Lion-O’s keeper
Entrusted with the care of the young Lion-O, Snarf often thinks of himself as the oldest member of the group, at least barring Lynx-O and Jaga. Although Snarf is an excessive worrier and something of a pessimist, his courage is as strong as the other, full-sized ThunderCats, particularly when defending Lion-O, of whom Snarf is somewhat over-protective. Snarf can be slightly absent-minded and bumbling, perhaps due to his advancing years, but can always be called upon to ably aid the ThunderCats.
He was Lion-O’s nursemaid on Thundera and simply never stopped. The ThunderCats’ Lord is a grown warrior with a magic sword and Snarf still treats him as a boy who might catch cold.
Not a cat
Snarf is not a Thunderian and not a cat. Snarf is the name of his species and his own name at the same time, which the series confirms when other Snarfs appear, among them his nephew Snarfer. His actual given name is Osbert, and he is not pleased that anyone knows it.
What he can actually do
He carries no weapon. What he has instead is the ability to talk to the creatures of Third Earth by whistling, and a size small enough to get through gaps that stop everyone else. Those two things together make him the ThunderCats’ most reliable escape plan.
Snarf Takes Up the Challenge is the proof. Every ThunderCat has been captured and mummified inside the Black Pyramid, and Snarf goes in alone, recruiting a giant bat, a spider and a diamond-beaked woodpecker to get through the walls. It is also the episode that establishes the animal-speech power properly.
Snarf-Ra, the Ever-Living
In Hair of the Dog, Mumm-Ra swaps Snarf’s body with that of his hound Ma-Mutt. Chained inside the Black Pyramid, Snarf recites his own version of Mumm-Ra’s incantation to the Ancient Spirits of Evil and rises as Snarf-Ra, a giant flying Snarf who beats Mumm-Ra outright and then politely asks to be turned back.
It is not even the first time he grows to enormous size. The Wolfrat gets there first, when Tygra’s antidote to Vultureman’s shrinking gas overshoots.
