Over the years, BTS has given fans plenty of mysteries to investigate and topics to debate. What’s tasty in Busan? Who is Jungkook‘s Hollywood crush? What in the world did J-Hope say in this clip? We might never know.
One of these unsolvable mysteries is about V or, more specifically, his spirit animal.
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V | Weverse
For years, ARMYs have associated each BTS member with a certain animal emoji. Up until 2019, fans used a tiger emoji to represent V.
After V released his 2019 English song, “Winter Bear,” things got complicated. Is V a tiger or a bear? Some fans switched over to Team Bear…
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| Weverse
…but others are firmly Team Tiger. After all, in BTS’s new webtoon, 7FATES: CHAKHO, V plays Jooan, a hunter who falls in love with a beom (tiger). He’s obviously a tiger…right?
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| HYBE Labels/Youtube
This is an urban fantasy from the motive of the Chakhogapsa, the army that used to catch tigers and bears of Korean tales.
— V
Even V himself can’t decide! So, he combined the best of both worlds for BTS’s new deco kit merch.
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| BANGTANTV/YouTube
V’s self-designed sticker is a bear-tiger hybrid that references ARMY’s ongoing debate. V wrote “bear vs tiger” on the sticker.
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| HYBE
As some fans have pointed out, most bears and tigers don’t have manes. (The Sumatran tiger and sloth bear are two exceptions).
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A terrifyingly majestic Sumatran tiger. | International Tiger Project
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A deceptively cuddly sloth bear. Petting is not advised. | San Diego Zoo
Male lions, on the other hand, do have manes. After seeing V’s sticker, some fans were reminded of the plush lion V used to carry around during his trainee days.
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In conclusion, V is officially a tiger-bear with a dash of lion. Case closed!
