Farewell To The Goblin King

Labyrinth Owl

Hearing the news this week about the death of David Bowie was sad, I've been a fan for a long time. I spent some time looking up articles and remembering favorite songs but the idea for this post came from an e-mail. One of my daughters sent a message to see if I had heard this news and something she wrote stood out, "Oh no not the Goblin King", which of course was a reference to the movie "Labyrinth".


The movie was a favorite of both my daughters when they were young and believe it or not at their current ages of 32 & 29 it still is, in fact they still quote lines from their favorite characters. Thinking about this - it's also a favorite of mine - I thought it would be fun to write about these wonderful characters not only to remember how great David Bowie was in the movie but remember how much enjoyment my girls got each time they watched it.

Labyrinth Movie Poster

Labyrinth directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas was released in 1986. The plot centers around 15 year old Sarah who sets out on a quest to reach the center of an enormous maze to rescue her infant brother Toby, who had been kidnapped by Jareth the Goblin King.

Of course Sarah makes some friends along the way who help her in her quest, Hoggle, Ludo and lets not forget "Sir Didymus" and his trusty mount "Ambrosius". These wonderful characters were played by puppets produced by the creative minds at Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Jareth The Goblin King

Jareth is the Goblin King and rules The Labyrinth, a vast kingdom located within another realm. His first contact with Sarah is when she makes the mistake of wishing the Goblin King would take her infant brother away. When he does and she realizes her mistake he gives her 13 hours to solve his Labyrinth and get Toby back.

A memorable scene - which also takes advantage of David Bowie's singing - is a song and dance that takes place in the castle with Jareth, Toby and the Goblins.

Jareth: You remind me of the babe. 

Goblin: What babe? 

Jareth: The babe with the power. 

Goblin: What power? 

Jareth: The power of voodoo. 

Goblin: Who do? 

Jareth: You do. 

Goblin: Do what? 

Jareth: Remind me of the babe. 

The Worm From Labyrinth

I think the worm is my favorite, now he didn't actually do anything to help Sarah except send her in the wrong direction - not meaning to - but his conversation with her is what makes him my favorite. This comes from my oldest daughter who loved him and still repeats this dialog - in an English accent - occasionally today.

The Worm: 'Allo. 

Sarah: Did you say... hello? 

The Worm: No, I said "'allo," but that's close enough. 

Sarah: Oh... you're a worm, aren't you? 

The Worm: Yeah, that's right. 

Sarah: You don't by any chance know the way through this labyrinth, do you? 

The Worm: Who, me? No, I'm just a worm. Say, come inside, and meet the missus. 

Hoggle

Hoggle oh poor Hoggle, you just have to feel sorry for him, he starts out intending to follow Jareth's orders but eventually comes to care for Sarah and wants to help her. Well hooray for heroes, even though he's grumpy, in the end he does just that.

Ludo

Ludo may look ferocious but in actuality is a soft spoken almost childlike gentle giant. He joins Sarah's quest after she frees him from a rope trap, he speaks in two-word sentences "Sarah Friend" and has the uncanny knack of communicating with the rocks, which comes in quite handy when the group needs to get into the castle.

Sir Didymus & Ambrosius

There has been much debate over the years about Sir Didymus, is he a fox or a dog and if a dog what breed is he suppose to originate from. Well I personally don't care what he is all I know is he's funny, adorable and becomes a great friend to Sarah. He has the characteristics of a brave English knight and even though he is very small he never backs away unlike of course his trusty mount Ambrosius a very cowardly Old English Sheepdog.

Sir Didymus is my youngest daughters favorite, she loves to quote the line "Be Ferocious Ambrosius". Now she has a way of rolling her tongue when saying ferocious which makes me laugh every time.

The Labyrinth's Wise Man

All in all it is a wonderful entertaining movie and if by some chance you have not seen it, give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

David Bowie's music and amazing voice will be missed but in our family he will always be fondly remembered as "The Goblin King".