- “Imagine a place where wishes come true. Where your heart's desire can become a reality. What if I told you that place is within reach? All you have to do is give your wish... to me.”
- ―King Magnifico
King Magnifico is the main antagonist of Disney's 2023 animated feature film Wish. A sorcerer king with the power to grant wishes, he is the founder and ruler of the kingdom Rosas.
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Background[]
When he was young, Magnifico once lived in a peaceful land with his family. However, his parents were murdered and his homeland was completely destroyed by greedy thieves, which made him swear he would do anything to protect people from experiencing what he lived through. Thus, Magnifico started studying several types of sorcery in order to defend himself and other people. He then met an aspiring ballerina named Amaya, and used his magic to make her dream come true. Afterwards, they fell in love and eventually got married. Together, he and Amaya established and built the kingdom of Rosas on an island, welcoming anyone who traveled or visited the island as their own people, leading the population to look up to their rulers, especially Magnifico, whom everyone adored, much to his joy.
Having mastered sorcery, Magnifico was able to grant the greatest desires of his subjects, who each give up the memory of their wishes to be sealed and protected by the king until he can grant them in a ceremonial event which he hosts once in a month. However, unbeknownst to them, he only ever grants wishes that would benefit him and his kingdom and keeps the rest locked up in his study room, never to be granted, especially those he would deem a threat to his rule. He also kept a book that contained forbidden magic in his study as a contingency in case something were to threaten him.
Development[]
Early drafts for Wish had Magnifico as an alchemist and astrologer in addition to being the king, and his lair was originally a glass altar top. Later drafts had him and Queen Amaya sharing the villain role as an evil power couple, but this was changed to make him the evil one and Amaya his conscience.[3]
Personality[]
Magnifico is charming and charismatic, presenting himself as an innovative mind and inspiring man worthy of the kingdom of Rosas. Originally, Magnifico was truly driven to protect his kingdom and the well-beings of his subjects, wanting to create a place for people to be safe and happy. This came from experiencing the harsh trauma of losing his own home and family as a child, motivating him to never experience such losses again. This led him to studying sorcery in order to gain the power to protect all he held dear, something he actually shared with Asha. Seeing her genuine desire to help people during her interview to become his apprentice, and strongly considered to make her such, displaying true humanity in Magnifico. Likewise, Magnifico genuinely loves his wife, Queen Amaya, valuing her companionship and council, willing to listen to her words when becoming frantic.
However, Magnifico's good intentions have long since become twisted into a vain and self-absorbed ego. While deluding himself into thinking he is still a man of the people, he is self-righteous and arrogant, believing he alone knows what's best for all in his kingdom. While still motivated by his past trauma, his actions, ultimately, are driven by a paranoid fear of losing control of all he worked for. As such, he will tolerate no potential threats to his power. This especially includes the wishes that Magnifico cajoles the teeming masses to entrust to him, combing through these many wishes to see which would benefit his kingdom (or just himself) and those that he would consider a potential threat to his power, even one so simple as wishing to play and inspire with music, calling such a wish to vague.
Magnifico expressed a low opinion of people and their wishes in general. He believes that since most people consider it too hard or unfair of how their wishes don't come true, he convinces them to give them to him and surrender their memories of it, so they won't remember what they're missing. While under the pretense of taking away people's anguish for not having their dream fulfilled and believing it is to maintain order and stability as some wishes granted can be dangerous, it is in fact a way to pacify the kingdom since he won't grant the majority of the wishes in his keeping nor will he give them back, even the ones he’ll never grant at all.
Magnifico's fear of any potential threat to his power also made him forbade anyone in Rosas from practicing magic but himself. When a mysterious light shines in the night sky over Rosas, he immediately feared it would be a threat and used his sway over the people to "encourage" them to give him any information regarding this phenomenon. When his people begin to question him and request their wishes to be granted, Magnifico finally goes over the edge and voices (sings) his discontent, displaying his true egomaniacal and malevolent character, and how he really views everyone around him. Ultimately, his desperation to maintain his position of power led him to reluctantly use forbidden magic in a mad quest to capture Star.
His usage of Forbidden Magic brought all of Magnifico's darkest traits to the surface, including his arrogance, narcissism, paranoia, hunger for power, and especially his cruelty. When he destroyed Sakina's wish right in front of her own family, inflicting pain and despair into the innocent woman out of pure spite against Asha, he reveled in such dominance over others and the power he gained from the simple act of crushing a wish. His paranoia became so severe that not even Amaya was exempt from Magnifico's suspicion until she barely managed to assure him that she would never ally with a traitor to Rosas (externally sounding like she meant Asha when she truly did mean her husband, whom Amaya could see had gone mad). His hunger for power continued, as he kept destroying wishes to absorb their power while subjecting the wishes' owners to pain and despair, yet he still craved Star to make himself unstoppable. He also displayed a cruelty in granting Simon's wish to become a knight, but also twisted the wish by bewitching him with mind control to make him his slave.
In the end, Magnifico shed all his white lies and falsehoods, revealing to everyone the monster he had become, declaring there would be no more wishes, hopes, or dreams, and that no one would ever be able to question or threaten his power again when he used his magic to cast clouds over Rosas to ensure no one could make another wish upon the stars again and magically enchained everyone in the kingdom, including his own wife. He also used his magic to hurt Asha and demonstrate his power, absolutely certain that no one could stop him then and tried to break her spirit, to force her to give up.
However, Magnifico demonstrated an underestimation of the power of hope and determination, as Asha refused to break and even inspired all of Rosas to hold onto hope and not give up and make a wish under their own power, which freed Star from Magnifico's staff and turned its magic against him, imprisoning Magnifico inside his own staff, leaving him trapped yet he still didn't learn his lesson. Thus, Amaya gave her former husband the thanks he deserved by having him hung on the wall in the dungeons.
The tie-in book A Recipe For Adventure elaborates further on his motives. In the climax, he asks Star where they were when he was young and needed them and why it took Asha for them to meet. Later, he says that without Asha challenging him he'd still think he needed everyone's trust and the closest thing he could get to happiness was being near their wishes--but thanks to her he learned he could take what he wanted.
Physical appearance[]
Magnifico is a tall, handsome tan-skinned man with pale blue eyes and gray hair (originally black when he was younger) along with thick eyebrows, a goatee, and mustache. His clothes are between white and gold and wears beige poulaine loafer turnshoes.
Powers and abilities[]
- Magic: As an accomplished sorcerer, Magnifico possesses vast magical powers which he compiled after years (if not decades) of study. Being the only sorcerer in Rosas, his magic allows him to grant wishes for others.
- Dark Magic: To harness the power of Star, Magnifico turned to dark magic. With it, he could capture Star, bend wishers to his will, and cast offensive magic. However, by being defeated by the wishful hearts of his kingdom, the black magic became his downfall, which is what trapped him inside the mirror of his scepter.
Role in the film[]
King Magnifico is first seen in the film looking for an assistant/apprentice, with his latest candidate running away in tears over failing to impress him. He interviews Asha, in which the latter tells him about herself, including her weakness. He also mentions that he knew her father before he passed away.
Magnifico then brings Asha to his study and reveals the millions of orbs containing of wishes of all Rosans, where she discovers her grandfather's wish to inspire people by playing the guitar. While telling him about her grandfather's wish, he assumes that it may be dangerous despite the fact that Sabino would never do anything harmful. Asha then asks if most of the wishes he has will never be granted, in which he reveals that they are safely kept with him for eternity. He also confirms her theory that many wishes will not be granted.
She discusses with him that he could simply release them and have the people who originally made them try to achieve them themselves. Magnifico tells her that people come to him because they cannot make their own dreams come true due to them being too difficult or unfair, all the while making them forget what they had originally wished for, essentially removing a part of their identity and scamming them out of it. Asha is shocked knowing that he does it so that they can forget the best memories of themselves, with an enraged Magnifico declaring only he can decide what everyone deserves. During the wishing ceremony, he instead refused to grant Sabino's wish and rejected Asha as his apprentice. That night, Asha wishes on a star for help, and the star, revealed to be a sentient being, answers. Magnifico witnesses the burst of light this causes, and believes this to be a threat to his power.
The next day, Magnifico announces to the people of Rosas that there is a traitor in the kingdom. Dahlia (the baker of Magnifico cookies and one of Asha's friends) distracts him by asking him a question before the citizens start asking him about the contradictions in his story, their wishes' safety and if another wishing ceremony will commence. Magnifico, barely restraining his temper, tells them that they can get their wish granted if they capture the traitor, but anyone aiding them will be punished and never granted.
As Magnifico returns to his study, he complains about not being respected while gloating about his achievements, unaware that Asha has taken her grandfather's wish with Star's help. Despite an earlier promise from Amaya to never use a book with Dark Magic he is keeping, he uses the book in a fit of rage and absorbs its power. Some time later, Simon (another one of Asha's friends) informed Magnifico that Asha was the one who wished Star. He then arrives at Asha's family's home just as she returned Sabino's wish and crushes Sakina's wish before Asha, her family, and Star escape. After returning to his castle, Amaya assures him that Asha is not a traitor. Magnifico then snaps and points his staff at his wife, accusing her of betraying him, to which Amaya fearfully denies.
At the wishing ceremony, Magnifico reveals that the person who informed him about Asha is Simon, shocking his friends including Asha and Star themselves. He grants Simon's wish to become a knight--but twists the wish by brainwashing him much to the horror of his friends and Amaya. With Simon being turned into his minion, the evil king orders the citizens to find Asha while her friends are also labeled as fugitives. Reuniting with her friends, Asha concocts a plan to free all of the wishes and save Rosas, leading Amaya to join them due to realizing that her husband has gone too far in his plans.
As Asha, Star, and her friends distract Magnifico and try to free the wishes, Amaya and Dahlia go to Magnifico's study to find a way to remove Magnifico's dark magic from himself, but the book confirms that the effects on the ones who employ its magic are permanent, leading them to conclude that there's no hope of salvation for the king.
Upon realizing that the one pursuing her was not Magnifico but a brainwashed Simon in disguise, Asha runs to go save Star from being harmed, Magnifico snatches her with his hands while Dahlia calls her from concern. After snatching Asha, Magnifico captures Star and absorbs him into his staff. The evil king then announces a new rule on there being no hope or wishes, restraining everyone, including Asha's friends and family and even Amaya, with green magic ties and making them kneel, maniacally gloating his victory. As Asha, while restrained, calls on the people of Rosas for help in stopping him, the same goes with Dahlia and Amaya while the rest start chanting as Magnifico tries stopping them, but his attempts to do so prove futile as the wishes are all freed and he is painfully sucked into his staff by its forces.
Once everything has returned to normal, everyone learns that Magnifico is still alive, but he is now trapped inside a small glass shard that was separated from the staff. Upon being found by Amaya, Magnifico demands that he be freed at once, but Amaya politely (yet angrily) refuses, knowing that Magnifico deserves to be punished forever for all his atrocities he committed to their kingdom. Giving the glass shard to a guard, Amaya orders to have it hanged inside the dungeon's wall, much to Magnifico's displeasure and horror, claiming that the dungeon smells so bad.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The name "Magnifico" means "Magnificent" in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, which alludes to his narcissistic personality, according to co-director Chris Buck. Further, the name is meant to be a nod to Maleficent.[2]
- In the Japanese dub of the film, Magnifico is voiced by pop star Masaharu Fukuyama.
- After absorbing the wishes and Star's power, King Magnifico appeared on every reflective surface in Rosas while citing "Mirrors, mirrors, on the wall; who is the handsomest?", a direct reference to the Magic Mirror of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- The quote itself also references The Evil Queen's famous line "Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" and a common misinterpretation of the aforementioned line, where “magic” is replaced with another “mirror”.
- Magnifico's physical appearance bears a close resemblance to his voice actor, Chris Pine.
References[]
- ↑ Mr. Daps (September 25, 2023). "Disney’s New Animated Feature ‘Wish’ To Be Full of Disney References". Daps Magic.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Deckelmeier, Joe (September 27, 2023). "Wish Directors Chris Buck & Fawn Veerasunthorn On Making Chris Pine A Disney Villain". Screen Rant.
- ↑ The Art of Wish
External links[]
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