Villains Profile: Te Kā

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we conclude this year's Halloween Villains Profile event as we look at a character from the newest Disney film as we look at Te Kā from Moana.  And well,  I find myself in interesting predicament as  Te Kā  is not your typical Disney villain.  As this is not who she truly is.   As Te Kā is  the destructive form of Te Fiti and she became this way after her heart was stolen by Maui.

Which as we learn was done because Maui wanted to be loved by the people but taking her heart essentially killed Te Fiti and brought about  Te Kā.    And this was one of the biggest things that I was questioning throughout my watching of this movie for this article.  Was Te Fiti aware of what she was doing as Te Kā?   The answer is possibly.   As the Villains wiki  for  Te Kā states that

Te Kā and Te Fiti are polar opposites with differing goals and ideals; while Te Fiti wishes to spread life and beauty, Te Kā seeks to bring death and corruption, purely out of the belief that mankind is undeserving of the gifts brought to them by Te Fiti.

We get a taste of her destruction early on, with everything that is happening at Motunui. That is something else that needs to be touched upon with Te Fiti &  Te Kā ,   what they bring to the island is shown by how they look.  Te Kā looks like a scary lava monster whereas  Te Fiti is a beautiful woman. 

Of course in the movie,  it's a twist reveal that  Te Kā &  Te Fiti are the same being.  Because throughout the entire movie, it is believed that Te Kā is another obstacle before our heroes reach Te Fiti.   It isn't until Maui tells Moana to look for the spiral as that is where the heart goes, that we discover that they are the same.

And this leads to what is easily my favorite Moana moment as we have a rare instance in a Disney movie,  where the antagonist is stopped when the protagonist shows her compassion.

Moana knows what she is doing but she knows by doing this, she can reach Te Fiti and have her remember, who she truly is.  This was a genius move as throughout the whole movie, Moana had been struggling to figure out who she truly is and in this moment,  it's clear that she knows and she is using this lesson to help  Te Fiti.   It's very touching and the biggest thing that one needs to take away are these two lyrics.

They have stolen the heart from inside you..But this does not define you..

These two lines stand out as the most important to me because of her heart being stolen,  Te Fiti allowed herself  to become  Te Kā and that is who for years, she believed she had to be.  It's a simple lesson on it's surface to be sure but it is one I like.   Just because something bad happens to you, you do not have to allow that to define who you are.   Bad things should not be the building blocks that make up a person as they will only make your life worse.  Yes, bad things can teach you certain lessons but as Moana sings...

This does not define you

And I get goosebumps thinking about that moment because it's a lesson that everyone has to be reminded of, time and again.





Sorry, about not using the traditional format for this one but you really can't use the standard categories to talk about   Te Kā as there is so much more going on there.   She has certainly been one of the more fascinating characters to discuss here.  Piece!

Villains Profile: Commander Rourke

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  We continue our Villains Profile as we look at Commander Rourke.  Atlantis: The Lost Empire is an odd little movie.  It's not a bad movie  by any means but it's not a remarkable Disney movie by any means.  And today, we are looking at the villain of the piece.   With that outta the way, let's begin.



Voice Actor



James Garner

Rourke was voiced by legendary actor, James Garner.  And Garner gave the character of Rourke a lot of gravitas and weight that is one of the things that made for one of the most memorable aspects of Rourke.   There really isn't much more to say about Garner's portrayal of Rourke.  He's great in the role but it's not a role with a lot to it.




First Appearance


We first meet Rourke, when Milo Thatch meets him as well at the start of the expedition.  And this brings us to something that I noticed about Rourke.  Disney had been a trend of having a hidden antagonist in the past couple of years.   If you go from Wreck-It Ralph to Zootopia, all of the films between those had a hidden antagonist and in many ways,  Rourke is also a hidden antagonist.  What this basically boils down to is that, when we meet the villain, we don't know that they are the villain.  It's become a common trope in media but with Rourke, it's a bit more obvious for a couple of reasons.  With the biggest reason being that when meet the expedition crew, we see that most of the crew have their eccentries

Whereas Rourke and by extension,   his second-in-command Helga appeared to be the quote unquote normal one of the crew.




Personality



Tying back into the hidden antagonist thing that I brought up in the First Appearance section of this article, Rourke at first seems to be calm, cool and collected.   A perfect military leader to be sure.  But as the movie goes on, we see that he has a bit of a temper and Milo is testing it and we see that he is very ruthless, greedy and will go to any great lengths to get what he wants.





Grand Desire



He has 2 major goals and they both stem from greed.  The first one is selling the heart of Atlantis.  And when he learns that Atlantans are still alive,  he desires to wreck Atlantis as wreckage would make the treasure more valuable. 




Lackey


Helga Sinclair

Helga is a fine character that we are introduced to early on and you see the appeal for this character as she does have the looks and strength to back it up.   Though, as we will get to,  while it does seem like there is tight relationship between these two, Rourke will turn on her in an instance.





Most Evil Deed

As odd as it may seem I didn't go with Rourke taking Kida from Atlantis to sell the heart but instead what he did to Helga.  Rourke and Helga are escaping on a balloon but there is too much weight and to lighten the load, Rourke decides to toss Helga overboard.


I went with this moment because this to me show that Rourke will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means turning on his partner.   Just wow.



Demise


Yeah,  I'm just gonna quote the Disney Wiki as this is just a bit odd. 

Losing what's left of his sanity, an enraged Rourke begins to take his aggression out on Milo and grabs a fire axe to kill him. He hits a glass cover of the container, with glass shards becoming embedded with the Heart of Atlantis. As Rourke holds Milo up for a killing blow, Milo cuts him with one of the shards and he begins to transform into crystal form. Rourke still attacks, but a chance situation causes him to be hoisted into the still moving propellers, destroying him for good.

Well, that's a thing that happened.  Weird.  I have no reaction to this death.  It's one of the more interesting ways to go out. I don't think we've covered a demise this weird since we've looked at King Candy.



Is Commander Rourke A Good Villain?



He's fine, he's not bad but there is a reason that he isn't in the pantheon of great Disney villains.  He serves his purpose as the villain and that is the best you can say about him. Join me next time as we close this out as we look at....

Te Kā