Oak was an evolved gorilla that served in Caesar's Gorilla Guard. He appeared in the 2017 novel, War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations, and the 2018 novel, Caesar's Story.
History[]
Background[]
Born in 2011, Oak was a baby gorilla living in captivity. He never knew his birth parents. He was soon transferred to the San Francisco Zoo, where he was raised by a female orangutan named Kumang, whom came to regard him as her adopted son.
When Oak was seven, Caesar led his Ape rebellion across San Francisco. The Gorilla Buck freed all the apes at the zoo, including Oak and Kumang. They fled with the other females and children on the Golden Gate Bridge while the Male apes fought the Police, and fled into Muir Woods.
Some time later, the humans sent mercenaries into the woods to kill the apes. The battle caused a forest fire that gave the apes cover to escape. Kumang carried Oak on her back as she swung from the tree tops. He was amazed by the beauty of the flowers on the trees, still blooming even with the ongoing fire.
Oak and Kumang were soon able to settle down in the newly formed Ape Colony under Caesar's rule. Once he grew up, Oak joined the Gorilla Guard, a legion of gorillas that served as protectors of the Ape Colony. They were led by Ape army lieutenant Luca.
War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations[]
After the ape Koba's failed takeover, and Caesar's return to power, Oak joined the Ape Army in preparing for war with the Human Military that was coming to the city. He fought in a battle between the Apes and Humans at the bridge, being led by Gorilla Guardian Ajax and Chimpanzee lieutenant Branch. Despite losing five apes, including branch, they succeeded in driving back the Military's battleship after firing rockets that destroyed two of their ship's cannons, though Oak was affected by the deaths. They later attacked the Military's camp on the beach where the ship was docked. Though they were able to destroy two of the ships cannons, and they forced the ship off shore, they suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat. Oak was deeply affected by all the apes that died in the battle, and began to doubt Caesar's leadership. Soon, fellow guardian Red approached Oak, and convinced him to join him in a plot orchestrated by Grey and other apes to overthrow Caesar in Koba's name.
Oak and the other guardians were sent to the woods to protect the women and children while Luca stayed with Caesar and the Ape army to battle the military forces led by Colonel McCullough in the city. Oak later helped Red disarm and apprehend the guardians that didn’t support Koba. Ajax and Ursus soon awoke to discover what they were doing. Red and Oak killed Ursus, and severely injured Ajax, but he was able to escape, along with the ape queen Cornelia, and other females and children. Oak and other Koba loyalists were later tasked with watching over all captured guardians.
Red soon sent Oak to find Ajax after the chimps sent to capture him didn’t return. He later found Ajax and the other females and children at the old destroyed ape village, though he had died, alongside chimp scouts Flint and Shell. After hearing Flint's dying words to Cornelia, Oak began to feel ashamed of what he had done and threw his rifle to the ground. He then said "Ape not Kill Ape” and knelt down to Cornelia. Oak and a female chimp named Maple then accompanied Cornelia back to the ape home.
When they arrived, they were met by fellow guardian Winter, whom aimed his rifle at Cornelia, as Red had led them to believe Cornelia was a traitor. Oak tried explaining the truth, but winter didn’t know who to believe. Oak then stepped in front of Cornelia, shielding her form Winter's rifle, and telling him he wouldn’t harm her. Cornelia then convinced Winter to let her through, with Oak giving him a fierce look as she passed.
Oak and the female apes later protected Cornelia from Red and Grey while she was helping a chimpanzee named Rain give birth to her twins. After killing Grey in front of them, Red attempted to shoot Oak, but his gun was jammed. He was then ran out by all the females.
After Koba's Loyalists were defeated, Oak returned to serving Caesar, and later accompanied Spear and Barbar to find a temporary home for the Apes. They found a cavern system beneath a waterfall that Koba and Grey had previously found while scouting. The Apes then set up their home in this waterfall, with Oak and the other guardians being tasked with protecting it.
Caesar's Story[]
After Caesar died after freeing all of the apes from Alpha-Omega and leading them to their new home in a Hidden Oasis, Maurice wrote a book commemorating Caesar's life that he planned on giving to his son Cornelius when he grew up. He had Oak narrate his story for the book, talking about his childhood and his time in the Gorilla Guard.
Trivia[]
Oak was a Western Gorilla
- Oak is incredibly unique for being raised by an orangutan.
- Similar to Red, Oak betrayed Caesar but later redeemed himself, but he did it much earlier and returned to Caesar's service unlike Red, who died immediately after saving Caesar's life.
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 Heroes
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Planet of the Apes (1968) Beneath the Planet of the Apes Escape from the Planet of the Apes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Battle for the Planet of the Apes Planet of the Apes (2001) Rise of the Planet of the Apes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm Dawn of the Planet of the Apes War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations War for the Planet of the Apes Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | ||