Kenai (Brother Bear)

DisneyChar
name =Kenai


image caption =
first appearance ="Brother Bear" (2003)
created by =
voiced by =Joaquin Phoenix ("Brother Bear")
Patrick Dempsey ("Brother Bear 2")
aliases =
family = Sitka (older brother, deceased)
Denahi (older brother)
Koda (adoptive brother)
Nita (wife)

Kenai is a fictional bear character from the Disney films "Brother Bear" and "Brother Bear 2". He is voiced by Joaquin Phoenix in the original "Brother Bear" and by Patrick Dempsey in "Brother Bear 2". Kenai also can be found at Disney Parks and Resorts for meet and greets.

"Brother Bear"

Kenai was a young Inuit on the verge of becoming a man. But after his brother Sitka died saving him from a bear, Kenai decided to kill the bear at all costs. He succeeded, but for acting out of hate rather than out of love as he had been commanded to do, the spirits turned Kenai himself into a bear as punishment for his actions. The only way for him to become human again was to travel to a mountain peak called, "the place where the (Northern) lights touch the earth." Along the way, however, Kenai met an orphaned bear cub named Koda. At first Kenai found did not like Koda, but eventually he became attached to him. Then Kenai learned that the bear he had hunted and killed had been Koda's mother. When given the chance to be human again, Kenai chose instead to stay as a bear and help Koda, who needed him more than any of his own people. For this act love, Kenai was declared to have become a man by "becoming a bear".

"Brother Bear 2"

In "Brother Bear 2", Kenai awakens from his first hibernation to find that spring has arrived. Even with snow on the ground and the trees still bare, love is decidedly in the air. Kenai and Koda scoff at the notion of romance, but Tug (the large, dark brown bear from the first film) cautions them (Kenai in particular) that "You can't run from love. It has a way of tracking you down." Kenai laughs, but later has a dream about Nita, a girl he used to know when he was young and a human.

Meanwhile, in her own village, Nita is preparing for her wedding to a man named Atka. But when the big moment arrives, it is revealed that Nita cannot marry Atka. The reason for this is that when they were children, Kenai gave Nita an amulet as a gift. What neither Kenai nor Nita realized was that the amulet bonded them as one. The only way for Nita to marry Atka is to go with Kenai to Hokani Falls, where he first gave her the amulet, and burn it.

Nita finds Kenai and manages to convince him to help her. But during the course of their three-day journey, their old friendship sprouts anew and flourishes. Despite the fact that both are developing feelings for one another, they burn the amulet and Nita returns to her village, only to find that where the amulet kept her from marrying Atka before, now her heart will not let her marry him either.

In the end, Nita chooses to be turned into a bear, and she and Kenai are married.