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    Arthur/"Wart" 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/08645501623989d5b33fdf73ac81b4f6.jpg
Voiced by: Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman, Rickie Sorenson; Dominique Collignon-Maurin (European French dub); Salvador Nájar (Latin Spanish dub); João Carlos Barroso (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Peter Schildt (Swedish dub)

Arthur, better known as Wart, is the main character. He is an orphan boy who becomes King of England.


  • Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed — Wart's still smart (albeit in the process of learning), but in the original book, he knew how to read and write just fine. In the film, Archimedes has to teach him.
  • Attractive Bent Species: A female squirrel falls for him while he's in squirrel form.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: Sort of. He draws the sword out of the stone, the heavens part, and everyone bows to him. We don't see the crowning itself but for the in-universe crowd, this is the part that matters.
  • Because Destiny Says So: Subverted. It appears the only reason he was able to pull the sword out of the stone is because he is the chosen one. But Arthur was tutored by Merlin to understand wisdom is a greater quality than brute strength and avert a civil war in England.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: To Kay because he's a page. Going into the forest to retrieve an arrow is part of the job.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: When Sir Ector calls Merlin a devil, he steps up to his defense and he only gets heaped more cleaning duties and eventually his position of squire being revoked as punishment. Even while he's crying, he still gets the courage to call Sir Ector on how he's always treating him that way while he can't do anything to defend himself. Granted, it doesn't stick, but points for effort.
  • Chaste Hero: He doesn't understand romance and is more annoyed by the girl squirrel's interest in him than flattered. Justified, he's a child who likely doesn't interact with girls his age and she wasn't of his species.
  • Children Are Innocent: Part of Merlin's motivation is he wants to teach Arthur some valuable lessons an adult in medieval England wouldn't be receptive to.
  • A Child Shall Lead Them: Becomes the King of England at around 11 or 12-years-old.
  • The Chosen One: Merlin has a hard time figuring for what but he knows the boy is destined for something.
  • Dub Name Change:
    • In the Latin American Spanish dub, his nickname was changed to Grillo (Cricket), very likely because Wart (Spanish: Verruga) would have had a very offensive nickname for a kid there, not to mention the word is feminine in Spanish.
    • The same happens, through in a rather odd way, in the Japanese dub: Unlike Spanish, his nickname "Wart" is kept there, but with a catch, as it was spelled in English on katakana, the alphabet for foreign names and terminology as "ワート", rather than using the Japanese word "疣/Ibo", possibly for the same reasons.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Didn't hesitate to accept the girl squirrel's help when she tried to pull him up from falling and showed regret for breaking her heart. He may not have returned her affections, but he never wanted to hurt her.
  • Forced Transformation: He spends a good third of the movie being transformed into various animals, in order to "teach him about life".
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Part of the reason he's able to pull the sword from the stone is his pure and noble nature ("The one who was meant to rule the land / And worthy of the throne / He will seek the sword with a humble heart / And not for himself alone").
  • Heroic BSoD: When he loses his chance to be Kay's squire, he has a funk.
  • Hidden Backup Prince: Averted. Unlike the myths and the book, nowhere in the film is it said that he is the previous king's son. The dead king's identity is included in the pages of the book during the beginning narration to be Uther Pendragon, but his relation to Arthur is not mentioned. He is just said to be an orphan Ector took in, and it seems he really is The Chosen One solely based on drawing the sword as a Secret Test of Character.
  • Iconic Outfit: His outfit when he pulls the sword from the stone — a red tunic and yellow scarf. Ironic also in that it doesn't fit him at all (the sleeves are too long and it's constantly falling off him), it triggers Merlin's rage when he sees him in it and he wears it only for two scenes.
  • Kid Hero: Averted. He's not doing any sort of heroics in this movie. He does attempt to go after Mim during the wizard duel while he's in sparrow form, but Archimedes holds him back. All of his adventures during the film boil down to him running for his life.
  • Likes Older Women: His mouth goes agape upon Madam Mim assuming her curvier, sexier form and makes a lovesick face when she comes up to flirtatiously rub the underside of his chin.
  • Muggle Foster Parents: He is being raised by a "muggle" (really a minor noble) when he is the destined king of England.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Once he's human, seeing the female squirrel's reaction, he feels bad. He also feels this way after trying to defend Merlin results in his revocation of his position of squire.
  • Nice Guy: Arthur is noble, brave, kind, caring, and hard-working.
  • Oblivious to Love: He initially has no idea why the girl squirrel acts so "funny" around him.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Just "Wart". No one refers to him as Arthur, until the end when he becomes King of England.
  • Pinball Protagonist: He doesn't really do a whole lot in the movie, mostly being ferried around by Merlin or dumbly reacting to the latest oddity. Even in the pivotal decision to draw the sword from the stone, he was totally unaware of the consequences and only does so because he really needed a sword for Kay. Even worse, he doesn't even find the sword himself, it's pointed out to him by Archimedes.
  • Primary-Color Champion: His Iconic Outfit is a red tunic with a yellow scarf. Most of the film however he's in a brown/orange page boy outfit.
  • Rags to Royalty: From unfavorite foster kid to King of England.
  • The Unfavorite: Arthur's adoptive father Ector treats him quite harshly, and dotes on his birth son Kay. He's not mistreated however, and Ector does show serious concern and berrates Kay for letting Wart go into the woods alone.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Either by shoving them (squirrel girl) or threatening to "peck her eyes out" (Madam Mim).

    Merlin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01ee7a462409b23c9ea10663df5c37e1.jpg
Voiced by: Karl Swenson, Hamilton Camp (The Wonderful World of Disney), Alan Young (Christmas Carol), Jeff Bennett (currently), Jim Meskimen (Once Upon a Studio) ; Alfred Pasquali (European French dub); Alberto Gavira (Latin Spanish dub); Magalhães Graça (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Lars Ekborg (Swedish dub)
Appearances in other continuities: Kingdom Hearts | House of Mouse | Disney Infinitynote 

Merlin is a powerful wizard and the deuteragonist. Merlin is the wizard master and friend of 12-year-old orphan Arthur, a.k.a. Wart. Merlin is also the magical rival of Madam Mim and has a pet owl named Archimedes.


  • Accidental Misnaming: Sir Ector keeps referring to Merlin as "Marvin".
  • Absent-Minded Professor: The Disney’s version of Merlin is forgetful and clumsy. He’s constantly getting his beard caught in contraptions or twisted in knots.
  • Adaptation Name Change: Albeit very minor: T.H. White spelled it as "Merlyn" while Disney used the more common spelling.
  • Berserk Button: Merlin does not like the martial aspect of English nobility, considering the whole culture of knighthood a glorification of Dumb Muscle.
  • Breakout Character: He's one of the only characters (alongside his nemesis Mim) from this movie to appear in other Disney works.
  • Cool Old Guy: Wizard duel! Who needs a young body when the old mind can take any form it wants?
  • Deadpan Snarker: Tends to make a few wisecracks here and there, such as watching a jousting match.
  • Deuteragonist: The second main focus after Arthur.
  • Didn't See That Coming: For all his ability as a Seers, he never onced realized the Arthur he decided to mentor would become King Arthur of Britain.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Merlin has some odd ideas and behavior and they are especially odd to someone like Wart, who has only known kitchen duty. One of the most egregious is trying to teach Wart things that haven't even been discovered or invented yet! As Archimedes points out, if he goes telling people the things Merlin is trying to teach him he'll end up locked up and called a lunatic.
  • Fatal Flaw: Merlin is an earnest teacher who wants the best for Wart, but his judgemental pride causes as much trouble as it helps at first: he constantly looks to the stars and not at what's around him, even though he should know better. His just assuming Arthur’s duties don't matter gets the boy in trouble with Sir Ector, he's so intent on teaching Wart physics that he doesn't even consider whether his student can read, and eventually the fact that he looks down on Wart's life without considering Wart's feelings is what causes their falling out.
  • Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Upon returning from a holiday in twentieth-century Bermuda.
  • The Hermit: He's a hermit who only associates with his owl before Wart.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Merlin finds the idea of a female squirrel crushing on Wart to be really amusing....up until a point when another female squirrel starts to give him the same treatment.
  • Magic Wand: He doesn't seem to require it as he can perform some of his strongest spells without it and it doesn't seem to be particularly special, it appears to be used more as a walking stick than anything. But it does seem to help him focus his magic.
  • The Mentor: To Wart. He's his teacher and mentor.
  • My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: At the height of the wizard duel, Mim turns into a purple dragon after they had previously established "only animals" and "no pink dragons and stuff". Merlin transforms into a germ and infects her.
  • Nice Guy: Merlin is a kind man.
  • No Sympathy: When Arthur tearfully breakdown to Merlin why someone like him can't even hope to be anything but a squire, Merlin is completely unable to comprehend Arthur's grief and lack of ambition before literally blowing himself to next millennia.
  • Omniscient Hero: This is an aspect directly related to the Seers example below.
  • Papa Wolf: When Mim nearly "destroys" Arthur, Merlin is furious and challenges the witch to a duel to protect the boy.
  • Parental Substitute: Merlin acts a like a real father figure to Arthur.
  • Reality Warper: Thanks to his Functional Magic he can bend local reality to his whim. For example, a personal snow cloud, inside, in summer.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He teaches Arthur all sorts of valuable lessons that would normally be closed to Wart (although Merlin does have irrational moments, they're few and far between, hence he's still this trope).
  • Robe and Wizard Hat: A tall and midnight blue wizard hat.
  • Romantic Wingman: When Arthur is hiding from the red girl squirrel in Merlin's tail, Merlin helpfully gives away his hiding place to her.
  • Sarcastic Well Wishing: When Arthur announces that he has finally become Kay's squire, Merlin, disappointed that the boy would choose war games over education, chastises him for wearing "a fine monkey suit for polishing boots" and culminates his rant with a sarcastic commendation:
    "And I thought you were going to amount to something. I thought you had a few brains! Great future, ha! A stooge for that big lunk, Kay. Congratulations, boy!"
  • Seers: He can see the future, and indeed has seen many modern (for the time) technologies and discoveries that mankind would make long after his time; like newspapers, steam locomotives and helicopters not to mention the discovery of the Americas. Archimedes wishes he would be more prudent about mentioning future events, as he runs the risk of making Wart sound like a lunatic if he goes around parroting Merlin's predictions.
  • Sequential Symptom Syndrome: When Merlin describes the symptoms of malignalitaloptereosis to Mim.
  • Shipper on Deck: To Wart and the red girl squirrel, but mostly because he finds it amusing than heartwarming.
  • Spinning Out of Here: Merlin spins as he arrives at places.
  • Time Travel: Being a Wizard, he has the power to time travel even into the far future, and has taken souvenirs back with him, such as modern umbrellas into the Middle Ages. When he leaves to Bermuda in a fit of rage he apparently went into modern days since he comes back wearing sunglasses and shorts.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Merlin means well in his teaching Arthur important lessons, but frequently almost gets the boy in harm's way. Whether it be almost getting eaten by predators, chased by an overly amorous squirrel, or getting him more and more in trouble with Sir Ector. There's also his lesson involving squirrels has him indirectly get an innocent girl squirrel's heart broken and leave her sobbing.
  • Wizard Beard: A long white beard that fits for the most powerful wizard. Usually a problem, as it gets caught on things rather frequently.
  • Wizard Classic: Robe, pointed hat, long white beard, talking pet, Absent-Minded Professor persona.
  • Wizard Workshop: Merlin's cottage is filled with teetering stacks of books, alchemical devices of unclear purpose, an antiquated globe, a pair of mechanical wings on the wall, and a perch for his owl familiar. He later moves his entire collection of wizardly trappings to the top of the tallest tower of Sir Hector's castle.

    Archimedes 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2903fea4f0970644373e8c74a0e83f96.jpg
Voiced by: Junius Matthews, Andre Stojka (House of Mouse); René Hiéronimus (European French dub); Luis Manuel Pelayo (Latin Spanish dub); Orlando Drummond (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Guy de la Berg (Swedish dub)

Archimedes is the tritagonist. He is Merlin's pet owl who has the ability to speak like a human.


  • Beleaguered Assistant: Poor Archimedes... assisting the bumbling old wizard can't be easy.
  • Berserk Button: When people insult his intelligence. He also wasn't too happy when Wart mistook him for a stuffed owl.
  • Defrosting Ice King: He starts out rudely indifferent towards Arthur. In progression, he rescues Arthur while denying it, takes a begrudging then genuine interest in his education, being impressed with the boy's flying, before finally staying by his side when Merlin takes off in a tantrum leaving them both alone.
  • Dub Name Change: In the first Polish version of the movie, his name was changed to Minerwa.
  • Familiar: An owl that accompanies Merlin wherever he goes.
  • Helpless with Laughter: Upon witnessing Merlin's failed attempt to demonstrate manned flight, Archimedes snarks "Man will fly alright — just like a rock!" and then goes on a prolonged laughing fit that causes him to fall off his perch. Merlin can only fume in his chair as the owl laughs himself to exhaustion.
  • Intellectual Animal: A "highly educated owl".
  • Jerkass Has a Point: His objections to how Merlin is teaching Arthur, jumping straight to complex things like the world being round and confusing the boy, are fairly accurate, and when he's put in charge he actually does things like start from the basics and work their way up to more difficult things, which leads to him actually teaching Arthur how to read and write.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's insulting and bad-tempered, but he genuinely cares for Arthur, so much so that he risks his life to save him from the pike when Arthur is transformed into a small fish.
    Arthur: That big fish almost swallowed me, and Archimedes... he saved me!
  • The Owl-Knowing One: He's not just a talking owl, but arguably the smartest character in the movie too.
  • Polly Wants a Microphone: Archimedes, the talking owl.
  • She's a Man in Japan: He is female in the first Polish version of the movie.
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: For example, when Merlin predicts the invention of manned flight.
    Archimedes: If man were meant to fly, he would've been born with wings!
  • Talking Animal: A talking owl in this case.
  • Tsundere: He becomes a platonic Type A to Arthur. He’s initially rude and dismissive of Arthur when he meets the boy. However, during Merlin’s lesson with the boy in the moat, Archimedes is scrambling to get Arthur away from a pike that’s trying to gobble him up. His pride gets the better of him as he refuses to admit to Merlin he saved Arthur from certain death.
  • Verbal Tic: "Who? What, what?"

Arthur's Family

    Sir Ector 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6153739bde05603c45294d5351d24d6b.jpg
Voiced by: Sebastian Cabot; Claude Bertrand (European French dub); Dagoberto De Cervantes (Latin Spanish dub); Macedo Neto (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Ingvar Kjellson (Swedish dub)

Sir Ector is a supporting character and an anti hero of the film. He is a knight who is the father to Kay and adopted father to Arthur/Wart.


  • Accidental Misnaming: Keeps calling Merlin "Marvin".
  • Adaptational Jerkass: In the original book, Ector wasn't nearly as strict towards Arthur and actually wanted him to have an education, and his Jerk with a Heart of Gold qualities are much more clear, with him being proud of Arthur well before he got the Sword, and he was on much better terms with Merlin, to the point where he was as distraught to see him leave as Arthur. The Disney adaptation throws out his more shaded and sympathetic qualities and makes him more strict and unpleasant.
  • Anti-Villain: He acts antagonistic to Arthur but he's closer to "strict father" then "antagonist".
  • Berserk Button: Try pissing off Ector by coming up with (in his view) extremely far-fetched excuses for ducking out on your kitchen duties, or try to defend Merlin's behavior, and you'll send him flying off the handle so far that you'll be doing dishes for the entire castle.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Sir Ector has thick, spiky eyebrows.
  • Butt-Monkey: Gets a Humiliation Conga in the kitchen scene.
  • Fat Bastard: He's obese and has a bossy, unlikable attitude, although he's not a bad guy rather than an anti hero.
  • Foil: He serves as a foil to both Arthur and Merlin.
    • For Arthur — Arthur is a skinny young boy who is nonetheless humble, considerate, and understanding; Sir Ector is a huge adult man who is also an arrogant, judgmental, and self-righteous disciplinarian.
    • For Merlin — Merlin is cantankerous and eccentric but eager to make Arthur’s life better with education and friendship; Ector believes in strict rules and hard work for their own sake, and is even against the idea of Wart being educated because it would interfere with his rigid schedules.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: Even after seeing several examples of Merlin's magic, he doubts Arthur's story about the wizard turning him into a fish.
  • Hate Sink: He treats Wart and Merlin coldly, carries a thoroughly unpleasant Holier Than Thou attitude and only owes up to what a jerk he was in the ending. He also has no real charismatic elements to his personality to balance it out, coming across as just a taskmaster giving orders.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He gets upset at Kay for letting Arthur venture into the woods alone.
  • Jerkass Realization: He's briefly taken aback when Arthur stands up to him for insulting Merlin, and calls him out on always heaping punishments on him while he can't do anything to defend himself. Unfortunately, it doesn't stick.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he's very strict and demanding with Arthur, he does care about his well-being, as shown when he is worried that Wart is dead at the beginning of the film. He's also quick to apologize to Arthur for the way he's treated him.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": When Merlin subjects him to an indoor snowstorm, he thinks it's awesome, gushing about it to Kay, who's less than thrilled.
  • Muggle Foster Parents: To Wart/Future King Arthur.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes that Arthur is the new King of England.
  • Parental Favoritism: Ector's partiality to Kay is somewhat justified by the fact that Arthur/Wart is only his foster child, and Kay is both his biological son, heir and a knight-to-be. Though, while he could be nicer to Arthur, it's not to the point of being an Abusive Parent. More just strict and demanding, which seems to be his personality in general.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • During his first scene, he scolds Kay for letting Arthur go alone in the forest and expresses his worries for the boy.
    • He also decides to make Arthur Kay's squire without a second thought, despite Kay's protests, especially when Hobbs came down with the mumps.
    • When he realizes that Arthur is now king, he drops the nickname and properly refers to him as "Arthur", as well as apologizing for how hard he was on him before.
  • Properly Paranoid: His concern for Arthur’s safety is this given the fact that a wolf, a pike, a hawk and an ugly, old witch have tried to kill him on separate occasions.

    Sir Kay 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/97d4111f42af37ae0db98cb0bc5149f1.jpg
Voiced by: Norman Alden, J. Pat O'Malley (fighting); Jacques Balutin (European French dub); Carlos Petrel (Latin Spanish dub); Paulo Gonçalves (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Sven Holmberg (Swedish dub)

Sir Kay is a supporting character and one of the two anti heroes of the film. He is the biological son of the knight Sir Ector and the adoptive brother to Arthur.


  • Adaptational Jerkass: He's a much more sympathetic, shaded character in the book, where he suffered from a Sibling Rivalry with Arthur and had some serious insecurity issues. The Disney adaptation makes him an unsympathetic, one dimensional bully and throws out his better qualities.
  • Age Lift: In the book he was only two years older than Arthur, while in the movie he's a young adult around his early 20’s.
  • Aloof Older Brother: He is distant and uncaring to Arthur, as well as being a bully to him.
  • Anti-Villain: Similar to Ector, his rude behavior never crosses the line into abuse.
  • Big Brother Bully: Often pushing Wart around and disrespecting him.
  • Butt-Monkey: He's involved in a few slapsticks, particularly in the kitchen scene, along with Ector.
  • Dumb Muscle: Kay is not very bright and has a rather muscular appearance.
  • Evil Redhead: Again, not really evil, just a jerky older brother.
  • Fiery Redhead: He is quick to lose his temper with his younger foster brother.
  • Foil: To Arthur. Arthur is friendly, small, scrawny kid who is taught by his Parental Substitute, Merlin, actual education; Kay is a jerkish, big, muscular adult man who is bred by his biological father, Sir Ector, to know how to fight in order to become a knight.
  • Giftedly Bad: Kay would certainly have to be to lose a joust with a practice dummy and get catapulted into the side of Merlin's tower in the process. Ouch. He may have improved by the time of the tournament, but as his chance to joust never comes to pass, we may never know.
  • Hate Sink: Kay is a short-tempered brute and a bully, callous towards Arthur and uncaring about his well-being.
  • Jerkass: Far more so than Ector. Until the very end, he acts arrogant, boorish and obnoxious. He even lets Wart risk his life by going off into the woods on his own, and doesn't even care if he's in danger.
  • Jerkass Has a Point:
    • Subverted. Kay stops Arthur from pulling the sword Ector put back, reasonably stating that anyone can pull it out after it's already been pulled out. Except he can't.
    • Kay isn't too happy when Arthur falls on top of him while trying to shoot a deer. He calls Arthur a "clumsy little fool" and chases him.
    • When Ector tells Arthur that he is Kay's squire, the first thing Arthur does is trip down a flight of stairs while carrying dishes. Naturally, Kay objects to his seemingly clumsy foster-brother being his squire.
  • Jerk Jock: The medieval version; a rude knight and jouster instead of a football player.

Villains

    Madam Mim 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Mim_8406.jpg
"Sounds like someone's sick. How lovely! I do hope it's serious — something dreadful."
Voiced by: Martha Wentworth, Russi Taylor (Halloween Surprises and House of Mouse); Lita Recio (European French dub); Maruja Sen (Latin Spanish dub); Ida Gomes (Brazilian Portuguese dub); Isa Quensel (Swedish dub)

Madam Mim (sometimes named Mad Madam Mim) is the primary antagonist in the film. Madam Mim is a witch who is equally or more powerful than Merlin himself.


  • Adaptational Heroism: Mad Madam Mim is a genuinely villainous character here who tries to kill Arthur because, as she makes no effort in hiding, she's evil. In the Disney comics that later feature her, she is more of a harmless witch or occasionally even a heroic one. Mostly because she is paired up with Magica de Spell, and plays the lackey or quirky best friend role in relation to her.
  • Alliterative Name: Madam Mim. And she refers to herself as the magnificent, marvelous, mad Madam Mim, for some further Added Alliterative Appeal.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Combined with Morphic Resonance. Whatever animal she shapeshifts into, be it a snake, a chicken or a rhinoceros, she keeps her pink-and-purple color scheme.
  • Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Madam Mim certainly believes this, as illustrated in the below quote:
    Madam Mim: And [Merlin] must see something good in you.
    Arthur: I guess so...
    Madam Mim: Yes, and in my book, that's bad!
  • Berserk Button: Mim does not like sunshine.
  • The Brute: While not remotely stupid, during the wizard duel Mim focuses mostly on turning into bigger animals like an alligator to Merlin's turtle or a rhino as opposed to his goat. She mostly focuses on winning through overpowering him as opposed to strategy, which he turns against her.
  • Buxom Beauty Standard: When she magically transforms her appearance into an attractive woman, she makes herself very slender and with a tiny frame, but with huge breasts.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: She sings a whole song about how wonderful it is that she's proud to be mad and evil, and she takes "terrible" as a compliment (and finds it lovely when someone's sick—though she doesn't find it so lovely when she gets sick later...).
  • Character Catchphrase: "I win! I win!" whenever she believes she's won one of her demented games.
  • Combat Pragmatist: In the words of Archimedes, she only wants rules so she can break them.
  • Demoted to Dragon: From a villain in her own movie to Magica's weird best friend/servant in the comics.
  • The Dreaded: If Archimedes's reaction upon seeing her is of any indication, she doesn't have a particularly good reputation.
  • Emerald Power: Mim has lime-green eyes and is a powerful magic user and the most dangerous antagonist of the movie.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Merlin. Both are powerful magic users with a distinct color scheme (Merlin - blue, Mim - purple). Except Merlin is a good magic user who sees something great in Arthur and wants to mentor the young boy in order to help him flourish with education and friendship. Mim is an evil magic user who tries to kill Arthur after the boy says Merlin said there was something great about him.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Expect a lot of over-the-top shouting to come from her.
  • Exact Words: "DID I SAY NO PURPLE DRAGONS? DID I?" That said, this turns against her as well.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Madam Mim is cheerful, amiable, and pretty friendly when Arthur blunders into her house, and while he can tell she's unpleasant, he doesn't even realize she's dangerous until she tells him she has to kill him, which she says with about as much fanfare as someone saying it's suddenly started raining.
  • For the Evulz: She doesn't even play a plot part, apart from being... well, a filler. Madam Mim commits evil because she herself is evil. There is no Evil Plan.
  • Genki Girl: Madam Mim is cheerful, exuberant, hammy, and incredibly enthusiastic about postulating about how wicked she is with the gleeful zest of someone a few decades younger than she clearly is.
  • Hoist by Her Own Petard: In her Wizard Duel with Merlin, her insistence on Exact Words ("Did I say no purple dragons?") ultimately ends up being her downfall when Merlin turns it against her.
    Mim: No disappearing.
    Merlin: I did not disappear. I have simply become very small.
  • Hypocritical Humor: She's an openly compulsive cheat, though still objects whenever Merlin uses Loophole Abuse. She ends up throwing an enormous tantrum over how underhanded turning into a germ was.
    Mim: OOOHHHH, YOU-YOU-YOU-YOU SNEAKY OLD SCOUNDREL!!!
  • Impossible Hourglass Figure: In her beautiful form, she has a tiny waist and much larger chest. Then again, it is a magical transformation.
  • Irony: Madam Mim is introduced hearing Wart coughing while she plays solitaire (see image quote) and hoping that someone is badly ill. Merlin defeats her by transforming into a germ and getting her sick.
  • Just Eat Him: This seems to be her preferred tactic for "destroying" those she comes across. She's a cat the entire time she's chasing bird!Arthur around her house and she tends to turn into animals when dueling Merlin, suited to hunting his choices (fox vs. hare, snake vs. mouse, etc.). She only moves away from this tactic after Merlin pisses her off.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Her very first line has her hearing a cough and hoping whoever it was has something dreadful and serious. When we leave her, she's stuck in bed sick with something dreadful, but lucky for her not too serious.
  • Laughably Evil: Madam Mim sings a Villain Song about herself, complete with dancing and shapeshifting. Merlin is far more restrained.
  • The Mad Hatter: Self-admitted by the Mad Madam.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Her younger, slender form is a complete knockout.
  • Nightmare Fetishist:
    "I take delight in the gruesome and grim!"
  • Plot-Irrelevant Villain: She has been described as filler for a good reason. She does spice things up and provides an entertaining battle, but most of the film could have happened without her, as it is about Merlin giving Arthur life lessons.
  • Psychopathic Womanchild: She often acts like a bratty little kid: showing off, acting immature, and finally throwing a fit when she loses. This is especially noticeable with her propensity for "games".
  • Psychotic Smirk: Gives a very devious one when Arthur says Merlin's good magic is better than hers, coupled with Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive.
  • Reality Warper: Just like Merlin up there, and it is lampshaded by her Villain Song.
    With only a touch
    I have the power
    Zim zabberim zim
    To wither a flower
  • Scaled Up: Her final shapeshift in the wizard duel is a purple dragon.
  • Shapeshifter Showoff Session: During her Villain Song, Mim shapeshifts numerous times in order to show off her magical powers to Arthur. At first, she grows tall enough to bump her head on the rafters, then small enough to sit on a teacup next to Arthur, then returns to normal size and gives herself the face of a boar, then transforms into a beautiful woman, before finally returning to her true form. With her song over, she then transforms into a cat and prepares to eat Arthur alive - only to be stopped by the arrival of Merlin, neatly segueing into their Shapeshifter Showdown.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Merlin and her seem to have a past together, and while Mim gleefully heckles Merlin, the latter spends most of their clash scolding and arguing with her like she's a naughty child.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: In the book, she's killed after Merlin becomes an infectious disease, but in the movie, she is merely bedridden, and Merlin actually has to use sunlight in order to cure her.
  • Solitary Sorceress: Lives in a hut out in the wilderness.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: The only part of her, aside from her hair, that she retains when changing form is her golden eyes. Thus they are significant in showing her magical affinity.
  • The Tease: She acts like this towards Arthur after changing into a more attractive form, playfully caressing the underside of his chin while gazing seductively into his eyes.
  • Vain Sorceress: Mim defies this trope. She says she could be beautiful if she wanted to be, and in fact, does change herself into such a form as if it were a parlor trick. Then she admits that such a form is only skin deep and she's happy being ugly.
  • Villain Song: "The Marvelous Mad Madam Mim" is her demonstrating her powers and wickedness in using them. It's basically an "I Am" Song.
  • Wicked Witch: Madam Mim lives in a cottage in the woods brewing up trouble. When she hears coughing, she hopes that it's a serious illness.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Gleefully tries to murder Arthur. Only when she learns that Merlin sees something good in him.

    The Wolf 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sword_disneyscreencapscom_5154.jpg

A wild animal who occasionally follows Arthur in hopes of eating the boy.


  • Big Bad Wannabe: He'd be a more legit threat if he were in better health. Arthur only notices he exists in one scene.
  • The Chew Toy: Old Wolfy could share notes with Wile E. Coyote; try as he may, he can never catch Wart.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Between how skinny and pathetic he looks to how he’s constantly suffering bad luck, it’s hard not to feel sorry for the poor mutt.
  • Lean and Mean: Extremely thin due to a lack of food.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Averted. Wolves were a common sight in Britain at the time the movie is set, but have since been hunted to extinction (along with many other native megafauna).
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Hilarious as he can be to watch, he's trying to eat someone alive. He almost ate Squirrel!Arthur had it not been for the girl squirrel.
  • Savage Wolf: Downplayed. He's a hungry predator who tries to eat Arthur, but he's incredibly inept at it and mainly Played for Laughs.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: After he falls into a river and gets stuck in a log, he's never seen again. We don't know if he ever got out of either.

    The Pike 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sword_in_stone_disneyscreencapscom_3765_0.jpg

A pike who lives in the moat in Sir Ector's castle.


  • Adaptational Nonsapience: Here, it's a normal fish (though it appears smart enough to sneak behind Arthur). In the book, it was the ruler of an underwater kingdom who tries to convince Arthur that "might is right".
  • The Dreaded: Feared by the other animals in the moat.
  • Foil: To the Wolf. They're both predators, but the wolf is a more comical animal in poor health, while the Pike is of more ideal condition and treated more seriously.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Unlike Mim or the Wolf, the Pike has nothing comedic when it appears. Unless you count when he gets rammed headfirst onto a rock while trying to snatch Arthur from Archimedes.
  • Pike Peril: There's a good reason that this one provides the page image.

    The Hawk 

A hawk that flies after sparrow Arthur.


Others

    Sir Pellinore 

'Voiced by:' Alan Napier

An old knight and friend of Ector who informs of The Tournament to crown The new King of England


    The Frog 

A frog that pesters Arthur while in fish form.


  • Dirty Coward: Had no problem pushing Arthur out of the hole to get the pike as far away from where he was hiding as possible.
  • Hate Sink: It pesters Wart for no valid reason. Whereas the predatory animals were looking for food, the squirrel sought him for a mate and Sir Ector, despite his strictness, showing genuine concern for his well-being, the frog just picks on him for amusement and leaves him for dead.
  • Jerkass: Picks on Fish Arthur for no good reason.
  • Karma Houdini: Pushes Wart out of the hole he's hiding in, leaving him to be bait for the pike. He's never seen getting his comeuppance for this, unless the pike found and ate him.

    Girl Squirrel 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/little_girl_squirrel_2142.jpg
Voiced by: Ginny Tyler

A young, female squirrel who falls in love with Squirrel Arthur.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: She warms up to Wart very fast, something he wasn't prepared for and quickly grows annoyed with her and genuinely uncomfortable around her. This is justified since he's a human boy and she's a cute little squirrel who can't take a hint he's not interested.
  • Action Girl: When she saves Wart from the wolf.
  • Affectionate Nickname: She calls Wart “Chicoo” several times. The old lady squirrel called Merlin this at one point, suggesting it's a squirrel chirp meaning something on the lines of "darling" or "my love".
  • All for Nothing: She played what she thought was a game of playing hard to get and faced off against a wolf to finally have her love, only to learn her feelings were not reciprocated when he was revealed to be human.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: The amorous chirp she made after Arthur yanked her tail off of him, threw it over her head and pushed her is a definite sign she wanted Wart for her mate even more.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Sadly for her yes. The boy she wanted to be her mate and fell hard for had no feelings for her, something she only realizes when he's changed form. On the other hand that's just because Arthur was a human, and too young to understand romance, in squirrel form. Considering she's very cute-looking she would have probably been more lucky with a real squirrel.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Downplayed. Red squirrels are a real thing, though her fur is slightly more pinkish than the red-brown they are seen in. Real squirrels also do not have a pink underbelly like she does.
  • Amplified Animal Aptitude: While not magically enhanced like Archimedes, she's clearly smarter than a real squirrel. She quickly would use her front paws like hands in many scenes, like trying to save Wart, and seemed smart enough to figure out how to outsmart the wolf. She also seemed to have recognized in some way after Wart turned human that he was trying to tell her the truth but obviously couldn't understand him.
  • Bit Character: Her screen time isn't even 1/4th of the movie's entire runtime and 90% of her dialogue consists of chirps and chatter that barely sound like words. However, her entire time is falling for Wart and saving him, only to find he's not a squirrel and doesn't return her feelings, giving him a brief lesson on love and the pain it can cause, something he'd learn in later years upon meeting his future wife. She's also one of the more memorable characters of the movie as a result of this.
  • Break the Cutie: Her reaction to finding out that Arthur is really a human.
  • Call-Forward: For those familiar with Arthurian lore, she serves as a Meta Foil to Guinevere and Foreshadowing to Arthur's relationship with her. He too would fall in love, only for his heart to break when he discovers something about her, in this case that she wasn't faithful to him. The fact that the squirrel is never seen again after she cries her eyes out and is last seen watching him return home also can be compared how Arthur's heartbreak led to him meeting his end, never to be seen again.
  • Canon Foreigner: Since there's no other adaptation of King Arthur involving him being turned into a squirrel.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: She seeks to mate with a squirrel without knowing he's a human boy barely reaching puberty, but she also is willing to stop flirting and kissing him when his life is in danger and come to his aid.
  • Cuddle Bug: She keeps hugging Wart whenever she can get her paws on him.
  • Did Not Get the Boy: She saves Arthur, but because he still doesn't return her affections or want to remain a squirrel, he reveals himself as a human and ends up breaking her heart.
  • Everyone Has Standards: She stops trying to play with and kiss Wart whenever his life is in danger. She only resumes once he's safe. She also stops entirely trying to earn his love upon realizing he's really a human, choosing to run away while crying.
  • Expy: She falls for someone of the opposite sex who resembles a member of her race, makes unwanted romantic advances like kissing and hugging, and there's a Language Barrier that prevents the object of her affections from talking and outright saying he's neither interested nor even what he appears to be while misinterpreting his actions. She's essentially a younger, female Pepé Le Pew.
  • Failed a Spot Check: During the entire time she's around Arthur, she fails to notice that while he looks like a squirrel, he clearly doesn't sound like one. She seems to at least know what a human is after he changes back, which means she must know that humans and squirrels don't make the same vocal noises.
  • Fiery Redhead: Passionate for Arthur, and hostile towards the wolf trying to eat him.
  • Foil: To the Frog. The Frog was a Jerkass who picked on Wart for amusement and pushed him out of the hole to be eaten by the pike in order to save his skin. The Girl Squirrel is enamored with Wart, getting in his personal space in order to show him affection and saves him from the wolf.
  • Forceful Kiss: A less violent and more passionate example, attempted to make Arthur interested. She kisses him five times before he changes back.
  • The Glomp: She tends to do this to Wart when he least expects it. She REALLY loves physical contact with him.
  • Interspecies Romance: She has no idea that she, a squirrel, fell for a boy who was human. When she finds out, it breaks her heart.
  • Language Barrier: As an animal, she's unable to understand Arthur (which he realizes when he turns back to normal) and vice versa, which prevents her from understanding him when he says he's a human.
  • Love at First Sight: For Arthur, when the both of them were running up to each other.
  • Love Hurts: The scene where she tearfully watches Arthur walk away is a real Tear Jerker.
  • Motor Mouth: As far as squirrel gibberish goes, she never stops chirping affectionately towards Wart.
  • No Name Given: Only known as the "little girl squirrel", although fans know her as "Hazel". Justified since she's a wild animal.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: She's always getting close to Wart, whether to hug him, kiss him or even wrap her tail around him.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Until Arthur turns human again, she spends her entire scene cheerful and in love. Even her slight confusion and hostility to the wolf can be played for laughs. If one looked carefully when she hears Wart's voice after he turns human, her warm smile is quickly replaced with a wide-eyed startle. She's at first shocked and confused, and then she runs into a tree and starts crying her broken heart out, with Wart briefly seeing her looking with tears in her eyes.
  • Plucky Girl: Until learning Wart isn't another squirrel, she is resolute.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Arthur unsuccessfully tries to tell her that he's not a squirrel but a human. But since she can't understand human language she repeatedly keeps on stalking him.
  • Prehensile Tail: She at one point was able to grab Wart with her tail and wrapped her it around him to keep him close. He struggles out of and it's only when she lowers her guard by kissing him that he gets out.
  • Rejection Affection: Arthur’s attempts to get away from her and push her away only make her more amorous towards him.
  • Satellite Character: She has less than 5 seconds of screen time before meeting Squirrel Arthur. After that, being in love with him and wanting to win his heart is her whole character.
  • Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Not verbally, but really interested in Arthur and seems to think he feels the same way. As far as she's concerned, he's her mate.
  • Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male: She keeps chasing and pestering Wart, even though Arthur tries to keep her away from him. As Merlin even brought up during "A Most Befuddling Thing".
    Merlin: You're wasting time resisting, you'll find the more you do; the more she'll keep insisting, her "him" has got to be you!
  • Tragic Hero: She was genuinely in love with Arthur to the point she risked her own life to save him from the wolf. Unfortunately all her actions have been vain since the squirrel she loved was a human and obviously her feelings for him were not returned.
  • The Unintelligible: She speaks in chittering noises. Not one of them sounds like a word, except for a slightly decipherable "You're cute!" and "Oh no!".
  • Vague Age: As squirrels age faster than humans, her exact age isn't clear. It's likely she's at the point where she and Arthur would likely be around the same age range, hence why she was drawn to him as a mate.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: A mild example. When she saw the wolf getting ready to eat Wart, she saved him by chewing on the wolf's leg, causing him to yelp.
  • Wrong Assumption: Assumes the squirrel who isn't falling in love with her as fast she did for him is just shy and playing hard to get, and thus continues to get close to him to get him to accept her. When she finds out he's a human, and likely realizing he didn't have any interest or attraction to her, it broke her little heart.

    Older Squirrel 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e3979d381bd4bc1e6f9f8d23272b7cc7.jpg
Voiced by: Martha Wentworth

An old, female squirrel who falls for Squirrel!Merlin.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: Like the Girl Squirrel is to Wart, she is one to Merlin.
  • Acrofatic: Despite being wider than the other squirrels, she can run just as fast as them. She's also insanely strong for her size, able to send Merlin flying into the tree with a casual push.
  • Ambiguously Related: While not confirmed, a common interpretation is that she is the mother of her younger counterpart.
  • Foil: To the Girl Squirrel. Old to her young, dull colored to her light colored, chubby to her slim, ugly to her cute. And while the Girl Squirrel learning her love is unrequited and isn't a real squirrel is heartbreaking and she cries, Old Squirrel reacts with horrified anger and is Played for Laughs.
  • Love at First Sight: With Merlin, seeing him play with an acorn as if it were a Soccer ball.
  • Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male: Greatly interested in Merlin's squirrel form.
  • Stock Scream: A rather hilarious moment after Merlin reverts to human form.

    Hobbs 
An unseen resident of Ector's castle who is given Arthur's position of squire.
  • Game-Breaking Injury: Illness variant. He comes down with the mumps before Kay is due to arrive in London. Ector promotes Arthur to squire in his stead.
  • The Ghost: Is never seen despite being mentioned.

    Sir Bart 
Voiced by: Thurl Ravenscroft

  • Baritone of Strength: He is a black knight from the tournament with a very deep voice provided by Thurl Ravenscroft.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being dressed in black armor, Sir Bart is quite a Nice Guy and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his two short scenes in the finale, he is quite a reasonable and fair-minded man who calls out the other knights for their unfair treatment of Wart/Arthur and agrees with Sir Pellinore's suggestion of letting the boy have a shot at pulling the sword from the stone.
    Sir Bart: (to the other knights trying to pull the sword while pushing Wart/Arthur aside) Now hold on. That's not fair!
    Sir Pellinore: I say we let the boy try it.
    Sir Bart: That's what I say. Give the boy a chance!
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He, alongside Sir Pellinore, comes to Wart's defense and demands the other knights trying to pull the sword themselves to give the boy a chance to try pulling the sword.


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