The Horned King

The **Horned King** is the main antagonist of *The Black Cauldron*. His main goal was to find the Black Cauldron and use its power to unleash an army of immortal warriors called the Cauldron Born. The Horned King has a vast army under him, which includes the troll-like Creeper, the hunters of Annuvin, the draconic Gwythaints, and, obviously, the Cauldron Born.

## Background

### Development

The film's main villain initially had to be Arawn, but animators felt that the Horned King would have been better received by the audience since he had horns (like Maleficent and Chernabog, two appreciated villains before him). So they combined elements of the two characters in order to create a lich, even if the narrator implies that the spirit inside the Cauldron is Arawn himself.

### Personality

The Horned King is in great contrast with his predecessors and successors. While he shows the same arrogant and narcissistic traits, wishing to become "a god among mortals", he's cold and very collected, showing anger only when his plan fails and at that point he throws himself at Taran, believing it was his fault (under Creeper's suggestion). He's quite mysterious, and it's implied that not even his underlings know what he is, and he's one of the few active villains, his only move in the movie (that is not done by his servants) is his role in the awakening of the Cauldron Born. Also, he has no secrets about his intentions, he's very open about his dream of becoming "a god between mortal men" and then wipe out all life with an army of undead. He rarely shows some sense of humor or makes evil laughs, and the only time he does so is scornful and sarcastic.

## Appearances

### *The Black Cauldron*

The Horned King desires to find the Black Cauldron and use its power to unleash an army of deathless Cauldron Born to rule the world. He goes to many lengths to find it, kidnapping Princess Eilonwy for her bauble and the pig Hen Wen because he believes they have powers to locate the Black Cauldron. He is first seen talking to his currently non-animated Cauldron Born on his goals. He is seen again when he enters the mess hall of his castle via magical teleportation. There, Creeper tells him they are celebrating their success in capturing the pig. When the assistant pig-keeper Taran falls into the room whilst attempting to rescue Hen Wen, the Horned King instructs him to show the location of the Black Cauldron via the pig. When Taran refuses, the king claims the pig is no longer of use to him and orders his men to kill it, forcing the boy to comply. As Taran instructs Hen Wen to create a spell pointing the Cauldron's whereabouts, the excited king gets too close to Taran, who in his fright splashes water into the King's eyes (which has an agonizing effect on him) to lead Hen Wen into a chase where they manage to keep Hen Wen away after Taran throws the pig into a moat. However, Creeper drags Taran to the Horned King, who is angry about Hen Wen's escape and orders Taran to be thrown into the dungeon.

Later, Creeper reports that Taran and his new company have escaped, which he thinks will result in him being strangled, so he attempts to do it himself. However, the Horned King congratulates him, as the trio will undoubtedly locate the Black Cauldron, and quietly tells him to send the Gwythaints to follow them. The three are ultimately captured along with the newly acquired Black Cauldron which he then uses to summon the Cauldron Born. He sends them to destroy all opposition, however Gurgi arrives, frees the prisoners, and flings himself into the Cauldron to negate its necromancy ability. The Horned King suspects Creeper is the one to blame and carries him, returns to the room where the ritual was performed and finds Taran who he believes the Cauldron's failure was his doing. He throws Creeper aside, grabs Taran, and lifts him off his feet, but Taran pushes the Horned King into the pull of the Cauldron. The Horned King grabs Taran again and tries to throw him into the Black Cauldron, but the cauldron pulls the Horned King in instead and rips him to a skeleton, and explodes. The Horned King dies, and his castle soon follows.

### *House of Mouse*

The Horned King makes appearances in several episodes of *House of Mouse*. He is also notable to be one of the only characters from *The Black Cauldron* to appear in the series along with the Cauldron Born.

In "Gone Goofy", he enters the club and shakes hands with Donald.

In "Goofy for a Day", while Goofy sings a song that's a spoof of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!", he is seen at a table where a penguin waiter serves him his dinner.

In "Max's Embarrassing Date", he sits at a table and laughs with other characters after seeing Goofy fall into a gopher hole dug by Gopher.

Although he did not appear in *Mickey's House of Villains*, it is believed that he did take part in the takeover.

## Trivia

* During his death, the Horned King's scream keeps being heard a little time after his body has been entirely destroyed. It might be an animation mistake, but it is also possible that it is meant to imply that he is screaming from his very soul.
* The Horned King is definitely one of the most serious and darkest Disney villains, as he never makes any kind of joke (his taunting of Taran, Eilonwy and Fflewddur Fflam notwithstanding) and he always maintains his frightening and villainous image no matter what the situation.
* The Horned King in the original book wasn't the main villain but rather the most powerful minion of the book's true villain Arawn.
* In spite of the film's lack of popularity, the Horned King could perhaps be considered one of the movie's better-remembered characters; he is classified as a member of the Disney Villains franchise and has made appearances in *House of Mouse*, alongside his undead minions the Cauldron Born, albeit he may not necessarily be qualified to fall under a recognized status.
* His voice actor, John Hurt, sounds like the equally dark Tirek from G1 *My Little Pony.*
* The Horned King has one of the most brutal and graphic deaths in an animated Disney film, as his skin is sucked off his bones onscreen.
* The Horned King's design later became an inspiration to many numerous villains. One of the best known examples would be The Lich from *Adventure Time* and Lord Hater from *Wander Over Yonder*.
* The Horned King becomes Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and The Lion Guard's enemy in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Search For The Black Cauldron**.*
* The Horned King, along with Creeper appeared in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends for ruining his plan to rule the world with his Cauldron Born after Diesel 10 revived him with The Black Cauldron.

## Gallery

The Horned King in The Black Cauldron.The Horned King in House of Mouse.Horned King as appeared in Hen Wen's visionThe Horned King gets pulled into the cauldron