Prince John

Prince John is a lion and the main antagonist of Disney's 1973 animated feature film Robin Hood. He is the younger brother of King Richard, from whom John usurped the throne of England with the aid of his assistant, Sir Hiss. Despite his power, John is heavily loathed by his "subjects" for heartlessly stealing from the poor to heighten his own wealth and prosperity.
==Background==
Not much is known of Prince John's past, other than the fact that he is the younger brother of King Richard. He seems to have had a love/hate relationship with his deceased mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he claims favored Richard over him but cries out in agony whenever he insults her memory.
After Richard is hypnotized, thanks to Sir Hiss, into joining the Crusades, John assumes the crown and abuses the power to become somewhat of a despot. His main interests as king seem to be the trappings of power and taxation. His taxes are impoverishing his subjects, but he pays this no mind. He is loosely based on the real-life King John of England. Peter Ustinov also did Prince John's German-language voice and played the similar character of Emperor Nero in the Christian epic Quo Vadis.
===Personality===
Prince John is a coward and crybaby who rules without the best interests of his people and country, opting to rule through fear instead. It is heavily implied that his more negative character was the direct result of at the very least his mother neglecting him in favor of his elder brother King Richard, leading him to bitterly state that his mother "loved Richard best" even while whimpering about her. On a more humorous note, and owing to his love-hate relationship with his deceased mother, he cries out in agony whenever she is mentioned, especially when he does something that dishonors her memory. He has the bad habit of sucking his thumb intensely at the most inappropriate times whenever someone mentions his mother to him, making him appear childish and immature, ergo, a mama's boy, but also making him a tragic character because of his flaws.
John is greedy and loves money more than anything else in the world, perhaps even more than his own life, and continually finds ways to rob and swindle his people in the pursuit of wealth. He is also very possessive of whatever gold he owns as seen when Robin Hood robs him. As Robin Hood enters his castle he hears his voice, but fortunately, the sleepy Prince turns over and is seen to be clutching tightly on a bag of coins. However, in one of his rages, he declared that he would give all his gold if he could 'just get [his] hands on [Robin Hood]'.
John also has an extremely short temper, often being set off at the slightest criticism, or when he is humiliated and lashes out at anyone nearby. This is especially evident with his abusive and often violent treatment of his majordomo, Sir Hiss.
John also seems to be ticklish, as when Sir Hiss hisses in his ear and Hiss's snoring causes his tongue to wiggle across John's foot, he is shown at both times to be laughing. He is also shown to be a cheerful character according to Sir Hiss who at one point said he "wasn't his usual cheerful self". When it comes to taxes, Prince John is just as unsympathetic as the Sheriff (who presumably acts the way he does because of it) and merely jokes on the people's poverty "Rob the poor to feed the rich". He is also seen in his first scene in front of a large bag of coins bringing them up and dropping them childishly lamenting that his taxes are beautiful and lovely and laughing. He is also outraged about news of what his subjects really think of him; when the Sheriff reports to work humming and singing "The Phony King of England" and the prince asks what it means, the Sheriff says it is the latest hit song. In his rage, John retaliates with an order to "double the taxes; triple the taxes!" and orders the Sheriff to squeeze every last coin from the peasants. Prince John likely knew the result of this; he was not seeking to get even more money, rather he was aware that most, if not all of the citizens of Nottingham would be sent to the dungeon as they could not afford such a crushing tax rate. He remarks "They will be singing a different tune", causing the Sheriff and Sir Hiss to crudely smile in agreement, arguably fully understanding the end result.
Ultimately, Prince John is something of a coward, as seen in the battle after the archery tournament, when he tries to attack Robin Hood, but immediately begs for mercy and hides behind a barrel upon being disarmed; however, he has been threatened by Little John's dagger from behind only moments before, so it could explain his sudden panic. This also indicates his lack of physical ability, as he is disarmed so easily and quite frail. Later on, while clinging to the edge of his bed chamber balcony, he calls on his guards to save his gold rather than him.
Despite his cowardice and immaturity, John can be clever at times, coming up with ways to bring Robin Hood out of hiding.
===Physical appearance===
Prince John is a skinny, slender lion. Unlike his older brother, he does not have a mane. Prince John’s head is notably much smaller than his brother’s as well, and so King Richard’s crown droops down a bit when on John’s head. John wore before a red royal robe, which was stolen. He wore long, blue underwear underneath his robe. He then wore a blue robe, which is clearly less important than his red one, but having lost his red robe, he wears this from then on.
==Appearances==
===Robin Hood===
After tricking King Richard into partaking in the Crusades beyond England, Prince John becomes the acting monarch of England and quickly asserts his authority over the kingdom. Surrounded by a very large army of henchmen, include Sir Hiss, he easily robs the people of England of all they have, causing misery and despair among the population. He is known for his harsh and unjust taxes, and gladly taxes the people continually until they do not have a scrap of silver or gold left. He is not above imprisoning his own people if they fail to pay their taxes even after they give up everything they had. By the time of the film, he has set his sights on the wealthy village of Nottingham and proceeds to assert his rule over the city.
Unfortunately for Prince John, his scheming ways catch the attention of famed robber Robin Hood, alongside his faithful companion, Little John, who rob the rich to give to the poor. During his journey to Nottingham, Prince John runs across two fortune tellers (actually Robin Hood and Little John in clever disguises) and eagerly accepts their offer to tell him his fortunes (despite Sir Hiss warning him of the possible danger). As Robin Hood distracts him by complimenting his more regal features, he and Little John rob Prince John's caravan of the gold they had been carrying and escape into Sherwood Forest right under the noses of the fooled guards. Robin Hood adds further insult to injury by making off with John's royal robe, leaving him in nothing but his long underwear (so that he could not do anything to deter Robin Hood and Little John). John gives chase but falls out of his carriage (Little John made off with the golden hubcaps on the wheels, again so that Prince John could not deter them). Utterly humiliated, John swears revenge on Robin Hood, labeling him a wanted man in Nottingham.
Upon arriving in Nottingham, Prince John decrees a series of harsh taxes on the villagers, driving them out of their homes and leaving them starving. Those unable to pay are sent to the stocks. Aiding John in his efforts is the cruel Sheriff of Nottingham, who has no shame in robbing the people on behalf of the prince. During John's rule, Robin Hood, Little John, and Friar Tuck of the local Church do everything they can to keep hope alive in the town, secretly distributing money among the starving population. The people view Robin Hood as a hero for his efforts, so he is never turned in for his crimes against the prince despite the offer of a huge reward.
Prince John also sets up his residence in his mother's castle in Nottingham where Maid Marian, Robin's former love, still resides. Maid Marian has no love for the prince, however, and desperately wishes to see Robin again, while at the same time fearing that he has forgotten all about her.
Prince John eventually sets up a trap for Robin Hood by hosting an archery tournament and offering up a kiss from Maid Marian as the winning prize. Unable to resist this opportunity to see his lost love again, Robin eagerly enrolls in the tournament, disguised as a stork, while Little John disguises himself as Sir Reginald, the Duke of Chutney. Although falling for Little John's disguise, the prince expects Robin to be in disguise and takes note of the stork's superior archery skills. When Robin wins the tournament as Prince John had planned, after recognizing him when shaking his hand, he unmasks his enemy in front of the crowd and has him arrested and sentenced to "immediate death." Maid Marian pleads him to show mercy, but her pleas fall on deaf ears, even after Robin proclaims his undying love for Maid Marian. John labels Robin a traitor to the crown, but is openly insulted by Robin, who shouts alongside the villagers, "Long live King Richard!" Outraged, John throws a childish fit and immediately orders Robin to be executed but is forced to release Robin when Little John holds him hostage from behind with a knife. The Sheriff discovers this and when Little John gets distracted, John orders his minions to do away with Robin. In the fight that follows, John tries to attack Robin from behind with a sword, only for Robin to quickly knock his sword out of his hand, forcing John to cowardly cower behind a barrel of ale. Robin and his friends defeat John's minions and destroy the tournament grounds, then flee into Sherwood Forest, much to the embarrassed prince's outrage. When he finds Sir Hiss inside the same ale barrel (having been forced in there by Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale to prevent the latter from exposing Robin Hood's true identity), due to his anger at being humiliated as well as Hiss supplying information about the stork's true identity that he, by that point already knew, vents his rage by tying him to a knot on a pole and daring him to get himself out of it if he can.
In the days that follow, John is further insulted to learn that the villagers and even his associates are mocking him with the song "The Phony King of England". Pushed to the end of his rope, he places even harsher taxes on the people and arrests dozens of helpless villagers who are unable to pay. The town is subsequently driven into poverty and everybody begins losing hope. Although John now has all the money left in the village, he still is not satisfied and longs to kill Robin Hood. One stormy night, John sits silently seething in his throne, ignoring the mountains of gold that now surrounded him, until Sir Hiss attempts to cheer him up by informing him of Friar Tuck's arrest. At first, John snaps and flies into a rage, screaming that it is Robin Hood he wants to hear has been apprehended, but then changes his mind and realizes that he can use this to his advantage. He sentences Friar Tuck to the gallows in an attempt to lure out and trap Robin Hood, hoping to use the opportunity to capture Robin Hood and finally do away with him for good. Sir Hiss is shocked that Prince John would go so far as to hang a member of the Catholic Church as bait to lure Robin Hood out, as it could cause them to be alienated from the Church if word of it reached Rome, and especially the pope in the Vatican, but the prince brushes off his reluctance, since this is likely only to lure Robin Hood into his grasp. However, Robin (disguised as a blind beggar) catches on to this plan by eavesdropping on the Sheriff and his two vulture assistants, Trigger and Nutsy, and he and Little John agree to plan a jailbreak that night to save the Friar's life.
That night, Robin and Little John break into the castle. Little John proceeds to free Friar Tuck and all of the prisoners, mostly residents of Nottingham who are locked up for defaulting on taxes. Meanwhile, Robin sneaks past the guards and finds the prince sleeping in his royal quarters with Sir Hiss, surrounded by all his ill-gotten gold. Keeping quiet, he recovers all the gold in the room and gives it back to the overjoyed prisoners, who prepare to make off with what is rightfully theirs. Unfortunately, Sir Hiss awakes to find Robin escaping, and the prince also wakes up to the scene when Sir Hiss drags his bed after him as he tries to stop Robin Hood himself. John orders his minions to kill Robin, causing a large fight to break out within the castle. Robin and Little John defend the prisoners as they flee and open the gates to Sherwood Forest. Unfortunately, Robin is left behind after rescuing one of the children who nearly got left behind and finds himself pursued by John's guards and the Sheriff. The Sheriff traps Robin in a tower by setting fire to the castle, forcing Robin to jump in the moat, where he is shot at by archers. John watches gleefully as he waits to see if Robin is dead and is overjoyed when he does not resurface.
Unfortunately for John, Robin swims underwater back to the shore, uninjured and teasing the foolish prince with Skippy, once again calling him the "Phony King of England". John begins whining like a child again when he realizes he has lost once more. Sir Hiss criticizes him for his failure again, with John threatening to hit him with a wooden stick if he does not shut up. When Sir Hiss mentions that John's actions have destroyed his mother's castle, John becomes horrified, crying out for his mother in anguish before he finally snaps and flies into a violent rage. He chases the snake around the castle with the stick, all the while sucking his thumb and calling Hiss a string of various derogatory names.
Eventually, King Richard returns home and discovers the terrible deeds that Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham had inflicted on the people of England. Richard immediately reclaims his throne from his brother and repeals all of the unjust taxes John had imposed on the people, allowing Nottingham to return to happiness and prosperity. Richard also pardons Robin Hood for his past crimes and honors him for his efforts to help the people. Meanwhile, John is stripped of his rank, position, and title, and sentenced to jail along with Hiss and the Sheriff of Nottingham as punishment for their crimes against the poor people, and now spends his days laboring in the Royal Rock Pile, being supervised by Trigger and Nutsy. John howls in pain when his foot gets crushed by a rock fragment, much to Hiss's amusement.
===House of Mouse===
Prince John makes numerous appearances in this series. He is usually seen with Sir Hiss. He has speaking roles in the episodes "House of Crime" and "Pete's House of Villains", both instances involve his gold being stolen. He apparently runs a stock company called "Prince John's Savings and Loan" as seen at the end of the episode "House of Scrooge".
One notable appearance was in "Gone Goofy" when he popped up in response to Iago's request for any prince to kiss Abu awake after eating a poisoned apple.
In "Mickey's House of Villains", Prince John joined his fellow villains to take over the House of Mouse while singing the song "It's Our House Now!". In the end, he and the other villains flee as Mickey Mouse traps Jafar in a lamp and restores the house to normal with the help of Mickey's pals and Aladdin.
===Other appearances===
In Ralph Breaks the Internet, a screenshot depicting Prince John and Sir Hiss can be seen around the Sorcerer Hat at the Disney Animation pavilion in Oh My Disney.
In Once Upon a Studio, Prince John is seen in the men's bathroom along with Gaston, Milo Thatch, Thomas O'Malley, The Headless Horseman, Chicken Little, and Happy, preparing for the group photo, where he tries to accommodate his crown, but it falls off due to his height, he is later seen at the end of the short in the group photo.
==Printed media==
===The Emperor's New Clothes===
In the "Disney's Magic Reading" series, Prince John's design was utilized to represent the titular Emperor in the story. Overall, his personality was the same, although clothes were the thing he loved most instead of gold. He ends up getting tricked by the con artists, represented by J. Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon, and parades through the kingdom in his long johns, only realizing his mistake when a girl points out the truth.
It should be noted that most of the cast was human, making John, Foulfellow, and Gideon the only ones to actually be portrayed by anthropomorphic animals.
===Kingdom Keepers===
Prince John makes an appearance in the series installment Power Play as one of the Overtakers. Both him along with Gaston and the Horned King were stationed at Fort Langhorn on Tom Sawyer Island in the Magic Kingdom.
==Video games==
===Disney Emoji Blitz===
Prince John appears as a Villain Emoji, requiring a player to participate in his own Villain Event in order to unlock and upgrade him, or randomly obtain him from a Villain Box or other limited-time Boxes. Upon using his power, Prince John will stand atop the board with a bag of coins at his side, causing the entire board to glow gold. For a short period of time, any matches the player makes will create extra coins which fly into Prince John's bag. At the end of this period, Prince John will toss the bag at your coin counter, granting you all of the coins you just earned (plus interest). Prince John is additionally part of the Robin Hood collection (alongside Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, Lady Kluck, and Sir Hiss), requiring all six Robin Hood emojis to be unlocked and fully upgraded in order to get a free Villain Box, allowing the player to pull another random Disney Villain.
===Disney Sorcerer's Arena===
While Prince John is not physically present in Disney Sorcerer's Arena, there is a Spell featuring his name and likeness, titled "Prince John's Taxes". Classified as a Kingdom Spell, upon activating this Spell, a stone tower adorned with a banner of Prince John's face will "tax" the opponent team, reducing the Magic charge of a random Ability by 1 for a random opponent 2 times. If Robin Hood is a teammate, there's an additional 50% chance for each affected opponent to increase the Magic Charge for a random Ability of Robin Hood's by 1. As the Spell is upgraded, the amount of opponents affected is increased, and affected opponents additionally lose 30% of their Speed Meter. The tokens for this Spell use Prince John's face, likely indicating no current plans for Prince John to become his own playable character within the game.
==Disney Parks==
Prince John makes rare, occasional meet-and-greets at various Disney theme parks. He mostly, however, appears in places meant for entertainment purposes, and most of his appearances involve an even centering the Disney Villains franchise, among other things. To date, he meets often at Tokyo Disneyland like the other Robin Hood characters.
===Walt Disney World===
In 2013, Prince John took part in "Long Lost Friends Week" at the Magic Kingdom. That same year, he was featured alongside other Disney villains in Unleash the Villains. He would return for the same event in 2014.
===Disney Cruise Line===
In Villains Tonight!, Prince John was mentioned by Hades when he is looking for villains to call. But Hades does not call on Prince John because he "hates that little thumb-sucker".
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*In Prince John's early design, Milt Kahl considered making the villain a tiger. But it was figured out that his brother King Richard "The Lionheart" obviously had to be portrayed as a lion, so the tiger idea was dropped. Interestingly, it seems that when they decided to drop this idea, they just removed the stripes from the model sheets of the character and adding a tail tuft, without making further changes, which could explain why he does not have a mane.
**His lack of a mane could also represent how real-life male lions with a lack of testosterone, such as from being neutered, lose their manes: a fitting imagery for him as he is weak and cowardly in stark contrast to the more noble and mighty King Richard.
*One of several elements that make Robin Hood one of Disney's darker feature films both in the Main Canon (alongside Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Dinosaur) as well as outside of it, was Prince John's inspiration, although some aspects were removed to tone down much violence and to make the Disney film more suitable for young children:
**The real-life Prince John/King John I/John Plantagenet was indeed considered one of the worst European monarchs of all time, with some historians even going so far to call him "the worst king that ever sat on England's throne" (which make sense because it was mentioned that his name should be known as "John the Worst" in the song "Phony King of England") and "Foul as it is, even Hell itself is defiled by the fouler presence of John."https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/11671441/King-John-the-most-evil-monarch-in-Britains-history.htmlhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11469959/How-bad-was-Bad-King-John.html John's offenses are almost too numerous to list. In addition, his motivations for all his horror come from his tragic past:
***Like his Disney counterpart, Prince John grew up in the shadow of his older brothers and, for the most part, neglected by his parents. At various times, John was destined for the Church, for an Italian marriage and for piecemeal lands that belonged to his brothers (and which they refused to give him). His own father gave him the disparaging nickname "Lackland" (because his elder brothers inherited all of the lands) and it was not until the death of his oldest brother, Henry the Younger, that John began to figure in King Henry II's plans. Prince John later obtained his father's trust, however, when he refused to aid his brothers in overthrowing him and was almost chosen as heir to the throne. However, he eventually betrayed him and went over to Richard's side.
***Also, while Prince John's childish behavior is exaggerated for the purpose of comedy in the Disney film, John's attitude in real-life was far from rational and hilarious: he was a binge eater and alcoholic and like his Disney counterpart, had a savage temper. He was also alleged to have lost his mind in old age and begun crawling on the floor and chewing the legs of chairs. He was also alleged to have suffered from epilepsy.
***In fact, John's tyrannical rule was pretty much the reason why the Magna Carta document limiting the power of the throne in Britain and bringing about civil liberties was created, with him largely being forced to sign it by various barons. There was also evidence that he intended to break the treaty, although he died a year after its signing before he could ever get a chance to do so.
**Like his Disney counterpart, he was of similar personality traits, some of which are not prevalent in the film for the above reasons:
***The real-life John was treacherous and greedy: when his older brother Richard was away on crusade, John attempted to seize the throne by plotting with the King of France, Philip Augustus, prompting contemporaries to condemn him as "a mad-headed youth" and "nature's enemy".
***He was also lecherous, unlike his Disney counterpart: several nobles were reported to have taken up arms against him because he had forced himself on their wives and daughters.
***Most of all, John was shockingly cruel. In a chivalrous age, when aristocrats spared their enemies, capturing them rather than killing them, John preferred to do away with people by grisly means.
****On one occasion, for example, he ordered twenty-two captive knights to be taken to Corfe Castle in Dorset and starved to death.
****Another time, he starved to death the wife and son of his former friend, William de Briouze.
****In 1203, he arranged the murder of his own nephew and rival for power, Arthur of Brittany (whom Richard chosen as the heir to his throne).
***He was also a terrible military leader, responsible for losing all English continental territories to Philip Augustus. Contemporaries called him "Softsword" because of that. "No man may trust him," sang the troubadour poet Bertran de Born, "for his heart is soft and cowardly". King John's loss of England's continental inheritance was deeply shameful, and he was determined to win it back hence the huge taxation rise in order to raise massive armies.
***Like his Disney counterpart, real-life John taxed the people to pieces: John's reign saw the greatest financial exploitation of England since the Norman Conquest. And it was all in vain. When he finally launched his long-planned continental campaign in 1214, it was a complete disaster. John shied away from battle when challenged by French forces, and his allies in the north were defeated in a decisive clash with Philip Augustus. John returned to England that autumn with his treasury empty and his dreams of re-conquest in tatters, and ultimately forced by the barons on June of 1215 to sign the Magna Carta as noted above, before he finally died of an unspecified illness at the Newark Castle in October of 1216.
*David Tomlinson was considered to be the voice Prince John, and he also was intended to be the voice of Bagheera previously.
**Additionally, Peter Ustinov, his final voice actor, also plays his older brother, King Richard, but in a more noble-like tone as opposed to John's cowardly-like tone of voice.
*Bernard Fox was also considered to be the voice of Prince John.
*Nearing the film's climax, John had Friar Tuck arrested and sentenced to death by hanging, a plan that would horrify even his own second-in-command, Sir Hiss, due to the fact that it would have been unthinkable at the time since no king would have ever dared imprison or execute a man of the Catholic Church (which would have invoked automatic excommunication by the pope), except Prince John himself who confiscated the lands of the Church and forced priests to pay the taxes and clearly did not care about the consequences of this deed.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/11671441/King-John-the-most-evil-monarch-in-Britains-history.html
*It is shown in the scene where Robin Hood robs John while he and Hiss are sleeping that he is a very noisy sleeper. He talks in his sleep, he makes groan-like sounds, and sucks his thumb loudly while sleeping (much to Hiss's disgust). Even Robin himself looks visibly stunned and confused at this behavior, but shrugs it off, trying his best not to wake the two up.
*Prince John lacks a villain song. The closest thing to an actual villain song was "The Phony King of England", which he never actually sang.
*This is the only incarnation of the character to ever be the main antagonist of any Robin Hood adaptation. Most other versions of the story have the Sheriff of Nottingham as the main antagonist instead, with Prince John, if he actually appears, as either a secondary or minor antagonist.
*In Disney Tsum Tsum, Prince John appears as a non-playable Tsum, and was fought as a boss with Sir Hiss (another non-playable Tsum) during the Disney Storybooks Classic Series II event.
==See also==
*Prince John (1952 character)
==References==
==External links==
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