The Tsar is the main antagonist of the 2021 Russian live-action/animated fairy tale fantasy film, Upon the Magic Roads (which is based on the 1834 Russian fairy tale, The Little Humpbacked Horse by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov). He is the greedy ruler of Russia.
He was portrayed by Mikhail Yefremov, but voiced by Sergey Burunov.
Personality[]
The Tsar is shown to be a cold, corrupt, cruel, careless, remorseless, ruthless, power-hungry, selfish, arrogant, opportunistic, tyrannical, even-tempered, and greedy old ruler with no love or joy in his heart for anyone but himself. He gets easily offended when he is either mocked at after facing humiliation in public or doesn't exactly get what he wants until the last minute. His animosity of Ivan renders him more jealous of him than ever.
Nevertheless, as ruler of Russia, he does honor his word whenever someone like Ivan delivers to him exactly what he had requested as promised though out of reluctance since he had expected otherwise, but after Ivan has been caught trying to kidnap the Tsar-maiden whom he has fallen in love, the Tsar can be quite merciful yet cowardly and hypocritical when he promises to give Ivan a chance at redemption and orders him to jump into the three cauldrons needed for rejuvenation; hoping to be rid of him once and for all while fearing for his own life.
Biography[]
After killing a fly in his bedroom, the Tsar looks out from the balcony of his palace through his telescope at his people until he spots two beautiful black horses being sold at the bazaar by a young peasant named Ivan alias Ivan the Fool having recently arrived into town in hopes of selling his two black horses in exchange for money for him and his family. Bent on having them all to himself, the Tsar leaves without hesitation, goes to the bazaar to get the horses, and gives orders to take them to his stables; stating that they are actually his horses now. However, since the Tsar deliberately didn't pay for the horses, Ivan has his little, talking, humpbacked horse friend named Foal call them back with a whistle. Realizing that the horses only obey Ivan after facing mockery and humiliation in public at the bazaar, the Tsar reluctantly offers Ivan the position of groom at his palace instead, which Ivan accepts with pleasure.
As days go by, noticing the people beginning to love, appreciate, and admire Ivan more, the Tsar grows angrier with hatred and envy and wishes to execute him, but can't find a good reason to do it. So, his chamberlain suggests sending the groom to retrieve the phoenix and then executing him for not following the Tsar's royal order; thinking that Ivan won't be able to find it. When it seems that Ivan has failed at his mission due to returning with only a feather from the phoenix despite having actually found, but released it with a little help from Foal, the Tsar orders his execution, but then, is reluctantly forced to cancel it when the phoenix actually appears in town at the last minute, reward Ivan with a red, satin, gold-embroidered caftan as promised if the latter succeeded, and throw some evening festivities with free food for the people.
Later on, hating Ivan even more, the Tsar, at the instigation of his chamberlain, sends him to retrieve the Tsar-maiden; thinking that he won't be able to cope with this task since the Tsar-maiden lives in an icy country on a high rock. Though enamored and completely smitten with the Tsar-maiden's beauty when he spots her through his telescope with Ivan and Foal once again, the Tsar's heart continues filling up with so much hatred, envy, and anger of Ivan as he is now reluctantly forced to reward the latter with a promotion of Chief Royal Groom along with a red, golden caftan with semi-precious stones, a golden sash, and a golden saddle for his latest success as promised.
At night, after an awkward meeting with the Tsar-maiden at a costume ball, the Tsar wishes to marry her, but the latter only agrees on condition that the former retrieves her grandmother's long-lost ring, which she dropped in the ocean years ago. Ivan, who has already fallen in love with the Tsar-maiden, asks the Tsar for the impossible job, so as not to think about the upcoming wedding and the Tsar-maiden herself. Delighted, the Tsar smugly sends Ivan to get the ring; thinking that he will not return alive again this time.
However, when Ivan does return a few nights later with the ring in hand and proposes to the Tsar-maiden, the Tsar shoots Foal on his wing; thinking he's a demon, after his guards and chamberlain (having watched Ivan the whole time) break into the Tsar-maiden's bedchamber and place Ivan under arrest for attempted kidnapping, thus, finally giving the Tsar a perfectly good reason to have him executed once and for all later on. Though determined to marry the Tsar-maiden now more than ever, the Tsar is now asked by the latter to rejuvenate himself according to her grandmother's recipe by bathing in cauldrons of boiling water, ice water, and boiling milk. Taking his chamberlain's advice, the Tsar decides to put Ivan to the test before his upcoming execution when fearing for his own life. The next morning, the Tsar hypocritically declares that he is giving Ivan a chance at redemption and orders him to jump into the cauldrons; hoping to be rid of him once and for all.
With a little help from both the Tsar-maiden and Foal (having actually survived the shot since it only hit his left wing) using the ring, the phoenix's feather, and the flower of life and death that grows at the end of the world thrown into the cauldrons, a renewed Ivan miraculously survives and is magically brought back before the Tsar-maiden. Then, the Tsar gets excited, decides that he also wants to be young and handsome again, and jumps into the first cauldron without hesitation. But then, a huge bubble bursts out of the first cauldron, which carries the Tsar away into the sky as he continues cursing and threatening to execute both Ivan and everyone else including his own people in a high-pitch voice as the people laugh at him in mockery; never to be seen or heard from again.
With the Tsar gone, Ivan is declared the new ruler by the people with the Tsar-maiden at his side as his Tsarina before they proceed to get married whereas Foal patiently waits for his death, but the Tsar-maiden finally reveals to him that the words of the flower about death to whomever picks it were just a test and that if he hadn't plucked it, he actually would've died, but now, he never will.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Like in the original novel, the Tsar's true identity is never revealed throughout the movie.
- The Tsar's fate remains unknown after being carried away into the sky by a huge bubble. However, in the original novel and other film adaptations (both animated and live-action), he died when he never came out again after jumping into the first cauldron.