Headscratchers / Aladdin (2019)

Species of the Genie’s children

Would the Genie’s children (the ones seen at the beginning, be half-genie children, since they were born to a Genie father and a human mother? If so, would they get any Genie powers and also be able to be trapped in lamps?

• It was stated that freeing the Genie would allow him to become human. It's safe to assume, therefore, and there's no longer anything magical for his children to inherit, and that they're both fully human.

Aladdin’s title post-marriage

• What title does Aladdin get after his marriage to Sultana Jasmine? Since the wife to the MALE Sultan is a Queen, surely that would make Aladdin, the husband of a FEMALE Sultan, a KING?
  • I think it depends on what title Jasmine wants him to have, based on how much power, if any, she's willing to share with him.
  • Husband of Queen Regnant is not a King. Albert, Prince Consort. Philip, Prince Consort.

Jasmine not being Sultana

• Why was Jasmine made Sultan instead of Sultana? Sultana is the female equivalent.
  • The term "sultana" probably hasn't been invented yet, as her father did state that they've never had a female sultan before.
  • To give a more cynical answer, Viewers Are Morons may have been in effect during writing. They referred to the Sultan's wife as a Queen even though Sultana also would have applied.
  • As with Prince Consort, a Sultana is the wife of a reigning Sultan, not a female Sultan.
    • This isn’t necessarily true; the term can refer to either a female sultan if she so desires, or the wife of the ruling (male) sultan.

Why does Jafar want an alliance with Skånland?

• Jafar pushes for Jasmine to marry Prince Anders of Skånland, as he wishes to add Skånland's military might to Agrabah's when he attacks Shirabad. But Skånland is implied to be a Scandinavian analogue, while Agrabah (and presumably Shirabad) are in Arabia. How does an alliance with such a far away land improve Agrabah's position in case of a war with Shirabad?
  • Historically Scandinavian warriors have frequently worked for Middle Eastern rulers.
  • Had Anders married Jasmine then he would have been the new Sultan, meaning Skånland would have been obligated to send troops and supplies to Agrabah if they went to war regardless of how far away it was.
  • In addition, Skånland's national dress seems more Slavic than Scandinavian; if Skånland is Russia and Shirabad is Persia, an alliance lets Agrabah hit them from both the north and south in a pincer movement.
  • Anders is a naive Ditz who clearly doesn't know much about the area, making him the perfect puppet for Jafar to use and control.

Why does the Genie need to use a wish to save Aladdin?

• The Genie does plenty of magic without an explicit wish. If he can teleport the flying carpet to the "ends of the earth" without a wish, why can't he just teleport Aladdin out of the water?
  • In the original, it's a bit more clear. The Genie was TRICKED by Aladdin into getting him out of a VERY dangerous situation... so he made a deal for no more freebies.
  • Even in the remake, he can't bring anybody back from the dead... and that's more or less where Aladdin is at that point.
    • He was not dead. Many people who were brought back from the brink of death with modern medical science would have been declared dead by medical knowledge centuries or even decades before. Furthermore Aladdin started breathing again on his own once he had air to breathe again; Genie was begging him to start breathing again and then Aladdin hacked up lungwater onto a dually disgusted and relieved Genie. As for Genie's action on Carpet: since the whole nature of Aladdin's Second Wish to "save you from certain doom" was already in a gray area in invocation, and Genie already had been on an extended job in full faith of Al's first wish, he considered surreptitiously blinking Carpet to Aladdin's location to be in the spirit of Al's second wish. Al's second wish was to be "saved from certain doom"; death would have been certain and cold where he was sent.
  • It seems to revolve around the "grey area" Genie mentions early on. Genie shows he can either obey the letter or spirit of a given wish; so helping Aladdin with dancing can be interpreted as just adding on to Aladdin's first wish since the spirit of it is to woo Jasmine. Sending the magic carpet could potentially be excused as "I sent an object to the same rough area Aladdin happened to be". But to save Aladdin when he was drowning would be directly interfering with no "grey area" to use as wiggle room.
  • Genie actually used the wiggle room from the second wish in order to send Carpet to save Aladdin. The specific wording of the wish was "to be saved from certain doom". Not from any one specific case of certain doom, just certain doom. Being banished to one of the poles of the earth would definitely spell certain doom.

The Wheel

• What was that wheel Aladdin and Genie gave to the Sultan and Jasmine?
  • A gift.
  • It's a giant music box.

Genie Magic?

• The Genie says that his magic will make Aladdin unrecognizable (ostensibly to explain why Jasmine didn't recognize him in the original film), so how is Jafar able to know who he is nearly right away and Jasmine isn't?
  • Because he knew of Aladdin's desire to woo Princess Jasmine, and then suddenly this "Prince Ali Ababwa" shows up with the hype turned up to eleven right after that whole incident at the Cave of Wonders. Jasmine figured it out because of prior knowledge too.
  • Building on the above, Jafar knew Aladdin still had the magic lamp. That none of his maps showed the kingdom of Ababwa and that "Prince Ali" couldn't say where it was just helped solidify things. Also Jafar admitted he wasn't certain and his attempted murder was the test to check. If Prince Ali dies, then Jafar's gotten rid of a potential rival; if he lives then Jafar knows both who he is and (roughly) where the lamp must be. Meanwhile Jasmine didn't seem to figure it out until "Prince Ali" did a couple things, such as brushing her hair aside, that Aladdin had done before, much like the original when "Prince Ali" asks if she trusts him the same way Aladdin had.
  • Genie explains that his glamour magic is just "an illusion" and will only allow people to see what they want to see. Genie's rules of not being able to make anyone fall in love with you can be extended to mean "I cannot change someone's free will", and that includes forcing someone to believe you are someone or something you're not. Genie's transformation doesn't change what you actually look like, instead only giving you enough external accessories to pass when it comes to cursory inspection/being glanced at for a second or two by people that don't know who you are. Jafar can break this immediately because he is an accomplished sorcerer but most importantly knows what Aladdin looks like. Jasmine took longer, but still got through because the Magic is paper thin, and all it took was a closer look at his face from up close and some trapped questions for her to recognise him. Someone that doesn't know Aladdin at all would likely be totally unable to break the "Prince Ali" disguise because "Prince Ali" is all they have ever known.
  • It’s actually the magic Carpet that clues Jafar and Iago in, apparently they were aware there was one inside the cave of wonders.
  • The Genie says that the disguise magic is purely visual — "people see what they're told to see". (Or some such.) Presumably, the way it worked was that you wouldn't recognize Aladdin just by looking at him. But Jasmine saw through it because Ali said something Aladdin once said, while we don't have proof that Jafar truly saw through the disguise at all; instead he used context clues (the carpet, the lack of Ababwa on his maps, and Ali surviving the assassination attempt) to piece his identity together, and didn't see Aladdin as anything but a prince before then.

Did they say 10, 000 years?

• 10,000 years ago, civilization barely existed. How would someone have even spoken to the genie to make wishes or known what to wish for?
  • Not true - there are archaeological records of civilizations from over 20,000 years ago. And language is far older than that.
  • Actually, the Genie didn't say 10,000 years. He talks about having been around for that long, but it’s said he was stuck in the lamp (this time, at least) for only one-thousand years.
  • Even cave people would know to wish for some nice food, a huge club, somebody sexy to kiss...
  • Fantasy stories are replete with ancient, civilized civilizations that fell for one reason or another — Atlantis, for instance.

Agrabah existing for 1, 000 years seems a little bit iffyl

• If there's a real-life analogy, I don't know of any ruling dynasty in that part of the world that had a monopoly for a whole millenia. Perhaps, Constantinople? Besides, if it was an Islamic-based society. The Abbasid Caliphate which this is based on lasted from 750 to 1258.
  • It’s a movie set in a fictional place it doesn’t have to gell with real history.
  • The Agrabah in question may be the city itself, not the nation-state. Babylon (for example) lasted for almost two thousand years, but only belonged to a "Babylonian" ruler for about half that time; it's possible that Agrabah has changed hands once or twice between then and now.
  • Or the sultan was just generalizing for the sake of emphasizing his point.

New rule to the Cave

• In this version, the rule for the Cave of Wonders has been changed from "touch nothing but the lamp", to "take nothing but the lamp". This might be because it's impossible to get to the lamp without treading through all the coins and jewels (Which Aladdin and Abu DO in fact), but it does raise a few extra questions. The cave collapses after Abu picks up a gem. Picking something up doesn't mean you're actually "taking" it. Have you ever picked up a DVD or toy at a retail store only to look at it and put it back afterwards? If Abu intended to do the same (kleptomaniac monkey, so not likely), would the cave have still collapsed? If so, the more strict "touch nothing but the lamp" rule from the animated version seems more legit.
  • If you pick something up at a retail store, it usually means there's something about it that interests you and that you're at least partially considering buying it. Same logic applies here.
    • Another principle however is that 20 years ago, I visited Yosemite National Park California. We saw these huge Sequoia pine cones. We were allowed to pick up and hold these pine cones as long as we put them back afterwards. Other than that being a more difficult rule to explain, I don't see why the cave wouldn't allow THAT.
  • It shouldn’t be a surprise that the cave is being somewhat arbitrary and isn’t prone to given anyone the benefit of the doubt, considering the kind of ultimate treasure it’s protecting. And let’s be fair: it waited for several seconds while Abu sat there gawking at the jewel before concluding that he probably wasn’t going to put it back when he was done. It’s not as if it started to collapse the instant he touched it.
    • It's possible that the cave's magic can detect intent, so Aladdin just touching the jewels and coins didn't trigger the magic because he didn't intend to take them, whereas Abu did trigger the collapse because he picked up the gem with intent to take it.

Why would the Sultan want Jasmine to marry somebody so stupid and clueless?

• Just why would the Sultan actually do that? Does he care about his daughter or even her reputation? I mean, Anders has absolutely zero intelligence and Jasmine is intelligent. Wouldn't her rep be ruined after everyone found out her husband was loco?
  • The Sultan does admit that they're "running out of kingdoms", so it's easy to infer that Anders was far from his first choice. And I think people tend to give Anders himself a bit too much flak — the guy is definitely slow on the uptake, but he's not completely brainless or incompetent, or that bad of a person. As Dalia says, you could find a great number of princes worse than him to marry Jasmine off to.
  • I know historical context and a Disney film shouldn't go there, but the personality of the suitor rarely mattered so much as what the marriage would result in. If marrying Anders got them a powerful alliance with his kingdom then that's what matters and not how much of a tool the husband may be (Aladdin made quite a spectacle of himself too and the sultan doesn't seem to care at first).
  • It's possible that the Sultan had figured out that Jasmine would be the best ruler for Agrabah, and was trying to get her married to someone whom she could easily direct and boss around as a way to do an end-run around the "women can't be sultans" rule.

Jafar's final wish.

• Not sure how it was worded in the original, but in the 2019 version Jafar wishes to be the most powerful being in the universe, which the Genie of course grants by making him a genie himself, and thus bound to the inherent restrictions. But what about whatever being created genies in the first place? Presumably some being invented those rules/restrictions and made them powerful enough that genies can't defy them. One would think that this being is the most powerful in the universe, and thus Jafar should have been granted powers that matched or surpassed this being. Perhaps an unstated limitation of the Genie's powers is that he cannot create a being that exceeds them.
  • It could also be that genies weren’t created by any other “being”; they just came into existence at some point or evolved over time like other creatures. Alternatively, whatever being that created the genies might not be around anymore. Jafar’s wish was to become the most powerful being “in the universe”, which the Genie could easily take to mean “in the universe at this moment”.
  • Also, it's not pertinent to your question, but in the original, Jafar's wish was to become a genie, plain and simple. They changed it for the remake both to close the plot hole of Jafar wishing to become a being that lives in perpetual servitude, and so that the Genie could utilize his Literal Genie and Jackass Genie tendencies that the remake gave to him. In the animated film, the Genie character is a Benevolent Genie through and through, and the concept of exploiting how his master's wishes are worded is never brought up.
  • Having just rewatched the movie, when Genie is giving his explanation spiel in the beginning, he outright says that he, as a genie, is the most powerful being in the universe. Therefore, if someone asks to be "the most powerful in the universe", they'd have to be a genie.
  • If Jafar wanted to be the most powerful being in the universe, he would have wished to be a god or even God himself. But Genie possibly can't make Jafar that omnipotent. Turning Jafar into another genie is likely the highest upgrade he can get.
  • Working with the 'gray area' rules, arguably the only being more powerful than a genie would be Allah. But Genie could just as easily make the argument that Allah is not a being 'in' the universe, but the being who creates and has dominion over it. Plus, as the person above mentioned, actually making Jafar a god is probably a little above Genie's paygrade.

Why does Jafar want war with Shirabad so badly?

• To my recollection, we’re never told anything about Shirabad except that it’s where Jasmine’s mother came from and that the Sultan still considers its people to be his friends and allies. And Jafar’s primary motivation appears to still be gaining power — even if a war is just for the sake of conquest, why is he pushing to gain international support through Jasmine’s marriage rather than waiting until he’s in charge?
  • In his initial rant where he kills the first underling, he mentions he once spent five years in their prison. It isn't said whether he was guilty or not, or maybe he did the crime to survive, but has held a deep boiling grudge against the people and country since.
    • Oh... I see. Thanks for pointing that out. I swear, it was a detail that I seemed to remember subconsciously, but the way his imprisonment factored into his motivation didn't occur to me until you explained it.
  • It seemed to me to be at first for conquest and then after his irritation with everyone it turns to spite. As a sorcerer he doesn't actually have to marry Jasmine for power, it's just another thing to be a dick about.
  • I think a twisted sense of envy could be playing a factor, too. Jafar does mention to the sultan that Shirabad is currently undergoing notable expansion — he claims that war is necessary for defense, but in reality, he’s just bitter that he’s stuck as second-in-command to a sultan who’s more concerned with allies and sentiment than expansion and conquest.
  • He refers to Shirabad as a "toothless ally" at one point, which implies that he thinks it could be easily subjugated to Agrabah. As he sees it, the Sultan's loyalty to his dead wife's nation is making him foolishly ignore an obvious chance to expand his power and wealth.

Diamond in the rough

• How did Jafar know who the diamond in the rough was in this version? I know “diamond in the rough” basically means “a person who is of more worth than their status and position make them appear to be”, but the cave specified in both versions that “only ONE may enter here”, and unless I missed a scene, Jafar never found out who this one person was via magic like he did in the original — we just see Iago spying on Aladdin before labeling him as the diamond in the rough for no reason.
  • In both this and the animated film, Jafar has no qualms toward sacrificing theives in the off-chance of getting what he wants. (Or even after he DOES, hence getting rid of Aladdin in the cave after getting the lamp.) Iago was just saying (in parrot talk) "Thief in Palace! Let's take him to Cave of Wonders. If he's the 'Diamond in the Rough', the lamp is ours! If not, well, one less thief to rob the food stands!"
  • I took Jafar's watching of Aladdin as a secret test of character. He wondered why this boy was in the palace, and then saw he was there to return Jasmine's heirloom. This shows a character within him unlike a common thief who would have kept it to sell for money or food. So the boy could be what he is looking for.

Jafar's lamp

• This applies to the animated film, too — why do the heroes not destroy Jafar's lamp once he's trapped inside it, or at least keep it somewhere nearby and keep watch over it, or even somewhere that's uninhabited by people? Instead, the Genie sends it back into the Cave of Wonders, and the animated sequel shows that Jafar got out pretty easily, thanks to Iago, that he's still out for revenge on Aladdin, and that he's the epitome of a Jackass Genie regardless. And in that film, it's the Genie who tells the others that you can destroy Jafar by destroying his lamp, so it can't be said that he didn't know.
  • Genie DID send Jafar's lamp back to the Cave of Wonders, where only a Diamond in the Rough could get it. Unfortunately, Iago burrowed out of the cave in the sequel. Maybe Iago's status as neither genie nor diamond in the rough made the cave reject Jafar's lamp somehow, so the lamp just got stuck in the sand.
  • There remains the issue of Jafar being a terrible genie to inflict upon anyone, though, even as a slave. Will-Smith-Genie knows the ins and outs of twisting wishes around already, even if Robin-Williams-Genie never really considered the concept — between the two of them, at least one should've realized what a bad idea returning the lamp to the Cave of Wonders was.
    • Only a Diamond in the Rough can access the cave. Aladdin was too humble to consider persuing a wish-fufilling being, and only did so as a por-favor for a psychopath who KNEW about both the cave and the lamps existance. The cave seems to be only a few miles at most from the city, so its not likely another despicable government minister from a more distant kingdom would target the lamp in Agrabah's local "enchanted cavern".
  • It hasn't yet been established in this film's continuity that a genie's life is tied to the state of their lamp... Even in the case of the original, it was the sequel that first revealed that fact. It's even a possibility that's no longer the case in this version, as Genie was made to be a lot more smart and savvy but still didn't think to mention that destroying it was an option.

Not the most efficient use of sorcery

• How come Jafar didn't just teleport the lamp back to himself when Jasmine stole it from him, instead of sending Iago after her and Aladdin? Jafar was able to teleport Aladdin and Abu to the ends of the world, so why didn't he use the same kind of sorcery on the lamp?
  • With it being a magical genie’s lamp, maybe Jafar’s sorcery powers aren’t able to affect it. We also don’t see his powers affect things that aren’t right nearby — maybe he needs to know or be able to visualize where something is before he can affect it, and taking the time to do that for the lamp would give the heroes the chance they need to summon the Genie themselves. Whereas sending Iago after them creates too hectic a situation for them to focus on making a wish, so it’s a distraction as well as a means of bringing them back to him.
  • Jafar is not exactly known for being practical with his sorcery. Also it may be a question of focus/range: he can summon a staff back to him since it's directly within his reach, while the lamp is gone who-knows-where so he needs to get a fixed focus on it.

Screwing over Jafar

• We all know that this Genie is a lot more savvy than the one in the animated film — he knows what it means to be able to misinterpret wishes and twist them around and such, but I’m wondering why it took him until Jafar’s third wish to capitalize on this. His first wish was reworded to become “I wish to become the sultan of Agrabah,” but the Genie could have designated some tiny island (or another planet) to be named Agrabah and made Jafar sultan of that place. And/or more of the same for his second wish — take away the powers of every other sorcerer that exists, then give Jafar the power to pull a bunny out of his hat and it’ll still fit the terms of the wish.
  • (Regarding the second wish) Well that wouldn't exactly be fair to all the other sorcerers forced to give up their powers all of a sudden without even knowing how/why, now would it.
    • Actually the way Jafar words it in this version is "I wish to be the most powerfull sorceror there EVER IS." That actually opens more grey area than in the animated version. If Genie narrowed down the "There ever is" criteria further on his own interpetation, he could make Jafar the most powerful sorceror in Agrabah, the palace, or even that very room at the moment. If Genie just slightly upgraded (or if he wanted to be even more tricky, downgraded) Jafar's pre-existing sorcery, it would still fit Jafar's Exact Words.
    • There is no way to interpret "most powerful ... there ever is" as meaning, "in this room." That's not an interpretation or a grey area, it's flat out changing the wish entirely.
    • He doesn't say "ever", anyway. The exact words of his second wish are "I wish to become the most powerful sorcerer there is."
    • Having taken an oral communication class, I'm still technically inclined to disagree. (granted my "in this very room" comment was hyperbole just to make my point though) Unlike in the original, Jafar is rather vauge on the particular standard of exactly HOW powerful as a sorcerer he wished to be. Wish to be the most powerful sorcerer in the nation? done! World? Bam! Universe? You got it! But by saying you wish to be the most powerful sorcerer "there is" isn't as specific. Picture Genie saying afterwards "The most powerful sorcerer there is in Agrabah, the World?, or the Universe?" That line would open up my point on how far Genie could have extended his interpretation of the second wish, and screw with it at Jafar's expense.
    • Even still, the film never says that Genie can twist a wish by adding more context to it; he only reinterprets the exact words that are given to him, like "make me a prince" or "wield the power of the universe in my hand" or "become an omnipotent being". So he could, say, choose what type of power Jafar received (such as physical strength or something as opposed to magic) since Jafar didn't specify that part, but that he didn't specify the limits of his superiority only means that he intends for them to be limitless, which the Genie cannot change.
  • Because there's a vast gulf between, "pull off a trick in the grey area a wish's wording allows" and the kind of huge departure from the wish's stated intent that is being proposed here.
  • Jafar is still a powerful sorcerer and would likely catch on to the Genie's attempts to twist his wishes if done that blatant. Then he'll just simply word his wishes exactly how he wants them to be, no possible loopholes to be used. The reason why the Genie decides to screw over Jafar for the final wish is that A) Genies are indeed the most powerful beings in the universe according to his chart and B) Jafar would be too powerless to punish the Genie.
  • I've also considered that Genie was not particularly generous in granting Jafar's wishes anyway, particularly the second one. The effects of the first are roughly the same as in the animated film, in that all it really gives him is a change of clothes — it's the decision of the guards that determines whether his claim to the throne actually has any merit. And his powers of sorcery are heavily scaled back from the near-Reality Warper they made him in the animated film, as he only uses them for Agony Beam, banishing Aladdin, increasing Iago's size, and summoning a sandstorm. The Genie's aim might've been to grant him enough power that he wouldn't want to ask for more, but not enough that he'd too powerful for the heroes to defeat.
    • The only evidence of Jafar's more limited sorcery is that he's more sublet in this version. Just because he's holding back more with his magic-wielding doesn't mean the greater possibilities are not there.
    • I agree, of course that's true. But it's equally possible that he is just not as powerful here, especially since has no reason to want to hold back.
  • Whether the Genie could've twisted the meaning of Jafar's wish, it wouldn't have been very beneficial for him to do so. As soon as Jafar realizes what had happened, he would just use his final wish to clarify how powerful he really wanted to become. If you're going to trick someone in this scenario, you want to do it in a way that royally screws them over, not just through a slight inconvenience that makes things worse in the long run — if Jafar were tricked into wasting his second wish, that means Genie wouldn't be able to use the third one to trap him inside his own lamp.
  • I think the problem is that Jafar was probably already aware of the duplicitious nature of genies. His first two wishes are fairly concise. There was still gray area as mentioned above. He wished to be sultan but that didn't automatically make people undyingly loyal to him. He wished to become the most powerful sorcerer there is, so Genie made him just that, but that just means he has to be marginally more powerful than the next most powerful sorcerer there is. Which, apparently from what we see, is pretty powerful. It isn't until the third wish, when Jafar's having his Villainous Breakdown that he doesn't think about what he's saying and Genie's really able to hit him with the rules lawyering.

Jafar, you’re not going to give him a minute?

• Jafar tries to drown Aladdin to verify who he is and whether he has the lamp on him, yet he only gives a passing glance down at the water after pushing him in. Even if Aladdin had had the lamp on his person, it would’ve taken some time and effort to summon the genie when his hands and feet are both bound. Wouldn’t Jafar want to give him a little more time before leaving him for dead? If he had, he would’ve seen Abu and Carpet dropping the lamp down into the water.
  • He may have searched Aladdin to see if he had the lamp on him, and because he didn't he could have just gone to Ali's quarters in the castle and looked for the lamp. Also his concern was getting Ali out of the way.

Jasmine’s thievery

• The updates to Jasmine’s character are nice, but they make it seem unlikely that she wouldn’t know what money is or think to bring some with her when she went into the marketplace. Even if she didn’t, wouldn’t Dalia have thought to give her some, or at least explain the concept so she knew?
  • It looks like traditional Disney princess naivete and impulsiveness, and it may have been her first time in Agrabah's bazaars.
  • She's smart and politically active, but she's still been sheltered in the palace for years, where all her needs and wants are taken care of. Wealthy people FREQUENTLY forget about basic things that regular people know by heart.
  • I didn't get the impression Jasmine didn't know what money was in this version; she was just indignant about the guy being so pushy over giving away a couple loaves of bread to some needy children, especially when it was his brother's stall, not his own. She might've consented to paying him money from the palace eventually if Aladdin hadn't intervened first.

Why would Jasmine prefer Aladdin?

• During their conversation, Dalia comments that Jasmine would prefer to marry "that boy from the marketplace" over Prince Anders. But as far as Jasmine knows at this point, Aladdin stole her bracelet from her — why would Dalia think she'd want to marry him after that?
  • Because "stole her bracelet" was not the entirety of their interaction, and clearly Jasmine has told Dalia other things about their meeting.
  • ...And you’re saying the rest of their interaction was enough to offset the fact that he (supposedly) took advantage of her naïveté by stealing a priceless royal heirloom?
  • Simply because he's a native to Agrabah and at that point more preferable to Jasmine than some exotic foreigner that wants only her title and position.
  • Jasmine does make a "You've got to be kidding" expression after Dalia says it, so it could be something she's been trying to deny that Dalia just won't let go of. Sort of like a She Is Not My Girlfriend scenario.
  • It’s also possible that Jasmine was willing to give Aladdin some benefit of the doubt about the bracelet. After all, he had it with him when they split up right before “One Jump Ahead”; if he really wanted to steal it, logic dictates he would’ve run off with it right then and left her to get caught by the guards. Rather than helping her elude capture, showing her the way to his hideaway, getting to know her, and then escorting her home before admitting that he doesn’t have it with him.

Guards helping Jafar

• If the guards are supposed to be loyal to the Sultan, and are even given a subplot about being loyal to the Sultan, why did they help Jafar with his plan up until he was arrested? Policing the city is one thing, but then he has them going on trips to a cave in the desert when they don't know what he's trying to get from inside, and even makes them complicit in his attempt to kill off Prince Ali. Does Hakim not know about all of this? If he does, why hasn't he reported it to the Sultan?
  • They helped Jafar as long as he was loyal to the Sultan, their personal moral quandary didn't come until Jafar had usurped the title.
  • And Jafar's snake staff seems to have stronger hypnotic effects than in the animated version (it can hypnotize from several feet away instead of right in front of the Sultan's face.) Jafar might be able to brainwash the guards (or at least Hakkim) into following his orders as long as their pre-existing loyalty is intact.
  • They know that while Jafar is after the lamp, they don't know that he has treasonous intentions for it. As far as they knew at the time, Jafar was gonna give it to the sultan and say something like "Your highness, this is a magic lamp that houses an all-powerful genie. He will grant three wishes to whomever releases him from the lamp. I'm sure you will find great use for him to aid our people and kingdom." As ruthless as Jafar was, they probably gave him the benefit of doubt that such a conspiracy was a level he'd have any qualms of stooping too.
  • We can see at the end that there appear to be some guards who are more loyal to Jafar than to Hakkim, since they aren't in the dungeon.

Treasure, treasure, everywhere...

• In this version, even after the Cave of Wonders collapses, all the treasure inside stays put. Why didn’t Aladdin think to take some of it before he “wished” himself out? I get that he had the genie, but those are piles and piles of free treasure, and he’s already seen the worst of what happens when he tries. Even if the cave were to do something worse to him the second time, he could probably make his wish before it had a chance to.
  • Aladdin was too intrigued by the genie to consider that. Even Abu was apparently too traumatized by the caves collapse to consider that.

What did he need the Genie for?

• If Aladdin was able to reach Jasmine’s room from outside via the carpet, what did he need the Genie’s help with, exactly? The guards would not seem to be a problem for either of them, meaning all the Genie did was remove Dalia from the picture. Was her being in the room with Jasmine that big of a deal?
  • He wants to court and marry Jasmine, not just pop into her room for a bootycall.
    • What does that have to do with anything? Whatever Aladdin's goal was, why couldn't he just attempt it with Dalia in the room, or just ask her to leave for a moment? If Jasmine were to refuse to be in the room alone with him, that would pose a problem whether Genie distracted Dalia or not since she could just summon a guard to be there instead.
  • Ah, I misunderstood what you were asking. Basically, he wants privacy with Jasmine, like anyone else who's trying to court and woo a girl would, and having Genie distract Dalia is the best way he sees to do that. Plus, Genie likes Dalia, so he's doing him a favor, too.

Inspiration for Shirabad

• What is the source for all of these claims that Shirabad is "India-inspired"?
  • Her actress is Indian rather than a "Middle Eastern" ethnicity. Since there are numerous non Indian groups to choose from, people are got upset that one of the most recognizable Middle Eastern character in the English market was being played by an actress of one of those non Indian Middle East groups. But since she is connected to this Shirabad, which didn't exist in the animated version, clearly Shirabad is India, explaining Jasmine's "change" in ethnicity. Genetically Indians are closely related to Afghans and practically identical to Persians and Iranians, all of whom are "Middle East". Not to mention adoption and miscegenation are as old as territory and tribalism, but cultural perception always trumps fact when dealing with social concepts like exactly what part of magnetic western Asia is geopolitically southeast Asia and which part is Middle East. These designations have been established over hundreds to thousands of years of strife and reconciliation. They are important to people. Or to summarize, fan theories not yet falsified.

Why is Dalia still around?

• After Jafar takes over, I don't see what reason he has to keep her around during the wedding and all that. I get that she doesn't pose any threat to him, but what use does she serve that would keep him from just telling her, "You're fired, get out!"?
  • She was just a handmaiden and hadn't tried to defy him; there was no reason to fire her, or even pay attention to her.
  • Maybe he kept her around as a way of keeping the Genie in line. Genie did give that Little "No" when Jafar restrained Dalia using his powers, and if he also caught wind of her and Genie co-mingling with each other earlier in the story, he might've hoped to use Genie's feelings for her to ensure he does what Jafar wants.
  • I'd say she's still around for the same reason the guards are still around. Jafar wants to be a ruler and a ruler has servants.
  • There's also the fact that Dalia is Jasmine's personal handmaiden, and it's reasonable she'd be nearby to attend to Jasmine at her own wedding, hasty affair though it may be. Jasmine has also shown how much she cares about Dalia through her reaction to Jafar using an Agony Beam on her. Even if Jafar didn't notice how much Genie cares for her, keeping Dalia close is still a smart move because it gives Jafar additional leverage against Jasmine.

Why wasn't Aladdin a real prince?

• Since the Genie's power is unlimited once a wish is made, why make Aladdin a fake prince of a nonexistent country (which after all is not what he wished for)? Why couldn't he create Agrabah?
  • It probably has something to do with the Genie taking time to warm up to Aladdin in this version. He didn’t want to go to the trouble of creating an entire kingdom and modifying everyone's memories so they wouldn’t question it, when what he did do worked just as well. Also, he created an entire parade’s worth of loyal subjects for Ali and gave him a ton of money — with all that power and influence, it is sort of grasping at straws to say that he’s not a “real prince” just because he doesn’t have physical land to rule over.
  • Thanks to all of Genie's hard work, at the end Aladdin marries Jasmine and becomes her prince-consort. Sounds like a wish granted if you ask me!

The song

• What was the significance behind Aladdin's and Jasmine's mothers both teaching them the same song? Assuming it's not suggesting that they're related (ew)...Were we supposed to assume that it's a commonly taught tune in Agrabah? (Even though Jasmine's mother was from another kingdom...)
  • That's actually an Orphaned Reference, as the song (titled "Desert Moon") was originally set to appear as a duet between Aladdin and Jasmine, albeit with Jasmine singing from the palace and Aladdin as he arrived to the Cave of Wonders, but was ultimately cut.
  • Beyond the above, it serves as a story tool for the two to bond more. It's not that the song is particularly unique, just that she happens to strum a few chords and he wistfully remarks that his mother used to sing it to him.

Jafar in prison

• They made a big deal of Jafar being imprisoned by the guards when he was trying to rule as the Sultan. But the next scene we see of him, he's out of prison and stealing the lamp back from Aladdin. At that point in the story, he didn't have any powers since he didn't have his staff anymore, so how did he get out of jail? It would've made sense if he had Iago grab the lamp and bring it to him to wish himself out of jail, but nope.
  • The movie shows that Iago brought him the key to his cell as soon as the guards left him alone. In the animated film, he knew of secret passages to get him out of the palace, and in this version, he has the background of a thief who would be used to sneaking around unnoticed.

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