Jareth
Jareth is a male film villain who features in Labyrinth.
Contents |
Biography
Jareth was a magical being who was known as the Goblin King with him being the ruler of the mystical kingdom of the Labyrinth.
King Jareth is inadvertently summoned by Sarah, a discontented teenager who has rashly wished her baby brother Toby away to the goblins. Jareth urges Sarah to forget about her brother, offering her a crystal ball containing her dreams in exchange for the baby, but Sarah declines, regretting her wish and insistent on getting Toby back. Unable to dissuade her, Jareth reluctantly informs Sarah that Toby is in his castle at the centre of the Labyrinth, and that to retrieve the baby she must solve the Labyrinth in thirteen hours or Toby will remain in the goblin realm forever.
As Sarah navigates the Labyrinth, inside the castle Jareth and his goblins entertain Toby while monitoring Sarah's progress through a crystal. Jareth is perturbed by how far she has travelled, and that she does not give up. After Sarah bribes a dwarf named Hoggle into helping her, Jareth appears before the pair. Confronting Hoggle, Jareth questions the dwarf's loyalty, as he had been supposed to lead Sarah back to the beginning of the Labyrinth, and threatens to suspend him over the Bog of Eternal Stench if he continues to help her. Jareth then asks Sarah how she is finding his challenge. Sarah belittles the Labyrinth as being easy, and in response Jareth takes away three hours from her time limit and summons "the Cleaners", a goblin-driven steel machine, to chase her and Hoggle.
Later, as Hoggle is running to rescue Sarah from a group of wild forest creatures called the Fireys, Jareth confronts the dwarf again, reproaching him for continuing to help Sarah against his warnings. He gives Hoggle an enchanted peach with the instruction to give it to Sarah. Jareth also warns Hoggle that if Sarah kisses him, Jareth will turn him into the "Prince of the Land of Stench". When Sarah kisses Hoggle in thanks for saving her from the Fireys, they are both sent to the Bog. Jareth releases crystals that float like bubbles to the forest, where Sarah has eaten the peach and fallen into an amnesiac enchantment. The crystals draw near her and she is transported into a dream of a masquerade ball, where she finds Jareth and they dance. Eventually Sarah escapes the dream by smashing the walls of the crystal and, unbeknownst to Jareth, she remembers Toby and continues her journey to save him.
In his castle, Jareth is informed that Sarah has gotten past the gate guard to the Goblin City. Alarmed by the news, he orders the goblins to hide Toby and sends his goblin troops to stop Sarah from reaching the castle, but the defence is unsuccessful. Sarah finds Jareth in a gravity-defying room of staircases and he leads her on a chase. Eventually she spots Toby and tries to get to him as Jareth sings a mournful song. In their final confrontation, Jareth reminds Sarah that he took Toby because she wished it and says he is exhausted from living up to her expectations of him. As his last desperate move, Jareth offered to be Sarah's slave and fulfill all her wishes but in exchange he wanted her love, fear and obedience. She would, however, refuse leading to the Goblin King disappearing allowing Sarah to return to Earth with her step-brother Toby. Defeated, Jareth returns Sarah and Toby home safely and turns into an owl, flying away. His final appearance was that of an owl, briefly watching from outside as a number of goblins and other characters from the Labyrinth celebrate with Sarah in her room, before flying away into the night.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Jareth appeared as a human with long, wild blonde hair and his eyes had different colored pupils that were permanently dilated. Despite his name as the Goblin King, he appeared as a human and not an actual goblin.
His personality showed him to be proud, arrogant and mischievous. He was shown to enjoy tormenting Sarah and demonstrating his powers to her. The Goblin King later showed anxiety that Sarah was progressing through the maze of the Labyrinth quickly. Though he stated he could be generous, Jareth also said that he could be cruel. In desperation, he later attempted to win Sarah by insisting that he would provide all her desires in exchange for her love, fear and obedience.
To enforce his rule, he was known to threaten others such as what he did to Hoggle where he forced him to obey him or face being banished to the Bog of Eternal Stench.
Powers and abilities
As a shapeshifter, he was able to transform into a white barn-owl that was the form he used in the human world.
He was shown to hold numerous servants that were goblins that operated as his minions.
It was also shown that he ruled a realm known as the Labyrinth that was a vast, maze-like magical domain that was referred to by its inhabitants as 'the Underground'.
Notes
- Jareth was created by Jim Henson where he was portrayed by singer/actor David Bowie and featured in the Labyrinth universe.
Appearances
- Labyrinth:
External Links
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