What Is Buddy Really? The Biggest Clue Is A Creepy Children’s Mural
Buddy (2026) is a horror movie that raises a lot of questions. What is the purpose of the TV World that the children are whisked away to? How are people able to enter the TV World in the first place? How is reality being warped to write those who enter it out of existence? All of these are valid questions, but one question gets swept under the rug repeatedly: What’s the deal with Buddy?
It seems like an easy question to answer, but when you stop to think about it, not really. Yes, he’s the host of “It’s Buddy,” and he’s undeniably a violent monster, but how and why is he in charge of the show when other mascots are running around? How can he command such authority, and what is his role exactly in the TV World at large? While the answers aren’t exactly clear, theories related to his backstory are being proposed that all make logical sense, and they all center on a large mural painted on a seemingly normal wall.
Who Are The Other Two Unicorns In ‘Buddy’?
After Freddy escapes “It’s Buddy” and enters the school connected to the show’s set, she flees from a pursuing Buddy and runs past a large piece of artwork filled with mascots. Normally, a mural like this is pretty commonplace in a school setting, but what makes this piece raise all the red flags is how it depicts Buddy with two other unicorns.
These two unicorns are Bobby and Benny. Of the three, Bobby, the blue unicorn, is the most prominent one, standing front and center of the trio, with Buddy and Benny, the yellow unicorn, flanking his sides. One would assume, upon seeing this mural, that these other two unicorns are just as malicious as Buddy and are also stalking the TV World, but fans think otherwise. That very well could be the case, but it’s also just as likely they were Buddy’s first victims.
Why Is Buddy The Only Unicorn On TV?
It would be easy to think that by introducing two more unicorns, Casper Kelly may be setting up Buddy to be the first film in a depraved trilogy of mascot horror films, with each entry focusing on a new unicorn antagonist. But what if that wasn’t the case?
Isn’t it weird that despite having a show named after him, Buddy isn’t in the center of the mural? You would think that for someone as desperate for love and affection as Buddy, he wouldn’t want to share that attention with anyone. One theory claims that “It’s Buddy” originally starred all three unicorns, with either all three unicorns equally sharing the spotlight much like the Teletubbies (1997), or where Bobby was the lead unicorn, with Buddy and Benny supporting him.
So what happened? Buddy happened. We don’t know what exactly happened to Bobby, but it seems very likely that Buddy killed him out of resentment for hogging up all the attention. As for Benny, he’s the unicorn in the workshop at the bottom of the Worry Well. And he’s deathly afraid of Buddy, hiding in the corner and refusing to talk to anyone, including the kids who are trying to escape. The implication is clear: Benny saw what Buddy did to Bobby, and in lieu of meeting the same fate as his sibling, he’s sent to the bottom of the Worry Well to fulfill Buddy’s whims and desires to make his show perfect.
Buddy Is An Abusive Narcissist
This theory does help to explain several things about Buddy’s origins and his modus operandi. Buddy NEEDS to be the center of attention and can’t handle anyone challenging him or his worldview. If anyone does, then he’ll assault, torture, or even kill them.
This claim isn’t just an interpretation of his actions, though. It’s been confirmed by Buddy’s voice actor, Keegan-Michael Key. In speaking to People Magazine, when preparing to step into the soft hooves of Buddy, Key based his performance on Robert De Niro’s character in This Boy’s Life (1993). In that film, Robert De Niro’s character, Dwight Hansen, abuses his wife and step-son in a variety of ways, including stealing their money so he can buy things for himself and leave them with nothing, all the while presenting himself as a kind and noble man. When they eventually leave him, all he can do is pathetically cry out like a baby and whine about how nobody cares about him.
“He’s literally pitying himself and acting like a victim when he’s the big bad wolf,” Key said about how Dwight influenced Buddy. “He’s the bad guy of the movie. At the end of the movie… [it’s] chilling because you go, ‘Wow, that guy has absolutely no idea what he’s doing wrong.’” The same can be said for Buddy. Buddy doesn’t see himself as the villain. He sees himself as someone who just wants to be loved, and when he doesn’t receive it, he lashes out. Characters like Betty Bunny try to placate him and feed into his ego, because at the end of the day, they’re the enablers of Buddy’s narcissism and are terrified of what he’ll do to them. They’ve seen it before. After all, if this theory is true, he’s not beyond killing his co-star and enslaving the other, all so he can have the show to himself and be the center of attention.
