Jareth || The Goblin King ||

He is not the basic stereotype for a villain. He presents as being proud, clever, charming and deceiving. As the film progresses, he displays other traits, at some points even shows feelings toward Sarah as she progresses through his Labyrinth. By the end of the film he is desperate to win, attempting to win Sarah over by offering her everything she wants, promising to be her slave in exchange for her love, fear and obedience.

He acts like the ring leader with his goblin subjects, expecting them to laugh at his jokes and quickly losing his patience with them. Despite the fact he treats his subjects poorly, they continue to serve him and obey him without question. He appears weary of their antics, and often seems more interested in following Sarah's progress in one of his crystals than interacting with them.

Despite Jareth showing no signs of anger at Sarah's rejection in the film, the Return to Labyrinth series depicts Jareth as a sore loser in the wake of Sarah's victory, unable to accept his defeat at the hands of a young girl. He appears to be very domineering when given the opportunity, with his main goal following Sarah's defeat of him being able to make her forget her own dreams and bend to his will. However, due to the fact that he lets her leave to follow her dreams at the end of the series, this proves Jareth truly does love Sarah.

Jareth has the power to shape shift into a white barn-owl and is first seen watching Sarah in this form as she recites lines from the play The Labyrinth.

Jareth first appears in the film in his owl form before he is summoned by Sarah to take her infant brother Toby away from her. Jareth attempts to make Sarah give up her brother by offering her a crystal that will reveal her dreams, only for her to refuse. Jareth transports both himself and Sarah to a hill overlooking his Labyrinth and tells her she has thirteen hours to save Toby. He then vanishes, leaving Sarah alone on the hill-top to start her journey.

He is next seen in his castle, surrounded by his drunk, clumsy goblin subjects. He rises from his throne and begins to interact with his subjects through the song Magic Dance, which he uses to express his delight at having Toby in his possession.

When Sarah falls into the Oubliette, Jareth is perturbed by the speed of her progress through the Labyrinth. He declares that he plans to send Hoggle to fetch her and take her back to the start of the Labyrinth, and laughs at the thought of hindering her progress.

Disguising himself as a blind, shabby beggar, Jareth waits for Sarah and Hoggle in the passage leading away from the Oubliette, attracting their attention with one of his crystals. He does away with his disguise as soon as they appear, asking Hoggle to explain why he appears to be helping Sarah instead of taking her back to the start of the Labyrinth as he was ordered to. Quickly losing interest in Hoggle, Jareth approaches Sarah and asks for her opinion on his Labyrinth. Her flippant response causes him to lose his patience with her, takes some of her time to save Toby away, and he sends the Cleaners after both Sarah and Hoggle as punishment.

Jareth's next significant appearance is an encounter with Hoggle, where he gives a peach to Hoggle that he orders him to give to Sarah. When asked if the peach will harm Sarah, Jareth taunts Hoggle and ridicules the idea that Sarah could consider "a repulsive little scab" such as him a friend. In parting, he tells Hoggle he will make him 'Prince of the Land of Stench' if Sarah should ever kiss him. He soon fulfils this promise, causing a trap door that leads to The Bog of Eternal Stench to open beneath both Sarah and Hoggle when Sarah kisses Hoggle in gratitude for him having saved her. Later, when Hoggle is about the drop the peach into the bog, Jareth's disembodied voice tells him "I wouldn't do that if I were you" and Hoggle returns the peach to his pocket.

After Sarah eats the peach, she begins to forget why she was in the Labyrinth. Jareth is seen sitting in the window of his throne room, casting crystals out into the sky that travels towards Sarah and draw her into a dream-world.

The dream-world consists of a lavish ball, where Jareth watches Sarah from the crowd. Jareth is elusive at first, deliberately hiding from Sarah as she wanders through the ballroom, confused and disorientated. Jareth dances with a number of women, however his attention is always focused on Sarah. Eventually, he approaches her and draws her into a dance, singing the love ballad written by David Bowie, As The World Falls Down. By the sight of a clock, Sarah remembers her mission & time is running out, and she pulls herself free from Jareth and flees. Jareth watches her run from him, and is lost from sight in the crowd.

Following Sarah's entrance into the Goblin City, a guard enters Jareth's throne room to inform him that "the girl who ate the peach and forgot everything" is making her way towards the castle. Visibly stunned by this news, Jareth calls out for his army to stop her and passes Toby to a goblin so he can be hidden.

Jareth confronts Sarah in the Escher Room of his castle, trying to disorientate her by performing gravity-defying stunts on the stairways that fill the room. He sings the song Within You to her, attempting to convey the lengths he has gone to in order to meet her wishes. Entirely focused on saving Toby, Sarah ignores him, ultimately reaching a precipice she leaps from in order to reach her brother.

When Sarah lands, she is faced with Jareth once again as he approaches her from a dark, shadowy alcove. Jareth attempts to make Sarah see what he has done to please her, most significantly taking her brother away when asked to. Sarah ignores him, and recites the words from the The Labyrinth necessary to defeat him. Jareth pleads with her, telling Sarah he is tired of 'living up' to her expectations and that she can have everything she wants if she will only love, fear and obey him. When Sarah is unresponsive, he offers her a crystal that he says contains her dreams. Sarah manages to resist the temptation, and defeats Jareth by declaring "You have no power over me." He drops the crystal in disappointment.

"What a pity...."

Jareth is last seen perched on a branch outside Sarah's window in white-owl form, watching as she celebrates with her friends. Jareth flies off as they celebrate, silhouetted against the moon.The song "Underground" plays.