| “ | Oh, some like it hot, but I like it really hot! | ” |
— Heat Miser | ||
The Heat Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass television special The Year Without a Santa Claus. He lives in a volcano and controls the hot weather around the earth. He and his half-brothers Snow Miser and North Wind are the offspring of Mother Nature. (It should be noted that both Snow Miser and Heat Miser were not in the original poem that the special is based on.) Heat Miser lives within an active volcano with his six minions. Although Heat Miser lives in the southern hemisphere, he and his brother regularly patrol the border of the North Pole.
Appearance
Heat Miser's original design in The Year Without a Santa Claus vs his redesign in A Miser Brother's Christmas
Heat Miser has darker skin than his icey brother, but is still fairly pale, although his skin does have a slight orange tint to it. His hair is red and sticks up to resemble flames. He wears a red shirt and yellow leggings, and long, red pointed shoes. He has a round, red nose. Like his brother, he is abnormally tall, and towers over both humans and Mother Nature in stature, but out of the two brothers, is the shorter one. Heat Miser is much rounder in figure.
In A Miser Brothers' Christmas, he is slightly redesigned, and now wears a red suit and yellow pants. In both appearances, he has red, pointed ears.
Abilities
It is shown that Heat Miser is able to melt things with a touch, even objects that should combust, like a shovel's wooden handle and a spotlight. However, it is not shown if he can restore the objects he melts like Snow Miser can with the objects he turns to snow. He can also project intense heat from his mouth and fingers at will, even forming objects of flame that can endure independently for a few seconds.
Personality
Heat Miser is the more antagonistic of the two brothers; his mean, grumpy, hot-tempered personality partially comes from the fact that he feels that Santa Claus is unfair to him by giving Snow Miser lots of publicity while he gets none, and he believes that Mother Nature likes Snow Miser best. He also sings about his preference for hot weather. Heat Miser is also shown to be fairly disgusted by winter activities, barely being able to bring himself to even say "ice hockey".
While he dislikes the Clauses to the point that he openly attacks Jingle and Jangle when they are flying in the air, when Mrs. Claus and the elves visit his home, he begrudgingly welcomes them and is willing to at least hear what it is they want, but not before complaining about Santa not favoring his own season, and going on a rant that Mrs. Claus had to cut off to get to the point. He is also willing to let Snow Miser have The South for a day in exchange for The North Pole for a day, but correctly assumes Snow Miser would not agree to the terms.
Like his brother, he is obedient to Mother Nature, and is visibly afraid when Mrs. Claus threatens to speak directly to her.
In A Miser Brothers' Christmas, his personality is dumbed down to being little more than angry all the time. He is also shown to be more of a pushover than in The Year Without a Santa Claus.
Appearances in Christmas specials
Early on in The Year Without a Santa Claus, Heat Miser attempts to attack Jingle, Jangle and one of Santa's reindeer, Vixen. With a flash of heat lightning, Heat Miser strikes them out of the sky, but the trio survives.
The elves later accompany Mrs. Claus to his lair within an active volcano to negotiate a deal for the weather in Southtown. There, it is shown that Heat Miser has a flair for the dramatic, and entertains his guests with a dance backed up by his minions. Heat Miser is unwilling to cooperate on the aforementioned deal, saying he will only allow snow in Southtown if Snow Miser gives him control over the North Pole's weather in exchange. He is later summoned to the realm of Mother Nature and forced to compromise the weather with his brother for one day.
Heat Miser and his brother later starred in the 2008 sequel, A Miser Brothers' Christmas, with George S. Irving reprising his role as Heat Miser. The special focuses on Heat Miser and Snow Miser learning to work together after they are forced to take charge of Santa's operations when their evil brother North Wind attempts to sabotage him.
In the My Life as a Teenage Robot Christmas episode, "A Robot for All Seasons", Santa asks Jenny Wakeman if Heat Miser was the one who turned her against him.
Gallery
