The Black Forest is a dark and mysterious forest that surrounds the Beast's Castle. It is inhabited by large packs of very vicious wolves, bats, and other creatures, so only very few would dare to enter and be able to find the Beast’s Castle. The only ones who have entered it and discovered the castle are Maurice, Philippe, and Belle.
Background[]
The Forest was once a beautiful landscape with rich amounts of wildlife, but ever since the Enchantress’s curse was placed, it changed into an ominous, desolate version of itself and yet became invested with vicious wolves and bats until the spell was broken. There were two entrances into the forest: one required at least a day's distance by wagon or horseback and was close to Belle's Cottage, while the other was located in close proximity to the village and only necessitated a few hours' walk.[1] Maurice and presumably Belle used the former route, the former when getting lost trying to go to the fair and the latter to locate her father's last whereabouts, while the latter route was used by a village mob led by Gaston to attack the Beast at his castle, and later by Belle, Maurice, and Chip to aid the Beast, and presumably by Maurice earlier on when he decided to rescue Belle himself even if the rest of the village did not believe him.
Appearances[]
Beauty and the Beast[]
Before the curse, the Black Forest was once a beautiful land with many woodland inhabitants. However, when the Prince was transformed into a hideous beast by the Enchantress, the forest surrounding his castle changed to reflect the spell. As a result, the once glorious land became a dark and haunting place infested with wolves. The castle stood in the center of the forest barricaded by a stone wall. Only very few dared to enter the forest in fear of what lied within it.
Maurice enters the Black Forest with his horse Philippe by mistake while trying to get to the fair thinking it was a shortcut. However, the two were spotted by wolves where Philippe accidentally abandoned Maurice out of fear.
The Black Forest in its natural state.
The wolves immediately chase Maurice all the way to the castle. Even when Maurice manages to get inside past the gate and close it, they still try to get him and manage to bite his foot, but he gets in safely. Later, Belle goes through the forest with the aid of Philippe to find Maurice and enters the castle. When she was frightened by the Beast, she fled into the forest as it began to snow. The wolves appear and pursue her through a frozen lake until they finally corner her. However, the Beast arrives in time to save Belle, but gets injured in the process. Out of regret, Belle drags him back to the castle on Philippe's back. Much later, Maurice had attempted to re-enter the forest to rescue Belle from the Beast but had eventually succumbed to illness from the cold weather, forcing Belle to leave the Beast to rescue him. When the two return back to the village, Gaston leads a lynch mob through the Black forest to the castle to kill Beast, chopping down one of the trees to use as a battering ram to get into the castle. Belle and Maurice later escape and ride Philippe quickly through the forest. Unfortunately, the Beast is fatally injured by Gaston who plummets to his death immediately after.
Once Belle admits that she loved Beast, the spell breaks. When the Beast turns back into a prince, the Black Forest reverts to its original lustrous state.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas[]
In the midquel, Belle goes into the Black Forest to find a Christmas tree by Forte's suggestion. Getting the tree would break Belle's promise never to leave the castle, but she wants to make Beast happy, so she agrees to go, taking Chip and Axe. The wolves that had attacked her before spot her, but leave her alone knowing better not to trifle with her or bring the anger of the Beast. They find a large tree across a frozen lake and chop it down, then tie it to the sled. However, Fife is caught and his explanation only startles Philippe on the ice who breaks it under his hoofs, causing Chip to fall into the water. Belle saves him, but her right foot gets wrapped by the rope attached to the sinking tree and nearly drowns. The furious Beast breaks through the ice and saves her, before they return to the castle.
Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World[]
In the film's first segment "The Perfect Word", from a misunderstanding, an enraged Beast banishes Webster, Crane and Le Plume for forging a letter for Belle, and throws them into the Black Forest. Belle ventures out and brings them back, and the Beast, touched by Belle's sympathy, forgives the three and allows them back in, realizing that their intentions were good.
Printed media[]
The New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast[]
The forest appeared in the second issue during both story arcs. In the first story arc, Elsewhere, Belle and Maurice were traversing through the forest on the way back from the fair. Belle later went into the forest to try and hunt down fairy tale creatures, although a wolf (implied to be the Enchantress in disguise) sent them away after encountering an odd Owl (also similar to the wolf, it was implied to be the Enchantress in disguise). In the second story arc, Elsewhen, Beast ends up trying to live in the wild near the forest, only for it to nearly result in his death. His motives for doing so were strongly implied to be due to despair at not being able to end the curse.
Beauty and the Beast (Marvel Comics)[]
The Black Forest had various minor appearances in the comics. It's most major appearance, however, was in the Dove Tales arc from Issues 7 and 8, where Belle and Chip ended up lost in a blizzard. In Issue 10, it was also implied that Beast went into the forest to find Holly plants after discovering that Belle wanted to find hollies for Christmas and proceeded to decorate the castle with them.
Video games[]
The Black Forest acted as levels in Beauty and the Beast, Belle's Quest, and Roar of the Beast, owing to its fairly major role in the film.
The Black Forest also appears in the Kingdom Hearts games II, 358/2 Days, χ and Unchained χ. The former two only had it being visible in the background, while the latter had it be a visitable location.
Trivia[]
- The forest being affected by the Enchantress's curse was not directly stated in the film, but it was strongly implied in the prologue with the stained glass windows, where it was depicted to have been transformed alongside the castle.[2]
Gallery[]
References[]
