Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Wiki

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Rudolph
RudolphOlder1

Gender

Male

Species

Reindeer

Eye Color

Black

Fur Color

Light Brown

Family

Donner (father)
Mrs. Donner (mother)
Blitzen (uncle)
Cupid (uncle)
Comet (uncle)
Vixen (aunt)
Prancer (uncle)
Dancer (uncle)
Dasher (uncle)
Chilly and Milly (adopted nephew and niece)

Friends

His parents Donner and Mrs. Donner, Clarice, Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, Santa Claus, Bumble, Comet, Fireball, Other Reindeer and Elves, Mr. Cuddles/Toy Taker, Queen Camilla, Frosty, Crystal, Chilly, Milly, Lilly Loraine, Laine Loraine, Big Ben, Milton

Enemies

Bumble (formerly), Fireball (formerly), Other reindeer (formerly), Mr. Cuddles/Toy Taker (formerly), Winterbolt, Sam Spangles, Scratcher

Voiced By

Billie Mae Richards (1964-1979)
Kathleen Barr (2001)

Appears In

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus Is Comin To Town (cameo)
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (cameo)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island Of Misfit Toys

Nose color

Red

This article is about the Rankin/Bass character. For the character from the 1948 animated cartoon, see Rudolph (1948) and for the 1998 film, see Rudolph (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie)

Rudolph is the son of Donner and Mrs. Donner, the boyfriend of Clarice, the head reindeer of Santa Claus's sleigh team and the main protagonist and titular character of the 1964 film, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Its sequels, although often understood as non-canon due to the many differences from the original 1964 film, are 1976's Rudolph's Shiny New Year, 1979's Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July and 2001's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island Of Misfit Toys as well as the 2016 remake Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 4D Attraction.

Appearances[]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer[]

Rudolph was born one spring to Donner and Mrs. Donner, but moments after his birth, his nose lights up much to the shock and dismay of his parents. Shortly after, Donner's boss Santa Claus arrives to see Rudolph and also sees his nose light up and says he hopes it will stop if Rudolph wants to join the sleigh team. Wanting his son to look normal for Santa, Donner puts mud on Rudolph's nose, but it doesn't stay on. Donner said he’ll get used to it, Rudolph went to cuddle against his father, Donner blushed and Mrs. Donner kisses his nose wiping it off.

One year later, Donner again places a fake nose over Rudolph's nose, that makes it look normal, but unfortunately makes him talk in a odd voice. Rudolph goes to take part in The Reindeer Games with the other yearlings where he befriends a young buck named Fireball and falls in love with a beautiful and kind doe named Clarice. After being told by Clarice that she thinks he's cute, Rudolph leaps high in the air with joy which impresses Donner, the coach Comet and Santa. However after a playful tussle with Fireball, Rudolph's fake nose falls off, revealing his red one, which causes him to be ridiculed by Fireball and the other yearling bucks and banned from the rest of the games by Comet. Rudolph runs off, but Clarice (who doesn't mind Rudolph's red nose) catches up with him and sings "There's Always Tomorrow" to him, but then Clarice's father arrives and tells Clarice to come home as he doesn't want her to be seen with "a red-nosed reindeer" which she reluctantly does.

After Clarice and her father have left, Rudolph meets and befriends an elf named Hermey, who has left his job at Santa's workshop to become a dentist and is himself also A misfit after he got scolded by the Elf Foreman. So the two decide to run away together. However, Rudolph's nose attracts a Snow Monster named the Bumble and the two and hide from him and are found by Yukon Cornelius who helps them escape the Bumble. The trio arrive at The Island Of Misfit Toys and asks the island's ruler King Moonracer if they can stay. Moonracer says that only misfit toys can stay but lets them stay the night and asks Rudolph to ask Santa to find homes for the misfit toys. That night, while Hermey and Yukon are asleep, Rudolph leaves, not wanting to allow his nose to get them in terrible danger again. Rudolph goes off.

8 months later, Rudolph, now a teen-aged young buck, decides to return home, but is laughed at by three other bucks. Rudolph returns to his cave and finds it empty and learns from Santa that his parents and Clarice had left to look for him. Rudolph leaves to look for them and finds them being held hostage by Bumble and battles him, but is knocked unconscious by the Snow Monster. Luckily, Hermey and Yukon arrive and knock out the Bumble before Hermey pulls out his teeth. After regaining consciousness, the Bumble still tries to attack the group but Yukon sacrifices himself by knocking the Bumble off a cliffside, taking himself with him.

Rudolph, his parents, Clarice, and Hermey arrive at Santa's workshop where they are happily welcomed by the other reindeer and elves. After hearing his harrowing tale, the others, including Santa, finally realized that they had treated Rudolph unfairly, and many apologize, including Cupid. Keeping his word with King Moonracer, Rudolph tells Santa to find the misfit toys homes and Santa agrees to do just that. Yukon, who was thought to be dead, arrives at the door, with a now-tame Bumble in tow. The next day, Christmas Eve, Santa says he won't be able to deliver the presents because of the snow storm. But after seeing Rudolph's nose light up, he asks him to guide his sleigh to which the reindeer agrees. During the song "Holly Jolly Christmas", Rudolph kisses Clarice on the cheek under the mistletoe. Rudolph and the other sleigh team members guide the sleigh off into the night whilst being watched by Donner, Mrs. Donner, Clarice, Hermey, Yukon, and the other reindeer and elves.

Rudolph's Shiny New Year[]

Rudolph later returned in the direct sequel titled Rudolph's Shiny New Year, set almost immediately after the events of the original special, although in an alternate universe from the original film.

In it, he is told by Father Time that Happy, the Baby New Year, has gone missing because everyone laughed at the sight of his oversized ears. Having put up with similar teasing about his nose in the first special, Rudolph says that he knows how Happy felt. Accompanied by Big Ben, he ventures to the Archipelago of Last Years, since Happy has presumably gone there.

In his travels, he is eventually joined by One Million BC, Sir 1023, and 1776. After Happy is captured by a giant vulture named Eon the Terrible and brought to the Island of No Name, Rudolph finds him and shares his own story with him, encouraging him to overcome his problem.

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July[]

Rudolph's last appearance in a Rankin/Bass Christmas production was the made-for-TV movie Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. By the time of its events, Rudolph has become great friends with Frosty the Snowman and his family, so much that Frosty and his wife Crystal's twin children, Chilly and Milly, look up to him as their adoptive uncle. The film also provides a more detailed backstory for Rudolph's nose, explaining that Lady Boreal made it shine as a defense against the evil Winterbolt, and that its power lasts only as long as Rudolph uses his gift for good.

During the events of the film, Rudolph, along with Frosty and his family (who are wearing amulets that prevent them from melting in the hot weather, provided by Winterbolt pretending to be a nice person), appear as guest stars at the Sea Side Circus at the Beach's Fourth of July show, in order to save it from being shut down. However, Winterbolt employs an evil reindeer named Scratcher to take advantage of Rudolph's kindness and steal the circus' money. Upon finding out, Rudolph reluctantly agrees to take the blame after making a deal with Winterbolt to extend the powers of the amulets that Frosty's family is wearing. Because of this evil act, his nose stops glowing. At the climax, Rudolph fights Winterbolt at the desert in the night. Winterbolt attacks Rudolph by tying him with his snakes. However, Rudolph handily gets himself out of the snake’s coil and take Frosty’s hat to save him.

However, after he manages to retrieve Frosty's magic hat after Winterbolt steals it, his nose regains its glow. In the end, after Winterbolt is vanquished and Jack Frost arrives to save the melted Frosty family, Rudolph decides to temporarily stay with the circus until they've gotten out of their debt.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island Of Misfit Toys[]

In this non-canon sequel (which was created by Goodtimes Entertainment, who made Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie), Rudolph, along with Hermey, Yukon, Bumble and Clarice, set out to defeat a being called the Toy Taker, who has been deliberately stealing toys from their owners and has recently taken toys from Santa too.

At the climax of the film, Rudolph and the others discover that the Toy Taker is in fact a damaged looking teddy bear called Mr. Cuddles, who took the toys to prevent them from being cast out by their owners when they get too old for toys, after his owner who is a boy named Steven grew older and stopped playing with him, before being supposedly thrown out. Santa explains to Mr. Cuddles that Steven did not mean to throw him out and intended to keep him. Mr. Cuddles is then repaired by Queen Camilla, before being taken by Santa to be given as a gift to an adult Steven's daughter.

A subplot in the film shows Rudolph considering being given a normal nose by Queen Camilla, but later decides against it after Clarice tells him that she loves him just the way he is. He also teaches Clarice how to fly as well.

Description[]

Rudolph has reddish-brown fur with white fur on his chest and muzzle. The insides of his ears are light brown with white fluff.

Rudolph has a red nose and black eyes.

He has small, grayish-brown antlers, which get bigger as he becomes a teenager near the end of the film.

He has a stature similar to regular deer such as Sika and Whitetail deer, which is common across all reindeer of the fictional Christmastown.

He has a red nose when he was born, which turned into a muddy brown color when mud was placed on it by Donner. Donner later gets a proper nose cap for Rudolph, which is hard and dark gray. Rudolph didn’t like it when he was little but Mrs. Donner kisses his face, causing the mud to fall off, his nose started to glow and hummed. Donner looks at her and she kisses Rudolph’s nose again.

Then a year later Donner tried another time again and this time he used the dirt and applied on his nose Rudolph still conveyed no matter what Donner forced him to wear it. and it fell off again at the reindeer games during a playful tussle with Fireball who is scared away and he is expelled from the reindeer games by Coach Comet.

Gallery[]

More Gallery Coming Soon in the future.

Songs sung by Rudolph[]

Relationships[]

Trivia[]

  • Rudolph appears younger in all three sequels despite becoming an older teen-aged buck near the end of the original film. This is often explained by the following films taking place in alternate universes from the original, but in business terms, the smaller antlers made Rudolph more marketable.
  • Rudolph is the most known and popular character in all of the Rankin Bass Christmas shows and movies.
  • Most people mistake end-of-film Rudolph for an adult, when in reality, Sam says he was "growing up" into a young buck, which is about teen-aged. At that point in the film, he is only 8 months older than he was when he left Christmastown in April as a yearling, so he's only nearly 2 years old by December when he returns.
  • In the original 1963 screenplay draft, Rudolph was going to discover his father nearly frozen to death and have to save the others without him. He is brought back to the castle, slung on Yukon's shoulder, later that night.
  • Rudolph was forced to wear a fake nose over his red nose so that Santa did not exclude him from a chance at making the sleigh team.
  • Donner puts mud on Rudolph's nose to make him look like the other bucks, but unfortunately Mrs. Donner kissed the mud off, causing Rudolph's nose to shine. She kisses his nose again when she gets the mud off.
  • Rudolph was banned from the reindeer games by Coach Comet after his fake nose falls off, revealing his red shiny nose.
  • When he was younger, he is known to be cute as Clarice says. As he becomes a teenager, he grows into a handsome young buck.
  • Santa likely could have used floodlights to light the way, but he may have given Rudolph the chance to lead the sleigh that night because he felt bad about how he had treated the young buck and the situation he partly caused for him.
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