Bambi's Mother

"I'm always with you. Even if you can't see me. I'm here."

- Bambi's mother to Bambi in his dream

Bambi's mother was a deer living in The Forest. She was the wife of The Great Prince of the Forest, mother to their son Bambi and grandmother to Geno and Gurri. She is featured as the tritagonist in Bambi in which she raises Bambi and educates him about the forest. She is, however killed by a hunter halfway through the film and appears briefly in Bambi's dream in the film's 2006 midquel Bambi II. She was the Great Princess of The Forest and was succeeded by her daughter-in-law Faline. She is very close to Ena who is not related to her. In the first movie, she had sacrificed herself to save Bambi from Man.

She is voiced by Paula Winslowe in the first film and Carolyn Hennesy in the second.

Early Life
Not much is known about Bambi's mother's early except that she and her future husband the Great Prince met as fawns and also grew up with another doe named Mena.

Bambi
Bambi's mother first appears at the start of the film in her thicket shortly after her son the new Prince's birth and is visited by Thumper, Friend Owl and the other forest animals. She thanks the animals when they congratulate her and encourages her son to take his first steps, which he struggles at. After her son falls asleep, the animals start to leave, but Thumper stays behind to ask what the new Prince will be called to which the doe replies she's thinking of calling him Bambi. From afar, the Great Prince looks down on his wife and son.

Bambi's mother teaches her son about the forest and one day takes him out to the meadow where Bambi meets another fawn named Faline and encounters his father the Great Prince. Soon after, the Great Prince alerts the deer in the meadow of Man's arrival, but as the deer flee, Bambi's mother gets separated from her son, but luckily, the Great Prince finds him and leads the two to safety.

During the winter, food becomes scarce, but one day, Bambi's mother finds new spring grass and she along with Bambi eat it. Suddenly, Bambi's mother hears something and tells Bambi to get to the thicket and tells him to not look back and to keep running before a loud bang is heard. Bambi reaches the thicket but notices that his mother is there with him and goes to look for her.

Bambi comes across the Great Prince who tells him that his mother can't be with him anymore, thus revealing to his son that his mother was killed by Man.

Bambi 2
Taking in between the events of her death and Bambi's young adulthood, Bambi's mother is mentioned throughout the film. Whilst waiting for the Great Prince to take him home, Bambi dreams about reuniting with his mother who tells him that she's always with him even if he can't see her, before waking up and hearing her voice saying that she's here. Bambi follows the voice into the meadow only to be faced by Man and his dogs and freezes in fear. Luckily the Great Prince arrives and gets Bambi to safely and reveals that the voice Bambi heard wasn't his mother's but one of Man's tricks. On the way home, Bambi asks his father if his mother's not coming back which the Great Prince confirms.

Bambi's mother is later mentioned when Friend Owl finds a doe named Mena to care for Bambi (as the Great Prince at first only wished to care for Bambi until a doe was found as they care for the young, but appears to have a change of heart) where Mena tells Bambi that his mother and her grew up together.

At first, Bambi is excited to hear about his mother, but when discovering Mena's purpose, he gets into an argument with the Great Prince, saying that he wished his mother was here instead of the Great Prince.

She is last mentioned at the end of the film, where the Great Prince (after deciding to care for Bambi) show the now teenage Bambi a glade where he says that this was where he first met Bambi's mother and was just about Bambi's age.

Similar Heroines

 * Queen Athena (The Little Mermaid 3)
 * Coral (Finding Nemo)
 * Maria Robotnik
 * Molly
 * Cosmo the Seedrian
 * Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man)
 * Ellie Fredricksen (Disney's Up)
 * Padmé Amidala (Star Wars)
 * Coral
 * Po's mother (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Trivia

 * Bambi's mother is similar to Mufasa as both are a parent to the protagonist (Bambi's mother with Bambi and Mufasa with Simba). Both are killed by the villain at the protagonist's young age (Bambi's mother was shot dead by Man whilst Mufasa was thrown off a cliff by his brother Scar into a wildebeest stampede were he was trampled to death by them). Both appear to the protagonist in a dream/nightmare in the second film.
 * She is also similar to Littlefoot's Mother as both are the parent to the protagonist (Littlefoot's mother with Littlefoot and her with Bambi).
 * She is also similar to Coral and Queen Athena as both are also parents. Both are killed by minor villains (Coral was eaten by a barracuda whilst Queen Athena was killed by a pirate ship).


 * Bambi's mother is similar to Mitzi as both are deer and both are the mother of the protagonist (Bambi and Rudolph). Both also introduce their son to snow. However unlike Bambi's mother, Mitzi doesn't die.