Warm-Hearted Walrus

Definitely nicer than the Eggman.^note Image by E-122-Psi.

"That walrus saved my life. Maybe I misjudged the toothy guy."

— Aardvark, Pink Panther and Pals, "Ant-Arctic"

Walruses don't seem to have a clear-cut stereotype of their own. While it's usually agreed that walrus characters should be big, fat, and lazy, their moral standing tends to vary. While some works portray walruses as villains, this page is for walruses who are depicted more positively.

There are quite a few reasons why they are portrayed this way. Most notably, their big, blubbery appearance with their sleepy eyes seem to indicate Big Fun or Gentle Giants, in the same vein as hippos, giraffes and bears. It helps that Real Life walruses are far less dangerous to humans than those other animals are, preferring to slip away rather than attack when threatened.^note However, people being killed by walruses who become aggressive is not unknown, after all adults are tremendously heavy and can throw their weight around if they so choose, so most animal experts advise that they should be kept at a distance

Another factor in their portrayal as heroes may have something to do with the fact that they are related to seals, which are almost universally loved due to their cuteness and playfulness. Walruses may be seen in a similar way, albeit more placid and less energetic.

In works that do not aim for realism, Warm-Hearted Walruses tend to differ in physical appearance from real ones. For one thing, they may be portrayed as smaller and softer-looking, with much smoother skin. Their most notable features, the tusks, are much smaller and rounded than they would be in real life. Instead of a walrus' dull pinkish-brown skin, a friendly walrus is given a brighter, more lively color like blue or purple.

May overlap with Sluggish Seal. Compare Sweet Seal, Playful Otter, and Huggy, Huggy Hippos. Contrast Wily Walrus. Unrelated to The Walrus Was Paul.

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Examples:

Advertising

• This commercial for Heinz Baked Beans (animated by Eric Goldberg) features an absolutely adorable family of walruses, with a young walrus named Walter and his mother visiting Walter's grandpa in his lighthouse. Interestingly, only the grandpa walrus has tusks, with Walter and the mother lacking them. This is accurate for Walter, as walruses are born without tusks, but not for the mother, because adult female walruses have tusks too.

Anime & Manga

• In both Digimon Adventure and its reboot, the perpetually kind and supportive Gomamon digivolves into the walrus-like Ikkakumon and Zudomon without any changes to his personality. Digimon Adventure tri. completes the evolution line with Vikemon, who combines Ikkakumon's features with Zudomon's humanoid build to create a very fluffy walrus-man.
• Played with in Odd Taxi. The main character is a walrus, but he is mostly emotionless and is a big Deadpan Snarker.
• Seiuchin/Wally Tusket in Ultimate Muscle is Mantarou's best friend, a nice guy all around, and a Small Steps Hero.

Comic Books

• In the Marvel Comics miniseries Rocket Raccoon, Rocket lives on a World of Funny Animals, and his heroic sidekick is a walrus named Wal Rus.

Fan Works

• In The Warcrafter the protagonist can assume any druid form, including the aquatic walrus form. On a whim, he decides to tie a beach towel around said forms neck, paint a white "W" on its chest, and go into battle against thugs using nothing more than the fact that he weighs upwards of a ton. The public promptly dubs him Wonder Walrus.

Film — Animated

• Dash, the walrus from The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is a kind-hearted simpleton, pretty much the sea mammal version of Pumbaa.
• Grandpa Walrus from Mother for a Little Mammoth is a kind Cool Old Guy who tells the orphaned baby mammoth that he has heard of animals who look like mammoths living in Africa, and offers to send the baby mammoth there on an ice floe. Upon arriving in Africa, the mammoth gets Happily Adopted by a she-elephant.
• In The Sword in the Stone, it is the good Merlin, not the evil Madam Mim, who turns into a walrus during the wizard duel.

Film — Live-Action

• In Elf, a walrus is among the cutesy animated North Pole animals. He cries when Buddy leaves the North Pole, and has to be comforted by Arctic Puffin.
• In Tusk (2014), the villain is a lunatic who believes deeply in this trope due to a walrus saving his life once, which coupled with a horrifically traumatic past leads him to believe that walruses are inherently better than humans. This leads him to attempt to surgically transform various unlucky individuals into walruses with very questionable results.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: One of young Rocket's friends is Teefs, a kindly Walrus with near-human intelligence thanks to the High Evolutionary's horrific experiments.

Literature

• The children's book Walpole tells the story of the titular walrus, who is very warm-hearted, even turning down the position of leader (initially) because he wants to take care of orphaned walrus pups.
• The walrus in "The White Seal" from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a respected elder across the ocean. While regarded as ugly, though not as much as the Steller's Sea Cow, his wisdom is widely sought and the protagonist seeks his advice to find said reclusive sea cow.
• Wild Cards: Invoked by Jube the Walrus. An alien masquerading as a joker, Jube uses his resemblance to a walrus to create a lovable and trustworthy personality and ingratiate himself into joker society.

Tabletop Games

• The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition module Rime of the Frostmaiden has one encounter where the party meets a talking walrus who gives them a magic potion of cold resistance, then leaves. It's very much a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment.

Toys

• Wilfred Walrus from the Fabuland line by LEGO is a grizzled sea captain who gladly gives the other characters a boat ride.

Video Games

• Animal Crossing's Wendell is a friendly walrus who loves art, and travels far and wide selling his artwork. When he comes to the player's town, he is so worn out and hungry that he will gladly give you patterns (used to decorate clothes, walls, and other objects) in exchange for some food!
• Banjo-Kazooie: In the first game, a walrus is among the things that Banjo can transform into. This transformation is found in Freezeezy Peak and is necessary to interact with another walrus named Wozza, who is terrified of bears, and will panic and retreat if Banjo meets him as a bear. But Wozza is lonely, and only wants to be friends with another walrus, so if you meet him in walrus form, he'll invite you into his cave and give you items.
• Downplayed in the DLC expansion for A Hat in Time "Seal the Deal", which introduces the walrus captain of the cruise ship Hat Kid gets on. Gruff and grumpy at times, often complaining about the his seal staff's incompetence, he's nonetheless helpful in helping Hat Kid collect Time Pieces (provided that she helps out with carrying out tasks on the ship). Played straight in his Rift storybook, where he started off as a friendly and optimistic up-and-coming captain, but fell in a deep depression after his mentor died at sea.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild introduces the Sand Seals, desert-based fruit-eating walruses that the Gerudo use to pull them across the sands of the Gerudo Desert. The most notable among them is Patricia, a pet Sand Seal belonging to the Gerudo leader Riju who is also a Pungeon Master if translations of her walrus-speak are any indication.
• A Short Hike has Bill, a walrus NPC who loves fishing. He acts like a mild-mannered old man, and will gladly teach the player how to fish.
• Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves has the walrus McSweeney, former Big Guy of Mr. Cooper (Sly's father)'s gang of Lovable Rogues. He puts on a tough appearance, but once he realizes who Sly is, he turns into a big old softy.

Web Original

• Zig-zagged with Lolrus, whose personality and appearance vary Depending on the Writer. In the original picture, he was portrayed as a lovable elephant seal obsessed with his favorite bucket (or as he calls it, "bukkit"). Whether or not a Lolrus picture is of an actual walrus, the character is still usually portrayed as a benevolent creature looking for bukkits. However, there are some pictures that portray him as being more violent, averting this trope.
• In Vinesauce Tomodachi Life, Walrus the walrus is portrayed as an easygoing buddy who loves everyone. While Vinny himself disliked him at first, he warmed up to Walrus later on.
• FilmCow's "The Walrus Song" features a cute little walrus wearing a bow. The poor thing is traumatized when his owner suddenly reveals that he's been feeding him walrus meat.

Western Animation

• In DuckTales (2017), the mascot of Funso's Fun Zone, a playhouse/restaurant is a big, friendly walrus. Subverted when the Beagle Boys steal the mascot costume and wear it when they kidnap the triplets and Webby. Then subverted again when it's revealed that the mascot is actually the Phantom Blot, a master criminal working for F.O.W.L., an international terrorist organization.
• Middlemost Post: Despite never speaking, Russell is a friendly walrus who routinely helps out her owners in delivering mail.
• The Mr. Magoo cartoon "Fuddy Duddy Buddy" has Magoo mistake a walrus from the zoo for his old friend Bottomley and take him out for a game of tennis. When a detective takes the walrus back, Magoo is at first disheartened at the revelation, but then decides that "I don't care if he is a walrus. I like him!" At the end, Magoo is having dinner with the walrus, while Bottomley has somehow taken the walrus' place in the zoo.
• Noah's Island: The Problem Walrus is wise and serves as the Island's counsellor.
• PAW Patrol has Wally the Walrus, Captain Turbot's Loyal Animal Companion.
• Pink Panther and Pals: In Ant-Arctic, when Aardvark follows Ant to Antarctica, he runs into a walrus (yes, in Antarctica) who is lonely and wants a friend. The walrus sees Aardvark as a new friend and does all sorts of nice things for him, including playing games, making panckaes, and even writing him a poem. Although the walrus is overbearing, he is genuinely trying to be nice. In the end, the walrus saves Aardvark from a hungry orca. Aardvark (who has seen the walrus as nothing but an annoyance up to this point) admits that maybe the walrus isn't so bad after all, though he changes back to being annoyed when he realizes that he's now trapped on a small iceberg with the walrus, who is still eagerly trying to be his friend.
• Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons:
  • In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, the president of Mobius is Henry Walrus, a well-respected walrus.
  • In Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Rotor the Walrus is a friendly Gadgeteer Genius and a huge help to the heroic Freedom Fighters.
  • Zig-zagged with Lady Walrus from Sonic Boom. Most of the time, she is a bit of a snob, but otherwise a good person who is concerned for her baby's safety. She has done some morally ambiguous acts, but never on her own. When she acts more obnoxious than usual, it's mainly because all the townspeople are.
• Chumley the Walrus from Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is the stalwart sidekick to the motivated penguin Tennessee. Though he speaks with a Simpleton Voice, he's remarkably competent once he's told what to do, and despite being among the largest characters in the series, he's very much a Gentle Giant.
• In We Wish You A Merry Walrus, an animated Christmas special based on Club Penguin, the Merry Walrus is kind and generous, and is essentially the Funny Animal version of Santa Claus.

Real Life

• Walruses have relatively complicated (and from human perspective, adorable) courtship rituals, including making doe eyes at each other and clapping their flippers. Walruses in captivity have been known to court their human handlers and visitors.
• While still powerful animals and should be given space, walruses are probably the Gentle Giant amongst Carnivorans. The only Carnivorans who are larger are elephant seals who can be far more aggressive and the next smaller of the family are leopard seals and large sea lions which can be even worse. Wild walruses are usually ambivalent towards humans or move away if they get close.
• Walrus mothers form intensely close bonds with their babies, to the point that they will often stay close long after reaching adulthood.

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