Gaston

"He's handsome, all right, and rude and conceited! Oh, Papa, he's not for me."

- Belle expressing her dislike for Gaston to her father

Gaston is the main antagonist of Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast.

Official Description

 * An egotistical hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart, even if it means killing her true love.

My Disney Experience

 * The handsome hunter Gaston is often admiring himself, flexing his "biceps to spare" and trying to woo Belle.

Development
In the 1988 screenplay, although Gaston himself did not exist, there did exist three suitors for Belle who competed for her hand in marriage who were ultimately similar to him, and shared the role of antagonist with Belle's wicked sisters. They ultimately were transformed into animals, alongside Belle's sisters, by the Enchantress as punishment for their misdeeds, including nearly murdering the Beast.

In the 1989 screenplay, the three suitors were condensed into a single character, Gaston. In this version, Gaston was depicted very differently. Instead of a hunter who was the town hero, he was a marquess, or French nobleman. He would have shared the role of antagonist with Belle's aunt, Marguerite who would have chosen him as Belle's suitor, specifically as revenge towards Maurice (who in this version was a failed merchant who lost his wealth at sea, just like in the original tale). In the climax, he was to have traveled to the Beast's castle, also stealing the Sedan Chair to ensure he tracked down the castle, and upon arrival fight off several of the Enchanted Objects with a rapier before personally dueling the Beast in battle. He also met his fate differently (see Death section below).

As such, his design was also completely different. He was tall and lank with a mole on the left side of his face and a crooked nose. His attire consisted of a sky-blue jacket and a powdered wig tied with a red ribbon. All of these features gave him a somewhat similar appearance to French noblemen, such as Jean Rousseau or Napoleon.

After Jeffrey Katzenberg demanded a rewrite to the film, Gaston's characterization was altered significantly, being made into the town hero as well as the village's local hunter. According to Linda Woolverton, she had based this version on Gaston on previous unsuccessful relationships, and she had also wanted Belle's decrying of Gaston being her suitor (whom Woolverton referred to as a blockhead) to be the focal point of the film, necessitating that Belle's wicked sisters and their respective love interests be left out, as well as cutting her snobbish Aunt Marguerite.

Story reels for the original screenplay (included in the Platinum and Diamond Editions of the final film) indicate that his surname was intended to be LeGume, as he is referred to with said name by Marguerite. This acted as a pun on his small-minded views. This was presumably dropped in the final release, as in both "Belle" and its reprise, the Bimbettes and Belle referred to him and herself as "Monsieur Gaston" and (albeit sarcastically) "Madame Gaston" respectively, implying that "Gaston" was his surname.

Death
Story Threads show that in the original screenplay, Gaston would have tried to use his rapier to stab the Beast, only to be punched over the garden wall. His fate after that was ambiguous.

In one of the earliest scripts, Gaston's death would have been different, as the battle against Beast would have taken place in the forest. In this early version of the script Gaston would wound the Beast and nearly kill him with his blunderbuss, when Belle strikes him from behind with a rock. This would have prompted him to fall off a cliff and breaking one of his legs. Upon trying to stand up, he notices that the wolves who attacked Maurice and Belle earlier are looking at him, and maul him. This idea was scraped because the writers thought that it was too gruesome and horrible (even for someone like Gaston), although this idea was later used in The Lion King, more specifically in the sequence of Scar's death at the hands (or rather, jaws) of the hyenas.

Ironically, the above mentioned scene of Scar's death (as the final version of the ending) was chosen for the exact same reason why Gaston's original death was cut: The original ending was deemed to be too graphic and scary for a Disney film.

In addition, the final version of Gaston's death also had some alterations: Moments prior to his plunge from the castle to his unseen death, Gaston was supposed to stab the Beast in the back, and later in the leg, but the second injury was cut from the final script to edit violence; it was also originally intended for Gaston to commit suicide after stabbing the Beast in the back and laugh madly as he fell from the tower, believing that if he could not win Belle, nobody else would (which might explain why Gaston chose such a dangerous position to stab the Beast from behind, despite knowing that he would never win Belle's heart). However, this was edited out due to the dark nature of the scene.

Physical Description
As noted throughout the film, he possessed an extremely athletic build, a double chin, and possessed a handsome appearance. His hair was long and tied into a ponytail. He possessed icy blue eyes. He generally wore yellow hunting gloves, although he discarded them by the midpoint. He also wore a red tunic and black tights, alongside boots. He also wore a cape during cold evenings and his final battle with the Beast. He also had a lot of hair on his chest.

During the failed wedding attempt, Gaston wore a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots, and also had white tights.

As a child, his hair was slightly disheveled with its ends standing on top, although he retained the ponytail. In addition, he possessed freckles, and his outfit consisted of a shirt, pants, and elf-shoes.

Personality
Gaston is strong and handsome, and he is all too aware of this. He is very popular in his village, who seem unaware of his true nature (Gaston reprise in the original film notwithstanding), and this serves to fuel his already massive ego. A narcissist who sees himself as superior to everyone around him, Gaston is boorish, uncultured and sexist. He also was arrogant, as evidenced by his (in the original film) setting up a wedding before he even proposed to Belle under the expectation that she'd approve of becoming his wife, and later his fight against the Beast. However, his arrogance may have been justified due to his abilities. Despite his belief that thinking is "a dangerous pastime" (suggesting that he is anti-intellectual) however, Gaston is not unintelligent; in fact he is quite cunning which is emphasized twice in the story showing that he is not all brawn and no brain. He comes up with a clever plan to get Belle to marry him by threatening to have her father, Maurice, thrown into an asylum, and when that plan is foiled by Belle showing the Beast with a magic mirror, Gaston takes it in stride and quickly turns the tables by manipulating the villagers into forming a mob to kill the Beast.

However, in the film, he is also depicted as being very reckless in regards to planning, as especially evident with the Gaston reprise where he managed to blurt out key details about his plan to blackmail Belle with the threat of locking her father up in front of a crowded tavern, and without indicating anything that would indicate it was either morally imperative or otherwise beneficial for anyone to follow the plan. His vocabulary skills are also slightly inconsistent: When Belle refers to Gaston as being "positively primeval" early in the film, the latter apparently takes it as a compliment, clearly not knowing what the term actually means. However, in the Gaston song, Gaston at one point accurately used the word "expectorating" in reference to his skills at spitting ("expectorating" being a more fancy way of saying the term "spit.").

Gaston's view of women is rather sexist considering the time period in which the movie takes place (1700s, pre-revolutionary France), and while he appears charming to most of the women of the village, such as The Bimbettes, Belle is the only woman in the entire town to be able to see him for what he really is from the start of the film. Because of this, Gaston's attempts to charm Belle always fall flat because of his chauvinistic and boorish behavior. He believes that women should not be able to think for themselves or even get ideas, and even stamps Belle's book into the mud in an attempt to get her to focus on "more important things" such as him. If he had actually succeeded in persuading her to marry him, he would have only treated her as if she were his property and as inferior to him (as was the case for marriages in those days) rather than as an equal (like most marriages today).

His sexism is also shown by the fact that he does not seem to even consider the possibility of having daughters with her as he states he wants "six or seven strapping boys" like himself. Gaston suffers from which is shown by his intense infatuation with Belle. Indeed he is so obsessed with her that he ignores all the other pretty women in the village who would be happy to be his "little wife," even, ironically, those who technically matched Gaston's standards of how women should behave. When Gaston is singing about wanting to marry her in the opening song, he says "When I met her saw her I said she's gorgeous and I fell", implying that he fell in love for Belle at first sight. The Marvel Comics serial likewise strongly implied that he had feelings for Belle since they were children. Gaston is also adulterous (at least in the musical), as he states to Claudia and her sisters that his "rendezvouses" with the girls will continue after he marries Belle, which makes it clear that he does not know or care that marriage is a one-woman commitment or that is it supposed to be based on love and affection rather than ownership of property.

Gaston is incredibly arrogant and is convinced that he is powerful enough to defeat the Beast by himself. He even taunts the Beast, wanting him to fight back as he wants to prove that he can kill him in a fair fight. However, his arrogance makes him underestimate his opponent and once he realizes his life is on the line, his apparent façade disappears and will beg for his life when overwhelmed. Despite this, he was not arrogant enough to believe there was no risk to being killed by the Beast, as he freely admits that fighting the Beast does have the likelihood that he or the other villagers might very likely die during the Mob Song. Gaston is not above using underhanded tactics, which had earlier been implied with LeFou's claim about Gaston being "slick" as well as Gaston's admission about being good at "taking cheap shots," and confirmed when he shows himself to literally be a backstabber in his final moments, showing that he also cheats at things and breaks his promises.

He is extremely shallow, only loving Belle because of her physical beauty and assuming that the Beast is a monster based only on his physical appearance. Gaston not only sees the Beast as a monster, but also a rival for Belle's attention. Even when Belle points out that Gaston himself is the real monster, he dismisses her claim, thinking that she is "as crazy as the old man. He is also extremely petty and unfair because he does not want any other man to be with Belle, or for her to like him in any way at all. Apparently, he wants women all for himself, viewing them as property rather than as people.

At the start of the film and musical play, Gaston did not seem truly evil. Rather, he was simply conceited, male-chauvinistic, boorish and rude than a true villain, but as time goes on his pride and obsession with Belle becomes so intense that it turns him into a twisted, sadistic and murderous monster. His speech to get the mob to kill the Beast in order to protect the village is nothing more than a ploy to get them to help him infiltrate the castle. Gaston does not care about the village very much, even if he genuinely does believe that the Beast is a threat. All he wants is to kill his rival so he can have Belle as his property. By the time of his death, Gaston feels that if he can't have Belle, nobody can. In an earlier version of the story, he was even going to commit suicide after killing the Beast as he knew that no matter what he did, Belle would never love him.

In the Marvel Comics serial, his personality was largely the same as in the movie, albeit somewhat toned down. However, he ended up not acknowledging that the Bimbettes were in love with him other than in general terms, not taking the hint that they wanted him to return the love, which resulted in many of his plans being foiled. Despite it taking place after making plans with the Asylum Warden to falsely incarcerate Belle as well as forcing LeFou to remain on lookout for either Belle or Maurice's return, he seemed to come up, either by himself or with LeFou's input, with various plans to impress and get Belle to marry him, such as a wife auction, killing a bear, and going to the bookstore, implying that he may have put aside that plan temporarily. In addition, one of the plans had Gaston deciding against killing the bear immediately due to it hibernating, implying he was capable of honor, although mostly because he wanted to impress Belle. In addition, in the same issue, he also attempted to fight the bear head on when it was prematurely awoken by the Bimbettes (in a plan to stop Gaston from marrying Belle), although he got shoved out effortlessly.

Although Gaston was fully aware of his popularity with the women in the village, his actual interactions with the village females besides Belle varied between sources. In the film and comics, he largely ignored all of the females in favor of Belle, even specifically refusing all of the girls who sought to marry him as soon as he was informed by LeFou that Belle was among the people at a wife auction and then reacting with anger that "Belle" was actually one of the triplets, Laurette, in disguise in the case of the third issue of the Marvel Comics. It seems he only wants Belle, despite the fact every other girl loves him. In the musical, he was implied to have had "rendezvouses" with several of the women (specifically the Silly Girls), and has insinuated his intention of continuing them as postmarital affairs after he married Belle, again showing that he views marriage as a minor matter and he does not care about loyalty and commitment to one wife only.

Abilities
Gaston is shown to possess a tremendous amount of physical strength, evidenced by his effortlessly lifting up a bench with three females (the Bimbettes) on it, as well as holding it up with only one hand. He later effortlessly rips off an ornament from the castle to use as a makeshift club during his battle with the Beast. He is also able to fire his blunderbuss with pinpoint accuracy, noted by LeFou proclaiming, "Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Gaston!" This, however, was briefly contradicted in the Marvel Comics, where he managed to miss a Rabbit despite it being fairly close by. In addition, he has proved that he is a skilled archer during the climax at the caste. He is also shown to be skilled at stealth attacks, as implied in the song "Gaston" with the lyrics: "No one's slick as Gaston," and confirmed when he manages to stab the Beast in the back while the latter was distracted with joy that Belle returned even though he had to climb up several areas to reach him.

As noted above, despite his otherwise revulsion to the idea of reading, ideas, and overall intelligence (specifically for wives), he is shown to be a somewhat skilled plotter, having come up with the blackmail idea. In addition, he also had decent enough observation skills to pick up the hint that Belle may have had feelings for the Beast just from a few subtle clues late into the film. He is also very good at manipulation; after discovering that Belle was in love with the Beast, he used the villagers' ignorance and prejudices (as well as his own popularity) to rally them into killing the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast
Gaston is the local hero of a small French village at an unknown point in French history (presumably the mid-to-late 18th century). He owns a large tavern where he and the villagers drink and talk. Inside, there is a large portrait of him along with "trophies" from his hunt consisting mostly of animal antlers. He also says he eats five dozen eggs every morning to help make him "roughly the size of a barge" (even though he earlier mentions to Belle that he would have his latest kills roast over the fire).

He starts off in the film shooting down a waterfowl headed south with perfect accuracy (implying that he had just returned from a hunting trip) and declaring his intent to marry Belle after acknowledging from LeFou his popularity with the females in the village. He then started pursuing Belle throughout the village as she returns home after buying a book from the local bookstore. Their meeting starts off well, but Gaston's remarks about women reading and thinking drive Belle away from him, and she goes home, leaving him disappointed. In addition, Gaston, after LeFou, learning Belle was going to aid her father, mocked her father, scolded LeFou for mocking Maurice (although it was implied that he mostly did that in an attempt to impress Belle rather than out of any genuine concern for Maurice).

The next day, however, Gaston organizes a wedding outside Belle's cottage in an attempt to "surprise" her, complete with various decorations, a priest, and a wedding cake. He forces his way into the cottage and attempts to strong-arm her into marrying him, again making sexist remarks about women and housewifery (he even envisions the home they would live in as a "rustic" hunting lodge, with his latest kill roasting over the fire and Belle massaging his feet while their children—six or seven boys—play on the floor with their dogs). While he attempts to corner Belle, her using her wiles to keep him at bay, she manages to open the door that he has pinned her against. This causes him to lose his balance and fly headfirst into a large mud puddle (complete with cat-tail plants) in front of Belle's cottage, where we find out that a pig (Pierre) is there too. Furious and humiliated, Gaston storms off but not before vowing to make Belle his wife regardless of her refusals and throwing LeFou into the mud to boot.

Later, during a snowstorm, the villagers in the tavern, along with LeFou, sing a song about Gaston's greatness to cheer him up after being rejected by Belle. Maurice suddenly interrupts and warns the villagers about a monstrous beast who has locked up Belle as a prisoner in the tower of his castle. Thinking he is talking nonsense, the villagers throw him out of the tavern, but Gaston realizes that he can use Maurice's outrageous claim to his advantage. In a surprising display of animalistic cunning, he bribes the owner of the local asylum, Monsieur D'Arque, to threaten to throw Maurice into the asylum in order to pressure Belle into marrying him. While D'Arque realizes that even Maurice's nonsense about a beast and his odd inventions do not make him dangerous, he is willing to accept the bribe, mostly because he liked the despicability of the plot. Considering the management of asylums of the 18th century (the time that the film takes place), this is an extremely harsh threat. However, just before Gaston and LeFou barge into Belle and Maurice's cottage, Maurice left for the castle on his own. Gaston orders LeFou stay outside the cottage and wait for their return.

When Belle and Maurice eventually return to the cottage, LeFou immediately informs Gaston, and he sets his plan into motion. With the villagers gathered outside the house, D'Arque has his men drag Maurice towards their carriage, while Gaston makes Belle his offer - he will clear up the "misunderstanding" if she marries him. Horrified and disgusted, Belle refuses, and Gaston allows Maurice to be dragged away. Belle, however, manages to prove her father's apparently insane claims about a beast inhabiting a huge castle in the woods to be true by using a magic mirror that the Beast had given her. Gaston grows even more frustrated after his plan fails and shocked that Maurice was indeed telling the truth but becomes increasingly jealous when Belle begins referring to the Beast as "kind and gentle," realizing that she prefers a "monster" over himself. When he refers to the Beast with this insult, Belle angrily retorts back that he is the real monster, which makes him snap.

In his jealousy and pride, Gaston snatches the mirror from Belle and successfully convinces the villagers that the Beast is a threat to the village and therefore must be brought down immediately. Belle tries to stop Gaston, but Gaston, perceiving that Belle is against him, has Belle and Maurice locked in the basement to keep them from warning the Beast. He then leads a lynch mob to attack the Beast's castle and leave no one alive while declaring that he himself is to take down the Beast. Gaston bypasses the ensuing battle between the rioters and castle servants and confronts the Beast alone. He fires an arrow into him, tosses him out of a window onto a lower section of the roof and taunts him. When the Beast doesn't respond, having lost his will to live since Belle's departure (to rescue her lost father, who was searching for her), Gaston uses a castle statue as a makeshift club to try to kill the Beast. The Beast, however, regains his strength when he sees Belle return (she had escaped from the basement with help from Chip, who stowed away with her) and viciously fights back with strength and animal ferocity.

Though roughly even with his adversary, Gaston soon learns that he cannot rely on brute strength alone to kill the Beast, and instead begins taunting him in order to infuriate him enough to let his guard down, pushing the final button by claiming that Belle can never love a monster. The plan works but immediately backfires: the Beast lunges forth, overcome by animalistic urges and emotion, snapping viciously at him, and then holds the terrified hunter at his mercy by holding him above the castle moat by the throat. With his life at stake, Gaston abandons his pride and pathetically begs for mercy; the Beast grudgingly accepts, ordering Gaston to leave immediately and never return. In spite of this, when Gaston sees the Beast embracing Belle, his great hatred and jealousy arises again, which leads to his ultimate downfall. Determined to kill his rival once and for all, Gaston stabs the Beast in the back with a knife while dangling rather precariously from the balcony. The Beast swings his arm backwards at him in pain; Gaston dodges the blow, but then loses his footing and plunges into the deep moat below, to his death.

Despite laying a deep stab on the Beast, Gaston would die alone that night; just as the Beast nearly succumbed to his own wounds, Belle confessed her love for him just before the last petal of the enchanted rose that kept him bound to his beast form fell, breaking the spell and healing the Beast's injuries.

House of Mouse
Despite his death in the movie, Gaston gained a recurring role on House of Mouse as a guest character, once again voiced by Richard White. His most notable appearance, in the episode "Daisy's Debut", had a running gag in which he frequently injected himself into other people's conversations to say that "No one [verbs] like Gaston!" This gag would later go through the entire series and would become a memorable catchphrase for Gaston. Notable examples of this is when Daisy compliments Ariel's singing voice. He walks by and says, "No one sings like Gaston!" Another one is when Timon and Pumbaa are making a face in a spoon. Gaston leans over and says, "No one makes faces in spoons like Gaston!" with an annoyed Timon answering back, "Actually, no one asked the opinion of Gaston!" He also eats one of the queen's poisoned apples, saying "No one eats candied apples like Gaston", and falling into the Sleeping Death, to which Daisy says "and now no one needs a wake-up kiss like Gaston".

Gaston was one of the many villains to join the takeover in Mickey's House of Villains.

Sing Me a Story with Belle
Gaston made sporadic appearances in Sing Me a Story with Belle, mostly acting as a comedic foil to Belle. Once again, he is trying to convince Belle to marry him.

Once Upon a Time
Gaston is featured in the ABC series in a very minor role played by Sage Brocklebank. Here, he was engaged to Belle through an arranged marriage, and as in the film, she did not love him because she found him "shallow." Unlike his Disney counterpart he appears to be more noble and focused, as shown when he expressed concern for Belle's agreement to go with Rumpelstiltskin and when she refused his marriage proposal. He attempted to reclaim her from Rumpelstiltskin regardless, but was transformed into a rose and given as a gift to Belle. He is also titled as "Sir" in the series, implying that he was a nobleman.

Gaston has been confirmed to return in an upcoming episode of season five, now portrayed by Wes Brown.

Beauty and the Beast
Gaston is set to appear in the 2017 remake and will be portrayed by Luke Evans.

Comics
Gaston appeared in the official comic adaptation for the film. His role is largely the same as in the film, although because of the songs (including the Gaston reprise) being cut from the comic, it is implied that only he, LeFou and Monsieur D'Arque knew about the blackmail plan unlike the film where the other villagers were strongly implied to be in the know about the plan.

Aside from the comic adaptation above, Gaston also appeared in various side panels of the comics produced by Marvel Comics in 1994 to 1995, three to four years after the release of the film. In the first issue, Gaston apparently noticed Belle's disappearance, and was looking for her. The Bimbettes were nearby and decided to sway him away from Belle by spraying a "love potion" (strongly implied to actually a strong perfume) in their direction. However, Gaston alongside LeFou were forced to flee after a skunk ended up emitting an odor in anger of potential competition. Later, during a hunting trip with LeFou, Gaston attempted to shoot a rabbit, although he accidentally caused it to flee, shoving LeFou in irritation, also unknowingly placing LeFou into a net trap set by the Bimbettes that was meant for Gaston.

In Issue 2, Gaston decided to announce a wife auction in the hopes that Belle would be lured over. During this time, he also shows himself off, causing the Bimbettes to faint. Later on, the maidens proceeded to rush to Gaston. In Issue 3 "Has Gaston Finally Won Belle's Hand at Last?", he is holding an auction for his perfect wife. Naturally, he is looking for Belle, and she seemingly comes to him having forgone reading and intelligence for being Gaston's "little wife". It is actually Laurette, one of the Bimbettes in a clever disguise. He eventually ranted about being publicly humiliated, although he eventually decided that Belle may not have gotten the message and forgave the insult, although not without determining how to get Belle to marry him.

In issue 4, Gaston, after doing 783 liftups (ironically with a stack of books) as the Bimbettes watched, ended up deciding to take a mountain hike in the hopes this would actually impress Belle (which might have impressed her had she been there as the Bimbettes were extra determined to stop him because they feared that actually would impress Belle), and even managed to restrain a hibernating bear so he could demonstrate to Belle that he killed it (he initially planned to kill it then and there until LeFou reminded Gaston that bears hibernate during the winter). However, this plan ended up foiled by the Bimbettes, who tricked the Bear into thinking it was springtime. Gaston tried to fight the bear (mostly to show off), although he ended up thrown out of the cave by the Bear, and decided with LeFou that it was probably easier to just give Belle a smaller bear.

Although he does not appear in Issue 5 of the main serial (despite being mentioned in the solicitation for the issue to still be plotting to make Belle his), he does appear in Belle's flashback to her time in the village, although his reason for Belle not wanting to read books was tweaked a bit to imply that he was attempting to flirt with her in a poorly-done manner. In Issue 7, Gaston became irritated that Belle hasn't even appeared at all, and eventually decided to simply stake her out at the bookstore via the bookshop owner, even having LeFou keep watch at the bookstore in case Belle shows up. However, the Bimbettes thwarted this plan by interacting with LeFou, hoping to make Gaston jealous. Gaston eventually attacked LeFou after a heaping of eggs at the tavern, although only because LeFou was distracted from his duty, to the Bimbettes' chagrin. Besides the main story, he also briefly appeared in Beautiful and Beastly mail, where he was the subject of a trivia question, and was shown lifting books like in Issue 4.

Gaston only appears at the end of Belle's flashback in Issue 8, where Gaston welcomes Belle and Maurice back (Mainly Belle), who had gotten lost and barely avoided missing the fair and won first prize due to the Bimbettes sending them on the wrong direction in an attempt to ensure they don't return to the village. He is also mentioned beforehand, as the reason the Bimbettes did that was specifically so they won't have any competition regarding getting Gaston to marry them. Although he never appears in any of the remaining stories themselves after Issue 8, he did briefly appear as a trivia question for the Beautiful and beastly mail section of Issue 9, where he is shown fuming while LeFou is timidly trying to cheer him up. He also appears as a child in Issue 5 of Disney Comic Hits!, also made by Marvel Comics, alongside Belle and the Bimbettes, where he is standing on his sled during a snowy day in an obvious attempt at impressing her (with the Bimbettes trying to get his attention) before he and the Bimbettes ended up crashing into a tree. The narration also had Maurice telling Belle, when giving her a sled, that she can use it to "go sledding with your friends" when it cuts to this scene, which implies that Gaston and Belle may have been friends during childhood.

Kingdom Keepers
Gaston makes a small cameo in the fourth book of the saga. He is seen along with Prince John and the Horned King when Finn and Amanda see all the Overtakers together at Tom Sawyer Island.

Villain Files
Gaston also appears in the tongue-and-cheek book about Disney Villains called The Villain Files. According to the book, he had been vicious since he was a baby (and implied that the bearskin rug was actually created by someone other than Gaston, perhaps his father or grandfather) and met Belle while practicing archery. In addition, in the page depicting him as a baby, he was lying buck-naked on the bearskin rug, which acted as a pun on the phrase "bare on a bearskin rug," which is slang for a nude centerfold.

The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince
Gaston appeared in this book by Serena Valentino and given a slightly more sympathetic and tragic portrayal, where it was revealed that he was a former friend of the Prince who would become the Beast. He often hunted with him and hung around the tavern earning the gazes of young women. He was also indirectly responsible for the curse, as he informed the Prince that a woman he was betrothed to, Circe, was a farmer, resulting in the Prince coldly refusing her, as well as her and her sisters deciding to exact revenge by cursing the Prince and his staff. Eventually, Gaston ended up evicted from the castle by the Prince after strange episodes occurred that ruined an attempted betrothal with a princess of a nearby kingdom. Although Gaston did not turn into an object, he was nonetheless affected by the curse in the sense of forgetting his friendship with Adam. He later ended up attacking the castle, largely due to the manipulations of Circe's sisters who wanted the spell to remain unbroken, and was eventually manipulated into stabbing his former friend in the back after Beast spared him, resulting in his death.

Gaston also mentioned about a prince from a neighboring kingdom who had a great success "after the matter of the glass slipper was sorted", hinting that "Cinderella" takes place in the same world as "Beauty and the Beast", along with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "The Little Mermaid".

Descendants: Isle of the Lost
Gaston is one of the villains that was brought back to life only to be imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. He is now the father of twin boys named Gaston Jr. and Gaston the Third; he named them after himself due to his egomania. They even share his personality to some degree, but aren't as obsessed with women; they are even kind to other students. However, it is unknown who his wife was at this point.

In the actual film, Maleficent mentions him in passing, saying he should be jealous of Jay's outfit for Prince Ben's coronation.

Video Games
Like many other characters from the film, Gaston appears in several game titles, most revolving around the film such as Beauty and the Beast and Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure.

Beauty and the Beast: Roar of the Beast
In Roar of the Beast, Gaston has led an invasion on the Beast's castle, endangering the entire castle as well as Belle with the help of his angry mob and LeFou.

Belle's Quest
In Belle's Quest, Gaston plays out his role in the film to some degree, though at the start, he appears to be much more tame, even using his strength to assist Belle in a task. Nevertheless, he continues to pursue her in hopes of marrying her, as well as invade the Beast's castle at the conclusion of the game.

Disney Princess
Gaston appears as the villain of Belle's stage. Here, he plots to manipulate the villagers into believing the Beast's castle is evil and should be destroyed. To do so, he breaks into the dark castle and tries to capture Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts, hoping to use them as proof of the castle's dark magic. However, Belle is able to defeat him using her quick wits.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Gaston also does not appear in Kinect Disneyland Adventures, although he is mentioned by Belle explaining that he hasn't been to Disneyland yet, probably due to the fact that there were no antlers.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
Gaston was one of the Disney villains the evil witch Mizrabel had the ability to morph into. However, her Gaston disguise only appeared briefly and never again throughout the rest of the game.

Kingdom Hearts
Gaston makes his debut appearance in the Kingdom Hearts franchise in Kingdom Hearts χ. His role in the game is identical to the film, only he leads an army of Heartless to the castle instead of villagers, and sets the Malicious Reindeer Heartless to fight the player as he confronts the Beast. He is not directly fought as a boss within the game, although it should be noted that the Malicious Reindeer Heartless has several notable similarities to Gaston, in overall appearance, hairstyle and attire, with the primary differences being skin color and bearing an overall more demonic look.

Musical
Gaston's role and personality in the musical based on the film is pretty much the same—a pompous, sexist, egotistical, boorish, brutish, brainless and chauvinistic caveman who loves only himself. His ultimate goal is the same too—marry the prettiest girl in town and make her his "little wife" and his "property". Instead of ignoring the Bimbettes like in the film, he pays more attention to them (saying that their 'rendezvouses' will continue after his marriage to Belle, implying ) but still wants Belle as his wife, making them very upset (to the point of wailing and crying like infants). During the proposal scene (where there's no wedding party outside unlike the movie), Gaston gives Belle a of himself as a present.

In addition to the song Gaston, the song "Me" is performed by him (in which he conceitedly proposes to Belle). The song is of interest because one verse implies that his feelings for Belle are more than for her looks (he even calls her 'pumpkin' as an endearing appellative), but he never says it outright to her. In addition, presumably to avoid any implications that the villagers were in the know regarding Gaston's plan to blackmail Maurice, he has all the patrons and staff, except LeFou, leave the tavern before conducting his reprise. The reprise itself was expanded to have Gaston and LeFou brag about Gaston's resourcefulness as well as Gaston fully admitting he doesn't have any remorse to resorting to something as dirty as blackmail to ensure Belle married him, as well as breaking the fourth wall somewhat by having them brag about Gaston being "entertaining" and capable of "keep[ing] up with these endless reprises." Like in the movie, he dies after falling off the roof of the Beast's castle, but not before fatally stabbing him multiple times (as opposed to just once in the movie) after arrogantly lying that Belle sent him to the castle to kill him.

Notable actors who have played the role on Broadway include Burke Moses (who originated the role on Broadway and in the original London production), Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Cody Carlton, and Donny Osmond (singing voice of Li Shang in Mulan). Other actors include Steve Condie.

Walt Disney World
As of 2012, Gaston has become a common, and very popular, character within Walt Disney World Resort. He appears in the live stage show Beauty and the Beast: Live! at Disney's Hollywood Studios. During Halloween, he is a part of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.

He is also seen walking around in the parks, such as walking down the International Gateway. Depending on which Cast Member is portraying him in the parks, his sexism towards women and his opinion on reading and thinking varies depending on who plays him, but he is very popular with female guests and is much nicer to young girls, as he even gives them hugs.

Gaston has his own restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, in the Beauty and the Beast area of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. He can now be found there for meet-and-greets daily, but before 2015 he was the only character present there (though LeFou is mentioned). The Bimbettes can now be met along with him. Before then, Gaston's park appearances were mostly confined to parades, shows and special events.

Tokyo Disneyland
Gaston plays a notable part in the nighttime castle show Once Upon a Time, where he engages in a battle against the Beast during the show's climax; eventually falling to his death.

Disneyland Paris
At Disneyland Paris, Gaston can be found for meet-and-greets in Fantasyland. He also appears in several shows, specifically during Halloween time.

Trivia

 * While Gaston has no noble status in the final version, it is implied in one scene that he is still wealthy, at least in regards to the other villagers.
 * In addition, one of the earlier drafts of the post-rewrite film also made his wealth a bit more explicit, where he was apparently a lavish spender, often being extremely careless/reckless in his extravagant endeavors. This resulted in LeFou (here named "LaFou" and acting as his long-suffering family accountant) getting high-strung and neurotic as a result of this as well as Gaston's bullying.
 * On an interesting note, most of Gaston's actions were edited out of the final cut of the film: during his battle with the Beast, Gaston was originally intended to shout "Time to die!", but it was changed to "Belle is MINE!" (but his lips still mouth "Time to die!") in order to edit violence and get the main point of his rage straight. Also, Gaston's death scene originally had him stabbing the Beast in the back and willingly falling to his death while laughing maniacally, as if satisfied that if he could not have Belle, then neither would the Beast. Though this was changed to Gaston accidentally losing his footing, it appears to explain why Gaston chose such a dangerous and risky position to wound the Beast despite knowing that it would not help him win Belle's heart.
 * Gaston became a lot more popular with his quote "No one (insert name of activity) like Gaston", which also became a somewhat popular internet meme.
 * Gaston has some similarities to Avenant, the character from the 1946 French film Beauty and the Beast, played by Jean Marais. Specifically, both characters were madly in love with the "beauty" character in the film, and also eventually conspired to put an end to the beast. A character named Avenant was originally intended to serve as the villain of a proposed sequel to the Disney film, as Gaston's younger brother, but the idea was scrapped. Unlike Avenant from the 1946 film, Gaston doesn't outright confess to Belle that he loves her, which leads to his demise.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Gaston himself was not actually based on Avenant, as Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter for the Disney film, refused to watch the Jean Cocteau version specifically because she didn't want to use it as the source material for the Disney movie. Woolverton had instead based Gaston on several of her own unsuccessful relationships.
 * Richard White stated in an interview that while he himself doesn't know whether Gaston survived, he does mention that the viewers never saw the body, implying that he might have survived. However, the 2002 DVD commentary confirmed his death, and mentioned that the skull and crossbones seen in his pupils as he falls, which were either speculated to be some sort of demonic subliminal message or that he had seen death himself, were intended to confirm his death.
 * Skull_eyes.jpgestingly enough, Disney made absolutely certain to remove the skull and cross bones from Gaston's pupils as he fell to his death in the theatrical and VHS version, yet made no attempt to do so in the later releases on DVD and Blu-ray.
 * The amount of arrows in Gaston's pouch often changes from three to two and sometimes even four.
 * On the 2011 Cartoon Voices Comic Con, Bill Farmer said that he had done Gaston, during Gaston's song in the bar. Bill did the sound of Gaston eating the eggs.
 * Notably, until the release of Kingdom Hearts χ, Gaston was the only main antagonist who did not appear in the Kingdom Hearts series despite his homeworld, Beast's Castle, appearing in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. As Beast is shown to have transformed back into Prince Adam during the credits of Kingdom Hearts II, it is possible that Gaston's fight against the Beast and subsequent death occurred while Sora, Donald, and Goofy were absent from the world.
 * Xaldin (An antagonist from Organization XIII and the nobody of Dilan) played the role as the antagonist of Beast's Castle in Kingdom Hearts II in substitute to Gaston (despite the fact that it isn't his home world). Although, his intentions were entirely different to Gaston's (being closer to that of Forte, in fact) as Xaldin used the Rose and the Beast's anger to create a Heartless and a Nobody of the Beast to serve Xaldin and only ever used Belle to further pursue his intentions of manipulating the prince by using Belle as bait.
 * Ironically, his debut appearance, Kingdom Hearts χ, took place eons before the events of Kingdom Hearts II, where Beast still remained a beast.
 * In the book Disney Villains: The Essential Guide, Gaston didn't even appear until the very last page, where's he actually shown complaining about why he didn't even appear in that book.
 * It is implied in the trailer that Gaston may have been aware of the Beast's curse, and had ulterior motives besides wanting Belle as his wife for attempting to kill the Beast, as the trailer described him as being "one man who wants to keep the spell alive," although it is unconfirmed whether this was the case in the film itself outside of Gaston being suspiciously subdued about Belle's exposure of the Beast's existence compared to the fearful gasps of the other villagers.
 * Gaston's proposal outfit, consisted of a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots, which implies that the events of the film occurred sometime in the late-17th to mid-18th century. However, Belle's cameo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which took place in the mid-to-late-15th century) renders this date questionable. Glen Keane confirmed in the commentary for Beauty and the Beast that the film's setting was indeed intended to be the late 18th century.
 * At the tavern, besides the aforementioned antler and deer-related trophies, Gaston also had among his hunting trophies a Bald Eagle's head and a Water Buffalo's head, implying that he may have hunted abroad (as they were not native to his village, France, or even Europe, being instead native to North America and a small portion of Africa and Asia, respectively). This was further supported by his first appearance in the film, where some of the kills carried by LeFou included a Raccoon (although raccoons technically were present in France via the French-German border, they weren't part of France's ecosystem at the time until two pet raccoons were released into the wild at Germany in the 1930's).
 * Gaston is the opposite of the Beast. While the Beast is an ugly monster based on his appearance, he is actually innocent and truly cared for Belle, and became a protagonist of his film; Gaston, on the other hand, while being superficially handsome on the outside and praised by the populace, is actually egotistical and male-chauvinistic, and only wanted to marry Belle based purely on her beauty, and eventually allowed his lust to make him a villain in the film. One of the filmmakers even described Gaston as having "the heart of a pig" due to his sloven behavior during his proposal to Belle.
 * In addition, after he fell into the mudpool during the failed proposal, a pig's head rose up before Gaston's head emerged, acting as a slight pun on "pig-headedness", alluding to arrogance.
 * Gaston has blue eyes, the same eye color as his rival. So far in Disney history this is the only time the villain has had any physical features (i.e. eye color, hair color, etc.) as a protagonist.
 * Before "Me" in the Broadway version begins, Gaston mentions to the Silly Girls that their "rendezvouses" will continue after he marries Belle, suggesting that he would be unfaithful and that he is an adulterer. He is the first Disney villain to conspire to commit adultery, at least in a Disney musical.
 * Although concept materials, as listed above, give Gaston the surname of LeGume, the Bimbettes during the song of "Belle" refer to Gaston as "Monsieur Gaston" and Belle in the reprise twice sarcastically refers to herself as "Madame Gaston" suggesting that Gaston is his surname in the final version.
 * Despite the praise for Gaston in the eponymous song (specifically the lyrics "No one hits like Gaston, matches wits like Gaston"), the visuals show Gaston either having lost a game of Chess or otherwise about to lose (due to him angrily swiping the board away).
 * Although no character like Gaston originated in the original tale, the name itself was originally used in the first known tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the original author of the fairy tale, and was a reference to "Gaston Phoebus", full name "Gaston III de Foix-Béarn" and also known as "Comte de Foix". Similar to Gaston in the Disney version, Gaston Phoebus was also a renowned and expert hunter, and was even used as a book-reference to the book "The Art of Hunting".
 * Rupert Everett was a considered choice for the voice of Gaston, but was turned down because he didn't sound "arrogant enough." Everett eventually made sure to sound as arrogant as possible when voicing Prince Charming in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, who was coincidentally very similar to Gaston (although his motives are closer to Jafar).
 * According to the creators, Gaston's primary colors were red to symbolize evil to contrast with Belle and Beast's blue. Despite this, however, there were various characters who wore red in the movie without actually being evil, including Sultan, Claudette, and even Belle herself (during Somewhere There as well as the Christmas Party in The Enchanted Christmas) and Beast (who in the original film wore a wine-red cape).
 * Ironically, in the film's original screenplay, Gaston actually was shown wearing blue.
 * In the Disney cruise line show Villains Tonight, Hades mentions Gaston and compares him to actor Charlie Sheen.
 * His original last name LeGume is a pun on his "pea-brained" insight and views of women.
 * In some book versions of the film, the entire fight with Gaston and Beast is omitted, and Belle simply managed to find him dying from wounds, which gave the implication that the mob succeeded in attacking the Beast and left without any casualties.
 * Had The Enchanted Christmas not been rewritten to its current form, Gaston would have been the first Disney villain to have a sibling who was also a villain, as well as the third Disney villain to have a sibling overall (being preceded by Scar and Hades, who acted as siblings to Mufasa and Zeus, respectively), preceding Ursula and Morgana.