The Cursed Idol

The Cursed Idol is a bronze statuette that serves as a recuring character in the Happy Tree Friends universe. It is based on the fertility idol from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It brings death or severe injuries to those who are near it. Most of the time the deaths are instant, but on a couple of occasions a character and the Idol are near each other for a while before the character dies (such as Idol Curiosity and Hello Dolly).

Occasionally the Idol can be seen in the background of certain episodes, not directly causing characters' deaths yet still foreshadowing what is to come (e.g., Class Act, Every Litter Bit Hurts, Wipe Out, etc.). It also can be spotted flying off the disaster, and these moments are usually very brief (like in Swelter Skelter). The deaths that the Idol causes are sometimes the fault of machinery malfunctioning, though it also makes objects suddenly appear out of nowhere (e.g., boulders, icebergs), causes animals to fall from the sky, and turns normal sand into quicksand.

Starring Roles

 * Treasure These Idol Moments
 * Hello Dolly
 * Idol Curiosity

Apperance Roles

 * Crazy Antics
 * Happy Trails pt. 1
 * Get Whale Soon
 * Milkin' It
 * Class Act
 * Remains to be Seen
 * The Wrong Side of the Tracks
 * Ipso Fatso (as a picture on a menu)
 * Who's to Flame?
 * Every Litter Bit Hurts
 * Gems the Breaks
 * A Hole Lotta Love
 * Wipe Out
 * Letter Late Than Never (as a picture in the post office)
 * A Sucker for Love
 * Disco Bear's Halloween Smoochie
 * Chore Loser
 * Wrath of Con (as action figures)
 * Swelter Skelter
 * See You Later, Elevator
 * Royal Flush

Number of Kills

 * Cuddles – 0
 * Giggles - 1 (Idol Curiosity)
 * Toothy – 3 (Treasure These Idol Moments, Happy Trails pt. 1, Idol Curiosity)
 * Lumpy – 2 (Treasure These Idol Moments, Idol Curiosity)
 * Petunia – 2 (Happy Trails pt. 1 (along with Lumpy), Hello Dolly)
 * Handy – 0
 * Nutty – 0
 * Sniffles – 2 (Treasure These Idol Moments, Idol Curiosity)
 * Pop – 0
 * Cub – 2 (Treasure These Idol Moments; Hello Dolly)
 * Flaky – 2 (Treasure These Idol Moments (along with Lumpy), Idol Curiosity)
 * The Mole – 2 (Happy Trails pt. 1, Idol Curiosity)
 * Disco Bear – 1 (Hello Dolly)
 * Russell – 1 (Idol Curiosity)
 * Lifty – 0
 * Shifty – 0
 * Mime – 0
 * Cro-Marmot – 0
 * Flippy – 0
 * Splendid – 0
 * Lammy - 0
 * Generic Tree Friends - 0
 * Others - 4+ (2 birds from Happy Trails pt.1; 2 birds from Hello Dolly; Numerous monkeys from Idol Curiosity)

Trivia

 * The Idol is based of the fertility idol from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (the boulder that fell from the top of a slide and crushed Cub in Treasure These Idol Moments could have been a nod to the movie).
 * Another possible inspiration for the Idol is the cursed tiki statue from The Brady Bunch.
 * The temple in Idol Curiosity is a reference to Mayan temples.
 * The popular flash game Totem Destroyer may have been based off of the Cursed Idol.
 * In all of its appearance roles, it has never killed anyone (with the expection of Happy Trails pt. 1, where it may have been the cause of Petunia's death.)
 * It could be the origin of Sniffles and the Ant Family's rivalry.
 * In the episode Wrath of Con, Cro-Marmot was seen selling bunches of Cursed Idols, these are most likely replicas, however, and probably have no ability to inflict (great) misfortune on others. That being said, the building they were in was still brought down by Splendid.
 * The Cursed Idol is based on a human rather than an animal, which leads to some fans saying that humans once existed in the HTF-universe, but were wiped out (by either natural or paranormal causes, or a nuclear war).