Sa'luk is the main antagonist of Aladdin and the King of Thieves. He was the second-in-command of the Forty Thieves.
Background
Personality
While Sa'luk may not have any magical powers like Jafar, he's nearly almost as threatening--a ruthless, violent, and rather impatient brute with the "take-no-prisoner" philosophy and takes pleasure in killing, with little if any tolerance for those he deems weak. He always hated Cassim, denouncing him as "soft", and usurping him as leader of the Forty Thieves is one of his primary motives throughout the movie. While he is not openly power-mad, he is considerably greedy, given by his own desire to obtain the fabled Hand of Midas on top of his plans for control. Sa'luk is also quite vengeful: after being defeated by Aladdin, he became hell-bent on avenging himself, going so far as to betray all but a handful of his own group to the Royal Guardsmen of Agrabah whilst at the same time risking arrest himself. Yet, despite his brutality, Sa'luk isn't stupid: he was able to rally remaining Thieves to his side despite their suspicions and convinced Razoul to spare him capture in exchange for a few prisoners.
Besides that, he is very good at manipulating people, showing his cold and calculating nature (indicating that he has a "scheming side"). Sa'Luk also has demonstrated some narcissistic tendencies (as seen in "Are You In or Out" in the verses: "I'm the best, success is guaranteed" and "You want a fearless leader, one that's strong and stout?"), but it is more likely that he is an arrogant man than a narcissist.
Sa'Luk will do everything to get what he wants, including betraying his former allies, allying himself with enemies, and manipulating others.
Physical appearance
Sa'Luk is a tall, slender, muscular, bald man with light gray skin, big muscles, and gray beard stubbles. Sa'luk seems to have a combination of an imperial and horseshoe mustache. He wears a black and purple coat, large blue pants held with a red band, and black shoes (in the Arabian style)
Abilities
Sa'Luk has proven to be one of the most strongest and well skilled fighters in the Disney universe, notably killing a shark with his bare hands and defeating the seven remaining Forty Thieves without breaking a sweat.
He is also a skilled manipulator, being able to manipulate Razoul into helping him and convince the remaining Seven Thieves that Cassim betrayed them.
Role in the film
Sa'Luk helps with Cassim being the leader, but he openly hates him and wishes to overthrow him. His favored weapons are a pair of gold claws that he keeps on his knuckles. He leads the attack on Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding and entices a bunch of elephants to stampede on the palace. Later on, Aladdin manages to track down the forty thieves with the help of the oracle and makes his way into their hideout, where he learns that Cassim, whom he fought earlier at the wedding, is actually his long lost father whom he hadn't seen since childhood, and was believed by him to be dead.
To spare Aladdin from instant death, Cassim has Aladdin fight Sa'luk in order to gain entry into their club. Aladdin gets a nasty cut on his arm during the fight and tries to use his dagger on him, but he knocks Aladdin aside and down a cliff. Aladdin slows his fall with the dagger and leaves it stuck in the cliff side. Sa'Luk joins him on the narrow ledge over the water to continue the fight. Aladdin manages to defeat him by grabbing onto his dagger and kicking Sa'Luk off a cliff where he plunges into the bay below, prompting the other thieves, thinking him dead, to allow Aladdin into their club. Unknown to them, Sa'Luk survives the fall. He takes his anger out on some sharks that try to eat him and he kills one of them as he makes his way ashore.
Sa'Luk makes his way to Agrabah and confronts Razoul the head guard, and in an attempt to put Cassim in prison, he tells Razoul the location of his hideout and tells him the password for the entrance to open; "Open Sesame". He later discovers that Cassim had left with Aladdin to find the Hand of Midas, so he gathers the remaining thieves that hadn't been captured and convinces them to turn against Cassim, convincing them that Cassim has betrayed them and hearkening back to the days before he became their King, when the Forty Thieves had been free to be truly ruthless.
Later they work together and capture Cassim and Iago and makes him lead them to the Vanishing Isle, although during their journey Iago manages to escape and tells Aladdin the news. Having reached the Vanishing Isle, which is housed on a giant turtle, Genie distracts the turtle, so it will stay afloat, while Aladdin follows Sa'Luk who has Cassim with him. Aladdin punches Sa'Luk knocking him unconscious and frees Cassim. They eventually discover the Hand of Midas and are amazed by its power. Sa'Luk discovers this and knocks out Aladdin and demands Cassim hand over the Hand of Midas or he will kill Aladdin. Thinking quickly, Cassim tosses the golden hand, and Sa'luk greedily grabbed it-- but by the golden hand itself instead of the bronze handle. Declaring the Hand of Midas to be his, Sa'luk cackles, but also reveals that intends to kill Aladdin, much to Cassim's anger. Upon learning that he foolishly grabbed the golden hand rather than the handle, Sa'luk yells in defeat as he is instantly turned into a permanent golden statue and falls into the sea, shortly before the Vanishing Island disappeared beneath the water, never to be seen again.
Trivia
- In Arabic, his name means "a poor low-life thief who owns nothing."
- If you look real closely, Sa'Luk's knuckle duster disappears in some scenes.
- Despite being one of the few "brutal" Disney Villains, Sa'Luk is shown to be very clever.
- Iago would have originally became his minion after Jafar's death in The Return of Jafar.
- Sa'Luk shares his name with a previously unnamed rat from the series episode "Do the Rat Thing."
- Why he has a grey skin, which is rather unnatural (especially for a fully human character with no magical powers), remains unknown. However, in some stock art, he has a normally-coloured skin instead of grey.
- Though possibly unintentional, when Sa'Luk is changed into a gold statue, his arms are raised above his head in a similar way to how Lumière (also voiced by Jerry Orbach) is usually portrayed.
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