Line #23 Headscratchers/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves


1	* Cassim mentions that when he returned to Agrabah, he could not find his wife or son. His wife was probably dead already, but where was Aladdin?
2	** Living somewhere alone on the street, most likely. It's a big city, and Cassim may not have had much of a way to find him.
3	* The rules for the Oracle seem to be contradictory. When Iago asks why anyone would want it, not knowing what it was, she appeared and answered his question. This would seem to imply that ''any'' question spoken by ''anyone'' touching the staff qualifies for a formal appearance and answer. But during the first fight with Cassim, Al asks him "Do you have an invitation?" while holding the thing, and nothing happens.
4	** And later on Cassim asks a question when someone else is holding it! So what, now it's any question asked within earshot?
5	** To be fair, the Oracle is fully sentient, and, among other things, actually ''guided'' Aladdin on asking the right question. Presumably, since it ''is'' an all-knowing Oracle, it would know which people are worthy of help and which ones are better if tricked out of their questions.
6	** Or maybe, if you ask a question that isn't directed at anyone in particular while near the Oracle / if you ask the Oracle directly, then it will answer you. If, however, you ask a question that you were directing toward someone specifically, the Oracle doesn't answer that question, so that's maybe why the invitation question didn't get answered.
7	** Simple explanation: Iago is the series' designated ButtMonkey. Of ''course'' he would be the only one not to be given a fair chance to save his question for when he actually needed it.
8	** Pretty sure the Oracle could guess that the invitation question was sarcastic. Perhaps if she is an all-knowing being, she is bound by the rules but is able to stretch them a little - and wanted to help reunite father and son. She used Iago's question to reveal herself to the protagonists, but not when Aladdin and Cassim first meet, because that would just mean Cassim finds the hand and goes about his way. The way it did happen, Aladdin found his father, and Cassim learned a valuable lesson.
9	* Irrelevant, but why exactly is Sa'luk gray?
10	** Even more headscratchingly, he's normal flesh colors on the VHS cover.
11	** He probably has argyria (silver poisoning), which permanently turns the skin a bluish-grey. Possibly he was attempting to smuggle some silver coins by ''eating them'' one day.
12	** Bluish skin discoloration is also a symptom of alcohol consumption.
13	* Why does Cassim try to steal the Oracle after he knew who Aladdin was? Why not just ask Aladdin to use it? The Hand of Midas doesn't seem to belong to anyone, so it's not like he or Jasmine would have a moral objection to a treasure hunt. (Even if Aladdin didn't believe in the Hand, there was no reason not to let Cassim try to find it.) He didn't just destroy his relationship with Aladdin out of greed, he destroyed it when it was completely unnecessary.
14	** It's a lot like the point mentioned about Aladdin and Iago in ''Return of Jafar''. Cassim was just used to being a thief and stealing was second nature to him. He seems very materialistic and he only agrees to go to the wedding when Iago reminds him about the treasure. His plan all along was to use the wedding as a distraction so he could sneak into the treasury.
15	** He also didn't know Aladdin that well at this point, and for all he knew asking could get him a no and turned out of the palace - requiring another elaborate plan to sneak in and get it.
16	* When Cassim uses the Hand of Midas inside its temple/palace/whatever, it turns everything to gold, even the water. Later he throws it onto the deck of the ship, the ship turns to gold and sinks...and the water remains normal. Shouldn't the whole oceanic system be gold now?
17	** The water itself didn't turn gold. Since everything around the water was gold, the water reflected that color.
18	** And since water is transparent, that just might be the way the animators are "showing" that everything behind or under the water is turning to gold. If the hand could turn water into gold, that would happen to the ocean every time the vanishing isle submerged.
19	* Why does Aladdin think [[MissingMom Jasmine]] wouldn't be able to understand what it's like to grow up without a father?
20	** Could be because she didn't grow up without a father. We don't know when her mother died, but since we never get to see any of Jasmine's childhood, it's possible that Jasmine grew up with both parents and only lost her mother after she'd entered her teens or something similar.
21	** Not to mention they're talking about ''fathers'', and Jasmine still has hers.
22	** Also, Jasmine at least has one parent; Aladdin didn't get squat.
23	** Aladdin had assumed his father was dead. Now all he knows is that his father is alive but has been missing his whole life. He's referring to growing up now knowing that his father ''left'' him.
24	** Jasmine also grew up being tended to by servants in the palace. The problem with her life in the first film was that she was ''too'' looked after by others. She'd probably understand Aladdin's situation even ''less'' than a normal person would.
25	** Men often angst about not having a father to teach them how to be men. Jasmine as a woman - and one who had a father and mother for a good while at that - just wouldn't understand.
26	* Two points: Cassim acts as if the Oracle exists solely to help someone find the Hand of Midas, so why is it you can ask her anything you want as if she's all-knowing? And the Genie states she is ''an'' Oracle rather than ''the'' Oracle, implying there are others. Perhaps they all have the same general purpose omniscience, but each also has individual things, like the Hand of Midas, that they know a lot more about? When she is asked about the Hand, she does become a guiding star to show the way, hovers over the Vanishing Isle as it rises, and declares "You have arrived", all things she didn't do when Aladdin asked about his father. And the interior of the Hand's chamber ''is'' adorned with statues and carvings cast in the Oracle's likeness... Second, if everything the Hand touches turns to gold, why doesn't the wooden handle it's mounted on? Is it specifically enchanted to be immune, so that you can handle it without dooming yourself?
27	** A) There's no reason to assume the Oracle is ''just'' for the Hand of Midas. Presumably, she was just the only magical method for finding the treasure Cassim knew about. Remember when he hears Aladdin has a Genie ("have you used all three wishes yet?"). As for the question, Aladdin only asked ''where'' his father was and the Oracle told him. Cassim asked to ''find'' the Hand of Midas - and the location was very specific and only there for a brief amount of time - so the Oracle was bound by her laws or whatever to show him ''exactly'' where it was. B) Yes we can assume the handle is enchanted. The hand would be pretty useless as treasure if one couldn't even hold it somehow. The Oracle's image being in the Vanishing Isle might imply a connection between the two, such as the person or group created both and wanted the Hand to be secure while also possessing a way to get it back if necessary but this is going into WMG territory.
28	* The whole reason Cassim wanted the hand of Midas was so he could provide for himself and his family. So why did he still need to steal the oracle the second time? His son is already about to become part of the royal family and he as Aladdin's father would have lived a rich man's life too. But hell, even if he had such a fetish for unlimited gold, why didn't he ask Genie to turn things into gold for him or even ask Genie if he could help rather than stealing his son's scepter and getting thrown in prison.
29	** They go into that a bit in the movie. Cassim is just too deep into the criminal life to just back out. Remember what the Oracle says when Aladdin asks about his father "Follow the trail of the Forty Thieves. Your father is ''trapped within their world''." While Aladdin immediately assumes Cassim is a prisoner, Cassim himself is the King of Thieves, the leader of the Forty Thieves, and doesn't know how (or even seemed inclined) to get himself out. At the end of the movie, he leaves to become a wandering adventurer because he doesn't know how to leave the lifestyle he's lived for over a decade. To summarize: The leopard can't change his spots.
30	* Sa'Luk makes his offer to Razoul by pretending to be a concerned citizen with information about the Forty Thieves. Putting aside his ObviouslyEvil appearance, Sa'Luk was in plain sight when he took part in the attack on the wedding with the other thieves, and he makes no attempt to disguise himself when speaking to Razoul here or later in the dungeon. Even if Razoul himself didn't see Sa'Luk, why do the other guards not recognise him as one of the thieves?
31	** They probably DO recognize him as a former member of the forty thieves, but the key word there is FORMER member. He is now personally revealing information that will land all the remaining thieves (though only 31 were captured) in the hands of justice. Razoul and his men might have to ask the Sultan if aiding the capture of the remaining crew is enough to have Sa'Luk pardoned for his past involvement with them, but they were too preoccupied with capturing Cassim in the palace treasury to worry about him. That's likely when Sa'Luk gave them the slip to get back to the remaining thieves so he could turn them against Cassim if he returned.
32	* If King Midas was Greek, why does the Turtle Island temple have Egyptian elements? (Egyptian hieroglyphics on the walls, Egyptian statues like the one with the golden hand, and even the spirit of the oracle also looks like an Egyptian woman)

Context Headscratchers / AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves