| E. Aster Bunnymund | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Title | Aster, Bunny, Bunnymund, E. Aster Bunnymund, The Easter Bunny |
| Gender | Male |
| Film | Rise of the Guardians (2012) |
| Status | Alive |
| Hair Color | White, Grey with darker grey markings |
| Eye Color | Green |
| Family | Unknown |
| Friends | Sophie Bennett, Nicholas St. North, Toothiana, Sanderson Mansnoozie, Man-in-the-Moon, Ombric Shalazar, Katherine, Nightlight, Jack Frost, Merida DunBroch, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Rapunzel Corona |
| Enemies | Pitch Black |
- “You don't want to race a rabbit, mate.”
- ―Bunny
E. Aster Bunnymund, often known by his shorted names of Bunnymund or Bunny, is both the Easter Bunny and the Guardian of Hope. He is dedicated to bringing hope and spring to the world by hiding Easter eggs throughout the world for the children to find. He lives in his warren under Australia where he makes and sends colored Easter eggs through his underground tunnels.
Appearance[]
As a Pooka, or a shapeshifting creature that stands over six feet tall, Bunny takes on the form of a rabbit, for when he is believed in by the children of the world and is at his strongest and able to take on the anthropomorphic - or human-like - shape that is seen in the film, Rise of the Guardians. His most notable features are his light green eyes and the greyish-blue fur that covers his entire body save for his underbelly and lower face. His fur also contains darker, grey flower-like markings that go from his forehead down to his white rabbit tail. He has three fingered pawed hands, black eyebrows, large rabbit feet and long rabbit ears that twitch when he is nervous and droop when he is sad. He has limited clothing on, only wearing leather bracers with decorative stones that have the same color as Easter Jelly-beans and floral and a central sun carvings, a leather single-strap holster that carries his boomerangs, paint and brushes on his back, and has (in the poster - see above) four Easter egg grenade holsters on the front along with floral carvings, and leather wraps around his feet. When he loses his believers, Bunny recedes into the shape of a regular bunny-rabbit (but still retains the same gruff voice).
Personality[]
Bunny is Self-confident, competitive, grumpy, distrustful, daring, impulsive, and sensitive, all leading to his center which focuses around hope.
Bunny's Center
He is often noticed to be firstly for the amount of self-confidence he gives off around others. He is very vocal and confident in his opinions, as well as his ability to fight and complete his job. This goes as far as to move on to a competitive streak, going as far as he can to win against others. This can be seen when he is helping Toothiana collect teeth, as he easily jumps into competing with the other guardians and playfully sabotaging them in order to win. Additionally, he competes with North on the 'value' of their holidays, often arguing that Easter is just on the same level as Christmas.
Underneath his confidence, it is obvious that Bunny has some form of distrustfulness with others, exhibiting it through a grumpy nature. This is clear when he first finds out that Jack is going to be the next Guardian, as he argues with the others and is constantly discrediting Jack's place in the group. This may be because of Bunnymund's suspicious nature, or may be because he is extremely competitive and holds grudges to easily. Jack did blanket the Earth in the blizzard of 1968, ruining Bunny's Easter and leaving a mark that he has never forgotten. Either way, he is a hard Guardian to gain trust from based on his outer personality traits.
Underneath his distrustful nature, Bunny is a daring and impulsive Guardian. He is one that anyone can depend on in a pinch, as he will be the first to dive into battle no matter the odds. Even when he is in his 'true' form, the form of a small rabbit that he takes on when he no longer has childrens' belief, he will jump head first into battle and fight to his best ability. He will not hesitate to do what he thinks is right, no matter what risk he puts himself in.
Underneath all of his daring and stubborn nature, Bunny is actually quite the caring guardian. He cares for the children of the world, and always keeps their best interest in mind. More often than not, it is not his own personal opinions that he fights for, but his belief in the greater good for the children of the world. Although he does argue that Jack's actions in 1986 are a small factor for him not being a fit as a Guardian, he continues to cite that Jack is not concerned for the children (although this is disproved multiple times throughout the film). Bunny may hide behind a lot of bravery and stubbornness, but no one can deny his passion and sensitivity for the children around him.
Finally, his center is focused around hope, and that is the idea that he is a creature that understands the importance of having hope not one in oneself but in others and the world around him. As long as he is able to protect the hope of children through his holiday, he is able to bring forth trust and belief that others have as they keep hope for the magical things around them.
Powers and Abilities[]
Bunny, better known by the world as The Easter Bunny, is the fabled and legendary hider and painter of candy eggs on Easter Sunday, and is the Guardian of Hope, and thus has many powers and skills in these areas. Besides having the physical prowess and abilities that is often seen in a six foot tall humanoid warrior rabbit at its peak, such as possessing increased strength, agility, speed, hyper-sensitive keen hearing, smell, and vision, and enhanced muscle strength in his legs for powerful kicks and jumping great distances, he also has magical powers. As stated before, Bunny is a Pooka, or a shapeshifting race, which means that he has limited shapeshifting powers, other than turning into a rabbit warrior and a regular rabbit depending on if he is believed or not.
Bunny can open up rabbit holes to underground tunnels by tapping his foot on the ground twice (three times for bringing others to him, such as his giant stone idols in the shape of his eggs, of which he uses as support to assist in battles of greater numbers). This allows him to travel anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds, and whenever his tunnels close up spring time plants grow at where the openings where at.
As he is the Guardian of Hope, he has the ability to sense and manipulate hope, including the virtue, of people, animals and other creatures, whether by increasing, causing, or otherwise channeling hope in others.
As his holiday is Easter and in Spring, Bunny has the ability to manipulate plants around him to spread spring and in order to quickly decorate enough eggs to be sent out to the children of the world. He also can control flora growth to use in combat. His eggs, magical in nature, also have been created with the ability to move and go to where they are needed, so he can focus on completing his task in time for his holiday.
He has excellent hand-to-hand combat (mentioning that he's a "master of tai chi"), but focuses more on his weapons when fighting. He can use his boomerangs to easily take down several Nightmares single-handedly, up close or from a distance, making him a very versatile combatant. He is also a skilled painter from centuries of painting his Easter eggs.
In E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!, Bunny gains mysterious powers any time he eats a chocolate egg of his own recipe, such as becoming a hulking monster or growing extra arms (from six to twelve).
Weapons[]
Bunny possess a series of magical weapons that he uses while he is fighting. Although he has enhanced hand-to-hand combat techniques, such as tai chi, he prefers to use his enchanted boomerangs in a fight, the weapons able to travel long distances and always return to his possession, even if he's not looking; he merely holds up his hand and they return to his grip. One is more traditional of a boomerang with a black strap on one end, while the other is a little straighter and carved with a vaguely saw-like edge. Both of them have floral carvings on them and are made of enchanted wood (possibly from a very ancient and powerful Eucalyptus-gum tree-when Australia was first formed). The boomerangs are enchanted in ways that make them more effective weapons, as they are more durable than typical wood by the magic in them so they don't break.
Additionally, he often keeps a few painted explosive Easter eggs on paw which can explode in whatever color they were painted, serving as distractions and weapons.
In E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!, Bunny does not use his boomerangs, but rather carries a staff, that he places the Egg Relic onto, which forms the brightest light of all. He also used multiple swords when he gained multiple arms.
Role in the Crossover[]
Mosaic-style Concept Art
Bunny is a very popular character that is placed in the Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons universe. More often than not, he is pitted as a rival to Jack Frost, sometimes as a fellow guardian and sometimes as an authority figure. He does not take on a fatherly role, but still is a noted character when featured with the Big Four.
Relationships[]
The Big Four[]
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III[]
Hiccup and Bunny don't have much in common, though they do appreciate each other's sarcasm, dry wit and artistic merit. Even though Bunny would first start off being rough on Hiccup, like how he did with Jack, before he get to know him. Hiccup would also get irritated with Bunny’s impulsiveness and him telling Hiccup to control his dragon, Toothless. Because the two share the mature and responsible, Bunny would prefer to be friends with the dragon rider than a trouble maker winter spirit. Bunny would also act like a big brother and sympathetic towards Hiccup, as Bunny has been shown to have a soft side than just a tough ragged one, while Hiccup being raised by vikings who are stubborn or prideful would have Hiccup to calm Bunny down whenever he gets up with the things that bother him.
Jack Frost[]
Bunny has a complicated relationship with Jack Frost. On the one hand, he seems to oppose fundamentally what Jack stands for. Bunny stands for Hope and new life in spring while Jack stands for fun in the cold lifeless winter. On the other hand they respect each other for some of the same reasons, and it is Jack that helps Bunny lighten up and remember why he is a Guardian in the first place.
Jack and Bunny have a long rivalry with each other that presumably began in '68 when Jack caused a blizzard on Easter Sunday, resulting in Bunny holding a grudge against him. Bunny was the only one who objected to bringing Jack into the fold of the Guardians and Jack never wasted a chance to irritate or tease Bunny, who in turn rubbed salt into Jack's emotional wound of children not believing in him. They were competitive towards each other, seen during the Guardians collecting the teeth (Jack blasting Bunny with frost, Bunny making Jack fall into one of his holes). However, Jack helped all of the Guardians who, despite protecting children, never spent time with them, to become closer to them, particularly for Bunny who grew a soft spot for little Sophie, Jamie's little sister. Bunny was touched to learn that Jack helped Jamie continue to believe in him, and they finally became true friends as Bunny watched in pride and gratitude when the Guardians officially welcomed Jack into their fold after Pitch's defeat.
Merida DunBroch[]
Bunny and Merida get along rather well. They respect each other as warriors and Merida shows a surprising love for Bunny's warren and eggs, protecting them from danger as they prepare themselves. Even though Merida is somewhat aggressive and hotheaded, Bunny is calm and sensitive which would have their relationship clash.
Rapunzel Corona[]
Though her sweet nature can irritate him, Rapunzel and Bunny have a close relationship as Rapunzel most closely identifies with hope and spring as well as a passion and knack for painting Easter eggs. In the Seasons AU, the two could identify with one another through their shared season of Spring. Because Rapunzel likes to see the goodness in people, Rapunzel can see the goodness in Bunnymund, despite his sometimes rudeness, While Rapunzel would remind Bunny of Toothiana for her sweet and bubbly personality.
The Other Guardians[]
Nicholas St. North[]
Due to Bunny and North respecting each other as at times, with Bunny's albeit reluctant to following North's orders he gives out as the leadership, but there times where they constant their odds due to North's ribbing that his holiday, Christmas, is better than his holiday, Easter. Even when both holidays involving their own kind of gifts, that the two leave children, and bring joy and happiness on those days. Despite their differences and points of view, they always remain to be steadfast friends and allies.
Toothiana[]
While it doesn't show it, Bunny and Tooth seem to have a good friendship as Tooth is seen reaching out to Bunny and holding his hand, before she took ahold of North's, at Sandy's funeral. Which is why fans tend to ship them.
Sanderson Mansnoozie[]
Both guardians of Hope and Dreams disbelieving in North's clams of Pitch's return, can show that both Bunny and Sandy have a good friendship. When they're short, mute, yellow friend was apparently killed by Pitch, Bunny held hands with both Tooth and North at his memorial service they held at the pole. When the power of the children's restored belief brought Sandy back, Bunny happily welcomes the Guardian of Dreams back.
Comparison to the Books[]
Physical Appearance and Personality[]
Bunnymund (as seen in books)
In the children book series, that inspired the film, Bunny as brown, instead of gray, and wears a green coat, with a touch of red, purple and gold, along with a pair of glasses. Bunnymund also carries around a golden sear-like staff with him.
Role in the Books[]
The books state that Bunnymund isn't original from earth, like a few of the other Guardians are, and is last of his kind. As the Pookas were wiped out by Pitch.
Concept Art[]
(Concept Art sketched and submitted for original film is credited to Gabe Hordos, Nico Marlet, Chris Appelhans and Shane Prigmore)
