NOTE: This page is only about his film incarnation as the original novel incarnation of Horned King was not voted Pure Evil, and thus only the film version of Horned King's info and crimes should be put here. |
“ | My, such a brave and handsome crew! A pig boy, a scullery maid, and a broken-down minstrel. Perhaps it may interest you to see what fate has in store for you! (laughing) Now I call on my army of the dead! The cauldron-born! Arise, my messengers of death! Our time has arrived! | „ |
~ The Horned King's rise to power as he makes use of the Black Cauldron to summon his undead army. |
The Horned King is the main antagonist of Disney's 25th full-length animated feature film The Black Cauldron.
As to how this story was considerably dark was mainly because of Horned King's presence was undoubtedly and blatantly so intimidating that he is a villain to be greatly feared. Horned King's motives are in target for bringing upon his undead soldiers by using the Black Cauldron, where his command comes as an attempt to cause a slaughter to innumerable lives for his reign.
He was voiced by the late John Hurt, who also played Harry in Pride, Adam Sutler in V for Vendetta and Lord Cotys in Hercules.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Upon learning about the legend of the Black Cauldron, he plans to find the Cauldron and use its dark powers to create a undead army known as the Cauldron Born to kill every living thing on the planet Prydain and plans to rule over what is basically an absolute hellscape.
- As part of his plot, he had his human henchmen lay siege around the lands of Prydain, murdering hundreds of people, as well as gathering and storing their corpses, armors, and weapons inside the castle.
- He abused his second-in-command Creeper by strangling him constantly whenever things go wrong (whether it would be his fault or not).
- He sent the Gwythiants to track down and capture an oracular pig named Hen Wen, as he intends to use her powers to pinpoint the location of the Black Cauldron.
- Even when Taran tried to rescue Hen Wen, the Horned King coerced Taran by threatening to have Hen Wen beheaded if Taran refused to let him use her powers.
- Upon Hen Wen's escape from the Horned King's castle, he strangles Creeper out of frustration and imprisons Taran in the castle dungeon.
- It was also revealed that prior to capturing Taran and Hen Wen, he had his men to kidnap Princess Eilonwy for her magic bubble under the belief that it could tell the location of the Black Cauldron, and when that wasn't the case, he had Eilonwy and the bubble imprisoned in the dungeon.
- He had one of his men capture and imprison a bard named Fflewddur Fflam, intending to have him starved to death inside the castle so that he can use his corpse for his plot. Fflewddur is even horrified to learn that a previous victim was tied up an starved to death in the same room as himself.
- Upon hearing that Taran, Eilonwy and Fflewddur have escaped from the castle, he forces Creeper to strangle himself before ordering him to send the Gwythiants to follow the trio. This allows the Gwythiants and the Horned King's human henchmen to track down the trio's location in Morva, where the Black Cauldron was hidden.
- Upon gaining the Black Cauldron and having Taran, Eilonwy and Fflewddur tied up back in his castle, he taunts them for leading the Black Cauldron to him. He then dumps a corpse into the Black Cauldron in order to activate its powers and use them to bring the corpses to life as the Cauldron Born.
- Upon bringing the Cauldron Born to life, he shows no emotion as he watches several of the Cauldron Born warriors slaughter a few of his human henchmen, causing the other henchmen to flee away from the castle in fear.
- He even shows great pride as he orders the Cauldron Born to go forth and spread death throughout all of Prydain. However, his plan fails when Gurgi sacrifices himself into the Black Cauldron, causing the Cauldron Born soldiers to die.
- Upon witnessing the Cauldron Born falling lifeless (thanks to Gurgi's sacrifice), he furiously blames Creeper for this and attempts to dump Creeper's body into the Black Cauldron in hopes of reviving the Cauldron Born once again, ignoring Creeper's pleas for mercy.
- Upon seeing that Taran has escaped from captivity and is trying to avoid being sucked by the Black Cauldron, he throws away Creeper and focuses his rage towards Taran, intending to have him killed by strangling him and throwing him into the Black Cauldron.
- However, Taran outsmarts the Horned King, who ends up being pulled to the Black Cauldron and painfully ripped apart to death in pieces by the Black Cauldron's powers.
- While the Horned King's death is graphically horrific and shown on-screen (especially for a Disney film), there is no doubt that he deserves such a horrible fate as punishment for his heinous acts that he enacted out against the people of Prydain; even a relieved Creeper escapes away while mocking the dead Horned King for his abusive behavior towards him.
- While an extremely flat character, the Horned King still shows megalomania, sadism and misanthropy, and despite being an undead entity, he has human emotions, such as when he has an emotional breakdown over his Cauldron Born failing and when he blackmails Taran with Hen Wen's life, cementing both his characterization and his moral agency.
External Links[]
- Horned King on the Villains Wiki
- Horned King on the Disney Wiki