Kenai is the youngest brother of Sitka and Denahi. When Sitka sacrificed himself to save him and Denahi from a bear, Kenai killed the bear and was transformed into a bear himself by the Great Spirits as punishment and also as a lesson to see the world in a different perspective, to understand his own mistake. During his journey through the wilderness he befriended a young bear cub, Koda, who accompanied him throughout his journey and helped him to find the true meaning of love. Kenai in the end of his journey, chose to stay a bear and became Koda's adoptive older brother.
Six months after their adventure, the two bear brothers Kenai and Koda embark on another journey to help Kenai's childhood friend, Nita. The bond between Kenai and Koda is put to the test during their journey when Kenai and Nita develop their own romantic feelings, but the brotherly bond between Kenai and Koda remained intact and only got stronger with Nita turning into a bear and marrying Kenai, thus becoming Kenai's wife and Koda's sister-in-law.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Kenai was born as the younger brother of Denahi and Sitka. It is implied that Sitka raised and took care of both him and Denahi, It is also implied that Denahi always treated Kenai like a baby and played around with him, much to his annoyance.
As a child, a few years before he turned into a bear. Kenai formed a friendship with a girl from another tribe named Nita. The two often played together. One day, while racing to Hokani Falls. Nita accidentally broke the thin ice of a frozen lake and nearly drowned, had it not been for Kenai, who dove in to save her. While helping her recover at Hokani Falls, Kenai gave Nita an amulet as a symbol of their friendship, and Nita carved a picture of them both together to symbolize the promise of their friendship being eternal. Then together they witnessed the equinox and were in awe with the magic of the Great Spirits transforming winter into spring. Unbeknownst to the two, the amulet bonded them in the eyes of the Great Spirits. With her father calling her. Nita bid Kenai farewell, something which saddened both, but Nita gave him a little punch to lighten the mood with a laugh and waved him goodbye, Kenai bid her farewell as well, but became saddened at seeing her leave.
Three Happy Brothers[]
Kenai is a young Inuit who is the youngest of three brothers, after Sitka, his tribe's chief, and Denahi and is on the verge of becoming a man. One day, while his brothers were waiting, Kenai accidentally caused a stampede of caribous when he tried to milk one of them. He warned his brothers to get down and take cover, something which confuses them until they noticed the stampede, realizing what Kenai meant. Kenai watches in excitement while his brothers look nervous. After the stampede passes, Kenai jokingly advises his brothers to never try milking a caribou, before he is tackled to the ground by a furious Denahi, attempting to drool in his face as a punishment. Luckily, Sitka splits his two immature siblings and tells them to stop. Kenai agrees with Sitka, by pointing out that after today, being his manhood ceremony, Denahi would stop with the teasing after all these years. But Denahi belittles the claim, saying that it doesn't matter what the spirits think about Kenai, since he will always be the youngest brother, something that Kenai objects, believing that his totem will prove Denahi wrong, but Denahi continues with the teasing, which only aggravates Kenai further. Just before they got into another fight, while Sitka orders the two to get along so they can get the fish to the village in time for Kenai's ceremony, Kenai uses the chance to slip past Sitka and get his canoe on the water first and tells his older siblings to get moving, and all three continue their journey and start wooing.
The three brothers venture into different landscapes and enjoy their time together canoeing and sliding through ice. While Sitka and Denahi are gathering fish in a small river, Kenai appears out of nowhere on top of a mammoth and breaks the fish net, letting the fish loose. Kenai shows off to an amused Sitka and an annoyed Denahi, before falling off from the mammoth after getting pushed by a branch. Eventually, the brothers manage to catch a fair amount of fish and return to the village, while they were preparing for the ceremony. Kenai is approached by the children of the village while tying up the fish basket, who question Kenai whether Kenai is excited to get his "spirit rock". Kenai corrects them, that it isn't a rock, but a totem that will symbolize his character, which wooed the children, and Kenai believes that he will most likely get something that symbolizes bravery, strength, greatness like a sabertooth tiger, thinking that those were the traits that defined him. Denahi mocked Kenai's idea and reminded him that he should concentrate on getting the basket tied up, but Kenai told him to put his worries at ease assuring him that no "stupid" bear will get the fish. Denahi simply replied that Kenai must just tie the basket up, which just gets Kenai angry, by mimicking him in a mocking way. With the other villagers gathering after Tanana returns from her trip, the children tell Kenai to hurry, since the ceremony is about to start. So he wouldn't be late, Kenai tied up the basket hastily and ran for his ceremony, which caused the basket to fall and spilling some fish on the ground. Not wanting to miss his ceremony, Kenai left the basket on the ground despite noticing it fall, thinking it wouldn't matter.
After a brief explanation on the value of totems, the village shaman, Tanana, calls forth Kenai and while painting his facial marks, she questions him if he is nervous, but he tells her that he is excited. Tanana confirms it as a positive sign by claiming that his totem is a good one, much to Kenai's pleasure. But the great excitement he was feeling turned into shock and disappointment after Tanana revealed that his totem was the Bear of Love, which was a love that connected all living creatures. Feeling ashamed and embarrassed he tried to ask one of his brothers if they were interested to trade totems, but Tanana angrily rebukes him with a smack on the head, and tries to convince him that love is something precious and it will come to Kenai in unexpected ways and he must allow that love to guide his actions which will prove that Kenai has become a man and earn the right to place his handprint among those of his ancestors. The crowd cheers for Kenai, while Tanana lifts his hand up to show that Kenai's journey to become a man has just begun, and Kenai responds with a smile that later turns into a frown, still disappointed by the turn of events.
With the ceremony concluded, a disheartened Kenai walked away lost in thought, and Denahi comes right after him teasing Kenai about what happened, which only got Kenai in a bad mood and pushed him away wanting his brother to leave him alone. Kenai was surprised to hear Denahi apologize for his behavior and even more to hear him say that Kenai's totem was great. But after Denahi threw him a wreath of flowers on his head and nicknamed him "Lover Boy", which disappointed Kenai, who thought Denahi was really trying to be empathetic, and thus Kenai became aggravated again. Amused at the scene, Sitka sends Denahi to check on the fish to give Kenai some alone time, but he still continues to make fun of Kenai, which almost made Kenai throw a rock at him in anger hadn't Sitka not stopped him. Sitka reminds Kenai that a totem does not define a person since despite Denahi's totem being wisdom, didn't mean that he was really wise, something that they both agreed. Kenai believed that both of their totems were mixed up by the spirits, something that Sitka confessed that he used to believe that about his totem, much to Kenai's disbelief. He explained to Kenai, that although he was confused about the meaning of his totem, after becoming older and more mature, he realized its meaning as a sign of a leader and an older brother. Kenai admits that all he wishes is to get his handprint on his ancestors' wall, which Sitka replies by telling him that all he needs is patience and that if he lives by his totem he can make that wish come true. Both of them shake on it and make it a promise. But still, Kenai expresses disbelief at the meaning of his totem, finding it weird that his totem is the Bear of Love, claiming that bears don't love, feel or think and believes them to be thieves after witnessing the basket of fish gone with a bunch of bear tracks around. Denahi reprimands Kenai for not tying up the basket like he was told to, since a bear had stolen the fish and made of with the basket. Sitka sticks up for Kenai and tells them that they just need to make another basket, but Denahi rebuffs that, since they always made efforts to fix things and Kenai always keeps messing up as usual. As they argue, Kenai fetches his spear and tells them that he will get the basket himself, despite Sitka telling him to stop.
Kenai eventually finds the basket, but it is torn to shreds, much to his anger. Before Kenai walks away, he notices the bear not far away from him. Still angry, Kenai turns back and throws rocks at it and provokes it, much to the wild animal's annoyance. Even though he was scared and could barely keep his composure, he tried to attack the bear, but was far too slow, and the bear responded with a furious roar, which nearly got Kenai thrown of the cliff. Kenai falls onto a steep ledge, alerting Sitka and Denahi where he is. Sitka attempts to help Kenai up the ledge, but Kenai warns him that the bear is still there, and appears right behind him much to Sitka's horror. Before the bear could attack, Denahi distracted it by tossing rocks and leads it to an unstable glacier. Kenai manages to climb up the ledge with Sitka's help, and rushes with him to help Denahi who had fallen through a fissure in the ice. While Sitka battles the bear to buy time, Kenai struggles to pull Denahi to safety. With Sitka barely able to stand up and the bear approaching Kenai who was still trying to pull Denahi up, Sitka sacrifices himself to save his brothers by breaking the glacier apart by stabbing his spear into the ice. After Kenai finally pulls Denahi up he looks at Sitka in shock, who falls into the water below with the bear falling down too. Kenai runs towards the edge of the glacier, to see if Sitka was down there, but all he could see was the bear emerging from the water still alive. Worried for Sitka, he tells Denahi to hurry down the glacier and begin searching the water for Sitka. Kenai finds Sitka's broken spear, and Denahi calls for Kenai to see Sitka's hood. After confirming it was really Sitka's hood, Kenai becomes even more concerned, refusing to believe that Sitka was dead. He calls out for Sitka while combing through the water to no avail. Eventually Kenai gives up and accepts his brother is dead and goes back to the village with Denahi and they inform the village of what happened.
That night, the tribe holds a funeral for Sitka and his possessions are burned to ashes and Tanana preforms a kind of ritual to release his spirit so it can pass to the afterlife. While Kenai grieves a little for the loss of his brother, his mourning turns into rage and leaves the funeral early to get his spear and supplies. After the funeral is over, Kenai approaches Denahi and asks him if his ready, confusing the latter as to what he meant. Kenai throws him and a spear and points out that he meant going after the bear and hunt it down. Denahi admits that he understands Kenai's pain, but refuses to go and throws the spear down, knowing that it is wrong to kill that bear. Frustrated, Kenai reminds Denahi that their brother is dead, because of that bear. Denahi responds by saying that he doesn't blame the bear for what happened, since it was Sitka who sacrificed himself to save them from the bear Kenai provoked. At first Kenai became confused, and later angry after realizing what he meant, believing Denahi was blaming him for what happened. Denahi tries to convince Kenai to not act in vengeance, as murdering a bear wouldn't give him anything, much less make him a man. Kenai ridicules Denahi at trying to act wise now of all times, but Denahi says that he is trying to follow the values of his totem, and asks Kenai why doesn't he try to follow his. Kenai counters that by asking Denahi if he truly believes love has anything to do about being a man. To make his point, Kenai claims that a man wouldn't just stay and do nothing after something like this. Denahi tries to hold Kenai back and warn hims that his actions could upset the spirits, but Kenai brushes him aside and sarcastically thanks him for his wisdom, now having lost his faith in spirits. Before he leaves, Kenai confronts Tanana with a sad and disappointed look on her eyes, and without saying a word, throws the totem she gave him in the ashes, no longer believing in its values. But Tanana gets it back and gives it Denahi who chases after Kenai in order to stop him.
Path of Vengeance[]
Once Kenai departs from the village, he returns to the glacier and tracks the bear's paw prints and signs of its passage through the forest and eventually arrives in a berry thicket. Looking around the area while also noticing that there are paw prints under the bushes as well, Kenai hears a sound which alerts him, thinking that it might be the bear. He lowers his head under the bushes, relaxes and prepares to attack, only to find a beaver on a rock, which surprises him. Kenai scares the beaver away with his spear, and sits down to rest while sticking his spear nearby, thinking that he might have lost the bear's tracks, only to get caught off guard and alarmed when the bear emerges from under the bushes. Kenai tries to reach for his spear while also trying to hide from the bear, thinking that it might be looking for him. Kenai jumps towards his spear and prepares to fight, only for the bear to flee after noticing Kenai's presence. Determined to kill that bear, Kenai relentlessly chases after the bear running through rocks and eventually corners it atop of a huge rock. The two engage in a fight with the bear briefly having the upper hand after disarming Kenai and nearly throwing him off the ledge after cornering him on a tall boulder. Kenai notices his spear and quickly leaps over the bear's back and rushes to catch it with the bear in hot pursuit, but manages to get his spear and lifts it up in time while screaming in fear and fatally impales the large animal when it charges towards him.
Having finally killed the bear, Kenai tries to get off from its heavy body and stares at the dead animal's corpse. Kenai releases a loud shriek of fury, which Denahi hears and gets confused by it. Before Kenai leaves the scene of the battle, clouds built up in the sky, and strange blue lights appear before Kenai, with an entire waterfall dropping from the sky which frightens Kenai who keeps his distance. Intrigued by the light, Kenai slowly and cautiously approaches the light waterfall and pokes it with his spear, causing the spirits to burst in the form of an orange aurora depicting many animals running, flying, and swimming in the sky. Kenai is amazed at the sight of something so magical happening right before him. When an eagle spirit approaches Kenai and turns human, he is shocked to see it is Sitka, who sadly looks at both his brother and the bear he killed, the latter which slowly gets drawn by the power of the Great Spirits to join them. Kenai, confused at was happening, was pulled up in the sky by Sitka's eagle spirit and transformed into a bear and gently put back on the ground in his new form. With the dead bear's spirit set free and Kenai turned into a bear, the Great Spirits quickly vanish just before Denahi arrives. Kenai, a little dizzy by the experience, can barely see what's happening around him, and Denahi mistakes Kenai's bear form as the bear he was fighting and believed that the bear had killed Kenai after seeing his torn clothes caused by the transformation. When Kenai attempts to approach a terrified Denahi, a lightning strike causes Kenai to lose balance, which makes him plummet of the side of the rocky surface and into a raging river, which causes him to lose conscious after being hit win the head by multiple rocks in the water current. Luckily, he survives the ordeal and washes ashore by the current still unconscious.
Transformed into a Bear[]
The next morning, Kenai slowly wakes up, looking around the forest and finds Tanana nursing his wounds. After he gets up and regains his strength, Kenai looked shocked and remembered what happened to him. He tried to explain to Tanana that on top of a huge rock, the Great Spirits appeared before him, but his words were coming out as growls, which is why Tanana hushed him and told him that she doesn’t understand bears. Confused at what she meant with bear, Kenai looks at his reflection in a nearby river to see a bear’s face, which causes him to a experience a brief panic attack as he checks his body, to see he has claws, fur and a tiny tail, realizing he has become a bear. After he lets out a loud terrifying scream, that many animals from far away can hear, Kenai walks and crawls around horrified, not understanding what happened to him. After her efforts to calm him down fail, Tanana hits Kenai in the head with her boot to get him to relax, and explains that Sitka was the one who had transformed Kenai into a bear. Still worried and confused, Tenana looks around Kenai’s body and deduces that such an unusual change meant that Sitka must have something great planned for Kenai, since now he can see things in a whole new perspective. After Tanana takes a closer look at his eyes, she wonders if he can see things in black and white or in color, but an annoyed Kenai growls angrily at her to stop. Tanana reminds Kenai that he is to blame for what has happened to him, but tells him that he can change back if he seeks out the spirit of his brother, who could turn him back into a human. Kenai wonders how he can find him, and Tanana informs him that Sitka resides in the mountain where the lights touch the earth, and he is the key to help Kenai make up for what he did wrong. Still confused, Kenai claims that he didn’t do anything wrong, but Tanana disappeared without a trace, which causes an even more confused Kenai to call out to her, repeating that he didn’t do anything wrong and that he didn’t even know how to get to that mountain. Kenai hears someone talking behind a tree and goes there to see who it is, but he’s surprised to see that it’s a pair of chipmunks arguing over acorns that he can understand and asks them how they are able to talk, but they run scared of Kenai since he’s a bear. Later he notices a flock of birds talking as well, and Kenai tries to get their attention wanting to ask them how to get to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, but to no avail. But it does draw the attention of two nearby moose, Rutt and Tuke, who try to hide from him when he approaches, wanting to talk to them. Although at first they are frightened of Kenai, thinking he’ll eat them, they relax after Kenai helps them untangle their horns and assures them that he isn’t going to eat anyone. Being grateful to Kenai for being so nice, they refer to him as a bear, but Kenai gets annoyed by that and tells them to not call him that or Mr. Bear, since he isn’t a bear and hates bears. Cutting right to the chase, Kenai asks them if they know where the lights touch the earth, but they don’t and think that he might be a beaver. Kenai tries to explain, although he blurts a little, that he is neither a beaver or a bear, but a man that was transformed into a bear magically, by his brother who lifted him in the sky. The moose brothers think he is crazy, to which Kenai angrily tells them that he isn’t, but still the moose don’t take him seriously, and with the nonsense they were talking about, Kenai wonders why he was talking to a pair a dumb moose and heads out alone to find the mountain himself. Although he was warned by Rutt not to go the way he was headed, Kenai ignores him, not taking them seriously, which proves to be a mistake after he gets caught in a trap that makes him hit his head several times and holds him suspended from a tree by one foot.
A Meeting of Fate[]
Noticing a stick lying on the ground nearby, Kenai tries to grab it and succeeds, but before he can use it to set himself free, he notices a shadow underneath the rocks asking him if the coast was clear. But Kenai gets confused, and the shadow asks more specifically if there are any hunters around, which Kenai replies with a no. Glad to hear it, the shadow bursts into the clearing, and it’s revealed to be a small bear cub, that startled Kenai, making him lose the stick by getting his head banged on the tree again. The bear cub makes a little fun of Kenai for his predicament, but promises to keep it a secret, with Kenai wondering what he meant. The cub tries to get him down from the tree with the stick, despite Kenai telling him to stop several times after every walloping he got from stubborn cub. Not wanting help from a stupid bear, Kenai tells the cub that he only needs the stick, but refuses to get it from the him, wanting to take it himself to where it was found. Several hours pass, and Kenai still struggles to get the stick while being forced to hear the cub’s stories, but he finally gets it after the little bear secretly passes it to him, much to his relief. Still, Kenai’s attempt of getting free was pointless, after he hits his head on the ground again. Getting fed up with the cub’s presence, Kenai asks him whether he has a place to get to, the cub responds that he wishes to go to the Salmon Run. Being reminded of that, he strikes a deal with Kenai, requesting him to go together if he gets him down from the tree, to which Kenai bluntly accepts, but under the condition that if he fails, he will turn around and never come back, ever. To be sure he keeps his word, the cub makes Kenai pinky swear on that, which he does, but expresses disbelief that a dumb little bear can get him down from a human trap. However, the cub gets him down easily, but Kenai suffers a painful gut punch from the torn down branch that was holding him in suspended upside down. While he was recovering, Kenai get warned by the fleeing cub that he must run, but Kenai only expresses relief that the little bear finally left. Now alone, Kenai picks up a scent and turns around to discover that Denahi is right behind him. He tries to talk to him and expresses his relief that Denahi had finally found him and that his nightmare is finally over with Denahi here by his side, forgetting that humans can’t understand him. Denahi (who is determined to avenge his younger brother’s supposed death) recognizes Kenai’s bear form from before, and gets ready to strike Kenai with his spear, much to his horror, trying to tell Denahi that he is actually Kenai. When Denahi nearly kills him with his spear, Kenai runs in terror and doesn’t look back. Noticing an ice cave in a glacier nearby, he hides there to catch his breath, but notices that Denahi is right above the glacier. Kenai discovers that the bear cub from earlier was hiding behind him too, but grabs him and covers his mouth, so Denahi wouldn’t hear them. After he leaves, he lets go of the cub, but feels troubled and wonders why Denahi is chasing him, noting that it’s not like his brother, to act this way. The cub tries to cheer him up by pointing out by showing him his fighting moves and claims that he can take anyone easily. Not impressed, Kenai claims that the hunter was coming back, making the cub cower in fear behind Kenai, which the latter calls a typical move. After Koda points out that if they come across hunter again, Kenai interrupts him telling him that they wouldn’t be sticking together, with Kenai confessing that he has no intention of taking the little bear to the Salmon Run. Even though he reminds him that he pinky swore, Kenai brushes it off, claiming that things change and bids the cub goodbye. Just before Kenai leaves, the little bear asks him to wait, which he does, and confesses that he got separated from his mother and feels scared with the hunter around, but Kenai points out that he’s got his own problems to deal with. However, after the cub mentions something regarding the lights touching the mountain, it peaks Kenai’s interest and asks him if he knows where the lights touch the earth, to which he confirms it and adds that it’s just near the Salmon Run and he can show it to him. Still thinking it over, the cub also adds that he will help Kenai out if he’s ever stuck in a trap, but Kenai protests that he won’t be falling into any more traps, but gets stuck in an ice block because of the rope from the previous trap, much to his annoyance. With the rope torn off thanks to the cub’s help, Kenai wants to be sure that he can take him to where the lights touch the earth, to which he agrees, and after he sighs, he warns the cub not to slow him down, to which he quickly promises. Kenai accepts and says that they‘ll begin their journey first thing tomorrow, and lays down to sleep. The cub snuggles close to Kenai, but the latter shoves him away and asks him to not cuddle with him while referring to the former as kid, to which he responds by saying that his name is Koda, and he asks what’s his name, Kenai ignores him annoyed while covering his ears.
The Journey Begins[]
The next day, the two bears wake up and begin their journey by wandering through the glacier and eventually make it out of the ice cave, where Koda plays around with his weird reflection on the ice, and an annoyed Kenai tells him that he has to get to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, and refers to Koda as kid again to stop playing around and get moving. Koda reminds Kenai what his name is and asks him to say it, but Kenai responds with an insult and asks if maybe Koda got ditched deliberately by his mother for being too annoying and intentionally misspelled his name, “Ko-duh”, much to Koda’s dismay. Soon they make it to a grass field and Koda offers to tell Kenai how he got separated from his mom, but just as he begins to tell him, Kenai interrupts him and says that he agrees with Koda’s note of saving his story for his friends, since Kenai himself had no interest of hearing it. When Koda offers to tell Kenai another story, Kenai stops him and asks him to stop talking, to which Koda accepts and instead starts singing, something that Kenai enjoyed even less and fruitlessly tells the still singing Koda to stop, but he continues without paying Kenai any attention. Despite Koda’s attempts of fun and friendship, Kenai simply rebuffs them, annoyed at Koda when he mimics him, draws a circle on the ground after Kenai draws a separation line for Koda to keep his distance while he tried to eat berries, or shares his stories with other animals and pulls him out of it and still doesn’t like Koda snuggling during his sleep, but instead moves himself during one night, instead of shoving him away. However, little by little as the days pass, Kenai begins to enjoy his journey and warms up to Koda, after some fun experiences such as the bear cub covering him with dandelions that made him sneeze, walking through the rain, briefly being held in the air near the edge of a hill and playing in the mud with Koda, after falling in it when the wind push stops, by giving him a silly hairstyle after the cub laughs at his, to which both find it funny and run off laughing together.
Before they continue with their journey, the two moose that Kenai met from before, Rutt and Tuke, catch up to them and mistake Koda for Kenai’s little brother, but before he corrects them, the moose ask to accompany them, wishing for Kenai to watch over them to protect them from the hunter. When Kenai assures them that they lost the hunter back in the glacier, Rutt points out Kenai and Koda’s paw prints in the dirt as a clear sign that the hunter could follow to track them. Realizing that they had a point, Kenai tells Koda he has an idea, which is riding on the backs of mammoth, that Koda finds really weird. Soon many animals join them as well, and cross a river with animals standing on their feet on the top of the mammoths trunks, while Kenai stands on the back.
With the sun setting, the two bears sit together on the trunk of a mammoth, and Koda starts storytelling about his friend Bucky, but Kenai, even though this times he finds it amusing, shuts Koda’s mouth with his paws and jokingly asks him if he ever stops talking. Noticing the ”night rainbow”, Koda tells Kenai that they can see the spirits, which surprises the latter to find out that the bear cub, who is an animal, knows about the Great Spirits. After Koda gives a brief explanation on how both of his grandparents are part of the spirits that are responsible for all the changes that occur by giving some examples, Kenai tells Koda that he understands what he means, but comments that maybe the spirits could leave things alone for a change, which confuses Koda at what Kenai meant by that. To make him understand, Kenai reveals to Koda that his brother is a spirit too, and that if it wasn’t for him, Kenai wouldn’t be where he is right now, without revealing that it he was turned into a bear, because of him. After Koda asks him what happened to him and what is his name, Kenai almost tells him that he was killed by a bear, but instead says monster, not wishing to scare the kid, and tells him that his name is Sitka. Kenai is surprised to hear Koda thank Sitka for being the reason that he and Kenai met in the first place. Later the two bear fall asleep, but not before Koda snuggles to Kenai again, despite being shunned away and Kenai keeping his distance from him before and expresses his desire of always wanting to have a brother, and Kenai keeps him close to him this time and watches as the young bear falls soundly asleep and soon follows.
Small Quarrel[]
On daybreak of the next morning, Kenai is still asleep, but wakes up after Koda lands on his head. He tries to wake Koda up and gently slides Koda of his ahead, and after he awakens, he asks Koda where they are. Alarmed and confused at not recognizing the scenery, when Kenai asks Koda again which way they should go, he tells him that he thinks that it’s that way. With that statement, Kenai asks Koda again if he thinks or knows that the way he was pointing to was right, and so Koda points to a different direction. Realizing that they were lost, an irritated Kenai asks himself why couldn’t he have been transformed into a homing pigeon instead, and tells Koda to come with him. Kenai goes back to being annoyed with Koda’s storytelling again, after the cub tries to lighten the mood with one, misspelling his friend’s name and avows that he he doesn’t care at at all at what the did, something which gets Koda irritated as well. After Koda apologizes, but under his breath says that it’s Kenai’s fault, Kenai hears that and reacts with shock and anger that Koda is pinning the blame on him, and after Koda points out that he should be grateful to him since Kenai might still have been hanging by that tree that Koda freed him from, Kenai loses his cool and disdains that claim, stating that it would have been much better to be stuck in a tree than having to endure a trip with Koda or his blabbering mouth, and starts to disrespect Koda by repeating Koda’s statements of being lost, having lost his mother and wanting to go to the Salmon Run in a mocking tone, and wraps it up by telling Koda that he should just act like a grown up and take care of his own problems instead of relying on Kenai, which causes Koda to lose his cool as well and decides to go the rest of the journey alone, to which Kenai accepts. After Koda walks away, Kenai calms down and realizes his mistake at yelling at a child, and calls out for Koda, wishing to apologize. While following Koda, the two bears stumble upon a cave covered in human paintings of animals, where they walk around amazed at the sight. There, Kenai also notices handprints and puts his paw on one of them to reflect on his life as a human, which leaves his paw print on top of the hand print. While he looks around, he notices the paintings of many animals running around in a similar manner to the Great Spirits. Kenai notices the light of the sun shining on one drawing in particular, depicting a man holding a spear agains a huge bear, which draws his interest and reminds Kenai of his own fight against a bear, while glaring at the bear seeing it as the real monster. But Koda while hiding behind Kenai, refers to the drawing depicting a man as monster that he finds most scary and especially when their armed. Having heard that, Kenai looks for a moment at Koda and looks back on the painting depicting a man, taking those words at heart, understanding how bears feel about humans. Kenai simply tells Koda they should go, and so they leave the cave, with Koda riding on Kenai’s back.
After walking a few miles, Kenai asks Koda if he recognizes the scenery yet and jokingly says that maybe he can’t see anything past his, as Koda referred to before, fat head, which makes the cub laugh. However, Kenai seriously asks Koda if he really thinks that he has a fat head, Koda replies with another joke that Kenai’s head wouldn’t seem so big if he hunched his shoulders. Realizing why he said that, Kenai plays around with Koda on his back raising his shoulders and tries to shake him off without letting him fall for fun, which makes the fun loving cub, burst in laughter. On their way they notice a pair of rams, and Kenai tries to get their attention to ask the direction, but they get distracted by their own echoes and yell at them to shut up continuously, much to the bears’ amusement. Koda begins to recognize the scent of the landscape, and tells Kenai that he knows this place, which reliefs Kenai, but his relief is turned to shock and horror after Koda reveals that the way to the Salmon Run is just through the Valley of Fire, a landscape with red rocks, dead trees and lava. Kenai is left speechless and stunned of the sight of the dangerous landscape with geysers bursting out of the ground, and looks at Koda still horrified if he was serious about this, which confuses Koda who is unfazed by the sight.
Dangerous Confrontation[]
Kenai, worried and scared, asks Koda if he’s really sure he knows where they’re going, and Koda assures him that he does and runs of ahead disappearing in the smoke. After nearly getting burned by a geyser, Kenai calls out for Koda to come out, which he does but jumps from behind which startles Kenai who jumps and falls over by the log of a tree close to him, much to Koda’s satisfaction. Kenai angry tells him not do that, which Koda takes it that he really scared Kenai, but he brushes it off by saying that there are times when people get scared or surprised, with Koda concurring that Kenai was both, much to his dismay. When Koda notices a molten rock formation resembling a giant skull, Kenai sees it as a good opportunity to get back at Koda for scaring him, by roaring at him from behind to frighten him. But Koda saw through Kenai’s attempt and mocks it as a nice try, not scared at all, and notes that he has a little spit on his face, which annoys him. Instantly Koda looks scared and Kenai responds that he’s tricks won’t work on him this time, feeling he is getting duped again. But Koda warns him to look out and a spear lands right next to him, startling the two, and Kenai is shocked to see Denahi jump from the ledge above. While Koda flees scared, Kenai slowly backs away and notices a geyser right beneath him, and uses his strength to slam the ground to release it to temporarily blind Denahi, after which he runs away. He manages to find a fallen log leading across the chasm to safety, but hesitates when he hears Koda shouting for help still in the dangerous landscape.
Kenai promptly turns back and manages to find Koda whom he grabs with his mouth by his scruff and races back to the log while trying to avoid the geysers bursting out. Kenai manages to get to the log, but slips while rushing, so he walks slowly across the log while looking scared down on the gorge with a river right beneath them. Before they can make to the end though, Koda alerts Kenai, who looks back where Denahi reaches the other end of the log and tries to heave it off the ledge. In order to make sure Koda is safe, Kenai tosses him to the other side, and rushes to him as well and makes it just in time before one end of the log topples into the chasm. Once they make it together safely, Kenai watches as Denahi stands on the other say angry that he failed to kill Kenai. Koda tells him that they need to leave, and Kenai starts to follow Koda, looking away sadly that his brother is still trying to kill him. But when Denahi jumps towards the log, Kenai turns back and roars in fear for his brother’s safety. He hurries to the edge and looks down at the chasm and sees that he’s brother is hanging from Kenai and Koda’s end of the gorge. Just as the 2 siblings share a deep look at each other’s eyes, the log begins to plummet down the gorge despite Kenai’s efforts to keep it from falling, plummeting into the river below. To Kenai’s relief, Denahi survives, but sadly watches as the river current takes him away.
Back in their journey, Koda asks Kenai why do humans hate bears so much, with Kenai simply saying that it’s because they are bears, confusing the former as to why does that matter. Kenai tries to explain that bears are killers, which surprises Koda as to why Kenai thinks that, since neither he or Kenai have killed or hurt anyone. Kenai agrees that not all bears are bad, with Koda being one of them, but believes that most bears would look for any excuse to attack the humans, to which Koda counters by saying that Denahi was the one who started the fight in the first place, not them. Not knowing how to back up his claims, Kenai wraps up the argument by saying that Koda is just a cub and that when he’s older, he’ll understand what he means.
Bear Family[]
Just then, Kenai hears someone yell out “Fish!” repeatedly, and turns his head around to see that it was bird, that Kenai managed to dodge before it crashed into his head. Confused at what Koda meant, when he said they made it after seeing the bird, Kenai calls out to him as he runs away, but the first bird is followed by a flock of many birds yelling “Fish!” too, that swarm Kenai and push him down to a lake where he stumbles into the midst of the Salmon Run. As Kenai emerges from the water to catch his breath, he is frightened to se bears at every corner, and when a big one emerges in front of him, Kenai screams out in terror, attracting the bears’ attention, but slowly stops confused at the bears simply staring. He is told to not stur up the waters and be careful not to scare the fish, not being less confused. When Kenai is surrounded by the bears he still feels uneasy around them, and mumbles when he is asked my Tug where he is from. When Koda reveals to Kenai the mountain where the lights touch the earth and tells the other bears about the weird things that Kenai does, embarrassed he interrupts him and pulls him out of the scene wishing to talk to him alone, while excusing themselves. Once on dry land, Kenai tells Koda that he has to part ways with and get going to the mountain, to which Koda doesn’t mind, but is interrupted by him when Koda says that what they will do together when he comes back, sadly informing the cub that he won’t be coming back. When a confused Koda asks him why, Kenai finds it hard to tell him the truth and says that it’s hard to explain, but is eavesdropped by Tug, who asks him if his leaving, which startles Kenai. Scared, he denies it, but later confirms it, claiming that he must leave because he does not belong in the Salmon Run, which confuses Tug, who assures Kenai that the Salmon Run is a place that every bear belongs and is welcomed. Koda and other bears try to show Kenai the true sights of the Salmon Run, and he sees for himself that it is actually a location of many river streams and waterfalls where bears play around and fish. When he is urged by some bears to join them to have fun, Kenai declines the offer, wanting only to look around. Koda insists that Kenai follows the other bears to see more of the Salmon Run, where he is astonished how bears catch fish, but doesn’t pay attention when he stumbles on a large pile of salmon gathered by a Croatian bear, and knocks most of it into the water along himself. He tries to get it back, but when he resurfaces, he has only a stick in his mouth which both Koda and the Croatian bear find it funny and burst into laughter. Koda tries to teach Kenai how to catch a Salmon with his mouth, and although he tries, he doesn’t catch one, but sees as bear cubs dive close to them. Kenai climbs a hill along with Koda, where he watches some bears jump on the waterfall, confusing him, but Koda gives him a push on the back, to get him to join in and the two slide with the stream of the river, like a water slide, and laugh hard together enjoying their fun, with Koda splashing him with water in the face.
After diving deep in the water, Kenai finally finds out the truth that he never knew. Seeing all the bears playing around, catching Salmon and having fun, Kenai finally understands that everything that knew about bears was wrong, and they were actually very nice animals, no longer seeing them as monsters, but as family, seeing the Salmon Run with all the bears as the most beautiful, peaceful and harmonious place he had ever seen.
During twilight, the bears gather to play a common game among them where they tell each other stories about the most exciting thing that happened to them the current year by passing a headless salmon to one another. Noticing Koda wanting to get the salmon to tell his story, Kenai manages to catch the salmon after a lover bear throws it and offers it to Koda, but he declines saying that Kenai must tell it, and Tug concurs this to a confused Kenai, that he who holds the salmon must tell their story. After being questioned by Koda if he ever played this game when he was younger and urged by the other bears to not be shy and tell his story to them, Kenai caves in and shares his story, being the trip he took to get to the Salmon Run, referring to it as the longest, hardest, most exhausting journey while being with Koda, calling him "the biggest pain in the neck he's ever met", which at first hurts Koda's feelings, believing that Kenai still doesn't like him. But Kenai concludes it by saying that it's something to be expected from a little brother, while hugging Koda, confessing that just like Koda sees Kenai as his brother, Kenai feels the same way for him, which delights the young cub, which causes the other bears to coo from the loving brother affection displayed by the two. With his story concluded, Kenai passes Koda the salmon saying that it's his turn.
The Shocking Truth[]
To start off his story that he had been meaning to tell tell Kenai when they met, about how he got separated from his mother, Koda summarizes it by saying that his mom faced a life-and-death against the most fearsome creature on earth, which shocks the bears and piques both Kenai and Tug's interest, with the latter insisting that Koda should explain such a thrilling story in detail for everyone, which was what Koda was intending. At first when Koda starts from the beginning of his story and adds some scary stuff to scare the others at first, Kenai at first finds it amusing, but quickly becomes concerned when Koda says that his mom was facing a hunter in battle, and his concern turns to alarm when Koda explains his story in a way that fits his and his brothers encounter with the bear they fought, causing Kenai to have flashbacks of that encounter and its conclusion, realizing that that same bear was actually Koda's mom, but Koda explains it in his perspective which reveals that Koda's mom wasn't fighting intentionally, but simply to protect her son from the hunters. Kenai experiences other flashbacks regarding his sole fight against the bear and its conclusion, hearing also voices of what he said about that bear to Denahi and realizing that Koda's mom was searching for her cub, understanding that he killed Koda's mother, which causes Kenai to experience a panic attack, turning a storytelling time into a nightmare for Kenai, realizing the truth of the horrible sin he committed. When Koda and Tug asks him what's wrong, Kenai runs away horrified without saying a word.
Kenai eventually makes it atop of a hill, where he can clearly see the mountain where the lights touch the earth with the Great Spirits shining brightly, and turns his head to see the Salmon Run and the bears still telling stories. Conflicted and troubled, Kenai paces around relentlessly whether he should head for the mountain alone and become human again, or stay in the Salmon Run and tell Koda the truth.
Eventually, Kenai calms and lies down, reflecting unhappily on the situation, still wondering what he should do. Koda finds Kenai sulking by himself on the edge of the forest, and tries to scare him again by jumping on him, but Kenai is too gloomy to react and responds sadly with a yeah when Koda asks him if scared him again. Optimistically as always, Koda asks Kenai why he left without saying a word, and adding that Kenai looks horrible thinking that maybe Kenai overdid with the eating. Kenai tries to grab Koda's attention, and can barely say the truth directly to him, so instead reminds Koda about the story he told him last night, which he remembers, and states that Kenai himself had a story to tell Koda. When Koda asks what his story is about, Kenai replies that his story is kind of about a man and a bear, but mostly it is about a monster who had something very wrong. Kenai continues to explain the story, as snow begins to fall, using the word monster to describe himself and the actions that that monster did and what led after, which confuses Koda at the idea of the story. When Kenai confesses that he himself had done very wrong, causing Koda to back away in fear, beginning to realize that the story Kenai was telling was actually about himself. Despite seeing that, Kenai felt the need to tell the young cub the truth and confessed to Koda that his mother isn't coming.
After a frightened and devastated Koda denies Kenai's claims and runs away, Kenai pursues him, but can't keep up with Koda, thus losing sight of him in the snow. Kenai desperately calls out for Koda many times, but the heartbroken cub doesn't respond. Understanding the pain Koda was feeling, despite not seeing him, he hoped he could hear him and tried to tell Koda that he wished that, if there was anyway, he'd give anything to change what he had done, but the guilt he was feeling, prevented him from finishing the sentence and expressing his feelings, thinking that they wouldn't make him feel any better. After exhaling from frustration, Kenai notices his paw print on the snow and changes it to a handprint, realizing that he isn't a bear, but a cruel human who had something very wrong, which caused someone close to him experience a greater pain than he felt. Knowing that not even all the apologizing in the world wouldn't make up for what he did, Kenai still tries to tell Koda that he is so sorry for killing his mother, and slowly heads away grief-stricken towards the mountain where the lights touch the earth.
The True Meaning of Love[]
After finally reaching the top of the mountain with difficulty because of the snowstorm, Kenai calls out for Sitka if he's there, and begs him to change back, now having lost his away and not knowing what else he could do, since he could make up for what he had done. Kenai notices a silhouette and thinks that it might be Sitka, but is terrified to see that's it's actually Denahi. As Denahi attempts to kill him, Kenai desperately calls out for Sitka to change him back, thinking that Denahi will succeed in killing him if he doesn't. Kenai tries to hold him back and push him away, still calling out for Sitka, but Denahi pushes both himself and Kenai to a ledge below. Now pinned down in the snow by Denahi, who prepares to give the finishing blow, Kenai desperately begs Denahi for mercy to no avail. But right before he can finish off Kenai, Koda knocks Denahi off of him, with Kenai being surprised to see Koda here, thinking that he'd never see him again for what he did. After getting up, Kenai is terrified to see Denahi go after Koda, who grabbed his spear, and ordered him to leave Koda alone. In order to stop Denahi from hurting the young cub, Kenai yells out for Koda and jumps towards Denahi to stop him. Having seen Kenai's selfless act, Sitka saves him just in the nick of time before he is impaled by Denahi's spear, with Kenai screaming in anguish, just as the spirits illuminate the sky.
Just as Sitka's eagle spirit, puts his brother down on the ground turned into a flower field by the power of the Great Spirits, Kenai is transformed back into a human and is relieved to see Sitka's human spirit, who had finally forgiven Kenai for his sin and given his brother's hood to him. Kenai notices a scared Koda hiding not to far behind a boulder, and approaches the frightened bear cub, who recognized him from before as the hunter who fought his mom, but Kenai assures him to not be afraid, telling him that's really Kenai. Recognizing him, Koda embraces Kenai, having too forgiven Kenai for what he did. Seeing the sad look in Koda's eyes, who wishes to be with him, Kenai embraces Koda warmly to show that he too feels the same way. Sitka hands Kenai the Bear Totem that he took from Denahi, and after Kenai looks at both it and Koda, he finally understands the values of love and how precious its bonds are. Since he no longer had his mother, Kenai told a saddened Denahi, that Koda needs him. With Denahi in full understanding, Kenai is briefly happy, but realizes that if he does this, he'll have to leave Denahi as well, which the older brother clarifies that it's fine with him, by adding that their brotherhood will never end, regardless of Kenai's choice.
Kenai slowly turns back into a bear as he and Denahi shake on their promise of always being brothers, and the two hug each other, and Kenai roars in laughter as although he is Denahi's younger brother, he is bigger than him now that he is a bear. Sitka also joins them and hugs his brothers goodbye, and all three see as Koda is also being embraced by his mother's spirit, who bids her son farewell before returning to the Spirits with Sitka. Kenai approaches a slightly saddened Koda seeing his mother leave, and the cub jumps right at him in great joy to see Kenai as a bear again. The two bear brothers start to play wrestling with Denahi also joining, having a great time together on the flower field where the lights touch the earth.
Dream Fulfilled[]
Having proven himself worthy of the values of his totem, Kenai returns to his village along with Denahi and Koda. To make it official that he has become a man through becoming a bear, Kenai excitedly puts his paw print on the wall of his ancestors, fulfilling his life long dream. As the crowd cheers for Kenai, he begins to play with both Denahi and his little brother bear Koda. With his ceremony concluded, Kenai returns with Koda to the Salmon Run to live with the other bears forever.
Together and Happier[]
After 6 months of hibernating, Kenai and his adoptive brother Koda race back to the Salmon Run, while playing around on the way. While running through a river and scaring geese away, Kenai passes Koda a Salmon with his paw, which keeps squirming in his mouth, much to Kenai‘s amusement. When they come across a log, Kenai gives Koda a little push with his head, with the latter waving to follow, which Kenai responds with a warm smile as Koda walks through the log, and helps him down the log when he accidentally hangs upside down, having fun with him. Along the way, the 2 bears are surprised to come across Rutt and Tuke, who run away scared and hide together with them under a bush from a female buffalo. Kenai asks them, what has gotten into them, with them responding that they have „spring fever“, confusing the bear, but before leaving gives them a warning that they’re „girlfriend“ is back. With that out of the way, Kenai runs off with Koda on his back, but falls down a gorge and slides down terrified at not being able to see as to where he is going, with Koda blocking his sight, but luckily they both make it to the Salmon Run unharmed, with Kenai falling on the frozen lake and laughs as Koda slides through the ice and collides with a snow field. As Tug approaches, Kenai greets him and explains that both he and Koda are on their away to Crowberry Bridge and catches Koda just as he slides towards them. Even though Koda offers Tug to accompany them, he declines when his mate calls him, claiming that girls can’t be kept waiting, which Koda remarks as irrelevant, claiming that they only need each other, with Kenai full in agreement. But before Kenai walks away, Tug gives him a small piece of advise that love has a way of finding others when they least expect it, but Kenai doesn’t take it seriously and bursts into laughter with Koda, who makes Kenai laugh again while walking away from the Salmon Run, when he mimics Tug. Feeling tired, Kenai slides Koda off his back, and tells the cub that it’s time for a rest, but Koda reminds him that 6 months of hibernating has been more than enough rest for them. Kenai reminds him that they will beat all the other bears to Crowberry Ridge regardless, and promises to the excited cub, that they‘ll get first dibs on the berries, but if Koda promises to go to sleep, which he does, but not before he expresses his love for berries and asks Kenai what his opinion on berries are, to which Kenai replies with a „Good night, Koda“, too tired to talk with him.
During that night, Kenai dreams about his childhood with his friend Nita and the time they spent together in Hokani Falls, where they witnessed the equinox, and keeps saying her name in his sleep, something that Koda notices. After Kenai wakes up, he realizes that he was dreaming and is surprised to see Koda on top of him asking who Nita is, to which he answers that she is a girl he used to know, but doesn’t know what happened to her, simply stating that she must have grown up and walks away, with Koda following.
An Old Friend in Need[]
While on their way to Crowberry Bridge, Koda’s story of Bucky gets Kenai hungry, and Koda too admits that he’s hungry and searches for food, but Kenai pulled him out and pushes him away after Koda unintentionally hits with some snow while digging, and begins to show off how a real bear hunts for food. He manages to dig out lots of roots that Koda claims it was his discovery, but Kenai doesn’t take that or his killer instincts seriously. When Kenai manages to pull out some roots and asks Koda if maybe it’s a tuber, Koda warns him to get down, getting Kenai worried and whispers what is wrong. After lifting his head above Koda’s, he looks around the woods concerned and notices a human walking nearby, which alarms him and instructs Koda to hide inside a hollow log while he keeps his head down. When the human walks above the log that Koda is hiding in and hears the cub make a sound, Kenai becomes scared, thinking that the human was hunter was going to hurt Koda. Kenai emerges from behind them and angrily roars at the human and attacks them with his paw. Kenai rushes over to the human and shatters their spear when they point it at him and lifts them up by grabbing the human with his mouth preparing to finish them off. But when he takes their hood off, he gets confused to see that it is actually a girl and lets her go. When he looks at her closely, Kenai is surprised and realizes that the girl is actually his childhood friend, Nita. After getting hit on the head by Nita with her broken spear and dodging 3 more hits, Kenai grabs Nita’s stick and puts it down while telling her that he is Kenai, which surprises Nita who wonders if it’s really him, with Kenai confirming it that it really is him. After Nita circles around him to see how he has changed, Kenai does the same, seeing how much Nita has grown and is also surprised to know that Nita can understand him, with Nita revealing that it was a gift from the Spirits to enable her to talk to Kenai when she found him. Confused, Kenai asks her why has she been looking for him after so long. When Nita shows him the amulet being the reason why, Kenai is surprised and touched to see that Nita has still kept it after all these years, and gets excited when Nita explains that the amulet he gave her serves as symbol that bonds them both together and now they have to go to Hokani Falls, which gets Kenai even more excited, but later becomes confused when Nita tells him that they have to burn the amulet there to break that bond. When Nita tries to reason with Kenai, that it didn’t mean that much if a small trinket was destroyed, Kenai gets insulted by that claim and angry, thinking that Nita didn’t care at all about the memento he gave her for the sake of their friendship. After Nita tries to explain that it was merely a silly friendship and that destroying the amulet was the only way for the spirits to allow her to marry, it doesn’t make things any better for Kenai, who sarcastically thinks it over and immediately refuses to help her and wishes her luck to burn the “little trinket” on her own, but Nita corrects him that if they didn’t burn it together, then the bond would still remain regardless. When Koda approaches the two old friends talking together, Kenai quickly introduces Nita and Koda to each other, and Koda quickly gets reminded of what Kenai said about her and explained to her that Kenai was just dreaming about her, which Nita found it funny, and an embarrassed Kenai went in denial of that claim, and not wanting to be embarrassed anymore, Kenai shuts Koda’s mouth when the cub mimics him in his sleep, and gets him on his back. Kenai bids Nita farewell, saying it was nice to talk to her again after so long, but claims that both he and Koda have big plans in Crowberry Bridge and begins to part ways with her, but not before Nita protests and asks him again for his help, but Kenai still refuses, even when Nita claims that they won’t be able to move on with their lives if they didn’t burn the amulet, Kenai simply shows no interest, stating that he’ll take his chances. Having heard Nita’s claim that the spirits might change Kenai back into a human to join her instead, Koda feels worried and asks Kenai if that might really happen, but Kenai assures him that it won’t. With Koda feeling scared of the possibility that Kenai might turn back into a man, which would mean that both of them wouldn’t be brothers anymore, Kenai tries to assure him again that that won’t happen, but after thinking it over, he succumbs to the idea of losing Koda and reluctantly agrees to go with Nita to Hokani Falls and happily promises Koda that right after that, just the two of them would race down to Crowberry Bridge and Pinky swears on it to his brother to make it official. When Nita states that everything is settled and asks him if his ready for the journey they have, an annoyed Kenai responds that he is, but doesn’t pay attention and starts to walk ahead, only to turn around when Nita points out the correct direction to Hokani Falls being in the opposite direction, with Kenai simply stating that he knew that, but Koda denies that, telling Nita that Kenai’s sense of direction is unreliable, something that Kenai hears and denies. While Kenai walks ahead, Koda begins to indulge his new friend Nita about embarrassing stories regarding Kenai.
A New Adventure[]
After they leave the woods, Koda is still telling Nita about Kenai’s embarrassing moments, while he is still walking in frown just behind them, and tells Koda that they get the idea of the story when he gets sprayed by a skunk, and gets irritated when Nita jokingly comments that he’d smell better as a stinky skunk. When they stubble near a river, Kenai is surprised to see Rutt and Tuke approach him and ask him what would be the best way to impress two moosets eating nearby in the stream, while offering some suggestions that make Kenai roll his eyes, finding their ideas pathetic. When Nita approaches Kenai, the 2 moose brothers panic and hide behind Kenai, mistaking her for an hunter, only to calm down when Koda explains that she is friend. When Nita reminds him that they have to hurry, Kenai comments to them that she is indeed scary with her attitude. When Nita demands that they continue, Kenai tries to calm her down reminding her that they have plenty of time, but Nita rebuffs that, claiming that they need extra time as well to be prepared for any kind of trouble on the way. Kenai coolly assures her that there won’t be any delays if she just gives him a minute to give his friends a little romantic advice, which makes both Nita and Koda burst in laughter, finding it ridicules that Kenai thinks he knows anything about romance. Untroubled by her mocking, Kenai states that Rutt and Tuke need more than just an opening line to impress the moosettes, to which they agree, and Kenai also adds that acts of bravery are what really impress the ladies, but Rutt and Tuke begin to feel worried about that suggestion, but Kenai corrects them that they only need to pretend to be brave in the presence of the moosettes. He explains them his plan, in which Kenai will act all ferocious and the two moose brothers will emerge from the beaver dem and “rescue” the two ladies.
Despite Nita’s protests, Kenai goes ahead with his plan and pretends to be a wild and viscous bear trying to kill the two moosettes, by growling and roaring and talking in a deep voice. Kenai points to Rutt and Tuke that that’s their cue to come out, which they do, but quickly run away scared when Kenai roars at them, and drift away by the stream, despite Kenai telling them to come back. Once they leave, Kenai smiles nervously at the angry moosettes, who beat him up and get his head stuck on the beaver dam.
An Unexpected Delay[]
While struggling to get his head out of the dam, Kenai tells Nita that instead of making fun of him, they help him out, and shouts at Koda when he tells Nita that it’s a common thing for Kenai’s plans to get his head stuck on something. When Nita pokes him with a stick to get him out, Kenai feels a little pain and irritation when Koda reminds him he has a fat head. While pushing harder, Nita accidentally slips, which causes Koda to fall inside the dam greeting Kenai, who salutes him back earnest, and drop her bag with the amulet in the river. Kenai notices that the bag is floating right next to them, and calms her down by telling her to just grab it, but Nita is too afraid of the water and asks Kenai to grab instead, but Kenai is still stuck and holds his breath while the water runs through the dam. As the bag begins to flow away, Nita begins to panic and starts hitting Kenai from the bottom, which not only bugs Kenai, who tells her to stop, but also destroys the beaver dam, freeing Kenai, but also releasing the water stream that takes the bag with it. The trio quickly rushes to catch it, but are too late and reach a dead end and watch as the bag goes over a waterfall. Kenai looks down searching for the bag, and is relieved to see that it drifts ashore and points that out to the other two. But their relief turns to concern when a raccoon named Bering finds the bag and starts snooping, while the two bears stay quite with Nita warning the raccoon to leave her stuff alone, especially the amulet, which Bering takes an interest in and takes it with him.
After the trio climbs down the waterfall, Nita becomes very depressed over the loss of the amulet, with Koda’s comments and jokes at how they have lost the amulet for good making the situation worse for Kenai, who feels uneasy at the problem and Nita, who is furious at Kenai, which confuses him, and they begin to quarrel. Nita pins all the blame at Kenai, which surprises him with Nita clarifying that if he didn’t go through with his attempt to help Ruff and Tuke this wouldn’t have happened, but Kenai angrily reminds her that she was the one who destroyed the entire beaver dam that was halting the stream that took the bag, with Nita countering that she was trying to help Kenai, who got his head stuck on the dam in the first place, and Kenai pointing out that Nita had the chance to grab the bag, but she let it slip, reminding her that his head was stuck and he couldn’t do a thing, and asks her what was her excuse for not grabbing the bag when she had it in reach. Not wanting to debate with him anymore or tell him the truth why she didn’t grab the bag, Nita grunts and walks away. Kenai cools off and sadly looks at Koda, who also feels bad. He looks at Nita and starts to feel bad for her when she starts crying over the possibility of never marrying Atka now that they lost the amulet, making Kenai feel guilty for not understanding Nita’s feelings and the reason she was taking this journey. With the sun setting, the gang makes camp near the waterfall where they lost the amulet and try to get some sleep. While Koda and Nita fall soundly asleep, Kenai has it hard to rest, still feeling responsible for losing the amulet while sadly looking at Nita. Determined to help her, Kenai leaves the campfire and spends all night tracking the tracks of Bering, which were all tangled up, but eventually manages to find his hideout and instructs Koda to tell Nita about the good news, while he hides behind a tree and waits for the raccoons to fall asleep, so he can take the amulet without being noticed.
Having heard footsteps approaching, Kenai realizes that it’s Nita much to his satisfaction, and tells her come to him. Not wanting to get caught, Kenai hushes a worried Nita when she asks him if managed to retrieve the amulet, whispering that he doesn’t have the amulet yet, which is the top of the tree, before them, and tells her that he‘ll get it after they fall asleep. Not wanting to waste anymore time than they already have, Nita decides to take the amulet back herself and starts to climb the tree. Kenai quickly follows after her, while accidentally dropping Koda from his back, and quietly asks Nita why is she so hasty and tells her to let him handle the situation, which Nita declines assuring Kenai that she can handle this herself, but Kenai expresses concern that the branches may not support her weight and she could fall. Not wanting to watch, Kenai covers his eyes with his paw, and his concern of Nita falling was accurate, but luckily she didn’t hurt herself, with two other branches breaking her fall. But Kenai notices that the noise causes an annoyed Bering to wake up, and in order to buy time for Nita, a nervous Kenai takes the blame for the noise and tries to negotiate with Bering by telling him that he has something of theirs, meaning the amulet, and tries to explain what it looks like. When Koda accuses Baring of stealing the amulet after Bering tries to get them to leave by stating that it doesn’t matter if it belongs to them, since it is his now, Bering summons many raccoons as a means of intimidation, which gets Kenai nervous. But Koda welcomes the challenge, despite Kenai shaking his head to get Koda to stop provoking them, stating that his brother could take on the raccoons easily, which makes Kenai to nervously smile at them, with the raccoons answering Koda’s threat by shooting pinecones at Kenai, which ache him. Kenai asks Koda what is he planing from provoking them, with Koda replying that he is just trying to make them throw all the pinecones, so they run out of ammo, which Kenai finds a terrible plan, reminding the cub that this a pine forest, with Koda concurring that it will take a while, which only annoys Kenai further. Fed up getting hit, Kenai offers the raccoons a trade instead, which peaks their interest, with Bering asking Kenai what he has to offer, and Kenai replies that he has lots of stuff, while looking around, such as the pinecones the raccoons threw at him for example, and offers other worthless stuff such as sticks and rocks as well, which Bering finds insulting. When Nita gets exposed after retrieving the amulet, Kenai becomes worried and tells her that it’s time for them to go.
While Nita tries to fight back the raccoons on a fallen tree, Kenai warns her to look behind, where more raccoons surround her, but she manages to escape while jumping on another tree, something that Koda finds impressive. Seeing that the tree top is weaker and can bend, Kenai comes up with an idea and tells Koda to follow him, while rushing toward the tree Nita was hanging on, and instructs Nita to head to the top of the tree and tells her to listen him, when she gets confused, assuring her that he knows what he’s doing. As she climbs up, Kenai encourages her to go further, while he climbs another tree. After Nita reaches the top of the tree and begins to bend down, causing her to hang up with no where to go. Kenai tells her to let go of the tree so he catch her, which Nita finds crazy, and tells her trust him. Nita lets go of the tree, sending the raccoons flying and Kenai manages to catch her, but gets dragged down with her, and falls on the ground and slides through the snow like a sledge, with Nita on top of him, and both crash down. After emerging from the snow and taking everything in that just happened while looking at the way they came from, both Kenai and Nita burst in laughter, with Kenai commenting that those where a lot of raccoons, how Nita jumped toward that tree and they fell together, finishing each other’s sentences and both call each other amazing at the same time, and start laughing again. Kenai expresses joy that they got the old Nita back, which the latter finds it weird as to what Kenai means by that statement. Kenai refers to it as the fun and adventurous Nita that he knew long ago, admitting that his old childhood friend has been a stick in the mud this entire trip, which Nita finds insulting. Understanding that came out wrong, Kenai tries to spell it out differently by saying that it’s just nice to see that Nita can loosen up a bit and invite some fun in her life instead of being so serious all of the time, which makes Nita even more aggravated, but before she can correct him, Koda catches up to them and expresses his discomfort from a horrible smell, which Kenai assures the little bear that it’s not coming from him. Still curious, Koda suggests that they go check it out, which Kenai finds funny and follows him while ignoring Nita.
While searching and sniffing around with Koda, Kenai hears some voices and realizes that it’s Rutt and Tuke taking a mud bath, which both bears find utterly disgusting, and Kenai holds his nose when Tuke approaches him while spreading leaves with mud, and continues to feel disgusted as the moose brothers comment on how they hope their new scent will attract the 2 moosettes from before who still keep ignoring them. Kenai tells them not worry, for he has another plan, but Nita reminds Kenai in a mocking manner about how his first plan turned out, which Koda finds funny and Kenai finds irritating enough to continue the journey, reminding them that they still have to make it to Hokani Falls to burn the amulet, not wanting to make a fool of himself like last time. But Nita dismisses that reminder, like Kenai did at first with her, and offers a plan that will actually work with a little woman intuition, while throwing a muddy leaf on Kenai’s nose, which angers him, that Nita is pulling the same play he was. Kenai and Nita stay close, but hidden as they see how the latter’s plan of matching the moose is working out, which gets them nervous after it backfires a little when Rutt expresses his feelings in a strange poem, but in the end it works out for Tuke at least, who manages to get the moosettes’ attention all for himself. With that out of the way, Nita starts gloating about the success of her plan, to which Kenai deems “Beginner’s luck”, but Nita sees this as jealousy, which makes Kenai admit that it was nice of her to help them and compliments her abilities, while ignoring a confused Koda as they walk away talking.
Back on Track[]
When the trio makes it near a river, where Koda jumps from rock to rock, it makes Nita feel uneasy with the cub’s recklessness, but Kenai assures her that Koda can handle himself, as he was just looking for lunch, with Koda adding that he is always careful before he slips on a rock and falls on the river. Kenai comments on how they are making up for their delays better now, and if they continue down this trail, where they will eventually hit the river and swim across it, it’ll only be a little while before they reach Hokani Falls by lunchtime tomorrow. Nita becomes a little nervous after learning that they need to swim across a river, still afraid of water from her bad experience, but to ashamed to admit it, and offers an alternative plan by climbing mountains instead of crossing the river, which both Kenai and Koda find her suggestion odd and confusing. Kenai still votes for the river cross, with Koda in support, but Nita dismisses the majority vote, claiming that it’s her amulet, which confuses Kenai as to what she is getting at, with Nita also adding that her wedding is her mission in the first place, which Kenai finds very annoying, and sarcastically jokes that she should have her honeymoon on those mountains, and tries to reason with her that if they took her path, then they would have to walk all night without rest to reach the Falls in time for the equinox, which Nita accepts regardless. Realizing that something has been bothering Nita, because of her strange behavior for most of the trip, Kenai asks her what is wrong, but Nita just walks away without answering, simply stating that her way will be better before Koda accidentally throws a fish at her, which startles Nita who falls in the river and emerges terrified, which confuses Kenai while staring at her, but starts laughing when Koda jokes around, and still continues when Koda plays around with a fish. But after noticing poor Nita’s discomfort and how the jokes weren’t making her feel any better, Kenai gets serious and tries to stick up for Nita with a calm tone telling Koda to stop, but seeing that he was still making fun, Kenai gets angry and this time yells at Koda to stop, which confuses and scares the little cub, which Kenai doesn’t realize, being disappointed in Koda for his lack of empathy towards the frightened Nita. Kenai sits close to Nita and apologizes on Koda’s behalf, remarking that they were just kidding around about the fish, but Nita points out that she doesn’t mind the fish, but rather the water. When Nita finally confesses that ever since the incident when she nearly drowned in Hokani Falls, she has never been able to recover from her trauma of that frightening experience, Kenai expresses sympathy for her, finally understanding why Nita has been feeling so nervous, while also admitting that he had no idea that Nita was still haunted by those fears. It was because of her fear of water why she didn’t grab the bag in the river, to which Nita apologizes to Kenai for blaming him for the loss of the amulet, and blames her self instead. Kenai comforts her, reminding Nita that they got the amulet back together, because of the faith and trust they have for each other and that’s what matters, which cheers her up. With that out of the way, Kenai encourages Nita that they keep going, but Nita still doesn’t believe that she’ll ever make it across the river. Kenai assures her that they can do it together, which makes Nita to give it a chance as they walk together.
An Old Friendship Rekindled[]
As they continue their journey, Kenai and Nita begin to rekindle their friendship, but in the process they neglect Koda, which makes the cub indifferent and angry for most of the trip. When they make it to a tall grass field, Nita accidentally scares a flock of birds, which Kenai finds very funny as he walks ahead without opening up the path for Koda, much to his dismay. Before they can cross a gorge through a fallen tree, Kenai holds Koda back, wishing for Nita to go first. As she walks ahead, but slips after Koda rushes ahead, not wanting to wait, Kenai laughs a little, and joins the other two on the other side of the gorge. To avoid the dangerous geyser landscape, the trio rides on a mammoth, where Kenai and Nita are on the top, while Koda rides on the back, but they enjoy their ride together. When the mammoth accidentally steps on a geyser, it causes the behemoth to shake, which Kenai enjoys with Nita, but doesn’t notice or help Koda, when he is hanging by the mammoth’s tail. Wanting to show Nita a beautiful sight, Nita takes her to a mountain where they peak through the rocks and watch a bald eagle that flies to its nest on top a cliff and feeds its 3 hatchlings with a peace of meat, something that both Kenai and Nita find lovely, but they don’t give Koda the chance to see as well. The trio finds themselves in the woods, where Kenai plays a prank on Nita, noticing the snow gathered on the branch of a tree next to him, and he gives a little bump to the tree to make the snow to fall on Nita. Nita tries to pay him back with another pile of snow on Kenai this time, but unfortunately it falls on Nita again, which both of them find it very funny and burst in laughter. So much fun with Kenai, makes Nita to find her adventures spirit as the two run happily together. The trio finds a great snow hill, in which Kenai gets pushed by Nita and both of them slide together while enjoying their fun. Kenai tries to catch Nita after she throws a snowball at him, and she runs off, until she stops, finally arriving at the river that they have to cross. Seeing that despite all of those fun experience, Nita still can’t bring herself to swim across the river, he tries to reason with her that it’s the only way, but she still feels too scared to swim. Kenai offers to help her get across, which makes Nita to give it chance on Kenai’s back before stating that she wants to back down when they start, with Kenai replying that it’s too late to go back now that they’re crossing and advises Nita to hang tight on his back as he slowly begins to walk and submerge in the river. Fully submerged, Kenai starts to swim with Nita holding onto him tightly, passing through turtles and fishes, and Nita lets go of Kenai briefly and swims herself, finally overcoming her fear of water. Both of them emerge from the river, with Nita exclaiming her joy of finally being able to swim, and thanks Kenai with hug out of gratitude for his help, which makes the bear blush. They finally make it to the other side, but both don’t realize that they have forgotten Koda, who sadly watches them laughing together, not bothering whether he is there or not.
The Avalanche[]
When the sun sets, Kenai and Nita make a campfire and both talk and laugh together, making jokes. Kenai makes a joke that he lost 2 handfuls of his fur after coming out the river, with Nita joking around that Kenai is getting bald, which confuses the latter, and Nita points out that a piece of his head looks rather thin, and they both laugh. When Nita points out that this the greatest fun she’s ever had, but a little cold, Kenai points out that enduring cold nights with warm fur is one of the many benefits of being a bear. Suddenly, Kenai and Nita become a little troubled in thoughts, realizing that they have almost reached their destination, after which they will part ways, which Nita points out to Kenai that they will make it soon to Hokani Falls, and the latter sadly agrees, feeling depressed that he will bid her farewell a second time in the same place, like they were kids, and they both agree that a lot has changed for them since then. Their talk heads to Nita asking Kenai if ever has thought about changing back into a human and return to his old life. Kenai sadly confirms this, that he has thought about it, but is surprised to hear Koda, who made across the river on his own and was eavesdropping on their conversation. Kenai realizes that he had totally forgotten about his little brother, but before he can talk to him, Koda runs away heartbroken (similarly to when he found out he lost his mother), believing that his big brother will abandon him to go back with Nita. Kenai tries to stop him to explain himself to Koda, but the cub doesn’t listen and hides away from them in a glacier. Both Kenai and Nita run after him, with the former shouting to Koda to respond. He notices that Koda’s tracks lead to a glacier, and walks through a snow storm that pushes both him and Nita back. Kenai shouts for Koda again, but the cub still doesn’t respond. With the snow storm covering Koda’s paw prints and making it harder for Kenai to see, the bear goes ahead further up the mountain, missing Koda’s paw prints that Nita manages to find and follows them to cave, without Kenai noticing. When an avalanche breaks down the mountain, while Kenai is still searching for his little brother, he is terrified to see that Koda is right beneath it with Nita and drags that both down the mountain. After the avalanche, Kenai searches through the snow and is relieved to finally find Koda unharmed, and tries to dig both him and Nita out. He first pulls out his mouth Koda and then pulls out Nita, who all three try to catch their breath. Kenai looks shocked towards a scared and saddened Koda. At first Kenai is very disappointed in Koda for almost getting himself killed, but expresses concern to Koda, reminding the cub that if anything happened to him, Kenai wouldn’t know what to do if he lost his little brother. Barely able to hold his tears, Koda expresses his sadness to Kenai, reminding the latter that he wished to be human, abandoning Koda, which makes the cub break down into tears at the thought of losing his big brother. This causes both Kenai and Nita to feel guilty for making Koda feel this way. When Koda sadly asks Kenai if really will go back with Nita, Kenai admits that he does miss things from his former life, but reminds Koda that the cub is his brother, and promises to never leave him, not ever. Kenai hugs Koda tightly to show that the love they have for each other that will never fade, and he will always remain by Koda’s side.
Hokani Falls[]
Back on their journey, the trio finally makes it to Hokani Falls, in the same place Kenai gave Nita the amulet, and they look at young Kenai and Nita’s picture that Nita curved on the rock when they were kids, reminding the two old friends of the time they spent together when they were kids, which makes both Kenai and Nita feel a little melancholic as they walk at the edge of the Falls to see the the Great Spirits illuminate the sky, when Koda joins them and wonders if this the time of the equinox, Kenai confirms that it is. The trio watches in awe as the Spirits bring thaw all over nature, transforming winter into spring. With all the conditions in place, Kenai sadly points out that it’s time to finish their mission. When Nita makes a small fire, Kenai sadly watches as Nita throws the amulet in it. The amulet slowly burns away and the trio watches as its ashes fly in the sky towards the Great Spirits, and they vanish, thus sending Kenai and Nita’s bond back to the ancestors. Nita tries to bid her friends farewell, but is shocked to learn that she no longer can understand them now that her task is completed. Kenai tries to talk to Nita, but she can’t understand him, but bids them farewell regardless and walks away. Kenai and Koda watch her leave, and both decide to return home as well. While Koda is happy to be back home and runs ahead, Kenai is still saddened by Nita’s departure, but still goes after Koda.
Troubled Heart[]
Near a small stream, Kenai sits and pokes the water with his claw, starling some swimming salmon, lost in thought. Noticing Kenai’s depression, Koda asks if he gave the amulet to Nita as an act of love, and Kenai responds that it was a long time ago, being feelings that he had for her when they were children. To make him feel better, Koda reminds Kenai that he hasn’t lost Nita, as the feelings he has for her are genuine and they still exist inside his heart, but Kenai doesn’t want Koda to feel worried, reminding him that it doesn’t matter anymore, now that they’re mission is over. When a confused Koda encourages his brother to confess his love to Nita, Kenai has it hard for to explain the situation to Koda, stating that expressing his feelings to Nita are more complicated than Koda thinks, and it doesn’t matter now that their journey is over and everything is back to the way it was. Kenai tries to lighten the mood, by putting on a happy face for Koda, and reminding his brother that he made a pinky swear that the two of them would be the first bears to Crowberry Bridge, and suggests that they go first thing in the morning and rustle up some berries. But regardless, when Kenai walks away, he still feels miserable that now he has been separated from Nita again and later he falls asleep, which Koda notices despite Kenai’s efforts to hide from him. The next morning, Kenai is woken up by Rutt and Tuke, and gets surprised to hear that they were trying to stop Koda from heading somewhere, and asks the moose brothers where he was going. Tuke explains that Koda was going to bring Nita back, which terrifies Kenai, realizing that if Koda steps foot in the village, the hunters will kill him.
Kenai to the Rescue[]
Kenai eventually arrives on Nita‘s village and rushes to Koda‘s aid when he is trapped in a tree surrounded by villagers. He roars around with Koda on his back, and tries to fight off the hunters and pushes Atka (Nita‘s fiancé) back with his paw. While running away, Kenai sees a worried Nita that shouts for them to run, with the hunters in pursuit. Kenai and Koda try to climb a mountain, and just as the former helps Koda up, by grabbing him with his mouth, Atka throws a spear at Kenai, which gives Kenai a small injury on the back of his neck and infuriates him. Noticing that the hunters were still following them, Kenai hides Koda in a tangle of tree roots and tells him to stay hidden, while he walk away on his own to get the hunters to come after him in order to protect Koda. Seeing that Atka was coming closer, Kenai tries to slide through a horizontal opening between rocks, but his wound from before causes some blood to spill on the rock, which Atka notices and follows. Kenai jumps from rock to rock, but gets trapped on a ledge with nowhere to go and is worried to see that Atka is just above him. When Atka throws a torch near Kenai, it scares the bear long enough for Atka to jump behind him, but Kenai manages to shake him off, and the two engage in a fight. Kenai manages to overpower Atka with his superior strength, and just as he is about to finish Atka off, Kenai hesitates after noticing Nita yelling at him to stop. With Kenai distracted, Atka uses the chance to throw the torch at Kenai to blind him, and shoves him off the cliff, with Kenai screaming as he falls down the ledge.
Luckily, Kenai survives the fall, and both Nita and Kenai rush to his side, with Nita nursing his wound. Koda nuzzles Kenai, feeling sorry for getting his brother injured because of his recklessness, with Kenai clinging to Koda, being only glad that his little brother is safe. Kenai tries to tell Nita that he loves her, but still Nita can’t understand what Kenai is saying. Kenai tries to get Nita to hold his paw, which she does, and puts her hand on his chest to point out his heart, to make her understand what he means. Realizing what Kenai means, Nita also confesses her love for Kenai too, and hugs him. Suddenly blue lights appear in the sky above them, and Kenai realizes that those lights are the Spirits, and Nita is surprised to understand Kenai. Koda explains to a confused Kenai that he made a wish to the Spirits to turn Kenai back into a man, confusing Kenai as why he would do that, with Koda saying that this way he can be with Nita. Kenai refuses not wanting to abandon Koda, but the cub hugs him and assures Kenai that he doesn’t mind at all, wishing only for his brother to be happy again with the one he loves. Kenai tells Nita that he can’t, realizing that his love for Koda is more important than anything else for him. Understanding Kenai’s feelings for Koda and herself, Nita decides to change herself into a bear instead to join them both, which surprises Kenai, that Nita would give up her life to become a bear. Chilkoot appears shortly afterwards and two bears watch as Nita‘s father accepts her daughter’s decision to be the one she loves. When Kenai and Koda step away from the spotlight of the spirits, they watch excitedly as Nita enters it and everyone is in awe as the spirits make her float and just like Kenai, transforms into a bear. Kenai approaches Nita in her new form, and when the latter asks her how does she look, Kenai replies that she looks like a bear, but jokes that the Spirits had given her antlers, which shocks Nita, before Kenai tells her it was a joke and they both laugh. Finally able to live together, the trio of bears play around together and both Kenai and Nita hug each other.
A Happy Ending[]
To make their romantic relationship official, Kenai and Nita marry in the latter‘s village, where Nita’s tribe and the bears of the Salmon Run all attend their wedding. Kenai and Nita kiss and nuzzle each other, and when Koda emerges between them, they both nuzzle their little brother, who is happier than ever for both of them. When a pinecone hits Kenai’s head, he realizes that Bering and the raccoons are also attending their wedding and throwing petals for the happy couple, which the bear trio finds it very funny. The bears congratulate Kenai on his wedding, and then everyone notices the beautiful Spirit rainbow shining above them, which changes Nita‘s cave carving of both her and Kenai as human children to bears in order to reflect their new forms. It’s likely that after the wedding ceremony, Kenai, Koda and Nita live now in the Salmon Run with the other bears as a happy family.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Sitka[]
Sitka is Kenai’s oldest brother, to whom Sitka is Kenai’s oldest brother, to whom Kenai held a deep love and a stronger affection than for his other brother Denahi. When he lived as a human, Sitka was always there for Kenai and helped his younger brother by giving him guidance on how a real man should act. Sitka‘s death was a painful experience for Kenai that made him focused into a path of vengeance for his brother by killing the bear he confronted, blaming it for his death, even though it was Kenai’s own fault for provoking the wild animal in the first place. Kenai was shocked to see his late brother’s spirit appear before him, but later got confused as to why Sitka would change him into a bear and partially blaming him for the troubles he was enduring as a bear, not understanding that killing a bear with vengeance was wrong. It was only near the end of his journey to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, after he discovered that the bear he had killed was actually Koda‘s mother, the little bear cub that had helped Kenai and grown attached to like a brother, that Kenai finally realized what he had done wrong (something that Tenana had mentioned, but not explained). This made Kenai drown in in sorrow and see himself as the real monster who had killed both Sitka and Koda’s mother. When Kenai reached the mountain, he begged Sitka to turn him back into a human, having lost sight of what else he could do now that Koda no longer loved him after Kenai confessed the truth. After witnessing Kenai‘s selfless act of saving Koda from Denahi, Sitka himself forgave Kenai for his mistake and temporarily turned him human only to turn him back into a bear, as for his wish to stay with Koda forever, something that Sitka respected. Kenai embraced his brother Sitka, bidding him farewell before he returned to the Spirit World, being grateful for his brother’s guidance in realizing the importance of love.
Denahi[]
Denahi is Kenai’s older brother. Kenai and Denahi had a funny brotherly bond. Because of Denahi’s constant teasing, they always ended up fighting, with Sitka being there to stop them, but still they loved each other and played pranks like normal siblings. It’s probably partially because of how Denahi treated him like a kid, that Kenai wished to prove himself worthy of being a man.
When Kenai made the mistake of not tying up the basket full of fish, which was stolen by a bear, and got reprimanded for it by Denahi, it made Kenai very angry that he decided to take matters into his own hands without anyone‘s help for once. After Sitka’s death, Kenai and Denahi’s relationship turned serious, with both brothers in opposite ideas about how they should act. Despite Denahi’s protests of killing the bear that they fought and warnings, Kenai‘s mind was set to do it, thinking that he doesn’t care at all about their oldest brother’s death.
After Kenai was turned into a bear by Sitka, his love for Denahi turns into fear, when he realizes that his brother doesn’t recognize him and is out to kill him at any cost, under the assumption that Kenai‘s bear form was the bear that killed Kenai, something that surprises Kenai, knowing that killing animals isn’t in his brother’s character. Despite his brother‘s constant attempts on his life, Kenai never fought back, despite having the strength to overpower Denahi, but only fought in self defense, and even tried to save him from falling into a gorge. These life threatening encounters made Kenai realize how bears themselves fear humans more than humans fear bears.
In his final confrontation with Denahi, Kenai still couldn’t bring himself to fight his brother, resorting to only fleeing and begging for mercy. However, when Koda saved Kenai from death and risked his own life to help Kenai, the latter ran willingly towards the danger, fearing more for Koda’s safety than fleeing from his dangerous brother. When he was turned back human again, Kenai and Denahi’s love is restored, the latter realizing what he could have almost done to his younger brother, if he didn’t know it was really Kenai all along. However, with Koda an orphan because of his own mistakes, Kenai wishes to be with him, but also feels conflicted, not wishing to abandon Denahi as well. But with Denahi assuring him that their bond will never be broken, despite Kenai’s choice, Kenai gives his brother a hug, to show that he feels the same way and promises to always be his brother.
Koda[]
Koda is Kenai’s adoptive little brother. Kenai loves Koda more than anyone or anything in the world and would do anything to make sure Koda is happy and cares about his wellbeing so great as to being the first thing he is worried about and would risk his own life to protect his.
When they first met, because of his dislikes for bears, Kenai found Koda annoying. At first he declined the help he offered him to get down from the bear trap Kenai had fallen in. Wishing to get rid of him, Kenai pinky swore to Koda that he would take him to the Salmon Run if he got him free from the trap, but he made the promise only as an excuse to get Koda to leave if he didn’t free him, thinking that Koda wouldn’t succeed. After he was freed thanks to Koda, he wasn’t grateful one bit and felt relieved that Koda ran away after noticing Denahi. Hiding in a glacier from Denahi, when Koda tries to show off that he could take the hunter down himself, Kenai makes fun of him by tricking him that Denahi was coming back. Despite running away in fear, he believed that together they would be safe, but Kenai objected, saying that he wouldn’t take Koda to the Salmon Run despite having pinky sworn. Even though Koda confessed that he was separated from his mother and felt scared with the hunter around, Kenai didn’t care until Koda claimed that the Mountain where the Lights touch the Earth, the location he wanted to reach, was near the Salmon Run. Despite accepting to accompany Koda to the way to the Salmon Run, Kenai rebuffed Koda‘s attempts of affection and friendship and called him „kid“ most of the time. However, as their journey through the wilderness became more fun and exciting, Kenai began to warm up to Koda and felt less annoyed from his stories, but still preferred him to stay quiet, and Koda began to see Kenai as an older brother he always wanted. After getting lost, Kenai returned to being annoyed with Koda again under the stress that he would never reach the Mountain. After being frustrated by Koda’s storytelling and accusation that it was his fault for getting lost, the two quarrel, and Kenai bursted into a fit of rage yelling at Koda, which made him storm off. But after cooling down, Kenai realized his mistake of yelling at Koda, who was just a cub, and went after him to apologize for his harshness. Continuing their journey, Kenai became more affectionate and protective of Koda, letting him ride on his back and playing around with him, and risking his life to save him from the Valley of Fire.
When they finally arrive at the Salmon Run, Kenai had created a bond with Koda, which made it hard for him to confess the truth that he wouldn’t be coming back after he parted ways with Koda. After having fun with Koda and the other bears, Kenai finally understood that bears were nothing like he believed, and were compassionate and kind animals, living in a perfect harmony that was better than any thing he had ever seen, seeing them as a real family.
During the storytelling among bears, Kenai confesses that after his great and difficult journey, he finally saw Koda as a younger brother who made his life full of adventure. After Koda’s turn of telling his story, Kenai is devastated and horrified to learn that Koda’s mother was actually the same bear he had killed. Their relationship completely falls apart after Kenai confesses the truth to Koda, which horrifies the young cub, who runs away heartbroken and hides away from Kenai while mourning the loss of his mother. Guilt ridden for what he did, Kenai sees himself as a monster, and calls out for Koda trying to explain that he regrets what he did, but incapable of finishing his sentence because of the guilt he was feeling. Realizing that he was never a bear to begin with, but a cruel man that had murdered an innocent bear which made Koda endure an even greater pain than he did, Kenai apologizes to Koda, feeling very sorry for killing his mother. While battling Denahi atop of the mountain where the lights touch the earth, Kenai is surprised to see Koda saving him from Denahi and rushes to save Koda from Denahi after he chases after him. Human again, when Kenai approaches a frightened Koda who recognizes him from before, but realizes that it’s really Kenai, their bond is restored with Koda forgiving Kenai for what he did, and Kenai himself understanding the meaning of his totem, the bear of love, realizing that love is the greatest power of all and it‘s always reborn in the form of new love. His love for Koda, made Kenai to choose giving up his life as a human, going back to being a bear, to be with his little brother bear forever.
After several months after the events of the first film, Kenai enjoys his life with Koda with their bond being stronger than ever. However, after agreeing to help his childhood friend, Nita, Kenai slowly becomes more attached to her, while neglecting Koda to the point of forgetting him, which causes Koda to wonder if Kenai still cares about him. The rift between the two began when Kenai was conversing more with Nita and paying no attention to Koda and then it broke apart when Koda was acting like a jerk to a poor frightened Nita and that causes Kenai to yell at him in anger, without realizing he hurt Koda’s feelings greatly, but Kenai pays no attention to that or Koda’s indifference for the majority of their journey, being focused more on Nita. When Koda eavesdrops on a conversation between Kenai and Nita regarding Kenai becoming human again, which Kenai admits that he has considered it, the bear cub becomes scared and upset and runs away believing that Kenai will abandon him, which shocks Kenai to hear his little brother say that. After Koda is rescued from an avalanche, Kenai at first is upset and disappointed that Koda almost got himself killed, reminding him that he cared for Koda deeply, but Koda countered that claim by saying that Kenai would leave him to stay with Nita instead. While Kenai admits that a part of him misses his former life, Kenai assures his brother that the love he has for Koda is more important to him, which is why he promises to never leave me, not ever, and hugs him tightly to show that he will always love him, while also feeling sorry for his harshness and for neglecting Koda during most of their journey. Despite helping Nita burn the amulet and parting ways with her, Kenai‘s heart was troubled realizing feelings he has for both Koda and Nita, but wishes to keep them hidden from Koda, not wanting to hurt the cub‘s feelings despite his encouragement to confess his feelings to Nita, which would cause a choice between both his brotherly bond with Koda and the romantic bond with Nita.
Kenai‘s relationship with Koda is put to the test a second time, after the spirits come to make Kenai human again, who Koda explains that it’s what he asked for Kenai so he could be with Nita. Kenai objected that decision not wanting to leave Koda. Even though Koda assured Kenai that he doesn’t mind and Kenai mustn’t worry about him and that all that he wishes is for his brother to be happy, Kenai still couldn’t do that, wishing to be with Koda, proving that his love for his little brother was stronger than anything else. After Nita accepts the offer to turn into a bear instead, Kenai and Nita get married with now both of them being happy together while also being there for Koda as a family.
After Kenai and Nita, the latter who had accepted to turn into a bear instead, get married, they live happily together now both being there for their little brother bear, Koda, who is happy to be with both Kenai and his new sister, Nita.
Romances[]
Nita[]
Nita is Kenai’s wife and childhood friend, that Kenai has always had romantic feelings for.
It’s unknown when or how exactly they met, considering that both came from different tribes, but they both developed a strong friendship and enjoyed every moment they spent together and found it hard to leave each other, which is why they made a promise to always be friends, with Kenai giving Nita his amulet, and Nita drawing a picture of them in Hokani Falls.
By the time they had grown up, Kenai and Nita‘s relationship had faded with the passage of time, both being more attached to their own lives and the responsibilities that they held for their own families. But still, their memories for each other remained, with Kenai dreaming about their old friendship and Nita always keeping Kenai’s amulet, even after all the years they grew apart.
When Nita was searching for Kenai in the woods, Kenai mistook her for a hunter and attacked her viciously to protect Koda, but became very gentle to her after he recognized her. Although he was glad at first that Nita could understand him thanks to the Spirits’ power and came to look for him, Kenai mistook it that she wanted to rekindle their friendship when she showed him the amulet he gave her and explained that it had bonded them together in the eyes of the spirits, but became disappointed when Nita told him that she intended to burn it in order to break that bond. Because of that, Kenai felt betrayed and angry that Nita wanted to destroy the keepsake he gave her, thinking that Nita didn’t care at all about their friendship anymore, which meant a great deal to him. Despite Nita claiming that it was only a childish relationship and that she needed to burn the amulet to be free to marry and it would only work if they did it together, Kenai refused and showed no interest in helping Nita and took it only into consideration after Nita pointed out that this very bond could cause the spirits to change Kenai back into a human to join Nita. Fearing that might happen and lose his brother Koda, Kenai reluctantly agrees to go with Nita to Hokani Falls and burn the amulet.
During the beginning of their journey, Kenai gets jealous at how fast both Koda and Nita become friends and also gets annoyed that both of them hold a low opinion of him and make fun of that, and their relationship becomes briefly sour when they quarrel over the loss of the amulet after Kenai’s failed moose matching attempt. But after seeing Nita crying and grieving, Kenai felt bad for her and partially responsible, which is why he spent an entire night searching for the amulet despite being a very difficult task. When they finally got the amulet back from the raccoons, Kenai expresses his joy after that dangerous and exciting experience, seeing that his old friend is still the same fun-loving adventurer that he knew long ago, but Nita took that as an insult, which caused that soon to be a rekindled friendship into brief dispute between them, but turned back into a progressive friendship after Nita‘s own moose matching attempt partially succeeded, and yet another brief dispute when both Kenai and Nita were bickering about which way to go to reach Hokani Falls. After Nita freaked out from a fish and fell into the water, Kenai founded very funny, but seeing Nita’s discomfort when Koda was overdoing it with the jokes, it made Kenai to lose his patience with Koda’ and yell at him for acting this way to poor Nita. When Nita confessed that she was afraid of the water because of the incident when they were kids, Kenai felt sympathy for her and assured her that together they could reach Hokani Falls the same way they got the amulet together.
As they continued through their journey, Kenai‘s friendship with Nita only grew stronger with many fun experiences that they shared, while neglecting Koda. With Kenai’s help, Nita even overcomes her fear of water and the two enjoy their time alone sharing stories, something that Kenai never did at first sight even with Koda. But during a private talk with each other, Kenai becomes a depressed that they will part ways like the last time in Hokani Falls and go back to their old lives, realizing that he wishes for their friendship to remain and maybe even make it a romance between them. But when Koda is rescued from an avalanche after running away, Kenai feels guilty and depressed that Koda thinks that his friendship with Nita is putting a rift between their brotherly bond, which causes Kenai and Nita to only continue their journey with only the objective of burning the amulet in mind. When they finally burn the amulet, despite their bond being broken, Kenai still has feelings for Nita which make him drown in sorrow at the thought of never seeing her again, but puts a brave face on for Koda to not get him upset as well.
Despite being unable to talk to Nita, he confesses his love for her in action, which Nita herself admits that she feels the same way for Kenai. But despite confessing his feelings to Nita and Koda himself encouraging Kenai to be with Nita as a human, his love for Nita still couldn’t make him leave Koda, who he had a much greater love for. Being in full understanding of that, Nita instead changes into a bear, making it possible for Kenai to marry Nita and become her mate, while also always being there for his brother Koda, making Kenai and Nita‘s relationship everlasting and happier than ever before.
Friends[]
Humans[]
Being a former
His Tribe[]
Nita’s Tribe[]
Animals[]
Before Kenai became a bear, he had no idea that animals were intelligent creatures that could talk and express emotions. With his new insight as a bear, he managed to interact with the animal world and gains a new understanding on the importance of life and how the world doesn’t revolve around humans, but all life is sacred.
Bears[]
Bears are Kenai’s new family that he treasures a lot. Previously he had a great animosity towards bears