Azrael (original French name Azraël) is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books, the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show, and the 2021 Smurfs cartoon show. In the comic books, he first appeared in the story "The Flying Smurf" which was part of The Black Smurfs comic book album, although in story continuity, his first encounter with the Smurfs was in "The Smurfnapper" from the same book. In the 1980s cartoon show, he appeared up until Season 8.
Character
Azrael the cat is Gargamel’s sole companion and confidant and has been stuck with him ever since he was a kitten. He understands what is said to him, and is very, very smart — maybe even more so than his master. But like any cat, he doesn’t listen to his master, because he knows better.
Gargamel can be very talkative, but it’s all just white noise to him. When he’s particularly annoyed at Gargamel’s, he’s capable of ignoring his calls for help, or even freeing the Smurfs just for spite. Azrael’s greatest loyalty is to himself, and his goals are always selfish, so we can never really guess how he will act or where his interests will lie. It’s a perpetual surprise.
Azrael's color palette is different in the two main continuities he appears in. In the comic books, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and the 2021 TV series, Azrael is an orange cat, while in the 1981 cartoon show, his fur is brown. He also has white eyes with black pupils in the comic books, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and the 2021 TV series, while he has yellow eyes with black pupils in the 1981 cartoon show (with the exception of the Season 1 intro sequence).
Personality
He could be at first glance thought off as a mere Right-Hand Cat to Gargamel. But since the Smurfs are so small, Azrael is a very physical threat and ends up chasing them quite often, putting him right into this trope instead.
Azrael is much more likely to team up with the Smurfs than Gargamel is. In "Lost Cat", he betrays Gargamel to briefly live with the Smurfs, and in "House Call", he teams up with Doctor, Brainy, and Farmer to help Gargamel get better. He can also be slightly sympathetic, as he felt bad for Wild when he was rejected by Gargamel (when the two were disguised as Smurf Girls) in "Gargamel, Queen Of The Prom".
Azrael is very mischievous, particularly if he gets more power than Gargamel. In "Mind The Cat", Smurfette and Brainy use Papa Smurf's hypno-glasses to get Gargamel to stop chasing Smurfs, but he accidentally sees Azrael and he becomes his new master. Azrael takes this opportunity to mess around with the hypnotized Gargamel until both of them end up obeying a lizard.
He becomes a hyper competent sidekick in Smurfs: The Lost Village, probably to provide a better contrast to the brainless Monty. In this movie, Azrael is very clearly the brains of the villainous team even though Gargamel seldom gives him any credit for it.
Relationships with Others
Gargamel
Gargamel's cat, Azrael, is also one of his only companions. Usually, Gargamel will treat him poorly, like serving him cat slop in "Mind The Cat". Azrael will use whatever power he can rarely get against Gargamel, such as becoming a bear via Leaf's magic wand in "Leaf's Under The Weather" and chasing him away and controlling a hypnotized Gargamel in "Mind The Cat".
Despite their strained dynamic, Azrael shows various loyalties to Gargamel. Despite his treatment, Gargamel's the best owner Azrael has ever had, and should anyone (other than the Smurfs) ever mess with Azrael, Gargamel will temporarily forget about his Smurf obsession and go to war.
In "The Tear Of A Smurf", Gargamel shows that he cares for his cat. He is first seen being angry at Azrael because he didn't catch the Smurfs, but he misses him when he finds out the cat's gone.
The Smurfs
In General
Like his master, Azrael is shown to despise the Smurfs. Normally, he longs to eat one and goes with Gargamel to capture Smurfs.
However, despite his animosity, Azrael is much more likely to team up with the Smurfs than Gargamel is. In "Lost Cat", he betrays Gargamel to briefly live with the Smurfs (mainly under Wild's care), and in "House Call", he teams up with Doctor, Brainy, and Farmer to help Gargamel get better.
Wild Smurf
Azrael had a notable relationship with Wild. In the episode "Lost Cat", after Gargamel had kicked him out of his hovel, Azrael leaves him and goes into the forest. When he is injured, Wild finds him and takes him back to the village, where everyone fears him, though some of the Smurfs help him become good. However, his obsession with eating Smurfs causes Wild to force him to leave the village. Azrael goes back into the forest, where Gargamel finds Wild. Azrael ends up stopping him, which causes the evil wizard to berate him. Afterwards, Wild and Azrael wave happily to each other, suggesting a rare friendship with a Smurf. In "Gargamel, Prom Queen", he felt bad for Wild when he was rejected by Gargamel (when the two were disguised as Smurf Girls).
Prior to this friendship, Wild, to Azrael, was just another Smurf that can be eaten. In "The Smurfy Verdict", Wild comes to Baby Smurf's rescue and knocks Azrael down to the stream.
In The Movies
The Smurfs (2011)
In the 2011 Smurfs movie, Azrael is the secondary antagonist. Azrael has gotten his revenge on Gargamel for abusing him and twice throwing him into unknown places. He does this by saying, "Are you dead?" in cat language after Gargamel is hit by a bus. However, in his confrontation with Smurfette, he does have a small chunk of his right ear torn off when a metal crate falls on him, pinning his ear to the floor.
By the end of the movie, Gargamel is stuck in New York City with his cat Azrael.
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
Azrael shows up in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol to give chase to Grouchy during his visit by the three Smurfs of Christmas. However, it turns out that this was only the future that Grouchy was seeing to show that he has a chance of changing how he feels toward helping his fellow Smurfs on Christmas.
The Smurfs 2
In The Smurfs 2, Azrael appears to give his master no end of grief as he kidnaps Smurfette with the intention of having her reveal the formula used for making her into a real Smurf.
The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow
Azrael appears in this special with Gargamel. Earlier, he was prowling the forest by himself, is soon alerted to the Smurfs' presence and goes to get his master to inform him of the captured Smurfs.
He and his master collect the Smurfs that Gargamel's traps have captured -- namely Brainy, Gutsy, and Smurfette -- only to find Smurfette being the only Smurf still left in the trap when he gets there. He and the Smurfs soon get chased by the Headless Horseman, who pursue them until they reach the old-covered bridge. Gargamel, believing himself to be safe inside the bridge, antagonizes the Headless Horseman, who responds by throwing a flaming pumpkin into the bridge, causing Gargamel and his cat to fall into the river and be carried downstream where they go over a waterfall together.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
In Smurfs: The Lost Village, Azrael is seen with another pet of Gargamel's: Monty the Vulture. He acts as the smartest of the trio to provide a better contrast to the brainless Monty. In this movie, Azrael is very clearly the brains of the villainous team, giving Gargamel several ideas but the wizard takes his credit.
Eager to find the then-discovered Smurf Girls, he, Monty, and Gargamel ventures into the Forbidden Forest with Azrael and Monty, hoping to reach and find those other Smurfs before Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, and Hefty do. Although delayed by ending up in the part of the forest where they were attacked by carnivorous "bottom-feeder" fish, Gargamel and his pets soon discovers the village of Smurf Girls and uses his Freeze Balls to capture them all, including Smurfette's friends from her own village.
When Smurfette comes to Gargamel's hovel to trick him into turning her back into her former evil self, she harnesses the power and there is an explosion which catapults Gargamel and his pets far away from his hovel and being chased by piranhas, saving the Smurfs and Smurf Girls as the explosion also broke the cages filled with them. In the end credits, it's revealed Gargamel, Azrael, and Monty survived.
Appearances
Trivia
- Azrael was originally female in the comic books but was changed to a male in the cartoon show and returned as a male in later comics. This was referenced in the first movie, when Gargamel is surprised (in such an inappropriate way) to find out that Azrael is male.
- Surprisingly in the early seasons of the old polish dub, Azrael (called Klakier in that dub) was voiced by a woman - Joanna Sokolowska (even thought he was still male)
- By coincidence, Azrael is to Gargamel like what Muttley is to Dick Dastardly, as the duos were voiced by the same voice actors (Don Messick and Paul Winchell).
- The film series features him as an orange tabby, more specifically an orange Domestic Shorthaired cat played by Mr. Krinkle.
- Azrael is shown to be capable of standing on two feet. He does this in "The Cuddly Toy" and "Leaf's Under The Weather".
- Azrael is seen as a kitten in the episode "Gargamel's Time Trip".
- Azrael has been seen without Gargamel ten times: once in "A Mere Truffle", the second in "Forget-Me-Smurfs", the third in "The Magic Rattle", the fourth in "The Pussywillow Pixies", the fifth in "The Smurfiest Of Friends", the sixth in "Monster Smurfs", the seventh in "The Great Slime Crop Failure", the eighth in "Smurf Pet", the ninth in "The Smurfy Verdict", and the tenth (first in the 2021 cartoon show) in "The Makeover".
- As a sort of continuity nod, Chlorhydris in "My Smurfy Valentine" had found that Azrael was a cat that descended from royalty -- which turned out to be true in Season 9's "Mummy Dearest", as the Smurfs had found his distant ancestor, the cat pharaoh Azra, in ancient Egypt.
- The name Azrael is derived from an Angel of Death in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism faiths. The name literally means "Whom God Helps", in an adapted form of Hebrew.
- Azrael has his name in two episode titles which are "A Bell For Azrael" and "Azrael's Brain".
- Due to coincidence, in The Smurfs 2, Azrael was misspelled as Azreal.