Barney the Wolf

Barney the Wolf is a recurring antagonist in Barney & Friends, created as an accidental laboratory-made counterpart to Barney the Dinosaur. Standing unusually tall and resembling Barney's overall shape while possessing unmistakably wolf-like features, Barney the Wolf was intended to be a real-life recreation of the beloved dinosaur. Instead, a bizarre laboratory accident resulted in wolf genetics becoming involved in his creation.

Unlike Barney, who represents kindness, friendship, patience, and cooperation, Barney the Wolf represents nearly the exact opposite. He is selfish, manipulative, disrespectful, arrogant, and fiercely independent. He despises the idea of blindly following rules simply because someone says they are "right." To him, genuine freedom means being able to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, regardless of who gets hurt.

Origin

Barney the Wolf was created by a team of scientists attempting to develop a living version of Barney the Dinosaur. One of the leading scientists involved was Dravia Camber. The project was supposed to reproduce the biological characteristics of Barney, but something went catastrophically wrong during the experiment.

Instead of producing a dinosaur, the experiment produced a gigantic anthropomorphic wolf with Barney-like characteristics.

The scientists were initially completely unsure what to do with their creation. Barney the Wolf was intelligent almost immediately, capable of understanding complex conversations and observing the people around him. Rather than behaving like a confused animal, he demonstrated an unsettling amount of awareness.

Eventually, the scientists decided to hand him over to the producers of Barney & Friends, reasoning that he could potentially be used as a new character.

That decision became one of the show's biggest mistakes.

Personality

Barney the Wolf is exceptionally intelligent, cunning, and observant. He learns extremely quickly and is particularly good at figuring out what people want to hear. He can appear calm and charming when it benefits him, but his friendliness is usually an act.

He is also incredibly fast, making him physically difficult for the other characters to catch or stop. His intelligence combined with his speed makes him particularly difficult for the show's staff to control.

Barney the Wolf has an enormous ego. He considers himself superior to nearly everyone around him and has very little patience for people who disagree with him. He hates being corrected and interprets attempts to teach him manners as attempts to control him.

His greatest hatred is directed toward Barney the Dinosaur.

Barney the Wolf considers Barney's kindness fake, excessive, and irritating. He believes Barney's constant encouragement of friendship and cooperation prevents littles from thinking independently. His solution is not to teach littles genuine independence, however—it is to manipulate them into following him instead.

This contradiction is one of the defining traits of his character. He claims to worship free will while constantly attempting to influence other people's choices.

Arrival on Set

The producers initially attempted to incorporate Barney the Wolf into the show as an additional character.

It quickly became apparent that this was impossible.

Whenever cameras started rolling, Barney the Wolf would ignore the script and attempt to influence the littles instead. He would question things Barney taught them, encourage them to distrust Barney, and attempt to convince them that he was more interesting, intelligent, and trustworthy.

Eventually, recordings had to be stopped whenever Barney the Wolf became too disruptive.

The staff repeatedly tried to teach him how to behave appropriately around the littles. None of it worked.

Barney the Dinosaur himself eventually attempted to talk to him about manners and treating others respectfully. Barney the Wolf reacted with hostility, refusing to listen and nearly attacking him.

From that point onward, their relationship became openly antagonistic.

Barney vs. Barney the Wolf

The two Barneys are complete opposites.

Barney the Dinosaur believes that people should help one another, communicate, cooperate, and treat others with respect.

Barney the Wolf believes that kindness is weakness and that nobody should have the authority to tell him what to do.

Barney tries to understand Barney the Wolf and repeatedly believes that perhaps he can change him.

Barney the Wolf interprets this kindness as condescension.

He doesn't simply want Barney gone. He wants to replace him.

His ultimate goal is to make the littles stop believing in Barney the Dinosaur entirely and convince them that Barney the Wolf is the one they should trust.

B.G. and Baby Boff

Eventually, Barney the Wolf began creating his own clones.

Two of his earliest creations were B.G. and Baby Boff, imperfect copies based on the other dinosaurs.

Barney the Wolf created them partly because he realized that having others who resembled the show's familiar characters could make his influence much easier to spread.

However, he never viewed B.G. or Baby Boff as littles who deserved affection.

He viewed them as tools.

He frequently insults them, dismisses their feelings, and becomes irritated whenever they fail to meet his expectations. He expects obedience and has little interest in their emotional needs.

Despite creating them himself, Barney the Wolf doesn't consider himself responsible for them in any meaningful sense.

Raff

When Riff was introduced to the show, Barney the Wolf became interested in creating another counterpart.

The result was Raff, a wolf-like version of Riff.

Unlike Barney the Wolf, Raff is extremely anxious and easily overwhelmed. He also has autism and OCD, which affect how he processes his surroundings and responds to stressful situations.

Barney the Wolf has essentially no patience for Raff's difficulties.

Rather than attempting to understand him, Barney becomes frustrated when Raff doesn't immediately obey his commands. His treatment of Raff becomes increasingly cruel, including intimidation and physical abuse.

As a result, Raff becomes terrified of him.

Raff frequently hides whenever Barney the Wolf is nearby and tries to avoid attracting his attention. On several occasions, Raff has sought Barney the Dinosaur's help instead.

This creates an unusual relationship between Raff and Barney. Although Barney the Wolf created Raff, Barney the Dinosaur is often the one Raff feels safest approaching.

Barney the Wolf views this as betrayal.

Relationship With His Creations

Barney the Wolf's treatment of his creations reveals one of the biggest differences between him and Barney.

Barney the Dinosaur treats the other characters as friends.

Barney the Wolf treats his creations as possessions.

He expects them to obey him because he believes that creating them gives him authority over them. If they question him, make mistakes, or demonstrate independence, he becomes angry.

Ironically, this directly contradicts his obsession with free will.

Barney the Wolf claims that everyone should be free to make their own choices—yet he becomes furious when someone else's choice isn't the one he wanted.

Role in the Show

Barney the Wolf isn't simply an evil version of Barney.

He is the result of someone trying to manufacture Barney without understanding what made Barney Barney.

The scientists recreated the appearance and intelligence they wanted, but the accidental wolf genetics produced something entirely different.

Where Barney represents friendship without expecting anything in return, Barney the Wolf demands loyalty.

Where Barney encourages littles to think and cooperate, Barney the Wolf attempts to manipulate their thinking for his own benefit.

Where Barney sees the other characters as friends, Barney the Wolf sees his creations as extensions of himself.

And while Barney the Dinosaur wants everyone to have a voice, Barney the Wolf wants everyone to have a voice—as long as they eventually agree with him.