Cinderella's Father is a minor character of Disney's 1950 animated feature film Cinderella. He is a widowed nobleman and the kind-hearted father of the eponymous character, who remarried a woman with two daughters of her own, believing that she would give his child maternal care. He died unexpectedly soon after, unaware that his second wife would turn Cinderella into her servant and subject her to abuse and humiliation for years to come.
He is based on the character of the same name from the 1697 fairy tale Cendrillon by Charles Perrault.
Appearances[]
Cinderella[]
Years before the main events of the film, Cinderella's father, a wealthy gentleman, lived in his family's château, and had a daughter - Cinderella - with his first wife. After losing his wife of unknown causes when Cinderella was very young, he tried to compensate for the loss by giving Cinderella special gifts, including Bruno, a dog, and Major, a horse, for his daughter. It is also theorized that Bruno and Major originally belonged to him and were left in Cinderella's care after his death.
However, Cinderella's father still felt that his daughter needed a maternal figure in her life and decided to remarry, with his second wife being fellow noble and widow Lady Tremaine, an elegant and dignified woman, who had, from a previous marriage, two daughters just Cinderella's age: Anastasia and Drizella. However, shortly thereafter, Cinderella's father died untimely, and his second wife and stepdaughters revealed their true nature: cold, cruel, and heartless. Lady Tremaine, who did not even pretend to mourn his passing, and who inherited all his wealth and his château, was jealous of her stepdaughter being more beautiful than her own daughters, and spent her late second husband's inheritance upon Anastasia and Drizella. Meanwhile, Cinderella was mistreated by her stepfamily, eventually being forced into servitude within the château. Despite having to endure her cold, unloving stepfamily, Cinderella kept her kind, positive nature and finally found the happiness she sought simply by keeping faith in her dreams years after, when she married Prince Charming.
Cold Hearted[]
Cinderella's father, named Sir Richard in this adaptation, serves as the main antagonist of Serena Valentino's eighth novel in the Villains book series Cold Hearted, which explores Lady Tremaine's past. He married Lady Tremaine for her inheritance from her first husband. Although he married her to also provide Cinderella with a mother, he forbids her to call Lady Tremaine "Mama" as she wishes. He never truly recovered from his wife's death, as he prioritizes her memory over the happiness of his new wife, insisting his late wife as the true mistress of the house regardless of who else he marries, and forbidding Lady Tremaine any sort of say in how she lives as his wife. He is still shown to love his daughter, but in a disturbing way, as he pampers her yet still expects obedience from her. He neglects and abuses his new wife and stepdaughters, making them do household chores while prioritizing his own daughter, not allowing Anastasia and Drizella to present at court with her as they near the proper age to come out. When Cinderella hears that her stepmother plans to leave, she innocently tells her father, thinking she is just being a good daughter, and Sir Richard yells at Lady Tremaine and locks her in her room. This finally pushes Lady Tremaine over the edge, and she enlists the help of dark magic to kill Sir Richard and take back control of her life, as well as turn Cinderella into a servant just as her father did to them, to punish her for telling her father and ruining any chance to escape him non-lethally.
Trivia[]
- According to Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files, Lady Tremaine is reading an ad from Cinderella's father, which refers to him as Lord Tremaine, meaning Cinderella's last name is also Tremaine. This makes sense, since in the old days the new bride and her children would sometimes take the husband's last name.
- Considering his death was untimely and happened suddenly, along with Lady Tremaine's power-hungry, cruel, and manipulative nature, it is possible Cinderella's father was actually murdered by Lady Tremaine; however, nothing in the film suggests this and it is taken as canon that he died a natural death, possibly because of a disease or he got killed in an accident.
- The possibility of Lady Tremaine's possible involvement on his death, however, is possibly backed up in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, because when Anastasia realizes what is love, Lady Tremaine dismisses her discovery by saying that love isn't necessary when they could have power, possibly meaning that she just married Cinderella's father for his power and wealth and killed him once he outlived his usefulness.
- Cinderella's father bears similarity to Snow White's in the storybooks: both are widowers who were hit hard by the loss of their wives and remarry out of a desire for family stability; however, both fail to realize (for reasons beyond their power) that their choices put their daughters at a disadvantage.
- The full name of Cinderella's father is unknown.
