- “Just be patient, Kenai. When you live by your totem... you will.”
- ―Sitka[src]
Sitka is a supporting character and the oldest brother of Denahi and Kenai, and a parental figure to them in Disney's 2003 animated feature film Brother Bear.
Background[]
Physical appearance[]
In life, Sitka was a tall proto-Athabascan man with long, black hair kept back in a ponytail, and a slight goatee marked by thin lines of hair on either side of his chin. He wore a brown animal skin parka with a fur lined hood. After his death, he gained the ability to manifest his spirit as a bald eagle of varying sizes, as well as the ability to appear as he did in life.
Personality[]
Sitka loves his younger brothers and would do anything for them. His role consists mainly of keeping his brothers from bickering and making sure Kenai doesn't get himself into too much trouble. When Kenai gets himself stranded by a bear, Sitka quickly rushes to his aid, going so far as to intentionally collapse part of a glacier beneath himself and the bear, resulting in his death while preventing the bear from harming his brothers. After his death, he continues to look after and guide his brothers, primarily in his eagle form, which Denahi is able to recognize. While Sitka was never one to shy away from lectures and words of wisdom in life, he is also able to communicate a great deal without words, and after his death he doesn't even need to open his mouth when he brings his brothers back together.
Appearances[]
Brother Bear[]
The movie begins with Kenai's coming of age ceremony where each tribal member receives an animal totem which represents the primary virtue they should seek to live their lives by. Kenai's ends up being the bear of love. But he hates bears and doesn't see how they represent love. Sitka reassures Kenai and tells him about his own doubts after receiving his totem, the eagle of guidance. Moments later, they find that a bear has stolen some fish from them because Kenai didn't secure the ropes on the basket. Kenai recklessly sets off after the bear. Sitka and Denahi follow him to make sure he doesn't end up getting killed.
When they find Kenai, he's being attacked by the bear. They rush to his aid, Sitka trying to help Kenai back up from the ledge on which he's trapped, while Denahi brandishes a spear and yells to distract the bear. The bear knocks the spear out of his hands. The three brothers parry with the bear across the top of a glacier until she is positioned between Sitka and his brothers, with Sitka's back to the edge of the glacier. Sitka notices that the portion of the glacier they're on is about to calve, and, deciding there is no other option, stabs the ice around the bear with his spear, causing the ice to crack and break off. He and the bear plummet into the water below. The bear survives, but Sitka is killed. His spirit later assumes the form of a bald eagle.
Later that night, a funeral is held for Sitka, and Kenai is enraged that the bear lived while Sitka died. Holding the bear responsible for what happened, he sets out to avenge Sitka. Denahi follows to try and stop him. After they leave, Tanana pleads with Sitka's spirit to guide his brothers, telling him he left too soon.
After Kenai succeeds in killing the bear, the spirits appear before him, along with a bald eagle that morphs into Sitka in an ethereal form. He then approaches Kenai and gives him a look of sorrow and disappointment, directing Kenai's attention to the body of the bear as it's dissolved by the spirits, carrying the bear's spirit up to join them. Sitka decides to discipline Kenai by turning him into a bear, in an effort to change his perspective and help him overcome his hatred of bears.
The morning after the incident, Kenai awakes to Tanana fussing over the bump on his head. She informs him that Sitka has turned him into a bear, and that if he wants to be changed back, he needs to take it up with Sitka's spirit by journeying to a mountain where the northern lights touch the earth.
Thinking the bear that Kenai transformed into is one that killed Kenai, Denahi decides to avenge his assumed death and tracks him down. Kenai manages to escape and meets the deceased bear's cub, Koda. Kenai finds Koda annoying at first, but reluctantly agrees to journey with him to the salmon run because it's near the mountain where the lights touch the earth. Over the course of the journey, Kenai eventually grows to love Koda and feels guilty after learning that he is the son of the bear he killed. Throughout this experience, Sitka watches Kenai from a distance, occasionally appearing as an eagle to offer guidance.
After Kenai and Koda separate over the loss of Koda's mother, Kenai makes his way to the mountain. Meanwhile, Denahi is lost and alone, and pleads with Sitka to show him what to do. Sitka appears to him as an eagle and beckons for him to follow. He leads Denahi to the mountain, where Denahi encounters Kenai. Still not recognizing his younger brother, Denahi battles Kenai, who tries desperately to avoid hurting him while crying out for Sitka to change him back. Koda intervenes to help Kenai, and Denahi turns on him, prompting Kenai to go after Denahi, ordering him to leave the cub alone. Just when Denahi is about to spear Kenai, Sitka grabs Kenai in his talons and transforms him back into a human, leaving Denahi shocked and appalled at what he almost did. Sitka takes his human form and has a reunion with both his brothers, which is interrupted by a very confused Koda wondering where his friend went and why there are suddenly three humans around him. Kenai convinces Koda that it's him, and Koda jumps into his arms, making Sitka smile. Sitka hands Kenai his totem and gives him a questioning look. Knowing that Koda is motherless because of him, Kenai wishes to become a bear permanently and stay with Koda. Sitka turns Kenai back into a bear and hugs both of his brothers goodbye, then he and Koda's mother (who briefly reunites with Koda) return to the afterlife.
Sitka is last seen watching the remaining half of Kenai's coming-of-age ceremony, taking flight once it's completed, as his role in guiding his brothers is now over.
Brother Bear 2[]
He does make a cameo in his eagle form near the end of Brother Bear 2 when the Great Spirits transform Nita into a bear so she can be with Kenai and Koda (mainly Kenai).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Most of the characters are named after actual places in Alaska, where the story is set. Sitka is named after a city in said state.
- Sitka's spirit, in the form of an eagle, can be seen throughout the movie after Kenai is changed into a bear.
- After Kenai first wakes up as a bear, an eagle sitting on a tree branch watches him, then flies off.
- When Kenai and Koda are riding on the mammoth's tusks, after Koda says "I always wanted a brother," the camera moves upward to reveal an eagle sitting on a tree branch, watching the bears.
- When Kenai and Koda are going through the "lava path", after Koda and Kenai walk offscreen (before Koda scares Kenai), an eagle flies after them.
- An eagle meets up with Denahi in the mountains.
- Sitka represents the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska. His totem specifically represents the Eagle moiety, which is one of the two moieties of Tlingit society (the other being the Raven moiety). This is a bit ironic, as the city of Sitka is home to a tribe of Tlingit who are part of the Raven moiety.
- His name means "people on the outer island" in Tlingit (the island in question being Baranof Island, where the city of Sitka is located).
- The sounds Sitka makes in his bald eagle form are accurate for most of the movie. But in the very last shot, a stock red-tailed hawk scream is used instead.
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