The Old Elephant King is one of the deceased characters in the series. He was the former king of the Old Kingdom and first appeared in Babar's First Step when he witnesses the birth of Babar. When the hunters were attacking and after the death of Babar's mother, he becomes serious about the attack and arranged everything to protect the elephants and survive the hunters' wrath.
He later on appeared in the third episode, Babar Returns where after Babar, Celeste, and Arthur returned to the jungle from the city, and at the time he was discussing a meeting for all the elephants to survive and escape the hunters, just like in the story, he ate poisonous mushrooms by mistake, leading to his sudden death. He was later on replaced by Babar himself.
He made his third appearance in The Elephant Express where he is seen in a flashback from "Babar's First Step" when Babar was born alongside Babar's mother.
He ended up making his fourth and final appearance in Ghost for a Day where he returns as a ghost. Babar is surprised to see his return in such a ghostly manner. However, the Old King was not familiar with the changes that happened after his death, which was the jungle turning into a city of elephants (with the addition of other animals) and was also not familiar with the devices and things seen there, in which Babar tries to introduce him to everything and tries his best to teach him how to use them properly. Unfortunately, the Old King ends up making a mess and taking everything the wrong way, such as thinking the city was on fire and not understanding why the water he sucked in with his trunk and tried to shoot it out to extinguish the "fire" didn't go though the window (in which Babar tells him it was light from the houses and the glass window was the one that is blocking the water), not understanding the breakfast foods and kitchen materials (which were bamboo tarts that were frozen and needed to be toasted in the toaster, and when it shooted it out in the wrong position, the Old King panics, thinking the palace was under attack and tries to attack, making a big mess), being introduced to the piano and other musical instruments (inspiring him to make his own "music" by trumpeting like a regular elephant along with Babar), skateboarding around the palace, causing a driving havoc (starting the lawn mower, much to the royal gardener's surprise by seeing it move and thinking it was doing it by itself as it looked due to the Old king's "ghostlyness", and mowing the entire garden making hilarious love garden arts, and then to the car by not knowing how to drive it and how to use the pedals, one to go fast and one to slow down (brakes)). And that was when Cornelius and Pompadour to be confused, thinking Babar was acting "odd and bizarre". Later on at night, Babar finds the Old King in the fountain trying to bathe. Babar goes to him, and the Old King admits he misses how it was in the olden days when it was an actual jungle where the elephants act like real elephants. Babar gets his point, right until Isabelle finds him (and the Old King disappears like an actual ghost). The next day after being found with Isabelle lying on the ground sleeping, Babar invites all the citizens of Celesteville (who are the elephants and including Madame) for a picnic in the beach, where they trumpet at the time the Old king appears on top of the mountains, and then disappears and returns to the afterlife when the episode ends.
Appearance[]
The Old King is a lot elderly, almost as Cornelius is.
Trivia[]
- In Babar: King of the Elephants, the Old King had no speaking role in the film. His death happened right before Babar's return, unlike in the series, he died the same day Babar returned. The Old King also had poor eyesight in this film which was the cause of him eating bad mushrooms by mistake, leading to his death since he didn't see it. In Babar Returns, The Old King can't find something good to eat so he eats the mushrooms and dies in front of his subjects. He is also absent in Babar: The Movie.