| “ | With it, I will be the wealthiest, most powerful king in the planet! And I will build a gold statue, which will be seen on every corner of the world! | „ |
| ~ King Wartlord |
King Wartlord (simply known as Wartlord) is the main antagonist of the 2001 animated Brazilian film, The Happy Cricket. He is the greedy lizard king. His primary motivation stems from self entitlement. He is Christopher's arch-nemesis.
He was voiced by Araken Saldanha in the Portuguese version, and the late Bob Papenbrook in the English version.
Role in the film
Wartlord is a fat purple slimy lizard who declares himself king over the forests surrounding his castle. Because of the stature that he believes he has, he insists that he gets the best of everything: the best food, possessions, castle, and anything else he feels that he is obligated to. His personality comes off as evil for the sake of being completely evil. Typically, he hates positive things like beauty, and music in general, but he loves ugliness, the suffering of others, and beautiful expensive objects, such as the bright star in his respective film, who he believes is a magnificent diamond. With this diamond, he concludes that he will be able to create a great golden statue that would magnify his significant greatness. The irony in this is that he is not only far too lazy to get it or build the statue himself, but apparently the bright diamond will not glow for him. In comparison, the star turns as black and as dead as his heart whenever he touches it.
Though he is considerably smarter than his henchman, Buffuno, he is still very ignorant and unknowleadgable. When Buffuno informs him that the diamond is really a star, he rejects the idea and still believes that this one star will bring him glory, power, honor, and fame, despite the fact that it refuses to give him any of these things.
Because of Christopher's strong bond with music and the Night Star named Linda, he is determined to destroy him when said Christopher the Happy Cricket finally approaches his castle. When Christopher plays his guitar for the star, it glows so brightly, it forces Wartlord to back away far enough to fall over the edge of his castle. Christopher and his friends try to help Wartlord, but his slimy tail prevents them from getting a good grip, causing Wartlord to fall into the flames sparked from a destructive thunderbolt and is burned to death.
Personality
Wartlord is very rude, selfish, cruel, arrogant, acquisitive, tyrannical, ruthless, mean, and greedy, so he declares himself king over the forests surrounding his castle. He is a quarrelsome, manipulative, egotistical, and villainous reptile who likes to laugh at the suffering. Despite his malevolent and heartless nature, he is shown to be extremely wasteful, bombastic, prosperous, extravagant, quantitative, superabundant, advantageous, and improvident, buying beautiful expensive objects to place around his castle to make him look very rich. He is also evidently argumentative and cantankerous, yelling towards his henchmen and others. He also has a fondness for making himself look like a king with style. He is also an avaricious and materialistic tyrant, stealing Linda's star and use it to make himself look powerful. One of his most repugnant, diabolical, and blasphemous plans is when he sends his guards to capture Christopher and his friends.
Appearance
Wartlord is a big, fat purple slimy lizard with a royal dark purple rubber crown, turquoise gloves, a long green forked tongue, a black robe, and orange eyes.
Quotes
- "This tree trunk is perfect for my new palace."
- "A cricket?!"
- "Happy?! I'm the only one allowed to be happy around here!"
- "Perfect!"
- "That diamond will be ours!"
- "With it, I will be the wealthiest, most powerful king in the planet! And I will build a gold statue, which will be seen on every corner of the world!"
- "What are you doing?! How could you miss?! That's why you don't make any progress: you don't take things seriously! Work on that aim, you worthless fool!"
- "Shut up, you stupid amphibians!"
- "Are you trying to make a fool of me, young man?"
- "Very well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Wartlord! Your king and ruler!"
- "Hmm?"
- "Oh, yes. Perfect. Buffuno, come here, will you?"
- "Look up there. See all those diamonds shining down on me?"
- "Perfect. All that will be ours."
- "This is a guitar! Guitars play with music, and I hate music!"
- "Yes, yes, yes."
- "And give me back my crown, you ridiculous peabrain!"
- "Do you see the brightest and shiniest one of them all?"
- "Well, that's the one I want! It's mine, got it?"
- "Get more power, power over everything!"
- "And you're going to get that diamond for me. You're going to be the world's first bugonaut!"
Gallery
Trivia
- In the English dub, he is voiced by the late Bob Papenbrook, whose memory that the film was dedicated to.
- He shares similarities with Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2.
- Both are evil reptilian kings.
- He also shares similarities with Queen Gnorga from Don Bluth's 1994 animated film, A Troll in Central Park.
- Both are monarchs who hate nice things.
- He also shares similarities with King Stefan from Disney's 2014 live action film, Maleficent.
- Both are kings who fall to their deaths.
- He also shares similarities with King Malbert from the 2008 computer-animated fantasy film by MGM, Igor.
- Both are kings who have guards as their minions.
- He also shares similarities with Chief Blue Meanie from the 1968 animated British film, Yellow Submarine.
- Both are tyrannical rules who hate music.
- In Mr. Coat's review of The Happy Cricket (which he claims was the worst animated movie he has ever seen), he mistakenly calls Wartlord a crocodile. He also criticizes the character because of his lack of motives and backstory, thus calling him a one-dimensional villain.
- During the song that Christopher sings to Linda, the stars form Wartlord when Christopher mentions the evil, but mistakenly given a neck flap.
- Wartlord might be a salamander instead of a lizard because of his slimy skin, but a salamander's tongue does not split into a fork.