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It's not that confusing for me,caribou...life,bear....inner knowing....wolverine...fears,fox.....the cunning trickster.

That is an interesting topic Togo, had'nt seen that one.

At some points the spirits got annoying, especially after B1 was almost an exact opposite way of getting the message across. (the white wolf symbolising Baltos wolf side in B1 and all the spirit guides in WQ).

I was impressed at the amount of research the creators of WQ and infact B1 aswell did into Native American legends about this sort of thing, my favourite being the legend of the white wolf.



More about the White Wolf legend> viewtopic.php?t=6086

All of the spirits describe the charactristics of the wolf. Wolves have a six sense (inner knowing), intelligence (cunning trickster), powerful jaws and attacks (fear) and feed on caribou and deer (life). The magical status in Balto II is focused on Native American stuff which has nothing to do with Alaska (despite it being a American state) because it has a different religon all together (Inuit and Yapok). I think it was made up at random just to add up to the ending with Aniu and Balto.

Actually, those different animal totems have specific meanings in Inuit legend and mysticism, and are not necessarily meant to be just characteristics of the wolf (perhaps within the narrowly-defined setting of Balto 2, but not in real life). You'll also find that, while there are variations in Native American mythos, most of the west coast Native American legends and creation myths spring from a common source, and have noteworthy similarities.

Also, it's important to note that, in the 1920s, Alaska was not a U.S. state. It was a U.S. territory, which had been purchased from Russia in the latter 1800s. Alaska did not earn statehood with the United States until 1959.

Good points there but, like other Balto fans, I fail to see why they should of put the magic stuff in. It didn't help the plot and the songs were mainly focused on the same thing!

I understand what you are saying. It was very odd to put Inuit mysticism into a Balto cartoon. It was an odd plot device.

But I thought the music, at least, was pretty kickin'!

I was hoping that someone would tell me what the raven represented.

Hmmm...the raven. That would take a bit of research. I don't know the foundations of it in Native American mythos...as I am not Native American, nor well-versed on the traditions. Though I can research it and get back to you here. Unless someone else posts the answer sooner.

Oh sheesh,that's right the raven was Aniu.

Well...I personally thought they were more pointless than confusion. Although some kids may find it confusing to see a raven turn into a wolf. Afterall, the movie REALLY could have done without it. I'd point out the pointless spots of the animal spirits, but I've already pointed that out in the forum post "Why Does Everyone Hate WQ?"

IMO, the spiritual addition in WQ was more confusing than pointless, because the writers really didn't explain exactly what each spirit really stood for. (I'm still working on this, but I wrote an article on the site a couple of months ago about the True Meanings of the Animals used in WQ, based on the spirits - Read it HERE!)

I think that would answer all of those questions you guys had about the Raven's true meaning!

And I do agree that the Raven turning into Aniu was rather confusing . . . especially if you watch it once. Watch it again, and it might start to make sense . . . Well, that's what I did anyway. . . .

But I do believe that secretly the spiritual interactions with Aleu and Balto helped lead to not only them discovering Aleu's destiny, but also allowing Balto to realize what he had left behind as a child.

- Juuchan17