Jafar

Jafar is the main villain in Aladdin and its sequel The Return of Jafar. He also appeared in an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series.

Aladdin
In Aladdin, Jafar is introduced as the sinister Vizier to Agrabah's Sultan who desires power over Agrabah and lusts after Princess Jasmine, the Sultan's beautiful daughter. He is always accompanied by his sarcastic, devious pet parrot, Iago. Whilst presenting a charming and respectable exterior to the Sultan and the people of Agrabah he secretly holds everyone around him in contempt and manipulates the Sultan by means of hypnotising him with a magical snake-headed staff which he always carries on his person. He tries to use Genie's powers to take over Agrabah, first wishing to depose the Sultan and then the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Jafar had transformed himself into a giant cobra to kill Aladdin, but just as he was squeezing the peasant boy to death, Aladdin tricked Jafar into using his third and final wish to become an all-powerful genie himself. In this form Jafar was red in hue, possibly to represent his more "evil" nature contrasting with Genie's blue tone. In Western culture, genies are almost always portrayed as being confined to small oil lamps until they are released to do a human's bidding; Jafar was therefore trapped by his own selfish wish for power. Screaming in rage he was sucked into a black oil lamp, dragging the protesting Iago with him. The Genie then flung the lamp into the desert.

Return of Jafar
Jafar returns as the main villain in the film's sequel. In this film he is freed by one of Aladdin enemies Abis Mal and Jafar teams up to get revenge on Aladdin and friends. During the final battle Jafar is killed when Iago, who is now reformed kicks his lamp into the lava seas Jafar opened up. Jafar starts to explode and peace is restored.

Hercules Arabian Nights
Jafar later made one more attempt at revenge in an episode ("Hercules and the Arabian Night") of Disney's Hercules TV-show spinoff, where he was temporarily revived by Hercules' arch-enemy, Hades. The two villains teamed up to get rid of Aladdin and Hercules by having them fight against each other, but their plan failed and Jafar ended up dead again, and has not at this point made any reappearances in the official Aladdin continuity.

Disney's House of Mouse
However, despite his death, Jafar has also had a recurring role on Disney's House of Mouse. He was even the central villain of the direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains. Jafar even went on a date with Maleficent in one episode and many fans agreed that they did make an excellent couple. The two are often compared as both have regal bearing, bird side-kicks, are exceedingy tall and dress in long, dark robes and perculiar head-wear.

Kingdom Hearts Series
In the Kingdom Hearts series Jafar is a major Disney character and main antagonist in his home world of Agrabah. In the first game he tries to capture Jasmine (being that she is one of the seven Princesses) and obtain Sora's Keyblade. In the second game he is released from the lamp and seeks revenge on Aladdin and friends.

Jafar's Family
As far as Jafar's family goes, he has a twin sister named Nasira who tried bringing her brother back to life in the game, Nasira's Revenge. Jafar's sister is very similar both in appearance and actions as Maleficent. She respects Jafar and the sibling bond between them is quite strong.

Disney Parks
Jafar appears occasionally in the Disney Parks as a meetable character. Jafar is mostly seen in parades and shows

Fantasmic!
In the Walt Disney World version of Fantasmic! Jafar is summon by The Queen who was plotting to destroy Mickey Mouse and take over Disney. In the show Jafar turns into his snake form in order to eat Mickey. When the villains get the upper hand Jafar becomes a Genie. Soon Mickey saves the day and Jafar is killed off along with everyone else.



Personality
Jafar is portrayed as an amoral psychopath who will not hesitate to destroy anyone he perceives as a threat to his own sinister designs. Like numerous clinically-diagnosed psychopaths, Jafar wears a metaphorical mask of normalcy throughout the film, establishing himself as a cool-headed schemer and gaining the trust of those around him, despite his rather untrustworthy physical appearance. Even with this mask, Jafar's psychopathic tendencies tend to seep through and become apparent to the viewer, particularly in the opening sequence, where Jafar displays no remorse in sending Casim the Thief to his death in the Cave of Wonders, simply proclaiming that "Casim was obviously less than worthy" in a rather dry tone of voice. The deleted song "Humiliate the Boy" also establishes Jafar as an emotional sadist, getting a laugh out of seeing "another fellow's dreams turn into nightmares one by one" and treating the Genie in an especially harsh manner. Jafar also displays narcissistic tendencies, his most obvious ones being his obsessive desire for power and sense of entitlement, as well as manipulating the Sultan to achieve his goals. It is not until Jafar gains control of the Genie's lamp that he shows his true colors, becoming arrogant and short-tempered with his subjects after usurping power from the Sultan. It is this impulsive behavior that leads to his downfall, as he uses his third wish to become an omnipotent genie, unaware of the life inside the lamp that he now has to endure.

Jafar is usually shown to be somewhat comedic and plucky (giving a slight human side to his usual evil, a trait not usually seen in Disney villains), even in his times of evil and cunning, proclaiming "Ewww..." when contemplating decapitation. This, however, doesn't keep Jafar from having a sub-par sense of humor himself, spurting several puns in a row while keeping Aladdin and his friends from getting the lamp during the film's climax ("Your time is up!", "Don't toy with me!", "Things are unraveling fast now, boy!", "Get the point?", "I'm just getting warmed up!") This comical humor does not carry over in the film's direct-to-video sequel, which aimed to make Jafar more sinister and ruthless.

In the fight near the end of the first film, when Jafar prevented Aladdin from getting the lamp and used various puns, he had a rather hideous cackle.

Powers and abilities
At the start of Aladdin, despite having an extensive knowledge of arcane lore, spells and potions, Jafar did not seem to possess any genuine magical powers and thus could be no more than an alchemist. After wishing to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world however, Jafar was virtually omnipotent, able to transform himself and others at will, levitate himself and objects around him and summon fire. After becoming a Genie, Jafar was arguably one of the most powerful entitys in the Disney universe.