A list of the characters of the 1997 Don Bluth movie Anastasia and the 1999 spin-off Bartok the Magnificent.
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Titular Character
Anya / Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia
Voiced by: Kirsten Dunst (young), Meg Ryan (adult); Lacey Chabert (young, singing) and Liz Callaway (adult, singing); Vera Voronkova (speaking), Maria Katz (singing) [Russian dub]Click to see other languages
The heroine of our story, loosely based off the real person. She was living a happy life with her family until 1916, when the revolution started, which killed most of her family but her grandmother Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna Romanova. She managed to escape with the help of a young kitchen boy, but when trying to get on a train with her grandmother, she slipped and hit her head on the floor, losing her memories. Ten years later, she is now named Anya and with the help of Dimitri and Vlad, hopes to find out more about herself and her family.
- Action Girl: While she doesn't shoot guns or such, her fiery determination and willingness to get her hands dirty make up for it. Case in point, she's the one to ultimately kill Rasputin.
- Age Lift: Her age is significantly fiddled with. She's portrayed as just eight years old when her family was killed (the real Anastasia was seventeen), and she's eighteen in 1926 when she would really have been twenty-five if she had lived that long.
- Almost Kiss: Anya and Dimitri do this at least twice. They finally get to kiss for real at the end.
- Amnesiac Hero: She forgot her early life as a princess after getting knocked out from hitting her head badly while trying to escape Russia.
- Amnesiac Resonance: However during Vladimir's and Dimitri's coaching her to impersonate Princess Anastasia, she picks it up very quickly (e.g., horse-riding and bicycling) and even begins to recall details from her childhood that they haven't yet told her. This sets her off on the path to remembering who she really is.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: A ton with Dimitri. They argue and snark at each other at the beginning before gradually warming up to one another, which leads to them falling in love.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Either with a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech or death, you do not want to piss her off.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Dimitri are both snarky, gutsy, resourceful and outwardly confident orphans with a lot of hidden insecurities, troubled pasts and deep-seated loneliness.
- Brutal Honesty: Anya doesn't shy away from her opinions on things or people.
- Character Development: "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" is a reflection of this — it ties into Anya leaving a dead world for one vibrant and alive, paralleling her leaving behind an empty, soulless existence for one where she could bloom, grow, and begin a new, happy life.
- Childhood Brain Damage: Of the Laser-Guided Amnesia variety. She forgot her identity thanks to falling and hitting her head hard when she was eight years old.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Downplayed with Dimitri. They weren't friends as children, since she was royalty and he was a servant, but he did save her and her grandmother from getting captured and his act as a child became a key memory for her later on. They fall in love over the course of the story and eventually elope at the end.
- Daddy's Girl: She's introduced to the audience dancing with her father at a ball. When she has visions of her family later in the movie her father features prominently, such as when they dance together at the end of "Once Upon A December".
- Dark and Troubled Past: Most of her family were murdered by Rasputin. When trying to escape with her grandmother, Anastasia tripped and hit her head, losing her memories in the process. She then spent next ten years of her life in an orphanage.
- Deadpan Snarker: Being ready to snark makes her an original character among countless princess stereotypes and it fits her, given her anything but sheltered life.
- Determinator: Anya's defining trait is her sheer determination and will to be with her family and find where she belongs.
- Fallen Princess: Goes from being a Grand Duchess and daughter of the Tzar to a penniless, amnesic orphan. Playing with this trope though, all she really wants is to find her family again rather than being bothered by her lost status, and chooses to marry commoner and former servant Dimitri rather than return to being a princess.
- Fiery Redhead: Auburn, to be more precise, but she's definitely got spunk.
- Final Girl: Rather a prolonged example, but Anya, the youngest daughter of the royal family, is the Sole Survivor of the massacre and eludes Rasputin for ten years before finally confronting and eliminating him.
- Forgotten First Meeting: With Dimitri. He used to work as a servant in the Winter Palace when he was a boy, and saved an eight-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia from being captured in the Revolution. They meet again as adults when "Anya" has Trauma-Induced Amnesia and doesn't remember anything about her childhood, while Dimitri for his part remembers the meeting well but doesn't realize she's Anastasia. Anastasia/Anya later recalls a vague memory of "a boy who worked at the palace" saving her - though she doesn't know it was Dimitri — which tips him off about her true identity. She later regains all her memories properly, although by then, Dimitri is devastated because a former kitchen boy could never be good enough for a Grand Duchess.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric — a headstrong, Fiery Redhead who won’t be bossed around.
- Friend to All Children: Implied. When she leaves the orphanage after reaching adult age, all of the younger kids gather to say goodbye and she's also shown playing with children during "Journey to the Past".
- Friend to All Living Things: Implied. She was quick to adopt Pooka when they only met.
- Genki Girl: According to Vladimir, she was quite notorious for her mischief among the palace staff during the Romanovs' reign (which was Truth in Television according to historical accounts of the real life Anastasia). As an adult, she's very lively and energetic.
- Genuine Imposter: Two con artists drag her into a scheme to impersonate Anastasia. Little do any of them know that she actually is Anastasia.
- Heroes Love Dogs: She instantly adopts Pooka the first time they meet.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: The historical Anastasia was a normal princess who didn't live long enough to do anything remarkable, and her notoriety only came about because of something she didn't do (the myth that she might have survived her family's execution, which was proven definitively false when her remains were found with her brother's). Here, she's a proactive heroine who takes on an evil undead sorcerer and wins.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: In regards to the actual Grand Duchess, the only real upgrade is her surviving the Revolution. Although her parents weren't exactly the best rulers, Anastasia herself was, by all accounts, a perfectly nice young girl, albeit with a bit of a mischievous streak, which is included in the movie's characterization. However, she's also in part a highly fictionalized version of Anna Anderson
, a mentally ill woman who popularized the myth of Anastasia's survival by claiming to be her, so this trope is still in full force because the movie upgrades her from "Anastasia imposter" to "real Anastasia". - Hobo Gloves: Early on, she wears a pair of ragged, fingerless purple gloves to show how far she's fallen.
- Identical Grandson: She looks somewhat like a younger version of her grandmother, Marie.
- Last of Her Kind: She is the last living Romanov of her line besides her grandmother.
- Lost Orphaned Royalty: Revealed to have survived the curse meant to "end the Romanov line forever".
- Meaningful Name: According to Vladimir, the name "Anastasia" means "she will rise again" or "resurrection".
- Meaningful Rename: Justified. She went from "Anastasia" to "Anya" because of the amnesia she had and thus couldn't recall her birth name.
- Mysterious Waif: A rare protagonist example — she's fallen royalty who doesn't remember her past. Being the protagonist, she's more proactive than most versions of this trope.
- Nice Girl: Kind, caring, brave, fun-loving though she can also be fierce and sassy as well.
- Official Couple: With Dimitri. They even elope at the end.
- Plucky Girl: Given she grew up an orphan in poverty, she is very spirited and fiesty.
- Protagonist Title: She's the main character and her birth name is the title of the movie.
- Rags to Royalty: Anya wakes up as an eight year old with no memory, and spends the next ten years of her life in a rundown orphanage, with only her "Together in Paris" necklace providing some clue to where her family might be. She takes a chance and follows her one clue to Paris, determined to not rest until she finds out who she really is. This pays off, and she discovers she's actually Her Imperial Highness, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, and has a grandmother who has long been searching for her. Subverted in that she ultimately chooses to live away from the public eye with her non-royal love interest, Dimitri.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The spunky, spirited Energetic Girl to Dimitri's sarcastic, down-to-earth Savvy Guy.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She doesn't start to like Dimitri until after he shows his nice, gentle side.
- Sole Survivor: Of the massacre that killed the Romanovs.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The real life Anastasia was killed alongside her family in 1918.
- Tomboy Princess: Gutsy, practical and isn't afraid to go toe to toe with Dimitri's snark. Played with, as she spends most of the movie unaware of her royal status.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is gutsy, outspoken, not afraid to get her hands dirty and happy to throw down grappling hooks and set gunpowder alight when the need calls for it. However, she's also thrilled to go dress shopping in Paris and enjoys ballroom dancing.
- Tsundere: Friendly and kind to almost everyone she meets, with the notable exception of Dimitri, who she's endlessly disdainful of. In her defense, Dimitri starts off as kind of an ass.
- Uptown Girl: She (the long-lost princess of Russia) falls in love with Dimitri (a former kitchen servant turned Con Man, though he does lose the last part by the end). Their suddenly-discovered class difference fuels the final portion of the film.
- Younger and Hipper: Or to be exact, "younger and more relatable to young audiences." The real Anastasia died at age 17, and if she had lived, would have been in her mid 20s when the film's main action takes place. The film's Anastasia is only 8 when the Revolution occurs and 18 throughout most of the film.
Allies
Baba Yaga
The wolves are afraid to chase her
The wind is afraid to race her
All Russia's afraid to face her
Except. For. One!
The wind is afraid to race her
All Russia's afraid to face her
Except. For. One!
The fabled witch of Russian folklore who Bartok goes to in order to save Ivan, but what he finds with her is not all it seems...
- Hates Being Touched: She initially declines Bartok's requests for a hug, until the ending when she hesitantly accepts one from both him and Piloff before she leaves.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: She lives with just herself and Piloff. After Bartok causes her to be upset and is about to leave, he goes back to comfort her and gives her the last ingredient of the potion that’ll help him be better.
Dimitri
Voiced by: John Cusack, Jonathan Dokuchitz (singing), Glenn Walker Harris, Jr. (younger); Sergey Veshchev (speaking), Andrey Krasnousov (singing) [Russian dub]Click to see other languages
A young con man and former servant of Tsar Nicholas II who falls for Anastasia.
- Act of True Love: He realizes before Anya does that she's the real Anastasia, and decides to go ahead with the plan to reunite her with her grandmother, knowing that this puts her out of his reach forever. Then after things go south and Anya finds out she was unknowingly being manipulated as part of his con, he ends up kidnapping the Dowager Empress by stealing her car and driving her to Anya's location to force a meeting between them. Then he keeps his mouth shut about what he's done so that Anya can make a clean break from him and get on with her life without any regrets. And to top it all off, he refuses to take the reward money, even though it wouldn't have made any difference to Anya by that point. After all this, it's safe to say that he Earned His Happy Ending with the girl he loved!
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: A ton with Anastasia. They argue and snark with each other at the beginning before gradually warming to one another which leads to them mutually falling in love.
- Birds of a Feather: He and Anya are both snarky, gutsy, resourceful and outwardly confident orphans with a lot of hidden insecurities, troubled pasts and deep-seated loneliness.
- Character Development: Initially, he is sarcastic, cunning and sly, with a hint of an arrogant streak, which often upset Anya. However, as the film progressed, Dimitri matured and developed into a considerate, understanding and kind-hearted young gentleman.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Downplayed with Anastasia/Anya. They weren't friends as children, since she was of royalty and he was a servant. He did save her and her grandmother from getting captured and his act as a child became a key memory for her later on. And they end up eloping at the end.
- Con Man: He wants to find a near perfect Anastasia phony so he (and Vlad) can get the reward money.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His parents died when he was eight and he worked in the royal castle as a kitchen servant, where he was later attacked during Rasputin's raid. He suffered over a decade under the new communist regime, and what exactly he went through is never explored but he ended up as a Con Man and far more cynical and selfish than he was as a child.
- Deadpan Snarker: It's a given, considering the setting and the circumstances, and it offers some excellent chances for Snark-to-Snark Combat.
- Deuteragonist: The second main focus after Anya/Anastasia, though one that actually gets more pronounced Character Development than the lead.
- Forgotten First Meeting: With Anastasia/Anya — He used to work as a servant in the Winter Palace when he was a boy, and saved an eight-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia from being captured in the Revolution. They meet again as adults when "Anya" has Trauma-Induced Amnesia and doesn't remember anything about her childhood, while Dimitri for his part remembers the meeting well but doesn't realize she's Anastasia. Then Anastasia/Anya later recalls a vague memory of "a boy who worked at the palace" saving her - though she doesn't know it was Dimitri - which tips him off about her true identity. She later regains all her memories properly, although by then Dimitri is devastated because a former kitchen boy could never be good enough for a Grand Duchess.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic, a cynical, Troubled, but Cute smooth-talking con artist with a hidden romantic and moral core.
- Hard Head: He survives a Pistol-Whipping on the temple from a rifle (as a child no less) and quickly recovers from being hit by fallen debris at the end of the film so it's safe to assume his skull is thick.
- Hunk: He has the swoopy haircut and slim build of a Pretty Boy, but he also has a visibly broken, crooked nose and unusually prominent laugh lines for a guy who's only in his early to mid-twenties, which makes him look much more rugged than most love interests in 90s princess movies.
- Insecure Love Interest: After realizing he's in love with Anastasia/Anya, he firmly believes that "princesses don't marry kitchen boys" and decides to walk out of her life forever rather than telling her his feelings.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At first, Dimitri proves to be an arrogant and selfish jerk who only cares for money. However, he's also proven to be brave and selfless when the moment counts, and that was before his Character Development set in to make an even more honorable person.
- Love Redeems: His interest in receiving the Dowager Empress' money was gradually replaced by a longing for Anya's affection and happiness. His deep romantic feelings for Anya becomes most obvious when he experiences mixed emotions about having to return Anya to her grandmother, because she's the only woman he's ever been truly in love with. So, when he successfully persuaded the Empress Marie to speak to Anya, he departed without accepting his reward money.
- Official Couple: With Anastasia/Anya. They even elope at the end.
- Only One Name: The movie never gives us his last or middle name.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The sarcastic, down-to-earth Savvy Guy to Anya/Anastasia's spunky, spirited Energetic Girl.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He gradually stops only looking out for himself and thinking of only money.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Introduced as a selfless kitchen boy who risked his life to help Anastasia and her grandmother escape, as an adult he's become a dishonest, selfish and very bitter conman totally prepared to trick a heartbroken old lady to get her money. Justified as the past ten years in Russia were extremely tumultuous and grim, and there's no knowing what he went through, though it's possible given he was an orphan and was a former palace servant, he was probably treated harshly.
- What You Are in the Dark: He ultimately refuses to take the reward money, and since he never planned to tell Anya about this, it wouldn't have made any difference if he had accepted it — only his conscience prevented him.
Vladimir
Voiced by: Kelsey Grammer; Andrey Yaroslavtsev (speaking), Vladimir Vinokur (singing) [Russian dub] Click to see other languages
A former nobleman and a friend of Dimitri.
- Alliterative Name: Vladimir "Vlad" Vanya Voinitsky Vasilovich.
- Big Eater: Implied given his large appareance and the fact that when Rasputin's minions sperates the baggage car from the rest of the coaches he's more worried that "there goes the dining car".
- Big Fun: He's very fat and fun to be around.
- Cool Old Guy: A former aristocrat that is friendly with Dimitri, good listener and teacher, very friendly and fun.
- Fat Best Friend: Serves as this to Dimitri.
- Fat Comic Relief: Often the source of comic relief with him falling over and with his outbursts of emotions.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The phlegmatic. Even-tempered and jovial, but a bit lax with morality.
- Heavy Voice: He has a deep baritone singing voice.
- Karma Houdini: Despite being in on the scam with Dimitri, Vladimir suffers no sort of repercussions from his actions.
- Master Forger: He plans to escort his partner Dmitri and orphan Anya out of Soviet Russia and has already forged their passports, but discovers during the escape that the new government has changed the design from the old czarist blue; the new ones under Stalin are in red. "Everything in red," he laments. Somehow, Vladimir is able to forge completely new passports in less than an hour aboard a moving train that pass a cursory inspection by the Soviet police.
- Nice Guy: Assisting a conman aside, he's a sweet and kind man.
- Parental Substitute: His interactions with Dimitri shows them having a father-son relationship.
- Shipper on Deck: Becomes this for Dimitri and Anya/Anastasia, and is very direct about it. When he can see Dimitri is in love with Anastasia, he implores Dimitri to tell her his feelings.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears towards the end of the film and isn't seen again, nor is he brought up by Dimitri.
Pooka
Voiced by: Frank Welker
Anastasia's pet dog.
- Animal Companion: Becomes this to Anastasia when she leaves to go and find out about her past.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Can sense danger and warned Dimitri about Anastasia's sleep walking after failing to fight the spirits sent to hypnotize her. Also he started to bark aggressively the moment he felt the demons presence in the train.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The sanguine, always cheerful and friendly.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Possesses them as he is a puppy and very persuasive.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: A playful and adorable puppy.
Romanov Royal Family
Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna Romanova/Dagmar of Denmark
Voiced by: Angela Lansbury; Irina Gubanova [Russian dub] Click to see other languages
The mother of Nicholas II and Anastasia's grandmother.
- Broken Bird: Following the brutal execution of her son and grandchildren, living in exile away from her home country, and dealing with multiple con artists and imposters trying to pass themselves off as her granddaughter, Marie's become cold and embittered over the decade that's passed since the Bolshevik revolution.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her son and his family were killed by Rasputin, sans Anastasia. However, the two were separated. The Empress spent years looking for her only granddaughter, only to be met with con artists.
- Doting Grandparent: She was very close to Anastasia and they had a tight bond.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: The outfits she later wears are usually purple and she is poised and regal.
- Grande Dame: Was an Empress and is very composed.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: A mild example. The real Dowager Empress had a rather rocky relationship with Alexandra, though in the film she speaks fondly of her. Her relationship with Anastasia in Real Life was almost the same. She was also well aware that Nicholas was an inept czar, and even considered deposing him in favor of a more capable relative.
- Inconsistent Spelling: She was called Maria in Real Life as well as Dagmar of Denmark.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Has grown more cynical over the decade since the Revolution and having to deal with several con artists and impostors trying to pass themselves off as her lost granddaughter to get at her money.
- Mama Bear: She did everything she could to protect her granddaughter.
- Nice Girl: Empress Marie is a generally kind and pleasant woman with an automatic regal and presence.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Sadly outlived most of her grandchildren and her son, Nicholas, just as in real life.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Sophie's Red, she's very calm and composed yet depressed compared to her merrier and livelier cousin.
- Shipper on Deck: Subtle, but she appears to have become an Anastasia and Dimitri shipper. At the end, when she hears of their elopement, she is nothing but happy for the couple.
- Silver Fox: She's in her late sixties and still a very beatuiful and elegant-looking woman.
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness: She becomes happier and livelier due to being reunited with her granddaughter. Sadly, the same cannot be said for her real life counterpart.
- Unreliable Narrator: She claims that the Romanovs eventually figured out that Rasputin was a conman and a fraud. The movie shows that by the time they did, Rasputin had enough real magical power to get revenge for being exiled. Marie also speaks nothing but praise about her son Nicholas as the czar of Russia. Given the amount of insurgents that storm the palace and take down his statue, he probably wasn't as good an emperor as she claimed, just as in real life.
Sophie Stanislovskievna Somorkov-Smirnoff
Voiced by: Bernadette Peters; Larisa Golubkina [Russian dub] Click to see other languages
The Dowager Empress' cousin and Vladimir's love interest.
- Alliterative Name: Sophie Stanislovskievna Somorkov-Smirnoff.
- Big Beautiful Woman: As pretty and sexy as she is fat. In the words of her lover, she is a "a decadent pastry covered in whipped cream and laughter!"
- Big Fun: She's very merry and takes the newly arrived Anastasia, Dimitri, and Vlad out on the town.
- Cute Bruiser: During "Paris Holds the Key", she casually beats up a group of men while still singing.
- Fat and Proud: While she makes no statements about her body type, Sophie is an openly sensual person who flaunts her size and her looks whenever she can without a hint of shame. She knows she's got the goods and she knows what to do with them.
- Fat Best Friend: Serves as this to Marie, though she's technically her cousin.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The sanguine. Especially obvious when she joins the main trio in Paris.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: She's a wholly fictional character and is said to be the cousin of the historical Marie Feodorovna.
- Official Couple: Her exact relationship with Vladmir is unclear, but she's certainly his lover.
- Older Than They Look: She's around the same age Vlad and Marie, but yet she looks young enough where she could be Anastasia's mother (or possibly even one of her sisters).
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Marie's Blue, she's much merrier and spontaneous than her justifiably depressed cousin.
Czar Nicholas II of Russia
Voiced by: Rick Jones Click to see other languages
The last Russian Tsar and Anastasia's father.
- Doting Parent: His Establishing Character Moment is twirling around his eight-year-old daughter on the dance floor, not caring that she loses her hat.
- The Emperor: As in real life he was the absolute ruler of Imperial Russia.
- The Good King: The movie portrays him as this in the screen-time he has, showing him banishing the Obviously Evil Rasputin and being a loving father to Anastasia. The historical reality was obviously much more complicated.
- Good Parents: For what little we saw of him, he was shown to be a loving father. Dimitri and Vlad tell Anya that when Anastasia as a child misbehaved, he would scare her into behaving by giving her a look that showed she knew better. During the siege, you can hear him shouting for his kids to hurry up to escape the palace. Historically, he was noted to be somewhat distant from his daughters in comparison to how he doted over Alexei, though he made sure the girls wanted for nothing.
- Historical Domain Character: Of the real Nicholas II.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: In reality, he wasn't The Good King depicted in the movie. Though he is often compared favorably in the West to the Soviets (in part due to public sympathy because of the brutal way the Bolsheviks killed him and his family), his rule was definitely not free of oppression and saw some of the worst pogroms (race riots, mainly against Jews) in Russian history. His mismanagement of the Russo-Japanese War and World War I is not mentioned, nor are massacres of strikers such as the "Bloody Sunday" of 1905. He and his family were canonized as saints in the Orthodox Church, but this decision was controversial even at the time because of his poor historical reputation.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He trusted Rasputin at one point, in spite of the latter's Obviously Evil appearance.
- Killed Offscreen: He dies offscreen during the Revolution, just like the real Nicholas II.
- Posthumous Character: During most of the movie. He dies during the prologue, but is mentioned several times afterward, and appears in a flashback and a Dream Sequence.
- Too Dumb to Live: Rasputin tells him that his family will die, as will he, in a fortnight, and the man demonstrates he can do magic. The fortnight passes, and Nicholas apparently didn't send his wife and children into hiding or even go with them. By then, it's too late, and the revolutionaries come to murder his family.
Villains
Rasputin
Voiced by: Christopher Lloyd, Jim Cummings (singing); Alexander Buynov [Russian dub] Click to see other languages
The main antagonist of the film; an evil warlock, loosely based off the historical figure.
- Adapted Out: He is omitted from the stage musical, due to the show's more realistic story (he's essentially replaced by a new antagonist, Gleb). His Villain Song, In the Dark of the Night, was cut out as well, although its melody was reworked into the song "Stay, I Pray You".
- Arch-Enemy: To Nicholas II and, thus by proxy, to Anastasia.
- Badass Boast: He's got a hell of a one during his Villain Song:In the dark of the night I was tossing and turning
And the nightmare I had was as bad as can be
It scared me out of my wits
A corpse falling to bits!
Then I opened my eyes and the nightmare was ME! - Bad Boss: Averted, oddly enough. Despite being a sadistic rotting corpse, he at worst plays roughly with his minion. The one time he loses his temper with Bartok, he had more than good reason, since the "miserable rodent", as he calls him, carelessly tossed his reliquary.
- Beard of Evil: He has a long black beard to be feared just like real Rasputin.
- Big Bad: By seeking vengeance, he has brought ruin to Anastasia's family, causing turmoil for her and also seeks to kill her.
- Body Horror: He's all rotten and has to stick his body parts back on whenever they fall off/out.
- Composite Character: Rasputin the Mad Monk by way of Koschei the Deathless.
- Deal with the Devil: He got his powers by giving up his soul to dark forces. Foreign translations outright say it was the devil.
- Dragged Off to Hell: When Anastasia stomps his reliquary, the tie-in picture book explicitly states that this is what happened to him.
- The Dreaded: Potential party-poopers can only aspire to achieving his effect of ruining the festive mood with his uninvited and undesired appearance at the ball. Everyone hastily steps back with even glasses falling from their hands as his looks prove the various rumours about this man's dealing with the demonic element.
- Evil Is Hammy: Being an Evil Sorcerer played by Christopher Lloyd comes with this territory.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: When his phylactery is destroyed, the evil forces he allied himself with are more than happy to collect on their debt, incinerating his body and dragging him to hell.
- Evil Is Petty: You turn to drive the (self-proclaimed) great Rasputin away?! He in turn will banish you from the world of the living by casting a curse on your whole family including the innocent children, for which he sold his own soul to Satan, that will end with everyone dead. If there are any survivors he'll make it his un-life's mission to exterminate the last Romanov, even if that means that he will pass over into hell once he succeeds.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: As detailed under Gonk below, during a Freeze-Frame Bonus Rasputin looked relatively normal before selling his soul to the forces of hell in order to destroy the Romanovs.
- Evil Smells Bad: Being him a rotten living corpse he obviously couldn't smell like wet roses. During his song he even asks his minions for "a dash of cologne for that smell" implying that his odor is unpleasant even to him.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Thanks to Christopher Lloyd Rasputin's voice is deep and gravelly at the same time.
- Family Extermination: It is he who is responsible for the deaths of the Romanovs.
- Fictionalized Death Account: The real Rasputin was murdered before the Romanovs were overthrown. Here, he dies in an accident during the revolution that topples them.
- Gonk: Even before he became a rotting corpse, the guy was as ugly as sin. Then again, when he was seen for a blink and you miss it moment, before he became in body and soul a property of the Dark Forces, he looked more plain.
- Green and Mean: Rasputin has a green color scheme (mostly related to his skin and magic) and is the Big Bad of the story.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Not one to accept disagreements or criticism he flies off the handle if things don't go his way. Which as an undead means that his body parts end up flying around as well.
- Historical Domain Superperson: While Rasputin may or may not have been extraordinarily durable (depending on whether one believes certain accounts of his death), he was only human at the end of the day. Here, he's an undead sorcerer who created a Soul Jar and cursed the Romanovs.
- Historical Ugliness Update: Downplayed. While his animated counterpart is also intimidating in appearance (maybe even more so), he is portrayed as being rather scrawny compared to the physically-imposing man he was in real life, if his broad shoulders and large hands are anything to go by◊.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Rasputin was undoubtedly controversial in his lifetime, but he was at worst a mere conman who exploited a boy's illness to hold power over the royal family. He was an eccentric but staunch ally to the Romanovs to the end, and had nothing to do with the revolution (which occurred after his murder). Here, he's an undead sorcerer who caused the revolution with a curse against the Romanovs and ruthlessly hunts down Anastasia to kill her.
- I'm Melting!: After the reliquary is destroyed his skin melts into a skeleton and then turns into dust. Kinda ironic considering Christopher Lloyd's previous villainous character who died similarly like this.
- Large Ham: Christopher Lloyd is clearly having a ball voicing him.
- No Social Skills: He probably charmed his way into Nicholas's good graces once with his vast knowledge given that he is definitely not otherwise a people person. Even in Limbo he reacted to a perceived intruder to his hermitage by shouting and kicking a wall made out of bones while demanding that they get out.
- Not Quite Dead: Due to his curse, he's stuck in Limbo, decomposing and falling apart, but unable to die.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: He has almost all the traits of a classic lich, including the Soul Jar, but he's never actually called one.
- Obviously Evil: Rasputin had a gruesome, unkempt appearance and vicious conduct even before he became undead. A natural since he only cared for studying the occult arts and never for looks or social grace.
- Our Liches Are Different: Unlike most liches, Rasputin wasn't actually trying to become immortal. He just became immortal upon receiving his reliquary. Speaking of which, that particular phylactery doesn't actually contain his soul. It's a substitute for one!
- Pet the Dog: Seems to have a solid friendship with Bartok. The only time when he berates him is when the latter almost destroys the reliquary, though in his defense, he had every right to do it since it's his sole source of life.
- Pulling Themselves Together: As said above, has to stick his body parts back on whenever they fall off.
- Purpose-Driven Immortality: Apparently, his curse prevents him from dying until the last Romanov falls.
- Sickly Green Glow: His reliquary has this; his demonic minions manifest as tiny, anthropomorphic bats that glow green as well.
- Sinister Minister: The Dowager Empress described him as one she thought as a holy man, implying he was clergy or something close. That being said, he certainly defiled his station with his wanton desire for power, and he made a pact with dark forces. In real life, Rasputin was a mystic and a preacher, though he was never an ordained cleric, and for all his vices, was never at the level of depravity seen in the film.
- Soul Jar: His Reliquary. It gives him power, but if it breaks, he dies right away.
- Stripped to the Bone: Part of his Dark Pact involves being flayed alive. The moment he grabs the Reliquary and seals the contract with the Forces of Evil he regains his body, but now it belongs to someone else. When his Reliquary is destroyed, his body melts, leaving him as a skeleton again...which then crumbles to dust.
- Undeath Always Ends: He finally dies for good when Anastasia destroys his reliquary.
- Villain Song: In the Dark of the Night is his personal monologue about how evil he is and how overjoyed he is to finally fulfill his grudge.
- Villainous Friendship: Seems to have one with Bartok. He (almost) never mistreats him and seems to get along with him quite well. That said he doesn't seem to particularly care about him either as when he leaves him on his own during the climax Rasputin barely noticed him.
- Would Hit a Girl: He didn't hold back on killing the female members of the royal family.
- Would Hurt a Child: He had no qualms over trying to kill Child!Anastasia or causing the deaths of the other children of the Romanov family, especially considering the youngest was a child with hemophilia, no less.
Bartok
Voiced by: Hank Azaria, Igor Pismenny [Russian dub] Click to see other languages
Rasputin's familiar, a talking, albino fruit bat.
- Adapted Out: Along with Rasputin, he was completely removed from the musical adaptation.
- Anti-Villain: If it weren't for the fact that he was a sidekick to an evil sorcerer, Bartok wouldn't even qualify as a villain. In fact, he doesn't even do much of anything other than tag along with Rasputin and make wisecracks. He does at one point state that he'd karate Anastasia himself if he was bigger, but being stuck in limbo, nothing comes of this. He even abandons Rasputin in the end once he realizes how off the rocker his old master became.
- Bat Out of Hell: Subverted. While he's a bat and Rasputin's minion, he's not actually that bad a person and he ends up becoming a hero.
- Breakout Character: He's one of the film's more popular characters and even had his own movie.
- Butt-Monkey: Being a neurotic, wimpy and ineffectual sidekick to a vindictive, power-hungry and unstable psychopath means that he has to deal with a lot of abuse. In own movie, he becomes even more hapless.
- Deadpan Snarker: A Servile Snarker to be precise. He acts like he's babysitting Rasputin and like a true emotion coach urges him to forget Anja and get a life. He also treats the whole demon thing with a remarkable amount of apathy.
- The Ditz: Somehow he missed the whole memo of Rasputin selling his soul to the devil because of his obsesssion with revenge and thinks that he can just being talked into changing his mind. Or the memo about the reliquary being the only thing that keeps him away from hell and he even comes close to unwittingly killing Rasputin by casually tossing it.
- The Dragonslayer: He kills Ludmilla as a dragon, earning him this title.
- Dub Name Change: He is renamed to "Bartek" in the Hungarian dub, to avoid any association with Hungarian composer Béla Bartók.
- Familiar: He's a little animal creature that accompanies Rasputin.
- Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: To Rasputin. He contributes nothing to the film other than comic relief.
- Hero of Another Story: As seen in Bartok the Magnificent where he saves the city of Moscow from a fire-breathing dragon.
- Karma Houdini: While he was never a truly evil guy, he still warned Rasputin about Anastasia's escape, knowing fully well that his master was up to no good, and never receives any comeuppance for this. Though it's quite clear he's reformed himself by the movie's ending.
- Kick the Dog: The only legitimately evil action he commits in the movie is at the start of the movie, where he sees child Anastasia fleeing to safety from murderous insurgents and immediately alerts Rasputin to this so that he can kill her personally. Of course, this ends up backfiring horribly, since it leads directly to the end of Rasputin's mortal life, not that he could have seen that coming.
- Minion with an F in Evil: As a bad guy, he sucks. He is arguably responsible for inadvertently getting his master stuck in limbo, and accidentally almost kills him at one point.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He may not always like it, but Bartok will still help Rasputin commit evil by the virtue of Rasputin being his master, whom he is loyal to. That being said, it turns out he does have his limits, and he ends up abandoning his master.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He alerts Rasputin to Child!Anastasia escaping, leading to Rasputin trying to kill her, which leads to Rasputin getting knocked through the ice and getting stuck in limbo as a zombie. Whoops.
- Non-Action Guy: He doesn't really do anything plot-relevant except for holding on to Rasputin's reliquary and serving as comic relief.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Bartok is clearly only with Rasputin because of a familiar-friendship thing. He even urges the lich to "forget the girl and get a life!".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bartok abandons Rasputin during the climax of the first movie, once he realizes how badly everything is going to end."You're on your own, sir! This can only end in tears!"
- Vague Age: Because the prequel is set in an Ambiguous Time Period, it is difficult to determine how old Bartok is supposed to be, which can vary between a couple of decades to several centuries.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: He's far less evil and more comical than his master.
Ludmilla
Ludmilla's human form
Ludmilla's dragon form
Voiced by: Catherine O'Hara
Royal adviser to Prince Ivan, Ludmilla seemingly has the best intentions for the kingdom when the prince is kidnapped by Baba Yaga but may have more to do with it than anyone else thinks...
- Animal Motifs: She has two animalistic sides to her- one draconic, the other more rat-like, which is subtle, but noticeable, as well.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: It's hidden (poorly) at the beginning of the film, but she embodies this by being vain, sadistic, rolling her eyes at Ivan's suggestions, and just being an overall conniving priss with one hell of a short-lived facade.
- Ax-Crazy: Her draconic form brings this out as she goes berserk on Moscow.
- Belly Flop Crushing: When she finishes singing "The Real Ludmilla", she proceeds to divebomb from her hanging perch and crush a number of prisoners who were standing beneath her.
- Big Bad: She's the movie's true main villain.
- Bit-by-Bit Transformation: Over the course of "The Real Ludmilla", she transforms into a dragon body part by body part — first she grows a tail, then her hands transform, and then her chest, arms, hips and legs, leaving her with just a human head on a draconic body. She then begins to grow in size, her hair turns into horns, and finally the last part of her human appearance is lost as her face transforms into a draconic muzzle.
- Body Language: Her actions certainly speak louder than her words, as she acts out her dance number in the most alluring way possible, and moves in an attractive way, as well.
- Break the Haughty: For her arrogance, she becomes a monster and dies at the hands of the most unlikely hero — Bartok.
- Breast Expansion: Her breasts greatly expand in one part of her music number transformation, giving her giant boobs.
- Breath Weapon: She can breathe fire as a dragon.
- Dark Is Evil: She wears darker colors, despite her having gold adorning her outfit.
- Delusions of Beauty: When Ludmilla drinks a potion that is supposed to increase whatever is inside the heart of the drinker tenfold on the outside, Ludmilla sings an entire song about how she is becoming more and more beautiful. In reality, she is experiencing a bit by bit, Karmic Transformation into a dragon, reflecting her evil, greedy heart. When she finally sees her true transformation, she goes on a rampage.
- Evil Vizier: She serves as Ivan's advisor and strongly is against some of the Prince's ideas, especially when he decides to gift Bartok his royal ring, and plots in the shadows to get her opportunity to become ruler of Russia.
- Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: She wears this to make herself appear more beautiful, but it highlights her evil nature even more.
- Failed a Spot Check: Never noticed that she went through a draconic transformation due to the potion. Whoops.
- Faux Affably Evil: She holds a polite and proper façade before the final act has her showing everyone her true colors as a sadistic, wrathful beast.
- Hard Head: When Bartok tries headbutting her, he himself ends up woozy, as he remarks she has this before flopping to the ground.
- Hartman Hips: Her human form's hips are larger than her waist. Her hips in her dragon form are even bigger.
- Karmic Transformation: Baba Yaga's potion causes the drinker to have their inner qualities manifested tenfold on the outside. Ludmilla thinks that this will make her ten times more beautiful, but it actually exposes and magnifies her wickedness by turning her into a giant monster.
- Lean and Mean: Ludmilla is tall and skinny at the start, but, when she goes through her transformation, this changes.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: She has her own torture dungeon and takes great delight in inflicting pain and suffering to the people she has shackled and bound inside. She even mentions this in her song.
- Mind-Control Eyes: When Bartok hypnotizes her by juggling the rocks during their battle.
- Mirror Reveal: Ludmilla is horrified and angered at what the potion did to her with one look at her reflection on the floor of the castle.
- Oblivious Transformation: She manages to go through her entire musical number without realizing that she's turning into an inhuman monster, and barges into the throne room without so much as checking herself before doing so. When she finally looks at her reflection, the shock of belatedly realizing what happened to her causes her to lose her mind.
- Obviously Evil: She's the true villain of the story, and she does very little to hide that from the audience.
- Oh, Crap!: Happens three times: when Bartok says the prince is in the tower, when she realizes that she became a dragon and when she realized the tower she's on is about to collapse.
- One-Winged Angel: She drinks the potion and becomes a large dragon that proceeds to decimate Moscow in the final act.
- Our Dragons Are Different: By the third act, Ludmilla's ploy is revealed, and becomes a giant dragoness, with all the little consistencies that follow when it comes to accepted dragon lore, such as breathing fire, a foul temper, destructive nature, scales, horns, an overall western design, and so on, although she lacks wings.
- Prehensile Tail: She can close doors with it, so it's pretty much a second limb sprouting from above her rump.
- Pride Before a Fall: At the climax of the movie, she triumphantly downs the potion and gloats over her impending victory, but just as she thinks she's got the whole world in her hands she turns into a rampaging monster and dies shortly thereafter.
- Purple Is Powerful: On top of wearing purple with her standard attire and being a royal wearing it, her initial transformation shows her with purple scales, and her dragoness form packs some serious power with it.
- Sadist: Heavily implied as she is seen strangling a rat and has her own torture chamber underneath the castle.
- Scaled Up: By accident. Thinking Baba Yaga's potion will make her more beautiful, she instead transforms into a giant, feral dragon and attacks Russia.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: By the end of her transformation, she is as au natural as the day she was born.
- Smug Snake: She treats people with disdain, and is sure of her sinister, sneaky strategy.
- Snipe Hunt: Ludmilla sends Bartok on a quest that seems foolhardy and nonexistent at first, she herself hardly believing he would actually succeed until he has her proven wrong.
- Spikes of Villainy: Parts of her clothes as a human had spikes on them, and once she transforms she has spiky horns and spikes on her tail.
- Squashed Flat: She crushes several of her prisoners under her newly colossal draconic body at the end of her song. Later, she is herself crushed to death by her own castle and due to Bartok's quick thinking.
- Stealth Pun: In one scene of the movie, Ludmilla is shown to have rats in her entourage, and, as she consumes the potion, one of the rats laps the drop and becomes a dragon upon doing so. Ludmilla also becomes a dragon. As such, the writers are implying that Ludmilla herself is a rat. Clever.
- Suddenly Shouting: What she does when she finds out Ivan is still alive. During her transformation, she also transitions between singing and shouting at several points.
- Supermodel Strut: After drinking the formula, she's feeling so full of herself that she starts strutting around and swinging her hips in this manner while singing.
- Treacherous Quest Giver: Ludmilla sends Bartok on a quest to rescue Prince Ivan from Baba Yaga, him unaware of what she has planned while he does that, and him even more unaware of what dangers lie ahead on this mission.
- The Usurper: When she learns that Prince Ivan was kidnapped, she takes this chance to set into motion a plan to become Russia's new queen by planting a trap for when Bartok and Ivan return and proceeds to drown them both, before taking on her new draconic form and going off to rule with an iron fist. Or claw, as the case may be.
- Villainous Breakdown: She gets angry after finding out what Baba Yaga's potion did to her, and proceeds to go on a monstrous frenzy around the city of Moscow.
- Villain Song: Once she traps Ivan, Vol, and Bartok inside the flooding cell, she downs her potion and begins strutting her stuff and singing "The Real Ludmilla", showcasing her real side coming out more and more as she sings and transforms.
- Villain with Good Publicity: She's made regent of the kingdom and is mostly favored despite her villainous personality showing at times.
- Would Hurt a Child: She attempts to drown Prince Ivan to make herself Queen of Russia.
