LeFou

LeFou (which translates to "the fool" in French) is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast. He is Gaston's snide, accident-prone sidekick.
==Background==
===Development===
In one of the earlier drafts for the film, LeFou (or rather, "LaFou") was depicted in two ways: One was similar in overall appearance to his final design, and was depicted as a slovenly, dimwitted braggart and a drunkard, and is implied to immensely respect Gaston because the latter always picks up the tab. He was also compared to the character Wimpy from Popeye in this version regarding his love of booze (similar to how Wimpy loves hamburgers).
Another is as a more nerdish character and acted as Gaston's accountant. It is also mentioned in this draft that he was initially very well educated, bright, and enterprising, but Gaston's bullying alongside his failed attempts at keeping Gaston's reckless extravagant and lavish spending in check left him really neurotic and high-strung.
Yet another version, spelled "Oui-Oui", also depicted him as South Asian (presumably Indian) and explicitly non-European. Another concept art depicted him as two carriers of Gaston's box chariot, although they were given the appearance of being Oriental.
===Personality===
Although LeFou is far from stupid, he is still portrayed as something of a bumbler. He looks up to Gaston as his hero and takes all the abuse Gaston inflicts on him. Despite this, he seems to share something of a love/hate relationship with Gaston, as the two have been shown to get along with no problem, and Gaston mostly hurts LeFou when the latter either makes a smart remark at Gaston's expense or does something stupid. He has been dropped, hit in the head with the barrel of a gun and with Gaston's fist, had his head wedged in a number of objects (including a tuba), grabbed by the throat twice, squashed underneath a chair or bench, thrown into a muddy pond and a pile of snow, and has still shown loyalty to Gaston. He is also bad at catching things, which was demonstrated twice: first when attempting to catch a fowl that Gaston shot earlier as it was falling with a bag, only for it to land next to him, and next when trying to eat a handful of eggs while Gaston sang about how feasting on eggs made him large and presumably maintain that physique, only for them to splatter all over him. In addition, he also was surprisingly durable especially for his physique, as evidenced by some of the abuse he sustained, some including things that would have been ordinarily lethal such as being squashed under an occupied chair or bench or being exposed to the snow for what was presumed to be a prolonged period of time in the film.
Otherwise, LeFou is much smarter than he looks. He successfully manages to trick Maurice into describing the Beast in front of the congregated mob in order to convince them Maurice is insane and acts as the de facto leader of the lynch mob while Gaston is hiding in the shadows. Earlier on, LeFou is the first to notice Belle walking past him and Gaston; he tries to warn Gaston, though it takes the hunter a while to tear away from his own reflection. In addition, he was at least smart enough to guess correctly what Gaston had been planning when he whispered it in his ear in a short period of time, and his reaction when discovering Gaston wanted to marry Belle implied that he realized that she would most likely not want to marry him, and tried to warn Gaston against it. In the Marvel Comics, LeFou also came up with the plan for a wife auction to ensure all the maidens in the village came to Gaston for proposal in an attempt to lure Belle out (a plan which Gaston later took credit for), although it failed due to one of the Bimbettes disguising herself as Belle. Furthermore, he was also shown to be smart enough to realize that bears hibernate during the winter and remind Gaston of this when he planned to kill the bear for Belle. However, Gaston just ignored this and got beat up by the bear.
LeFou seemed to at least temporarily have an infatuation for Claudette, Laurette, and Paulette, as he was seen gasping with ecstasy at them while they were singing praises for Gaston before they obliviously squirted water at him with a pump. Similarly, in the Marvel Comics, after the Bimbettes accidentally caused an avalanche while attempting to desperately stop Gaston from trying to climb the mountain and land on LeFou, the latter briefly proclaimed that it was "snowing girls", and was clearly infatuated by their seductive measures in their honeypot trap later on.
===Physical appearance===
LeFou is a short and slightly obese person with fair skin, large pink nose, dark brown hair tied into a ponytail, and black eyes.
==Appearances==
===Beauty and the Beast===
LeFou is first seen in the film's opening musical number, where he caught a waterfowl that Gaston managed to shoot down (or rather, attempted to, as the bird ended up falling a few inches away from him), having presumably accompanied Gaston on a hunting trip. He then told Gaston that he didn't miss a shot and was very likely to be the greatest hunter in the world, and was also the most wanted man among the women in the village. However, he was shocked when Gaston revealed his desire to marry Belle out of all the girls and apparently tried to warn Gaston that she's not his type and likely won't reciprocate his desires but was interrupted. Afterward, LeFou, upon rendezvousing with Gaston as Belle was about to leave, briefly mocked Maurice as a "crazy old loon", earning him a rebuke from both Belle and Gaston (the latter mostly to get Belle to like him), who bopped LeFou on the head. However, they proceeded to laugh while Belle rushed back to her cottage when an explosion occurred at the cottage, most likely from one of Maurice's experiments backfiring.
During Gaston's failed attempt to marry Belle, LeFou is the conductor of an improvised musical band, conducting the band in an impossibly fast version of the , although he ended up getting a trumpet slammed into his head by Gaston after prematurely playing the band. After Belle's rejection of Gaston, LeFou asks him how his proposal went, prompting Gaston to throw LeFou into the mud in his frustration, to which he replies "Touchy", (with the pig snorting in agreement). Later, LeFou and the other villagers cheer up Gaston at the local tavern by singing a song about how great he is. LeFou was also the only one of the villagers to directly learn from Gaston the specific details of his plan involving locking Maurice in the asylum to force Belle into marrying him.
When Gaston enacts his plan to blackmail Belle into marriage with help from Monsieur D'Arque, the owner of the local insane asylum, LeFou is thrown into a pile of snow and tasked with standing guard outside Belle's Cottage until Belle and her father return. LeFou attempted to protest his given task to a departing Gaston, only to be ignored, annoying him to an extent that he smashes his arm against part of the house, burying him even deeper in the snow from a minor avalanche. By the time they do return, LeFou had poorly disguised himself as a snowman (being covered in a light layer of snow, and his actual arms are exposed still gripping onto the tree branches that were supposed to act as his "arms"), and upon witnessing their return, LeFou rushes off to tell Gaston and D'Arque. They soon appear with a lynch mob, and LeFou successfully convinces the congregated mob that Maurice is insane by having Maurice describe the Beast again, but the plan backfires when Belle uses the Enchanted Mirror to prove Maurice isn't insane and the Beast is real.
In his jealousy and pride, Gaston rallies the crowd to attack the Beast's Castle and leave no one alive, and LeFou walks by his side. Once inside, he picks up Lumiere to light his way, and Lumiere's signal begins the fight. During the fight, LeFou waves a torch perilously close to Lumiere's head, melting him slightly, but Cogsworth intervenes and slides down the banister, pokes LeFou in the rear end with a pair of scissors, and rescues Lumiere. Along with Stanley and Tom, Lefou is later seen pursuing Sultan to the kitchen with other villagers but then ended up fleeing and escaping the castle with the rest of the rioters after Chef Bouche frightens them with his huge flames. It's also left unrevealed if he ever found out that Gaston died against the Beast, but it's likely that Gaston's absence from then on would give him that exact message.
===House of Mouse===
LeFou often appeared alongside Gaston as one of the guests in House of Mouse, and he can be seen alongside other villains in Mickey's House of Villains, specifically in the scene where Minnie Mouse tried to singlehandedly stand against the club's leader, Jafar.
In the episode, "Everybody Loves Mickey" LeFou notably appears alongside some of the villagers to sing "Let's Slay the Beast".
LeFou is also seen during the headcount of all the Disney character guests in "Ask Von Drake".
In "Pete's House of Villains", LeFou and Gaston joined the other guests as they rooted for Mickey's return when Pete's show was a flop.
In "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner", LeFou and Gaston were amongst the crowd laughing at the humiliation of Mortimer Mouse, before Mortimer was slapped onto a pillar by Gaston.
===Other appearances===
An emoticon version of LeFou appears in the Beauty and the Beast entry of the As Told by Emoji short series. After the credits, he is seen flirting with the Bimbettes, only to face rejection.
In Once Upon a Studio, LeFou joins all of the characters in singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" as the group photo is successfully taken to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney.
==Live-action appearances ==
===Beauty and the Beast (2017)===
LeFou appears in the live-action remake of the film, played by Josh Gad. This version of the character is much more intelligent, gentle, and down-to-earth than his animated counterpart. LeFou is given more development in this version, with the most notable example being LeFou's feelings toward Gaston are implied to be more-or-less romantic infatuation as opposed to just friendly admiration until the climax. Another notable example is that he gained more heroic qualities than his animated counterpart, such as being the voice of reason for Gaston and ultimately redeeming himself by helping the Beast's servants fend off the villagers at the climax.
Just like his animated counterpart, LeFou tends to aid Gaston in running the local tavern and being under his thumb. He is first seen with Gaston when he sings about his plans to woo and marry Belle. When the Bimbettes sing about how handsome Gaston is, they are sprayed with mud by Gaston's horse and LeFou bluntly tells them that "It's never going to happen, ladies." He even once sang about Gaston's greatness to the village in order to cheer him up after the latter's failed attempts to woo and marry Belle and finds Maurice's ravings about the Beast to be ridiculous.
However, as the plot unravels, LeFou starts to become uneasy over Gaston's true nature, as he objects over Gaston's intent to leave Maurice to die in the woods. Even when Maurice returns after being rescued by the local beggar woman Agathe and accuses Gaston of attempted murder, Gaston secretly intimidates LeFou from testifying against him before convincing the villagers that Maurice must be locked away in the local asylum for his 'delusions', much to LeFou's guilt.
Eventually, Belle returns and proved her father's sanity by revealing the Beast's existence with a magic mirror, which made LeFou and the villagers realize that Maurice was telling the truth. Despite this turn of events, Gaston turns the table by stealing the magic mirror and convincing the villagers to help him take down the Beast. After Gaston locks up Belle and Maurice in the asylum carriage, LeFou calmly tries to talk Gaston out of going after the Beast but is forced into compliance when Gaston threatens to have him locked up as well. As Gaston leads the villagers to the castle, LeFou is visibly uncomfortable in raiding the Beast's Castle, finally realizing that Gaston is the true monster and not the Beast.
As the villagers break into the castle, LeFou inadvertently instigates a battle after seeing Chip, the teacup that Maurice mentioned could talk, and after wrongfully identifying Mrs. Potts as Chip's grandmother, which left Mrs. Potts insulted as she signals the servants' ambush against the villagers. During the battle, Gaston uses LeFou as a shield against the coat rack, Chapeau, who brawled LeFou several times before the latter ends up being accidentally smacked by a harpsichord named Maestro Cadenza. LeFou begs for help, but Gaston leaves him as he went to the West Wing to kill the Beast himself, much to LeFou's shock (even Cadenza himself is horrified by this act of betrayal). Finally having enough, LeFou defected to the servants' side, even saving Mrs. Potts from being shattered when she had fallen from the chandelier before the villagers flee away in humiliation and defeat. After he saves Mrs. Potts, he tells her that he used to be on Gaston's side, but they are "so in a bad place right now", in which she comforts him by saying that he's too good for Gaston anyway.
Following Gaston's death, LeFou is seen again with the castle servants as the villagers (who have all regained their memories after Belle breaks the curse, which transformed the Beast and his servants back to normal) reunite with their loved ones. In the end, LeFou dances with the crowd at the final ceremony, he dances with an unnamed woman until they switched partners, which was Stanley (for a brief moment, presumably).
In a deleted scene, LeFou momentarily escapes the battle by retreating to the bathroom where he remorsefully laments to himself that he shouldn't have come. However, he is soon attacked by Monsieur Toilette and is forced back into the battle (and it is implied from here is when he rescues Mrs. Potts).
In another deleted scene that takes place after the battle and Gaston's demise, LeFou is seen happily leaving the castle when he encounters Toilette, now in human form. When LeFou asks him what will he do now that he's human again, Toilette replies "brush my teeth".
==Disney Parks==
In spite of Gaston making appearances, LeFou hasn't become a meetable character in the Disney theme parks, though he is mentioned frequently by Gaston.
===Walt Disney World===
At Magic Kingdom's Gaston's Tavern, a drink is known as "LeFou's Brew" serves as the restaurant's signature drink, with Gaston occasionally explaining that LeFou is in the tavern making the drinks for guests. In addition, outside the tavern itself stands a fountain displaying the moderately iconic statue of both Gaston and LeFou.
LeFou is the star of Epcot's Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along at the France Pavilion, which takes the form of an abridged The Lion King 1½-style retelling of the film as the “true hero” that brings Belle and the Beast together. The film features newly animated scenes of LeFou taking part in various moments from Beauty and the Beast, particularly musicals numbers like “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast”.
===Hong Kong Disneyland===
In 2019, LeFou made his theme park debut as one of the villains in Let's Get Wicked, alongside Gaston.
===Disney Cruise Line===
While not actually appearing in the show itself, LeFou was mentioned by Hades in the show Villains Tonight.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*In early versions of Beauty and the Beast, he was based more on comedian Woody Allen, and the studio was hoping to persuade Allen himself to voice him. However, after some changes were made once Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were brought in to help make the film, LeFou's character changed and Allen's voice didn't match LeFou anymore, so Jesse Corti was cast instead.
*LeFou is currently one of the few Beauty and the Beast characters to have the same voice actor in multiple versions of the movie, as Jesse Corti voiced LeFou in the English and Latin American Spanish dubs of the movie.
*The style of LeFou's design is in the tradition of characters including Mr. Smee from Peter Pan (Ollie Johnston).
*He is, by far, the most cartoonish–looking Beauty and the Beast human character.
*In the 2017 live-action remake of the film, LeFou is portrayed by Josh Gad, known for his role as Olaf in the 2013 film Frozen. Jesse Corti also voices the Spanish dignitary in that same film. Interestingly enough, when Belle returns with Maurice, LeFou is disguised as a snowman.
*After Sultan has stolen one of his shoes during the Castle War scene, LeFou can be seen wearing both shoes again during the scene where he and two other villagers surround Sultan in the kitchen and when they leave the castle after being spooked by Chef Bouche.
*Although LeFou doesn't appear in Once Upon a Time, he is mentioned in the episode "Her Handsome Hero" by Gaston as being a friend who likes to embarrass him by spreading tall tales about him.
*In Descendants: Isle of the Lost, LeFou is the father of LeFou Deux on the Isle of the Lost.
==See also==
*LeFou (Beauty and the Beast 2017)
==External links==
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