Rothbart

**Sir Rothbart**, also known as **Lord Rothbart** or just **Rothbart** for short, is the central antagonist of *The Swan Princess* franchise, serving as the main antagonist of *The Swan Princess*. He is an evil court warlock who mastered the Forbidden Arts twice and always dreams to marry Odette so that he can conquer King William's kingdom.

He mastered the Forbidden Arts twice, with the help of his fellow magician, Sir Clavius, and his sorceress consort, Zelda, both of whom he betrayed once they had outlived their usefulness. With these powers, he could create anything, shape shift himself into anything, and destroy anything with a powerful blast of red energy. He wanted King William's kingdom, but was never able to take over it because his power of the Forbidden Arts was not enough for him to keep the kingdom. After Princess Odette was born, he planned to assassinate her father, King William and take over his kingdom by using the forbidden arts, but his plan was backfired when King William and his guards arrived and stopped him on the eve of his assault and destroyed his lab. He was then banished and he vows that someday he will have everything William had and loved. Years later, he returned and he turned into a "Great Animal" and he assassinated King William and captured Princess Odette and took her away to the kingdom of Swan Lake. Rothbart transformed Odette into a beautiful swan every night. The next day, Rothbart tries to force the jinxed princess into to marry him, hoping to rule her father's kingdom together legally as king and queen. But Odette replies: "I'll die first." and she tells him that she really loved Prince Derek. On the night of the royal ball, Rothbart's henchwoman, a hag witch named Bridget disguises herself as a replica of Odette and tricks Derek. Soon the prince realizes that she is not the real Odette, so he, Pooh and the other animals set off to rescue Odette. Back at Swan Lake, Rothbart transforms himself into a giant black creature known as The Great Animal and fought Derek and his animal friends. The battle ends when Derek's friend Bromley and Jean Bob the frog gaved the prince an arrow and a bow. He then defeated Rothbart by shooting an arrow at him into his heart and Rothbart collapses into the lake, exploding upon impact.

Rothbart returns again as a ghost and this time, he has a plan to return from the dead, enlisting a black cat named, Number 9, to help him by promising him extra lives. Number 9 succeeds in luring Derek to the cellar of Queen Uberta's castle, where he opens a chest with the initials, R on it. There is nothing inside at first but when Derek leaves, Rothbart emerges from the chest as a ghost. From there, he moves to the next portion of his plan, that is to destroy the Christmas spirit of the kingdom, the only thing more powerful than the magic of Forbidden Arts, which will give him the power to be revived once again but in physical form.

He casts small spells that causes people to fight, which he does this to Queen Uberta and Lord Rogers before spreading it to the villagers. Derek and Odette learned about his return when the wind chimes are playing a song, "Far Longer than Forever", making him visible and holds him. They set up the chimes all around the castle but Rothbart eventually re-enlists the help of Bridget, his former minion from the first film who had turned away from his influences, and she helps to remove the wind chimes for him.

Odette invites the orphans to perform "Christmas is the Reason", which weakens Rothbart's power over Queen Uberta and Lord Rogers. Odette later invites Queen Uberta and Lord Rogers to give gifts and food to the poor. The good will breaks the spell casted on the whole kingdom and Rothbart becomes powerless. His last chance to ruin Christmas is to sabotage the royal Christmas tree by sending Number 9 to steal one of the Christmas lights from the tree and he casts a spell on it that will destroy the tree. Derek learns the plan thanks to Bridget who has double-crossed Rothbart and traps him inside a giant chime.

Derek rushes back to the Christmas Eve party to prevent the tree from being lit but was too late. Rothbart, in his physical form, takes Queen Uberta's crown and kidnaps Odette once more, taking her back to Swan Lake. He casts a spell on Odette again, changing her back into a swan and traps her inside a cage made of roots. He then casts a spell on the moonlight and when it touches Odette's wings, she will turn into a golden, swan-shaped Christmas ornament forever. Derek arrives and battles with Rothbart, who turned into the Great Animal, once more but was overpowered by Rothbart. Odette starts singing "Seasons of Love" which weakens Rothbart until he eventually bursts into flames and vanishes while Odette returns back to her human form again.

## Trivia

* Even though he dies, he appears in every film and has a key role in each and every one. The only ones he doesn't appear in is the sixth and seventh films.
* Rothbart became Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's enemy in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle Meets The Swan Princess.*
* Rothbart returned to get his revenge on Thomas, Twilight and their friends in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures Series.

## Gallery

Rothbart (Great Animal Form)Rothbart's first defeatRothbart's first deathRothbart as a ghostRothbart's second defeat and deathRothbart and Clavius in a paintingRothbart with ZeldaRothbart with his hench woman, Bridget