134 Lumiere

Maurice LaMarche (*Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse*)
Jeff Bennett (2005-present, singing voice in *Snowed in at the House of Mouse*)
Ewan McGregor (2017 film)
Bill Farmer ("The Wonderful Spring of Mickey Mouse")

**Lumiere** (which translates from French as "light") is a supporting character in Disney's 1991 animated feature film, *Beauty and the Beast*. He is the charismatic, yet rebellious, castle maître'd, who was turned into a candelabra by the Enchantress's curse.

## Background

Lumiere is one of the servants in a French castle ruled by a formerly spoiled, selfish and unkind prince. He served as the castle's maître'd, and is interestingly one of the few inhabitants to actually speak with an (albeit, considerably exaggerated) French accent. He is also somewhat of a showman. Well-liked and respected amongst his peers, Lumiere is a prominent member of the prince's unofficial council of confidants. He also has a notable relationship with one of the castle's many maids, Fifi—a relationship that had been in bloom for a significant number of years, prior to the events of the film.

When the castle was overtaken by a curse placed by a powerful enchantress, Lumiere was turned into a candelabra, while the other servants suffered similar fates, also becoming household objects. The prince, meanwhile, would become a monstrous beast. For the following decade, Lumiere would remain hopeful that the curse would eventually break, restoring the humanity of himself and his allies. This hinged on whether or not the Beast could learn to love another and earn their love in return.

### Personality

Lumiere is a kind-hearted, charismatic, yet rebellious maître d’ of the Beast. Incredibly social and hospitable towards all of whom he meets, Lumiere has a habit of disobeying the firm rules of his antisocial master, frequently resulting in controversy. Nevertheless, after Belle, he is arguably the Beast's closest friend, as the Beast often turns to Lumiere for advice. His free-spirited and rebellious personality often put a severe strain on his friendship with Cogsworth, the majordomo-turned-mantel clock who prefers to abide strictly by his master's rules to avoid any trouble. As shown many times in the film series, however, Lumiere values Cogsworth like a brother and vice versa.

He is also depicted as a chivalrous ladies' man, as Beast often goes to him for love advice dealing with his feelings for Belle. In addition to this, he can be rather flirtatious and often speaks in a suave, smooth tone. This is most frequently seen during his interaction with Fifi. He is also somewhat of a womanizer, as implied in the Marvel Comics with him fondling two feather duster maids, as well as in *The Enchanted Christmas*, where he refers to Angelique as an "old flame". Lumiere's admiration and knowledge of romance were also put into good use during the development of the Beast and Belle's relationship throughout the course of the original film; most notably when he gave Beast the idea of bestowing the castle's massive library onto Belle, because of her love of books. Even so, there were instances in which he didn't seem to understand the circumstances of the curse, questioning how much he truly understands love. For example, the evening in which Belle became a prisoner within the castle, Lumiere believed Belle and the Beast could fall in love by midnight of that night, thus breaking the spell. It was Mrs. Potts that had to explain the delicacy of two individuals falling in love, reminding Lumiere that it will take time. After the Beast eventually does fall in love with Belle and releases her because of this, Lumiere again assumed that the spell would be broken, prompting Mrs. Potts to chime in once more, explaining that the romantic affection must be mutual in order for the curse to be lifted.

In the Special Edition song "Human Again", Lumiere's character is slightly expanded, revealing that he as a human had "a mademoiselle on each arm" and that he was a courtier. In addition, a line from Mrs. Potts in the same song about his actions "certainly causing husbands alarm" implies that he also was not above at the very least courting married women.

### Physical appearance

Under the curse, Lumiere was a three-armed golden candelabra with leaf-shaped accents, features sculpted in the middle and tallest candle, and a drop of wax resembling a lock of hair.

As a human, he’s described as a tall man with fair skin, a prominent chin, bright copper hair tied back into a ponytail with a yellow ribbon, yellow cravat, brown vest, cream shirt with long puffy sleeves and ochre leaf-patterned cuffs, ochre culottes (knee-length breeches), cream stockings, and brown shoe buckles.

## Appearances

### *Beauty and the Beast*

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After the fateful day when his master refuses to let a beggar woman into the castle (who was really an enchantress in disguise), Lumiere and the other servants in the castle are turned into household objects, with Lumiere having been turned into a candelabra. He is the first to show any kindness to Maurice, who comes upon the castle after losing his horse and getting lost in the woods. Despite Cogsworth's objections, Lumiere and the other servants comfort Maurice until the Beast arrives. Lumiere shows fear and has no power to save Maurice from being trapped in the dungeon. When Maurice's daughter Belle searches for him, she stumbles upon the castle. Lumiere is the first to spot and shows her the way to her father. Belle trades places to save her sick father and Lumiere gives advice to his master about giving Belle a proper room. The Beast doesn't look like he likes this suggestion at first, but decides to take Lumiere's advice and gives Belle her own room. Lumiere silently gives the Beast more advice as he escorts Belle to her room. Lumiere and Mrs. Potts, the castle's head of the maids, speak with Beast about the spell being broken and tries their best to calm his temper. When Belle wishes not to attend to dinner it causes Beast's temper to go out of control. Lumiere and the others clean up the kitchen and Belle appears. Lumiere decides to give Belle a warm welcome by singing "Be Our Guest". Belle then decides she wants to go for a tour with him and Cogsworth and they soon pass a stairway that leads to the West Wing which the Beast expressly forbad. Sensing Belle's curiosity and knowing their master's reaction if he sees her enter, Lumiere and Cogsworth try to persuade her to visit the library; instead, but Belle sneaks away from them and enters anyway. The Beast turns out to be indeed very angry with Belle and after frightening her, she leaves. Lumiere and the others tend to an injured Beast after he saves Belle from a pack of wolves to redeem himself for driving her out.

The winter hits and Lumiere notices the Beast has feelings for Belle, he persuades his master to give Belle the library as a gift which he does and soon a strong relationship begins to form between them. A romantic evening is prepared and their love grows during this time. In an ultimate act of selflessness, Beast allows Belle to return home to tend to her sick father. This crushes Lumiere, along with the rest of the servants, believing the last chance to break the spell has been lost. The castle is soon under attack by a mob led by a rival suitor for Belle, Gaston. Cogsworth and Lumiere lead the servants into a ferocious battle with the mob. At one point, he is almost killed by Gaston's right-hand man, LeFou, but is rescued by Cogsworth, who slides down the banister and pokes Lefou’s rear end. After being rescued by Cogsworth, Lumiere is horrified to see that his girlfriend, Fifi, is grabbed by Tom, one of Gaston’s stooges, who starts plucking some of her white feathers off while laughing maniacally. But unfortunately for Tom, Lumiere comes to Fifi’s rescue by burning Tom’s rear end, causing him to yell in extreme pain, allowing Lumiere to gracefully scoop up his girlfriend in his arms, much to their delight. After that, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the other servants eventually succeed in driving out the mob, including LeFou.

Afterward, having presumably been tipped off by Maurice, he rushes to the West Wing with Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts to aid Beast against Gaston, but arrives too late, just after Gaston fatally stabs Beast and falls to his death. Once Beast dies in Belle’s arms and Belle cries over the loss of her love, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts watch as the last petal fall from the enchanted rose and cry as they have supposedly reached the deadline to break the spell. Due to Belle confessing her love for Beast mere seconds before the last petal fell however, magic beams appear and raise Beast off the ground, to heal his injuries and turn him human again while Belle, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts watch in amazement. Shortly after, Belle and Adam share their first kiss which results in the rest of the spell breaking, returning the castle to its former beauty, and Lumiere and the rest of the servants to their human forms. At the film's finale during the royal ball, Lumiere and Cogsworth agree to "let bygones be bygones", but then break into an argument over who told who that Belle would break the curse... an argument that quickly turns into a brawl, though they quickly break it off to watch Belle dance with the Prince. After the argument, Lumiere is seen holding hands with Fifi watching Belle and Adam dance. He is also seen in the ending stained glass window.

### *Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*

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Taking place after the events of the first film, a Christmas party is being held at the castle. In during which, Lumiere and the servants reminisce the December in which Belle restored Christmas to the castle, which had previously been prohibited by orders of the Beast. Lumiere claims he was the one who saved Christmas, though Cogsworth prefers to take the credit, himself. Mrs. Potts, the neutral party, gathers the ball's attendants and explains that Christmas was the exact day the enchantress cursed Lumiere, the master, and the other servants, transforming the Prince into a beast and all the entire servants into various objects. The events occurred after Belle's encounter with the wolves, but before the night of ballroom dance in which she and the Beast fell in love.

As the flashback goes, Lumiere was rebellious against an anti-Christmas and wished to celebrate with or without the Beast. Under Belle's leadership, Lumiere and the other servants established an underground Christmas celebration, convincing Cogsworth by enticing him with all the food that'd be present at the Christmas feast. For their attempts, however, Belle was punished and locked in the dungeon. On the day of Christmas, Lumiere and the others visited her and proclaimed that they can celebrate Christmas without the extra accessories (such as mistletoe and a tree), which led to "A Cut Above the Rest", a bantering show tune between himself and Cogsworth.

When Forte, the castle's head maestro, becomes evil by believing the Beast will lose attention after becoming human by Belle, he begins to tear them apart with no true avail, until the climax, where Forte uses all his power to destroy the castle and everyone in it. Lumiere helps battle Forte, protect the rose with Cogsworth, and eventually, Forte is defeated.

Lumiere celebrates alongside the rest of the castle when the Beast puts an end to his hatred for Christmas. Back the present day, he and Cogsworth eventually come to the consensus that it was Belle who ultimately saved Christmas at the castle.

### *Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World*

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He is the protagonist in the short Fifi's Folly. On the fifth anniversary of Lumiere's first date with Fifi, Lumiere grows so nervous to the point that he cleans himself excessively and turns to Belle for advice, by walking with her in the garden and reciting what he plans to say to Fifi to her. Fifi overhears this and believes that Lumière and Belle are having an affair behind her back. In reality, Lumiere has planned a surprise snow ride around the castle gardens with Fifi.

To get back at Lumiere, Fifi attempts to seduce Cogsworth, who is apparently not interested. In the end, things are cleared up and Lumiere and Fifi go for the ride, but the pot they are sitting in slips off the edge of the balcony and hangs over the moat (the same chasm that Gaston will eventually meet his doom). Lumiere holds onto Fifi for while hanging for dear life and tells her he loves her. Before they can fall, Belle, Cogsworth, and a few more servants arrive and get them back to safety.

### *House of Mouse*

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Lumiere made numerous cameos in the animated television series *House of Mouse*, all in his cursed form.

In "The Stolen Cartoons", he complained about the current service as the club was briefly being controlled by Donald Duck.

In "Max's Embarrassing Date", he and his family were sent to Max's dinner table. For some reason, they are all candles, which makes no sense since he never was a candle to begin with.

His most notable role in the show is in "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner" in which he arrives as a restaurant critic, but none of the employees know this until the end, due to the sneaky Mortimer Mouse tricking them into believing he's the critic. Once exposed, Lumiere burns his behind having him rush out the club. At the end of that same episode, the advertisement *Lumiere's Dining By Candlelight* was seen on screen.

In "Goofy's Valentine Date", Lumiere briefly gave romantic advice to Goofy.

In "Pluto Saves the Day", he tells the Beast "Those kittens were so adorable."

### Other appearances

An emoticon version of Lumiere appears in the *Beauty and the Beast* entry of the *As Told by Emoji* short series.

In *Ralph Breaks the Internet*, Lumiere appears as an inanimate candelabra sitting at Belle's vanity in Oh My Disney.

In *Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers*, Lumiere was among the animated characters that was seen at Fan Con. He was located at the booth to the right of Dale's. Strangely, unlike Baloo and Pumbaa, who appear in their live-action CGI forms, Lumiere retains his original animated design in this film.

## Live-action appearances

### *Once Upon a Time*

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Lumiere appears in the fifteenth episode of the third season of *Once Upon a Time* played by Henri Lubatti. In this show, Lumiere was punished by Zelena the Wicked Witch, and turned into an inanimate candelabra where he communicates through a projection of his human face from the candle's flames. He aids in deceiving Belle and Rumplestiltskin's son Neal into resurrecting Rumplestiltskin (who is this show's incarnation of the Beast) so that Zelena can break his curse. Once the Dark One is recreated, Baelfire is injured in the process, prompting Rumplestiltskin to take Baelfire into his body to save his life, which causes Rumplestiltskin severe mental trauma as Zelena forces him to kill Belle. Just as Rumplestiltskin recovers, Lumiere, feeling guilty, briefly binds Zelena in flames, preventing her from announcing further commands as he warns Belle to run while she still has the chance. Belle escapes from the scene, grabbing Lumiere as she does.

### *Beauty and the Beast* (2017)

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Lumière appears in the 2017 live-action remake, both voiced and portrayed by Ewan McGregor. This depiction has him as an elegant footman. His design here is markedly different: as opposed to being an ordinary candelabra with a face on the middle candle, the candelabra itself is human-shaped and features Lumière with a bronze human-like face and legs as well. Despite the differences, Lumière's design as a candelabra with three branches still remains that was only done by shapeshifting.

Lumiere is one of the residents of the castle who serves as the footman and lived with the prince who was selfish and unkind. Later as the prince is transformed into a hideous beast as punishment, Lumiere and all the other residents of the castle are transformed into objects as the spell is cast all around the castle.

As Maurice and Philippe arrive at the Beast's Castle, Lumiere appears in the form of a candelabra alongside Cogsworth who appears in the form of a mantel clock. He later appears again watching over Belle alongside Cogsworth who also comments about Belle's entrance. Lumiere also arrives to the rescue just as he introduces himself to Belle while Cogsworth approaches him during his conversation with Belle. While exploring outside, Lumiere talks Belle that the castle is her new home and she can explore anywhere except for the west wing, to which according to Lumiere and Cogsworth, there is only storage in the west wing. Lumiere and Cogsworth take Belle to her new room.

Lumiere and the other objects tell the Beast to talk to Belle kindly to which Belle refuses to accept the Beast's offer because he locked her in the tower just as the Beast angrily leaves while and later uses the Enchanted Mirror to show him Belle. He then tells the other objects to continue the plan for Belle's dinner while Belle finally walks into the dining room, where Lumiere performs the musical number "Be Our Guest" with the other objects. Lumiere and Cogsworth later notice Belle leaving the castle in terror after the Beast angrily growls at her. He and the other objects participate during the musical number "Days in the Sun" and after the sequence, it is found out that after the last petal falls, the Prince will remain a Beast forever and all the castle servants will become inanimate objects. Lumiere later participates during "Something There" as Belle and the Beast start a romantic relationship.

Back at the Beast's Castle, Lumiere and the other castle servants prepare a formal suit for the Beast just as the Beast and Belle start a romantic relationship. He, Cogsworth, and Cadenza gaze upon Belle and the Beast dancing together during the musical number "Beauty and the Beast". As Belle leaves the castle to find her father, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Plumette are worried about Belle planning to find her father just as they all leave sadly, as the Beast sings the musical number "Evermore".

As Gaston sends an angry mob to kill the Beast, Lumiere and the other residents notice this as the castle residents form a barricade to block the entrance. Lumiere joins the battle and fights against Gaston and his villagers. After the battle ends, the last petal falls and Lumiere is transformed into his inanimate form as the castle residents become inanimate objects.

When Agathe uses her magic to restore the Enchanted Rose, Lumiere is transformed back into his human form along with the other castle servants. Lumiere and the other castle servants dance together in the ballroom during the reprise of the musical number "Beauty and the Beast".

## Video games

### *Kingdom Hearts* series

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Lumiere makes appearances in *Kingdom Hearts II* and *Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days*. He appears in his homeworld Beast's Castle.

He plays a minor role in both of the games, but his role in *Kingdom Hearts II* is considerably more prominent, taking place after his world was restored from the darkness. The Beast locks his servants in the Dungeon after Xaldin came and tried to turn him into a Heartless. After being freed by Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts explain Beast's past and the importance of the Beast's rose. It is assumed that after Sora defeated Xemnas at The World That Never Was, Lumiere reclaimed his human form (considering that the Beast recovered his human form).

### *Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey*

Lumiere is a minor character in the game as a part of the mini-game in Belle's world. He plays a small role in speaking with the heroine.

### *Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure*

Lumiere serves as Belle's leading assistant in this game, where the Beast's castle is overrun by strange creatures, calling for a heroine (given magic by the Fairy Godmother) to journey into the home and rescue the inhabitants. Unlike *Enchanted Journey*, Lumiere isn't reduced to a minor character, and he is accompanied by Cogsworth in the game.

### *Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion*

Like other iconic Disney characters, Lumiere is kidnapped and taken to the Wasteland as part of an evil witch's plot to dominate the "Toon World". He can be found in the Never Land jungles after Beast (who's also been kidnapped) asks Mickey to find him.

## Musical

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In the stage version, Lumiere plays a role identical to that of the original film, serving mostly as comic relief; considerably more so than the other servants.

The role of Lumiere was originated by Gary Beach, while the final performances were performed by David DeVries. A total of nine performers portrayed the role of Lumiere over the lifespan of the production.

Though his role is generally identical, a notable scene involving Lumiere and Cogsworth took place during Belle's arrival at the castle, where the living candle revealed his increasing concerns over the curse and the consequences that come with it, including the eventual permanent loss of humanity, that would inevitably result in his own death through the uncontrollable melting of his wax.

Lumiere and Fifi (named Babette in the stage version) are also said to openly engage in various affairs, apparently using said encounters to make the other jealous. The two also share a solo dance during "Be Our Guest".

Lumiere is also given a starring role in the performance of "Human Again", a song written for the film that was scrapped due to its lack of coherent placement. The success of "Human Again"'s inclusion in the stage play would encourage the filmmakers to add it back into the film in a remastered version on DVD; again led off by Lumiere.

## Disney Parks

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Lumiere is currently featured as a staple character at the Disney theme parks, around the world; specifically at the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. He has recently starred in a new promotional ad for the Disney theme parks, performing "Be Our Guest".

### Disneyland Resort

As part of the World of Color pre-show Carnival of Color, Lumiere is a large puppet and makes an appearance on the blue carpet at Disney California Adventure. The puppet, along with the Tigger and Genie puppets, was later reused in the Paint the Night.

### Walt Disney World

In Florida, Beauty and the Beast: Live! show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and is occasionally for backstage meet-and-greets. He's also made special meet-and-greet appearances in Disneyland Paris, on occasion.

Lumiere also has a spell card in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom known as "Lumiere's Candle Blast".

In Mickey's PhilharMagic, Lumiere is the first Disney character Donald encounters on his journey. During their meeting, Lumiere sings "Be Our Guest" while Donald tries to retrieve Mickey's sorcerer hat.

In Storytime With Belle and Fantasy Faire, Lumiere is the host along with Belle during the play based on the movie guests are to perform. For this role, a new Lumiere audio-animatronic was created to have a functioning LED eyes and working lip-movement. A similar audio-animatronic is used in the Royal Theatre at Fantasy Faire in Disneyland when Mr. Smythe and Mr. Jones join Belle to re-enact *Beauty and the Beast*.

### Tokyo Disney Resort

Lumiere appears during the *Beauty and the Beast* segment of Once Upon a Time. In the *Beauty and the Beast* unit of Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlight, an animatronic Lumiere appears just before Belle and Beast's float.

At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Lumiere's likeness is prominently featured on the wallpaper and portraits in the *Beauty and the Beast* room.

Lumiere appears in Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland with animatronics of his candle and human forms.

### Disneyland Paris

In the spectacular Disney Dreams!, Lumiere performs "Be Our Guest" as part of Peter Pan's magic.

A puppet version of Lumiere also appears in Mickey and the Magician, where he, again, performs "Be Our Guest" and introduces Belle and Beast's segment of the show, shortly thereafter.

### Shanghai Disneyland

In Shanghai, Lumiere appears as part of Belle and Beast's display in Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, as well as Belle's wall carving inside of Enchanted Storybook Castle. In Lumiere's Kitchen at the Shanghai Disney Hotel, a portrait of Lumiere and Cogsworth is featured, which transitions to portray the duo in both their human and cursed forms.

### Disney Cruise Line

Onboard the Disney Dream cruise ship, in the show Believe, Lumiere is the last "magic maker" to help Dr. Greenway's imagination develop. He is accompanied by Mrs. Potts and Belle.

## Trivia

* An inanimate candelabra resembling Lumiere can be seen on a table alongside a clock resembling Cogsworth, in the ABC series *Once Upon a Time* episode "Skin Deep".
* In the movie *Enchanted*, a woman dressed up like a candelabra resembling Lumiere appears in one of the live-action scenes of the film.
* In the 2017 live-action film he is depicted with legs, as opposed to the original animated film, where he can only hop around on his "stand".
* During recording for the 2017 live-action film, Ewan McGregor reportedly had to re-record his dialogue as Lumiere, because his accent sounded like a combination of French and Mexican.
* According to *Amphibia* creator Matt Braly, he was inspired to pursue a career in animation when a Pixar animator talked about working in animation while drawing Lumiere during a "career day" at high school.

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1. ↑ Sit Down and Think With Amphibia Creator Matt Braly