In Case You’ve Never Watched the Show
As the title suggests, Courage is this adorable purple dog that is frightened of basically everything. He lives in Nowhere, Kansas with Muriel and Eustace after he was abandoned as a puppy. Turns out that his parents were sent into outer space. Muriel is a sweet Scottish woman who uses too much vinegar in her recipes, while Eustace is your typical crabby old man that harasses Courage. Muriel is often the one who is kidnapped by the show’s villains.
I have to say that this show is wonderfully weird. There are some weird paranormal elements to it that I absolutely adore. As a kid, I didn’t think much of it when it came to the true stories or lore that may have inspired the series. Now, thanks to the reach of the internet and more, we are discovering more interesting stories behind the series.
WasCourage The Cowardly Dog Based On A True Story?
We’ll start with one of the more universally accepted sources we can find. According to Wikipedia, the creators claim the show’s inspiration was drawn from other contemporary animated works such as the “Ghost In The Shell”. I think I can speak for all when I say…
Now it’s fun to just take “info-memes” like this at face value. However sometimes you do have to dig a little deeper.
While it is hard to work with, it’s our first clue from this vague commentary is going to come from the most specific piece of info provided.
According to New Mexico Explorer, the existence of New Mexico Skinwalker is not some sort of myth, they are as real as humans are. In fact, they even described as similar to humans.
As explainedby Anthropologist David Zimmerman of the NavajoNation Historic Preservation Department:
“Like humans, they do kill, andlike humans, they have motivations for those acts of aggression.Power and revenge fuel their murderous intent, but such things cannot occupythe brain of a rational creature all the time, and skinwalkers do not makemurder part of their daily routine.”
So basically they are not like werewolves or boogieman. Skinwalkers don’t aim to go on killing sprees or torture humans. They are not stories created to entertain/frighten children. Also just to clarify, skinwalkers are an entity that is accepted by doctorate level Anthropologists.
There are still sites and resources on how to behave around a New Mexico skinwalker should you encounter one.
Now maybe these fancy doctorates mean nothing to you. But this part is still weird. New Mexico natives and the Navajo people will all pretend to not believe. They will say they do not know what you are talking about if you bring them up. From children to adults, they have all seen them, yet they are afraid to speak of them. Anthropologist and Sociologist Tony Hillerman spent two decades of his life studying this phenomenon:
“A lot of Navajo’s will tell me emphatically, especially when they don’t know me very well, that they don’t believe in all that stuff. And then when you get to be a friend, they’ll start telling you about the first time they ever saw one.” –Tony Hillerman
Something about the skin walkers eerily similar appearance to the human figure is what truly makes them terrifying.
Courage was a pink puppy born to Henry and his kind wife in a large, gated property. Since his parents had an aristocratic fascination with canine objects, Courages well being was always of the utmost concern. One day when Courage successfully caught a ball, he accidentally got his head stuck in between the bars of the fence which resulted in him being taken to the Pets of Tomorrow veterinarian office. At the office, Courage was freed by a seemingly kind doctor who gave him a lollipop and ushered him out of the room so he could “speak” to his parents alone. His tongue got stuck to the surface of the sucker which then tore off, so young Courage was rushed back to be nurtured by his parents.
Although his secondary owner, Eustace, is cruel to him, he is not offended by his harsh words and cruel tricks, especially compared to Muriel. This is most likely because he has learned to deal with the jealous mans cruel jokes and short temper over time. Despite this, Courage has been shown to care about Eustaces safety as well (although not as much as Muriels) and will go great lengths to protect him from danger, even though he is not always as successful in protecting him as he is with Muriel. On some occasions, Courage would team up with Eustace in an attempt to save Muriel or themselves from danger.
Courage, as the shows title suggests, is an extremely cowardly and anxious dog that is easily frightened by almost anything. Despite this, when his owners or friends are in the face of danger, he will stop at nothing to save them, which easily makes him the bravest and most morally-aligned character throughout the series.
Courage has displayed an inhuman amount of resistance to physical pain in many episodes. Courage was able to withstand an assault from Mecha Courage in “Courage vs. Mecha-Courage: and take loads of damage, as it seems he is invincible to being killed. He is also superhumanly strong and fast, evident from when he hopped the entire way to Paris as a Kangaroo Monster in “The Transplant” and when he picked up the God Bone that was multiple times his size and to smash three Dog Skeletons after they assaulted him in “Stormy Weather”.
Perhaps Courages greatest signature is his scream. Courage can scream so loudly that he can break a hole open in a wooden floor large enough to swallow a rogues gallery of his previous foes (“Ball of Revenge”). In some instances Courage has been shown able to survive underwater and in outer space for prolonged periods of time. Courages super screams have proven powerful enough to destroy planetary bodies and stars in “The Magic Tree of Nowhere”.