Once Upon A Time: 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Jafar

Out of all the fairytale villains that appeared in Once Upon a Time, which ran from 2011 to 2018, Jafar was one of the most charismatic and mysterious. Fans of Disney’s animated classic Aladdin were eager to see the Sultan of Agrabah’s Grand Vizier make his grand appearance, and when he finally arrived in the series’ sixth season, they weren’t disappointed.

Jafar was cruel, duplicitous, and arrogant, but anyone thinking he was simply a one-dimensional Disney villain wasn’t paying attention. To properly appreciate the nefarious sorcerer, fans had to piece together his tangled history, leap back and forth in time, and pay attention to the details of his complicated origin story, even picking up a few pieces of information they didn’t know along the way.

11 He Was Played By Three Different Actors

Following Jafar’s story could sometimes be confusing, especially since he was played by three different actors across two series. In the scenes where Jafar was a young boy in Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, he was played by Anthony Keyvan, and as an adult, he was played by Naveen Andrews.

In Once Upon A Time’s Season 6, when Jafar appeared as an adult in Agrabah, he was played by Oded Fehr. Andrews had a scheduling conflict with Sense8 and so couldn’t appear in Once Upon A Time, but Fehr proved to be a commendable Jafar and leaned into his ruthless and melodramatic streak.

10 He Had A Tragic Personal History With Agrabah

In order to properly understand Jafar’s story, fans would have to watch Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, where he acted as the main antagonist alongside the Red Queen and tried to manipulate Alice and her genie lover Cyrus. The series examined the reasons for his vengeful and cruel nature, particularly the absence of love from his father.

By the time Aladdin and Jasmine encountered Jafar in Season 6 of Once Upon A Time, he had been the Grand Vizier of Agrabah -and chief advisor to its new Sultan- for some time and was continuously trying to break the laws of magic to his own end. Without having watched Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, he simply appeared as a one-dimensional villain without complexity.

9 His Father Was The Sultan of Lower Agrabah

Most viewers watching Once Upon A Time would have never known that Jafar’s father was revealed to be none other than the Sultan of lower Agrabah himself. This piece of personal backstory came from Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, where just before his mother passed, she gave him a unique ring that he could present to the Sultan to prove his lineage.

Though he eventually received an audience with the Sultan, things didn’t go exactly according to plan. While the Sultan did acknowledge his ring, he didn’t accept his birthright and instead put him to work as a serving boy in the palace while his legitimate son and heir Mirza antagonized him.

8 He Was A Jinn

Fans of the animated classic Aladdin know that at the end of the film Jafar is turned into a powerful genie and cursed to spend eternity inside a magic lamp until the day that someone rubs it and releases him. If that happens, he’s forced to uphold the genie curse and grant them any three wishes they desire.

In Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, while at the Well of Wonders, he faced the ire of its guardian, Nyx. For his reckless act as a thief, Nyx cursed him to be enslaved as a genie, while simultaneously reversing the effects of the laws of magic he’d broken and restoring balance.

7 He Has A Variety Of Magical Abilities

Aside from being cunning and intelligent, Jafar was a powerful sorcerer and later a genie in both Once Upon A Time In Wonderland and Once Upon A Time, with a variety of abilities that made him a formidable foe. Opponents like Ariel, Jasmine, Aladdin, and others were hard-pressed to repel his attacks, even if they had substantial magic of their own to use.

Not only could he cast spells, conjure objects out of thin air (like a giant hour-glass), manipulate the surrounding weather, and alter his appearance (such as into Prince Eric), he could also teleport from one location to the next, turn someone into ashes, wield energy blasts from his magic carpet, and immobilize someone in their tracks.

6 He Wasn’t The Only Powerful Sorcerer In Agrabah

Jafar learned dark magic from the sorceress Amara, who accepted Jafar’s request for tutelage because she believed in his motivations. He wanted to become a powerful sorcerer so that he could take revenge against the Sultan, who after installing him as a servant boy in the palace, later attempted to kill him.

Jafar and Amara became lovers, later plotting to find the third genie in existence and use the three genie lamps for the Dark Cruse. Ultimately, Jafar intended to be the only powerful genie in existence, and plotted to kill both his mentor Amara and Cyrus.

5 His Staff Contained More Than Magic

Jafar’s unique snake staff was a powerful conduit for his magical abilities, and the nefarious sorcerer was able to use it with all the ease of a wizard’s magic wand. But his magic wasn’t the only thing that flowed through it; it contained the essence of Amara, his former lover and mentor.

He betrayed Amara to ensure that he would be the most powerful sorcerer in the realm, transforming her into his signature golden staff as a means to not only store her magic for safekeeping, but also use it whenever he wished.

4 He Took Revenge On His Father In The Cruelest Way

While it seemed as though Jafar might have killed his father with magic once he became a powerful enough sorcerer, fans were treated to a clever plot twist when it was revealed that the “old prisoner” in Jafar’s lair was actually the former Sultan of lower Agrabah.

All Jafar wanted was for his father to call him “Son”, but the former Sultan refused, leaving Jafar no choice but to keep him in a cage until he relented. His father tried to jump into the lair’s bottomless pit at one point, but Jafar prevented his suicide with his magic carpet, intent on making good on his threat.

3 His Engagement To Jasmine Was A Sham

Once Jafar took control of Agrabah in Season 6, he severally punished thievery, which only skyrocketed once the citizens became starving. A callous Jafar didn’t care about the concerns of the populous, causing Princess Jasmine to track down the Savior Aladdin to help them.

In a flashback sequence, Jafar was shown proposing marriage to Jasmine while she awaited a selection of suitors, knowing she’d do anything to save Agrabah. The engagement was all business of course, as Jafar’s true intention was to obtain the ring of Agrabah from her and use it to trap Agrabah “beyond human reach”.

2 He Was Cursed By His Own Magic

In Season 6, Episode 15 Jafar was released from his imprisonment, allowing him to emerge from his lamp as a genie. It didn’t take him long to break the curse set forth by Nyx, but he didn’t count on Jasmine using one of his own magic tricks against him.

Jafar had used a specific enchanted powder on a suitor of Jasmine’s in a flashback, and Jasmine was able to save some of it for herself at Ariel’s suggestion. When she threw the powder on Jafar, it had the same effect. Jafar was defeated by being turned into a staff and sent to the market of Agrabah in what proved to be a fitting ending.

1 He Was Almost The Most Powerful Being In OUAT

Even at the earliest stages of his magical tutelage in Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, Jafar was more powerful than almost any main villain in the original series. He could make realms quake with a wave of his hand, as evidenced by the many times he did it in Wonderland.

Even Rumple, with all the powers of the Dark Ones, or the Black Fairy, Hades, Regina, and Peter Pan couldn’t accomplish something as difficult as break their own magical curse, like Jafar did at the end of Once Upon A Time Season 6.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1342 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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