Good morning, Belle! (Belle: Morning, monsieur!) Baker: Where are you off to? (Belle: The bookshop! I just finished the most wonderful story, about a beanstalk and an ogre and...) That's nice... Marie, the baguettes! Hurry up!!
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~ The Baker to Belle.
The Baker is a supporting antagonist of Disney's 30th full-length animated feature film Beauty and the Beast (which is based on the 1756 French fairytale of the same name by the late Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont), and its 2017 live action adaptation of the same name. He is an unnamed baker who is in league with Gaston LeGume.
He was voiced by Alec Murphy in the animated film, and portrayed by Dale Branston in the live action film.
Biography
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
The Baker was first seen during the musical number "Belle" when a young bookworm girl named Belle walked her way through the village. The Baker greeted her and asked her where she has headed to, to which she replied that she is heading over to the bookshop to return a book. However, the Baker ignored this as he is yelling at his assistant Marie to bring in the baguettes, much to Belle's annoyance.
The Baker was later seen during Gaston's wedding proposal as he baked a wedding cake for the event; he even laughed with the other attendants when Gaston commented that he's going over inside to Belle's house and propose to her in person. However, Belle rejected the proposal by throwing Gaston out from her house into a mud pool, much to the shock of the Baker and the other villagers. In spite of this, Gaston was cheered up by LeFou and his buddies at the local tavern before formulating a plan to have Belle as his wife by any means necessary.
As part of the plan, Gaston plans to exploit the ravings of an unnamed Beast claimed by Belle's father Maurice by bribing Monsieur D'Arque (the owner of Asylum D'Loons) to lock up Maurice in order to coerce Belle into marrying Gaston. Following Belle and Maurice's return to the village, Gaston gets LeFou to summon up all the villagers (including the Baker) with pitchfork and torches, demanding that Maurice be locked away in the asylum. However, Belle managed to foil this by revealing the Beast's existence with a magic mirror, leaving the horrified Baker and the other villagers to realized that Maurice was telling the truth.
Though Belle assured to the villagers that the Beast is no threat (due to the latter's peaceful nature), Gaston (who refuses to accept this) grabs the mirror and uses it to play off the villagers' fear of monsters into joining him to kill the Beast. The Baker, obviously believing Gaston's lies, wields an axe and joins with the other villagers to attack the Beast's castle. Fortunately, the castle servants (who were turned into objects due to a spell cast by an enchantress) manage to ward off the villagers in a fight. During the battle, the Baker is last seen (with an evil smile) trying to chop down a stool and chair, but the chair knocks him down into a carpet, which suddenly gets pulled into a large chest, seemingly devouring the Baker whole.
It is unknown what happened to the Baker, though it is most likely that the chest regurgitated him and that he would later flee in defeat along with the rest of the villagers.
Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)
The Baker only played a minor role in the film. He was first seen greeting Belle as she buys one of his breads during the musical number 'Belle'. He was later seen along with several villagers summoned by the local headmaster to punish Belle for teaching a girl how to read by destroying her laundry machine.
The Baker was later seen in Gaston's tavern where LeFou and his buddies cheer up Gaston, and during the number, LeFou unkinked the Baker's neck, much to the latter's relief as it was previously stiff. He would later join the number alongside the rest of the attendants before laughing at Maurice's claims about a Beast taking Belle prisoner in his castle.
Eventually, the villagers grew tired of Maurice's ravings, which incited Gaston to have them sent Maurice to the Asylum D'Loons. The Baker was seen with his fellow villagers as they load Maurice into the asylum carriage, but Belle arrives to the rescue by using a magic mirror to prove the Beast's existence, making the Baker and the other realize that Maurice was telling the truth. However, Gaston refuses to accept this as he rallies the villagers to kill the Beast; even the Baker helps out with the other villagers in preparation for raiding the Beast's castle. Fortunately, the castle servants (who were turned into objects due to a spell cast by an enchantress) manage to ward off the villagers in a fight. During the battle, the Baker is seen with several villagers being knocked out by several books sent by Cogsworth. Eventually, they recuperated and fled away in fear afterwards.
It is unknown what happened to the Baker following Gaston's death, but in a deleted scene, he was shown reuniting with a loved one (who is supposedly one of the castle servants) after the spell was broken. It can be implied that the Baker and the villagers have patched things up with Belle, the Beast and the servants (who have all turned back into humans) as he was last seen dancing with his loved one during a ball hosted in the castle.
Villains
