King Stefan

King Stefan is the overarching protagonist of Disney's 1959 animated feature film, Sleeping Beauty. He is the ruler of an unnamed kingdom in France and is Princess Aurora’s father. 
In the original film, Stefan was voiced by the late Taylor Holmes (who, in his last film role, replaced the late Hans Conried, his original intended voice actor and performance model who possibly ended up voicing Lord Duke in the same film and also voiced Horton and Dr. Hoovey in Horton Hears a Who, Grinch in Halloween is Grinch Night, and as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit). In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, Stefan was voiced by Corey Burton.
== Personality ==
King Stefan's personality is very inconsistent and hard to pinpoint. Sometimes, he is a grumpy, stubborn, and a wrathful jerk like his best friend, King Hubert, as well as being somewhat hypocritical of the original plan to have their kids marry and unite their kingdoms by initially opposing the original plan to have Aurora marry Phillip soon (even if he misses her and knew it's best they wait until their children get to know each other) and threatening a war with Hubert that contradicts his original plan. At other times, he is either gullible when he acted oblivious towards Maleficent, sensitive when he is concerned if Aurora was ready to marry Phillip, or depressed when he is worried about Aurora's life from Maleficent's curse. 
For the most part, he is a kindhearted ruler over his kingdom and subjects, a loving patriarch over his wife, Queen Leah, and daughter, Aurora. He is also shown to be a calm and soft spoken man at times, especially during his scene when Maleficent crashes the party and during his scene with the boastful and jolly Hubert. He's also shown to be considerate, as shown when he informed Hubert to take their time with their plans to have their children wed until they get better acquainted, even if he can still be somewhat of a hypocrite. He is also caring and devoted to his kingdom, family, subjects and the household staff, 
==Appearances==
===Sleeping Beauty===
King Stefan and Queen Leah are the monarchs of an unnamed French kingdom. He is overjoyed when his wife gives birth to a baby girl whom they named Aurora. The whole kingdom was invited by Stefan to celebrate her birth, including King Hubert, his young son Prince Phillip, and the Three Good Fairies: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. But his and his queen's happiness is short-lived, as the evil witch Maleficent, the only person not invited to Aurora's celebration, enters his castle and threatens to curse the baby. She then prophecizes that on Aurora's 16th birthday, she will die from touching the spindle of a spinning wheel. An enraged Stefan ordered his guards to arrest Maleficent, who disappears before the guards can get to her. However, one of the Three Good Fairies, Merryweather, weakens the curse so their daughter will sleep instead of die. Still fearful of his daughter's life, Stefan ordered all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be burned in an attempt to prevent the curse from happening, which the fairies stated that it won't stop Maleficent. The King and Queen make the hardest decision of their lives: their daughter must be raised by the Three Good Fairies away in the forest in order to protect her. The narrator reveals that sixteen sad and lonely years passed for Stefan and his dear queen.
Sixteen years later, he is waiting for his now teenage daughter's return to the Castle. While in the dining room drinking, he and Hubert quarrel over their children as Stefan offended Hubert over the thought of their idea being a shock to Aurora and furiously loses his temper by insulting and decided to declare war on Hubert. But after Hubert mistakenly grabs a fish instead of his sword, they started to burst out laughing. When Aurora touches the spindle, the Good Fairies put everyone in the Kingdom to sleep. 
Stefan is not seen again until the end of the film, where he and the other kingdom residents wake up, thanks to Prince Phillip, who defeated Maleficent and breaks the curse by placing a kiss on Aurora. Stefan, Hubert, and Leah finally reunites with their children in happiness and watch their daughter dance with Phillip.
===Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams===
In the short segment, Stefan, Leah, Hubert, and Phillip all go off on a royal ceremony where Hubert is due to give a speech. Trusting their daughter, Stefan and Leah give Aurora the "keys to the kingdom" while they're away, not before asking his majordomo, Lord Duke, about the arrangements he made for the kingdom. After he leaves with Phillip, Hubert and Leah, Aurora is given the Keys to the Kingdom, herself becoming a temporary ruler for him and Leah, though he is seen unsure and worried if Aurora can rule, but she comforts him. 
He is then seen at the end of the first segment, arriving back from the Royal Conference, along with King Hubert, Queen Leah, and Prince Phillip, when Duke comes running to the carriage telling him that there were giant chickens, green pigs, and cows. But when King Stefan, Queen Leah, King Hubert, Prince Phillip, and Lord Duke arrive in the throne room, there were no animals. Afterwards, he is seen in the final scene of the first segment, sitting next to Hubert at the Royal Banquet, alongside the other major characters as they talk about "the rumor" about cows, and green pigs as Phillip mentions giant chickens. And he starts laughing, along with the fairies, Duke, Hubert, Leah, and of course, Princess Aurora
=== Maleficent ===
Main article: King Stefan (Maleficent)
King Stefan appears in Maleficent; this time, he serves as the main antagonist rather than being a side character like the original animated film. Unlike his animated counterpart, who is a benevolent ruler, he is an evil and tyrannical dictator and a former friend-turned-enemy of Maleficent.
==Trivia==
*Though King Stefan and Queen Leah don't appear in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the thrones on which they sit are present in the hall of the castle where Terra faces the Wheel Master Unversed.
*He is the first Disney King to not have grey hair, not counting some book adaptations.
*Before the late Taylor Holmes was casted in as King Stefan in the film's final cut for his final film role, the late Hans Conried was initially considered to voice Stefan as he provided some voice lines as heard in the deleted song called "It Happens I Have a Picture". But because he was replaced by Taylor Holmes for the voice role in the final cut, his lines as Stefan were cut from the final film, possibly resulting in the voice mystery of Lord Duke that was never solved for a long time.
**Still, Conried remained as the live action model for Stefan.
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