- "This park just isn't big enough for the both of us, is it, Dad? So I guess I'll just say goodbye, forever."
- — Bold to his father before he leaves White Deer Park
Bold is a red fox who appears in the books and the TV series. He is the son of Fox and Vixen and was born during their first spring in White Deer Park. From a very young age Bold showed an amazing amount of courage which the other animals said he got from his father. However Bold would often have more bravery than common sense, which would get him into trouble many times throughout his life.
In the books he leaves the park because he wants to explore the outside world, but in the tv series he leaves because he needs space away from his family. He suffers many hardships in the outside world and eventually dies after returning to the park with his mate; he is later mentioned by Whisper.
Books[]
Fox's Feud[]
Bold is born during the spring along with Charmer, Dreamer and Friendly. It becomes apparent very quickly that Bold is the stoutest and most assured of the four cubs. This worries Scarface - who has been spying on the cubs - that Bold will one day become the dominant fox in White Deer Park, so he tries to attack the young cub when Vixen takes them all out hunting. Bold manages to fight him off with the help of Vixen and Scarface is forced to retreat when Fox comes, but he kills Dreamer who has strayed from the group.
When he is old enough, Bold is allowed some independence and decides to travel further afield into Scarface's territory. He meets Ranger and agrees that their family's quarrel meant nothing to them. However, Scarface turns up and although Bold makes his escape, he is soon surrounded by other foxes and taken to an unoccupied earth where he is guarded so he cannot escape. Bold is able to fool the guards and run away, only to discover that his family has gone into Scarface's territory to look for him. They all eventually return and the family is reunited once more.
When the animals need a messenger to convince Adder to kill Scarface, Fox employs Bold to do the job. Friendly joins him and they find Adder, but they do not make it clear to him that he needs to kill Scarface and Adder kills another fox instead. Fox scolds him for pretending to be successful despite giving Adder the wrong message, but he allows Bold to make up for the mistake by trusting him with sentry duty.
When Bold finds out about the relationship between Charmer and Ranger he gets angry and calls his sister a traitor. When the other animals realize that Ranger is not on Scarface's side, Bold still refuses to accept him because he regards all of Scarface's relations as enemies of the Farthing Wood animals (Maybe because he had trusted Ranger earlier and had paid the price?). He also believes that Fox should have killed Scarface while he had the chance and longs for the day when he can defeat Scarface and become the new hero.
After Scarface's death, Bold shows no interest in mating with any of the other foxes in the park and decides that he wants to explore beyond White Deer Park, so he tells Friendly his intentions and leaves the boundaries of the reserve to explore the outside world.
The Fox Cub Bold[]
Bold has left White Deer Park and explores his new surroundings in what he calls "the real world". On the down land he encounters a carrion crow, who warns him about his daylight activity as there could be humans about. Bold ignores this warning as he sees nothing to fear from humans, and in the following days he encounters several humans who do no harm to him at all, which increases his confidence.
A few weeks later Bold discovers a game wood on some farmland and catches several game birds including a partridge and some pheasants. He sleeps in a badger set, but its owner soon arrives and wakes him up. Bold is friendly towards this female badger and she warns him about the humans in the area. Bold ignores this warning too, but a few days later he discovers the badger in a snare and, although he manages to save her, the wire that he bites through to release her snaps back and injures his eye. The badger is grateful and offers to help Bold whenever he may need her.
One day Bold hears the sound of gunfire and discovers he has been caught in a pheasant shoot. He tries to run away, but one of the hunters sees him and shoots him through the leg. Bold limps across the field with his injured leg dragging along the ground and eventually reaches a ditch where he is out of sight. Bold sees a dormouse nearby and tries to catch it, but his jaws close on thin air and the mouse taunts him.
Bold is unable to move far from the ditch and his diet consists mainly of slugs and insects he can find nearby. He is found by the crow he met previously and Bold asks the bird for help, but the crow refuses until Bold tells him that he is the son of the famous Farthing Wood Fox. After this the crow agrees to help him and heads off to find the badger that Bold had met in the game wood. She eventually arrives with three of her kin and they feed Bold, before one of her offspring suggests that he return to their set until he recovers.
A few days later Bold prepares to travel back to the game wood with the female badger, whom he has decided to call Shadow because of her constant watch over him. They travel very slowly and Shadow goes hunting, at which point Bold decides to head off on his own. He finds an abandoned earth containing the remains of another fox's catches, which he gratefully devours. The next day he tries to catch a vole, but has no success, so he decides he will live by raiding the food supplies of humans. He meets Shadow again and tells her of his plan, and they say their goodbyes to each other.
The next day Bold travels to a nearby farm and comes across a pair of bantams which have been allowed to make their nest in the open. They notice the young fox and escape, but Bold is able to eat the eggs that they have abandoned in their nest. He returns to the farm a few days later and catches one of the bantams, then takes it back to his earth and eats it with relish. He returns to the farm the next evening but the remaining bantam has been locked away and the farm dog sees him, forcing Bold to escape. Two humans and the dog come after him and dig up his earth, but when they see his weakened state they assume he cannot be the culprit and leave him alone.
Bold meets the crow again, who suggests that he scavenge for food in a nearby town. It takes Bold several days to arrive, but when he does the two friends agree to collect food for each other in their scavenging. The crow is the first to look for food and, after telling his friend that he has eaten some food left out for a dog or cat, Bold decides to call him Robber. One evening while he is scavenging, Bold sees a vixen in one of the gardens, but she completely ignores him and Bold feels humiliated.
Several days later Bold sees the vixen in the garden once more and tries to dig his way in. She notices him and Bold tells her he cannot jump because he is injured. She offers to help him hunt but Bold's pride causes him to reject her offer. The vixen sees Bold again a month later limping over a snowy field and tells him she wants to hunt with him because she feels sorry for him, and this time Bold does not refuse. Together they catch some rats and Bold calls her Whisper because of her stealth. Whisper offers to let Bold stay in her earth, but he goes back to his usual home to give one of the rats to Robber.
When Bold tells Robber about Whisper, the crow insists that his friend forget their agreement and go to live in the vixen's earth, which Bold does the following night. Bold is unable to jump the wall to get in, but they find a hole through which he can climb. In the earth Whisper mistakes Bold for a much older fox and asks where he was born. Bold tells her he was born in White Deer Park and that his father is the famous Farthing Wood Fox, and Whisper makes a plan which Bold knows nothing of. Bold goes to the canal to look at his reflection and starts to believe that "Vixen would never see her bold, brave cub again".
A few days later they come across a large dog who barks loudly outside their earth. One day Bold cannot get back into the earth because the wall has been mended and the dog pursues him, so Bold hastily tries to make a new hole but gets stuck. Robber comes to his rescue but the dog turns out to be friendly and he helps Bold to make the hole in the wall big enough for him to get through. The dog's name is Rollo and he visits the foxes frequently in the ensuing weeks.
As mating season arrives the two foxes mate and Whisper is soon carrying Bold's cubs. Whisper tells Bold she wants the cubs to be born in White Deer Park and he reluctantly agrees to lead her there. The foxes are fed for their last few days in the town by Rollo, and they head off back towards the country. Heavy snow makes travelling difficult and their pace is very slow. Whisper wants to speed up so they try to travel through the snow, but this exhausts Bold and he collapses on open land. He insists that Whisper goes to find cover and Robber, who has been tracking their journey, discovers Bold on the ground. He promises to bring Bold some good food and heads back towards the town.
While Robber is away Bold watches two greyhounds chase after a hare, which one of them kills. The other greyhound comes after Bold because he starts moving but Robber arrives just in time and distracts the dog until Rollo gets there. The greyhound gets free of Robber and attacks Bold, but Rollo soon arrives and grabs it by the neck, shaking it and casting it away. Rollo brings the foxes his bone and the dead hare, before heading back home to his master.
As the foxes approach White Deer Park, Bold leaves Whisper while she is sleeping and hides himself away, forcing her to finish the journey alone. Robber notices Bold go into hiding and offers to feed him, but the injured fox wants to wait for his death. Later Robber brings Fox, Vixen, Friendly and Charmer to Bold and Fox tells his son how proud he is, before the young fox dies in peace.
TV Series[]
Series 2[]
Unlike in the books, Bold leaves the park before the death of Scarface after getting in an argument with his father about trying to fight Scarface, and in search of a mate.
Once outside the park, he meets a crow and a female badger who both warn him of the dangers outside the park, but he ignores them.
One day, he is out in a field during a pheasant shoot, which he tries to run away from, but ends up getting shot in the right leg.
When he crawls into the bushes, Crow finds him, and says that he should have been more careful, but, along with Shadow, he helps get Bold able to walk again by getting him food and nourishment.
A few days later, Bold and Crow come to a town to scavenge for food, and later that night Bold sees a vixen foraging in a garden, but she pays no mind to him, and leaves, embarrassing him.
The next morning, Bold isn't eating, and he tells Crow why, then he tells Bold that he should go back to the vixen.
A day later, he does, and she is there again, he tries to dig under the fence, which doesn't work, and she comes over there, and asks why he doesn't just jump over it.
He tells her that he got shot in the back leg, and she jumps over the wall, then the two go to hunt together.
She reveals her name, Whisper, and when the two are going back to her earth, they are almost caught by humans.
Bold tells Whisper who he is and where he came from. Bold quickly falls in love with Whisper.
A few days later, Bold returns to the earth only to find a large dog barking at Whisper, but when he tries to get in there, the hole is sealed up, and somehow the dog is outside the cemetery.
The dog nearly injuries Bold, but Whisper comes to his rescue at the last second, scaring the dog.
He reveals that his name is Rollo after almost killing Crow, and he comes to their earth almost everyday to roll a ball in it, expecting them to roll it back out when they are trying to sleep.
Mating season comes, and the two foxes mate, when Whisper announces she is carrying Bold's cubs, she wants to leave for White Deer Park, so the cubs can be born safely.
On their journey, Crow and Rollo decide to follow them, and Bold collapses from weakness, and is nearly killed by two Greyhounds, which Rollo and Crow fend off before Whisper can return.
They continue their journey without Rollo, and go through the hardest winter in several years.
Once they finally reach White Deer Park, Bold collapses from weakness outside the park, and he crawls off to die when Whisper goes to find food for him.
She finds that Bold is nowhere to be found, and she goes to find his parents, they come to the park border, where Crow leads them to Bold, and the two say their goodbyes before Bold dies.
Charmer and Ranger arrive, but Fox tells them that they are too late while Vixen cries on her son's body, then Fox allows Charmer and Ranger to be mates.
Physical Appearance []
Like his brother and sisters, Bold was a light shade of orange. Around his eyes were rectangular-like cream patches, and his cheek patches came up at a point towards his nose, underneath of his eyes. His cheek patches connected with the cream-colored fur on his underbelly. Like his siblings and father, his tail ended in a cream tip. During season two he also gets a scar across the left side of his face near his eye, and a limp in his right hind leg after being shot.
In the Buzz Books series, Bold had a bald patch on his head.
Appearances[]
Books
Gallery[]
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