Jafar was the Royal Vizier of Agrabah and the main antagonist in Aladdin and its first sequel. He also appeared
in an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series. Jafar was voiced by Jonathan Freeman.
Personality[]
Jafar is tall and thin, and almost always depicted in flowing robes of black, dark red and other moody colors. He also carries a cobra-head staff, which he uses for his sorcery.
Jafar is portrayed as an amoral psychopath who will not hesitate to destroy anyone he perceives as a threat to his own sinister designs. Like numerous clinically-diagnosed psychopaths, Jafar wears a metaphorical mask of normalcy throughout the film, establishing himself as a cool-headed schemer and gaining the trust of those around him, despite his rather untrustworthy physical appearance. Even with this mask, Jafar's psychopathic tendencies tend to seep through and become apparent to the viewer, particularly in the opening sequence, where Jafar, outside of immediate initial anger over Gazeem not being the one who is the Diamond in the Rough and thus being killed, displays no remorse in sending Gazeem the thief to his death in the Cave of Wonders, simply proclaiming that "Gazeem was obviously less than worthy" in a rather dry tone of voice. The deleted song "Humiliate the Boy" also establishes Jafar as an emotional sadist, getting a laugh out of seeing "an other fellow's dreams turn into nightmares one by one" and treating the Genie in an especially harsh manner. Jafar also displays narcissistic tendencies, his most obvious ones being his obsessive desire for power and sense of entitlement, as well as manipulating the Sultan to achieve his goals. It is not until Jafar gains control of the Genie's lamp that he fully shows his true colors, becoming arrogant and short-tempered with his subjects after usurping power from the Sultan. It is this impulsive behavior that leads to his downfall, as he uses his third wish to become an omnipotent genie, unaware of the life inside the lamp that he now has to endure.
Jafar is usually shown to be somewhat comedic and plucky (giving a slight human side to his usual evil, a trait not usually seen in Disney villains), even in his times of evil and cunning, proclaiming "Ewww..." when contemplating decapitation. This, however, doesn't keep Jafar from having a sub-par sense of humor himself, spurting several puns in a row while keeping Aladdin and his friends from getting the lamp during the film's climax ("Your time is up!", "Don't toy with me!", "Things are unraveling fast now, boy!", "Get the point?", "I'm just getting warmed up!"), as pointed out by Hades in Hercules and the Arabian Nights. This comical humor does not carry over in the film's direct-to-video sequel, which aimed to make Jafar more sinister and ruthless.
Designs[]
Jafar was animated by Andreas Deja, who used the character Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and voice actor Jonathan Freeman, as basis for Jafar's design. Jafar is a tall, bony man dressed in extravagant clothing, always seen carrying his gold, ruby-eyed, cobra scepter to supplement his magical powers. He was supposed to be designed as ugly, and Genie makes this obvious when he refers to him as "a tall, dark, sinister, ugly man." Jafar wears black robes that reach the ground overtop a red-violet garment with bell sleeves. Underneath this second garment, Jafar wears yet another shirt, this one black with very close-fitting sleeves that reach his wrists. The shoulders of his outer robe are pointed and connect to a long, billowing black cape with a blood red interior. His shoes are brown and the tips curl inward. A red-violet sash is tied around his waist. He also wears an odd, light-colored garment that covers his neck, the back of his head, and his chest. Jafar has a twisted, black goatee and a faint mustache, as well as Grey eyeliner. He sports a distinctive black headdress, seemingly a type of mitre, with a thin, yellow pattern wrapping around the middle, what seems to be a ruby set in the front, and a bright red feather placed just above it. More red-violet cloth hangs from the mitre, draping over Jafar's shoulders. As Sultan, Jafar wears a white version of this outfit. When turned into a sorcerer, Jafar's wardrobe goes to a more exaggerated form of his normal attire, with a head-dress sporting horn-like protrusions. Here he regains his iconic snake staff, but notably with an open fanged-mouth that fires beams magic on command.
Once Jafar makes his third lamp wish, he takes on a form resembling Genie himself, with some differences. Jafar's skin becomes blood red, his ears become pointed, his right ear gains a gold piercing, his hair becomes tied in a topknot, and his eyes become completely yellow (although there are instances where Jafar gains pupils, such as in You Are Only Second Rate), and when he uses legs instead of a tail, the legs look muscular and somewhat demonic, with claws. He retains his red-violet sash and five-fingered hands (albeit with claws, compared to Genie, who has four-fingers). When in normal human form, Jafar wears a slight recolor of his sorcerer outfit, with red more prominent than before. He retains his snake staff.
When he guest appeared in an episode of Hercules, his sorcerer outfit was mainly dark colors of black and brown.
Appearances[]
Aladdin[]
Jafar and Iago.
In Aladdin, Jafar is introduced as the sinister Grand Vizier to Agrabah's Sultan who desires power over Agrabah and lusts over the Sultan's beautiful daughter, Princess Jasmine. He is the second most powerful authority in Agrabah, answering only to the Sultan. He is always accompanied by his sarcastic, devious pet parrot, Iago.
Whilst presenting a charming and respectable exterior to the Sultan and the people of Agrabah, he secretly holds everyone around him in contempt and manipulates the Sultan by means of hypnotizing him with a magical snake-headed staff, which he always carries on his person. He has traveled widely and amassed a wide knowledge of magical artifacts and legends. Until he uses Djinn/Genie's powers to become a sorcerer, however, his magical abilities are limited to the use of such artifacts as he has collected, and his prowess as an accomplished alchemist.
Like some villain characters from other franchises, Jafar is attracted to a beautiful girl or woman that is a protagonist. Here, he is attracted to Princess Jasmine, but primarily for her good looking body, and not for Jasmine herself as a person. His final wish was initially for Jasmine to fall desperately in love with him so he could make her his queen (he and Iago originally planned on killing her as soon as he became Sultan, but at some time later he refused to kill her, instead sparing her life); he first creates a golden crown for her from her shackles to do so with a wave of his hand, saying that a girl as beautiful as her "should be on the arm of the most powerful man in the world".
Jafar sucked into the lamp
Genie could not grant this wish, but after she spotted Aladdin and Abu above Jafar and the Genie in a balcony, Jasmine got the idea to pretend to do so, and she and Jafar shared both their first kiss together on the lips, in order for Jasmine to distract Jafar's attention from Aladdin as he tried to get the lamp back. (Much earlier, though, he says in a sexist manner that Jasmine's speechlessness is "a fine quality in a wife").
Jafar transformed himself into a giant cobra to kill Aladdin, but just as he was about to eat him, Aladdin tricked Jafar into using his third and final wish to become an all-powerful genie himself. In this form Jafar was red in hue, possibly to represent his more "evil" nature, contrasting with Genie's blue tone. In Western culture, genies are almost always portrayed as being confined to small oil lamps until they are released to do a human's bidding; Jafar was therefore trapped by his own selfish wish for power. Screaming in rage he was sucked into a black oil lamp, dragging the protesting Iago with him. The Genie then flung the lamp into the Cave of Wonders for 10,000 years.
The Return of Jafar[]
Jafar in The Return of Jafar.
Jafar returns as the main villain in the film's sequel. In this film he is freed from his lamp by one of Aladdin enemies, Abis Mal. Because his genie form cannot directly kill Aladdin due to its inherent limitations, and since he can't actually travel outside of close proximity of the lamp, he attempts to arrange for Abis Mal to do it for him. He initially used his genie form to persuade Abis Mal into helping him, but then transforms into his human form after it became apparent that Abis Mal could not even respond coherently, much less agree to help him, out of intimidation at his terrifying genie form. Jafar forcibly recruited Abis Mal as his partner by forcing him to waste his first two wishes so that Abis Mal will assist him in his plot for revenge against Aladdin in order to get his third wish (although Abis Mal, having earlier encountered Aladdin, tells him he would have assisted him anyway after learning this due to sharing a mutual desire for revenge against him as well).
Jafar reunites with Iago (who has freed himself from the lamp a few hours before Jafar, and also put him into the well after refusing to release him due to his simply using Iago and not thanking him) and demands him to lure Aladdin and the Sultan into a trap. Iago successfully gets Aladdin and Sultan to go for a flight on Carpet and while they're gone, Jafar invades the palace and begins to torment Genie and Abu. After the torture, he captures the two and begins the next part of his plan.
Aladdin, Sultan, Carpet and Iago reach the destination and what seems to be a peaceful and relaxing area, turns out to be a death trap as Sultan is kidnapped by hooded men on magic flying horses. Aladdin threatens Iago saying he'll deal with him later and rushes off on Carpet to save the Sultan. Aladdin fails and is thrown down a waterfall by Abis Mal but rescued by Jafar. Abis Mal is in shock but Jafar explains their act of revenge is not completed just yet. Jafar frames Aladdin for the murder of the Sultan who is really being held in captivity by Jafar. Jafar disguises himself as Jasmine and right before Aladdin is executed via decapitation, Jafar reveals himself to torture Aladdin even more. Genie is freed by Iago and saves Aladdin.
After his lamp was destroyed, Jafar was killed in an electrical outburst
At the palace, Jafar rewards Abis Mal with all of the treasure his heart desired, with the only thing he requests in return is for Abis Mal to grant his freedom. Before he can, however, the lamp is taken by Aladdin who knows that the only way to destroy him is to destroy his lamp. Jafar transforms into a genie and battles the heroes, confident that they'll never destroy him because of his great power. He creates a wasteland in the palace's garden creating pits of lava and knocks out Genie. Before Aladdin is killed, Iago kicks the lamp into the lava which results in Jafar violently imploding into a cloud of dust, destroying him. Peace is restored and Iago is welcomed into Aladdin's home.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves[]
In the series' final installment, Jafar makes no physical appearance but is mentioned by Genie in the film's opening song Party in Agrabah. Genie believes with Jafar out the way, there is no possible way the wedding of Aladdin and Jasmine can be interrupted by trouble. Genie is also holding a Jafar mask at this time.
Hercules and the Arabian Night[]
Jafar later made one more attempt at revenge in an episode ("Hercules and the Arabian Night") of Disney's Hercules TV-show spinoff, where he was temporarily revived by Hercules' arch-enemy, Hades. He no longer had his genie powers and was an ordinary sorceror again. The two villains teamed up to get rid of Aladdin and Hercules by having them fight against each other, but their plan failed resulting in Jafar ending up dead again and pulled into the River Styx. He has not at this point made any reappearances in the official Aladdin continuity.
House of Mouse[]
Jafar in Mickey's House of Villains
Despite his death, Jafar has also had a recurring role on House of Mouse. He was even the central villain of the direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains, in which he relieved the villians of the Halloween boredom at the House of Mouse by taking it over and transforming it into the House of Villians. However, Jafar is later sealed into one of the magic lamps and the other villains flee with their most powerful member defeated. Jafar even went on a date with Maleficent in one episode and many fans noted that the two characters possessed many similarities. The two are often compared as both have regal bearing, bird side-kicks, are exceeding tall and dress in long, dark robes and peculiar head-wear.
Two other of Jafar's most notable appearances on the show are on 'Donald's Lamp Trade" where he tricks Donald into thinking Mickey's not his friend so he can obtain a lamp and in "House of Magic", in which he and Iago use the famous magic spell Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo to return the House of Mouse after Daisy Duck magically causes it to vanish.
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Majority of information taken from Kingdom Hearts Wiki-Jafar
Jafar as he appears in the Kingdom Hearts series.
Jafar is a recurring villain in the Kingdom Hearts games. He is a member of Maleficent's group, and appears to be her second-in-command.
Kingdom Hearts[]
During Maleficent's conquest of the worlds, Jafar was recruited to help out with their ultimate goal of ruling the universe with the power of Kingdom Hearts. Jafar, along with his parrot Iago, planned to use the Heartless to take over Agrabah, succeding in placing the citizens under arrest to keep the Heartless from being side-tracted and overthrowing the sutan. He visited Hollow Bastion twice, once commenting on Sora's defeat of Guard Armor and second, commenting on Sora's progress in Deep Jungle along with Clayton's foolishness.
When Maleficent came to check on his progress, Jafar had yet to find the Keyhole to his world, something he tasked the Heartless with doing; (a big mistake). However, he had also yet to capture Jasmine, the sixth Princess of Heart. Upon ordering the Heartless to find Jasmine, Jafar was warned not to steep himself in darkness for too long as "the Heartless consume the careless." When Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive, Jafar was trying to capture the princess, failing as they diverted his attention.
While Sora, Donald and Goofy went to the Desert and rescued Aladdin from the Heartless, Jafar had managed to locate Jasmine back at the palace. When Aladdin arrived with the others and wished for Genie to save her, Jafar toke the lamp, nullifying the second wish. With his capture of Jasmine complete, Jafar left for the Cave of Wonders with Genie to find the Keyhole while keeping the heroes busy with a Heartless boss.
Upon entering the Lamp Chamber, Jafar wished for the Keyhole to be revealed. At the same time, he had the Heartless possess the Guardian of the Cave to buy himself time. Once again, Maleficent arrived to check on his progress and Jafar infromed her of Sora's interfearance with their plan. Thinking it may be best to tell Riku about Sora's resistence to further their goal, Jafar was interrupted by the arrival of the heroes. With Maleficent fleeing back to Hollow Bastion, Jafar used his second wish for Genie to crush Sora and friends. A slave to the lamp, Genie reluctantly fought alongside Jafar against Sora and friends.
Losing, Jafar saw his powers were nothing compared to Genie's, using his last wish to become a genie himself. He then fought the heroes in a lava chamber, but was defeated, getting sucked into his lamp with Iago. After the battle, Hades, Captain Hook, and Riku conversed about his chances against Sora; Hades comments saying that Jafar may have won if Riku had supported him.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories[]
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Jafar appeared in the Agrabah made of Sora's memories with the Heartless to take over Agrabah. In order to get the lamp, he tricked Aladdin to get the lamp in an attempt to make Jasmine marry him. When Jafar stole the lamp from Aladdin, his first wish was to have Jasmine in his clutches, his second being for Genie to protect him from a sneak attack led by Sora and Aladdin, and his third wish was to become an all-powerful Genie. He teleported Sora and his friends to the center of the earth and attacked them. His attacks were similar to that seen in the first game, except ice could not damage him. Instead of attacking Jafar directly, Sora attacked Iago, grabbed the lamp, and trapped Jafar inside like the previous encounter.He also appeared in Riku's story representing Riku's dark memories.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
First Visit[]
One year later, Jafar's lamp is found by the Peddler. Maleficent sent Pete to get the lamp and release Jafar from his prison and turn him into a Heartless. Unfortunately for Pete, Sora and friends had already arrived. Sora and gang head to the Cave of Wonders to give the Peddler treasures for the Lamp. Sora returned to find Pete chasing the Peddler for the lamp. Pete chased the Peddler all the way to the Palace, but Iago, who had previously escaped from the lamp, snatched it in the nick of time. Angered, Pete summoned two powerful Heartless but Sora defeated them and sealed Jafar's lamp away.
Second Visit[]
However, the "defeat" was bittersweet. Due to the manipulations of Organization XIII, the Peddler found Jafar's lamp again and released him. Jafar forced Iago to keep Sora occupied by telling him that he would be in the Desert Ruins. Sora and the gang arrived at the tower in the ruins, with the help of Genie and Carpet, while Jafar kidnapped Princess Jasmine. Once Sora and Aladdin discovered the ruse, Iago informed them that Jafar would be attacking the Palace at that point. They arrived at the Palace to find Jafar taunting Jasmine, who was chained to the gate. Jafar fired a beam of dark lightning at Aladdin, but Iago intercepted it and fell unconcious. Jafar turned into his Genie form and rose into the sky, with Sora in pursuit, riding on the magic carpet. Sora and Jafar battled one-on-one in a battle that destroyed half of Agrabah. Sora came out the victor, with Jafar exploding, his lamp dissolving into the darkness.
Kingdom Hearts coded[]
Jafar appears in Kingdom Hearts coded, in Agrabah, in his genie form, confronting Genie and Sora. He steals the Genie's lamp and has a fake lamp that can control time. He kidnaps Princess Jasmine and uses his new powers over time to delay Sora from getting rid of the bugs. In the game, you must fight him twice as his normal self and once as his genie form.
Disney Parks[]
Jafar and Iago posing for a photo at Hong Kong Disneyland
Jafar appears occasionally in the Disney Parks as a meetable character.
Jafar can be found often at Disney's Hollywood Studios and even more at Disneyland Paris.
On the Disney Fantasy, Jafar is one of the villain suspects in the attraction "Midship Detective Agency". When he's the culprit, Mickey, Donald and Goofy track him down and successfully puts him behind bars where the fall causes his hat to cover his face, having Jafar walking into one of the bars and falling conscious.
Fantasmic![]
In the Walt Disney World version of Fantasmic!, Jafar is summoned by The Queen when she plots to destroy Mickey Mouse and take over Disney. In the show, Jafar turns into his snake form in an attempt to eat Mickey. When the villains get the upper hand, Jafar becomes a Genie. Soon Mickey saves the day and Jafar is killed off along with everyone else.
Disney Villains Mix and Mingle[]
In the live castle stage show in the Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom, Jafar is summoned by Maleficent along with other villains. In the show Jafar and the villains celebrate Halloween with music and mingling. As of 2011, Jafar no longer appears, having been replaced by Frollo, with Dr. Facilier becoming the host.[1]
Starlight Dreams[]
Jafar was one of the villains that joined in the attack on Mickey Mouse and Friends. Like the other villains, Jafar was only seen through water projectors.
Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular[]
Jafar appears as the main antagonist in the Broadway-style show. Jafar is first seen at the Cave of Wonders to retrieve the lamp. However his plans are foiled when the thief he hired was not worthy. Later on Jafar eventually steals the lamp ceasing control over Agrabah. He is defeated by Aladdin.
Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom[]
In Adventureland, Jafar is released from his lamp by Hades (referring to himself as Prince Azure here) and recruited to help find the crystal of the Magic Kingdom. Secretly however, Jafar plans on stealing back his lamp so that he may answer to no one and trap Hades in the Cave of Wonders. Jafar uses a diamond ring from Iago to locate the crystal. Before he can retrieve it, Merlin the Wizard interferes. Hades orders Jafar to eliminate Merlin but the villain himself finds Merlin to be elusive. Jafar meets the heroic park guests set to abolish Hades' plans. Jafar sends a snake to battle the guests. While the guests were in battle, Jafar managed to kidnap Merlin and imprison him in a lamp. Together, Genie and the guests travel to the Cave of Wonders, where Jafar and the crystal are found. A battle follows, ending with Jafar being sucked back into his lamp by Merlin.
Family[]
As far as Jafar's family goes, he has a twin sister named Nasira, who tried bringing her brother back to life in the game, Nasira's Revenge. Jafar's sister is very similar both in appearance and actions as Maleficent. She respects Jafar and the sibling bond between them is quite strong.
Powers and abilities[]
At the start of Aladdin, despite having an extensive knowledge of arcane lore, Jafar did not seem to possess any genuine magical powers and thus could have been no more than an alchemist. However, after wishing to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, he could levitate objects, summon fire, and transform himself and others. Jafar's next wish - to become a Genie - made him arguably one of the most powerful entites in the Disney universe.
Trivia[]
- Over the years, Jafar has become one of the most popular Disney Villains, second only to Maleficent.
- The Nostalgia Critic listed Jafar as Number 10 on his "Top 11 Disney Villains" list.
- Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart was originally offered the role as Jafar's voice but had to decline due to scheduling difficulties, noted by himself as something he regrets now.
- Jafar is listed 2nd in Ultimate Disney Villains right after Maleficent; he is also the first Disney Villain to be kissed by a heroine.
- The Genie's cheerleader routine in mockery of Jafar, "Jafar, Jafar, he's our man! If he can't do it, GREAT!" is parodied in the card "Eryss" from the now discontinued TCG, Magi-Nation Duel.
- Jafar's betrayal of Jasmine and the Sultan in Aladdin shows he has similar character to Clayton who betrays Tarzan, Jane Porter and her father near the end of Tarzan (1999) and Thadeus Thatch's "friend", Preston Whitmore's "comrade" from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Unlike Jane and Milo Thatch, however, Jasmine never trusted Jafar.
- Jafar also has many comparisons to Maleficent. Both have long robes, tall hats, magic staves, birds as sidekicks (Iago and Diablo), charming personalities with violent tempers, they both take royals as prisoners(Prince Philip and Princess Jasmine), and they both turn into monsters in the climactic battle with the hero (Jafar turns into a giant snake, Maleficent turns into a dragon).
- Jafar is the third Disney villain to have a bird for a sidekick (the others being The Queen and Maleficent). However, his bird sidekick actually talks and actually defects to the good guys later on.
- Jafar's death is one of the very few deaths in any Disney work to actually be depicted graphically, where he actually dies of electrocution similar to Ursula. Normally, we do not see the dead body at all (ie Gaston), and even if we do, then there would be no scratches on the corpse at all (ie Mufasa).