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So, we have traced the so-called evolution of the scene from the early version in two versions to the final one, where White Wolf is a metaphor of selfacceptance and a symbolic character, once left by the wolf part of Bolto and his mirror reflection, embodying all his noble qualities and his spiritual purity.
There is a very interesting comment from Amy Ratelle on this subject:
"In the drama there is a moral, fulfilling the desire to achieve justice, because the powerless, but virtuous seek to return to the "innocence" of their origins. In the case of Bolto it is very difficult, because he is a half-wolf and a victim of circumstances. That is, he is already stained at birth. He is uncomfortable with both dogs chasing him and wolves all the time. Bolto runs away from the city and collides with a wolf pack on his way home. High up on the hill, they call him, making a sad howl. He looks more like them, like wolves than any Noma dog. And the wolves are ready to accept him in their flock and see him as part of their family. But, alas, Bolto craves Jenna and "civilization", i.e. the society of dogs and people, and he leaves, feeling shame for his unclean pedigree.
...Bolto faces a white wolf, and this remarkable encounter, which neither he nor we have ever seen before. This episode is the main core and the main message on which the whole film is based. A very quiet, mute and spiritual moment in the third act of the film, contrasting with everything we have seen before - dialogue and action. Bolto and White Wolf howl against the backdrop of blizzard and snowy mountains. This mountainous winter landscape acquires great symbolic significance, as well as the snow-white spirit of the wolf at this particular moment and in the film as a whole. Richard Dyer talked about the harsh mountain landscapes, which had a number of advantages: the clarity and purity of the air, the energy required by the cold, the enterprise required by the severity of the terrain and the climate, the beauty of the mountain prospects that elevates the soul, the even greater closeness to God and the presence of the whiteest thing on earth - the snow.
Or at least snow is the second whiteest element in this scene. The wolf spirit (perhaps even the god of wolves) is the lightest and most snow-white creature in this white landscape. Looking for its origin, Bolto discovers that it is as pure and lilac-white as Jenna or Steele, if not cleaner and whiter. His noble origins are far ahead of the gray wolves, which he refused to join at the beginning of the film. The animation perfectly conveys the unusual appearance of the spirit of the wolf - tall, slender, with a cute tapered face, golden eyes with concentric black pupils, as well as the surrounding blizzard background of gentle blue and green shades, heated by the presence of the wolf, radiating a very weak pink-yellow glow. The stunning revelation of Bolto's purity and intrinsic value is achieved by a small stage without dialogue - the calmness in the middle of the blizzard and the storm in the heart of Bolto himself.
In the final version, the accent and focus on Bolto himself and his inner conflict have been shifted even further, and White Wolf from a character with his own peculiarities has turned into just a powerful image, into a metaphor of self-acceptance, into a dormant and separated by a wolf part, into a true "I", which is cold and unemotional, the more strongly emphasizes the loneliness and detachment, isolation and indifference that have always pursued Bolto. It is not in vain that the emphasis is on the wolf warrior. Previously, Bolto had not responded to the wolf's howl, rejecting his wolf half, but trying to find out who he really was (but assuming he was only a dog). And now, in the dark hour, to the desperate semicolon is a crystal-clear majestic image, his true "I" in the guise of the noble White Wolf, what the semicolon was always running from and against what he fought in vain, considered himself unworthy of it, was ashamed and afraid (t.(i.e., he fled from himself), that is, who is Bolto (the wolf), howls and expects an answer from him, i.e. the long-awaited acceptance and understanding that the half-blooded, previously considered unworthy, and performs by means of a wolf battle and merging with a snow-white creature in a great song. The final version became even more psychological, close to existentialism, focused on Bolto, who was left alone, without support and alone with his fears, doubts, torments, feelings and thoughts, and who eventually copes with the problems himself, which emphasizes how personal this scene is. That's why it's another very obvious hint that the White Wolf is not real and not real, that's why it's depicted as more otherworldly, mysterious and, if I may say so, divine. A magnificent scene about accepting yourself and your nature, in which you feel frosty freshness and a surge of strength.
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