Papa Smurf Community

Papa Smurf is a male fictional character from the Smurfs. He is the third oldest of the Smurfs (after Grandpa and Nanny), and their leader. He is 542 years old[citation needed] (while the other Smurfs are approximately 100 years old), but is quite energetic for his age. He can be easily distinguished from the other Smurfs by his red clothes and his bushy white beard (which was brown in his younger days). Don Messick provided Papa Smurf\'s voice in the 1980\'s animated series.

Papa Smurf (in French, \"Le Grand Schtroumpf\") is gentle, wise, and knowledgeable. He serves as the Smurf\'s leader and as a paternal figure of which the Smurfs usually go to when they require counsel and he is always concerned about the Smurf\'s wellbeing and harmony. He is very altruistic and always ready to help somebody, whether he is a Smurf or human.

Papa Smurf also has diplomatic skills in case they meet humans or other creatures, and usually manages to speak without using the \"smurf\" word. He can also be occasionally short-tempered.

Papa Smurf\'s duty is to ensure all the Smurfs of the village get along well, are nice to each other, and don\'t fight. When real chaos rises among them, Papa Smurf takes very drastic measures, often using magic, like switching bodies with Gargamel in order to pretend to attack the village (\"Smurf Versus Smurf\" issue) or even creating a whole other village of evil doubles of the original Smurfs (\"The Smurf Menace\" issue).

When he is not doing his leader or \"father-knows-best\" job, Papa Smurf indulges in his favorite hobby: magical chemistry, or alchemy. He often makes elixirs to help out Smurfs who get themselves into trouble. His house is a large laboratory containing several chemical devices, and he tries to create potions for the good of the Smurfs, yet sometimes fails - such as the time he accidentally created a substance that turned any living thing into a huge monster (see the album: \"The Smurfs and the Cracoucass\"). Impassioned by this activity, He occasionaly leaves the village inorder to get the needed ingredients.