Prince John

**Prince John** is 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 reviled by his "subjects" for heartlessly stealing from the poor to heighten his own wealth and prosperity. He is voiced by Peter Ustinov in the original film and Kevin Michael Richardson in most other media.

## Personality

Prince John is a coward and crybaby who rules without the best interest of his people, 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 his mother. On a more humorous note, and owing to his love-hate relationship with his deceased mother, he cries out in agony whenever he insults her memory. He has a very bad habit of sucking his thumb intensely at the most inappropriate times, making him appear childish and immature, 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 Sir 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 new song", 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.

## History

Little 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, who he claims favored Richard over him but cries out in agony whenever he insults her memory.

After Richard is brainwashed, thanks to Sir Hiss, into going on a crusade, John assumes the crown and becomes somewhat of a dictator, leaving his subjects in poverty. 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*.

## Powers and Abilities

Although John has no powers of his own, he gains the ability to command the Heartless after Zexion grants him the power to do so.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

Prince John makes his first appearance in Sora's Adventures in Nottingham, in which he is the main antagonist along with Zexion. After Maleficent's revival at the hands of Pete and Zexion, John meets the demented schemer and tells him of his plans to have Robin Hood captured, of which the latter informs them that Sora and his friends are helping Robin and his Merry Men. He holds an archery tournament to capture his adversaries upon their victory (and is fooled by "Sir Reginald, Duke of Chutney" and "Lady Lumina, Duchess of Wendel"), but ultimately fails to do so.

Upon hearing of the song the townspeople are singing about him, he orders the Sheriff and Sir Hiss to "squeeze every last drop out of those insolent peasants," which results in many of them to go to jail for being unable to pay their taxes. Later on, Zexion and Sir Hiss inform John that Friar Tuck has been captured, and so devises a scheme to hang the corpulent clergyman to lure Robin Hood and Sora into a trap.

Towards the end, John learns of where Sora and the guardians are taking Robin via Zexion's Lexicon. They and Hiss follow them to the church, whereupon he tries to kill his foe, but Sora and friends stop him from doing so. Now completely insane, John unleashes his Heartless powers to kill his foes once and for all, but this is foiled after his defeat, along with King Richard finally returning and telling him off. Prince John is ultimately spared from being hung for treason because "it would upset Mother," and so is forced to return his big brother's crown.

## Trivia

* Prince John love grape juice. However, the bottle he carried may have been red wine.