Makucha

"We both have a score to settle with the Lion Guard."

- Makucha, Ghost of the Mountain Makucha is a male leopard that resides in the Back Lands. He is the leader of his own leap and now his army. He serves as the main antagonist of Season 3.

Appearance
Makucha is a stocky, well-built leopard with incredible agility and physical strength. His fur is a pale lemon color, and his rosettes are brown outlined with black. The spots on his face and neck are smaller and solid-colored. His eyes are dark yellow, with his irises being green. His inner ears are light pink, rimmed with black and a single rosette on the back of each. Half of his long tail is banded in white, and his underbelly and paws are white, too. He has thick, bushy dark brown eyebrows, long black whiskers, black claws, white teeth, and a black nose. His paw pads are red-brown.

Personality
"Catch me if you can. Hint, you can't."

- Makucha, The Wisdom of Kongwe Makucha is a very persistent and territorial character. He is a ruthless predator and will not relent until he is successful in killing his quarry. He is confident in his jumping abilities, as proved when he jumped over Big Ravine without hesitating. When confronted, he is fierce and willing to fight, but also employs a cocky casualness. He is very confident in his fighting skills, believing himself capable of taking on two at once. Despite his confidence, however, he is not arrogant or foolish: If he is severely outnumbered or overpowered, he will back down. He has a great liking for rare and exotic animals as food and will go to great lengths to catch one. He frequently roars and growls to express anger or irritation, as seen in The Imaginary Okapi.

When he feels that someone has wronged him, he can be severely vengeful. With these individuals, in particular, he becomes incredibly uncompromising and refuses to accept peace when offered to him. When an enemy encounters him on his home turf, he is fully capable of working in a team and using their numbers to even out the odds.

Makucha is also very cunning and greedy, just like Janja before he reformed, wanting to find the Tree of Life so he can eat rare and exotic animals who are easy to find and catch because they are sick or injured, showing no respect for the circle of life.

He is shown to be a good leader of his kind as he managed to get a few leopards to work with him to succeed in taking down enemies or defending his territory. It seems after his encounter with the Lion Guard a few times, he knows he wasn't matched against them as they keep entering his territory. Though, as they pass through the Back Lands, he got two new friends on his side. After failing twice with his two new friends, he left them. When he recruited two different animals to join him in following the Lion Guard to the Tree of Life, he realized their differences in each other's fighting styles proved to make teamwork difficult.

The Imaginary Okapi
Makucha chases Ajabu all the way into the Pride Lands, trying to catch him. Ono spots him stalking gazelles, and the Lion Guard confronts him. They demand that he leaves, to which he responds that they will have to make him. He flees and is immediately pursued by the team. However, he is able to evade them by leaping over Big Ravine. He laughs before bounding away.

Makucha later spots Ajabu as he speaks with Thurston. He issues a low growl and murmurs, "Look who's here." He steps into a crouch and slowly approaches his intended prey. A surprised Ajabu remarks that he cannot believe Makucha followed him so far and Makucha replies telling Ajabu that because okapis are rare, they are to be persistently tracked until they are caught. After informing Ajabu that his trail is about to come to an end, he moves forward, but his progress is impeded when Thurston runs into him in a panic and bowls him over. As he strains to rise, Thurston requests that Makucha does not eat him. As he frees himself, Makucha roars and pushes Thurston away with a hind paw and responds that he is after something far tastier, to Thurston's resentment.

While chasing Ajabu, Makucha passes by the Lion Guard. As the two run farther, Ajabu demands that Makucha leave him alone while he flees. Makucha insists that he will not have chased Ajabu for so long. He springs with a snarl but is kicked back by Ajabu's hind hoof. He bounces once with a grunt before coming to a halt, dust clouding around him. He sits up and pants before announcing that Ajabu is just making him mad. He resumes the pursuit, exclaiming that he has Ajabu when the okapi trips and falls.

However, as he charges, Beshte lifts him up with his muzzle and flings him away. Once again, he gives a grunt as he bounces once before landing on his side. Inhaling deeply, he rises with a shake of his head and asks the Lion Guard why they do not mind their own business. He comments that he is simply greeting a friend, to which Fuli replies that he was not behaving in a friendly manner. With a flick of his tail and a turn of his head, Makucha responds that leopards say hello using their teeth. He rolls his eyes and asks "So what?".

Kion tells Makucha that it is time to say good-bye, and he fiercely responds that he can fight two at once. He roars as Bunga grabs his tail, swiveling his head to glare at the honey badger. Makucha turns his body until he is facing Bunga, and, lifting his tail with Bunga still gripping it, expresses the hope that Bunga will taste better than the smells. He is forced to duck when Ono dives for him, but after a moment, he approaches Kion and Fuli, quietly growling and dragging Bunga along. He bares his teeth at the two felines but surrenders when Beshte bellows at him. He declares that the Lion Guard can have it their way, adding that even an okapi is not worth so much trouble. He turns away and breaks into a run before bounding out of sight.

The Golden Zebra
Makucha appears when the Lion Guard is passing through his territory in the Back Lands. He tries to drive them off, but, after a fight, he reluctantly allows the Lion Guard to pass through his territory but to make it quick. Later, when the Lion Guard is trying to get rid of a dam that is blocking the watering hole for Dhahabu's herd, and he reveals that they are in his territory once again, and he has brought reinforcements. The Lion Guard manages to fend off each of Makucha's fellow leopards, but Makucha threatens to eat Dhahabu if they get any closer to the waterhole. Bunga tries to offer himself in Dhahabu's place, but Makucha isn't interested. With a little encouragement from the Lion Guard Dhahabu realizing what she must do, so she kicks Makucha knocking him at the dam. The impact from his hit causes the dam to break, causing Makucha to make a hasty retreat.

The Wisdom of Kongwe
When Fuli and Makini escort the wise tortoise Kongwe across the Back Lands, Makucha notices their presence from a tree branch and he approaches them, assuring them that they're always 'welcome', especially the tortoise. Makini mistakes his words for friendly banter and attempts to introduce herself before Makucha reveals his true intentions. Fuli steps between the leopard and her two associates, warning him away. Makucha succumbs to her wishes but warns her that she's in his territory.

Later, Makucha leaps out in front of the tortoise and mandrill. Once again, Fuli stands between him and the other two animals, but this time, Fuli chases Makucha away, until he climbs up a tree. Fuli sinks her claws into the tree, but is unable to follow the leopard, or remove her claws. With Fuli trapped, Makucha approaches Kongwe, who hides in her shell. Makini distracts Makucha briefly with some performance moves, but Makucha bats her away. He tells her that she's lucky he doesn't like mandrill, just before Fuli tackles him again. Makucha proceeds to run away, performing a zigzag movement which Fuli cannot keep up with.

The leopard decides to rest for a while, when suddenly Fuli approaches him, asking him for round 2. Makucha is pretty certain that number is higher but gladly accepts her challenge. He speeds on ahead with confidence, until the cheetah tackles him, pinning his body to the ground. Shocked, Makucha decides that his taste for tortoise has gone. But when Fuli suggests that her taste for leopard is still there, Makucha laughs nervously, before retreating.

The Harmattan
Makucha sees the Lion Guard in his territory and they start to attack the guard. He brings his friends to help fight. He soon sees Anga and is surprised to see her. During the fight, a dust storm comes and the guard starts to blow away. They soon find shelter but Makucha's Leap follows them. He says for them to leave but there's nowhere else to go. Kion says that they need to get along and stay in the spot. Makucha says that he wants them and he'll show them the way out, Kion agrees to go with Makucha. The Guard leaves with Makucha's leap and later he saves Kion from a falling boulder.

Makucha overhears Makini talking about the Tree of Life. He says he'll kidnap Makini and get her to tell him how to get to them there. Kion thinks that Makucha left but he didn't. He kidnaps Makini and Kion tries to save her. After Makucha loses, the Guard continues on their journey. He then says that he'll follow them to the Tree of Life.

Ghost of the Mountain
After watching her lose to the Lion Guard, Makucha talks to Chuluun and asks her to join him on his quest to the Tree of Life.

Dragon Island
Once again, after seeing him lose to the Lion Guard, Makucha and Chuluun offer Ora a place on their team, to which he accepts.

Trivia

 * He is one of only a few villains in the show not to be associated with Scar, the others being Mpishi, Mapigano, and the Outsiders.
 * He is the second villain after Scar who created a group to get revenge on Lion Guard and achieve his goals by gathering enemies from different species.

Songs

 * The Tree of Life