The Jester is the main antagonist of the 2014 computer-animated fantasy film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return. He is the manipulative and power-hungry brother of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wicked Witch of the East.
He was voiced by Martin Short.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- After taking the scepter, he proceeded to use it to turn some of Oz's subjects into lifeless puppets, which enslaved their souls and gave them a horrific fate worse than death. He showed Glinda this right before proceeding to turn her into one as well.
- He was shown to be rather abusive towards one of his flying monkey assistants often by strangling him and threatening to shrink his wings (which he proceeds to do later on).
- He had the flying monkeys kidnap the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow.
- He changed the words on a sign on Candy Land, tricking Dorothy into breaking one of their rules by eating candy in an attempt to get her executed.
- He started an earthquake in China Town, resulting in the death of many of its citizens.
- He tortured the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow by keeping the Scarecrow on a wheel while burning his feet with fire, keeping the Tin Man in water, and having the Lion be put in a shrinking circus cell.
- He tried to kill Dorothy, Marshal Mallow, the China Town princess, and Wiser by tricking them into following his fireflies into a waterfall, which caused the princess to be shattered as a result.
- He threatened to throw Toto down to his death if Dorothy took his scepter.
- When Dorothy returned to put a stop to his reign, he summoned a tornado to try to kill her only for her to destroy the power ball of his scepter and throw it into the tornado.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He has a handful of comedic moments where he isn’t taken seriously, such as having a curse where he can’t take the costume off.
- He has a tragic backstory that shows how lonely he was and how his sister was bullied him, and that his only happiness was his sister's broom, which he tried to steal in every way possible, causing his sister to curse him to wear a jester costume forever, unable to take it off. He was so obsessed with his only happiness that he eventually lost his mind from its influence. This tragedy still affects him somewhat for three reasons: 1) no one took him seriously and therefore did not respect him, which was one of the reasons for his fall into evil in order to make him actually be taken seriously; 2) when he finds out that Dorothy survived when she trapped in the waterfall, he felt humiliated and was shown to be sad about it, hinting that he may be somewhat insecure; 3) When Wiser saved Dorothy and Toto, the Jester's sad face was shown, possibly showing that he is somewhat lonely and unhappy at heart.
- Although it is clearly unhealthy, he has some attraction to his scepter, seeing it as a personality, which was caused by his sick mind. This is evidenced by him calling the scepter a "beautiful treasure" in his song, "a precious thing" and screaming "No! My baby! Fly, fly! Don't ever leave me!" when the scepter was caught in a tornado.
Trivia[]
- The Jester is, alongside Nurse Wilson and Evanora, one of the three Oz villains to be Near Pure Evil.
- From all three, however, the Jester is the only one to be male and to not be created by Disney.
