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Jack O' the Green
Jack O' the Green
The knight in shining armor... and no pants.
Played By: Tom Cruise
"I'll always trust you, Lili."
An innocent, wild hermit boy who lives in the magical forest and befriends animals and fairies. He is smitten with Princess Lili and goes to rescue her with a band of fairies and elves from the Lord of Darkness' castle after he makes the mistake of showing her the unicorns, causing chaos in the realm.
- Ambiguously Human: His origins are unclear, and he is able to straddle the worlds of human and fae, much like the forest itself. In the original script he's the immortal embodiment of the magic of nature.
- Animal Talk: He can understand the Unicorn.
- Badass Normal: Has no real powers beyond understanding the unicorns, but manages to figure out and successfully defeat the hulking personification of evil known as the Lord of Darkness.
- Cool Sword: The elf Gump gave him a beautiful, bejeweled broadsword to defeat Darkness with.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: He is deeply connected to the creatures of the woods and never wears shoes.
- Friend to All Living Things: He's so kind and calm, wild animals flock to him, and even the demigod unicorns trust him.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The only thing he does wrong at all in the movie was allow Lilli to approach and touch a unicorn, and it's only because he loved her too much to stop her. Otherwise, he's perfectly kind, wise, and can't be tempted to kill or stop her when it looks like Darkness has convinced her to kill the last unicorn.
- I Am Who?: In the original script
, Jack discovers that he's immortal, the incarnation of all that is magical within nature. - Innocent Blue Eyes: Jack has bright blue eyes and can't be corrupted by evil at all.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Pure-hearted Jack dons armor to save his beloved from the epitome of darkness and evil.
- Lady and Knight: When she is captured, becomes the White Knight to Princess Lili's Bright Lady.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Having shoulder-length hair and being played by Tom Cruise will naturally result in this trope.
- Nature Lover: He lives in the forest, is friends with all the animals, and in the original script it's much implied that he is an elf (or Nature Spirit) himself. The fair folk recognize him instantly as a child of the forest.
Princess Lili
Princess Lili
What beguiling innocence.
Played By: Mia Sara
"This place holds more magic for me than any palace in the world."
The Princess Classic who is in love with the wild boy she has met in the woods, Jack. Though she is innocent and kind, she disobeyed Jack's warning to not touch the unicorns, which leads to Darkness taking over the land and herself getting taken to the Lord of Darkness' lair, where he plans to make her his bride.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Or unicorns, close enough.
- Daddy's Girl: "My father says I'm brilliant!" He's not wrong, though.
- Damsel in Distress: Captured by goblins and taken to the Lord of Darkness' castle where he plans to marry her.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Her black gown is very sparkly.
- Fake Defector / Pretend to Be Brainwashed: Pretends to have been seduced by Darkness, but is actually planning to free the unicorn.
- Females Are More Innocent: Inverted - Lili breaks the rule about not touching unicorns and manipulates both Jack and the Lord of Darkness, while Jack is pure of heart.
- Femme Fatale: Goes from The Ingenue to this, though it's just to trick Darkness.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Maybe not divine exactly, but definitely pure and innocent (and, as it turns out, incorruptible). Her ivory-white gown is trimmed with gold, and she wears a gold tiara and jewelry.
- Guile Hero: She manages to trick Darkness pretty handily and free the unicorn mare.
- Hidden Depths: Sure, she's beautiful and innocent as any Princess Classic, but tricks Darkness into agreeing to let her kill the unicorn, but instead frees it.
- Hotter and Sexier: The black dress Darkness gives her with a neckline that is low on the shoulders and open in the middle.
- The Ingenue: The whole reason the unicorns allow her to touch them and why Darkness is so taken with her.
- It's All My Fault: Deeply regrets touching the Unicorn when told not to when this causes the land to turn into all winter and darkness.
- Lady and Knight: Bright Lady to Jack's White Knight.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Lilli is originally light, but turns dark once she wears the black gown though it's just a trick.
- Meaningful Name: White lilies symbolize innocence and purity. Observant viewers will notice that white lilies also grow on the bank of the unicorns' watering hole, carrying the symbolism further.
- Nature Lover: She prefers exploring the wild woods to being inside a castle.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Her detailed ivory princess dress (with ribbons, sleeve trains, and a fancy headpiece), and the high-collared black dress Darkness gives her.
- Princess Classic: Word of God says she's based on the classic Disney Princesses, particularly Snow White.
- Rebellious Princess: Not extremely so, but she does sneak out of the castle to visit peasants in the woods.
- Regal Ringlets: Is a delicate princess with long, curly brown hair.
The Lord of Darkness
The Lord of Darkness
The Son of all Evil.
Played By: Tim Curry
"I am the Lord of Darkness. I require the solace of the shadows and the dark of the night. Sunshine is my destroyer. All this shall change. Tonight the sun sets forever. There shall never be another dawn."
The personification of darkness and son of Evil, the Lord of Darkness seeks to extinguish all light and warmth of the world by killing the last unicorns and rule the dark eternal winter that is left. He becomes smitten with Princess Lilli for her beauty and innocence and tries to woo her into becoming his Queen of Darkness.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: He captures Lili and plans to make her his queen as he rules the world of winter and darkness.
- Big Bad: Of the film, with his father as the Greater-Scope Villain.
- Big Red Devil: And how! Huge black horns, hooves, and red skin.
- Corrupt the Cutie: His goal with Lili, natch.
- The Dreaded: Princess Lili shows fear when he tries to kiss her, but then seems brave around The Lord Of Darkness. Jack and other heroes are afraid of him too, although they defeat him and save the day.
- Evil Is Hammy: What do you expect from Tim Curry?"Every wolf suffers fleas! 'Tis easy enough to scratch!"
- Evil Overlord: He is the embodiment of evil and rules over all creatures of darkness.
- Evil Plan: The Lord of Darkness seeks to kill all unicorns so he can plunge the world in darkness.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Tim Curry's voice was electronically deepened to add to Darkness' scariness. The same goes in the Japanese dub, as he was voiced by Norio Wakamoto.
- The Heavy: He is the one implementing a plan and giving orders while the goblins do the grunt work of trying to take over the world, but dad is the Greater-Scope Villain and truly behind the power.
- Horns of Villainy: Enormous ones, to boot.
- Interspecies Romance: With Princess Lili.
- The Night That Never Ends: He tries to bring about this trope by killing off the unicorns (the world's source of light).
- Playing with Fire: Despite his obvious preference for darkness, he's able to magically summon bursts of fire during his fight with Jack.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Lili seems to be the first human girl he has ever talked to and he just a little bit awkward about it, even turning to his Father for advice about it. He seems to have lived a very cloistered life in his castle, away from the sunlight and with only servants for company.
- Rasputinian Death: He's stabbed through the heart with the horn of a unicorn, hit by concentrated rays of sunlight which is anathema to him, loses his arm and is sucked through a portal into oblivion. In one version of the film, the ending implies that he has somehow survived.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Darkness has red skin, wears clothing that's predominantly black and is Obviously Evil.
- Thin Chin of Sin: He has a very elongated chin, which ties neatly into his design as the Satanic Archetype.
- Villainous Crush: Darkness is smitten with Lili for her innocence, and later aroused by her femme fatale attitude and desire to kill the unicorn.
- Voice of the Legion: At times, particularly when Darkness is enraged, his voice takes on a multi-pitched kind of sound, fitting for a demon like himself.
- Would Hit a Girl: When Lili betrays him, he strikes her down.
Honeythorn Gump
Honeythorn Gump
Played By: David Bennent
Voiced By: Alice Playten
A mysterious, childlike elf full of wisdom who accompanies Jack on his quest to defeat the Lord of Darkness.
- The Fair Folk: He can't touch iron, being a Fae, and only lets off Jack's crime of letting a unicorn be touched by a mortal because it was done out of love, and because he is a "friend of the fae".
- Honest Advisor: He has no problem telling off Jack heartily for letting Lilli lay hands on a unicorn.
- Ironic Name: "Gump" is an old English insult meaning "idiot". He's anything but.
- Large Ham: "DO YOU THINK YOU COULD UPSET THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE AND NOT PAY THE PRICE?!?"
- Larynx Dissonance: Gump's voice is notably more restrained than his acting. See Large Ham.
- Milking the Giant Cow: He does this when he throws a tantrum at Jack.
- Mood-Swinger: In his introductory scene he goes from giving Jack a friendly greeting, to threatening to kill him if he can't solve a riddle, to shrieking and smashing his violin when Jack does, to cheerfully sharing a drink with him and becoming friends. Par for the course when dealing with The Fair Folk.
- Our Elves Are Different: He appears very childlike, behaves quite human-like in his temper, and uses very little magic.
- Riddle Me This: His riddle to Jack: "What is a bell that never rings, yet its knell makes the angels sing?" The answer is blue bells, the flower.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Naturally gives one to Lili, but his biggest one is aimed at Oona and her "secret".
Oona
Oona
Played By: Annabelle Lanyon
A fairy girl who has a crush on Jack and helps him defeat Darkness.
- Ball of Light Transformation: She can change into a small ball of light and fly around. She does so in Darkness' dungeon to escape a prison cell and obtain the key to the cell.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: But that doesn't stop her from doing her part of defeating the bad guy.
- The Fair Folk: She is mostly friendly towards Jack but acts vindictive when he refuses her trying to kiss him in the form of Lilli.
- Fairy Companion: She is a tiny ball of light of a fairy who accompanies Jack on his quest to rescue his beloved and restore light to the world. She thinks human hearts are too soft and weak.
- Fairy Sexy: She wears a very short dress.
- Shape Shifting Seducer: While the protagonists are trapped in Darkness' jail, Oona tries to get Jack to kiss her by creating an illusion that she's Jack's girlfriend Lili.
- The Unintelligible: She can't speak in fairy form.
Meg Mucklebones
Meg Mucklebones
Played By: Robert Picardo
A ravenous swamp hag who threatens to eat Jack.
- Compliment Backfire: Flattery won't save you from Meg if she's hungry, she'll just decide to find out if the rest of you is as sweet as your tongue.
- Delusions of Beauty: A little flattery from Jack has Meg agreeing that her "beauty" puts angels to shame.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: As is fitting for her haggard appearance, Meg has a very coarse voice.
- Fan Disservice: Meg is a monstrous wrinkled hag who wears absolutely nothing besides the swamp weeds and moss that cling to her slimy body, and the audience is not spared from seeing this.
- Femme Fatalons: Meg has dangerously long nails or claws which she brandishes as her primary weapons.
- Gonk: Her ugliness is directly proportional to the extreme level she takes her Delusions of Beauty.
- Large Ham: One could be forgiven for thinking she sounds very enthusiastic and joyful in her conversation with Jack, especially concerning her plans to devour him.
- Losing Your Head: Jack defeats her by lopping her head right off. We don't see her head behaving as if it were still alive, but her body flails and somehow shrieks while headless for a few seconds before finally expiring.
- Starter Villain: Meg is the first antagonist Jack directly has to deal with and she serves as a test that he is brave enough to become a hero who can save Lili.
- Swamp Monster: She lives and sleeps submerged in the swamp, eager to snatch and devour anyone passing by. Hideous, green-skinned and covered in swamp weeds and moss, she is inspired by the old English legend of Jenny Greenteeth.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Meg prefers to feast on the flesh of humans and finds The Fair Folk to be foul-tasting.
- To Serve Man: As with her mythical counterpart, Meg's diet includes any hapless human who tries to pass through her swamp.
- Wicked Witch: In appearance, if not in magical powers.
Blix
Blix
Played By: Alice Playten
The most loathsome goblin under the Thrall of the Lord of Darkness.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Designed to look like Keith Richards.
- Depraved Dwarf: Blix is short like all the other goblins, and also thoroughly vile.
- Gonk: He's as ugly as a long-nosed pasty-faced wart-covered goblin can get, and proud of it.
- Pointy Ears: They stick so high above his head that they resemble horns.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: His words drip with flattery when taking orders from Darkness.
- Rhymes on a Dime: He often speaks this way.
- Shorter Means Smarter: He's second only to Darkness in deviousness and cunning.
- Sinister Schnoz: Being a traditional fae depiction of a goblin, he has quite an impressive honker.
- The Dragon: Since Darkness cannot walk in sunlight, he tasks Blix with doing all the heavy work above ground.
- Token Competent Minion: Darkness tasks him with finding and killing the Unicorns and returning their horns to him. Blix actually manages to succeed in killing one of them and captures the other.
