Kuzco is initially portrayed as an arrogant, callous and spoilednarcissist, but has a sense of charm and style. InThe Emperor's New Groove, Kuzco is turned into allama by Yzma, who intends to poison him to claim the throne for herself. He is presumed dead and lost in the jungle. Kuzco teams up with Pacha, a llama herder, who helps Kuzco turn back into a human again, regaining his dignity and his throne.
Pacha (/ˈpɑːtʃə/PAH-chə; voiced primarily byJohn Goodman;[1]Fred Tatasciore[4] in the first season ofThe Emperor's New School) is a farmer residing in 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 discourteous teen. The major overhaul of story made the film abuddy film, with Pacha and Kuzco having to work through the adventure together. His name is possibly a reference to Incan emperorPachacuti and means "earth" inQuechua.[5]
Pacha is a friendly peasant and family man, and a subject in Kuzco's kingdom. His courage, reliability, and value of both friendship and family helps Kuzco change into a genial and mature young man. Pacha is married to Chicha, who is pregnant with Yupi when first seen. During the time of the first film, they have two children: their daughter, Chaca, and their younger son Tipo. Yupi is born during the film's events and appears in spin-off material.
Yzma (/ˈiːzmə/EE-zmə; voiced initially byEartha Kitt)[1][6] is Kuzco's primary parental guardian and advisor, and the mainantagonist of the franchise. She is a conniving and power-hungry woman who wields potions that enable her to transform others into animals and continues to pursue vengeance against Kuzco while he grows into a wiser ruler.
In the first film, Yzma formulates a complicated plan to kill Kuzco before deciding to 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 arunning gag inThe Emperor's New School.[7]
In theDescendants franchise, she has a daughter named Yzla who appears in theIsle of the Lost novel series. In the animated short seriesDescendants: Wicked World, she has a son named Zevon (voiced byBradley Steven Perry), who acts as the main antagonist in the series' second season.
Kronk Pepikrankenitz[9] (voiced byPatrick Warburton)[1] is the muscular and slow-witted henchman of Yzma. While he is the secondary antagonist of the franchise, he primarily serves as comic relief. Whenever he faces a moral dilemma, smaller versions of Kronk, hisshoulder angel and devil, appear, but they usually fight one another instead of helping him.
Kronk stars in the spinoff filmKronk's New Groove, where he is the head chef and owner of the restaurant Mudka's. His love interest, Birdwell, and his father, Papi (voiced byJohn Mahoney), are introduced.
InThe Emperor's New School, Kronk plays the role of Yzma's sidekick although he also has a friendly relationship with Kuzco, sometimes ending up helping him, being also his classmate at Kuzco Academy. As a running gag, he can never remember that Principal Amzy is really Yzma. Another running gag revolves around Kronk attempting to activate access to the secret lab, as originated from the original film with the secret lab's access procedure: more often than not, he constantly pulls the wrong one, and as a result, Yzma constantly gets booby-trapped before fixing the error. At the series' finale, Kuzco appoints Kronk as his new advisor, while Yzma is made Kronk's assistant.
Chicha (voiced byWendie Malick)[2] is Pacha's wife. Throughout most of the first film, she is heavily pregnant with her third child, Yupi, who is born before the final scene. InKronk's New Groove, Kronk asks her to pretend to be his wife, as he promised his father he would marry her. InThe Emperor's New School, she often serves as a mother figure to Kuzco.
Chaca andTipo (voiced by Kellyann Elso and Eli Russel Linnettz, andMichaela Jill Murphy andShane Baumel in later appearances) are Pacha and Chicha's children, who constantly try to one-up each other and compete for their father's attentions. InKronk's New Groove, they join Kronk's Junior Chipmunks at Camp Chippamunka.
Yupi is Pacha and Chicha's baby. He is born before at the end of the first film. InKronk's New Groove, when Chaca introduces him to Papi he mentions for the first time his name and current age, mentioning that he is half a year old.
Matta (voiced byPatti Deutsch)[10] is a waitress at Mudka's Meat Hut. She also works as a lunchlady at Kuzco Academy.
Rudy (voiced byJohn Fiedler, laterTravis Oates) is an old man who first appears accidentally interrupting Kuzco's "groove", for which he is thrown out a window. In the series, he is a janitor at Kuzco Academy.
Bucky (voiced byBob Bergen)[11] is asquirrel who later befriends Kronk and becomes his aide in teaching squirrel talk.
Topo andIpi (voiced byJeff Bennett) are two old men who make minor appearances inThe Emperor's New Groove. They have a more relevant role inKronk's New Groove as part of the residents from the old folks' home who are tricked by Yzma. They are recurring characters inThe Emperor's New School.
TheRoyal Recordkeeper (voiced byJoe Whyte inThe Emperor's New Groove,Rip Taylor inThe Emperor's New School) appear inThe Emperor's New Groove as the one in charge of finding a bride for Kuzco. InThe Emperor's New School he appears as a recurring character, reminding Kuzco of the rules in order to become emperor. The character also makes a cameo appearance in theHouse of Mouse episode "Pluto vs. Figaro".
TheBug and theMonkey appear briefly inThe Emperor's New Groove, at one point showing a wide view of the waterfall Kuzco was going to fall from before being caught by Kronk, showing the bug on a branch, and at that moment the monkey appears, who eats the bug. Similar scenes with them appear as a recurring gag inThe Emperor's New School.
Introduced inKronk's New Groove
Miss Birdwell (voiced byTracey Ullman) is a camp counselor who serves as Kronk's love interest inKronk's New Groove.
Papi (voiced byJohn Mahoney,Jeff Bennett inThe Emperor's New School) is Kronk's father. He always wanted his son Kronk to live a successful life, and always disapproved of his dreams of cooking and talking to animals. Eventually, Papi learned to accept Kronk just the way he is.
Hildy (voiced byApril Winchell) is an old woman and friend of Kronk.
Marge andTina (voiced byApril Winchell) are two secretaries who Kronk hires when he makes a fortune.
Malina (voiced byJessica DiCicco) is acheerleader and the school council president who Kuzco has a crush on. She is a straight-A+ student and is driven to excel almost to the point of having anervous breakdown if she does not do everything to her ability. In the final episode of the series, she goes on a date with Kuzco after he is made emperor and becomes his girlfriend.
Homework (voiced byFrank Welker) appears in "The Emperor's New Pet". He is a cat who Kuzco is assigned to care for to learn responsibility. He is temporarily transformed into apanther and flees into the wilderness before returning to Kuzco.
^The Emperor's New Groove: during the 'funeral' for Kuzco, Yzma says that he was 'taken' on 'the very eve of his 18th birthday', indicating that he is 18 years old in the film.
