Villains with magical powers are always fun and those are some of the most popular types of villains in the Disney canon when you consider that they have the likes of Ursula, a sea-witch, Dr. Facilier, a voodoo man and Mother Gothel, a witch that used a magic incantation to keep herself looking young. And Disney's magical villains can also be some of the most ruthless as they'll stop at nothing to get what they want. Ursula took the voice of an unassuming sixteen-year-old, Doctor Facilier tricked an arrogant prince (that is at least how some saw him) into giving away his life and Mother Gothel did this.
She kidnapped a baby and hid her from the world for 18 years. Why am I bringing this all up? Well, Elena of Avalor presented the audience with perhaps one of the evilest magic users that an audience has seen in a Disney program. I present to you, Shuriki. Now, this one is gonna work a little differently considering that is a character from a TV show and she has appeared in two seasons of the show, I did not go back and watch every appearance but I did try to hit the big ones such as her debut and one of her re-appearances and her ultimate demise but I'll be relying on both the Disney and Elena Wikis to help fill in some important gaps. Please understand that even though, a good chunk of season 2 is on Disney Now, that would push this blog back even further than I already pushed it back. Now in fairness, I did re-watch her first appearance and her some of her other big appearances and I hope that makes this sufficient.
Voice Actor
Jane Fonda
Something I find kinda neat is that a lot of the villains on this show are played by relatively well-known actors as Lou Diamond Phillips also plays a villain on this show. As for Fonda, I'm familiar with her work and I know I've got some of her movies on TV once or twice such as 9 to 5 but I more think of her in her Netflix show, Grace & Frankie that my mom loves. As for how she plays Shuriki, I'm impressed as she is cruel and vindictive and quite scary. Another key point in Fonda's favor in how she plays Shuriki is that she embodies the character and unless you go looking for this information, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that she is playing this role.
First Appearance
Shuriki is first seen in the Elena of Avalor/Sofia The First crossover, Elena and The Secret of Avalor as Elena sends Sofia a vision of what happened to her parents and it is actually quite a bit dark to see this.
This is dark and quite intense but it serves as a good way to introduce Shuriki and show what she is capable of doing because by killing off the king and queen of Avalor shows that she'll do anything to get what she wants. And it did as it led to her reigning over Avalor for 41 years.
Personality
It's quite simple as she cruel, power-hungry vindictive and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Which is seen in two big ways in first with her fake defeat at the end of the special as it shown that she has survived but it is seen that she will get back up and do what it takes to reclaim Avalor and also how she is able to convince every single one of Elena's foes to work under her in the hopes of taking down the Crown Princess and promising them each something. This is something that I'll touch upon more in that segment but it is actually quite impressive in how she is able to get people to rally under her.
Grand Desire
Shuriki is interesting in that with her first goal, she actually succeeded as her first goal was to become the queen of Avalor and overtake the country by force and she did that. And forty-one years, she was in charge of Avalor. Granted, at the end of the Secret of Avlaor, the people turned against her and ran her out of the castle and the kingdom. Where she'd lay low and was seen again until the very end of the special, Realm of the Jaquins.
However, she gets more intense in the second season especially during the Scepter of Night arc, which we will be looking at during this event as she gathers up every single one of Elena's foes in an attempt to use them to take out Elena and retake Avalor.
Allies
Yeah, like I said Shuriki doesn't exactly have lackeys. Even if she may think that she has a whole horde of allies. It's actually quite impressive how many people/creatures she is able to convince to work with her but they all want something similar, revenge on Elena or one of her friends.
Now as you may see here, two of these have formerly by their names and that's because they survived Shuriki's attack prior to the start of the show and for Esteban, Elena's cousin, he still has guilt but he served under Shuriki as a way of hoping to free his aunt and uncle/Elena's grandparents as they raised him when he was a child.
Most Evil Deed
This might seem cheap as I'm going with one that happened before the show even started but it is, in my opinion, the most evil thing that she did. That would be killing Elena's parents.
Again, I know I'm not going with anything from the show proper but consider that this set the events of the show in motion and that Shuriki just zapped them with her scepter right in front of Elena. And for forty-one years while Elena was trapped in the amulet, Elena heard the spell that killed her parents running through head every single day. I think that this must've had a rather profound effect on the daughter of these two.
Defeat
Elena takes out Shuriki in Song of the Sirena.
Shuriki fires her Demolish spell at the princess. It appears she succeeded, but as she checks the spot where she stood, she is caught off by guard by Elena, who is still very much alive. Before Shuriki can retaliate, Elena fires her Blaze spell at essentially point-blank, taking out Shuriki once and for all, avenging her parents at long last. All that is left of Shuriki is the Jewel from the Scepter of Night,
And Craig Gerber has confirmed that Shuriki is dead as Elena's blast killed her.
This is interesting and I like this angle because honestly if Elena hadn't killed Shuriki, things would have only gotten worse as Shuriki's magic was getting more powerful as the second season went on and if it had gotten any stronger, Elena may not have been able to stop her. Now, there's one other thing of note here. Just because she's dead, that doesn't mean that she's out of the show. You see, Elena has the ability to see spirits of those who have passed on during Day of the Dead. And I doubt the show would be able to do this but I could see Shuriki's spirit attempting to take advantage of that to try and haunt Elena but I do think her friends would be more willing to believe her.
Is Shuriki a Good Villain?
Overall, she's great. She's very menacing and quite scary and strong. It shows how formidable a foe she is to Elena and would stop at nothing to get what she wants. Join me next time as I look at Elena and The Secret of Avalor. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment