| “ | And as I always say, if it's not Baroque, don't fix it. | „ |
| ~ Cogsworth |
Henry Cogsworth (better known simply as Cogsworth) is one of the supporting characters in Disney's 30th full-length animated film, Beauty and the Beast. He is the Beast's grumpy, but dignified majordomo and head butler who became a mantel clock during the Enchantress' spell.
In the original animated film, he was voiced by the late David Ogden Stiers, who also voiced Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas. In the 2017 live action remake, he was voiced and portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen. In Once Upon a Studio, he was voiced by Bob Joles.
What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- Despite his jerkish and grumpy traits, he is a dignified and loyal majordomo who is in charge of the household servants in order to make sure everything runs like clockwork in the household, out of fear of angering his master.
- Even if he is still a rival to Lumiere, Cogsworth is still best friends with him and values him like a younger brother and always lend him a helping hand whenever problems arise.
- He takes a big role in leading the Enchanted Objects to make the arrangements for Belle and the Beast to fall in love so the spell can be undone on the entire kingdom.
- He is one of the funniest comic reliefs and succeeded in making viewers laugh, such as the Baroque joke he told to Belle.
- He has a wonderful vocal performance given by the late David Ogden Steirs that help complimented with his jolly and dignified traits as a character, making him the first Disney character Stiers ever voiced.
- Even Sir Ian McKellen did a great job voicing and portraying this character in the remake.
- Speaking of which, McKellen was actually one of several actors considered for the role of Cogsworth in the original Beauty and the Beast before it went to David Ogden Stiers.
- Just like Lumiere, Cogsworth is one of the two servants responsible for leading the enchanted objects into battling against the villagers in order to save the castle from harm. This can further show that he is also as smart and brave as Lumiere is. Additionally, he is the sole reason why Lumiere was able to save Plumette so both he and Lumiere can lead the servants to chase away the villagers to save their home.
- In the first midquel, he is responsible for keeping the rose from falling so the Beast is able to save the entire castle and defeat Maestro Forte.
- Even if people have mixed feelings about the 2017 live-action remake, most people appreciate that he reverted back to his original personality and acted a lot like he did in the original film.
- Overall, he is one of the reasons why Beauty and the Beast is regarded as one of the best acclaimed classics.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- Despite being loyal, jolly, and comedic for the most part, Cogsworth is also known to be grumpy, stubborn and argumentative to Lumiere, as he often remain at odds with Lumiere by verbally insulting him, lashing him out, and gets into arguments regarding their point of views regarding the castle. While it's technically true that Lumiere can be a bit cheeky and mischievous at times, that still doesn't excuse Cogsworth and some big fans of a smart, carefree, and hopeful redheaded servant-turned-candelabra like Lumiere don't like Cogsworth for being a bit antagonistic and a pompous jerk to Lumiere, who is only trying to be hospitable for when he and the other servants gave Maurice shelter.
- Furthermore, people also dislike how grumpy, bossy and pompous Cogsworth is to people around him, especially Maurice when Cogsworth rudely snaps at Maurice by demanding him to close the pendulum without being polite.
- He was one of many characters that ended up suffering character derailment in Belle's Magical World as he infamously underwent flanderization that him an immature and selfish manchild whose rivalry with Lumiere pretty much sabotaged Mrs. Potts' party.
- While his flanderization isn’t as severe as Belle or the Beast, his jerkiness was still ramped up as he became even more jerkish and some people accuse him of ruining Belle and the Best’s relationship, since he opened the door to have the Beast get more cold air that caused him to have his argument with Belle. Consequently, they also have a hard time with how Cogsworth was portrayed in the third film, as he did have several infamous moments from here to there, such as “Mrs. Potts’ Party”.
- While giving an excellent performance as Cogsworth, as stated above, David Ogden Stiers’ shrilling sounds can be somewhat annoying to some people.
- Some detractors also don't like how hypocritical Cogsworth can be at times, such as deciding to join Belle and the servants to make Christmas arrangements despite him wanting to obey his master’s command and when he blamed Lumiere for ruining Mrs. Potts' party, even though he was responsible for this catastrophe just because he whined about his papers being ruined.
- Overall, due to the third film flanderizing Cogsworth as a complete jerk and an immature manchild, it was one of many reasons why a lot of fans of the original Beauty and the Beast hated Belle’s Magical World and decided to consider it non canon, since they find it quite difficult to imagine that it had any involvement to the first part and the Enchanted Christmas, which, while arguably not as good as the first film, was not as obvious compared to Belle’s Magical World.
Trivia[]
- Alongside with Fife and Forte, Cogsworth is one of the only three servants of the Beast’s household not to be an Ensemble Dark Horse and one of the few characters of that category to be a Base-Breaking Character.
- On top of that, he and Governor Ratcliffe are the only two characters voiced by David Ogden Stiers to be Base Breaking Characters.
- If Belle's Magical World never happened, it is unknown if this would affect Cogsworth's BB status.
External Links[]
- Cogsworth on the Love Exalted Wiki
- Cogsworth on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Cogsworth on the Heroes Wiki
- Cogsworth on the Disney Wiki
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 Base Breaking Characters
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Animated Films Beauty and the Beast Pocahontas Other Live-Action Films Animated Television Live Action Television Video Games Fanon
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