception".
Johannes Niels and Merkus
- Voiced by: John O'Hurley and Jim Cummings
- Bullying a Dragon: Merkus taunts Tublat as the giant ape is locked in a cage, something even Tarzan doesn't take well.
- Evil Redhead / Fiery Redhead: Merkus has red hair and is more hot-blooded than his partner.
- Evil vs. Evil: Their second appearance leads to Tublat attacking them, only to be trapped, with the duo planning to take him on tour or kill him if he doesn't cooperate.
- Fat and Skinny: Niels is the taller and thinner of the two while Merkus is shorter and heavier built.
- Never My Fault: Merkus blames Tarzan for making him drop the diamonds in the lava, when they really slipped out of his hands.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Niels is calmer and more level-headed while Merkus is paranoid and violent. This is best demonstrated when Merkus attempts to shoot Tarzan while his back is turned, only for Niels to stop him until they have found diamonds.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Tarzan saves the pair from crocodiles, a lava flow and an angry Tublat, but they never show him gratitude for any of this.
