| “ | Stupid dog! You make me look bad! | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Courage in the intro of Courage the Cowardly Dog. |
| “ | OW! What did I do? | „ |
| ~ Eustace, after Muriel whacks him with her rolling pin for mistreating Courage. |
Eustace Bagge is the tritagonist, but one of the three main antagonists in Courage the Cowardly Dog, along with Katz and Le Quack. He is Muriel's cranky husband and one of Courage's two owners.
However, Eustace also has several antagonistic roles throughout the series, one of the most notably in the episode, "Ball of Revenge", where he gathers and meets up with the villains that Courage had previously encountered and either outwitted or defeated to get rid of him by challenging him to a game of dodgeball. That episode arguably cemented Eustace as the true primary antagonist of the show and a direct threat to Courage.
Originally, he was voiced by the late Lionel G. Wilson, who left the role midway during the third season due to illness, eventually succumbing and dying to Pneumonia on April 30, 2003, five months after the show had ended with series finale episodes, "Remembrance of Courage Past" and "Perfect", which both aired on November 22, 2002.
He was replaced by Arthur Anderson, though some of the vocals, grunts, screaming, and catchphrases from Lionel was used while Arthur was recording.
Biography
Beginnings
Eustace was born on an unknown date in a trailer park. He was not well liked by his mother and he was shown to be a more friendly person than in his later years. He had a brother and father who are implied to be bigger and more muscular than Eustace. It is implied that his family all wear glasses for unknown reasons (possibly a poor vision trait) and that he was bald since he was a child.
Eustace married Muriel sometime in 1953.
In Courage the Cowardly Dog
Muriel found Courage as a puppy outside the veterinarian office where his parents were launched into space by the vet for his secret experiment on sending dogs to space.
Later on, Eustace began to hate Courage as he received more attention from Muriel than Eustace himself. At certain times, Eustace was subject to many weird and crazy injuries, such as being mummified or exploding and surviving (often saying "OW!" as the explosion happens or afterwards) leaving him as black string wearing glasses. At times he helped Courage save Muriel from various things (despite that he at times gets hurt or does not return and besides, who else was going to fix his meals?).
Personality
Eustace is a malicious, detrimental, argumentative, ill-tempered, diabolical, sinister, and nasty old farmer who is married to the kindhearted Muriel despite being her polar opposite.
Throughout the series, he is very combative and antagonistic to Courage the Cowardly Dog and is basically a bully who constantly calls Courage a stupid dog, mistreats him, and loves to scare him. Often, his cruelty earns him a bop on the head by Muriel, often followed by him asking, "What did I do?". Eustace is also regularly maimed or tortured by the many ghosts and ghouls that haunt Courage.
Eustace's behavior towards Courage seems to stem from jealousy over the attention Courage receives from Muriel and his own mother (who dislikes him intensely yet seems to be very fond of Courage). One of Eustace's favorite tricks is to wait until Courage is in relative peace before he utters his catchphrase of "Stupid dog!" and proceeding to pull out a hideous Voodoo-like mask and yelling, "Ooga booga booga!" to frighten Courage half to death.
Although almost always an antagonist, Eustace has occasionally worked with Courage to try and overcome some particularly nasty villains, but these alliances are temporary. More often than not, Eustace is a very stubborn, and even devious individual.
As well as his bullying, Eustace has long been established as a very greedy individual who has brought disaster upon himself and others in his stubborn pursuit of riches (that he often doesn't deserve). One of the more famous examples of this was Eustace's refusal to give up King Ramses' slab after Eustace finds out it's potentially worth a fortune; despite that Ramses continually demands they return the slab between unleashing horrible plagues in warning.
Appearance
Eustace is a tall man with enormous feet (though these pale in comparison to his father's) who walks in a crouch. He's bald and has squinty little eyes. His arms are spindly, but his hands are large. He has an enormous underbite and false teeth. He wears green overall-like trousers and a short-sleeved yellow shirt along with jam-jar glasses, a brown hat and brown shoes. His usual facial expression is extremely grouchy.
Gallery
Trivia
- It has been hinted that Eustace is very cruel and mean and cannot comprehend good. In the episode "Curtain of Cruelty", when Eustace was hit by the object of the same name, he remained mean and nasty and was even named mayor for his behavior. However, once the object was turned into the Curtain of Kindness, Eustace was hit by it but still remained his mean self.
- In a commercial for Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary, Eustace talks to Muscle Man and tells him about his wife and dog. Shockingly, he uses Courage's name.
- Eustace Bagge could be considered a tragic villain for reasons:
- 1) It is seen in a flashback that he was nice as a kid; sad, but nice.
- 2) Eustace might've looked up to his parents during childhood, but they never paid attention to him.
- 3) Eustace was nicknamed "Useless" by his brother Horst.
- 4) After years of being rejected, particularly by his mother, Eustace may have been traumatized emotionally, and that might've led to his cold personality to get attention.