Malcho

**Malcho** is a giant, feathered dragon or dragon-like serpent in the *Aladdin* TV series. He is an enemy of Thundra, and later Iago and Aladdin.

## Background

Malcho was once the Ruler of the Rainforest, commanding the weather with a magical amulet. He soon became corrupted by the power to control the weather and sought world domination, and was somehow defeated by Thundra the Rainbird who stole his amulet to use the powers it held for good.

### Personality

Malcho is a sly and deceptive individual, who craves power and world domination. He can be arrogant, but is patient and vengeful against those who defeated him.

### Magic

When he possessed the amulet, Malcho beheld absolute power over all the world's weather. While wearing the amulet, his bird's wing feathers and the lion's fur at the end of his tail transformed into black thunderclouds, from which he can summon lightning bolts and storms, conjure fierce winds and snow. Thundra and Iago each stole the amulet from him, depriving Malcho of his weather powers.

But even without them, Malcho is a formidable foe. He is a huge serpent with great strength, the ability to fly, and he is deceptively clever.

## Role in the series

In his debut, Malcho observed Iago convincing Thundra to take a weekend off from her responsibilities and entrusting the amulet to the parrot. Seizing this chance to reclaim his powers, Malcho managed to steal the amulet from Iago, proclaiming the age of the rain bird was over, and the Season of the Serpent had begun.
Utilizing his old powers, Malcho planned to destroy Thundra as revenge, but she, Genie, Abu, and Iago managed to escape. Malcho found Iago who decided to side with the serpent and revealed to him Thundra and Genie. Imprisoning Thundra, Genie, and Abu, Malcho and Iago planned what to do for world-domination but Iago convinced Malcho revenge before duty. The parrot then tricked Malcho into using a spell from Thundra's book to summon the Arctic Wind, which backfired on Malcho, freezing him solid in a nearby waterfall and Iago recovered the amulet for Thundra. Malcho was thereafter banished to the North Pole.

However, Iago hadn't seen the last of the winged serpent. Sometime after being banished, Malcho somehow thawed out and journeyed to Agrabah to take revenge on the parrot by eating him. There, Malcho tried several times to capture and devour Iago, but he was thwarted again and again by Aladdin, the acting Sultan in the absence of the real Sultan, and the Royal Guards. Finally, Aladdin decided to get rid of Malcho once and for all: he and the guards pretended they would sacrifice Iago to the serpent in exchange for leaving Agrabah in peace. But it was a trap set especially for Malcho, as they had met over a dormant volcano. Setting it off, Aladdin and the guards imprisoned Malcho in the volcano and believed him defeated.

However, Malcho broke free of his second prison, proclaiming that he would forget about Iago, and that when he is out of the volcano, Aladdin will be his. However, as Malcho is never seen again after this, it remains unknown what happened to him afterwards.

## Trivia

* Malcho is the second villain that Iago worked for and then betrayed to save his friends, the first being Jafar.
* Malcho is based on the Mesoamerican deity, the Quetzalcoatl.
* Malcho could easily be considered a type of dragon known as an Amphithere. Like Malcho and Quetzalcoatl (upon which he is based), Amphipteres are legless, flying serpents with birdlike or bat-like wings.
* Malcho's voice changes in his second appearance, becoming deeper and more menacing.