History Film / Labyrinth

-->'''Goblin''': Steady, men! Hold your ground!
-->''[Ludo's boulder knocks the goblins over]''
-->'''Goblin''': Okay, I take it back - [[IndyEscape run for your lives]]!

-->'''Sarah''': You have no power over me.

--> '''Sarah:''' I have to get to the castle at the centre of the labyrinth. Do you know the way?
--> '''Wise Man:''' Uh...
--> '''The Hat:''' ''(mockingly)'' Eh...
--> '''Wise Man:''' Uh...
--> '''The Hat:''' Eh...
--> '''Wise Man:''' Well... yes. You... want to get to the castle. Eh?
--> '''The Hat:''' How's that for brainpower, huh?

-->'''Junk Lady''': Don't you like your toys?\\
'''Sarah''': ...it's all junk.\\
'''Junk Lady''': Huh? Well, what about this? This is not junk. Hmm?\\
'''Sarah''': Yes, it is! I have to save Toby!

--->'''Jareth''': Nothing? ''Nothing?'' '''''NOTHING, tra-la-la?'''''

--> '''Sir Didymus''': Well, if that is the way it is done, then that is the way you must do it.

* {{Catchphrase}}
** Jareth: "''Such'' a pity."
** Sarah: "It's not fair!"
--->'''Jareth:''' [[LampshadeHanging You say that so often.]] I wonder what your basis for comparison is.

* CoolLoser: Sarah appears to have no friends, and goes on no dates, in spite of looking like Jennifer Connelly. However, the novelization notes she has at least one school chum, and her interest in fantasy worlds could well be blinding her to what she could be enjoying in the real one. Being depressed over her mother leaving the family has probably also contributed to her isolation.

Sarah Williams is an unhappy teenager who hides from life in fantasy tales to the point of dressing up in a long flowing dress and [[{{LARP}} acting out bits of script in the park]]. The cause of her unhappiness is her father's remarriage and the resulting half-brother, one year old Toby (played by concept artist Creator/BrianFroud's son [[TheDanza Toby]]). One night, in a particularly big sulk, she wishes that the Goblin King (called Jareth) from the book she was acting out earlier would come and take Toby away -- which, to her horror, he immediately does. When Sarah regrets her wish and demands Toby be returned, Jareth gives Sarah a chance to rescue Toby; he takes her to his realm, where she must find her way through the Labyrinth to Jareth's castle before thirteen hours have elapsed. In this quest, she is aided by various goblins and monsters whose allegiance to Jareth is highly conditional or non-existent. As the film progresses, Jareth seems to have ulterior motives in giving Sarah a chance to rescue her brother.

* CoolBigSis: Downplayed with Sarah; while she is annoyed at babysitting Toby and tells him a scary tale out of spite, it's clear that despite his constant crying he adores her, as he smiles at her in the climax. She truly grow into this role when she defies a RealityWarper king to rescue her toddler brother and make sure he is safe.

* In May 2020, it was reported that a [[https://deadline.com/2020/05/labyrinth-sequel-scott-derrickson-director-maggie-levin-write-script-doctor-strange-1202943188/ sequel]], to be written by Maggie Levin and with Creator/ScottDerrickson (''Film/DoctorStrange'') as director, is in development.

* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: It has Bowie in it, playing an ambiguous (and androgynous) goblin in a high fantasy setting. The weird and wonderful all come together to make a camp classic.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The second of a Spiritual Trilogy; see the main description.

* NobodyCanDie: Purposefully invoked by the filmmakers.
** There are things more significant than death at stake here: this isn't a battle of mortality, this is a battle of the spirit; a battle between going with what's easy vs attaining some form of self realization. Death is easy, being someone you can live with is harder.

Sarah is an unhappy teenager who hides from life in fantasy tales to the point of dressing up in a long flowing dress and [[{{LARP}} acting out bits of script in the park]]. The cause of her unhappiness is her father's remarriage and the resulting half-brother, one year old Toby (played by concept artist Creator/BrianFroud's son [[TheDanza Toby]]). One night, in a particularly big sulk, she wishes that the Goblin King (called Jareth) from the book she was acting out earlier would come and take Toby away -- which, to her horror, he immediately does. When Sarah regrets her wish and demands Toby be returned, Jareth gives Sarah a chance to rescue Toby; he takes her to his realm, where she must find her way through the Labyrinth to Jareth's castle before thirteen hours have elapsed. In this quest, she is aided by various goblins and monsters whose allegiance to Jareth is highly conditional or non-existent. As the film progresses, Jareth seems to have ulterior motives in giving Sarah a chance to rescue her brother.

* RaceAgainstTheClock: Sarah must solve the Labyrinth within 13 hours.

* CoolLoser: Sarah appears to have no friends, and goes on no dates, in spite of looking like Jennifer Connelly. However, the novelization notes she has at least one school chum, and her interest in fantasy worlds could well be blinding her to what she could be enjoying in the real one. Being depressed over her mother leaving the family has probably also contributed to her isolation.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: After repeatedly threatening to do so, Jareth sends Hoggle to the Bog of Eternal Stench, so called because its odor is so horrible that it's impossible to wash off if you so much as set foot in it.

''Labyrinth'' is a 1986 Creator/JimHenson film, produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas and written by Creator/TerryJones, a musical fantasy starring Music/DavidBowie and Creator/JenniferConnelly. Sarah is an unhappy teenager who hides from life in fantasy tales to the point of dressing up in a long flowing dress and [[{{LARP}} acting out bits of script in the park]]. The cause of her unhappiness is her father's remarriage and the resulting half-brother, one year old Toby (played by concept artist Creator/BrianFroud's son [[TheDanza Toby]]). One night, in a particularly big sulk, she wishes that the Goblin King (called Jareth) from the book she was acting out earlier would come and take Toby away -- which, to her horror, he immediately does. When Sarah regrets her wish and demands Toby be returned, Jareth gives Sarah a chance to rescue Toby; he takes her to his realm, where she must find her way through the Labyrinth to Jareth's castle before thirteen hours have elapsed. In this quest, she is aided by various goblins and monsters whose allegiance to Jareth is highly conditional or non-existent. As the film progresses, Jareth seems to have ulterior motives in giving Sarah a chance to rescue her brother.

* AdultFear:
** In the beginning, after Sarah wishes that the goblins would take Toby away and leave the room, Toby stops crying, and then she goes back into his room and discovers that he's gone!
** This is actually Jareth's ploy to impress and entice Sarah, who is only a teenager herself. Not helping is the scene where he coerces Hoggle to drug her and traps her in a crystal ball where he fondles up her dazed self.

* ChangedMyMindKid: Hoggle, who goes off in shame and despair after feeding Sarah the peach, but comes back to help them at the castle in the end.

* AdultFear: In the beginning, after Sarah wishes that the goblins would take Toby away and leave the room, Toby stops crying, and then she goes back into his room and discovers that he's gone!
** This is actually Jareth's ploy to impress and entice Sarah, who is only a teenager herself.

* LotusEaterMachine: The ball, which is a beautiful dreamscape designed to keep Sarah happy and get her to forget about Toby. The replica of her bedroom afterwards, which is another attempt at the same, is created after she smashes her way out of the ball.
* LovableTraitor: Hoggle, Sarah's cuddly goblin friend, who betrays her to Jareth, although he doesn't feel good about it.

* PlaceWorseThanDeath: The Bog of Eternal Stench. It not only stinks with a odor that's too horrible to describe, it curses anyone who puts so much as a foot in its waters with the same odor - forever.

''Labyrinth'' is a 1986 Creator/JimHenson film, produced by Creator/GeorgeLucas and written by Creator/TerryJones, a musical fantasy starring Music/DavidBowie and Creator/JenniferConnelly. Sarah is an unhappy teenager, who hides from life in fantasy tales to the point of dressing up in a long flowing dress and [[{{LARP}} acting out bits of script in the park]]. The cause of her unhappiness is her father's remarriage and the resulting half-brother, one year old Toby (played by concept artist Creator/BrianFroud's son [[TheDanza Toby]]). One night, in a particularly big sulk, she wishes that the Goblin King (called Jareth) from the book she was acting out earlier would come and take Toby away -- which, to her horror, he immediately does. When Sarah regrets her wish and demands Toby be returned, Jareth gives Sarah a chance to rescue Toby; he takes her to his realm, where she must find her way through the Labyrinth to Jareth's castle before thirteen hours have elapsed. In this quest, she is aided by various goblins and monsters whose allegiance to Jareth is highly conditional or non-existent. As the film progresses, Jareth seems to have ulterior motives in giving Sarah a chance to rescue her brother.

* In May 2020, it's been reported that a [[https://deadline.com/2020/05/labyrinth-sequel-scott-derrickson-director-maggie-levin-write-script-doctor-strange-1202943188/ sequel]], to be written by Maggie Levin and with Creator/ScottDerrickson (''Film/DoctorStrange'') as director, is in development.

* AdorableEvilMinions: Their adorableness is debatable but this trope fits the goblins quite well.

* AffablyEvil: Jareth may have kidnapped baby Toby and he delights in being "unfair" to Sarah, but he's cheerful throughout, has David Bowie's dazzling charisma and seems to want nothing more than to have Sarah and Toby stay with him. It's also notable that at no point does he ever ''harm'' Toby, and even has a few scenes where he holds the little guy ''affectionately''.

** [[http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/script.txt an early script]] makes this canon, ending with Sarah waking up after hitting her head.

* AloofBigSister: Sarah's apathetic attitude towards her half-brother is what kick-started the entire plot.

** "It's not fair!" First Jareth tells it to Sarah. Later, Sarah realizes, "Yes, it's not fair. But that's the way it is."

-->'''Goblin''': Okay, I take it back - [[IndyEscape Run for your lives]]!

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Sarah wishes her brother Toby to be taken away by the Goblin King. She wasn't told that the Goblin King is very real and has the power (and the inclination) to grant her wish. Undoing this is the point of her adventure.

* BehindTheBlack: The first trick in the Labyrinth is that the turns from the first hallway are concealed by ForcedPerspective and Sarah can't see them until a resident worm points this out. From her perspective she should be seeing them edge-on and they shouldn't have been hidden at all. This may be a magical effect, but the worm's bemused reaction implies Sarah literally has NoPeripheralVision.

* ChekhovsArmory: Sarah's entire bedroom. Plush Didymus, plush Ludo, the musicbox with Sarah's PimpedOutDress playing "As the World Falls Down", a Jareth-looking statue, a print of that Escher drawing, it's all there. Not to mention, there's a picture of Music/DavidBowie with Sarah's actress mother in the scrap book and in the mirror, although this is not a CelebrityParadox at work. That relates to AllThereInTheManual backstory: The novelization explains that this fellow is ''Jeremy'', the fellow actor she left the family for. He gave Sarah, who found him glamorous and charming, the music box.

** The most frightening part of the movie is when Hoggle, under Jareth's command, gives Sarah a peach that knocks her unconscious and transports her into an illusionary fever dream world in which her agency is compromised and Jareth dances with her. Note that Jareth is obsessively in love with Sarah. Just replace "dancing" with something else and...yeah.

** Sarah and her friends encounter a bridge at one point guarded by the steadfast Sir Didymus, who has taken a solemn vow to never let anyone cross it without his permission. After Ludo attempts to fight their way across, Sarah just asks for permission to use the bridge. Apparently ''nobody'' has ever just asked before as Sir Didymus reacts with utter confusion... and says yes.

** When Sarah and Ludo approach a bridge they are confronted by Sir Didymus who states ''"I have sworn with my life's blood, no one shall pass this way without my permission!"'' Ludo tries unsuccessfully to force his way across only to be stymied by Didymus' agile fighting. Sarah pauses a moment to reflect on the best way to resolve the situation and asks him politely for his permission. Apparently nobody (including Didymus himself) had ever thought of that solution before.

* FaerieCourt: Jareth is technically King of the Goblins, but because he is played by Creator/DavidBowie in full glam rock-new romantic mode fits the archetype of Fairy Queen. Of course, [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]] and the Fae have very little differences in folklore.

** One of the newspaper clippings has Sarah's actress mother dating in the newspaper... Music/DavidBowie? WordOfGod said this was intentional. It's not a CelebrityParadox, but ''is'' related to the AllThereInTheManual backstory: The novelization explains that ''this'' fellow is "Jeremy", the fellow actor she left the family for. Which explains why the Goblin King looks like David Bowie -- her mother effectively left her father for him!

* HeelFaceTurn: Hoggle was evil or at least selfish, but ultimately takes Sarah's side. For most of the movie, though, he ''did'' [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor keep Sarah (and the audience) guessing]].

* IceCreamKoan: Sarah gives a valuable item for what Hoggle says is useless advice. Even the advice giver is shocked Sarah paid for it after she leaves.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Hoggle, who actually ''hates'' himself and believes he's friendless because he's ugly -- something Jareth takes full advantage of. Sarah's insistence YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre finally wins him over.

* InvasionOfTheBabySnatchers: The goblins steal children

* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: Sarah chooses to face Jareth alone and asks her friends not to follow her in the showdown.
* ItsAllJunk: After escaping Jareth's dream, is guided into a replica of her bedroom by the Junk Lady in an attempt to make her forget Toby and just became enthralled in her possessions. Sarah realises that all of it is worthless compared to her brother, and tosses it all away.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Initially Hoggle towards Sarah. And even Sarah towards baby Toby. In the end, both realize they should care about the other.
* KnightsAndKnaves: However, it's rigged, and even though Sarah takes the right door, she ends up falling into the oubliette. See the Trope page for KnightsAndKnaves for the likely reason why this sort of puzzle is often a MortonsFork.

* LifeIsntFair: Boy, does Sarah learn ''this'' the hard way and once she does she reminds Hoggle of the fact when she steals his jewels and ''he'' accuses ''her'' of not being fair. Touche.
* LivingStructureMonster: The movie features a number of creatures that are basically part of the architecture of the eponymous maze. These include the talking door knockers, and the talking walls which give false alarms to passersby.

* LotusEaterMachine: The ball, which is a beautiful dreamscape designed to keep Sarah happy and get her to forget about Toby. The replica of her bedroom afterwards, which is another attempt at the same, after she smashes her way out of the ball.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: If Jareth had settled on just giving Hoggle orders then there would have been no problem, especially since Hoggle is a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope. However, Jareth just can't seem to stop insulting Hoggle, belittling him, physically mistreating him, and issuing dire threats (it was probably his threat to dump Hoggle into the Bog Of Eternal Stench that finally tipped the scales). The manga reveals that Jareth makes good on his threat and actually made Hoggle the King of the Bog.

* MobileMaze: The Labyrinth often reconfigures itself, sometimes silently off-screen to the surprise of Sarah and sometimes with moving mechanisms or creatures. At one point Hoggle even evokes it to help Sarah escape the oubliette by propping a door against a wall and opening it to reveal there is now an exit behind it... but not before first putting it up backwards and revealing a broom closet instead.

* PanUpToTheSkyEnding: This bookends the movie's opening credit sequence, which panned ''down'' as it followed the barn owl's flight.

* RealityWarper: The Labyrinth is essentially Jareth's plaything; he's capable of altering time and space at will. But he holds no power over humans who enter his realm unless they give themselves willingly.
** Depending upon your interpretation, possibly Sarah herself, unwittingly; see also YourMindMakesItReal. The goblin world is heavily influenced by her interests and imagination, is able to defeat Jareth with mere ''words'', and obviously has influence over the goblins and other creatures at the end.
* RealTime: At the beginning of the movie's climax, a clock reads that there are thirteen minutes left. The entire climax lasts around thirteen minutes.

** An unintentional one occurs in the panning shot of Sarah's room which showed ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' and ''Outside Over There'' by Creator/MauriceSendak; especially the latter because it's also about a girl rescuing her sibling from goblins. However, it was not originally planned that way as Brian Froud has said "The link between his work and ours was only noticed well into production", as the concept of goblins stealing babies is well-established folklore and the original jumping-off point for the project--but Sendak actually considered suing over the matter. In the end, Henson acknowledging an artistic debt to Sendak in the end credits served to placate the author.

* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: It has Bowie in it... playing an ambiguous (and androgynous) goblin in a high fantasy setting. The weird and wonderful all come together to make a camp classic.

* ThatPoorCat: As they enter the Goblin City, one can be heard then briefly seen running across the background.

--> '''Sir Didymus''': Well if that is the way it is done, then that is the way you must do it.

* VillainousCheekbones: Jareth the Goblin King, as portrayed by David Bowie, has promimently-defined cheeks.

* VillainHasAPoint: Jareth a few times has to point out to Sarah that he's only acting out the fantasy that she wrote, that she wanted him to be this alluring, dangerous king. It's her decision if she chooses to reject him, but he won't make it easy for her. The moment that Sarah realizes that Jareth is a fantasy and he has no power over her means that he lost, and he sends her and Toby home, unharmed.

* AdultFear: At the beginning, after Sarah wishes that the goblins would take Toby away and leaves the room, Toby stops crying and then she goes back into his room and discovers that he's gone!

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: If Jareth had settled on just giving Hoggle orders then there would have been no problem, especially since Hoggle is a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope. However, Jareth just can't seem to stop insulting Hoggle, belittling him, physically mistreating him, and issuing dire threats (it was probably his threat to dump Hoggle into the Bog Of Eternal Stench that finally tipped the scales). The manga reveals that Jareth makes good on his threat.

* AffablyEvil: Jareth may have kidnapped baby Toby and he delights in being "unfair" to Sarah, but he's cheerful throughout and seems to want nothing more than to have Sarah and Toby stay with him. It's also notable that at no point does he ever ''harm'' Toby, and even has a few scenes where he holds the little guy ''affectionately''.

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: The novelization says that Sarah can hear the background music in-universe.

* AndYouWereThere: Everything in Sarah's room is in the Goblin King's world (as well as her dog), such as the Sir Didymous doll on her bed.

-->--'''Jareth, the Goblin King'''

%%* ImNotAfraidOfYou: How Sarah wins, at the end. ''"[[NotAfraidOfYouAnymore You have no power over me!!!]]"''

* KnightsAndKnaves: However, it's rigged, and even though Sarah takes the right door, she ends up falling into the Oubliette. See the Trope page for KnightsAndKnaves for the likely reason why this sort of puzzle is often a MortonsFork.

* MobileMaze: The Labyrinth often reconfigures itself, sometimes silently off-screen to the surprise of Sarah and sometimes with moving mechanisms or creatures. At one point Hoggle even evokes it to help Sarah escape the Oubliette by propping a door against a wall and opening it to reveal there is now an exit behind it... but not before first putting it up backwards and revealing a broom closet instead.

* {{Oubliette}}

%%* VillainousCheekbones: Jareth, of course.
%%* VillainousCrush: Currently provides the page quote.