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 and is portrayed by starring cast member Naveen Andrews.

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

History
While residing in Agrabah, Jafar actively searches for a genie he needs. Arriving at at the small scarf shop of a merchant, Farzeen Shahmed, he 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 ploy with the Red Queen, she throws Cyrus off the cliff of the Boiling Sea, and he appears to die, but after falling down past thick smoke, 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.

Revisiting the Red Queen's castle, he freezes all her subjects before entering the throne room himself. Jafar inquires on how she can sit and listen to her petitioners all day, to which she replies it's part of her job. He criticizes her flaw is trying to earn the people's respect when it can be just taken, though the Red Queen asserts she already did so in gaining the throne of Wonderland. Jafar remarks it's not enough for her, which she acknowledge is true since both of them, unsatisfied with what they already have, are now getting into the business of Alice and the genie. He sneers if she can't find the bottle, perhaps what they're doing is a waste of time. She points out her concern is whether or not he actually can, after obtaining the genie and bottle, bend the laws of magic. Jafar agrees the impossible can become possible, but talking about it is still premature when the bottle hasn't even been found yet. On his way out, he chides her to devote more time to their plans. The Red Queen reasons that, whether she likes it or not, there are responsibilities as a ruler. In response, to free up her time, Jafar turns all the petitioners into dust and walks out.

Jafar returns shortly after with the accusation she already knows the bottle's location. Coyly, she complains all the work thus far has been done by her, such as bringing Alice back to Wonderland, and discovering where the bottle is. Refusing to say any more than necessary, the Red Queen tells him she will be happy to give out the information once they have a chat to set the ground rules of what she wants and will get from this whole deal. As she attempts to walk away from him, Jafar freezes her in place, and coldly asserts he is the one in charge, and the two of them are not involved in a partnership. Unfreezing only her head, Jafar asks for the location of the bottle, to which she says it's in Mimsy Meadows under the Tum Tum tree. Having gotten what he wanted, he reverses his magic on her.

Upon arrival at the Tum Tum tree on his magic carpet, Jafar summons a horde of scarabs from beneath his magic carpet, demanding them to search for the bottle while Alice and Knave secretly look on from nearby. He does not find the lamp however, and flies back to his lair in a rage, and tries to force answers out of Cyrus by actively choking him. Suddenly, the Red Queen strides in from behind, and reveals the true location of the lamp all along. 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, Jafar enters his workshop to consult an ancient book.

In Jafar's lair, he and the Red Queen are dining at a table as Cyrus is awoken. Jafar presents him with a paper crane he found earlier flitting around in the air. Unraveling the paper, he reads Alice's message, which states she is coming to rescue Cyrus. In the next step of their plan, the Red Queen begins flipping through a book to decide which terrifying creature to send after Alice so she will be forced to make her first wish. Jafar gauges Cyrus' facial reactions in response to each creature she names out loud. Finally, they settle for the Bandersnatch after seeing Cyrus' expression twist into worry at the mention of the beast.

After the male Bandersnatch sent to hunt down Alice is slayed, the female of the pair passes away, too, as the Red Queen states they mate for life. From this, the Red Queen 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 and walk in on his extensively damaged home. The Red Queen remarks he's looking well and wonders what caused the inside rooms to be in such disarray. Grendel replies the Bandersnatch attacked, so Jafar queries if he killed it. When Grendel says no, he's prompted to answer the question of who slayed the Bandersnatch, but dances around the subject and simply says there were guests in his house. Again, Jafar presses for a response by asking if he had more than one guest, but Grendel remains silent. Changing tactics, Jafar persuades Grendel with an offer to help him. To this, Grendel has hopes to have his wife back, which causes Jafar to say it can happen as the Red Queen smiles promisingly. Grendel has doubts bringing back a deceased person could be possible, but the Red Queen certifies if they succeed, the impossible will be achievable. Finally, he believes them and confesses a young woman and man killed the Bandersnatch. Perplexed, Jafar asks who the man is. Grendel states the woman called him Knave, causing a hint of recognition to flash in the Red Queen's eyes, but she says nothing. After Jafar thanks him for his honesty and assistance, Grendel requests to be reunited with his wife. Unfortunately, Grendel has no inkling of their trickery and is helplessly stabbed and killed by Jafar's staff.

Trivia

 * Anthony Keyvan, who portrayed young Jafar in "The Serpent", also played a younger version of Naveen Andrews' character Sayid Jarrah on Lost.