The Black Cauldron: Disney’s bold take at dark fantasy

Intro

The Black Cauldron was an experiment from Disney, and sadly for them not too well received. It is one of Disney's lesser known movies. It is not even on my favorites myself, but I have seen it a few times. This movie is a lot darker than most of them.

Still when you're old enough, you can learn to appropriate it. Despite it being Disney, they made a bold take at dark fantasy. Something they haven't done before. Filled with fantasy elements like pixies, witches and magic. Even bringing back the dead, and not in the standard Disney way with a kiss or a tear. It even follows the basic Hero's Journey structure fantasy books are known for.

So, today we will dive into the plot of The Black Cauldron, analyzing the structure and characters. 

From The Status Quo To The Inciting Incident

We all know how books usually start. The main character is living their normal life, boring or not and then, BAM! Something happens to turn their lives completely upside down.

This movie is no different. Taran starts as an apprentice, living with Dallben as a farmer, having to take care of Hen Wen the pig. He wants to fight in the war against the horned king, dreaming of adventure and being a hero, but is forced to live a boring life with Dallben. Of course he still cares about his mentor, and he likes Hen Wen a lot.

Writer's note: We get to know our hero very quickly. He is young, and impatient. Wanting to be a hero instead of sitting around and doing nothing. His want is very clear from the beginning: Fight in the war against the Horned King. It is always important to show a character's want and make the readers care about them. It can be something small, but if their life is absolutely perfect the way it is, then they have no reason to leave behind their previous lives.  

Soon everything changes. Hen Wen freaks out, and Taran gets to learn about her magical powers that only Dallben knew about before. He is already thrown into something new, because he was convinced that Hen Wen was just a normal pig even though Dallben told him that she was special. Suddenly, everything changes. Dallben sends Taran away to hide and keep Hen Wen save, setting him out on a journey. All of this happened within the span of just ten minutes in the movie. It goes quickly and doesn't drag on with nothing interesting happening.

Writer's Note: It is a good thing to show the character's normal day, but don't keep the Inciting Incident from happening too long, because it could make the book a bit slow. My personal approach is often the first chapter introducing the character and the people they care about, and then introduce the Inciting Incident in the next chapter. Some people might think one whole chapter is too long, but I think it's okay, if you give at least a bit of mystery and something strange happening. I do however not recommend to start with the Inciting Incident immediately, because in that case, the reader doesn't know the character and doesn't know what is even happening.

Introduction To The Villain 

The viewer is left with questions already, also about the villain of the story. Who is the Horned King? What does he want with the Black Cauldron? Why is it so important to him that he needs a pig for it? Our questions are very quickly answered by a short reveal of the Horned King. It isn't spelled out, but his intentions are clear. He wants to bring soldiers back from the dead which he can do with the Cauldron. And he will be able to control them and they will worship him. He will be a god...

It's creepy, mysterious, and catches the attention of the viewer or reader. We know the thread, we know what he wants and we know what he needs to get what he wants.

Writer's Note: A lot of books and movies keep the villain hidden until the end of the story. At least physically. Which is fine, but they should always be present in the background. Let people talk about them, whether they are rumors or true. Let them send some lackeys to interfere with the hero's task. A villain should not be just suddenly revealed by the end of the story. Even if they are twist villains, there are still signs of them doing something bad. But no one knows who it is.

Crossing The Threshold

Taran was only supposed to bring Hen Wen to a cabin and hide with her until Dalben came for them. Sadly, things took a turn. His daydreaming made loose Hen Wen, and let her be caught by dragons who took her to the horned castle.

His daydreaming is definitely one of his bad traits, because he should have kept an eye on her. But he doesn't sit around and do nothing. He knows how important Hen Wen is. Instead of getting help from Dalben, he instantly decides to get her back. This is him crossing the treshold and jumping into a whole new world.

Writer's Note: Taran leaving with Hen Wen could be seen as crossing the treshold because he is leaving home. But to me he still isn't actually going on an adventure. Just going to a cabin in the woods and hide. The moment Hen Wen gets kidnapped is the moment he really leaves his old life behind to save her. 

We also see some fantasy elements in this case too. There are literal dragons chasing Hen Wen. And there is Gurgi, an adorable little creature that is not a real life animal or a human. What is he? We actually don't know, but it isn't questioned either. He is just an adorable fantasy creature that belongs in the world. Taran knows what he is and so do all the other people/creatures.

Writer's Note: In my opinion, not everything has to be explained in fantasy. They could simply be described or named and nothing else. If there is for example someone who lives in the modern world, coming into a fantasy world, THEN wondering what the creatures are or describing them as an animal that they look like the most is logical, because the character has no idea what the creature is. To others who do belong in this world however, it is nothing strange. You could go as simple as one of the other characters saying something like: "Oh that's a [name of creature], they're here a lot." No further explanation needed. The character knows what they are, and the habits of the creature can be explored throughout the story if it's important. 

Tests, Allies and Enemies

The movie dives into act two the moment Taran decides to save Hen Wen himself, facing different tests already, like simply needing to navigate the castle and finding her, and needing to find a way to escape the castle.

Enemies are of course very clear: The horned king, and his men living in the castle.

Of course, a hero can never be journeying alone, and most of the time, they get some side kicks and friends who can help them. After being captured and thrown into the dungeon, he meets princess Elowny, who has been captured herself, because of her magic orb. Along the way to escaping, they meed the Bard Fluwdder Flam who accidentally stumbled into the castle and was also captured.

Here, the different personalities of all characters are shown very quickly. Elowny is calm, even though she has been captured by the horned king, simply finding a way out. She doesn't question that Taran is there, just tells him to come with her and they'll find a way out together. 

Fluwdder Flam is a bard who isn't exactly confident of himself, but tries to pretend to be confident and famous, in hopes they will let him go. His scared personality and his harp that breaks a string whenever he lies add some humor to the more darker elements of the story. 

Even Creeper, the minion of the Horned King has his personality. He is scared of the King, but also worships him and wants the king to approve of him. He seems to be enjoying chasing after Taran when he escapes and doesn't show remorse towards Hen Wen. He does everything excitedly, just to please his boss.

The horned king is calm and collected, which makes him even scarier. He doesn't shout. He just calmly sits on his throne and tells his lackeys what to do.

Writer's note: Remember to always give side characters a personality. They're not just there to help the hero or stand in their way. They have their own personality and motives even if they are not completely shown in the book. 

The lowest moment

The group decides to find the cauldron first and destroy it before the king can find it and use it to raise the army of the dead. That is their plan, and they are determined to go through with it. Taran even gives up the magic sword he found, so they can trade it for the black cauldron. They seem to be close to saving the world and stopping the king...

But, what they hadn't been told was that the cauldron couldn't be destroyed, but it's magic could be stopped. But only if a living being would willingly step into the cauldron, and be killed in the process. This is a low moment for Taran. He lost his most priced possession because the witches tricked him, and now he has a cauldron he cannot destroy. You could say the solution is easy: Let someone jump into the cauldron. But still losing your life is a very big choice to make.

They don't even get much time to think about it, because the horned king's men have been following them. Before they can make a choice, they are captured, the cauldron is brought to the king, and the king manages to bring back an army of dead soldiers. This moment is low for Taran. He wanted to fight in the war against the king, and now he has to watch how the king wins...

Another Hero Twist

Taran is the one who made the journey. He is the one who wanted to defeat the king and even fight in the war. He wanted to sacrifice himself to stop the king and save everyone. But in the end... In my opinion, he was not actually the hero. Though he made the choice to sacrifice himself, he didn't. Gurgi did. He had always been scared and ran away whenever there was danger, but now he faced his greatest fears and sacrificed himself. He was the hero that basically saved the world in the end.

Writer's note: It is an interesting thing to do this, if you do it right. Of course for a movie there was not much development time for Gurgi, but I do think it was a good twist. Sometimes the person who we think is the hero, is not the hero. The main character doesn't always need to save the world, even if it is what the readers expect. But I would recommend to at least build up to it and not make it too unexpected. In the movie you see Gurgi watch his friends get captured, and you can clearly see his regret. The sacrifice is not the first brave thing he did. He decided to go into the castle and free them as well.

The 'Final Battle' 

After Gurgi's sacrifice, the soldiers collapse and die again, and the cauldron sucks up everything. There isn't really a fight with the Horned King here. Taran is simply hanging on for his life while the king tries to get him to be sucked into the cauldron, but ending up to be the victim himself. It happens quick and not much fighting going on. The moment the Horned King is sucked into the Cauldron, the battle is over. The castle crumbles completely and the king's men are either killed, or they escaped, but are happy their king is gone, because they are afraid of him.

Writer's note: There doesn't always need to be an epic battle or a fight in the story, even if it is fantasy. Maybe the hero isn't a fighter, but they destroy something that will kill the villain or take away their power. Or the villain is simply imprisoned, and actually not killed.

The Mystery Of The Magic Sword

One minor 'problem' with the movie for me is that magic sword Taran finds. It is literally never explained what it is or where it came from. There is a line from Elowny about that it must have been the grave of the lord who ruled the castle before. But other than that... Why is it magical? Why was it right there in the dungeon instead of used as a weapon or gotten rid of? It is clear the sword is special, because the Witches are interested in it, and they really want to trade only that for the Cauldron. I think the movie should have gone a little bit deeper into the background of the sword and what it actually was.

Granted, there might be some background in the books the movie is based of, but I have never read the books, and I don't think there are a lot of people who have. So to most of us it is just some strange Item that is magic for no real reason.

Writer's note: If you have an ancient item that is magical, I think you should at least have some background about it. Sure, the hero who finds it doesn't know it's background, because they'd be too young. But as I said, the witches did know what the sword was. It adds mystery to not tell immediately, but also feels a little bit cheated if you never find out what it actually was and why the item was so important. Using magical items just for the sake of it is not something I would recommend.

Conclusion

This movie isn't perfect and has some flaws, and it is probably not the best thing to watch for young children especially near the end when the dead army is risen. But it is actually a pretty good movie and different from what Disney usually did. I love the take on a dark fantasy movie they did, even if it was not well received. 

So what did you think of this movie? Have you ever watched it or is this the first time you've ever heard of it? Let me know what you think, I would love to know your thoughts! 

 

 

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