Characters / Dumbo

The characters from Dumbo.

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Titular Character

Jumbo Jr. "Dumbo"

Voiced by: Stan Freberg (1954 album Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party), Frank Welker (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Katie Leigh (Dumbo's Circus)

The titular protagonist with huge ears.

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• Adaptation Name Change: In the original story he was named "Jumbo" because the size of his ears was taken to mean he would be "a regular Jumbo." In the film he is named "Jumbo Junior" on the grounds that Jumbo was his father's name.
• All of the Other Reindeer: The predicator before the Trope Namer, all the other elephants ostracize Dumbo on the account of his large ears.
• Bully Magnet: First Disney example. Dumbo is bullied and made fun of for his big ears by most people he meets, including a big-eared kid.
• Butt-Monkey: One of the most notable examples from Disney and the whole point of the movie. This was clearly portrayed in a sad, cruel way.
• Children Are Innocent: To the extreme, since he's so young. He doesn't even understand when others are laughing at him.
• Cute Giant: As he's a baby elephant. He's small next to the adults but is still a very large animal.
• Cute Mute: He can make an adorable trumpeting sound when he's happy, but he never says a word in the entire film; he just looks mournful or cheerful when appropriate.
• The Cutie: Big ears or not, there is no doubt saying that he is an adorable little elephant.
• Disappeared Dad: Dumbo's full name is "Jumbo Jr." and his mother sounds wistful when she reveals this, but that's the extent we know of him. The cancelled Dumbo II confirmed that Jumbo Sr. is dead and early concept art depicts him as an African elephant meaning Dumbo is a hybrid.
• The Dog Bites Back: Near the end there's a scene where he finally takes revenge on his tormentors, including the clowns, the Ringmaster, and the adult elephants, save for his mother of course.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Through no fault of his own he is constantly mocked and ridiculed for his especially large ears, and deprived of his mother's company when she shields him from his tormentors. But when Timothy comes to his rescue, Dumbo finally rises above the cruel treatment he is subjected to and finally earns the respect of the masses.
• Ears as Hair: Before he tries to participate in the pachyderm pyramid trick, Dumbo's ears are tied above his head so he won't stumble on them. Guess what happens while he's running out to the springboard.
• Ear Wings: One of the most famous examples.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Dumbo". The other elephants call him this to mock him but it sticks and everyone ends up calling him that.
• Flight: His ears which have been the source of jeers throughout the movie also allow him to fly when he flaps them. With this extraordinary power, Dumbo reaches stardom.
• Hidden Depths: Besides the whole "ears as wings" deal, he's also pretty adept at exploiting Toon Physics in blowing bubbles. Given that he was doing it while drunk, though, this instance may edge into Idiot Savant territory.
• Honorable Elephant: Dumbo is playful but never malicious.
• Iconic Item: His clown hat and collar. He only wears them for 20 minutes total in the latter half of the film, which is about a third of the movie overall, and they're gone by the final scenes. But thanks to being prominently featured in all the marketing, including almost all of the film's posters and all the home video covers, they ended up being a distinctive part of his look.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: He has big baby-blue eyes.
• Insult Backfire: The matriarch elephants call him "Dumbo" to rile up Mrs. Jumbo. No one else (even Dumbo himself) seem to catch onto the demeaning context and refers to him by that name affectionately.
• Leitmotif: A whimsical little waltzy phrase, perhaps most easily heard during the bath scene.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's called Jumbo Jr. after the famous circus elephant renewed for both his size and dying when he was hit by a steam locomotive. The movie implies that Jumbo may have been his father.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His name is actually Jumbo Jr.
• Protagonist Title: He's the main character and the movie is named after him.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: A cute little elephant with Innocent Blue Eyes.
• The Speechless: An example of a mute protagonist, which is justified because he's a baby. It helps that he's particularly expressive and has a talkative friend.
• Suddenly Voiced:
  • The 1954 record and read-along book Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party marked the first time Dumbo was given a speaking role.
  • The 1980s series Dumbo's Circus marked the second time Dumbo is heard speaking.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His incident on the springboard during the formation of the pachyderm pyramid. It proves to be a harrowing accident for all the elephants involved and leads to the destruction of the circus tent, and poor Dumbo never meant for any of it to happen.

Allies

Timothy Q. Mouse

Voiced by: Edward Brophy, Corey Burton (House of Mouse), Chris Edgerly (Disneyland, DVD); Roger Carel (European French dub); Luis Bayardo (Latin American Spanish dub); Bern Holm (1946 Swedish dub), Jan Malmsjö (1972 Swedish redub), Anders Öjebo (1996 Swedish redub)

A mouse that becomes Dumbo's constant and only friend.

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• All There in the Manual: The Casey Jr. Circus Train and a read-along LP told from his perspective suggests that he has been in the circus for quite a while. He even knows Casey Jr. personally, though this is only indicated by some storybooks. However, he does whistle the locomotive's theme song in one scene.
• American Accents: Brophy's previous film credits were mainly gangster films, and he speaks with a very distinctive Brooklyn accent.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't react well when Dandy Crow calls him "Brother Rat".
• Beware the Nice Ones: Just like Mrs. Jumbo, Timothy will not hesitate to defend Dumbo when someone picks on the little elephant. However, his method is much different.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Dumbo. Of course, being a mouse, the mouse is smaller, but Dumbo is just a baby and Timothy is very protective of him.
• Brooklyn Rage: Downplayed. He has a thick Brooklyn accent and while not particularly brash, he's still willing to defend Dumbo at all costs. The only time he really loses it is when he tells off the crows for what he thinks is them making fun of Dumbo.
• Bully Hunter: He will give a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to whoever tries to bully Dumbo (at least the animal characters, he never directly talks to humans).
• Canon Foreigner: In the original book, the mouse's precursor was a robin named Red.
• Deuteragonist: He's the second main character of the film, being Dumbo's close friend and protector who tries to help turn things around for him in regards to his ears by showing they're special and can make him a star.
• Elephants Are Scared of Mice: Exploits this around the other elephants when he overhears them talking smack about Dumbo.
• Floating in a Bubble: When he and Dumbo get drunk from water spiked with champagne, Dumbo blows some bubbles that Timothy happily plays with.
• Innocently Insensitive: When he first talks to Dumbo he says "it ain't nobody's fault you've got them big ears" causing Dumbo to hide behind them in shame. The mouse realizes he "stepped in it" and quickly tells Dumbo he didn't mean it like that, and calls his ears beautiful.
• Large Ham: "All we gotta do is build an act! Make ya a star! A headliner! Dumbo the great!" It's a miracle he doesn't wake the Ringmaster up during his description of Dumbo's Elephant Pyramid climax.
• Mysterious Middle Initial: We never learn what the "Q." in the mouse's full name stands for.
• Nice Guy: The mouse is very friendly, caring, protective, and brotherly towards Dumbo and is a very lovable character.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Well-meaning as it was, his idea to help Dumbo win some respect by pitching his Elephant Pyramid climax to the ringmaster via pillow talk utterly falls through, literally and otherwise. It's a wonder Dumbo wasn't killed.
• Nice Mice: The only nice character in the film, besides Dumbo, his mother, and Mr. Stork (and eventually, the crows).
• No Name Given: Downplayed. His name is never spoken in the movie and it's not really required since Dumbo doesn't speak, but at the end of the film, his name is revealed as Timothy Q. Mouse.
• Odd Friendship: Elephants and mice don't usually get along in fiction, but Timothy and Dumbo are like two peas in a pod.
• Oh, Crap!: A few:
  • He had this when the Pyramid of Pachyderms went horribly wrong.
  • Another one is when Dumbo loses the Magic Feather. Luckily, Dumbo was able to open his ears just in time.
• Only Friend: To Dumbo in between his mother being incarcerated and their meeting the Crows.
• Papa Wolf: The mouse sticks up for Dumbo by scaring the elephants tormenting him and yelling at the crows for constantly laughing at him.
• Parental Substitute: He takes it upon himself to be one for Dumbo after his mother is locked up.
• Red Is Heroic: He wears a red outfit and is loyal, protective friend to the titular elephant.
• Species Surname: Like Jiminy Cricket before him, the hero's sidekick has his species name as his surname, in this case "Mouse".
• Stock Sound Effect: When Timothy lands and slides down the wriggly bubble, his giggle is actually that of Mickey Mouse from a classic short.
• Voice for the Voiceless: Whereas Dumbo can't talk, he seems to do most of the talking for him.

Mrs. Jumbo

Voiced by: Verna Felton (speaking), Betty Noyes (singing), Tress MacNeille (Villain's Revenge); Hélène David (European French dub); Hilda Loftus (Latin American Spanish dub); Ruth Langer (1946 Swedish dub), Git Skiöld (1972 Swedish redub), Monica Forsberg (1996 Swedish redub)

Dumbo's mother.

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• Adaptation Name Change: She was simply called "Ella" in the original story, with no indication she was the mate of the famous bull.
• Berserk Button: Anyone who picks on Dumbo, Mrs. Jumbo will not hesitate to defend her son.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Don't let her docile demeanor deceive you; if you make fun of Dumbo, Mrs. Jumbo will make you regret it.
• Bully Hunter: She "disciplines" the kid who was tormenting her son.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: While trying to defend her son from harm, one of the employees took Dumbo away so he doesn't accidently get trampled on, and when the Ringmaster tried to calm Mrs. Jumbo down, the mother elephant straight up picked him up and dunked him into Dumbo's tub. The Ringmaster was very ticked off from this.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending most of the movie locked up in her cell, she was let out by the Ringmaster and was offered a luxury.
• Good Parents: A very caring mother to Dumbo. She loves her son regardless of his large ears and readily defends him when someone makes fun of him.
• Honorable Elephant: Unlike the other elephants, she plays it straight. Not that it helps her.
• Maligned Mixed Marriage: She is an Asian elephant and the scrapped concept art reveals that her husband, Mr. Jumbo was an African elephant. The other elephants did not approve of him, his relationship with Mrs. Jumbo, or their hybrid son.
• Mama Bear: Mrs. Jumbo is mild-mannered, but never, ever, mock her child. Really, those kids deserved what was coming to them.
• Married Animals: Her name implies she was married, but her husband is never referenced.
• Nice Girl: The only nice one of the adult elephants.
• Pink Means Feminine: She has a pink hat, and her blanket is partly pink.
• The Quiet One: Unlike the other Gossipy Hens elephants, she only speaks once—when she says Dumbo's actual birth name.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes briefly turn a bloody red when defending Dumbo.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the adult circus elephants.
• True Blue Femininity: She wears a pink and blue blanket.
• Would Hurt a Child: She had no qualms with spanking a kid who made fun of Dumbo. Justified as said kid was harassing her son and she was acting on motherly instincts. He's lucky that's all that happened to him.

The Crows

Clockwise from upper left: Deacon Crow, Dandy Crow, Fats Crow, Dopey Crow, and Glasses Crow. Except for the leader Dandy, they are also named Preacher, Fat (without the final "S"), Straw Hat and Glasses

Dandy Crow Voiced by: Cliff Edwards, Kevin Michael Richardson (House of Mouse); Jacques Balutin (European French dub); Florencio Castelló (Latin American Spanish dub); Olof Ekermann (1946 Swedish dub), Leppe Sundevall (1972 Swedish redub), Lasse Kronér (1996 Swedish redub)
Deacon Crow Voiced by: Hall Johnson; Michel Bedetti (European French dub); Roberto Espriú (Latin American Spanish dub); Göran Rudbo (1996 Swedish redub)
Fats Crow Voiced by: James Baskett; Pierre Garin (European French dub); Francisco Colmenero (Latin American Spanish dub); Johan Hedenberg (1996 Swedish redub)
Dopey Crow Voiced by: Jim Carmichael; Francis Lax (European French dub); Ken Wennerholm (1996 Swedish redub)
Specks Crow Voiced by: Nick Stewart; Serge Lhorca (European French dub); Edmundo Santos (Latin American Spanish dub); Johan Pihleke (1996 Swedish redub)

A group of crows that Dumbo and Timothy meet after their drunken escapade. They are the first ones to suggest, albeit jokingly, the possibility that Dumbo can fly.

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• Adaptational Species Change\Decomposite Character: In the original story, Dumbo and Red the Robin (Timothy Q. Mouse's precursor) meet an owl named Professor Hoot instead of a flock of crows.
• All There in the Script: The crows are never referred to by name in the film. According to the model sheets, they are named Jim Crow (the leader with the cigar) before the name changed to Dandy Crow due to racism involving Jim Crow laws (although being intended to be just a mockery to the Jim Crow laws), Dopey (the one with the broken straw hat, not to be confused with the dwarf of the same name), Deacon (the preacher crow), Specks (the one with the glasses), and Fats (the fat crow).
• Clever Crows: They have some inspired wordplay and are the ones to come up with the Magic Feather idea.
• Creepy Crows: Averted. At first they appear to be jerks but still very cheerful and fun-loving. And after they befriend Dumbo, they also become very helpful, unlike many other unpleasant characters in the movie, giving Dumbo the "magic feather" and teaching him to fly.
• Dark Is Not Evil: They are black crows, and grow into true friends for Dumbo.
• Fat Idiot: Of the crows, whom are usually quite intuitive, the one who is noticeably the least intelligent is Fats. When Specs asked him if Dumbo and Timothy are dead, Fats replies negatively, saying that dead people don't snore. But he then starts to wonder otherwise. And during "When I See an Elephant Fly", Fats provides the least amount of lyrics and rhyming.
• Hurricane of Puns: "When I See an Elephant Fly" has them take a number of compound words and use an alternate meaning for one half of each to make them sound fantastical.
  I saw a lantern slide
  Saw an old cow hide
  And I just laughed 'til I thought I'd die
  But I think I will have seen everything
  When I see an elephant fly!
• The Hyena: They find anything outside the norm to be hilarious. They bust out laughing over Timothy's hungover revelation that he and Dumbo are up a tree, guffaw when the panicking duo fall out of it, cackle mockingly at the idea of Dumbo flying, then howl with joy after they help him accomplish just that.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Initially, they are not too sympathetic to Dumbo like everyone else, until they learn his sad story. It should be noted that even before that, they are making fun of Timothy's idea of an elephant flying more than Dumbo himself as everyone else had been doing.
• Large Ham: They are really expressive, especially Dandy.
• Magic Feather: Trope Namer. To encourage Dumbo to believe he can fly they present Timothy with a "magic feather" that supposedly will grant Dumbo flight. It's actually just an ordinary feather pulled from Glasses' behind, but Timothy catches the Crows' drift and relays the magic version of the feather back to Dumbo.
• Magical Negro: They are portrayed as stereotypically "black" and led by a crow originally named Jim but it was changed to Dandy. They are also very clever, and glad to take a poor, orphaned outcast under their wings and help him to achieve his full potential and get back at his oppressors.
• Species Surname: All of them have a unique first name fitting to their primary characteristic, but then share the generic surname "Crow," since, you know, they're all crows.
• Stealth Pun: The leader crow was originally named "Jim" in story outlines to mock the racist Jim Crow laws of the time but was later changed to Dandy.

Antagonists

Circus Elephants

Left to right: Catty, Giddy, Prissy, and the Matriarch.

Matriarch Voiced by: Verna Felton; Paula Dehelly (European French dub); Carmen Donna-Dío (Latin American Spanish dub); Dagmar Olsson (1972 Swedish redub), Monica Forsberg (1996 Swedish redub)
Prissy Voiced by: Sarah Sebley; Danielle Volle (European French dub); Maruja Sen (Latin American Spanish dub); Helena Reuterblad (1972 Swedish redub), Christel Körner (1996 Swedish redub)
Giddy Voiced by: Dorothy Scott; Béatrice Delfe (European French dub); Amparo Garrido (Latin American Spanish dub); Meg Westergren (1972 Swedish redub), Birgitta Fernström (1996 Swedish redub)
Catty Voiced by: Noreen Gammill; Jeanine Forney (European French dub); María Santander (Latin American Spanish dub); Inger Juel (1972 Swedish redub), Monica Forsberg (1996 Swedish redub)

A group of snobby elephants who reside in the same circus as Dumbo and his mother.

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• Adaptation Personality Change: Rather than cruelly deriding Dumbo for the size of his ears when she first saw them, in the original storybook the Matriarch took it as a sign he would be a "regular Jumbo", clearly having a different view of them than her film counterpart.
• All There in the Script: The names of the other elephants in the Matriarch's close circle are not revealed in the movie, only on their model sheets.
• Alpha Bitch: The Matriarch, who is the ringleader of the elephant clique that picks on Mrs. Jumbo and her baby.
• Color-Coded Characters: To easily tell them apart, the Matriarch wears purple, Catty wears green, Prissy wears orange and Giddy wears blue.
• Cruel Elephant: The Matriarch clearly considers herself an Honorable Elephant ("We elephants have always walked with dignity"), but is actually quite shallow and cruel toward Dumbo.
• Death Glare: The Matriarch is fond of giving these, whether it's called for or not.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: Those "over-stuffed hay-bags" can be mean to a little elephant with super-huge ears, but facing Timothy? They're scared to near-stampeding!
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Matriarch.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Catty is willing to gossip about Dumbo, but even she is ashamed at the thought of Dumbo being publicly humiliated as a clown.
  • Matriarch, Giddy, and Prissy were horrified to learn that Mrs. Jumbo got locked up.
• Evil Matriarch: The oldest cow elephant that constantly pesters the titular character is named "The Matriarch".
• Fantastic Racist: It is arguable how canon it is but scrapped concept art depicts Jumbo Sr. as an African elephant which is why the Asian circus elephants discriminate against him and his hybrid son.
• Fat Bitch: While elephants are naturally large animals, the matriarch is noticeably fatter than the other elephants.
• Genki Girl: What else would you expect from an elephant named "Giddy"?
• Gossipy Hens: All of them, though Catty most of all.
  "Girls, have I got a trunkful of dirt..."
• Half-Breed Discrimination: Assuming Dumbo is actually an African/Asian elephant hybrid, their treatment of him would count as this.
• Hate Sink: Catty. While Giddy and Prissy have noteworthy redeeming qualities and the Matriarch at least thinks she's keeping things in order, Catty possesses no such traits, and the visible cruel enjoyment she takes out of spreading hurtful gossip shows that she is not meant to be likable at all.
• Heel–Face Turn: In the last scene, it's implied that they have finally accepted Dumbo.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: The Matriarch gets stuck in the boxcar's doorway while trying to push Mrs. Jumbo into the car. Six employees had to push the doors closed in order for her to get unstuck.
• Hypocrite: They pride themselves on being an honorable and dignified species while considering Dumbo a disgrace, but spend their entire day gossiping and are quickly sent into hysterical panic at the sight of a mouse.
• Innocently Insensitive: Giddy seems to be the least actively malevolent of the four, as she actually expresses worry that she might have crossed a line after giggling at Dumbo's ears.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • They are bullies and their intense dislike of Dumbo is most arbitrary, but when he accidentally makes the circus tent collapse, leaving them all with Amusing Injuries, their rants about him are rather understandable.
  • For all their cruelty toward Dumbo, at least Prissy outright says she doesn't blame Mrs. Jumbo for losing her cool with the bullies who were teasing him, and earlier, Giddy is rightfully worried that teasing Dumbo's ears is crossing a line.
  • During the "Pyramid of Pachyderms" scene, the Matriarch, who has to carry the weight of all the other elephants on her shoulders, is right to call the Ringmaster a "windbag".
  Matriarch: Why doesn't he come to the point?!
• Jerkass to One: They spend most of the movie badmouthing Dumbo and with very few exceptions, they are unsympathetic towards him from the beginning.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After mocking Dumbo most of the time, the little elephant got back at them by shooting peanuts at them.
• Never My Fault: When Giddy asks if she upset Mrs. Jumbo by commenting on how “funny” Dumbo’s ears are, the other elephants reassure her that she did nothing wrong as if they were trying to insinuate Mrs. Jumbo was wrong for defending her baby.
• No True Scotsman: After learning that Dumbo was made part of the clown act:
  Matriarch: From now on, he is no longer an elephant.
• Odd Name Out: The Matriarch is the only one whose name isn't an adjective (the others are named "Catty", "Prissy" and "Giddy"; see All There in the Manual).
• Oh, Crap!: The Matriarch had a big one when she was about to crash into Dumbo during the disastrous part of the Pyramid Act.
• Pet the Dog: Prissy gets a brief one, saying she doesn't blame Mrs. Jumbo for flipping out the way she did after learning that she was put in solitary confinement.
• Pick on Someone Your Own Size: They pick on and torment Dumbo, who is only a baby. Timothy calls them out on this word for word.
• Slapstick: They are all left with Amusing Injuries after the big top collapses, black-eyes, ice packs, bandages and all.
• Token Good Teammate: While not nearly as much of a Nice Girl as Dumbo's mom is, Giddy is still the least antagonistic of the four and sincerely worries if she hurt his or his mom's feelings when she calls his ears "funny".
• Took a Level in Kindness: At the end of the film, they sang some parts from "When I See an Elephant Fly" while in a cheery mood implying they now respect Dumbo.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Catty and Prissy, unless the elephants are Only Known by Their Nicknames.

Ringmaster

Voiced by: Herman Bing, Ray Templin (Disneyland), Corey Burton (Villain's Revenge); Jacques Dynam (European French dub); Juan Domingo Méndez (Latin American Spanish dub); Sigge Fürst (1972 Swedish redub), Ingemar Carlehed (1996 Swedish redub)

Played by: Danny Devito (2019 remake)

The leader of Dumbo's circus

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• Adaptational Intelligence: Mixed with Adaptational Nice Guy, Max Medici in the live action remake is way more personable and perceptive to how the circus runs as opposed to the Pointy-Haired Boss of the cartoon.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the movie, he wasn't necessarily an outright villain so much as just yet another human jerkass. But he's upgraded to main antagonist for Dumbo in Disney's Villains' Revenge.
• Big "WHAT?!": When Timothy acts as the "voice of [his] subconscious mind" and reveals that Dumbo is the climax, he mumbles out a loud "WHAT?!" before snoring even louder, scaring Timothy away... before the mouse repeats Dumbo's name in a fade-out.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Only known as "The Ringmaster". Averted in the remake, where he's explicitly called Max Medici.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed, as a Villainy-Free Villain, he's overweight and somewhat arrogant.
• Heel–Face Turn: Implied at the end and confirmed in All There in the Manual as well as storyboards. After Dumbo triumphs at the end, the Ringmaster finally makes Dumbo the main star of his circus and lets Mrs. Jumbo out of solitary confinement.
• Humans Are Bastards: For putting Dumbo and other elephants in such dangerous acts, though he at least is implied to have gotten better by the film's end.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's being particularly cruel about it, but Mrs. Jumbo did cause a rampage, so he wasn't entirely unjustified in locking her up. In fact, he's happy to let her go once Dumbo rises to stardom.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He honors Dumbo's attempts to get his mother free. After he succeeded, he kept his word and gave Dumbo and his Mother a well-deserved luxury.
• Large Ham: Despite being, in this case, more like because of his job, he’s still second to Timothy.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Like the other humans in the film, the Ringmaster is depicted as clueless to the happenings of the animals, whom think much of him as a windbag. Whilst the Ringmaster does do a good job of subduing an out of control Mrs. Jumbo, he and the other circus workers missed that this was because a kid broke into her pen and was harassing her baby.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In the remake, Max Medici goes out of his way to keep his performers employed in spite of World War I eating at his finances, and treats them very well in spite of his temper.
• Named by the Adaptation: His name in the remake is Max Medici.
• Repulsive Ringmaster: Not exactly evil, but still kind of a Jerkass and really lousy at his job considering his negligence in allowing kids to harass a baby elephant in front of its mother.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: Almost everrrry time he talks.
• Villainy-Free Villain: The Ringmaster is sometimes touted as the film's main antagonist, but in all fairness, most of his controversial acts like locking up Mrs. Jumbo and sending Dumbo to the clowns were all to maintain and protect his circus and every other animal there, as a result of being misinformed to the actual events. He also would try to honor Dumbo's attempts to get his mother free, but Dumbo screwed up the first one, and after he spectacularly succeeded, he kept his word and gave Dumbo and his mother a well-deserved luxury.

Bratty Kids

Voiced by: Tony Neil, Harold Manley, Chuck Stubbs; Edmundo Santos Jr. (Latin American Spanish dub)

A group of children who make fun of Dumbo.

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• Bratty Half-Pint: In their only scene, they tease Dumbo, pull on his ears and laugh at him even as he tries to hide under his mother. Had this been real life, Dumbo's mother probably would have killed them for even getting close to Dumbo.
• Innocently Insensitive: The kids that make fun of Dumbo surely fall under this, except for Smitty.
• Laser-Guided Karma: They quickly push things too far with their mockery of Dumbo and for this, Mrs. Jumbo goes on the attack, sending all of them running in a panic.

Smitty

Voiced by: Malcolm Hutton; Jackie Berger (European French dub); Gloria Obregón (Latin American Spanish dub); Roger Storm (1996 Swedish redub)

The tall, lean, dim-witted, insensitive, red-haired boy who is the main bully in the group of bratty children who make fun of Dumbo.

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• Adaptational Heroism: He later appears in another Dumbo book where he apparently has a Heel Realization.
• All There in the Script: Never called by name in the movie.
• Evil Redhead: The most openly cruel of the kids has orange hair.
• Hate Sink: He's a cruel bully who is not meant to be liked.
• Hypocritical Humor: A big-eared person picks on Dumbo for having big ears.
• Insufferable Imbecile: That he would pull on a baby elephant's ears within sight of said elephant's mother is a giveaway that he is lacking in both compassion and common sense.
• Karma Houdini: Downplayed. Mrs. Jumbo gives him a much-deserved spanking for being such a Jerkass to her son, but that is what lands her in solitary confinement. Meanwhile, Smitty is not shown receiving any discipline from any human authority figures. He's not even present to receive a comeuppance during Dumbo's The Dog Bites Back moment (though that could be justified due to the circus being in another town by then).
• Kids Are Cruel: Unlike the other kids, most people use him as the film's prime example of Humans Are Bastards.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He gets grabbed and spanked by Mrs. Jumbo for making fun of her son.
• Lean and Mean: He's a skinny, cruel, and arrogant bully.
• Laughably Evil: Despite being a Hate Sink, his Hypocritical Humor and goofy voice are nevertheless worth a small laugh.
• Never My Fault: After he bullies Dumbo by pulling on his ears and constantly touching him, he acts as though he's an innocent victim when Dumbo's mother gives him a well-deserved spanking.
• Simpleton Voice: He talks in a very dimwitted and absent-minded tone of voice.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite having a single scene, he's the one responsible for causing Mrs. Jumbo's rampage, which led to her getting locked down and putting the plot to motion.
• Too Dumb to Live: Somehow thought it was a good idea to physically torment a baby elephant with said elephant's mother only a few feet away. It's safe to say that he got off a lot easier than he would have in real life.
• Youthful Freckles: He is a red-headed boy with freckles.

The Clowns

Voiced by: Billy Bletcher, Billy Sheets, Eddie Holden, Jack Mercer; Francisco Colmenero, Fernando Estenoz, Arturo Mercado, José Manuel Rosano (Latin American Spanish dub); John Harryson, Gunnar Ernblad, Charlie Elvegård (1972 Swedish redub), Anders Öjebo, Roger Storm, Johan Hedenberg (1996 Swedish redub)

One of the acts at Dumbo's circus.

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• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: While drunk, the clowns suggest Dumbo can survive a thousand-foot drop because they believe elephants are made of rubber.
• Continuity Snarl: The clowns are given probably three or five distinct voices (one of them provided by Billy Bletcher) and they are never given to the same clown twice.
• The Faceless: We never see them without their makeup and costumes, and when they are talking in their tent, we only see their shadows.
• Humans Are Bastards: All they want is to use Dumbo to make more money and they (save for one) don't care at all about him being possibly hurt in very dangerous acts.
• Lack of Empathy: When the one nice clown tries to admonish the others not to hurt Dumbo, one clown retorts with "Elephants don't have feelings", whilst another one quips "Yeah, they're made of rubber!"
• No Name Given: Mostly; one of them is named Joey.
• Non-Ironic Clown: They may not be very friendly, but they do take their jobs of making the audience laugh seriously. Comedy is Serious Business, after all.
• Pet the Dog: One clown who was taking a bath does this when he tries to get the others to not take the high diving act too far lest it hurt Dumbo.
• Token Good Teammate: One of the clowns does seem to show genuine concern for Dumbo's well-being, admonishing the others that their ideas for future performances might harm him.

Others

Mr. Stork

Voiced by: Sterling Holloway (movie), Jim Cummings (currently); Jacques Ferrière (European French dub); Francisco Colmenero (Latin American Spanish dub); Börje Lundh (1946 Swedish dub), Hans Lindgren (1972 Swedish redub), Hasse Andersson (1996 Swedish redub)

Dumbo's carrier stork seen at the beginning of the film.

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• Breakout Character: Even after this film, Mr. Stork made an appearance as both a Character Narrator and As Himself in Lambert the Sheepish Lion.
• Delivery Stork: Arguably the Trope Codifier, Dumbo is delivered this way to his mother.
• Feather Fingers: He can use his wings as full-fledged hands.
• Handy Feet: On top of Feather Fingers, he also uses a claw to tap Mrs. Jumbo's trunk at one point.
• Ink-Suit Actor: In spite of being a stork, he bears a striking resemblance to his voice actor Sterling Holloway.
• Nice Guy: Very polite and dedicated to his job.
• Species Surname: A stork called Mr. Stork.
• Unstoppable Mailman: Even after his getting lost means that Casey Jr. is already on the move before he reaches it, he persists. His outfit even makes him look a little like a mailman. It probably also ties into the later gag of his getting caught on a mailbag hook station that Casey passes by.

Casey Jr.

Voiced by: Margaret Wright; Francis Lax (European French dub); Arturo Mercado (Latin American Spanish dub); Charlie Elvegård (1972 Swedish redub), Anders Öjebo (1996 Swedish redub)

The "train with a personality", he's a sentient steam locomotive who pulls the circus train. His origins are covered in The Story of Casey Jr..

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• Adaptational Non Sapience: His 2019 iteration is a standard, non-anthropomorphic steam locomotive. He currently provides the image for the trope.
• Adaptational Species Change: Downplayed in the 2019 remake. He's still a steam engine, but his wheel arrangement is changed from a 2-4-0 "Porter" to a 4-4-0 "American". The remake also changes him from a coal burner to a wood burner.
• Adapted Out:
  • He's one of the few Dumbo characters that never showed up on House of Mouse in spite of arguably being the film's most popular character, with no mention to his whereabouts.
  • Unfortunately, despite the presence of Pedro the Mail Plane and Susie the Little Blue Coup, he was not present for the 100th anniversary short Once Upon a Studio. Some fans were a bit upset about this.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The Story of Casey Jr. is a prequel that details how he was obtained by the circus.
  • Casey appears as a special guest in a 1957 comic of Scrooge McDuck, where Huey, Dewey, and Louie find him trying to find the Wizard of Misty Mountain to upgrade him into a more modern locomotive.
• All of the Other Reindeer: In The Story of Casey Jr., he was mocked for his small, outdated appearance. This got to him pretty badly, and at one point he decided he was just going to ignore the signals making fun of him.
• All There in the Manual: A deleted scene, some merchandise, read-along books, and the Casey Jr. Circus Train at Disneyland state that he knows Timothy very well. There's not much hint of it in the film, though Timothy is heard whistling Casey's theme song.
• Anthropomorphic Shift: There are only three scenes where Casey is seen with a face. The scene where the camera zooms towards him with the circus train (if you look closely). The shot of the whistle saying, "All aboard! Let's go!" shows his eyes, and the ending (seen above).
• Art Shift: Merchandise hasn't been very consistent about how Casey looks. Whether it be posters, books, toys, or even the theme parks, Casey has either used his movie design, his Reluctant Dragon design, his theme park design, some random mishmash of the three, or an entirely new design (sometimes with a color other than his familiar blue).
• Ascended Extra: Despite appearing in about four scenes throughout the entire movie, he has gone on to become one of the most iconic characters in Dumbo to the point where he even got a book based on how he was purchased by the circus (aptly titled The Story of Casey Jr. by Walt Disney) and a place in Disneyland as one of the original attractions.
• Badass Adorable: He has a very friendly-looking appearance and a small size to match, but make no mistake—when it comes to hauling a train up a steep hill, he could rival a Big Boy in terms of pulling power.
• Berserk Button: In The Reluctant Dragon, he gets absolutely pissed when a little steamboat pops open a drawbridge he was about to cross, and gets into a whistle battle with him. He wins out by smushing the bridge and drowning the boat until he crosses, leaving the boat coughing up water.
• Breakout Character: In spite of having only five scenes in the movie, he's gone on to become a well-recognized character in the Disney ranks, to the point Disneyland added the Casey Junior Circus Train as an opening day attraction, he's included in plenty of parades for the Dumbo floats, he serves as the lead float in the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade, and transitioned into the live-action remake as the first character seen on-screen in full. He also served as the basis for the Toys For Tots train used by the US Marine Corps.
• The Cameo: He's made a few in Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a background character during the final number^note Look for him underneath the crane during "Smile, Darn Ya Smile!", as a toy train being driven by Kronk (and later the senior citizens) in Kronk's New Groove, in the Mickey Mouse (2013) for the episodes "Tokyo Go" (complete with a Theme Tune Cameo) and "New Shoes" (being driven by his namesake), and as a silhouetted train in the Donald Duck short "Spare the Rod". For the Vanity Plate of The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019), he replaces the usual steam train passing near the castle.
• Cool Train: One of the coolest ever. Between his epic pulling of a circus train up a steep hill with determination and grit in spite of his small size, and getting said train started in spite of it being heavy to yank, he didn't earn that nifty theme song for nothing.
• Dark Reprise: His theme song is played solemnly as he sadly chugs to the next town following the big-top collapse. Although his face isn't animated, it's clear he's just as depressed as the rest of the troupe over the disaster.
• Determinator: Come hell or high water, he's going to get his train to its destination. When the circus train hits a steep hill, he pushes himself as hard as he can to get to the top, all while chugging "I think I can."
• Downer Ending: Played for Laughs. In The Reluctant Dragon, after he jumps over a broken bridge, he crashes on the other side and was badly damaged. His face says it all.
• Drives Like Crazy: Downplayed, as his journeys are pretty smooth. His starts and stops, on the other hand, roughhouse the whole crew onboard thanks to him struggling to build up momentum.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Unfortunately, a lot of people teased him early on because he wasn't a strong and modern locomotive, which eventually drove him to stop listening to the signals. He's eventually hailed a hero when he jumps a broken bridge to protect the circus train.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared in The Reluctant Dragon in a short showcasing Disney's foley process.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: His appearance in The Reluctant Dragon gave him a bit bigger a boiler, his cab had an open window on the front, his bell was visible and atop the cab, the steam dome holding his whistle was much thinner, his pilot was angled lower and was a bit more pronounced in the middle, his driving rods turned at the front, and his eyes were smaller and more spaced apart. In Dumbo, his boiler was a bit smaller, his cab had no front window, his bell was hidden, the steam dome was thicker, his pilot was more robust, his drivers turned at the rear, and his eyes were bigger and closer together. Justified due to him wrecking at the end of his debut short, which meant he was likely rebuilt.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In The Story of Casey Jr., after being teased for his appearance and going through a lot of trouble, he was finally respected by everyone (including the clowns after they helped him get back on the tracks) after saving the entire circus by jumping across a broken bridge.
• Fantastic Racism: ZigZagged. People didn't hate him so much for being a talking steam locomotive so much as he was not a modern, more powerful steam locomotive. This stops when he keeps the circus train from plummeting to its doom.
• Flat Character: Despite being sentient, he really only serves as a typical circus train and lacks characterization, though there's a storyboard for a deleted scene where he meets Dumbo and Timothy. Other stories that give him A Day in the Limelight tend to give him a bit more of a personality.
• Friend to All Living Things: In The Reluctant Dragon, the animals seem to really like him. A pair of cows moo at him while he's passing by, then bunnies and birds jump out in front of him so they can play with him on his daily run. And it's confirmed by supplemental material that he and Timothy Mouse know each other quite well. Planned storyboards also showed him happily whistling at seeing Dumbo instead of acting in mockery like everyone else (sans Timothy and Mrs. Jumbo) had been.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: In his guest appearance in Scrooge McDuck, he meets Donald's nephews and enlists their help in finding a wizard who lives atop Misty Mountain in the hopes that said wizard could upgrade him into a more modern locomotive. The wizard agrees to do so in exchange for the four of them getting rid of a bothersome creature, which they do. However, Casey changes his mind, and the wizard instead grants him an everlasting supply of chocolate flavored coal.
• Informed Attribute: The trailers called him "the train with a personality", but he never demonstrates any personality at all in the movie.
• Just Train Wrong:
  • He ends up Olympic-Jumping over a washed-out bridge in The Reluctant Dragon, in spite of trying very valiantly to stop. Never-mind the fact he would just plummet off the bridge to his doom if he wasn't a cartoon, but those brakes should have cut his momentum. He does it again in The Story of Casey Jr., but this time he at least attempts to jump over the bridge to save the circus, albeit that this wouldn't work in real life.
  • In Dumbo proper, he lacks a driver or a fireman, which is Justified due to him being fully sentient. Funny enough, there is concept art of his engineer (based on his creator, Ward Kimball), and when Casey guest-starred in Scrooge McDuck, he does mention that he has a hard time getting coal into his firebox by himself.
• Leitmotif: A happy-go-lucky theme.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He's only a 2-4-0 "Porter" type steam engine, not a powerhouse like a 4-8-4 or a 4-6-4. It doesn't stop him from yanking a heavy train full of circus animals and equipment up a steep hill with all his might.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after the legendary train engineer Casey Jones, whom Disney would make a short about in the 50s.
• Nice Guy: Many a side-story depict him as a friendly and helpful locomotive. Notably, a deleted scene from Dumbo shows that, unlike most everyone in the circus, he would have happily greeted Dumbo with excitement and joy rather than run from him in fear or treat him with disdain (albeit giving him and Timothy a bit of a jump).
• Non-Dubbed Grunts:
  • In most dubs, his wailing sound when the yellow coach pushes him into the air is kept. The only dub where his wailing is redubbed is the Icelandic dub.
  • Interestingly, his English dub of "All aboard, let's go!" line is kept in the Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, and German dubs.
• Off-Model:
  • Some of Casey Jr.'s cars tend to disappear and reappear, examples include:
    • The little blue boxcar with a red and white roof.
    • The flatbed with the circus equipment behind the blue boxcar.
    • The flatbed behind the boxcar where the giraffes go.
    • The light green boxcar behind the pink boxcar.
  • In a Disney Junior short, Me and Mickey, Mickey uses Casey as his train based on how he appears at the Disneyland ride. Except his whistle is not on his steam dome, and he's missing his right eye!
• Oh, Crap!: Two in The Reluctant Dragon.
  • After winning his whistle war with the steamboat, he's back to his cheery self until he hears a horn blaring down the line. He then sees a very angry-looking streamliner charging at him at full speed, and he immediately starts begging the sleeping switch nearby to wake up and change tracks.
  • He avoids one collision, but he winds up derailing anyway when the trestle in front of him collapses during a rainstorm. He tries stopping but jumps over the gap and falls apart.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In spite of being a smaller locomotive, he's able to handle the circus train with enough horsepower that could rival the most powerful of engines.
• Railroad Tracks of Doom: On the receiving end of it, ironically enough. In The Reluctant Dragon, he's happily chugging along until a nasty-looking streamliner comes barreling down on him. He screams out for a switch to change the tracks to avoid a devastating collision, and can only huddle along a telegraph poll in horror. Fortunately, said switch wakes up at the last minute and changes the point in time.
• Recycled Animation: The animation where Casey Jr. pulls the circus train while smiling at the camera is reused for one of the trailers, but the only differences are that he doesn't have a wreath of flowers and the filter is different.
• Sentient Vehicle: A living steam locomotive.
• Sick Episode: A few Dumbo side-stories kick off the plot when he has a breakdown, which proves problematic for the circus who relies on him to get them from city to city.
• Shout-Out: Quotes The Little Engine That Could as he climbs up the hill.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: One of the storybooks accidentally names him as "Casey Jones," a real-life railroad worker who died in a head-on collision in Mississippi.
• Survival Mantra: When climbing up the hill.
• Synthetic Voice Actor: Meant to sound like a whistle.
• Theme Tune: "Casey Jr.", as written by Ned Washington and Oliver Wallace. It aptly describes the excitement trackside viewers have when they hear him puffing down the line.
• Theme Tune Cameo: In Dumbo (2019), Max Medici is heard singing Casey's song—in addition to it being used briefly in Danny Elfman's score—and it appears as an eight-bit style theme in the Mickey Mouse short "Tokyo Go" before Casey himself pops up.
• Track Trouble:
  • As he's pulling his train through a rainstorm in The Reluctant Dragon, said storm washes out a trestle ahead of him. He valiantly tries to stop, but instead jumps the gap and smashes to pieces on the other side. He's rather annoyed as his predicament, drumming his fingers in frustration while the wreckage piles on top of him.
    Casey Jr.: Look out! Bridge out! Bridge out! HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPP!!!!!! (Casey applied his brakes, but it was no use!) HELP, BRIDGE OUT! (jumps across the gap) WHOA!!!! (he lands on the other side and crashes)
  • He winds up with this again in The Story of Casey Jr., where he ends up encountering a broken bridge. This time, he manages to jump and make it. The Ringmaster promptly thanks him and the clowns are kind enough to lift him back on the tracks.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Per the Scrooge McDuck comics, it's coal.
• Tranquil Fury: After getting tired of the clowns and signals teasing him, Casey Jr. ran out of patience and decided to not listen to anymore signals.
• Voice of the Legion: His voice is a little startling to hear due to it being provided by the use of a Sonovox, an early vocoding unit.

Pink Elephants

A grouping of terrifying beings that Dumbo hallucinates due to delirium tremens.

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• Adaptational Villainy: An odd example. The Spanish dub of "Pink Elephants On Parade" makes them even scarier and the lyrics refer to the pink elephants as "Satan's relatives" and "Souls of Terror". The original song is nothing like that.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: And despite the name, they can be any number of different colors.
• Ambiguously Evil: They aren't even real to begin with (and thank God for that) but in their brief presence, they waffle between being mischievous and sinister interchangeably but not exactly evil.
• Animalistic Abomination: Don't even try to deny it.
• Breakout Character: The Most memorable and popular scene in the movie especially for Hallucination scenes in cinema. It's been parodied quite a bit.
• Eyeless Face: Most of them have no eyes at all, though initially, it appears to be a case of Black Eyes of Evil until their "eyes" are seen from a certain angle.
• Horrifying The Horrror: From an elephant's perspective, anyway. Timothy is a mouse and elephants are afraid of mice, yet Timothy is clearly afraid of these elephants.
• Imaginary Enemy: They're all just a collective hallucination for Timothy and Dumbo when they get drunk (don't ask), and aren't very pleasant at that.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: They're terrifying.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: Their eponymous song is apparently regarded as such (though it would almost certainly be a Villain Song if sung from their point of view), seeing as it was included on the "Simply Sinister" CD. Not without reason, mind you.
• Voluntary Shapeshifter: All of them can take on various different forms.
• Visual Pun: "Seeing pink elephants" expressed literally, though the phrase ironically refers to an alcoholic abstaining from drinking.
• The Worm That Walks: One of them is nothing but a whole bunch of elephant heads forming a humanoid shape. It's as terrifying as it sounds.

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