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Balto is the protagonist of Balto and its sequels Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change. He is the mate of Jenna and father of Aleu, Kodi, Dingo, Saba, and two other unnamed pups. He was voiced by Kevin Bacon and Maurice LaMarche. Balto is based on the real dog of the same name.
Personality
Strong and outgoing, Balto is smart and trustworthy, and cares deeply for others, willing to give up his own life to help others. Also, when it comes to a relationship, he can be kind of shy. He is very kind and loyal, but can be impulsive when it comes to Steele and Jenna. In the first film, he dislikes his wolf heritage, as it causes him to be hated by the people of Nome, but after safely delivering the Antitoxin to Nome, he finally learns to accept it. And he is also known as benevolent, adventurous, lovable, trustworthy, optimistic, big-hearted, athletic, level-headed, thoughtful and open-minded.
Appearance
Balto is very strong and handsome, but unkept. He resembles a wolf more than a dog, but still not as strongly as his daughter, Aleu. He has brownish-gray fur, light brown eyes and large paws. In the first movie, Balto isn't confident, so he holds his ears down a lot. In the first movie, Balto's scleras are yellow, but in the second were plain white, though they changed back to yellow in the third. His voice also gets deeper and more rough as the movies 1, 2 and 3 go along, not that common in movies anymore.
Biography
Early Years
Not much is known about Balto's early life, save that he was separated from his mother when he was young. He was adopted afterwards by the Russian Goose, Boris.
Balto
At the beginning of the film Balto is a stray and is disliked by the people of Nome. He was first seen with his adoptive father Boris during the race. He goes to watch the race where he later sees Jenna and falls in love with her. When Steele and his team come into Nome for the finish, Rosy, Jenna's owner, loses her hat and the wind blows it into the middle of the race course. Rosy tries to get it, but Jenna holds her back. Balto seeing what happened and jumps into the race as Steele's team approaches. Balto outruns the incoming team and grabs it, frustrated Boris yells "When will you learn to stay on the sidelines!". Balto brings the hat to Rosy who's very grateful, but Rosy's father scares Balto away, warning Rosy that he's part wolf and might bite her. Balto walks away, dejected and disappointed.
Later Balto hears Rosy's voice, excited at the thought of seeing her. He races to meet her, but can't slow down in time and ends up touching noses with Jenna. Jenna was surprised until her owners called her, but when she looks back, Balto, who has left, is gone. Jenna tries in vain to find him again until her owners called her once more and left. Balto walks down an alleyway with Boris who is trying to comfort the disappointed half wolf. On their way, they meet Steele & Nikki, Kaltag and Star, who mock Balto about being a half breed. Pretending to howl about Balto's deceased mother, Balto is angry and wants to fight Steele, but with encouragement from Boris, decides its better not to fight. Steele and his dogs laugh and kick snow at him, Balto leaves Nome and heads to his home, a wrecked old boat. On his way he sees a pack of wolves, reminding him of his half wolf heritage, his ears droop and he walks away depressed despite Boris's attempts to cheer him up.
Balto is then visited by Muk & Luk, two polar bears who annoy Boris, who then pretends to challenge the pair to a race in an attempt to get rid of them. Later Balto is sitting on his boat staring off into space, Boris asks him "And just what is so interesting?" which Balto responds "Jenna." Boris tells him that he's in love with her and told him to tell Jenna how he feels until Balto denies it saying "Nah, she's not my type." "And why not?" responds Boris. Balto stays quiet, "This wolf business again?" says Boris. He question's Balto asking him what's the matter with being half and half, before admitting that he wishes he was half eagle, bewildered. Balto asks why and Boris says that he would have "a bit of profile for one thing", "and nobody eats you for another".
A bit later, Balto visits Jenna who is waiting outside the hospital. Balto tries to ask her out on a date, chasing sticks by moonlight, Jenna ignores him, staring upset, into the hospital window, Balto asks her what is wrong, "Rosy's in there," she responds, Balto asks why she's in the hospital, Jenna says that Rosy feels warm and has a terrible cough, "Balto, what's wrong with her?" she asks nervously, Balto says he doesn't know, but he knows how to find out, he leads Jenna into the boiler room, and shows her the way through the ventilation system to a small space under the building, and using colored broken bottles and light from the vent to project a image of the Northern Lights on the wall, Jenna gazes at the lights, she says "its beautiful" "yeah, beautiful," Balto responds, but instead looking at her, Jenna turns to him, and they touch noses but are interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the vent they turn and look, after listening they discover that Rosy has Diphtheria, a deadly disease, which the doctor exclaims that he is out of anti-toxin. Jenna, runs away crying, Balto follows her and says he's sorry for taking her to see what was wrong with Rosy, Jenna, however, says that she's glad he did.
They hear a loud noise, which turns out to be Steele, who had just stolen a chain of sausages from the meat locker, Steele enters the room and immediately begins flirting with Jenna, Balto is angered and tries to stop him, but Jenna tells him not to, pretending to flirt with Steele. Jenna, tricks him into burning himself on the boiler. Steele yelps, and Balto and Jenna take off, two humans with a light come to see what all the noise was and Balto ends up framed for Steele's crimes. Meanwhile most of the children of nome have fallen sick, and the hospital is out of antitoxin, the people of Nome, in several attempts to send it in alternate ways, must select the fastest dogs in town to run a sled team , 674 miles to get more antitoxin. A race is being held to decide the dogs to be on the sled team. Balto wishes to run the race, but Boris, discourages him. Balto enters the race and wins, coming in first place. Even though he came in first place, Steele ignores the fact that Balto won and when Balto points out that "I was the fastest dog" Steele quickly revolts and says "You were the fastest what?" Still picking at him for being part wolf. While Jenna tries to stick up for him, Steele stomps on Balto's paw and the judges declare that he may turn on them because he is part wolf, Jenna tries to apologize but angrily he walks away. Steele leads the team out of Nome. After getting the antitoxin, Steele's team gets lost in a blizzard on the way back, as the children of Nome, get sicker. After hearing the news of the lost team, and the thought of Nome, losing its children, Balto decides he must go after Steele and his team and see what has become of them and the medicine, or die trying, he leaves Nome with Boris, and Muk & Luk tag along as well.
The grizzly bear pinning Balto.
Back in Nome, waiting outside the hospital, Jenna stumbles on Balto's scent, and decides to follow him. Balto and his friends are moving along the trail, Balto is marking their path by clawing the bark off trees leaving a trail, Balto senses they're being watched, and decides the only thing to do is to keep moving, which he does, except his friends Boris, Muk, and Luk. Muk and Luk stayed, having a snowball fight. Boris is all ready to put a end too the snowball fight, when he backs into a wall of fur, which he wasn't expecting. he turns around to see a grizzly bear. The bear attacks them and gets them trapped under a bunch of branches, Balto hears the fighting and comes running back, and hurls himself on the bear, but is quickly thrown off and pinned down, as the bear begins to crush him Jenna appears and jumps on the bear making it let go of Balto, she wrestles with the bear but is, like Balto, thrown off. The bear then turns back to Balto, who it follows down to a a frozen lake, Balto stands to face the bear, but the ice cracks, taking both the bear and Balto under. Jenna begins to panic when Balto doesn't come back up, Muk & Luk jump into the water, and find Balto bringing him back to the surface, gasping and choking, Jenna, greets Balto with enthusiasm, Balto decides to keep going, but Jenna is hurt from the fight with the bear, so Balto tells Muk & Luk and Boris to take her back to Nome, which they do, but before leaving, Jenna gives Balto her bandana, which he happily excepts, Jenna and Balto say their goodbyes and Balto heads off on his mission.
Balto travels through blizzard and snow, and after many days of traveling, he finally finds the lost team, but they are in poor condition, stranded at the bottom of a cliff, and their musher out cold, all the dogs are overjoyed to see Balto, except Steele, too prideful to admit his failure, Balto tries to help but Steele, despite the other dogs, doesn't want him to, he attacks Balto in an effort to kill him, but Balto dodges skillfully to one side, and after Steele grabs hold of the bandana, it unravels, causing Steele fall down a cliff.
Balto and Aniu.
Thinking Steele is dead, Balto leads the sled team away as their new lead dog, but Steele is not dead, as a way of getting back, he messes up all of Balto's marks, causing the sled team too go the wrong direction, Balto and the team end up sliding down a cliff that leads too a sheer drop into a gorge, Balto catches hold of a branch, but not before the antitoxin box begins to fall off the edge, in a desperate effort Balto jumps forward and catches it, but the ice under him gives way, dropping him into the gorge with the box of antitoxin.
Balto - White Wolf Scene (Aniu)
All the sled dogs think Balto is dead, and without a leader, are unable to go anywhere. At the bottom of the cliff. Balto awakes to find himself still alive, but assuming he has failed he covers his face and lays motionless, but not before seeing a great white wolf standing in front of him, he watches as the wolf begins to howl, but looks away, its then that he notices the unharmed crate of antitoxin, laying in a snow drift, shocked he looks up to see the ridge where he fell. It is then he hears Boris' words earlier that a dog cannot make the journey alone but maybe a wolf can. Realizing the half wolf heritage in him, he turns around and gazes at the wolf's paw print, he puts his paw on the wolf's track, and is amazed to see that his paw print and the wolf's are identical, then filled with new found determination, he lets out a long howl, the wolf appears and and joins him, this wolf is later revealed in the second film to be his wolf mother Aniu. Balto takes the antitoxin and carries it up the cliff, the dogs continue to run till a unlucky sneeze by Star, sets off an avalanche, the team only manages to escape by ducking into a cave, Balto leads them through the cave, then notices that the roof of the cave is covered in stalactites, he warns the other dogs to be quiet, but the sled hits a bump, and makes a loud noise triggering a fall of stalactites, they manage to avoid the stalactites, and get out of the cave alive. Back in Nome, Jenna waits at Rosy's bedside, just then Balto comes into view with the antitoxin, Jenna barks with joy and all the humans race out too see what's going on, Balto runs into town with the rest of the team, with many congratulations, Balto is hailed a hero, and Jenna becomes his mate.
Balto II: Wolf Quest
Jenna and Balto with the pups.
In the second film, Balto is Jenna's mate/wife. The film beginning with Balto having a terrible nightmare that he seems to have been having for days, he dreams he is running across a great ice lake, with a raven following him, he sees a wall of ice emerge in front of him, he turns around and runs back, stopped dead by a pack of wolves, just before Boris splashes him with water, he wakes up coughing and sputtering, Boris complains that the dream keeps him from sleeping peacefully, Balto insists that its just a dream, but Boris, keeps telling him it means something if he has it over and over again, Balto gets up and walks over to Nome, on the way he observes a large totem pole, with the Raven, like in his dream on it, as well as a Wolverine, Grizzly bear, Red fox, Gray wolf, Boris says he thinks the Raven on the Totem pole has something to do with the Raven in his dreams, Balto says that it doesn't, and that the humans carve totem poles to tell stories, but Boris keeps on saying that it means something, to which Balto responds, "Look, all I know is that the Totem pole marks the quickest route to Jenna's." When they enter Nome, they are waylaid by a little dog who spins in circles making Boris dizzy, yelling "The stork has landed," after hearing this, Balto is alarmed and races to the shed where Jenna is nursing her newborn pups, Balto enters nervously and looks down at his children, before remarking "Their beautiful," Jenna agrees. Later it shows Balto turning in his sleep, it shows he is dreaming again - he is running across the ice with the Raven close behind, as he runs he turns to see Jenna standing by the shed calling out to him, but there is a light so bright that he can't see her face, he is confused and turns and starts running toward her, but before he can get there he awakes to find himself in his own wrecked boat.
The pups.
He hears Jenna calling and looks over the side of the boat where Jenna is waiting on the beach with the pups, "Good morning sleepyhead," she says, "Did you forget about watching the pups today?", Balto says he would never forget, and jumps down to say hello to the pups, who greet him with joy, as the pups go off to play with Boris, Jenna reminds Balto that the pups are going to be adopted the next day, Balto is disappointed, and wishes they didn't need to be adopted, when adoption day comes, Aleu isn't taken due to her wolf-like appearance, Balto and Jenna refuse the truth that their daughter will never be adopted, they believe that someday a human will take her, though they know in their hearts that it isn't true. As Aleu grows they keep her hope's up by telling her that she is going to be adopted, but when she is playing with Muk & Luk almost a year later she wonders off and almost gets shot by a hunter. Balto saves her from any harm by wrestling the gun out of the hunters hands. Aleu asks him why he attacked the human, and Balto tells her that the hunter had tried to kill her because she resembles a wolf perfectly. Aleu is shocked at discovering she is part wolf and runs away. Balto suspects she will get over it, but Aleu isn't so sure. Then Balto has another dream, this time he sees a herd of Caribou, running across the ocean on an ice bridge, and hears the voice of his mother telling him about the Totem animals, he is woken up the next morning by Muk & Luk, who are looking for Aleu, when she is nowhere to be found, Balto goes to see if she is with Jenna, discovering that she isn't, he picks up her trail on the beach, and follows it into the wilderness, after which he is shortly followed by a Raven, who leads him to cross a log, on the log he meets a Fox, the Fox tricks him into falling in the river by telling him that she will help him find Aleu, Balto swims but is carried away in the current, later he is found unconscious by Boris and Muk & Luk, after waking up, Balto finds Aleu's scent, and follows it, but is waylaid by some Wolverines, who mock him and make fun of him, they insist that Balto is scared of them, and Balto admits that he is scared, but not of them. He tells them that he is afraid for Aleu, the Wolverines tell him to stop following the Raven before disappearing mysteriously, Balto continues to follow the Raven, and comes across Aleu just in time to save her from a bear. But Aleu refuses to come back to Nome, due to an encounter with her spirit guide Muru, a kindly field mouse, telling her she has to find who she is, Balto encourages her to come home only to be further refused, seeing that his daughter will not come home, he insists that he's coming with her, to which, she happily agrees, Balto smells salt water, telling him that they are near the ocean, and they decide to see it, when they reach it, they are attacked by four wolves who try to kill them, but the wolf's pack arrives, and stops them, the pack is led by a elderly wolf by the name of Nava, his pack is faithful to him, but his leadership is challenged by a wolf named Niju, one of the wolves that attacked Aleu and Balto. Niju is trying to encourage the pack to steal food from other animal clans in the forest, however, Nava says that they should not, it is this way that Aleu and Balto find out that the pack is starving, due to the Caribou leaving and crossing the ice over to Russia, the wolves can not follow, just as in Balto's dream, Aleu says that they should help them, and that they are meant to, and that all this was meant to be, but Balto says no, and tells Aleu that despite his dreams, the whole ordeal has gone to far, and that they will leave in the morning, but when morning comes Balto decides that Aleu was right, and that he should help them, because he is the only one that can lead them to find the Caribou, he decides this just in time to stop Niju from leading the pack into stealing, Niju insists on fighting, but is stopped when the pack sees an ice bridge forming over the ocean, at first they are confused, but Aleu explains that last winter the Caribou crossed an ice bridge to land in Russia, and now that bridge is forming again, and that if the pack is to survive. They must cross the ice bridge and get to Russia, where the Caribou are, the pack sees she is right, and decides to let Balto lead them across, to which he agrees. The pack begins to cross, but Niju, being afraid of change, refuses to go, as the pack is crossing. The section of ice Nava is on breaks off and begins to float away.
Aleu, trapped underwater.
Aleu seeing that Nava is in trouble takes a leap and manages to hold on to the edge of the ice. Nava tries to help Aleu, but is not strong enough, the piece of ice that Aleu is holding on to is heading toward the shore, Aleu scrambles madly but can't get up and is smashed against another piece of ice by the shore, forcing her underwater, for a few intense seconds she gets stuck underwater, but eventually resurfaces, and climbs onto the ice where Nava is. But the problem remains, Aleu and Nava are trapped on the piece of ice that is headed back to the shore. Aleu could make the swim, but Nava is too old for anything physically strenuous. With a swim that far, he'd never make it. Aleu calls out to Balto telling him to lead the pack on, and that she will find a way to get her and Nava back to the pack. Balto leads the pack on, leaving Aleu alone with Nava. Just then, Niju appears, intending to kill Nava and Aleu and become the new pack leader. He easily knocks Nava down, but Aleu attacks and wrestles Niju to the ground in defense of Nava. Niju quickly throws her off, and pins her down, but Balto appears and yells "Niju! Leave her be!" Niju releases her. Aleu tells Balto that he should not be there, and should be leading the pack across, Balto says that he will, as soon as he takes care of Niju, but the ice that the pack is on is floating away to the other side, and they will never make it across without a leader. Balto tells Niju that if he wanted to be a leader, this is his chance. But Niju's is stubborn nature gets the better of him. He refuses to go, and he is so busy talking that he doesn't see the patch of cracked ice. When he and steps on it, he falls through, and surfaces on the shore.
Balto says goodbye to Aleu.
Balto knows Nava won't be able to swim to the pack, so he decides to do it, but Aleu says that he shouldn't. She insists that he does not belong there and insists he belongs with Jenna and Boris. Aleu realizes that this where she truly belongs in the world, a proud and noble leader of her own wolf pack. Balto sadly agrees, and says a emotional goodbye to his daughter, who turns and swims to the pack, as their new leader. Balto watches as Aleu and the other wolves make their way to the other side, and disappear on the horizon. Balto knows that Aleu is leaving, perhaps forever, but he also knows she has finally found somewhere she belongs in the world. Though he will miss her, he knows she will be happy with her new life. He turns and walks onto the shore, where Nava is waiting for him. Nava tells Balto that Aleu has found her home, and that she will be a great leader. But now it is time for him to go home. Nava bids Balto a noble goodbye and leaves to find Niju. As Nava runs off, Balto turns to see Aniu, a great white wolf that appeared from nowhere. Aniu reveals itself to be Balto's mother, and has also the Raven that's been guiding the quest the whole time. She lets out a howl, and disappears in a cloud of white fog, leaving Balto on his own. Balto bids his mother a goodbye as well and slowly walks away, making his way back toward Nome.
Balto III: Wings of Change
Balto is seen on a mountain top along with Jenna waiting for a bi-plane which Balto is intrigued by. As the plane flies over him is amazed and wishes he could fly like a plane. One of Balto's sons Kodi lives a career of being part of the mail dog sled team with Mr. Simpson; who's in charge of delivering the US mail to Nome. That soon becomes questioned when the bi-plane lands and Balto meets its pilot, Duke, who is proposing on delivering the mail in his plane instead of the dogs, claiming that his plane is more reliable and efficiant than the dog sled team. Kodi and the other sled dogs (and just about every other dog in Nome) are stressed to hear this, so the team asks Balto to lead them in a race organized to decide who will be delivering the mail to Nome, the dogs or Duke. The dogs enlist Balto on being their team leader because they know all about his fame for saving Nome from the Dysphoria scare back in 22. instead of being honored to be their leader, Balto is stressed. He's seen what the bi-plane is capable of and he thinks there might be no chance in beating it, and neither does Boris (no surprise there). Balto go seeks Jenna for advice. He's not afraid of losing the race, but he is afraid of losing his image and his respect. If they do lose, he doesn't want his son, Kodi to see him as a failure. Kodi knows Balto as the greatest American dog hero in recorded history, and Balto doesn't want to disappoint his son; who wants to be just like him. Jenna sings to Balto and tells him that he doesn't have to be Kodi's hero, he just has to be there for him. Ever since he was a pup, he was never good at keeping up with his brothers and sisters when they were running on the beach. Balto was always there to give him the motivation he needed to succeed and be fast. If it wasn't for Balto's encouragement, Kodi never would have gained the confidence to become a mail dog. Balto's stress finally melted away when he realized that he never had to be a hero, just a good leader. On the night before the race, Balto walks over towards the bi-plane to check it out, and Duke suddenly arrives. Balto tries hiding from him under the wing, but Duke sees his reflection in the window. At first, Balto is shy, but Duke presents him with jerky and shows him that he likes him. Duke tells Balto how amazing it is to fly "soaring high above the clouds", and the two become friends. On the day of the race, the dogs start gearing up to beat the bi-plane. A guy fires a starting pistol and everyone starts running fast. The dog team gets a head start because Duke's engine took a minute to get going. As Balto races and guides the team on their relay from Nome to White Mountain, they notice that the plane has already beaten them and they were only halfway there. The team thinks it's all over, but thanks to Balto's "never quit without a reason" attitude, the team speeds up. Just as the team gets the mail from White Mountain and makes it halfway back to Nome, a snow storm begins to pick up. With Balto's help however, the team perseveres through the storm (Kind of like how Balto did in the first adventure) and beats the plane to Nome, saving the dog's jobs. While the dogs celebrate on the beach, Balto is still unsure about the fate of the mail dogs. He believes that the day of the deliveries by plane is coming. Kodi refuses to believe him and joins the rest of the dogs. However, what Balto's real concern is, what could be taking the bi-plane so long to return.
Trivia
- The real-life Balto was a purebred Siberian Husky who was raised in a shelter being trained to be a sled dog, not an outcast half-wolf street dog as he is portrayed in the films.
- Mushers in real-life would not allow their sled dogs to mate with wolves.
- Balto was neutered in real life, so even if mating was allowed between dogs and wolves, it wouldn't have been possible for those 6 puppies to be born.
- In real life, Balto was black (later turned dark brown when he moved to the states with his owner) with white "socks". In the movie, he is grey-brown like an actual wolf.
Gallery
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