Is Bobby Hill A Reincarnated Buddhist Lama in ‘King of the Hill’?

Bobby Hill: Aspiring prop comic, award-winning marksman, noted crotch-kicker and the reincarnation of a beloved Buddhist lama? 

Bobby may prove himself to be many things throughout King of the Hill’s 13-season run, but the jury’s still out on one of his most consequential attributes: The decent chance he’s the second coming of Sanglug, a late local lama believed to have been re-born in the greater Arlen area. 

Bobby’s journey to Nirvana (or at least to Mega Lo Mart) all began with Season Four’s “Won’t You Pimai Neighbor?” when a group of Buddhist monks dropped by Kahn’s Laotian New Year’s Eve party to determine whether Bobby’s girlfriend, Connie Souphanousinphone, or his nemesis, Chane Wassonasong, were their reincarnated leader. But before they could administer the challenge, Bobby accidentally passed the test himself, snatching Sanglug’s old cane from a rug full of items and performing a dance while trying to distract Chane.

At first, Bobby is pretty pleased with the prospects of being Sanglug 2.0 — or as Kahn described him, a “lesser-known lama but still spiritual big-shot” — attending a community college Buddhist club meeting, mediating a beer brawl between Bill Dauterive and Dale Gribble and practicing meditation much to his dad’s chagrin. But he quickly changed his tune upon learning lamas must be celibate, choosing a life with Connie above his apparent fate as a spiritual leader. 

“I can pick anything I see on this rug?” Bobby asked during his final test. “I pick Connie,” he announced, gesturing to his girlfriend’s reflection in a mirror laid on the mat before him.

Though the Tom Landry Middle School power couple proceeded to walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand, one of the monks still had questions about Bobby’s lama status. “But that was Sanglug’s mirror,” one of them noted while packing up the rug. 

“But he didn’t pick it,” the senior monk replied. “Tough call. But it’s mine, and I made it.”

Despite the main monk’s resounding “no got dang way,” as Hank would’ve said it, several King of the Hill fans also weren’t sold on this call, arguing that Bobby may actually be Buddhist royalty after all. “I was under the impression that the monk ‘let him go’ to experience a lifetime of happiness and material world,” wrote user Cyber-Cafe on the King of the Hill subreddit. 

“Bobby chose Connie, and in that he chose the material world,” they continued, noting that the part-time mascot would “reincarnate as human again, and will have another chance to be the religious figurehead.”

User WingsOfBuffalo agreed with this theory. “My reading is that the Abbot sees his old friend again, reborn as a young man who is wise and funny. And the Abbot sees Sanglug choose love over monasticism,” they wrote, noting that between Bobby’s sense of humor and ability to pass the tests, there are “too many similarities to be ignored by a religion that identifies specific markers for reincarnation.”

“The Abbot is in a position to take Bobby away and raise him in the monastery,” they added. “It would be Sanglug’s life, all over again. But Sanglug, through Bobby, both (indicate) ‘hey it’s me!’ And also ‘I’m choosing a different path this time.” 

However, user sharkteeththrowaway begged to differ, arguing that a real spiritual leader would never abandon his followers. “Choosing Connie is something a true lama would not do,” they wrote. “He would be beyond that level of physical attachment. Remember, the Monk who questions the decision is the white guy, not one of the senior monks. Yes, Bobby chose the correct item, but he didn’t make the correct choice. That’s why the head Monk makes the decision that he does.”

Honestly, it’s probably for the best that Bobby walked away. After all, it’s hard to become a prop comic from the confines of a monastery.