List of The Emperor's New Groove characters

The main characters in The Emperor's New Groove. From left to right: Yzma, Kronk, Kuzco (in llama form), and Pacha.

The following are fictional characters from Disney's 2000 film The Emperor's New Groove, its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove, and the spin-off television series The Emperor's New School.

Kuzco

Emperor Kuzco is the main protagonist of the first film and the TV series. He is the 18-year-old^[1] emperor of the Incas. He is initially portrayed as a selfish, vain and spoiled brat, but has a sense of flair and pizzazz. For example, when he is shown beautiful girls in hopes one of them will be his wife, he rudely insults all of them and continues to sing about himself and be pampered by his servants. His name is a reference to the ancient Incan city of Cuzco. Throughout the series, he turns into various animals.

In The Emperor's New Groove, Kuzco is turned into a llama by the evil Yzma, following her termination as his adviser. He is presumed dead, and finds himself lost in the jungle. Kuzco becomes friends with Pacha, a llama herder, who helps Kuzco turn back into a human again, regaining his humility and his throne. Kuzco learns the meaning of friendship and generosity throughout the film.

In Kronk's New Groove, Kuzco plays a significantly smaller role. He'll occasionally show up onscreen acting as if he's the director and breaks the fourth wall by talking to the audience. He admits he has changed: "I'm nice now. Didn't you see the first movie?" However, he remains self-centered; near the end of the movie, he shows up in women's clothing, claiming he is Kronk's wife, announcing, "You like how I weaseled my way into this movie?"

In The Emperor's New School, to remain emperor, Kuzco must to go to Kuzco Academy, a school he instituted and financed; why is the question the audience wonders most often about this situation. He must pass all his classes, but Yzma and Kronk are out to make sure he fails. If he fails even one class, he will not be emperor, and Yzma will take over the empire; this invokes a secondary question as to why this condition was set as it poses a much worse future, as seen when Kuzco accidentally uses a wish to temporarily rewrite history to never have been emperor. In the series Kuzco develops a love interest named Malina.

In the episode "Father O Mine," Kuzco's real father appears in a flashback. He is a strong, muscular man, and was emperor before Kuzco. According to Kuzco and Yzma, he was lost at sea on a trip when Kuzco was just a baby; thereby granting the throne to Kuzco. It is revealed that Kuzco and his father share two things: a llama birthmark and the same necklace. In another episode, it is revealed that Kuzco has a fear of frogs after a traumatic childhood experience with them as a baby. In another, it is discovered that Kuzco's favorite food is Mudka's Meat Mug which is the only thing he orders. In Graduation Groove, Kuzco completed school and got to be emperor again; having grown attached to Pacha's family, he lets them move into the palace with him. Kuzco and Malina also become an official couple and are seen going on a date together.

Pacha

Pacha is a portly farmer from the countryside of the Incas. He was a character added during the production process that completely revamped the story. The original role to assist emperor-turned-llama Kuzco was to be female, and a potential love interest for the selfish teen. The major overhaul of story made the film a buddy movie, with Pacha and Kuzco having to trust each other through the adventure. His name is possibly a reference to Incan emperor Pachacuti.

Pacha is a well-meaning peasant and family man, and a subject in the selfish Emperor Kuzco's kingdom. His humility, pleasantry, and value of both friendship and family helps Kuzco change into a humble and generous boy. Pacha is married to Chicha, who is pregnant with Yupi when first seen. During the time of the first movie they have two children: their daughter, Chaca, and their younger son Tipo. Yupi is born before the movie's final scene and appears in all spin-off material.

In The Emperor's New Groove, Pacha is summoned to the palace by Kuzco and is told that his house on the hill will be destroyed to make room for Kuzco's summer home. Distraught and horrified that the emperor could be so callous, he travels home to tell Chicha and his two children (Chaca and Tipo) that they have to leave their ancestral home. However, before he can tell them, he discovers that Kuzco has been transformed into a llama and dropped in the back of his cart. He is initially reluctant to help Kuzco, since the emperor seems to make it clear that he still intends to destroy Pacha's village. Over time, however, Pacha gradually convinces Kuzco to start thinking of people other than himself, and he eventually sees the error of his ways. The two set out to turn Kuzco back to a human by getting to Yzma's lab. Upon returning to being human, Kuzco lets Pacha keep his village and even spends his summer vacation with Pacha's family.

In Kronk's New Groove, the story revolves around Kronk, but Pacha is one of Kronk's friends. In one scene he disguises himself as "Pachita", Kronk's mother-in-law. He was once again voiced by Goodman.

In The Emperor's New School, he continues his fatherly role to Kuzco and lets the young emperor-to-be live with him and his family while Kuzco goes to school. He always gives Kuzco advice to help him out of any situation. For example, when Kuzco was transformed into a rabbit, he told Kuzco to "Make the best of what you've got," which in this case was speed. As a result of the original film, Kuzco and Pacha share a close-knit bond as both friends and surrogate father and son.

In the series Pacha’s voice acting was taken over by Fred Tatasciore, and then again by Goodman later in the series.

Yzma

Yzma /ˈiːzmə/ is Kuzco's primary childhood guardian, advisor and the main antagonist of the series. In the English version, she was voiced by Eartha Kitt, who received three Annie Awards and two Emmy Awards for the role.

Yzma's character in the series is seen to be malicious, but comically eccentric, often calling herself beautiful even though all other characters in the series consider her appearance "scary beyond all reason". She is intelligent and comes up with grandiose plans and schemes with a set objective in mind, but fails to pay attention to the minor details of it. More often than not, it causes the scheme to backfire on her. Yzma is seen to have some knowledge in alchemy, as she accidentally uses extract of llama on Kuzco, thinking that it was poison. In the first film, Kronk states that she should re-label her potions, because everything she makes in her "secret lab" has exactly the same pinkish color. It is suggested that Yzma can use magic, but this is never shown. She is portrayed as more of an alchemist, though she claims to be a sorceress.

Originally serving as the Emperor Kuzco's advisor, she is later fired after meddling in his affairs and attempting to act as Empress in his absence. Enraged at her banishment, Yzma conspires with her assistant Kronk to dispose of Kuzco. The two head to the "secret lab"—which apparently everybody already knows about—to concoct a plan to kill Kuzco. The film producers have stated that she is a complicated thinker; an example given with her original plan to kill Emperor Kuzco. The plan involved her turning him into a flea, putting him in a box, putting that box into another box and then mailing that box to herself only to smash it with a hammer. But after thinking it over (and partially because she knocked over some poison onto a plant), she decides to save on postage and simply poison him. The concept of her formulating a nonsensical plan before settling on an easier-to-pull-off idea (always a potion) would later be used as a running gag on the series.^[2]

Yzma also appears in the direct-to-DVD sequel Kronk's New Groove, in which she has returned to human form but still has the tail of a cat. During the first half of the film, she sells sewer sludge to the old people, telling them that it is a youth potion, but once Kronk finds out her potion is a fake, the old people chase her down, where she uses a potion to transform herself into a rabbit, to prevent them from attacking her. She is then snatched and carried away by a vulture. At the end of the movie, in a nest outside the restaurant, Yzma (still in rabbit form) witnesses the falcon's chicks hatch but they immediately reveal themselves to be extremely vicious and prepare to attack Yzma, who screams for dear life. Her appearance in the television series indicates that she was not killed.

In The Emperor's New School, Yzma constantly plots to get Kuzco to fail his classes at Kuzco Academy, allowing her to become empress; to this end, she poses as Amzy (her first name spelled backwards), the principal of Kuzco Academy. Kronk is constantly fooled by her disguise, but Kuzco knows its her. Her plans mainly consist of transforming Kuzco into different animals to thwart his attempts to pass a class, though they often work to his advantage. In the episode "Monster Masquerade", Yzma takes a cobra form similar to Jafar's from the Classic Disney film Aladdin.

Yzma possesses many of Kuzco's more negative traits including impatience, selfishness and vanity. Some of Yzma's known relatives appear at times in the series. They include her twin nephews, Zim and Zam, (voiced by Dylan and Cole Sprouse) who appear in Chipmunky Business, and her mother Azma, (voiced by Ellen Albertini Dow) who appears in The Bride of Kuzco and looks just as ancient looking as Yzma (possibly even more so) and converses by sighs and coughs. In one episode, Yzma remarks that her plots to destroy Kuzco are primarily due to her mother constantly nagging her. A running gag throughout the show is that Yzma is often referred to as, and mistaken for, a dinosaur (a reference to the first movie, in which Kuzco states that she is "living proof that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth"). In one episode, he also calls her a wrinklesaurous and old dinosaur.

In the finale of the series, Yzma is demoted to Kronk's assistant, while Kronk is made Kuzco's new adviser.

Kronk

Kronk Pepikrankenitz^[3] is the muscle-bound henchman of Yzma, the royal adviser to Emperor Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove. He also starred as main protagonist in his own film, Kronk's New Groove, and is a recurring character in the TV series, The Emperor's New School. In all of his appearances, Kronk is voiced by Patrick Warburton. Although he is viewed as dim-witted by Kuzco and Yzma, he is quite intelligent.

Despite working for the villain Yzma, he is surprisingly kind-hearted and well-intentioned. Whenever he faces a moral dilemma, smaller versions of Kronk, his shoulder angel and devil, appear, but they usually bicker and mock one another instead of helping Kronk with the problem at hand.

He is revealed to be a great cook who can make such things as spinach puffs and fondue, and also has a secret recipe for foie gras. He also knows a variety of recipes and kitchen slang, as revealed in first film when he takes over for the chef. He is capable of incredible superhuman athletics, such as running from a school to his house and back in mere seconds, and climbing a mountain (while having a seat tied to his body with Yzma riding atop). Through the animated series, it is learned that Kronk comes from a family of athletic health and fitness advocates. It was revealed in the episode of The Emperor's New School "Oops, All Doodles" that Kronk has a talent for drawing. In addition, Kronk is shown to be Jewish; in the film Kronk's New Groove, he fantasizes about marrying Miss Birdwell in a Jewish ceremony, complete with him stepping on a glass.

In The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk is Yzma's henchman, and helps her turn Kuzco into a llama. He almost throws Kuzco over a waterfall, but has a change of heart and drops him on Pacha's cart instead of killing him. He then helps Yzma find him. He is shown as a sympathetic character through Yzma's abuse of him and his ability to "speak Squirrel."

In the sequel, he is head chef and owner of a restaurant called Mudka's. He is pleased with his new position, rather than his position with Yzma. However, Yzma eventually tricks him into helping her with a fake "youth potion" to con money out of elderly villagers. He develops a love interest, named Birdwell, and his father, Papi (voiced by John Mahoney) is introduced.

In the animated television series, Kronk plays the role of hero, sidekick, villain, or a combination of these roles in varying episodes. He is Yzma's henchman and also Kuzco's classmate. Though he frequently helps Yzma with her schemes, he just as often helps Kuzco get through them. As a running gag, he can never remember that Principal Amzy is really Yzma, and as a result, thinks he is in trouble when Yzma calls for him. In the last episode, he tells Yzma how obvious her disguise is, but when asked how long he has known, he replies "About three episodes back." Also a running gag, whenever Yzma tells Kronk to pull the lever to access the secret lab, he constantly pulls the wrong one and as a result, Yzma constantly gets hit by random objects. In a rather fitting irony of the show's outcome, Kuzco appoints Kronk his new advisor (since he sometimes gives good, deep thoughts), while Yzma is his assistant.

Other characters

• Chicha: Pacha's frustrated wife. Throughout most of the first film, she is heavily pregnant with her third child, Yupi, which is born before the final scene. She was voiced by Wendie Malick.
• Chaca and Tipo: Pacha and Chicha's children, who constantly try to one-up each other and compete for their father's attentions. Chaca is a little 5-year-old girl in the first movie, 6-years old in the second movie, and is 7¼ in the TV series in pigtails, a yellow shawl and a red skirt with her bellybutton showing up. Her name is not mentioned in her first film, though. Her younger brother is Tipo, who is 4 years old in the 1st movie, 5 in the second movie, and 6 in the TV series. In their first film, he has a nightmare about Kuzco and Pacha tied to the log in a vine. In Kronk's New Groove, they join Kronk's Junior Chipmunks at Camp Chippamunka. They were respectively voiced by Kellyann Kelso and Eli Russell Linnetz, and Jessie Flower and Shaun Baumel in later appearances.
• Matta: the waitress at Mudka's Meat Hut. In The Emperor's New School, she is Kuzco Academy's lunch lady. Matta likes to cook weird stuff such as octopus burgers, and speaks in cafeteria speech when she talks. She was voiced by Patti Deutsch.
• Rudy: is an old man who first appears accidentally interrupting Kuzco's "groove", for which he is thrown out a window. He warns Pacha about this, and Kuzco apologizes to him at the end of the film, which he accepts with good grace. In Kronk's New Groove, Rudy and his friends from the old folks' home are tricked by Yzma, who sells them sewer slime as a youth potion. They have to sell their home to pay for it, but Kronk gives them their home back. Rudy was voiced by John Fiedler and currently by Travis Oates.
• Bucky: a squirrel whom Kuzco first encounters; after he is rude to him, Bucky causes the panthers to wake up and chase after him. Bucky later tells Kronk and Yzma which way Kuzco went, and appears in the final scene as Kronk's helper in teaching squirrel talking. Bucky makes various appearances in The Emperor's New School. He was Kuzco's tutor in the episode "Squeakend at Bucky's". Bucky was voiced by Bob Bergen in all of his appearances.
• Miss Birdwell: Kronk's love interest in Kronk's New Groove. Like Kronk, Birdwell is a camp counselor. When Tipo pulls a prank to win the camp championships and is caught, Kronk protects the boy at the cost of alienating his love. However, at the end of the film, Tipo reunites them and Kronk wins Birdwell's love. In the credits, it is hinted that the two got married. She was voiced by Tracey Ullman.
• Papi: Kronk's father. Though he has few appearances in Kronk's New Groove, he is instrumental to the plot of the film as Kronk is always trying to get Papi's approval. He was voiced by John Mahoney. In the The Emperor's New School episode, "Clash of the Families," Papi makes a return appearance, this time voiced by Jeff Bennett.

Introduced in The Emperor's New School

Malina

Malina is the only major character from that series that has not previously appeared in either The Emperor's New Groove or Kronk's New Groove. She is Kuzco's friend and love interest. However, he has a not-so-secret crush on her (he often calls her "a hottie hot hottie" or " the hottiest hot hottie in hottie-ville").

Malina is a cheerleader and the school council president who also is very smart. She prints the Academy's news scroll (which later leads her to be a reporter of the Kuzconian Times). She is a straight-A student, which is apparently a requirement for the cheerleading squad (a twist to most stereotypical "airheaded" cheerleaders). She is driven to excel almost to the point of having a nervous breakdown if she does not do everything perfectly perfect (a prime example of a Type A personality), and has a very high moral mindset which the show uses as a foil against Kuzco's wild intentions.

Malina also has an incredibly strong sense of winning every contest she enters by any means, which first appeared in the episode "The Emperor's New Tuber" in which Malina was determined to fill all the spots on the Whack-A-Weasel arcade game on the high score board with her name (the last person on the list was Yzma). Also, both her devil and angel sides encouraged her to cheat in the potato growing contest despite her angel side was supposed to "tell her not to do it", in which she responded that she was not about to lose her perfect record.

In the second season, Malina shows that she is not as perfect as most people think. For example, she is sometimes bossy, and shows greed, mentioned by Kuzco in the episode "Gold Fool's". Malina is also very serious and has a serious face referred to as 'The Stare' by Kuzco and Kronk. In "Oops, All Doodles", it is revealed that Malina's doodles are drawn in a super deformed anime-style. Malina is also set with a challenge before her: get Kuzco to do the right thing. She tries to reason with him about cheating, going over-egoistic, hurting someone's feelings, superstitions that make no sense, the works. Malina spies on Kuzco because she wants to help him graduate and learn how to become a good emperor. Malina goes camping with her mom and her sister.

Malina is the smart side of her group of friends. She always has to show Kuzco the correct decision to take (though he rarely listens). Malina seems to know what Kuzco is thinking, as she has commented on what he was saying in his head multiple times. She is incredibly perceptive, as she is instantly and accurately able to figure out many of Kuzco's wrongdoings despite not witnessing them herself. As shown in the episode "The mystery of Michu Pachu", she has a pink rabbit stuffed animal, named Floopy, similar to Kuzco's 'Wompy.'(Malina: I always take her on trips. She makes me feel safe. Kuzco: Malina gone loco.) At the end of the episode, it shows a picture of Kuzco, Malina, Wompy, and Floopy. In the episode The Emperor's New Musical at the end Kuzco and Malina kiss. She makes the comment, "Wow", although she claims it was just acting.

At the end of the episode Working Girl after she got fired from Mudkas so Yatta can get re-hired with help from Kuzco she asks him on a date but he can't go because he ate too much food at Mudkas so he can talk to her and ended up having a sick moment.

She often also uses Kuzco's crush to get him to do the right thing. It has been proved that Malina likes Kuzco, for example in one episode, she seems to look forward to a date with Kuzco that she had accepted reluctantly; in the episode "The Emperor's New Musical," she admitted that she was beginning to kind of like him. In "Everybody Loves Kuzco," after Kuzco was infected with a cutie potion, the two went on an actual date; afterward, she came on to him and got ditched by Kuzco. In "Come Fly With Me," while Kuzco was spying on Malina, she does admit that she has feelings for him, but his ego annoys her at times and is why she helps him to change. In "Too many Malinas" Kuzco uses Yzma's machine to get rid of Malina's annoying traits. One of those traits was "Smochy Malina" whom Kuzco dates with. At the end she says that she loves Kuzco but he doesn't notice.

Later in "Auction Action," Kuzco uses Yatta to make Malina, successfully, jealous. She in turn uses Kronk. Later in the episode, during an argument between the two, she admits again that she does like Kuzco, much to her own annoyance as she then lowers her head stating "Oh no, I can't believe I just told him that." In "Kuzcokazooza" It is stated that she does like Kuzco but annoyed that he does not think about others. Also in this episode, she gets jealous when she thinks he has a girlfriend. In the final episode of the series, at the end she goes on a date with Kuzco straight after he is made emperor and officially becomes his girlfriend.

Minor characters

The following is a list of minor characters from The Emperor's New School.

References