Jafar

"That's the thing about power...it can be so fleeting."

- Jafar to the Red Queen

Jafar is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Naveen Andrews and guest star Anthony Keyvan.

Jafar is based on the main antagonist of Disney's adaptation of the tale of Aladdin.

History
As a child, Jafar tearfully watches over his mother in her last moments. Before passing away, she tells Jafar the truth about his real father, the Sultan, and gives him a special ring as proof. Prompted by her encouragement, he goes to find the Sultan, and attracts his attention by purposely stealing from one of the palace guards. As punishment, his thieving hand will be taken off, to which the Sultan sees the ring on Jafar's finger. Jafar has hopes that the Sultan will take him in as a son since the ring is proof enough of their familial relationship, but this request is denied. Instead, the Sultan installs him as a mere serving boy in the palace. One day, Jafar waits on some officials, who complain to the Sultan about a supply blockade with their northern neighbors, which needs to be sorted out. The Sultan refuses to assist them, and turns to ask his son and heir, Mirza, to explain why it is so. Mirza states that it is against policy, though he doesn't know which one when questioned by an official. Hoping to impress the Sultan, Jafar gives the answer as the farming policy and furthermore explains the structure of it. The Sultan remarks that in Agrabah even servants are educated. This causes Jafar to smile until the Sultan indirectly references his indiscretion in speaking out. Later, Jafar is confronted by Mirza over what happened earlier, and is put in his place when the prince repeatedly slaps him. Though the Sultan walks in on the situation, rather than reprimanding Mirza, he encourages him to hit Jafar again. Afterwards, Jafar goes to wash his face when the Sultan comes in to apologize for his son's behavior as there are things that must be done to make sure children are raised properly. As Jafar turns to dry his face, he is suffocated in the water basin by the Sultan until passing out unconscious. He awakens several miles away from the palace. Hurt and angry, Jafar begins to hate the Sultan from that day onward.
 * -|Before the Curse=

With nowhere else to go, he gains an apprenticeship for a rough and unruly blacksmith. One day while being verbally abused by him, a powerful sorceress, Amara, comes to town. Jafar pointedly stares at her out of curiosity until she meets his gaze for several prolonged seconds. Seeing as everyone fears her tremendously, Jafar goes to her home that night asking to learn dark magic. When she asks why, he states his desire to take revenge on his father, the Sultan, for abandoning him as a child. She accepts his reason and begins teaching him the dark arts in student-mentor relationship. At older age, Jafar graciously thanks a shepherd, Akil, for returning a goat he lost and as a reward, gives the man a flask of alcohol. Afterwards, he heads inside and is disappointed that Amara still won't allow him to learn spells from a particular book. Instead, she believes he is ready to learn a masking spell, but Jafar is confused since they need a liver for it to work. She explains they do indeed have a liver since the wine he gave Akil was previously poisoned by her. Horrified, he watches from the window as his friend begins stumbling in pain. When offered an antidote, Amara remarks that he may save a life, but then they won't have a liver for the spell. To prove he is willing to do whatever it takes for magic, Jafar lets Akil die. Pleased, she congratulates his choice and lures him into a lustful kiss. Later, she asks for his help to find the three genies of the land, and when they do, the two of them can become the most powerful sorcerers and bend the laws of magic to gain whatever they want.

Again, many years later, Jafar enters a tavern and demands possession of the barman's genie. Since the request is met with refusal, he stabs the man's hands until the latter makes his final wish to keep Jafar from ever harming him again. Thus, Jafar snatches the bottle off the shelf and prepares to leave when the man calls him a bastard. Despite not being able to kill the man, Amara comes in to give him punishment instead. Later, at home, Jafar mentions to Amara that he found the last genie's whereabouts, and they celebrate with a drink. Secretly, he added a dose of poison in her cup earlier on. Coldly, Jafar confirms that he will be finishing the spell on his own, but still be using her help. He turns her into a snake, and then into a serpent staff to have access to her magic at any time.

With more power than ever, Jafar decides it is finally time to pay a visit to the Sultan. He storms into the palace throne room by easily throwing aside the armed guards with magic. Jafar threatens to kill the Sultan, and challenges Mirza to a duel. The Sultan watches in horror as his son attempts to run away and is murdered by Jafar's sorcery. In a mixture of hatred and longing, Jafar sneers at the cowardly behavior of Mirza, who wasn't even willing to fight for him, but exemplifies had it been himself, he would have done anything for the Sultan. Though he still wishes to be acknowledged as his son, the Sultan swears to never give him that. Shortly after, Jafar presumably takes the Sultan prisoner in his lair.

In search of the last genie, Jafar arrives at a small scarf shop of a merchant, Farzeen Shahmed, and questions the good fortune of the shop owner, insisting the man's accumulated wealth is magically based. The merchant denies this, saying all his good fortune has either come from inheritance or good business. When the tea kettle boils, the merchant excuses himself to the back room for a few moments to turn the water off. Suspicious, Jafar believes the man to be lying, and bursts into the back room to see the merchant wishing the genie, Cyrus, away to a far off land where no one will find him. Jafar grabs for the lamp, but it disappears into thin air. Furious, he asks the merchant where the lamp was sent. Shakily, the merchant admits he doesn't know, so Jafar suffocates him to death.

An unknown amount of time passes, and Jafar tracks Cyrus down to Wonderland. In a plot with the Red Queen, she throws Cyrus off the cliff of the Boiling Sea, and then Jafar catches him on a magic carpet. Afterwards, Cyrus is imprisoned in a cage made of silver to prevent escape. Following Alice's return to Wonderland to find Cyrus, Jafar meets with the Red Queen. He begins to question whether he still needs the Red Queen's help anymore, and begins magically choking her. Near death, the Red Queen gasps only one person--herself--knows where Alice's current location. Wagering the costs, Jafar decides it's best to not kill the Red Queen. In return, she retorts he is in her world now, not Agrabah, and orders him to leave while she takes care of Alice. Brooding, Jafar does as he is told. Later, in a large hall filled with cages, Jafar strides into the room to check up on an imprisoned Cyrus, who has recently woken up.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

Revisiting the Red Queen's castle, he freezes all her subjects before entering the throne room himself. While he criticizes her flaw in trying to earn people's respect as their monarch, she acknowledges that they both want things they can't have without Alice and her genie. She gives the excuse that responsibilities as a ruler keep her busy from looking for Cyrus' bottle, so Jafar frees up her time by turning the frozen people in the room into ash. He returns shortly after to accuse her of already knowing the bottle's location, which is true, but the Red Queen won't tell him until they settle what she will be getting out of this deal. He freezes her body to force an answer out, to which she finally coughs up the bottle location to be in Mimsy Meadows under the Tum Tum Tree. He flies on his magic carpet to the site immediately, and summons a horde of scarabs to search for the bottle. He does not find it, and goes back to the lair in a rage to interrogate Cyrus when the Red Queen strolls in to announce she has the bottle. She takes pleasure in holding some of the cards for once; suggesting things are going to change and he will start addressing her as an equal. Enraged, Jafar can do nothing as she leaves in satisfaction. Much later on, he enters his workshop to consult an ancient book.

In Jafar's lair, he and the Red Queen are dining at a table as they challenge Cyrus over a certain paper crane he's been using to communicate with Alice. As the next part of their plan, the Red Queen flips through a book to read out loud names of various creatures to send after Alice so she will be forced to make her first wish while Jafar gauges Cyrus' facial reactions to each one. They settle for the Bandersnatch after Cyrus' expression twists into worry at the mention of the beast. After the male Bandersnatch has been slayed, the Red Queen expectantly hears the female of the pair pass away, too, as they mate for life. From this, she believes Alice already made her first wish, but Jafar is unable to detect any change until realizing they have been deceived. They pay a visit to Grendell in the Whispering Woods to question him about who killed the Bandersnatch. When they promise to restore his deceased wife to him, Grendel confesses a young woman accompanied by a man named Knave killed the beast. Jafar notices the Red Queen has a visible reaction to the name, but he lets it slide. Having obtained the necessary information from Grendel, Jafar then murders him with his staff. Directly after, he visits the Caterpillar in Underland requesting to know everything about a man named Knave.

After acquiring information from the Caterpillar, Jafar asks for an honest answer from the Red Queen over why she did not tell him about Knave. She brushes Knave off as just an accessory for Alice to be comfortable enough to return to Wonderland. Since there is no further use for him, Jafar orders her to get rid of Knave as soon as possible. Later, Tweedledee notifies Jafar of the Red Queen's capture of Knave. Satisfied with the news, he prompts Tweedledee for a future reminder to reward him for his services. He finds out Knave has been imprisoned, but is still alive. Jafar angrily insists that Knave must be given a public execution to allow the public to see what happens to those who align themselves with Alice. Though the Red Queen proposes that Knave might be of more use alive than dead, he wonders if she has some other reason for her reluctance to kill. He questions her validity as a woman who is willing to go to any lengths to get what she wants, or still the girl who stole a crown to become queen. At Knave's execution ceremony, Jafar and Red Queen approach the balcony as Tweedledee notifies them that Alice is in the crowd as well. They decide to do nothing to witness how far Alice is willing to go to save a friend. Alice disguises herself as the executioner and after rescuing Knave, they fling themselves into a maze. Jafar rides on his carpet to catch up as does the Red Queen arrive on foot. Knave's friend, Lizard, attempts to fight, but Jafar knocks her unconscious. Seeing as Alice is willing to do much for a friend, he chokes Knave as she looks on in horror. Finally, Alice uses her first wish asking for her own death if Knave dies. Jafar finally lets go of Knave, but then tests Alice by using magic to begin physically ripping her apart. When his efforts only strengthen Alice's resolve to not make another wish, he drops her. As a last stand to deal more damage than by killing, he transforms Knave into a stone statue. Shortly after, Jafar visit Cyrus and gloats about Alice's use of her first wish.

Jafar has Tweedledee kidnap and bring the White Rabbit to him for interrogation. He exhibits a willingness to help clear the White Rabbit's debts to the Red Queen in exchange for any and all details about Alice, especially about anyone she's ever loved, as it is her weakness to care about people. Nervously, the White Rabbit lists off countless facts about Alice, except they are all things Jafar already has knowledge of. He snaps at him to stop stalling and wants to know exactly who else in Wonderland matters the most to Alice that she might wish for their survival, but the White Rabbit begins backing out of the conversation. Impatiently, Jafar uses his staff to slice off the White Rabbit's right foot. Then, he sets a timer for one minute, which is the amount of time the White Rabbit has to spit out an answer and regain his foot back. Eventually, he tells Jafar of a person Alice loves who is not a resident of Wonderland--her father. After reattaching the White Rabbit's foot, Jafar then asks him for a portal trip to visit Alice's father. The White Rabbit stutters out excuses, so Jafar moves to using force again. To his rage, the White Rabbit bolts out the door. He later finds him in the hallway, regrettably deciding to listen to Jafar's request, and opens a portal.

From there, Jafar enters into Victorian England to asks for directions towards Bethlem Asylum. After procuring the requested information from a man, he steals his clothes, assumes the false name of Dr. Sheffield and speaks to Alice's doctor, Dr. Lydgate. Jafar quickly confronts Dr. Lydgate about the mysterious talking rabbit he saw Alice leave the asylum with. To prove his case, he opens a bag to show the White Rabbit; a sight which terrifies Dr. Lydgate. Jafar obtains the home address of Alice's father, Edwin, from him. Arriving on the house doorstep, he tempts Edwin with knowledge of Alice's whereabouts after she escaped the asylum.

Jafar leads Edwin into Wonderland with one of the White Rabbit's portals. Quickly, he learns Edwin's relationship with Alice is not close and they are actually on bad terms. This changes Jafar's initial plan, and he kidnaps Edwin to his lair. During this, he takes a detour to the Red Queen's castle where he overhears her intent to have both the bottle and genie. He learns too late from her that Cyrus has escaped and has a heated argument with the old prisoner over the issue. Afterwards, he extracts some of Edwin's blood for a potion to masquerade as Alice's father. When he shows himself to Alice, she is less than pleased to see her father and berates him over how he always treated her like an obligation and not a daughter. In a talk with Knave, he asks what can be done to repair his relationship with Alice. Knave advises him to give Alice time, but one possible way of regaining her trust is to help find Cyrus as the genie is the key to her happiness. While Alice and Knave are working on building a flying basket out of birdbark branches to carry themselves up to a floating lair and rescue Cyrus, Jafar himself casts a spell to summon a dragon-like creature to stir things up. They all flee, but Jafar, still donning the illusion of Edwin, is nearly swooped up by the beast until Alice kills it. Father and daughter reach a reconciliation, and the three spend the night roasting and eating the slain creature's meat. After supper, Alice goes with Knave to gather wood, but Jafar realizes she suspects that he is not her father. After unearthing his staff, Jafar takes off the mask to fetch the real Edwin from his lair and fly on the magic carpet to bring him to Alice. She has doubts until Edwin proves himself to be her father. Jafar drops Edwin into the sea, to which Alice hastily uses a second wish to bring her father home. Satisfied, Jafar leaves for a chat with his one remaining prisoner in the lair. After letting him out of the cage, the ex-Sultan once again refuses to ever give what Jafar desires. Jafar smugly asserts that when he finally breaks the laws of magic, his cooperation will no longer be necessary. Scathingly, the prisoner expresses regrets in not previously suffocating Jafar for a longer period of time so he'd be dead. However, he takes away the one thing that matters to Jafar--himself--and purposely tries to commit suicide by dropping down into the lair's bottomless pit. Jafar prevents him from dying by bring him back up with the magic carpet.

On another assignment, Tweedledee procures the genie bottle from the Red Queen's castle for him. After a return to his lair, Jafar has a fit when he realizes the bottle is a fake. Upon another trip to the Red Queen's castle, he finds everyone missing, and opens a designated box with his name on it containing only Tweedledee's head. From a hairbrush, Jafar takes a strand of the Red Queen's hair and then leaves the castle via the magic carpet while decimating the building with fire explosions. Then, he goes back to the lair to make a storm cloud with the hair, which he then releases into the air to track down and kill the Red Queen. Later, outside his lair window, he watches with satisfaction as the storm cloud begin to close in on the Red Queen's location.

Trivia

 * The name "Jafar" is of Arabic origin that means "stream".