This Dark Theory Completely Changes Beauty & The Beast’s Ending

Beauty and the Beast remains one of Disney’s most beloved stories to this day, but a Reddit theory casts its ending in a much darker light. The theory focuses on the Disney animated version of the story, referencing Lumiere and the Wardrobe that gives Belle clothes, neither of which exist in the original French fairy tale. The theorist provides some evidence that points to the possibility that Belle may not have been the first girl that Beast held captive in his castle.

Many are familiar with the classic 1991 Disney animated film, which received a live-action adaption in 2017 that starred Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens in the titular roles. The story of Beauty and the Beast has already received some criticism in the past, with some viewers questioning Belle’s status as a strong female character and whether she fell in love with the Beast under the influence of Stockholm Syndrome. But the Reddit theory adds another layer of potential creepiness by implying that holding women captive might be a repeat offense for the Beast.

If the theory is true, then it makes the story significantly less romantic. It seems more likely that the Disney creative team behind the movie didn’t fully think through their plot, leaving room for Reddit user cheemsgyaru to put together a plausible theory. The evidence provided is all from within the events and dialogue of Beauty and the Beast, which makes it more convincing in spite of the fact that it cannot be fully proven.

The theory states that the spell the witch laid on the castle at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast (though the live-action version changes the curse) was not referring to Prince Adam’s 21st birthday but that the spell would last for 21 years. This would make the Beast quite a bit older than originally presumed, potentially in his 40s, which seems fitting with the way he interacts with Belle. This would also provide an explanation as to why Prince Adam appears as an adult in his portrait, a question which audiences of the movie have pondered for years.

The theory also disturbingly posits that the castle servants who turned into household items were attempting to help the beast by luring in women for Beast to woo. It points to Lumiere—originally voiced by Jerry Orbach, which is humorously referenced in Enchanted—and a line from the classic Disney song “Be Our Guest”, in which he says the servants have been rusting for 10 years. The Redditor thinks that this is a reference not to the fact that they have been under the spell for a decade but that the last chance they had to put on a show for anyone was 10 years prior, during the last attempt Beast made to fall in love. This is a valid but inconclusive reading of the lyric, as the line could be interpreted either way.

The theory goes even further in its darkness by suggesting that when Beast gave up on one of his captives, he left them to starve as he planned to let Maurice starve. While Disney would probably never explicitly write something like this Reddit theory into the script of an animated children’s movie, Beauty and the Beast was perhaps unintentionally left open to interpretation for this and other wild theories concerning Beast. As uncomfortable as it may make people, it seems very possible that Beast could have previously trapped women in the castle with the hopes of breaking the curse.

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