Courage is the protagonist of the series. He lives in the middle of Nowhere with his owner Muriel Bagge and her husband Eustace. He is voiced by Marty Grabstein.
Personality
Despite his signature cowardly demeanor, Courage does live up to the meaning of his name. Because of a kidnapping incident with his parents, he was abandoned as a puppy, found by Muriel, and began fearing everything. This fear is easily swallowed, however, when Muriel's safety is put into jeopardy or trouble falls upon him in general. Not only because he wishes to protect Muriel, but because the events of his most painful memory drives him to do so in fear of losing another loved one.
Though he is willing to risk his own life to protect Muriel at all costs, his irrationality sometimes causes others to doubt his intuition. Courage has been presented as an almost entirely selfless character, working to benefit others with usually little to no regard for his own well being.
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's learned to deal with the jealous man's cruel jokes and short temper over time. Despite this, Courage has been shown to care about Eustace's
Courage screaming
safety as well (although not as much as Muriel's) and will go great lengths to protect him from danger (although he is not 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 doesn't particularly talk much. When distressed, he speaks in a gibberish "dog language" but when calm, Courage shows that he does in fact speak English (though few people pay attention to him when he actually does). He usually communicates his emotions through whines and howls as he presumably prefers.
Courage is somewhat childish in his spare time, as he's expressed interest in enjoys, playing with toys (his red yo-yo), and building sand castles. He occasionally spends his time in the attic where he chews on an old boot and talks to his Computer.
Skills & Abilities
Courage has been seen doing things that are comically impossible, such as screaming so loud that it can break the entire basement floor and form a deep chasm as seen in Ball of Revenge, shatter the sun as he did in The Magic Tree of Nowhere, or use various visual transformations in order to communicate, such as turning into a snake, a club and a dragon, as well as many other creatures and objects pertaining to the thing he tries to explain. However, this is only infrequent and is assumed to be used for comedic effect.
Although he lives the typical life of an average dog (helping around the house or farm and being his average self) he's shown he's pretty quick on his feet when trouble strikes and he's forced to solve the problem in some way.
Courage has shown he can speak English. He demonstrates this when he does things such as yelling Muriel's name in distress or saying his catchphrase "The things I do for love." Unfortunately, this skill falls apart when he's distressed and in turn when it is needed most as he speaks in his signature gibberish when he's trying to explain danger to his owners.
History
Courage as a puppy in Remembrance of Courage Past
A pink puppy was born to Henry and his kind wife in a large, gated property. He was raised through example, and was quick to learn a lesson. Though his parents had an aristocratic fascination in canine objects, his well being was always of the utmost concern. While successfully learning to catch a ball, he accidentally got his head stuck in between the bars of the fence and he was taken to the Pets of Tomorrow veterinarian office. Here, he 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, and then tore off, so the baby dog rushed back to be nurtured by his mother. When he returned, the three were gone, and screams pleading for assistance could be heard from the hallway. He abandoned his candy and rushed in to find the veterinarian carrying his parents away in a net. They begged the doctor to not separate them from their son. He rushed after them into a room of caged dogs, and then into another room where he discovered his parents being forced into a rocket ship. He tried to help them before its launch, but failed, as his fear drove him to flee into a garbage chute which led to a back alley. From there he watched as his family was sent away into space forever, while waving a tearful goodbye to them. Crying alone, he was found by Muriel. Muriel took pity on him and took him home with her. She named him Courage. He's been living under her care ever since that day.
Trivia
- Courage spoke English quite often in the first season, but from the second season onward, his dialogue became increasingly limited to gibberish, mumbling, and screams, only speaking occasionally or when he really had something to say.
- Courage has many sounds that he's known for, such as his strange laugh at the end of some episodes.
- Courage is the only character (aside from Katz and Le Quack) who ever speaks directly to the audience. The frequency with which he does so (nearly every episode) makes this one of his trademark characteristics.
- During Courage's first flashback in Remembrance of Courage Past, his mother reveals his father's name when she calls him as he was playing with Courage.
- Courage (along with Muriel) are the only characters to be seen in every episode.
- There are a few running gags that Courage has with some of the villains that he shares with Eustace.
- Like Eustace, some of the villains called Courage, "stupid dog."
- Like Eustace, some of the villains strangled or choked Courage.
Quotes & Catchphrases
- "I have a bad feeling about this."
- "I know I'm not gonna like this."
- "I just know something bad is going to happen."
- "...or my name is (random name)... and it's not."
- "I've got a bad feeling about this, or my name is 'Stinky Lou Lou'... and thank goodness it's not!"
- "The things I do for love."
- "What have you done with Muriel?"
- "Muriel! I'll save you!"
- "I just know something bad is going to happen or my name is Evana...and it's not!"
- "What do I do?! What do I do?!"
Gallery
The full gallery for Courage can be found here.