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Master Tigress (or just Tigress) is a Kung Fu master and the tritagonist in the DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda franchise.
Background
Tigress' parentage remains a mystery, but it was hinted that her parents had no intention of raising their daughter. All that is known about her is that she was left on the doorstep of Bao Gu Orphanage as a cub and taken in by orphanage caretakers, who decided to raise the South Chinese tiger cub as one of their children up for adoption. But due to the fact that Tigress didn't know how strong she was and having a violent temper, everyone was afraid of her and she became an outcast with the other children and caretakers.
One night, she escaped from her room and innocently approached the children in an attempt to play. However, her fangs and claws scared them off, and a rejected Tigress once again lost her temper. After being put in an isolated room, she soon began to see herself as a monster, as everyone else did. Unsure of what they should do with, the caretakers summoned the aid of Master Shifu, who taught Tigress how to control her strength and temper and gave her the discipline she needed by using dominoes. After months of training, her hard work paid off and she finally gained the trust and friendship of the other orphans and caretakers. But since all the adults who came to adopt the orphans were still scared of her, she was still unable to find a family to adopt her until Shifu decided to take her in as his very own daughter, making the Jade Palace her new home.
Even when Tigress began to show a natural talent in Kung Fu, Shifu made her still feel unaccepted due to his closed and stern personality, made by a hole in his soul from the betrayal of her adopted brother and his former pupil, Tai Lung. She never even bothered to ask him any questions, since was always ridiculed by others for her childlike curiosity in the past. As the tiger cub grew in age and skill, she became determined and very dedicated in her own abilities, having mastered Tiger Style Kung Fu and advanced techniques such as Chi. Despite her accomplishments, Tigress still strove to gain Shifu's approval by bettering herself in the training she endure, such as punching the iron-wood trees outside the Jade Palace, an exercise that eventually resulted in her having no feeling in her paws.
Tigress eventually started becoming even stern and harsh as her master when he tried to get her into emulating his style, but Grand Master Oogway cautioned against it as he watched nearby. After the training session, the pair was approached by Master Mongrel, who warned the about the approach of Boar, a villain defeating Kung Fu masters left and right.
Fighting Style and Personality
Master Tigress is a warrior under the Tiger Style of Kung Fu. Her fighting style is direct, powerful, strong, firm, aggressive, and unmatched – while adding a bit of Wushu-like acrobatic flair to the mix. She’s not afraid to unleash her hard-hitting Kung Fu on anybody, not even the fearsome Tai Lung. She’s usually the one to hit first in a fight. She has little fear in her heart and can certainly inflict fear in other’s hearts with her ferocity. Tigress is a warrior to be feared and admired. Tigress strikes directly without hesitation utilizing speed, agility, and power to shatter opponents’ defenses. Like a traditional fighter in Tiger Kung Fu, Tigress stays close to the ground. She is agile, acrobatic, elegant, and fights honorably.
Tigress is a disciplined, by-the-book sort of student. She knows her place and rank but is not in the least bit selfish. She fights honorably for the protection of others. Her sense of right and wrong is great, and she uses it in almost everything she does. Although she may seem intimidating, hard, and stoic to most, she does harbor a warm compassion underneath her exterior. She is sometimes shown to be playful with children and is unwaveringly polite to all the citizens of the Valley of Peace. What Tigress may lack in social skills, she makes up for her strong moral code and heroism. Her species is a South China Tiger.
Appearances
Kung Fu Panda
As the unofficial leader of the Five, Tigress shared the duty of protecting the Valley with her new comrades, gaining great fame across China with their many accomplishments in battle. Despite all the progress she achieved over the years, the determined tiger still felt the need to prove herself to Shifu as he simply shared his belief that either she or one of her four companions were possibly going to be, and should be, chosen as the Dragon Warrior. She saw her chance when Oogway received a vision of Tai Lung breaking out of Chorh-Gom Prison and returning to the Valley to get the Dragon Scroll. Alarmed, Shifu (acting on Oogway's suggestion) announced a tournament to declare who the Dragon Warrior would be out of the Furious Five.
On the day of the tournament, each of the Five publicly exhibited their talents one at a time, with Tigress performing last. Before she had the chance to start, Oogway sensed the presence of the Dragon Warrior, and it was time for the choosing. It appeared that Oogway was about to point at her — until a fat panda named Po seemingly fell out of the sky and landed right in front of his pointing claw. Confused, Tigress asked if the old tortoise was pointing at her, but Oogway was convinced that Po had been chosen by the universe, and the panda's appearance was not by accident but a sign. He proclaimed the panda as the Dragon Warrior — much to the Five's and Shifu's horror, and as Po was carried off to the Jade Palace, Tigress apologized to Shifu for failing him. The diminutive red panda stopped her, saying that if he hadn't made the panda quit by the next morning, then it was he who failed his students.
Through the rest of the day, Shifu did his best to discourage Po and try to make him leave. He tried to intimidate him by showing him the Training Hall and allowing the panda to be humiliated in front of the Five. The derision that her master felt was echoed by Tigress, for she felt offended and insulted that "a fat, flabby panda" like Po would be chosen over a loyal student like herself. She made sure that Po knew her opinion of him—going as far as to scathingly tell him that night that it made him a disgrace to Kung Fu and that, if he respected the martial arts or the Five at all, he would be gone by morning. To her dismay, Po didn't leave the next morning, and still wanted to learn Kung Fu. Attempts were made throughout the day to discourage the young panda and make him quit, but he persevered and made it through the second day—even after sparring with most of the Five and literally being thrown out by Shifu and tumbling down the steps of the palace. While most of the Five grew to be impressed at the panda's indefatigable tenacity, Tigress simply conceded that Po was there to stay whether she liked it or not. While Po received acupuncture from Mantis and Viper, Tigress confided to Po the story of Tai Lung and Shifu's role in his life, while also hinting at her own past, that she never received the same love that Shifu once showed for Tai Lung.
Later on, Po began opening up more to the Five while preparing noodle soup for dinner, which, to their delight, was among the most delicious dishes they've ever eaten —— save for Tigress, who remained distant and ate tofu instead. However, the peaceful atmosphere was shattered when Shifu arrived to bring them terrible news: Tai Lung had indeed escaped from prison, and to make things worse, Oogway had just passed away. Tigress begged her master to let the Five and herself stop Tai Lung, stating it was what he had trained them for, but Shifu surprisingly said it wasn't her destiny. He was now convinced that Po's job was to stop Tai Lung after all, and nothing she could say would change his mind. However, Po ran away in fear of his upcoming challenge, and she secretly followed Shifu when he chased after him to bring him back. There she overheard Po admitting his own lack of confidence, seeing neither he nor her master had a solution on just how they could make him the Dragon Warrior. So she decided to try to stop Tai Lung herself and immediately set out on her own. To her surprise, she found Viper, Mantis, Monkey, and Crane following her, for they wanted to help her in her endeavor.
Traveling as fast as they could, the Five finally intercepted Tai Lung at the Thread of Hope, where Tigress finally able to meet the snow leopard face to face in combat. When asked where the Dragon Warrior was, she tried to imply that she herself was the Dragon Warrior to protect Po, but Tai Lung was not fooled, and a battle ensued, which was made difficult by the rope bridge itself as well as the leopard's great strength and skill. Tigress worked together with the others, displaying her greatest strength as a team leader/player, and she and her comrades managed to overpower the snow leopard in a stunning show of strength and cunning. At first, they assumed that they had vanquished him completely, but sure enough, Tai Lung reappeared, swinging back from the opposite peak with the ropes from the now-destroyed bridge, and landing behind the startled team. Taking advantage of their unpreparedness, Tai Lung used a technique that Shifu hadn't taught them: chi blocking. Jabbing each of the Five in vital pressure points, he paralyzed them all—with the exception of Crane, whom he had left unparalyzed so he could carry the defeated warriors back to the Jade Palace as a warning; that he could defeat the strongest warriors in China.
With great shame, Tigress faced Po and Shifu when released from the effects of the chi block back at the Jade Palace, feeling that she had failed Shifu. He quietly rebuked her, telling her she could have been killed, but he added that Tai Lung's attempt to strike fear into their hearts wouldn't work: he had been busy training Po while the Five were absent, and he felt that the panda was now ready to receive the Dragon Scroll. They all assembled in the Palace, wasting no time, where Shifu retrieved the scroll and proceeded to give it to Po. Upon opening it, Po relayed a most surprising bit of information: the legendary scroll thought to endow the Dragon Warrior with unlimited power was blank.
There was nothing else that could be done; Shifu ordered the Five and Po to evacuate the Valley in the last ditch effort, while he stayed behind to stall Tai Lung as long as possible. He expected to die during the battle, and his parting words to them were the ones that Tigress had always longed to hear from her master: that he was proud of them and that he was honored to be their master. The dismal feeling that everyone felt as they left had to be pushed aside once they started gathering the villagers. Tigress fell into her role as leader and began to lead the evacuation despite her sadness. After leading the populace to the surrounding mountains through the stormy night to morning, she and the Five were stunned as they witnessed a bright wave of light and energy coming from the middle of town.
Deciding to go back, they discovered that Po had fought Tai Lung and defeated him with the legendary Wuxi Finger Hold. Amazed, Tigress finally let go of her pride, realizing that she had been wrong about the panda, and she approached Po and bowed to him with a smile, honoring him for the first time as a kung fu master and the true Dragon Warrior.
Kung Fu Panda 2
Tigress and the others of the Furious Five were first seen in the Jade Palace's Training Hall encouraging and supporting Po in his endeavor to stuff forty bean buns into his mouth, something she would normally have grimaced at or refused to take part in before.
Later, Tigress learned that a village of musicians was attacked by a pack of wolf bandits set on stealing all the metal they could find. She immediately alerted Po of the matter, telling him not to take any snack stops, and the six set out to the village to fight off the bandits. However, when Po was temporarily dazed by the sight of an emblem on one of the wolf assailant's armor, she attempted to intercept the wolf's hammer blow, but it was too late, and she and Po were knocked aside. As the wolves escaped with most of the town's metal, the concerned Tigress asked Po what had happened to him, but he didn't answer her and instead ran off.
The next day, Shifu informed Po and the Five of Master Thundering Rhino's death at the hands of Lord Shen and tasked them with traveling to Gongmen City to destroy the weapon responsible — one that he described as being able to "breathe fire and spit metal". They set out to do so but were stopped by Mr. Ping, who has packed bags for Po's journey. After being slightly amused to see Po's action figures of herself and the rest of the Five, Tigress saw the goose was worried and assured him that Po would soon return before she left with the others.
On the last night of their journey, Tigress was awoken when Po had suffered a nightmare. Concerned, Tigress followed him outside and helped him relieve his frustrations by sparring with him. Tigress told him about her harsh training exercises in her youth and how her "hardcore" style allowed her to ignore pain. Po then shared how he had recently learned that Mr. Ping was his adoptive father (though this hardly surprised Tigress). When Po commented on his slight envy over Tigress's "hardcore" ability to ignore emotional pain, Tigress was taken aback. However, she didn't have time to say anything before arriving at Gongmen City.
Tigress and the others snuck into the city and evaded more of Shen's wolves when they found Masters Storming Ox and Croc in Gongmen Jail. After unsuccessfully trying to convince them to escape and aid them in their mission, they were discovered by Boss Wolf and attempted to intercept him before he could alert Shen. Although Tigress was able to help Po catch up to him, they ended up being ambushed and were quickly captured.
Tigress and the others were brought before Shen himself in his ancestral palace. But while Po spoke to him, Viper successfully picked the lock on Tigress's cuffs, allowing her to help free the others and destroy Shen's cannon. However, Tigress was surprised when she saw Po once again dazed by the pattern of Shen's feathered tail, allowing the peacock to escape. Now under assault from the rest of Shen's cannons, she took matters into her own hands as she reached the bottom of the tower and quickly scouted the area outside, deftly defending herself and her friends from a hail of fire arrows from the wolves. Then, deducting an escape route, Tigress led the others to safety by scaling the outside of the falling tower and springing off it over the wall bordering the palace grounds.
Returning to the jail to hide, she angrily confronted Po over why he let Shen escape, as well as almost getting them all killed in the bargain. When he refused to answer, she ordered him to stay in the company of Storming Ox and Croc, thinking that Po was not capable of completing the mission due to his unspoken hindrance. Po was adamant upon going with them, however, leading the two to spar once more.
Tigress had swiftly subdued Po and again demanded to know the truth. Po finally admitted how he remembered that Shen was present the night his biological parents abandoned him, and he needed Shen to tell him what happened despite all odds thrown against him, finally commenting that Tigress wouldn't understand due to her being too hardcore. Tigress lunged at Po, supposedly infuriated by his remark, but to the surprise of everyone else (even Po himself), she hugged him and told him that she did understand. Nevertheless, she gently told Po to stay behind, as she didn't want to see him be killed.
Tigress and the rest of the Five made their way over to Shen's refinery, where they intended to ignite powder kegs around the factory to destroy it. However, much to her shock, she saw that Po had disobeyed her and confronted Shen alone. Fearing for Po's safety, she and the others quickly doused the fires to the powder kegs, and they began to make their way towards the two to protect Po, fending off Shen's elite soldiers along the way. Unable to reach him, she watched in horror as Po was blasted out of the factory and into the river by Shen's largest cannon. The Five were subsequently captured. Fearing that the worst had happened to Po, Tigress felt she had failed him.
The Five were shackled securely to the flagship of Shen's veritable armada of cannon-armed ships as they began their traverse down the river to the harbor. Shen mocked them for their sadness over the "death" of Po and bragged about how he would kill them and their "precious kung fu" upon reaching the harbor; Tigress snarled back but was unable to resist in any way. Monkey was the only one of the chained Five that seemed to retain any fighting spirit and looked to Tigress for support, but she merely responded with a defeated expression. She was further disgusted by Shen's lack of concern for the well-being of the bystanders witnessing the event by blasting away a bridge to clear a path, which led her to call him a coward.
She was perhaps the most astonished when Po revealed himself to be alive and rescued her and the rest of the Five. She and the others managed to fight their way along with Shen's fleet with the assistance of Croc and Ox, who were freed and accompanied by Shifu. However, the nine kung fu masters destroyed much of the fleet, blocking the harbor with their own boats. Shen fired his cannon at Po, but Tigress managed to shove him aside and was blown into the river along with the other masters.
Wounded and floating on a piece of driftwood, Po waded towards her and gripped her limp paw. She feebly lifted her head but was too weakened to say anything. Tigress then watched helplessly as Po stood upon the wreckage of an overturned boat, facing the remaining cannon-armed fleet on his own. As the first shot was fired, she, along with every other witness, was astounded when Po deflected the projectile and every other one that Shen fired, even going so far as to knock some back at the fleet. Finally, after the flagship's destruction, she witnessed Po's final battle with Shen and the lord's defeat at the hands of his own work.
After the battle, she helped Po out of the water and onto a dock, commenting on his work as "pretty hardcore." She was surprised once more when Po hugged her like how she did in prison—so much so that she didn't have time to react before he was enthusiastically greeted by the rest of the Five. Along with the rest of Gongmen City, she watched with her arm resting on Po's shoulders as the burning remains of Shen's flagship set off a fireworks display.
Kung Fu Panda 3
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In the film, she evades being attacked by Kai in order to warn Po that Kai is coming for the Pandas. Using what she learned from Po and about who she is, Tigress along with Li, Mr. Ping and the pandas are able to use their chi to rescue Po in order for him to defeat Kai once and for all.
Relationships
Gallery
Trivia
- Strangely enough, her original voice actress Angelina Jolie was born a year after the Year of the Tiger occurred (i.e. 1975).
- This was Angelina Jolie's second Dreamworks Animation film, the first was Shark Tale as Lola.
