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| “ | Oh, great King Nod, have no fear. Zigzag, your Grand Vizier, is here. | „ |
| ~ Zigzag presenting himself to King Nod. |
Zigzag is the secondary antagonist of the 1993 animated fantasy film The Thief and the Cobbler. He is King Nod's former Grand Vizier, and later King Mighty One-Eye's henchman, who usually speaks in rhymes in a manipulating fashion before allying himself with the notorious One-Eyes. He also has a pet vulture named Phido, whom he abuses and rarely feeds.
He was voiced by the late Vincent Price, who also played Egghead in the 1960s Batman TV series, Dr. Phibes in the horror film series of the same name, and Professor Ratigan in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective.
Personality
Zigzag is a cruel, scheming, manipulative, deceitful, and pompous sorcerer who attempts to marry Princess Yum-Yum to become king of the Golden City. He became a very blasphemous, perfidious, calculating, hypocritical, and materialistic when he teamed up with King Mighty One-Eye to take over the Golden City by force. Although he describes himself as a sorcerer, his magic is fairly delicate and weak, and he occasionally slips up on his tricks. He relies more on smooth-talking and manipulation to get what he wants, dazzling people with an impressive performance to convince them that he is more powerful than they think.
Appearance
Zigzag is a very slender humanoid with light blue skin, baggy green eyes, a large-sleeved black robe, long shoes that extend as he walks, five fingers, and a thumb per hand with several colored rings on his fingers.
Role in the film
At the beginning of the film, Zigzag accidentally stepped on one of Tack's nails and had him taken to the palace, intending to have his head cut off. He was planning to marry Princess Yum-Yum so he could become king and take over the kingdom. When Tack (who was fixing Princess Yum-Yum's shoe) chases after the Thief (who stole it), he runs into Zigzag, who took the opportunity to lock him in a cell. Later in the film (in the original workprint), he takes Phido into Tack's cell to have him eaten, but he had to leave due to being summoned by King Nod.
After the Thief stole the three golden balls that protected the Golden City, he lost them, and Zigzag sent his sycophants to retrieve them. He asked King Nod for Princess Yum-Yum's hand in marriage should he return the Golden Balls, but King Nod is outrageous by this request and angrily refuses, much to Zigzag's fury. Out of spite, Zigzag defects to the One-Eyes by heading to their camp, where he allied himself with King Mighty One-Eye by charming his alligators and giving him the Golden Balls.
With the Golden Balls under his grasp, Mighty One-Eye had his men formulate an attack by utilizing a giant war machine for the balls to power up on; he even forced Zigzag to ride in the front during the battle. However, Tack sets off a chain reaction that destroyed the war machine and killed many One-Eyes, much to both Mighty One-Eye and Zigzag's fury. Zigzag then attempted to kidnap Princess Yum-Yum, but Tack defeats him in combat by tying his robe to his hands while several Brigands (who were befriended by Tack and Yum-Yum) manage to defeat several One-Eye soldiers in combat. Following the deaths of Mighty One-Eye and his men, Zigzag fell into a dark pit after stepping on another tack, meeting the hungry alligators (joined in by Phido) who start devouring him alive. Realizing now that he has finally lost, Zigzag accepts his fate just as Phido finally chopped off his head.
Quotes
| “ | We'll see who wins at the end of the day, we'll see who's grieving! I'll go to the One-Eyes right away, I'm taking my balls and LEAVING!! | „ |
| ~ Zigzag angrily defecting to the One-Eyes after being denied of his request to marry Yum-Yum. |
| “ | Oh, Mighty One-Eye… I, I, I am Zigzag the Great of the Golden Land! | „ |
| ~ Zigzag introducing himself to King Mighty One-Eye. |
| “ | The greatest wizard has to know exactly when it's time to… AAAHHHHHH!!!!! | „ |
| ~ Zigzag before accidentally stepping on a nail, which causes him to fall into the crocodiles' lair. |
| “ | Oh, my bottom, oh, my top! You greedies, don't you ever STOP?! (Phido arrives to the scene) You too, Phido? Man's best friend. For Zigzag, then, it is… the end. | „ |
| ~ Zizgag accepting his fate of being devoured by Phido and the alligators. |
Trivia
- He was voiced by the late Vincent Price. The film was released posthumously in 1995 (two years after his death in 1993), which would make this his final role.
- Vincent Price also voiced Ratigan from Disney's 26th full-length animated feature film The Great Mouse Detective.
- In all three versions of the film, Zigzag's role, voice, and death are the same.
- Zigzag had possibly inspired the Disney villain, Jafar from Disney's 31st full-length animated feature film Aladdin. Both of them are evil magical advisers to the king, want to take his place as king, marry his beautiful daughter, and kill the hero.
- His death is similar to Scar from Disney's 32nd full-length animated feature film The Lion King, as both were eaten by their henchmen (who they address as "friends") in return of their promise of food.
- During the development of The Majestic Fool, a scrapped animated movie from the 1960s that would eventually become The Thief and the Cobbler, Zigzag was originally known as "Anwar", who served as the Grand Vizier to the King of Persia, as well as the main antagonist.
- Even though Mighty One-Eye was far more dangerous than him and had bigger plans than anyone else, Zigzag served as The Heavy because it was his quest to marry Yum-Yum and conquer the Golden City that drove the plot, which makes Mighty One-Eye the Big Bad and the one behind the plot.
- According to the Richard Williams documentary "The Thief who never gave up" Williams said that he based Zigzag on two people he despised. Their names were not revealed by Williams so it is unknown who they are/were.
- In said documentary, Williams kept redesigning Zigzag to have larger shoulders, giving him a "vulture like appearance".