Gobo

Gobo
Character Information
Species	Deer
Birth	April 4 (?)
Cause of death	Shot and killed by Man
Parents	Ena
Siblings	Faline
Love Interests	Marena
Behind the Scenes
First Appeared	August 1922
In	Bambi: A Life in the Woods
Created by	Felix Salten

Gobo was Faline's twin brother. He appeared in Bambi: A Life in the Woods.

Background

Personality

During his childhood, Gobo was physically very weak, but he was kind and friendly, with a strong heart.

Sadly, when he reached adulthood, everything changed. As a deer, Gobo was boastful and arrogant, believing that he was smarter and better than other forest creatures, due to his relationship with Man. He also became very stubborn, and believed that he was always right about all things, and refusing to heed advice from Bambi's father, The Great Prince of the Forest and even Bambi. Despite his attitude, he still had a soft spot for his mother, Ena, and he was very affectionate and loving towards her.

Appearance

As a fawn, he was said to have been very small. After his return to the forest, he is described as being plump and healthy, and he also had a dark strip of braided horsehair around his neck from the halter he wore.

Biography

He was presumably born on April 4 in an unknown year. His mother was Ena. He was one of a pair of twins along with his sister, Faline. He also had an older sibling.

He met his cousin, Bambi on the meadow when he was a fawn.

That winter, when Man attacked, he was too weak to flee, causing him to be abandoned. Bambi tried to encourage him to get up and run, but he simply didn't have the strength to do so. The other deer assumed he died, as the place where his body had been was now empty, with Man’s footprints and dogs' pawprints surrounding it.

Unknown to everyone, Gobo survived, but he was taken home by Man, who fed him well and raised him. This caused him to perceive Man as "all powerful, and very kind and merciful."

He would later return to the forest as an adult, reuniting with Bambi, Faline, and his mother. He would also reunite with a young doe he knew as a fawn, Marena, who believed in his idealistic view of Man and she even became his mate.

Some time later, Man returned to the forest on another hunting trip. He was spotted in the meadow one morning, leading most forest creatures to flee the area. He was confident that Man loved him and would never hurt him and approached him.

This was against the advice of Bambi, Faline, and Marena, all of whom were with him at the moment. He was near instantly shot in the leg, which was torn open. He fell injured at the feet of Marena, who fled into the forest with Bambi and Faline. As the trio looked back, they could see Man bending over Gobo and heard the latter shriek as he died by Man's hands.

Relationships

• Faline - Twin sister
• Ena - Mother
• Geno - Nephew
• Gurri - Niece
• Bambi - Cousin
• Ferto - Nephew
• Bambi's mother - Aunt
• Marena - Mate
• The Great Prince of the Forest - Uncle

Gallery

Behind the Scenes

Gobo was created by Felix Salten for his 1922 novel, Bambi: A Life in the Woods, in which he first appeared. He played a crucial role in the book, highlighting the issue of humans caring for wild animals. His return to the forest and death helps drive Bambi closer to the Old Stag.

Due to not appearing in the Bambi film, visual representations of Gobo are sparse, though not nonexistent. The first visual representation of Gobo was likely in Kurt Wiese's official illustrations for Bambi: A Life in the Woods. Illustrations of him appear in the 1931 English printing of Bambi by Grosset Dunlap. This version was indeed illustrated by Wiese. He later appeared in Barbara Cooney's 1970 illustration of Bambi: A Life in the Woods, where he appears as a fawn, though he is indistinguishable from Bambi and Faline. Another image of Gobo exists in a 2009 reprinting of an excerpt of Bambi: A Life in the Woods published by Abeka, an American homeschool curriculum and subsidiary of Pensacola Christian College, in their book, Beyond the Horizon, the first edition of which was copyrighted in. This reprinting was licensed by Simon and Schuster.