Recently, I've been wondering about potential characters from "1001 Arabian Nights" in the Grimm Lands. Among the characters that might be in that setting include Sinbad, Aladdin, Solomon, Ali Baba, Shayrar, and Scherezade? I've also come up with a sinister group known simply as the Scribes?

The Alchemist said:

Coooooooooooooool... How might kids get involved in Jareth's tales?

Hmmmm... I just came back home from Tennis practice. And while playing I had an interesting idea. It is kind of differant from what was written  'till now but it is an idea nontheless... You know, just so we can have some veriaty.

Anyway... Jareth is really obsessed with beuty, right? So, i was thinking... His power was broken when Sarah defeated him(I will not give too much description as to not to spoil). Which means he lost his immortality. Which means he is kind of rotting away right now. The Fair Folk are not made to live mortal life, after all. Jareth does not like rotting away into a creepy skeleton thing with brownish, oozing skin(And the ability to turn into a skeletal, deathly pale owl). His own uglyness drives him mad(der). Plus, he is kind of going to die. There is, however, some hope for him: the same magical ritual that he unssecsfully attempted to perform on little Tobby when Sarah got in his way. It is a very ancient ceremony of the fairies, known by few. It allows Jareth to turn kids from the real world into beutifull(And quite souless) fae creatures, whose young bodies he can then possess to increase his own lifespan. However, even the new, kid bodies grow up waaaaaay too fast. Which means he only has about a year and a day after the ritual to perform it once again, or he will crumble to dust. He must constantly be on the hunt for new hosts. The laws of magic, however, can sometimes be very strict and arcane. Jareth cannot just kidnap some tyke and goblinize him. There are two restrictions: one, the kid must agree. Which is no problem for Jareth. He is THE master of making people say things they don't mean. But two: the kid must first be metaphysically "cooked" by fearie befor he is ready to be eaten by the magic. He must spend exactly 13 hours within the labyrinth, so as to soak enught of the fearie energy abundent in the air, befor the ritual can be cast. And within those 13 hours, Jareth cannot directly harm or impair him. He is free to escape... Theoretically. The Goblin King is not one to let The Rules prevent him from getting what he wants. His Labyrinth have been... Upgraded, since this last time. No more friendly talking statues giving hints. No more loveble trolls or rebellious goblins joining the kids on their quest. Oh, no. Jareth worked his magic(and his minions) day and night to turn the Labyrinth into the ultimate trap. The massive underground network of caves and halls and rooms and corridors(Som quite very vast) is now choke full of fiendish traps, frustrating, mocking puzzels, strange magics, and patrols of goblin wardens and other, more terrible creatures, designed to keep the kids in place for just enught time for the ritual to commence. Oh, and if they get close enught to the exit, Jareth himself will not be beyond appearing befor them himself in all his glamourous might to bend their perceptions, assault their emotions, and break their minds into staying with him... "Willfully".

..........

Alternatively, we can use the versoion of Jareth described earlier. Maybe he needs spies or agents of some sort to act for him on another kingdom. Maybe the goblins take them without him knowing so that they can help them lead a rebellion(Jareth is not very nice to his goblins, after all). And of course, him being him, it is not unprobable that Jareth kidnapped the kids into his Labyrinth challange for the sake of his freakish amusment. Maybe if they end up entertaining enught, he might actually reward them... Or keep them forever as his jesters.

......................

What do you think?

As for "1001 Arabian Nights"... Hmmmm... Some of them could work.

What if, after 1001 nights of storytelling, the king did kill the queen after all? What if, some time(And wives) later, the king actually started to miss the exiting and facinating tales? What if, being the sultan of *Insert psaudo arabic name*, he actually ordred many storytellers from all the farthesr reaches of the world shipped to his palace, so as to tell him a bedtime story the just like the old queen? What if, out of habit, the cruel king would execute all storytellers who fail to amuse him properly?

What if one of his advisors once told him about a world far away, full of fantastic and strange things called "Reality"? What if he is willing to do anything to hear a good story about that land... Including KIDnapping?

............

What do you think?

Both are VERY cool!

How about Despereaux from "The Tale of Despereaux", or Fezzik, Inigo Montoya, Westley, Buttercup, Miracle Max and Valerie, etc. from "The Princess Bride", or Barnaby, Mary Quite Contrary, Tom the Piper's Son, Gonzorgo and Rodrigo, etc. from "Babes in Toyland" (the 1961 version), or the creatures of different mythologies, or even Robin Hood and his Merry Men? What do you think they'd be like? (Also, what about the other characters I mentioned from "Arabian Nights"? What might they be like?)?

I have also begun to speculate that, sometimes, the people of the Grimm Lands like to spontaneously burst out in song, like in the old days...

Reaper said:

Like the 40 Thieves, Ali Baba, Solomon, Aladdin, and Sinbad?

What do you suppose they might be like?

(I'm Bacck... again...)

So, what do you suppose the other creatures of "Arabian Nights" might be like?

I'm back. I was listening to the soundtrack for the "Nightmare Before Christmas", and got this idea.

Samhain and Necros:

Samhain is the embodiment of Halloween. He lives in a dark temple deep in the Great and Awful Forest, full of monsters, ghouls, and other beasts, and, quite honestly, is going through a sort of mid-life crisis. He's gotten bored with his holiday, and is looking to try something new with it. Hopefully, the characters can help him out before he does something hideously stupid, ie, going to the Evil Queen, or WORSE, THE ROTTEN KING.

Necros is a bogeyman who works for Samhain. More information on him is coming later.

Jack of the Lantern. Pumpkins just won't scare anybody anymore. He needs to think about something new. Something fresh. Kids heads are about the right size, I guess...

Iron Hans(Iron John, as he is known in some places). He is sick with the humans who hate him for his iron skin. In his foundry in the forest, captives are bathed in molten steel so they can know his pain. His army of Charred Ones is growing with every passing moment.

Lycaon. A barbaric, cannibalistic king who was cursed with lycanthropy because he proved to the gods that he was not worthy of being human. His brood of werwolves still prowls his ruined kingdom.

That's what pops to mind right now. I just came back from a trip to the Negev and I am really tired. I might have more ideas tommorow.

Good night.

I think Winnie the Pooh and friends would be interesting. No, they wouldn't be demented. In fact, they'd be the last truly good fairy tale creatures left in the Checkerboard Kingdom. The Hundred Acre Woods could be like a safe haven for the kids during the adventure.

As I mentioned in a different part of the board, Queen of Shadow, Queen of Light, and Valentine from MirrorMask would make pretty good NPCs. Valentine would actually help you until he gets bribed by someone. But he would come back a few scenes later(...maybe).

And how about the Brothers Grimm themselves? You could say that after they collected or created or whatever the Grimm Lands, they decided to live there themselves. But after the Rotten King came into power, they were forced into hiding. Now they are the only characters that know his true weakness.

RhinoBarbarian said:

Yeah, What do you suppose they all might be like? Also, what do you suppose the creature that convinced the Brothers to undertake their quest, Melusine, might be like? (Yes, it's me, the guy who started this forum. I can just never remember my original password or username...)

Another thing my dad and I came up with is the Rotten King employing the Pied Piper of Hamelin as a "Child-Catcher", since, mostly, no child in their right mind would want to see the Rotten King.