Heat Miser is one of the two main antagonists of the 1974 Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus. He is the controller of the world’s heat and warm weather, a son of Mother Nature and the brother of Snow Miser. (It should be noted that both Snow Miser and Heat Miser were not featured in the original poem that the special is based on.)
He was voiced by the late George S. Irving, who also voiced Geppetto in the 1980 Christmas special Pinocchio’s Christmas.
Personality[]
Heat Miser is more antagonistic and wrathful than his brother Snow Miser, having a more mean, crabby and hot-tempered personality. His grumpy attitude partially comes from the fact that he’s frustrated with the Clauses, largely because he feels that Santa Claus is unfair to him by giving Snow Miser lots of publicity, “advertising” his brother with all their promotion of white Christmases, while he gets none. He is also annoyed by the fact that he believes Mother Nature likes Snow Miser better than him. Despite all this, he is not an evil being. 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, even to the point that he openly attacks Jingle and Jangle, when Mrs. Claus and the elves visit his home, he begrudgingly welcomes them and is willing to at least hear what 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 shown to be cocky, egotistical and arrogant, yet reasonable, as he can be coaxed into making deals or helping others, usually if he benefits from it as well. 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 his brother would not agree to the terms.
Like his brother, he is obedient to Mother Nature and he is visibly afraid when Mrs. Claus threatens to speak directly to her. In the sequel, his personality is limited to being a little more angry all the time. He is also shown to be more of a pushover than in the original special.
Appearance[]
Heat Miser has darker skin than his icy brother, but he is still fairly pale, although his skin does have a slight orange tint to it. His hair is red and sticks up, resembling flames, and even glows, especially when he is angry. He wears a red shirt, yellow leggings, and long, red elf-like shoes with pointed toes that curl upward. In both of his appearances, he has a round red nose, red pointed ears, and is usually seen scowling grumpily. During his musical number, he wears a straw hat with a red and yellow striped hatband. Like his brother, he is abnormally tall and towers over both humans and Mother Nature. But out of the two brothers, he is the shorter one in stature and is more rotund.
Powers and abilities[]
Heat Miser is an ogre or demon-like being who has control of heat and presumably the sun, as he controls the warm weather of the world. He has the ability to generate heat from his body, melting most anything he touches, even flammable objects that would normally burn or combust, such as a shovel’s wooden handle. However, unlike Snow Miser, there is no evidence that he can restore the objects he melts like his brother 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 can endure independently for a few seconds. Additionally, he is assumed to be immortal.
Role in the special[]
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Heat Miser and his minions in their first appearance in the special.
In the original special, Heat Miser is first seen battling with his brother Snow Miser. When he and his minions spot two of Santa’s elves, Jingle and Jangle, and one of Santa’s reindeer, Vixen, they openly attack them by shooting them out of the sky with a flash of heat lightning. The two elves plummet to their doom, but Vixen swoops in and rescues them. The trio make their escape, much to Heat Miser’s anger. When Snow Miser throws a snowball at his brother and laughs at him for his rage over his victims getting away, Heat Miser angrily retaliates by shooting a beam of heat lightning back at him, and thus the two continue their fight.
Much later on, Mrs. Claus finds the two lost elves and they, along with a boy named Iggy Thistlewhite, accompany her on a visit to Heat Miser’s lair within a flaming volcano to negotiate a deal for the weather in Southtown, after learning that Southtown is part of Heat Miser’s territory. There, it is shown that Heat Miser has a flair for the dramatic, and entertains his guests with a song and dance backed up by his minions. Afterwards, they ask if Heat Miser will let his brother have snow fall on Southtown in an attempt to have the citizens believe in Santa Claus once more. Initially, Heat Miser angrily refuses, but then decides to allow it under one condition: that he takes control of the North Pole for one day. Mrs. Claus calls Snow Miser about the terms, but as Heat Miser predicted, he is unwilling to cooperate on the aforementioned deal, causing both brothers to begin fighting and arguing. Mrs. Claus gets tired of their fighting, and is force to travel to visit their mother about the situation, causing both brothers to become scared.
After hearing the story from Mrs. Claus, Heat Miser, along with his brother, are summoned to their mother's place to answer for the petty argument. There, she force them to compromise, telling them if they refuse, that she will take disciplinary actions against the two. Fearing her wrath, Heat Miser and Snow reluctantly agree, but not without making faces at each other behind her back.
The two are not seen again for the remainder of the special, but their actions ultimately result in Southtown’s residents to believe in Santa Claus once more and for Santa to regain his hope and resume his job that year after all.