Jafar (Disney)

"If you won't bow before a sultan, then you will cower before a sorcerer!"

- Jafar

Jafar is the main antagonist in the Disney movie, Aladdin, and its first sequel, The Return of Jafar.

He was voiced by Jonathan Freeman.

Physical Appearance
Jafar's physical appearance is similar to that of Ming the Merciless. He is tall, thin, and almost always depicted in flowing robes of black, dark red and other moody colors. Jafar has a pet parrot named Iago, who switched sides in The Return of Jafar. Jafar carries a cobra-head staff, which he uses for his sorcery. In the first film, he is shown to be bald underneath his hat.

Aladdin
In the movie, Jafar sought the Genie's lamp, so that he could become the sultan of Agrabah. He was originally the royal vizier of the sultan who trusted him, trying to do whatever it takes to become sultan himself. Iago convinced him to marry Jasmine so he could be sultan, and when they were married, Jafar would toss both the sultan and Jasmine off a cliff although after he becomes Sultan, he decides to make Jasmine his queen consort, apparently sparing her from this fate. When Prince Ali-Ababwa (Aladdin in disguise) came to marry Jasmine, Jafar tried to drown the prince so he wouldn't get in his way.

When finally acquiring the lamp, his first wish was to be sultan, his second wish was to be the most powerful sorcerer, and although his third and final wish was to become an all-powerful genie himself, after turning into a giant cobra, his original final wish was to have Princess Jasmine fall in love with him, deciding to make her his queen. In his last wish, Aladdin tricked him into wishing to become a genie by saying "The genie has more power than you'll ever have!" When he became a genie, he became trapped in his own magic lamp along with his evil sidekick, Iago.

The Return of Jafar
In The Return of Jafar, he was released from his lamp by Abis Mal. However, as he was a Genie, he was bound by the rules of obedience to his master and thus handicapped by Abis Mal's habitual incompetence. Jafar desired to be free so that he could get revenge on Aladdin by framing him and then having him executed, but needed Mal's cooperation to do this. With the use of trickery, Jafar still asserted his power by tricking Abis Mal into wasting two of his wishes before making him return to Agrabah; Abis Mal willingly went along with Jafar's plans in order to get his own revenge on Aladdin. Once in the palace, Jafar revealed himself to Iago and forced him to play along with his plans.

The next day, Aladdin and the Sultan departed to have a discussion at a place suggested by Iago. After they left, Jafar confronted the Genie and Abu in the Palace gardens and showed his power, imprisoning the pair. Meanwhile, Aladdin had a talk with the Sultan that earned his acceptance as the future grand vizier. When Aladdin thanked Iago, he was ambushed by Abis Mal and Jafar, the latter disguised as a squad of flying horsemen. The Sultan was kidnapped and Aladdin thrown into the raging river. Jafar, however, spared his life in order to exact his revenge in the most painful way possible: by splitting him away from all his loved ones. To this purpose, he left fake evidence and masked himself as Jasmine to implicate Aladdin with the alleged murder of the Sultan, and Aladdin was thrown into the dungeon to be executed by means of beheading come morning.

When Iago chose to attempt to free Genie so he coul save Aladdin, Iago succeeded just in time, and the Genie freed the others. Once free, Aladdin decided to attempt to stop Jafar. Genie told Aladdin that, in order to destroy Jafar, his lamp must be destroyed before Abis Mal wished him free. During the final fight, all of the heroes were either knocked out or unavailable. It looked like Jafar was going to finally get rid of Aladdin and the others. However, Iago betrayed him and attempted to attack Jafar. Jafar managed to hit Iago and nearly killed him, but Iago managed to muster up enough strength to kick Jafar's lamp into the lava, destroying the lamp, and killing Jafar.

Hercules and the Arabian Night
In Hercules and the Arabian Night, he arrives in the Underworld as a ghost and is temporarily revived by Hades, Lord of the Dead and Hercules' archenemy, by creating a staff that kept Jafar alive, though he is no longer a genie. They attempt to beat the heroes but they lose and Jafar is killed once again after his new staff was destroyed and he became a ghost again. Since he was in the River Styx when his staff was destroyed, the spirits of the dead drag his spirit into the River, ending Jafar's threat for now.

Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge
Jafar returned in Nasira's Revenge as one of the main antagonists alongside his sister Nasira. Nasira aimed to collect all of the artifacts and bring Jafar back to life and summon her Brother's spirit, Jafar told Nasira to be wary of Aladdin. At the end of the game Aladdin faced off against Jafar's ghost and Nasira (whom Jafar possessed) Jafar will cause boulders to come flying at Aladdin and after Nasira is defeated he attempted one final attack against Aladdin before being defeated, probably for good.

Mickey's House of Villains
Jafar appeared as the leader of the villains and the central antagonist in the movie Mickey's House of Villains. In the movie, the House of Mouse was overthrown by the many Disney villains, such as Hades, Ursula, Captain Hook, Chernabog and Cruella de Vil, whom were led by Jafar. Jafar planned this, because they were tired of feeling like dull villains on Halloween. The Disney Heroes were thrown out in the streets, and the house is renamed the "House of Villains".

However, Jafar and the Villains were defeated when Mickey engages in a magic duel with Jafar, which Jafar was winning at first. However, when Aladdin arrived and handed Daisy Duck the magical lamp, Daisy handed it to Mickey who used the lamp to imprison Jafar after the rest of the villains fled. The House of Mouse was restored.

Kingdom Hearts
Jafar also appeared as a boss in Kingdom Hearts. He served as one of the main villains in Maleficent's team and is her second in command. Jafar takes over Agrabah and manages to kidnap one of the princess. He is defeated by Sora and his allies. Jafar then transformed into a genie and fought again but was defeated.

Chain of Memories
Jafar was an antagonist in Chain of Memories and was fought in the memory Agrabah.

Kingdom Hearts II
Jafar was an antagonist in Kingdom Hearts II and the final Disney boss. He was fought twice, once in mirage form and again in genie form. Jafar managed to take over Agrabah for a short time and planned to make Princess Jasmine his queen before being destroyed for good by Sora.

Coded
Jafar invaded the digital realms along with Pete and Maleficent, he uses a Lamp to cast a time stop spell over Agrabah and takes it over. He later fights Sora twice and is defeated.

Kingdom Hearts Manga
Jafar also appears in the manga series-adapted by Shiro Amano- along with other Disney villains like in the game-except that Clayton and Oogie Boogie weren't in it. In the U.S the manga, after Kingdom Hearts 2, volume 2 discontinued and Jafar and the others didn't show for a while. The last appearance Jafa made was in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories volume one.

Kingdom Keepers
The evil sorcerer was also in the Disney and Hyperion novel series, Kingdom Keeprs. He was also an Overtaker, but he didn't join Chernabog, Maleficent, Frollo, Evil Queen, Cruella and the others to take over the Disney parks at first. Like Shan Yu, he wanted the Kingdom Keepers' Magic for himself. But after being tricked by one of the Kingdom Keepers, he later joins the other villains.

Kilala Princess
In the manga, Jafar is one of the Disney villains that were supporting the main manga villain, Valdou-the others, Maleficent, Grimhilde, Ursula, Lady Tremaine, Gaston and their henchmen/women. Jafar was still a vizier like he was in the movie Aladdin. Not much changed with him and his scenes, except for when he saw the Sultan giving Kilala the diamond that he wanted, he wasn't too pleased, and when Iago and him talked about Kilala, Rei, and Sylphy intruding Agrabah and hanging out with Aladdin and Jasmine. Both Jafar and Iago were somewhat allies with the android Valdou.

Trivia

 * Jafar and Maleficent are both considered to be Disney's most popular and evil villains of all time. Jafar is described as very dark, tall, gloomy, and has a laughter only a true villain can produce.
 * Jafar also has a twin sister named Nasira.
 * Jafar is the male equivalent of Maleficent. They are both powerful sorcerers, have bird sidekicks, try to kill the heroes by transforming into giant reptile monsters, carry staffs which they primarily use to channel their magic and, of course, are pure evil.
 * Jafar is one of five male villains to shapeshift into a second form. the others being Judge Doom, Oogie Boogie, and Pain and Panic. Jafar is also the only Disney Villain to have seven other forms (Old Man, Sultan, Sorcerer, Snake, Genie, Ghost, disguised as Jasmine,).
 * Jafar is also one of many male characters who can turn into animals the others being Peter Pettigrew and the Death Eater Fenrir Greyback.
 * Part of his design, motive, and his position in "Aladdin" could have been inspired by another villain, ZigZag from "The Thief and The Cobbler".