Characters who appear in The Thief and the Cobbler and tropes associated with them.
open/close all folders
The Titular Characters
Tack
Voiced by: Unknown actor (original),note Steve Lively (Allied Filmmakers), Matthew Broderick (Miramax)
The Hero, and one of the two title characters. Initially a simple cobbler working in the Golden City, he soon finds himself fighting along Princess Yum-Yum to save their city.
- Adrenaline Makeover: Tack gains a nice tan by the end. See Clark Kent Outfit below.
- Art Shift: His skin tone shifts from cotton-white to caucasian-pink halfway through the movie. At the end, he's brown like Princess YumYum.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Tack is quite polite and sweet, but isn't a pushover.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Silent as he is, Tack isn't one to be messed with.
- Clark Kent Outfit: Tack is surprisingly tall and muscular when he stands up straight and half of his clothes have been ripped off in the final fight; this is more obvious in the original storyboards (and VERY clear in a concept drawing
◊ in the Recobbled DVD extras), as the animation finished by Calvert (which the Recobbled Cut uses to some extent) is very Off-Model. This is probably part of his Coming of Age story, along with getting a handsome tan and starting to talk. - Clothing Damage: Gets some during the climax.
- Combat Pragmatist: He pulls off a Tied-Together-Shoelace Trip on Roofless, and defeats Zigzag during their brief fight in the Calvert and Miramax versions by sewing his robe together.
- Cute Bruiser: Tack's got an owlish and soft face and he moves like someone threw a bowl of noodles at a ceiling fan, but he's capable of ridiculous feats of strength: He folds his legs around the Thief and traps him in a scissorlock while sleeping, tugs around a medicine ball meant to keep him from moving like it's barely anything at all, and reaches behind him and flips the Thief onto his back without effort and without looking. Later on when his clothes get ripped in the fight with Zig Zag, he reveals he's a human block and tackle; skinny as a rail, but with muscles like ropes.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Tack's color palette is mainly white with shades of grey and black, in contrast to the colorful characters and sets around him.
- Dark Is Not Evil: His color scheme consists of black, white, and grey. Plus, he's The Hero.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: For most of the film, he has unnaturally pale white skin, which is a stark contrast for the rest of the main cast. About two-thirds through the film, he suddenly gains a tan.
- Fingore: At the film's beginning, he accidentally hits his own thumb with a hammer in his sleep. In retrospect, that might explain why both thumbs are bandaged.
- Friend to All Living Things: During his time in prison, he gave away his bread, his only food, to some hungry mice.
- Good Morning, Crono: A non-game example; Tack's first scene is of him sleeping.
- Heroic Mime: In the original and Recobbled Cut, he only says one line throughout the entire film. Averted in the Calvert and Miramax versions.
- Humble Hero: Tack never shows any arrogance, even when he does something amazing.
- The Klutz: Goes hand in hand with his dorky nature.
- Meaningful Name: "Tack" is an item he uses in his profession as a cobbler. Also see the No Mouth section.
- Narrator All Along: In the Calvert and Miramax versions, he narrates the story.
- Nice Guy: Tack is a sweet, selfless, brave, and caring young man.
- No Mouth: His mouth is largely represented by the tacks he holds in his mouth, which change their angles to represent his expression and mood, pointing upwards into a "smile" when happy or pleased, or falling downwards with more negative emotions.
- Official Couple: With Princess Yum-Yum.
- Pauper Patches: His clothes are patched up in many places.
- Pretty Boy: Not many boys his age can successfully pull off Puppy-Dog Eyes that well.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: His eyes are large, round and highly expressive, which just serves to make him look cuter. . D'awwww.◊
- The Quiet One: He only has one line in the original version.
- Rags to Riches: From a simple cobbler to the prince of the Golden City.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The quiet Savvy Guy to Princess Yum-Yum's bubbly Energetic Girl.
- Spanner in the Works: At least in the Recobbled Cut. Weaponized to a superpower: with nothing but a tack launched slingshot-like with thread, and a needle, he manages to not only unhorse Zigzag and tie his hands, but the ricochet effect of this flying tack sets off a Rube Goldberg Device against One-Eye's war machines and all of his troops.
- Tied-Together-Shoelace Trip: Pulls this off against Roofless.
- Took a Level in Badass: Was a regular cobbler at the beginning. But, during his adventures he does incredible feats. One example was being able to win a fight against Zigzag, the man who tossed Tack around like a ragdoll when they met.
- Vocal Dissonance: When he finally speaks in the Recobbled Cut, it's with a surprisingly deep voice (provided by Sean Connery or at least a sound alike).
- Weapons of Their Trade: He uses one of his tacks to defeat the One-Eyes, shooting it using his thread as a slingshot.
The Thief
Voiced by: N/A (original),note Ed E. Carroll (Allied Filmmakers), Jonathan Winters (Miramax)
The other title character, a nameless very persistent thief. His theft of the Three Golden Balls kicks off much of the plot.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He's greenish-brown.
- Born in the Theater: At the end of the film, he literally steals the film off of the projector and makes off with it.
- Butt-Monkey: Nothing goes right for him until the end.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the original and Recobbled Cut, he uses the back scratchers he stole from Princess YumYum to escape getting his hands cut off.
- Clutching Hand Trap: At one point, he sees a bottle filled with jewels. Unfortunately, the jewels are too big for him to get past the opening. He won't let go of the diamond, even when the palace guards have him surrounded.
- Deadpan Snarker: His inner monologue as provided by Jonathan Winters in the Miramax version. Tends to cause a polarizing response, with some finding it obnoxious and distracting, while others think it (along with the animation) is the only thing that makes those cuts watchable.
- Determinator: When he sees something shiny, there's no stopping him.
- Deuteragonist: To Tack's protagonist, as he's responsible for kicking off the plot.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: An old lady turns out to be a strong martial artist, a bed turns out to be a pack of giant, angry guard dogs, the polo players constantly hit him (because their ball is chasing the Thief)... and the giant war machine has such things as a giant flyswatter, a giant broom and a giant iron.
- Fatal Flaw: His biggest flaw is that he just doesn't know when to stop stealing, which always causes him to lose everything. Best shown in the intro when he tries to steal a bundle of bananas from Princess YumYum's nanny, only to have more loot than he could possibly physically carry beaten out of him and be forced to abandon all of it. By the end of the Recobbled Cut, he finally learns his lesson, realizing that the Golden Balls just aren't worth all the hell he's been through the entire film.
- Five-Finger Discount: As openly stated in the Miramax cut, he'll steal anything. In one scene, he actually picks his own pocket.
- Green and Mean: Fitting for a sneaky, selfish thief, he has light green skin. This, combined with his small, gangly physique, gives him a rather goblin-like appearance.
- Inner Monologue: Is given one courtesy of Jonathan Winters in the Miramax cut. Tack's narration describes him as "a man of few words, but many thoughts."
- Iron Butt Monkey: He sustains tons of abuse trying to steal things. None of it has any lasting impact on him.
- Karma Houdini: At least in the Recobbled Cut. Not only does he escape getting his hands cut, but while flames, crumbling parts of the war machine are falling, spikes, actual swarms of arrows fly at him, and so on, he just walks ahead, bouncing on various springs and going doing slides and stuff, and grabs the golden balls. Nothing hits him at all during this time.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Despite making it through the crumbling war machine with his prize, he ends up reluctantly allowing Tack to keep the golden balls after he decides the damn things are more trouble than they're worth.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: At the end of the original version, when he has Tack and the golden balls cornered; having literally been through hell and back trying to get the balls, he decides he's had all the grief he can take over them and walks off in a huff.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: If you pause at just the right moment during the climax, you can see that the flies buzzing around him actually all have his head.
- No Name Given: He's simply referred to as "the Thief." The narrator notes at the beginning that he "shall be nameless."
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: When he comes across Princess YumYum bathing, he is less concerned about the naked woman in front of him and more concerned about her jewel-encrusted backscratchers.
- Oh, Crap!: He briefly gets a look of pure terror at being taken to have his hands cut off, before realizing how he can get out of it.
- The Pig-Pen: He's constantly surrounded by flies, and both Tack and Princess YumYum smell him on different occasions, the latter thinking that the smell must be coming from a backed up sewer pipe.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- In the original version, he corners Tack and is about to take the balls back, only to then realize they've been more trouble than they're worth, gives a "forget it" gesture, and leaves.
- After getting smacked around by the polo players, he decides the polo ball isn't worth stealing. Unfortunately, the ball seems intent on following him everywhere.
- Sticky Fingers: He'll try to take anything that isn't nailed down. He even tries to take a bunch of bananas from Nanny in the beginning — only to get his butt handed to him.
- Strolling Through the Chaos: By the end of the film, the Thief has been through so much punishment that his final attempt at grabbing the Golden Balls consists of him casually walking through One-Eyes' collapsing war machine, seemingly completely unaware of how many near-death experiences he has through the whole thing.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: In the Miramax cut, after surrendering the golden balls, he is cornered by the King's soldiers... who lift him up in celebration, believing he recovered them. The Thief for once looks rather content with his situation.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: The stuff that happens to him wouldn't be nearly as funny if he weren't a selfish, unrepentant crook.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His theft of the Golden Balls, as well as his subsequently losing them to Zigzag, leave the Golden City vulnerable to the One-Eyes.
- The Voiceless: Unlike Tack, he is completely silent throughout the original. In the other versions, not so much.
- Villain Protagonist: While he's not the Big Bad, he isn't exactly a good guy either, considering the whole mess is his fault. Miramax apparently felt pity for him and made him an Accidental Hero when the King believes that he recovered the golden balls for the city and he gives the balls back out of guilt (and not wanting to be attacked by the King's guards).
The Golden City Royal Family and their Aides
Princess YumYum
Voiced by: Sara Crowe (original), Bobbi Page (Allied Filmmakers), Jennifer Beals (Miramax)
The princess of the Golden City and Tack's Love Interest.
- Bedlah Babe: She wears a tiny short-sleeved orange kofta that reveals her stomach, complete with a veil.
- Brainy Brunette: The most reasonable and sanest in the story.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Wears a purple outfit and is a Proper Lady.
- Hollywood Genetics: Possibly. While her skin tone is realistic (unlike most of the other characters), it does not match her father's. Assuming he is her biological father, her mother would have to hail from near-Equatorial climate.
- "I Want" Song: "She is More" in the "finished versions."
- Love Interest: To Tack.
- Missing Mom: The "finished" versions make a few mentions to Yum-Yum's mother, something that wasn't included in the original version. Early in the "She is More" number, a woman dressed in pink is seen on a mural cradling an infant Yum-Yum before King Nod. This could be what Yum-Yum's mother looked like.
- Nice Girl: Princess Yum-Yum proves to be a caring and thoughtful person.
- Official Couple: With Tack.
- Only Sane Woman: The most level headed person in the entire film.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She quickly realizes that Zigzag is trying to have Tack executed for ridiculous reasons.
- Rebellious Princess: Has shades of this in the original, but it really stands out in the Calvert and Miramax versions.
- Repetitive Name: Princess Yum-Yum.
- Royal Brat: Averted nicely. In fact, even though they just met, she saved Tack's life after she figures out that Zigzag wanted to execute him for trivial reasons.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's a princess and manages to stop Zigzag from executing someone for stupid reasons. She shows further competence later on when trying to retrieve the three golden balls.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The bubbly Energetic Girl to Tack's quiet Savvy Guy.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Princess Yum-Yum arguably started showing an interest for Tack when he first fixes her nanny's glasses and instinctively made a heart out of the strings from her shoe. Her attraction grew into love as she witnesses his bravery, kindness, and selflessness throughout their adventures.
- Tritagonist: To the Cobbler's Protagonist and the Thief's Deuteragonist.
- Uptown Girl: The princess of Golden City falls in love with and marries a cobbler.
King Nod
Voiced by: Anthony Quayle (original), Clive Revill (Allied Filmmakers/Miramax)
The sleepy king of the Golden City.
- Big "NEVER!": Lets one out in the original cut when Zigzag asks for Princess YumYum's hand in marriage in return for the golden balls. In the later versions, he simply laughs Zigzag off, but still puts an emphasis on the word "never."Nod: You? Worthy of my daughter? A practitioner of the black arts? (laughing) No. She can only marry a man pure of heart. You will never marry her! NEVER! Not in a thousand years!
- Dirty Old Man: In the original cut, Zigzag brings the king a beautiful maiden from a faraway land. His first interaction is in a bed with the curtains drawn with the two of them giggling and making some odd noises, and his second is during the polo match where he's deliberately reaching into her palanquin (also with the curtains drawn) as he's falling asleep... which also makes her giggle.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: He has a prophetic dream of the One-Eyes' upcoming invasion.
- Freak Out: King Nod starts out rather lazy and apathetic. But when he has a vision of the One-Eyes' invasion in a dream, he has an epic freakout. Zigzag tries to console Nod by reminding him that the kingdom is safe as long as the three golden balls are on top of the minaret, but when the Thief steals the balls, Nod's anxiety skyrockets even further.
- Get Out!: What he screams to Zigzag after letting out the Big "NEVER!".
- Good Wears White: He wears white clothing in contrast to Zigzag's dark clothing.
- Large Ham: Complete with incongruous close-up shots of his face and mouth.King Nod: "The BALLS are GONE! My KINGDOM will COME to destruction AND DEATH!"
- Meaningful Name: His name is King Nod, and he's always nodding off.
- Papa Wolf: In the original cut. When Zigzag fools the King into thinking he can "magic the balls back," he requests Princess YumYum's hand in marriage as compensation. The king vehemently refuses to send off his daughter to him. Note that, as far as the king is concerned, this is his only chance to get the balls back and keep his kingdom safe. It's honestly rather badass of the King to do so. In the revised versions, he instead laughs in Zigzag's face, seemingly convinced he wouldn't seriously request such a thing.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Bravely organizes the defense of the Golden City in preparation for the One-Eyes' arrival. This is in stark contrast to his portrayal in the first part of the movie where he's almost comatose.
- Sleepy Head: Several of his scenes begin with him snoozing.
Nanny
Voiced by: Joan Sims (workprint), Mona Marshall (Allied Filmmakers), Toni Collette (Miramax)
Princess YumYum's nanny.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the original and Recobbled Cut, she is quite supportive of Tack and YumYum's budding relationship, whereas in the Calvert and Miramax versions she's very negative towards Tack early on.
- Cool Old Lady: Besides being a sweet person, she can give brutal beatdowns despite her old age.
- Hairy Girl: She seems like a frail, doddering old lady, until she grabs someone and reveals she's got fists like frozen chickens and huge, hairy forearms.
- Never Mess with Granny: In her Establishing Character Moment, she nonchalantly beats the Thief senseless when he tries to rob her, all while barely looking at him. Later, she manages to beat down quite a few of Roofless' brigands, but they manage to overwhelm her with their numbers.
- Shipper on Deck: A Tack/Yum-Yum supporter in the original and Recobbled Cut.
The Dying soldier
Voiced by: Clinton Sundberg
A soldier who briefly manages to survive Mighty One-Eye's attack on The Golden City armies.
- Determinator: Despite being fatally injured, he manages to resist his wounds, traveling for days without rest, and only allows himself to die when he manages to warn King Nod about Mighty One-Eye's arrival.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His torso is fatally impaled by multiple arrows and a flag of Mighty One-Eye's army.
- Military Salute: Once he manages to warn King Nod about Mighty One-Eye, he does a final salute before collapsing.
- Red Shirt: He exists to let the audience know that Mighty One-Eye is a serious menace to the kingdom.
- Sole Survivor: He is briefly the only survivor of Mighty One-Eye's attack until he joins his companions in death when he succeeds in warning King Nod about One-Eye's army.
Antagonists
Mighty One-Eye
Voiced by: Paul Matthews (original), Kevin Dorsey (Allied Filmmakers/Miramax)
The main antagonist of the film, the leader of a race of one-eyed marauders with designs to take over the Golden City by force.
- 24-Hour Armor: He and his men are never seen without their bulky plate armor, even while relaxing in their camp they're dressed in full armor.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He and his men have purple skin. His women have green skin.
- Ambiguously Human: He has nested jawlines, and he hails from an entire tribe of people who are each missing an eye.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: He and his men are first introduced as such, standing a top of mountain of Golden City soldiers' corpses.
- Badass Boast:
- King One-Eye exults in what an unstoppably monstrous conqueror he is and he tends to give these a lot. The first comes after he's slaughtered an entire army, proclaiming his victory Atop a Mountain of Corpses:"One-Eyes win again! I shall gnaw the Golden City to the bone, and I shall spit it out! No one is left alive to warn them! One-Eyes, One-Eyes, the day of death has come to the Golden Land! And I shall conquer the Golden City! I shall trample and break them, and not show pity! No man escapes the Mighty One Eye!"
- When he's unveiling his war machine for the first time, he gives a much shorter but equally badass boast, at once disparaging the hocus-pocus "magic" of his new dragon Zigzag, and showcasing the full might of his devastating war machine:"This is One-Eye magic, sorcerer!"
- King One-Eye exults in what an unstoppably monstrous conqueror he is and he tends to give these a lot. The first comes after he's slaughtered an entire army, proclaiming his victory Atop a Mountain of Corpses:
- Big Bad: Makes it his intent to take over the Golden City at the cost of killing others; even when Zigzag provides him the means of doing so, Mighty One-Eye refuses to show any respect for the sorcerer; even forcing him to lead the attack on the city from the front lines.
- Cain and Abel: In the Miramax dub, he's the Cain to the Witch's Abel.
- Disney Villain Death: In Calvert's version, he's thrown off a cliff.
- Dominance Through Furniture: One-Eye has his harem form his throne. In the original cut, he gets his comeuppance when the women take revenge by deciding to sit on him.
- The Dreaded: One-Eye is feared by all who know him, with even the ever-overconfident Zigzag walking on eggshells around him.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: As much of a savage beast as he is, he has a murderously understated sense of wit when he's in a (relatively) calmer mood. When Zigzag proposes an alliance to him, the Mighty One-Eye turns one of his own tricks against him and orders him to "charm" his pet alligators.
- Evil Redhead: Has an almost glowingly red beard.
- Evil Twin: In the Miramax dub, he's the Witch's evil twin brother.
- Eviler than Thou: As much of a scumbag Zig-Zag may be, he's nothing compared to the savage brute Mighty One-Eye is, and the latter wastes no time in establishing the pecking order with him. When Zigzag sees the camp of the One-Eyes for the first time, the terrified look on his face clearly shows that he's well aware that he's far from being as evil as those barbarian, decadent warriors (and that must mean something, given this is the same guy who sentenced a random poor young man to death just because he happened to walk on a tack the man left on the ground). Later in the same scene, the Mighty One-Eye himself is not impressed at all by Zigzag's self-publicity and has him thrown to the alligators, because he can tolerate no one who's useless. When Zigzag escapes and angrily demands acknowledgement however, the warlord is impressed enough to promote him to... cannon fodder at the front lines of the upcoming battle.
- Establishing Character Moment: Two. The first is the scene with the One-Eyes on the battlefield amongst piles of massacred enemies, and the second in their camp when Zigzag seeks them out and ends up captured and dragged in front of One-Eye himself sitting on top of his slave women forming a chair.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He's a powerful, brutal warlord, and he has a very deep voice in all versions.
- Evil Laugh: Lets out a bombastic one in the Recobbled Cut when unveiling his war machine for the first time.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: His initial fate in the original; his own slave women surround him and crush him to death by sitting on him in revenge for being used as a throne.
- Faux Affably Evil: Calmly listens to Zigzag's proposal of an alliance, only to later scoff and sentence him to be fed to the alligators, though he would later change his mind. Even then, he only changes his mind slightly since he sends Zigzag at the head of the first wave of the upcoming battle, with no armor and only a horse and sword to his name.
- Karmic Death: In the Calvert version, He's thrown off a cliff by his slave women. In the Recobbled Cut he's sat on and smothered by them.
- Leave No Survivors: He plans to gnaw the Golden City to the bone and spit it out, after all. Nobody is going to survive this.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: He has rows upon rows upon rows of sharp yellow teeth. As in, you can't see the back of his throat even with his mouth wide open.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He and his army use these colors to overkill. Even his eye is red.
- Slasher Smile: Mighty One-Eye can wear a terrifying, fanged grin, that's for certain.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Zigzag presents Mighty One-Eye with the three Golden Balls, which the prophecy states that the One-Eyes need to invade the Golden Kingdom. Mighty One-Eye doesn't seem to care at all, and immediately orders Zigzag to be fed to the alligators.
- Villainous Breakdown: He's practically crying in disbelief as his army and formidable death machine falls apart. Because of a tack.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Mighty One-Eye and his massive war machine are undone by... a single tack. Turns out that the highly complex and finely-tuned war machine cannot handle an added chaotic element and breaks down in a massive way, wiping out most of the soldiers inside the process.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Subverted. Mighty One-Eye orders his men to throw Zigzag to the alligators after Zigzag brings him the Golden Balls, but Zigzag manages to charm the alligators and escape, demanding that Mighty One-Eye take him seriously.
Zigzag
Voiced by: Vincent Price (all versions)
The Grand Vizier of the Golden City, who has his eyes on both the princess and the throne, and in his quest to get them becomes The Dragon to the Mighty One-Eye.
- Accidental Pun: "This Cobbler atTACKed me!"
- Agony of the Feet: He screams in agony and dances around when he steps on one of Tack's tacks.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He's blue-skinned.
- Ambiguously Human: He has blue-colored skin and six-fingered hands, and apparently doesn't need to sleep to sustain his life. On top of that, he has very long, coiled feet that spring outward as he walks, though that may just be his shoes rather than his feet. What's most alarming, however, is that he always shrieks in pain whenever he steps on something small (like Tack's tacks), yet displays only mild annoyance at being eaten alive by alligators. But then, on the other hand, the most obvious feature (the blue skin) may just be a striking consequence of the entire film's use of Amazing Technicolor Population (with purple, green or brown characters all throughout).
- And Now You Must Marry Me: His plan amounts to him marrying the princess and becoming the king.
- Animal Motif: Zigzag looks a bit vulture-like with his flowing black robe and high, arched shoulders. Of course, he also has a pet vulture, and the top of his tower is made to look like the head of a bird of prey. This fits his opportunistic personality.
- Beard of Evil: A goatee, no less.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Tries to be an equal partner to Mighty One-Eye after giving him the the golden balls to destroy the Golden City. However, he is reduced to being The Dragon to Mighty One-Eye, who has no intention of sharing his power with Zigzag.
- Bifurcated Weapon: He has a stick that can sprout out hooks, forks and pointy bits from the top.
- Character Catchphrase: "Have no fear, have no fear; Zigzag, the Grand Vizier, is here!"
- Chekhov's Skill: Oddly subverted. While Zigzag's boasting of great sorcerery is clearly an exaggeration at best, One-Eye seems intent on having him back up his boasting when they begin their invasion. However in the final film, Zigzag faces Tack in physical combat instead. In the original plans, Zigzag was to conjure up a huge Oriental dragon to attack the heroes...only for it to be revealed to be a mere balloon which Tack pops, much to One-Eye's chagrin.
- Creepy Long Fingers: His fingers are long enough for him to easily fit several rings on every joint.
- Death by Irony: In his introduction scene, Zigzag tries to have Tack decapitated. In his final moments, he himself is decapitated when Phido eats his head.
- Department of Redundancy Department: "Seeeiizze him! Take him! Seize him! Take him!"
- Dissonant Serenity: He takes getting eaten alive very well; he barely reacts to the alligators as they eat away at his body, and he more or less allows Phido to eat his head whole. And as all this is happening, he still speaks in rhyme, and never shrieks in pain or raises his voice. Keep in mind this is the same guy who screams in utter agony whenever he steps on Tack's tacks...
- Disproportionate Retribution: He has Tack arrested, thrown in prison, and tries to feed him to his vulture Phido simply because he stepped on a tack that Tack dropped by accident. And that's only because Princess YumYum saved his life; Zigzag originally wanted to have him beheaded.
- The Dragon: Became this to Mighty One-Eye after stealing the golden balls for him.
- Dragon with an Agenda: When he joins Mighty One-Eye's army, the latter just wants to conquer the city, while the wizard wants to forcefully marry Princess Yum-Yum, pleading with his boss to spare her as a requisite for him to aid in his conquest.
- Eaten Alive: His final fate; he's torn apart by alligators, with his vulture Phido eating his head.
- Establishing Character Moment: His entrance is a masterpiece of Show, Don't Tell (in the original, anyway). Even before you see him, you learn from the parade announcing him that he's a high-ranking, powerful, narcissistic and draconic man.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While it doesn't stop him from colluding with the guy, Zigzag is visibly horrified when he first sees what the inside of One-Eye's base of operations looks like.
- Evil Chancellor: He's the grand vizier of the Golden City, and as evil as they come.
- Evil Is Hammy: He's voiced by Vincent Price in all his glory ("FAT! FAAAAT! FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!").
- Evil Is Petty: As stated above, he tries to have Tack executed, and then arrested and fed to Phido, simply because he stepped on a tack that Tack accidentally dropped.
- Evil Sorcerer: He claims to be a sorcerer, but it's obvious that all his "magic" is really done by smoke bombs and sleight of hand.
- Evil Wears Black: He wears a black robe.
- Face Death with Dignity: Oddly enough, he calmly accepts his fate before Fido finishes chewing his head.
- Faux Affably Evil: He speaks in rhymes and provides King Nod with a massage and a concubine... all for the purposes of manipulation and distraction.
- Goofy Print Underwear: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene when he opens up out of the throne room floor, he has pink boxers with purple "Z's" under his robe.
- Gory Discretion Shot: During Zigzag's death scene, he falls into a pit and is eaten alive by a pack of alligators. All that can be seen is a silhouette of his mouth and eyes as he's being munched by the gators' teeth. His pet vulture, Phido, decides to join in by swooping down onto Zigzag's shoulder and closes his suddenly monstrous beak on Zigzag's skull. In the Recobbled Cut, there's a disturbing crunch sound as Phido eats and swallows his head.
- Hated by All: There's nobody in the film who likes the evil wizard's guts. He earns his hatedom to the golden city upon betraying them and the Mighty One-Eye doesn't seem to like the guy pretty much. Not even his pet likes him, devouring his head in his darkest hour.
- Hate Sink: While charismatic in personality and providing some of the film's funnier moments, Zigzag is an utterly selfish, self-serving slimeball of a person who is completely devoid of any sympathetic qualities (it bears noting that a lot of his comedic scenes are based on his ego getting squashed like a freshly peeled apple), and was intended to be such by Williams himself, who based him off of two people he particularly hated (specifically, the film's initial producers Omar Ali Shah and his brother Idries Shash who tried to scam Williams with the project when it was in its initial Nasruddin stage).
- The Heavy: Much of the plot is caused by him trying to take the throne by marrying Yum-Yum, then allying with the Mighty One-Eye when he can't manipulate his way into getting what he wants from Nod.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He spends much of the film abusing his pet vulture Phido. In the end, Phido is the one to finish him off.
- Inept Mage: He claims to be a great magician and sorcerer. However, while he seems capable of some wizardry, they mostly equate to parlour tricks.
- Ink-Suit Actor: After Vincent Price was cast as Zigzag's voice, his design was modified to resemble Price. This is more obvious when Richard Williams shows his caricature of Price in The Animator's Survival Kit — it resembles Zigzag quite a lot!
- Just Desserts: His ultimate fate is to be eaten by a bunch of alligators and his long-suffering vulture.
- Laughably Evil: Almost everything he does is horrible, yet he's still one of the funniest characters in the film.
- Major Injury Underreaction: He takes being Eaten Alive by alligators and Phido quite calmly.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: In contrast, he freaks out EPICALLY both times he steps on Tack's nails.
- Motive Decay: Zigzag's initial motivation is to "rule in public sight" rather than as The Man Behind the Man to King Nod, having grown dissatisfied with even that level of power. He plans to achieve this by marrying Princess Yum Yum, which would apparently make him the new king under the Golden City's laws. However, after his initial exposition, he behaves for all intents and purposes like he really wants to marry Princess Yum Yum for its own sake; this culminates when, after betraying the city to the One-Eye, he is happy to have them raze the City to the ground and only leave Princess Yum Yum alive for him to marry.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: He is dismissed and sentenced to execution by an unimpressed One-Eye when he tries to join forces. Zigzag however not only charms his alligators into sparing him but makes them form his means of escape, furiously demanding One-Eye take him seriously. This at the very least leaves One-Eye impressed enough to consider Zigzag a serviceable pawn.Zigzag: One mistake shall suffice! Do not take me lightly twice!
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Since they don't win, it never comes up, but it's heavily implied that this would have been Zigzag's "reward" for betraying the city to One-Eye; he's ordered to be in the front line of the battle, and Mighty One-Eye clearly considers him expendable.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Constantly speaks like this.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- In the Miramax cut, he abandons the king when he laughs at his request of marrying Princess Yum-Yum, not taking it seriously. This is averted on the original cut, as he's banished by the king for merely requesting it in return for the balls.
- At the climax, he attempts to flee the battlefield while the Mighty One-Eye's machine collapses by taking advantage of the clouds of dust surrounding him, but a nail interrupts this, accidentally falling into the crocodile's pit where he meets his demise.Zigzag: The Greatest wizard has to know exactly when it's time to go!
- Slasher Smile: Gives one when he faces Tack across the battlefield during the climax.
- The Sleepless: Is implied to be this. In the Recobbled Cut, he mocks people as foolish to "sleep their lives away" while he "is quite awake".
- Smug Snake: He's far too trusting in his own abilities; he remarks he can frighten the "barbarian" One-Eyes with ease, only to find himself surrounded by a litany of swords around his neck, forcing him to resort to a particularly futile offer to King One-Eye to spare his own life (King One-Eye visibly gets bored of Zigzag's routine there). He's an unusually more effective example in that he manages to trick his way out of the clutches of King One-Eye's alligators — but even then, One-Eye still forces Zigzag to go in front of his army during the initial charge. Those same alligators eat him alive later when he can't deliver on his promise to them.
- Take That!: Zigzag was designed by Williams to be an unflattering caricature of two people he particularly hated (with a bit of Vincent Price added in to make the character funnier)—which was revealed to be the film's original producers (during its initial Nasruddin stage), Omar Ali Shah and his brother Idries Shash, who were discovered to be embezzling money from Richards' studio and, after being sacked from the project, had the nerve to demand ownership of the Nasrudin character and 50% of the film's profits after it would be completed, and even sent a death threat to Williams' studio (about mailing a bomb, to be exact) when he refused to comply with their demands.
- The Quisling: He ends up working with the invading One-Eyes, content with letting them raze the Golden City as long as he gets Yum Yum.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Subverted in the Miramax dub, where it's stated that he managed to earn King Nod's trust, but no one else's. Not surprising considering how he treats the inhabitants of the Golden City.
Phido
Voiced by: Donald Pleasence (original and Allied Filmmakers), Eric Bogosian (Miramax)
Zigzag's much-abused pet vulture.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: He wears a fez.
- The Chew Toy: Much of his screen time consists of him being abused by Zigzag in some way.
- The Dog Bites Back: After suffering all manner of pain and abuse from Zigzag throughout the film, Phido gleefully jumps down the alligator pit and joins the alligators in eating him at the end of the film.
- Exposed Animal Bellybutton: He has a very prominent one, even though he's a bird.
- Feathered Fiend: The villain's pet bird who does not hesitate to try and eat one of the heroes.
- Giant Flyer: A somewhat more realistic case than most, as he has a smallish, compact body with very large wings.
- Rump Roast: He gets his tail feathers set on fire twice throughout the film.
- Talking Animal: The Miramax cut turns him into this.
- To Serve Man: In the original cut, he eagerly attempts to eat an imprisoned Tack, while in all versions, he helps the alligators eat Zigzag.
- Vile Vulture: Downplayed. He's a vulture who's in league with the villains, but he's not really evil, just hungry.
Other Characters
The Witch
Voiced by: Joan Sims (original), Mona Marshall (Allied Filmmakers), Toni Collette (Miramax)
An old witch whom Tack and Princess YumYum consult for advice on how to defeat the One-Eyes.
- Cain and Abel: In the Miramax dub, she's stated to be the Mighty One-Eye's benevolent twin sister.
- How Unscientific!: In contrast to Zigzag, who is clearly using sleight of hand and smoke bombs, the Witch's magic is legit.
The Brigands
Voiced by: Windsor Davies (Chief Roofless); Eddie Byrne (Hoof); Thick Wilson (Hook)
A band of burly outlaws that Tack and Princess Yum-Yum encounter on their journey to the Witch. Yum-Yum employs them as her guard.
- No Indoor Voice: Sometimes overlaps with Suddenly Shouting
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: When they first appear, they haven't been able to steal or plunder anything for a long while, so they're pretty unsure of what to do when they spot Tack and Yum-Yum's caravan. Their lives improve after Yum-Yum appoints them as her guardsmen.
