King Stefan

King Stefan is the overarching protagonist in Disney's 1959 animated feature film Sleeping Beauty. He is Princess Aurora's father, whose refusal to invite Maleficent to his daughter's christening incites a 16 year-long struggle to protect the princess from a fatal curse.
==Background==
===Development===
Animators John Lounsbery and Milt Kahl were hired to animate Stefan. An early outline described Stefan as "bemused, but dignified.... stickler for form".
===Voice===
Originally, Hans Conried auditioned for the character in a dialogue version of the deleted song called "It Happens I Have a Picture", but the vocal part went to Taylor Holmes in the final version as his last film role before his death eight months later. Nevertheless, Conried still remained as a live-action model for the character. He had previously worked on this post, also performing live action reference for the two characters he voiced in Peter Pan, as both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling.
===Personality===
Despite his royal position, Stefan is shown to be a humble and debonair figure, a suave and loving father, and a more forceful side of the kingdom's monarchy consisting of himself and his wife, Leah. When confronted by the evil Maleficent, he mostly remained silent, but with a stern, stoic, and fairly intimidating expression. Aside from that scene, he is mostly seen as a soft-spoken man for the most part; specifically during his scenes with the more boastful and jolly King Hubert, Stefan's jolly best friend and the father of his daughter's betrothed, Prince Phillip. Despite not being highly intelligent, Stefan does demonstrate some common sense, as shown when he tried to inform Hubert to slow down with their plan to have their children marry until they get better acquainted. Stefan is also protective of his kingdom and family, especially when he wanted to ensure the safety of Aurora, due to the curse Maleficent had inflicted on his daughter.
However, Stefan is sometimes grumpy and argumentative, especially when he initially refused to have Aurora marry Phillip soon and when he got into an argument with Hubert that led to him trying to declare war that contradicts their original plan, even if it has some merits. As considerate as he is, Stefan also doesn't show much intellect, as shown when he was easily deceived by Maleficent into letting his wife claim that she's not offended and passively let her bestow her so-called gift on Aurora, unaware that his failure to invite Maleficent would consequently cause her to inflict her curse on his daughter. He also happens to be extremely short and bad tempered if he's provoked too much, gradually becoming annoyed and frustrated over the thought of his daughter being taken away again, after only just getting her back following 16 years of being apart until he finally got extremely furious at the thought of Aurora not being good enough for Phillip by hypocritically insulting Hubert of his stubbornness, even though he too is also stubborn. Furthermore, he is also shown to be a bit of a worrier, when he is still fearing for Aurora's life from Maleficent, even if he was trying to ensure his daughter's safety.
Nevertheless, in spite of his grumpy and stubborn attitude at times, Stefan is also shown to be strongly caring and devoted to his family, kingdom, and to all of his servants, including Lord Duke and Minstrel.
===Physical appearance===
Stefan is shown as a tall, slender middle-aged man. He is shown wearing a large golden crown on his long black hair (he also has a decorated mustache and goatee). He is shown to be lavishly dressed with a long yellow tunic and a long black and yellow robe with a coral red colored collar and sleeves.
==Appearances==
===Sleeping Beauty===
King Stefan and Queen Leah are the monarchs of an unnamed European kingdom during the late 1300's, possibly in France. He and his wife had been married for many years before finally having a daughter and named her Aurora, whom they named her after the dawn, for she filled their lives with sunshine.
The whole kingdom was invited by Stefan to celebrate her birth, including his lifelong friend, King Hubert, and his young son and betrothed to the infant girl, Prince Phillip. Also invited were the three good fairies called Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, whom Flora and Fauna gave Aurora the gifts of beauty and song, respectively. But the happiness between him and his wife is short-lived as their celebration got crashed by the arrival of the evil fairy, Maleficent. As Maleficent is about to leave, both Stefan and Leah failed to provide a proper explanation of their lack of invitation to her, with Stefan remaining silent and Leah being tricked by Maleficent to ask she's not offended, to which the former pretended she wasn't. In order to exact revenge on him and the others for not inviting her to the baby's celebration, Maleficent then prophecies that on Aurora's sixteenth birthday, she will die from pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. An enraged Stefan ordered his guards to seize Maleficent. But before the guards can get to her, she cackles and disappears, leaving Stefan, his wife, and the other servants and guests in the royal court worried about Aurora's doomed future. However, one of the Three Good Fairies, Merryweather (who still had her wish), alters the curse that their daughter will sleep instead of death until True Love's Kiss that will break the spell. As a first response, Stefan ordered all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be burned in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the curse from happening. The King and Queen are persuaded to 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 his castle. While in the dining room drinking and with the court composer, Minstrel, drinking to himself, Hubert reveals that upon Aurora's return, she and Philip shall be instantly wed and move to another home (which is already built). This frustrates Stefan into initially opposing their original plan to have their children marry soon, as he wanted to see Aurora and suggested Hubert that their children should get to know each other. And upon Hubert stating what if Phillip doesn't like Aurora, the two monarchs begin to quarrel with each other and Stefan loses his temper and threatened to declare war on Hubert. But after Hubert grabs a fish as a weapon, it leads to the two kings laughing and quickly making up for their immature behavior by realizing they're fighting over nothing. Later in the film, Stefan is subsequently put to sleep by the fairies (though unknown to him and the others, Aurora pricked her finger and is in a state of sleep) so that he will wake upon Aurora's awaking, along with Hubert, Leah, and the other residents of the kingdom. However, it is prior to Hubert telling him what Phillip had told him on a peasant girl (she is Aurora in reality, though neither he nor Phillip were able to realize this).
Afterwards, King Stefan is not seen again until the end of the film just after Maleficent's demise at the hands of Phillip that allows Stefan to wake up from his slumber, along with Hubert, Leah, and the other residents in the kingdom that were all freed by Phillip's True Love's Kiss on Aurora. Stefan, Leah, and Hubert share a happy reunion with Aurora and Phillip, and the three watch their children dance.
===Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams===
King Stefan reappears in the Keys to the Kingdom segment of the film Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, now voiced by Corey Burton.
He is first seen in the beginning of the first segment, talking to Aurora about him, Leah, Hubert, and Phillip going out of town for the Royal Conference for two days (where Hubert is due to give a speech) before asking his majordomo, Lord Duke about the arrangements he made for the kingdom and for the Royal Conference. After Stefan leaves with Phillip, Hubert, and Leah, Aurora is given the Keys to the Kingdom and with a little advice from Duke, she becomes a temporary ruler for Stefan and Leah, though he is seen unsure and worried if Aurora can rule, but she comforts her father.
King Stefan 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 and told him that he saw giant chickens, green pigs, and cows in the throne room. At first, Stefan was confused about what Duke said, but he told his master to check the throne room immediately. But when Stefan, Leah, Hubert, Phillip, and Duke all arrive in the throne room, there were no animals and Stefan frustratingly asks Duke if he sees any cows, to which his majordomo said there's none.
Stefan is seen at the end 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. He starts laughing, along with the fairies, Duke, Hubert, Leah, Phillip, and Aurora.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Though King Stefan and Queen Leah do not 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.
*Stefan is one of the few characters who are good in their original appearance and then antagonized in the live action version of the character.
*Before Taylor Holmes was cast as Stefan in the final version for his last film role, Hans Conried was originally considered to voice Stefan, as he recorded some additional lines of dialogue for the dialogue version for the deleted song.
**Due to this, Stefan is technically the first Disney Princess Father to have two different voice actors in the same film; Hans Conried for the dialogue version for the deleted song and Taylor Holmes for the film's final cut.
*There was originally a scene that was to have taken place in the beginning where King Stefan and King Hubert argue about the future of their children and compare the virtues of their young children, a song called "It Happens I Have a Picture" (heard in the second disc of the 2008 Platinum Edition DVD of Sleeping Beauty and The Legacy Collection: Sleeping Beauty), spoken by Hans Conried and Bill Thompson. Although Thompson ended up voicing Hubert in the final film, the truth regarding the herald's voice may still never be known because after providing some additional lines, Conried himself was eventually replaced by Taylor Holmes for the vocal part of Stefan in the film's final version.
*The way he and Hubert were laughing was repeated in The Sword in the Stone with Sirs Pellinore and Ector.
*He was the first Disney Princess Father to be alive followed by King Triton, Maurice, The Sultan, Chief Powhatan, Fa Zhou, King Frederic, King Fergus, Chief Tui and Chief Benja.
==See also==
*King Stefan (Maleficent)
*King Stefan (Once Upon a Time)
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