Leafie

Leafie is the main protagonist and title character of the South Korean animated film, Leafie, A Hen into the Wild. She originally lived in a chicken farm, but was unable to incubate the eggs that are her own. Longing to have her own young, she planned to escape the farm. The farmer, mistaking Leafie's unconscious form as dead, takes Leafie out of the farm and dumps her into a pit outside in the forest along with the other deceased hens. Upon awakening, she is attacked by a vicious weasel named One Eye, but manages to escapes thanks to a wild mallard duck she nicknames Wanderer.

After a failed attempt to join the farm animals outside the chicken farm, Leafie returns to the wild and was able to find a place to live with the help of Mr. Otter, whom she nickames as "Mayor". Shortly after arriving into the wild, she meets up with Wanderer again, only to discover that he has a mate. That night, One Eye kills Wanderer's mate and Wanderer tries in vain to pursue the carnivore. Leafie heard the commotion and comes upon a nest that had a single egg, to which she begins to take care of. Wanderer accepts Leafie as the caregiver of the egg and later instructs the hen to take his unborn child to the everglades and will understand in time why. Leafie soon witnessed the death of Wanderer by the claws of One Eye, leaving Leafie alone and depressed.

At the time of Wanderer's death, the egg hatches into a baby duckling and Leafie names him Greenie. The hen heads to a nearby glade where there are many water birds and took most of her time caring for Greenie, who grew up and learned how to swim from Mr. Otter. However living close to the water gradually made Leafie grow ill little by little, but the hen didn't mind that. Eventually, Leafie discovered that the local water birds of the everglades don't approve of her and becomes depresed. Around the same time, Greenie found out that he and Leafie are different, and the young duck leaves his foster mother, feeling that he doesn't need her anymore.

Leafie seeks solace from Mr. Otter, who then told the hen the backstory of Wanderer. Leafie's friend, Chirpie, alerts Leafie about Greenie being captured by the farmer and rushes to his rescue, saving Greenie from having his wings clipped. Shortly after escaping, Leafie and Greenie reconcile, but soon come under attack by One Eye, who finds both birds as potential prey to eat. The hungry weasel disorients Leafie and chases down Greenie to eat him first. Despite Leafie's best efforts, she was unable to stop One Eye from reaching Greenie and could only watch as Greenie and One Eye falling over a cliff. Believing Greenie to be dead, Leafie mourns, but Greenie escaped certain death by successfully learning how to fly while One-Eye managed to save herself by grabbing hold of a ledge on the cliff.

An aged Leafie watches an adult Greenie perform his flying manuevers in the autumn season. When a flock of ducks come to the everglades, and Leafie realized what Wanderer meant. She allows Greenie to meet with the flock of ducks and returns to her nest. When Greenie returns, Leafie finds out that Greenie is discouraged and reassures him to enter the race the wild ducks were having to become the new guard duck. She manages to tear a portion of the human string that was left wrapped around Greenie's leg from his past encounter with the farmer and gives her support.

During the race, Leafie watched from the sideliens as Greenie tackle against the competitve ducks and was overjoyed with tears when the young duck won the race. After the competition, Leafie wonders alone and finds a nest of baby weasels, to which she begins to take care of. She suddenly witnesses Greenie being pinned down by a hungry One Eye, and during the confrontation, discovered that the baby weasels she has been taking care of was One Eye's. This makes Leafie realize that the weasel who killed Wanderer and his mate, is now killing to provide food for her newborn litter. After agreeing to not harm the weasel pups in exchange for letting Greenie go, Leafie and Greenie were allowed to escape. Before they left, Leafie saw how One Eye, who is malnourished due to the rough winter season, is unable to produce milk to feed her pups.

As the flock of ducks prepare to leave the everglades, Leafie said her heartfelt goodbyes to Greenie and promises him that she would be in the everglades when he returns. She then allows Greenie to go with the flock and see the world, calling out to her foster son that she is proud of him. Soon afterwards, One Eye approaches the hen. Feeling that she has done everything for Greenie and how One Eye is unable to produce milk for her pups, Leafie allows One Eye to kill and eat her so the baby weasels won't starve, an action that greatly moved One Eye to the point of tears.

Personality
Leafie is a hen who welcomes adventure and accepts challenges. She is a nicknamer, as she calls other animals names that may fit their personality or features. She also has a habit of being loud, a trait that has been passed down to Greenie. Only when the local animals of the everglades didn't approve of her presence did Leafie learn that the world isn't as welcoming as she thought it would be.

Leafie is a dedicated, selfless mother, willing to go to great lengths to protect her child, Greenie. Her maternal instincts extending beyond her single foster child as she thought about One Eye's litter of baby weasels and willingly allowed the carnivore to eat her so One Eye can nourish her babies.