The Mole (HTF) Happy Tree Friends Images

The Mole

The Mole is a blind magenta mole with the stereotypical "blind man" appearance of dark glasses and cane. The Mole actually has a mole on his face. He seems to love stuffed animals. He wears a purple turtleneck sweater with the neck unrolled and covering his mouth; as a result (like Mime and Cro-Marmot), he does not speak. He is not deaf, though he does have hearing problems. Disaster follows his blind bumbling. In several instances, he mistakes body parts such as severed heads for other things. He has been seen driving. His driving abilities are clearly not safe for his surroundings, though he has actually been seen stopping at a red light.

According to the commentary for the episode "Pitchin' Impossible," the Mole was originally supposed to be a James Bond-like secret agent with all kinds of spy gadgets, but that was changed when the actual series was created. It was not until the episode "Mole in the City" that his secret-agent identity was explored. He also has an arch-nemesis known as The Rat; the rivalry between them is most likely based on the fact that they both have careers in industrial espionage.

A running gag in the series is The Mole performing tasks that require, or that are associated with, vision, such as driving, lighting a match to see in the dark, and reading a book. His house is full of things that require vision (telescopes, books, etc.). He usually gets jobs where, as an ironic twist, excellent eyesight is the most important requirement; this employment usually results in a large number of characters getting killed. Most of his placements have something to do with the medical arts, such as his being hired as a physician.

In the web shorts, The Mole rarely dies, because one producer's daughter is blind, and they did not want to offend her or any blind person. Instead, he usually causes harm to the other Happy Tree Friends. He dies much more often in the TV series.