|
| “ | I’m not finished with you yet, Willy. Someday, I’ll get my power back! And when I do, everything you own, everything you love... will be mine! | „ |
| ~ Rothbart vowing revenge on King William. |
| “ | Rothbart: No need to shout. Prince Derek: Don't let her die! Rothbart: Is that a threat? Prince Derek: Don't you dare let her die! Rothbart: Ooh! It is a threat. Prince Derek: You're the only one was the power, now do it! |
„ |
| ~ Rothbart says to Prince Derek it was a threat about Odette is dead, and Derek begs to Rothbart to use his powers. |
| “ | Only if you defeat… me. | „ |
| ~ Rothbart's last words to Prince Derek before he transforms into The Great Animal. |
Sir Rothbart, also known as Lord Rothbart, The Great Animal, or simply Rothbart for short is the main antagonist of The Swan Princess film series. He’s a despicable enchanter who assassinated King William and was responsible for kidnapping and changing his daughter, Princess Odette into a swan. In Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake, he’s based on the sorcerer, Von Rothbart, who transformed the actual princess into a swan whilst also planning to have his own daughter marry the prince. He’s Princess Odette and Prince Derek's arch-nemesis.
In the first film, he was voiced by the late Jack Palance, who also played Voltan in Hawk the Slayer, Carl Grissom in Tim Burton's Batman and Yves Perret in Tango & Cash. In the second sequel and the animated computer-animated third sequel, he was voiced by Sean Wright.
Biography[]
Rothbart and another dark magician named Clavius mastered the sinister dark magic known as the Forbidden Arts together, but he betrayed Clavius and drove him underground, as revealed in The Swan Princess II.
Being a little concerned about Odette's birth, Rothbart planned to conquer King William's kingdom with his magic power, but as he was about to attack, William's soldiers attacked him and took away his power. Despite calls for his death, William banished Rothbart instead. Rothbart left, swearing that he would get his power back and take over the kingdom.
Many years later, Rothbart returned, having gotten his power back, as shown in The Swan Princess 3. It’s revealed that his other ally named Zelda helped him regain his power and he betrayed her afterward in a similar manner as he did with Clavius. With his new powers, Rothbart transformed himself into a chimeric monstrosity known only as the "Great Animal" and fatally injured William before kidnapping and placing Odette, under a spell, turning her into a swan everyday and she can only turn back into a human if she’s on the lake when the moonlight touches it. Every night, Rothbart asked Odette to marry him, so he can be king legally, but she refused.
When Prince Derek finally found her, he resolved to break the spell, which could only be broken by making a vow of everlasting love and proving it to the world. To prevent this, Rothbart transformed his servant, Bridget the Hag into Odette, so that Derek would make his vow to her instead, as this would kill Odette. Also, there was no moon on the night of the ball in which Derek intended to make this vow.
His plan succeeded, but Derek furiously told him to not let her die and forcibly demanded that Rothbart bring her back, and so he transformed into the Great Animal and fought Derek, crushing his sword in his mouth and nearly killing him. Fortunately, Jean-Bob the frog gave Derek his bow and Bromley (who escaped from the dungeon after being captured by Rothbart earlier) shot an arrow to him. Being a pro at Lord Rogers' "Catch and Fire", Derek caught the arrow and shot Rothbart in the heart, which kills him and sending him falling into the lake, exploding in a flash of magic lights. With Rothbart defeated, his spell over Odette was broken and King William's assassination was avenged.
Revival[]
Rothbart returns as the main antagonist of the 2012 computer-animated sequel The Swan Princess Christmas. Princess Odette and Prince Derek are on their way to Queen Uberta's castle to celebrate their first Christmas together. Unbeknownst to them, the evil enchanter has put in a motion a plan to return from the dead, enlisting a black cat named Number 9 to help by promising him extra lives.
Number 9 succeeds in luring Derek to the cellar of Uberta's castle, where he opens a chest with the initial R on it. At first, there is nothing inside. Once Derek leaves, Rothbart emerges from the chest as a ghost. From here, Rothbart moves to the next portion of his plan, which is to destroy the Christmas spirit of the kingdom, the only thing more powerful than the Forbidden Arts, which will give him the power to be revived in physical form. Rothbart is able to cast small spells that cause people to fight; he does this to Queen Uberta and Lord Rogers, and later to the villagers until almost the entire town is in disharmony.
Derek and Odette learn of Rothbart's return when windchimes playing "Far Longer than Forever" make him visible and hold him. They set up chimes all around the castle, but Rothbart eventually re-enlists the help of Bridget, his henchwoman from the first film who had turned good, and she helps remove the wind chimes for him.
As part of the Christmas festivities, Uberta and Rogers are staging musical performances, but because of Rothbart's spell have become extremely aggressive and competitive with each other. Odette, who has been invited to stage her own song, invites orphans to perform "Christmas is the Reason", which momentarily weakens Rothbart's power over Uberta and Rogers. Odette follows up on this by inviting Uberta and Rogers to give gifts and food to the poor. This time, the goodwill breaks the spell on the whole kingdom and Rothbart is rendered nearly powerless.
Rothbart's last chance to ruin Christmas spirit is to sabotage the royal Christmas tree. He sends Number 9 to steal one of the Christmas lights and Rothbart casts a spell on it that will destroy the tree. Derek learns of this plan thanks to Bridget, who has double-crossed Rothbart and traps him inside a giant chime.
Derek rushes back to the Christmas Eve party to stop the tree from being lit, but they are too late. The enchanted light bulb bursts the tree and its ornaments into flames. Rothbart becomes fully physical, takes Uberta's crown, and kidnaps Odette, taking her back to Swan Lake. Rothbart defeats General Puffin by turning him into a gold statue.
At Swan Lake, Rothbart turns Odette into a swan again and traps her inside a cage made of roots. He then casts a spell on the moonlight, so that when it touches Odette's wings, she will turn into a golden, swan-shaped Christmas ornament forever. Derek arrives to rescue Odette and battles Rothbart, who has assumed the form of the Great Animal again. At first, Derek is overpowered, but then Odette starts singing "Seasons of Love" which weakens Rothbart until he eventually bursts into flames and was no more.
With Rothbart gone again, Odette changes back into a human and a Puffin is back to normal. Derek dies in her arms due to his injuries, but when Odette sings again, the spirit of Christmas magically returns him to life and restores the royal Christmas Tree. At the Christmas Eve party, the kingdom puts up a new Christmas ornament on the tree, honoring both Prince Derek and Princess Odette.
Personality[]
In the animated film loosely adapted from the ballet, Rothbart is a stingy, vile, deceptive, conniving, and egomaniacal warlock who plots to steal the kingdom of Princess Odette's father, King William, whom Rothbart later assassinated. While being a cruel, insensitive, ungenerous, cocky, and vindictive trickster, he is also shown to be relaxed, even-tempered, well-mannered, sociable, intelligent, optimistic, and rational; as he merely loses his patience only once in the film.
Due to his intellect, he had vast black magical powers, which made him arrogant. Along with his arrogance, he had cruelty, as both traits helping him in his successful assassination attempt against William and eventually usurp his throne; however, both traits also lead to his downfall. When he transformed into the Great Animal in a battle against Prince Derek, he could have easily killed him immediately, but instead toyed with him, destroyed his sword, and carried him in the sky to drop him, only to catch him before the fall killed him to continue the torment. Finally, due to his overconfidence in his powerful form, he failed to expect Derek's bow would be recovered, Bromley getting an arrow to him, then the prince shoots an arrow that pierced Rothbart's heart with the arrow, instantly killing him.
Appearance[]
Rothbart is a tall and slender man with red eyes, fair skin, and he has a balding red hair, red sideburns growing from each side of his face, thick red eyebrows and a big red horseshoe mustache. He wears a long black hooded cloak cape with a plum satin lining, light yellow round shaped dragged mantle with all the amber pearls, a blue long-sleeved tunic shirt, the dark tan long arm cuffed gauntlet gloves, a black belt with a golden buckle on a black belt, the dark gray pants and the black boots with all the light brown folded dragged cuffs and all the yellow pearls over the black boots. Sometimes, he wears a golden King crown on his head.
Powers and Abilities[]
Forbidden Arts[]
As a powerful warlock, Rothbart possesses immense mystical powers where his signature power is the power to change (transformation) that came from Forbidden Arts.
Great Animal[]
Rothbart's monster form known as the Great Animal takes the appearance of a monstrous, large, chimeric monster with the head of a wolf, the body of a bat, the talons of an eagle, and the tail of a lizard, giving a vaguely wyvern-like appearance. In this form, he can fly at high speed, razor-sharp talons and sharp teeth.
Quotes[]
| “ | Today's the day, Willy. Everything you own, everything you loved... will be mine. | „ |
| ~ Rothbart prepares to kidnap Odette and kills King William by his target. |
| “ | Rothbart: (growls) You're really start to bug me? Odette: I think you're getting use to it by now. Rothbart: That's it! Just keep pushing it! But Someday, I'm gonna BOIL OVER! Odette: Go ahead then, But I'll never give you my father's kingdom. Rothbart: (grumbling) I was hoping you'll saying if you mind. But… It looks as if another day to think about it! (evil cackle) Odette: No. |
„ |
| ~ Rothbart argues at Odette if he wants to marry her and she refuses and he tells her she will turn into swan by day to think about it. |
| “ | Rothbart: Hello, little prince. Derek: Who are you? Rothbart: Went and pledged your love to another, eh? Derek: What are you talking about? This is Odette. Rothbart: No. Odette is mine. Derek: It's you! You have no power here. I made a vow. A vow of everlasting love. Rothbart: (cackles wickedly) You made a vow, alright. A vow of everlasting… death! (zaps at the fake Odette into Bridget) Derek: NO! Odette! Bridget: (laughs maniacally and tries to kiss him) Rothbart: You should left her to me. Now Odette will die. Derek: ODETTE! |
„ |
| ~ Rothbart arrived at Derek's castle and he shows to him the fake Odette is really Bridget in Disguise and the wrong vow have killed Odette's heart and she will die. |
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Bridget (formerly)
- Clavius
- Zelda the Sorceress (unrequited love)
Enemies[]
- King William (attempted victim)
- Princess Odette (arch-nemesis; attempted love)
- Prince Derek (arch-nemesis; killer)
- Bromley (attempted victim)
- Queen Uberta
- Lord Rogers
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
The Swan Princess The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure The Swan Princess: Christmas The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today! The Swan Princess: Royally Undercover The Swan Princess: A Royal MyZtery The Swan Princess: Kingdom of Music The Swan Princess: A Royal Wedding The Swan Princess: A Fairytale is Born The Swan Princess: Far Longer than Forever | ||