Jafar (2019)


 * NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Jafar from the 2019 movie. The mainstream version can be found here: Jafar (Disney).

"I can make you rich... rich enough to impress a princess."

- Jafar to Aladdin.

Jafar is the main antagonist in the 2019 live action remake of Disney's Aladdin. He is the power-hungry Grand Vizier of Agrabah who plots to become Sultan and destroy the nearby kingdom of Sherebad by acquiring the Genie.

He was portrayed by Marwan Kenzari.

Biography
Jafar first appeared in the desert with his pet Iago as they lured an unwitting man they hired to enter the Cave of Wonders, but the Cave rejects the man by burying him in the sand as it finds him to be unworthy, much to Jafar's anger. The Cave then tells Jafar that only the "diamond in the rough" is worthy enough to enter.

Back in the palace of Agrabah, Jafar gets the palace guards (led by Hakim) to examine the prisoners to find the "Diamond in the Rough", but none of them prove to be as the cave described, and he has the guards send them away. The jailer asks Jafar why he must go to such lengths, reminding him that he is second only to the Sultan, which Jafar points out as being his problem, as he desires to be the Sultan of Agrabah himself. The jailer goes on to say that, since he is not of royal blood, it would be impossible for him to become Sultan, enraging Jafar and prompting him to rant to the jailer about the tribulations he has gone through to get where he is, including spending five years in a Sherebad jail, before stating that he no longer needs him and shoving him down a pit to his death.

After Princess Jasmine's rejection of Prince Anders, Jafar speaks to the Sultan and advises him to declare war on Sherebad and overtake it before it does the same, though the Sultan disagrees, as Sherebad poses no threat to Agrabah. With his attempt having failed, Jafar uses his staff to hypnotize the Sultan into agreeing with him, only for Princess Jasmine to come across them and snap her father out of Jafar's trance by questioning his decision to wage war on both the kingdom where her mother was born and an ally of Agrabah. Jafar is quick to point out that they wouldn't have to worry about having allies if she had agreed to marry Prince Anders, with the Sultan also agreeing that Jasmine should stay in line with Agrabah's traditions and marry royalty, since she can't be Sultan herself. The Sultan then turns to Jafar and reminds him to know his place as well, and, reluctantly, he agrees to do so. Outside in the hall, Jafar speaks to Jasmine and tells her that she will be happier once she remembers that she is to be "seen, not heard" before leaving.

The following night, Aladdin and Abu break into the palace in order to return Jasmine's bracelet that the latter stole before, unaware that they are being watched by Iago. Iago returns to his master and remarks that there is a thief in the palace and that he is a "diamond in the rough", before they both begin to watch him make his way through the palace. Following this, he alerts the guards to arrest Aladdin; however, rather than locking him in the dungeon, Jafar instead takes him to the desert, where the two meet. He introduces himself and explains that he was once a street rat himself in Sherebad—showing off his pick-pocketing skills by stealing the piece of Jasmine's headpiece Aladdin had promised to return—before telling him that Jasmine will never respect or love him since he is just a commoner, although he can make him rich enough to impress her if he helps him. Aladdin agrees, resulting in Jafar and his men taking him and Abu to the Cave of Wonders, where he is ordered to go inside and obtain the lamp, though must not touch anything else.

Aladdin is able to enter the Cave and obtain the lamp, along with freeing a sentient magic carpet, only for Abu to take one of the Cave's gems, enraging it into trying to trap him forever. With the help from the magic carpet, Aladdin and Abu manage to make it to Jafar at the entrance of the cave, Aladdin asking him for help getting up. Jafar has him hand over the lamp first, but rather than help him get up, he steps on Aladdin's hand and pushes him back down, though is attacked by Abu in doing so. Once the cave closes, Jafar triumphantly leaves Aladdin behind and delights in finally getting his hands on the lamp, only to realize that Abu had stolen it from him before being sent back down into the cave, making him scream out in rage. In the cave, Aladdin discovers that the lamp contains a magical Genie—who is initially confused to see him, remarking that there is supposed to be "a guy" who had Aladdin seek out the lamp so he could gain infinite wealth or power (indirectly referencing Jafar)—who is tasked to grant the owner of the lamp three wishes (with the exception of murder, romance, resurrection, and wishing for more wishes). After tricking the Genie into helping them escape the Cave without using a wish, Aladdin decides to use his first wish to become a prince named Ali in order to impress Jasmine.

A few moments later, Jafar bears witness to Aladdin arriving in Agrabah in a showy manner, and is present for his meeting with the Sultan and Jasmine, which ultimately does not go well yet results in the former inviting him to Agrabah's harvest celebration anyway. That night, Jafar confronts "Prince Ali" and plays along with his deception despite his suspicions, taking the opportunity to try and hypnotize him, only for Genie (in human form) to step in and lead Aladdin away; additionally remarking that Jafar must be "the guy". He has Iago spy on Aladdin following this, and, after he takes Jasmine on a magic carpet ride and convinces her that he has always been a prince and not a street rat when she deduces his identity, Jafar does the same once Iago returns to him. Jafar has his men kidnap Aladdin and reveals that he knows who he is, tying him to a chair and threatening to drop him into the sea unless he gives up the lamp. Stubbornly refusing to give in, Aladdin keeps up his Prince Ali facade and Jafar sends him to drown as a result, walking away upon believing he has died. However, Abu and Carpet manage to send him the lamp so the Genie can free him at the cost of a wish.

Later, Jafar approaches the Sultan and claims to have overheard Ali plotting to wage war on Agrabah with Sherebad before escaping in the night, advising him to strike first. Jasmine then arrives proves Jafar's claims false by revealing Aladdin, much to Jafar's frustration. Aladdin angrily states that Jafar tried to have him killed, but he uses his staff on the Sultan once again, hypnotizing him into distrusting the former. Seeing this, Aladdin grabs Jafar's staff and destroys it, proving his treacherous nature to the Sultan, who wrathfully orders his guards to throw him into the dungeon. Once there, Jafar attempts to appeal to Hakim, which fails as the former states that he is only loyal to the Sultan. After this, Iago arrives with the cell keys and helps Jafar free himself. On the streets, Aladdin, while angry at the Genie for believing he has let his persona change him, bumps into a man on the street before going back to his old home. Said man turns out to be Jafar, who used his pick-pocketing ability to steal the lamp, immediately rubbing it and revealing himself to a horrified Genie.

Returning back to the palace, Jafar summons a depressed Genie and uses his first wish to become the new Sultan of Agrabah. Initially he ordered Hakin and the palace guards to arrest the real Sultan and Jasmine, but the latter appeals to Hakim's better nature. Upon Hakim ordering the guards to detain Jafar for his treason, Jafar used his second wish to become the world's most powerful sorcerer, locking up all the guards, as well as Hakim and Rajah, in the dungeons. He then exposed Aladdin of his true identity before exiling him and Abu to a frozen wasteland. With both the Genie and all of Agrabah finally under his control, Jafar coerces Jasmine into marrying him by threatening to kill her father and her handmaiden Dalia.

However, the Genie has the magic carpet to rescue Aladdin and Abu and bring them back. During the wedding ceremony, Jasmine spotted Aladdin and Abu returning, so she steals the lamp from Jafar and gives it back to Aladdin. An annoyed Jafar uses his new staff to transform Iago into a giant roc to pursue the heroes, but the Sultan pushes the staff out of Jafar's hands, turning Iago back to normal. Running out of patience, Jafar uses his magic to overpower the heroes with a sand tornado, even destroying the magic carpet before imprisoning Jasmine and boasting his power to a defeated Aladdin. Jafar also announced that he will use his newfound power to create a new empire through wars so that the world will be united under his will.

Though it would've seem that Jafar has won, Aladdin pointed out that the Genie has more power since he was the one who gave Jafar his power in the first place, and that Jafar will be 'second-best' to him unless he does something about it. Realizing that Aladdin has a point, Jafar uses his third and last wish to become the most powerful being in the universe. Due to the grey area in that wish, Genie was free to interpret this by turning Jafar into an all-powerful genie, much to the latter's delight. Satisfied that he is no longer second-best to anyone, Jafar proudly declares that he will use his new power to destroy Sherebad in revenge for his poor upbringing. However, two shackles appeared on Jafar's wrists, preventing him from destroying Sherebad, and Aladdin and Genie pointed out that Jafar's last wish just cost him his freedom since genies are not free entities, and that he will be bound to a newly created lamp for eternity unless he gets a master to release him. Realizing this too late as he is being sucked into his own lamp, Jafar angrily vows to get revenge on Aladdin once he gets released one day; he even takes Iago with him when the latter tried to flee away from the scene.

With Jafar and Iago finally defeated, the Genie takes the opportunity to banish them by flicking their lamp into the Cave of Wonders so they can spend a thousand years of imprisonment there, much to their distraught.

Personality
Throughout the entire film, Jafar maintains his cunning and manipulative personality as witnessed through his interactions with the Sultan and Aladdin. Compared to his animated counterpart however, he is portrayed as "an angry man" who is far more serious and an intense war hawk. He also serves as a foil and even a dark mirror to Aladdin as they came from the same background, only Jafar was who Aladdin would've eventually become if not for the influence of both Genie and Jasmine.

Having grown as a street rat in Sherabad and eventually a prisoner for 5 years, he has yearned for nothing more than the destruction of the kingdom that once oppressed him and will do anything to achieve his revenge against those who wronged him. He has no qualms killing others for his ambitions or for being called "second best" (as he knocked a palace jailer down an empty well). Over time, his desire for a better life became blind ambition for more power leading to him unable to accept being underneath others so much when enraged he behaves rashly. This almost gets him in trouble with the Sultan, who orders him to "know his place" and leads him to imprisonment after Aladdin provokes his fury into becoming a genie.

His relationship with the Sultan slightly differs. While he maintains his resentment to the Sultan for his passive ways of ruling and alliance with Shirabad, the Sultan is willing to argue with Jafar for the sake of peace for Agrabah. When he becomes Sultan and a sorcerer, he wants the Sultan to suffer for constantly berating his status as beneath him.

In contrast to his animated counterpart's lust for Jasmine, Jafar despises her likely because her mother is from Sherabad and because of her potential as Sultana. He also initially did not intend to marry her in hopes he could manipulate (most likely hypnotize as he tried with Aladdin) her suitor to prepare an army for invasion. To discourage her from entering the path, he attempts to encourage to remain silent and unheard but this backfires at the climax to the point where she turns the palace guards on him. His hatred of Jasmine extends to him wanting her to suffer for being unable to control her through marrying her worst enemy.

Intelligence
As a former street rat, Jafar survived on his wits and cunning for years until he became the Grand Vizier of Agrabah. He is a master tactician and strategist as he can read one's character and use it to his advantage as demonstrated with the wise and pacifist sultan and the noble thief Aladdin. He also has good common sense and remarkable insight as he knew something was wrong about Prince Ali and was the second to realize he was an impostor through the maps and realized the only way Aladdin could survive his cave-in was through the lamp (which he realized Abu stole) and as such he used it to become a prince. What's more, using his own background, he recruited Aladdin through using his own origins to empathize his place. Even without his magic, Jafar proved to be very adaptable upon his escape as he used his street smarts to steal the lamp from Aladdin.

Hypnotism/Sorcery
Through his snake staff, Jafar can hypnotize people to unconsciously do his bidding, but this only works if the user focuses on the red eyes of his staff. If the victim is interrupted, the pawn can revert to their consciousness. In his study, it is also implied Jafar has studied forms of sorcery prior to his possession of the lamp such as astrology, alchemy and spell books.

Upon gaining possession of the lamp and his second wish to become the most powerful sorcerer there is, he gains a variety of new powers and is capable of telekinesis, transformation, immobilization and conjuring through his new staff. But he is still limited to certain powers because he must primarily rely on his staff to perform spells on other animated beings.

Phenomenal Cosmic Powers
Upon his final wish to become the "most powerful being in the universe" but into a genie, he initially had the power to conjure energy into a destructive projectile until he is shackled to his new lamp.

Trivia

 * It's implied that most of Jafar's negative traits and motives stemmed from having to grow up impoverished and bullied on by the populace of Sherebad, making him almost similar to his rival Aladdin, however their similarities differed in how they handled their suffering.
 * This portrayal of Jafar is one of the most criticized aspects from the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin, which received mixed reviews, mostly due to his lack of humour and musical numbers in comparison to his original version in 1992, and the fact that he never transforms into a giant cobra to fight Aladdin like he did in the original. In addition, it was also criticized for a lack of menacing voice.