Jubjub bird

Jubjub Bird
Alice character
Jubjub bird (left) with the Bandersnatch (right)
First appearance	Through the Looking Glass
Created by	Lewis Carroll
Information
Species	Bird

The Jubjub bird is a dangerous creature mentioned in Lewis Carroll's nonsense poems "Jabberwocky" and "The Hunting of the Snark".

In "Jabberwocky", the only detail given about the bird is that the protagonist should "beware" it. In The Hunting of the Snark, however, the creature is described in much greater depth. It is found in a narrow, dark, depressing and isolated valley. Its voice when heard is described "a scream, shrill and high" like a pencil squeaking on a slate, and significantly scares those who hear it, including the Beaver, who "turn[s] pale to the tip of its tail" Its character traits include that it is "desperate" and "lives in perpetual passion", it "knows any friend it has met once before" and will not "look at a bribe".

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

The Jubjub bird appears in Tim Burton's 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland as a giant black bird resembling a vulture and a speckled chicken with a red head, a long yellow beak and a blue tongue. It is first seen when it captures both Tweedledum and Tweedledee while trying to escape with Alice. It is not seen again until the Red Queen releases the Jubjub Bird onto a rebellious crowd. During the final battle, after the Mad Hatter's interference the Jubjub bird joins to fight for the Red Queen, only to later have its head crushed by a giant boulder from a catapult.

Other appearances

The Bluetones recorded a song titled "The Jub-Jub Bird", which was released in 1998 on their second album Return to the Last Chance Saloon.^[1]

Nightwish has made a song titled Alpenglow which was released in 2015 on album Endless Forms Most Beautiful. It includes line "together we slay another fright, every Jubjub bird, spooks of the past".

References