Muriel Bagge

Muriel Bagge
Also known as	Pixie (in Wrath of the Librarian) Granny (Cajun Granny Stew) The Fat One Lady Old Lady
Voiced by	Howard Hoffman (pilot) Thea White Kath Soucie (Little Muriel) Hiroko Mori (Japanese dub)
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Family	Siblings: Dorothy Uncles & Aunts: Aunt Gertrude †‭ Spouses: Eustace Bagge Nieces & Nephews: Fred Parents-in-law: Ma Bagge & Ickett Bagge †‭ Siblings-in-law: Horst Bagge †‭ Pets: Courage
Friends	• Courage • Eustace Bagge (sometimes) • Shirley • Dr. Vindaloo • Policeman • Bigfoot • The Hunchback of Nowhere • Coralites • Raccoons
Enemies	• Mattress Demon • Katz • Cajun Fox • Weremole • Black Puddle Queen • Big Toe • Eustace Bagge (sometimes) • Le Quack • Ma Bagge
Likes	Making food (especially with vinegar), Fred, tea, Courage
Dislikes	Eustace's attitude, Ma Bagge, danger
First appearance	The Chicken from Outer Space
Quotes	"Oh my.", "Ahhhhh!", "Courage!", "Needs vinegar!"

“They can take my old photos, they can take my identity. But when they take my Courage, they've gone too far!”

―Muriel

Muriel Bagge is the deuteragonist of the series Courage the Cowardly Dog.

A Scottish elderly woman, Muriel is the kind and sweet owner of Courage, as well as the industrious wife of Eustace Bagge. Though she is the show's damsel-in-distress, Muriel is also an excellent cook and would not tolerate any nonsense or misbehavior - she always uses her weapon (a rolling pin) to smack Eustace whenever he scares, or teases, or abuses, or otherwise mistreats Courage.

Appearance

In her youth, Muriel had reddish-brown hair, but in her old age, she had curly white hair. She wears glasses just like her husband, and her usual attire is a dark yellow dress with a bright yellow apron, and a pair of sturdy black leather boots.

History

As a girl, Muriel was a talented cheerleader and girl scout, and did well in school. She also attended college, worked as a secretary, and married Eustace at a young age.

Personality

3-year-old Muriel

As a 3-year-old child, Muriel was an extremely mischievous, spoiled, and silly little girl.

Muriel is usually the first to be targeted by villains

However, today, she is a devoted housewife with a truly gentle, sweet, and kind demeanor. She also enjoyed cooking, knitting, and quilting.

Muriel on her rocking chair, with Courage on her lap.

Due to her kindness and sweet, naive nature, Muriel is an easy (and often attractive) target for villains. It does not help that she is also always nice to strangers, and even inviting them into her home, failing to see what their true intentions were until they themselves reveal it. Fortunately, she always has Courage to save the day. He also helps her in many of her household duties.

Besides this, though she truly loves her husband, Eustace, Muriel would not hesitate to enforce her unique methods of discipline on him - usually hitting him with her rolling pin - whenever he crosses the line (such as his deliberately scaring Courage, or just being wholly unreasonable, etc.). The most notable instance was shown in Ball of Revenge, where, to punish Eustace for his evil behaviour, Muriel forced Eustace to rest on a blanket on the floor for the night, while Courage got Eustace's comfortable chair. She also cannot stand his mother. However, when Eustace is in real trouble, Muriel would truly worry about him, as seen in Queen of the Black Puddle. In that episode, she became increasingly worried about Eustace when he - due to the Black Puddle Queen's increasing control over him - acted strangely. When he was finally kidnapped by the evil Queen, she cried inconsolably over the loss of him, forcing a resigned Courage to go and rescue him. While Muriel's tears ceased when Eustace returned home, her initial joy over his return gave way to anger over his worrying her, and she hit him with her rolling pin, which also demonstrates to her no-nonsense nature.

One of - if not the - Muriel's most notable traits would be her affection for Courage, whom she obviously yet truly loved and cared for as the child she never had. Though it was always up to Courage to save her, nothing angered Muriel more than seeing him in danger or forcefully taken away from her, as shown in Muriel Meets Her Match, where she aggressively pursued the villains and even crashed their car for kidnapping Courage. The other memorable instance would be where, in Ball of Revenge, when Courage was about to lose against his worst enemies, the chained-up Muriel desperately encouraged him not to give up, which inspired him to resort to his powerful screaming to defeat the villains. Of course, there is also the fact that she always hit Eustace on his head whenever he mistreated Courage. These instances all testify that, sweet and benevolent though she was, Muriel would not put up with any mistreatment or abuse of Courage, who was not only like a surrogate child to her, but also her one breaking point.

Most of all, Muriel loved sitting in her rocking chair with Courage on her lap, and watching television.

Skills

Despite her seeming obliviousness and "damsel-in-distress" role, Muriel is actually a multi-talented artist: she knew how to play the sitar and the piano, and played both remarkably well - while she played the former (sitar) mostly to relax, she performed live in New York after winning a sitar-playing contest, giving a world-class performance that garnered rapturous applause from her audience. Also, in Record Deal, despite the lack of any preparations or practice beforehand, Muriel still gave a stunning performance on the piano that delighted her audience.

Besides this, Muriel is an excellent cook - so good, in fact, that she has been the recipient of numerous culinary awards, such as: best dog food, best eggplants, and best toffee apples. Her cooking, specifically her happy plums, have been shown to aid in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. For Muriel's late Aunt Gertrude had taught her to put vinegar in every recipe, and she insists that this always does the trick, though one of the show's running gags is that Muriel uses too much vinegar.

Muriel also knows how to drive (she was seen driving Eustace's Truck on one occasion), and could easily knock out antagonists - though it is primarily Eustace - with her rolling pin, or even an equipment like a badminton racket. Last but not least, as revealed by The Great Fusilli and Nowhere TV, Muriel possessed great physical strength and excellent juggling skills - she could perfectly juggle heavy objects (a motorcycle, an anchor, and a bowling ball) with her hands and even her feet.

Trivia

• Muriel is one of three characters (the others being Courage and Eustace) to appear in nearly every episode.
  • She is also one of seven characters (the others being Courage, Eustace, Shirley, Dr. Vindaloo, the Computer and Katz) to appear in every season.
• As a toddler, Muriel's hair was white, then red when she was married, but brown in Remembrance of Courage Past.
• Muriel's blood-type is "ABXYZ".
• As revealed in Courage Meets the Mummy, in one of Muriel's past lives, she was a Mayan Princess who loved cookies.
• Muriel often showed a far greater level of common sense and practicality than Eustace when it came to solving a problem or fixing something, though he always refused to listen to her and Courage until it was too late.
• Despite her sweet, kind nature and willingness to see the very best in everyone, Muriel openly loathed Eustace's mother - she refused to visit her in Mother's Day, and disagreed with her attempt to take the Coralites' coral.
• There are several running gags throughout the series associated with Muriel, such as:
  • She would always hit Eustace on the head with her rolling pin whenever he did something mean to Courage.
  • Due to her Aunt Gertrude's advice, Muriel had a tendency to use too much vinegar in her recipes, but strange to say, her cooking always turned out to be award-winningly delicious because of it.
  • She shows off her underwear - as seen in Little Muriel, her underwear was the only clothing she wore.

Gallery

The Gallery for Muriel can be found here.

Main characters

Courage • Muriel Bagge • Eustace Bagge

Villains

Katz • Le Quack • Benton Tarantella • Errol Von Volkheim • Cajun Fox • The Big Toe • Dr. Gerbil • Jeeves Weevil • King of Flan • King Ramses • Mayan baker (Mummy) • Mad Dog • Mecha Courage • Mr. Nasty • The Black Puddle Queen • Space Chicken • The Cruel Vet • Evil Empress • The Great Fusilli • Snowman • The Weremole • Schwick • Windmill Vandals • Evil Eggplants • Lisa and Eliza Stitch • Mona Lisa • Conway the Contaminationist

Other characters

The Computer • Di Lung • Dr. Vindaloo • Shirley the Medium • Ma Bagge • Nowhere Newsman • The General • Lieutenant • Professor Frith • Horst Bagge • Charlie the Mouse • Space Dino • The Federal Agents • Kitty • Bunny • Ickett Bagge • The Duck Brothers • Robot Randy • The Hunchback • The Magic Tree Of Nowhere • Carmen • The Raccoons • Dr. Zalost