Elder Kettle/TCS
"Boys! Our favourite radio show is about to start!"
—Elder Kettle, Roll the Dice
Elder Kettle is a major secondary character of the Cuphead Show. He is the caretaker of Cuphead and Mugman.
Appearence
Unlike his video game counterpart, Elder Kettle wears a small pair of glasses (which he is almost blind without), a pair of red slippers and his cane as more of a derby design. Additionally, his color scheme is more of a grey shade instead of tan, with his lid and stripe being slate grey.
Personality
In The Cuphead Show!, Elder Kettle is the same as the game, but has a more comical side to him, and gets extremely upset whenever Cuphead and Mugman fight. The show implies that Elder Kettle has accomplished many things during his lifetime, such as being a rugby player, a swimmer, a weightlifter, and a retired war veteran and decorated war hero. He can turn hostile over slight misunderstandings, such as when he mistook the boys for zombies in the episode "Ghosts Ain't Real!" or when he thinks the boys are plotting against him in the episode "Dirt Nap". He is, for the most part, kind and generous, serving them pancakes in the episode "Carn-Evil" and healing their embarrassing injuries overnight in "Handle With Care!".
The way he educates Cuphead and Mugman is quite complex: he can be very soft but also very severe, the most obvious example being in the episode "Baby Bottle". He simply declares "Boys will be boys" while the house is on fire, but goes into a rage when he finds his radio destroyed. He frequently orders the boys to paint the fence, a task they hate to do. Despite this, he deeply cares about them and worries about what they think of him.
As revealed in "Say Cheese," Kettle has a bit of trauma from the Diaper Baby billboard ads due to constantly being teased. It caused him to become violent and insane as displayed when he tried to get the photo from the boys. It could be one of the reasons why Kettle sometimes goes back on his promises out of fear of being recognized and made fun of.
Despite his negative traits, Kettle does love Cuphead and Mugman dearly, and will protect and guide them. The most notable was in "Rat's All Folks," when Werner kidnaps the boys and holds them hostage, threatening to blow them up if Kettle doesn't hand over his cottage.
Powers and Abilities
Being a former war veteran, Elder Kettle is crafty and sharp. He displays several hand to hand combat, and weaponry skills, most notably his swordsmanship. He is able to set traps in a short amount of time, and is shown to be flexible. As shown in "Rat's All Folks," Elder Kettle can use his spout to project objects out, other than steam.
Kettle also has culinary skills, and gardening skills.
Relationships
Cuphead and Mugman
Elder Kettle is the caretaker of Cuphead and Mugman and has raised them since they were babies. He affectionately calls them "boys". He is caring and generous to them most of the time, but gets angry whenever the two brothers do something stupid, fight with each other, or thinks they are plotting against him. He also knows them well enough to see when they are lying or doing something suspicious. The episode "Dirt Nap" shows that he cares a lot about what Cuphead and Mugman think of him, doing everything possible to look cool in front of them, and even crying when he thinks they want to get rid of him. He is relieved when the boys assure him that they love him, then retorting that he loves them too. Elder Kettle can be strict and protective of the boys, most notably shown in "Rat's all Folks," when he was ready to give up his cottage to protect the boys from Werner.
Elder Kettle loves Cuphead very much, but is a little less patient with him because he is the more boisterous of the two brothers. While Cuphead is on Roll the Dice, Elder Kettle gets upset when he does not recognize Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, even yelling at him when he returns. At the beginning of the Dirt Nap episode, he is particularly angry and when Cuphead says he is still in the "like-stage" and finds him disgusting (not knowing he is actually talking about a worm), and shows it when he serves him food. He tends to be much more stricter with Cuphead due to his reckless nature, and tendency to goof off.
Elder Kettle loves Mugman very much too, and even seems more patient with him because he is the calmer of the two brothers. In the episode "Handle with Care!", he apologizes to Mugman for screaming in horror when he saw him with his broken handle, and tells him a false story about the handle fairy so he will stop worrying. After that, he glues Cuphead and Mugman's handles in the night, still making them think it is the handle fairy. At the beginning of the episode Dirt Nap, he is nicer to Mugman because he thinks he spoke well of him, unlike Cuphead (when the two brothers were actually talking about a worm). Though he can be strict with Mugman and tough on him, especially when Mugman let his jealousy of Cuphead get the better of him, and tried to cut off his brother's hands with Kettle's hedge trimmers.
Baby Bottle
Like the brothers, Elder Kettle seems to also show dislike for Baby Bottle. Considering the fact that the baby, had malicious intent to destroy his radio, which was his prized item, and also cleanly ripped off his mustache. Even after berating them, Baby Bottle goes to extreme lengths and manages to beat him up. Later, along with Cuphead and Mugman, he leaves them at another woman's doorstep, before shaking hands with the brothers.
Werner Werman
Elder Kettle went to war with Werner when the rodent entered his house due to the boys forgetting to shut the door. When Cuphead and Mugman failed to get rid of the Rat, Kettle took matters into his own hands. The two were evenly matched until Werner kidnapped the boys and held them hostage, threatening to blow them up if he didn't surrender his cottage. Kettle manages to defeat the varmint by pretending to surrender and giving him a stick of dynamite, which blew up Werner.
Gallery
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Trivia
- His most precious object is his radio. He doesn't want the boys to touch it, and goes into a rage when he finds it destroyed in the episode "Baby Bottle".
- It has never been revealed in the game nor in the show who Cuphead and Mugman's parents are or their current whereabouts. It is also unknown if the brothers ever knew their parents (though that is debatable as Elder Kettle has raised them since they were babies), or if Elder Kettle knew them. Though there are some fans who have theorised that their souls were taken by the Devil.
- One of his passions is gardening.
- As seen in the episode "In Charm's Way", he is almost blind without his glasses.
- As revealed in "Say Cheese!", he was called Elder Kettle even when he was a baby, confirming that "Elder" is his actual first name.
- Unlike his counterpart, his color scheme is different, and he tends to be more comedic, though he does have his fair share of wisdom.