| “ | But King Stefan, still fearful of his daughter's life, did then and there decree that every spinning wheel in the kingdom should on that very day be burnt. So it was done. | „ |
| ~ Narrator, describing Stefan's attempt to protect Aurora. |
King Stefan is one of the two overarching protagonists of Disney's 16th full-length animated film, Sleeping Beauty. As one of the monarchs of an unnamed French kingdom, he is Princess Aurora's father whose failure to invite Maleficent resulted in a 16-year struggle to protect his daughter.
In the original film, he was voiced by the late Taylor Holmes in the final cut as his last film, and was modeled and originally auditioned in the spoken version of the deleted song by the late Hans Conried, who had previously voiced Mr. Darling in Peter Pan. In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, he was voiced by Corey Burton, who also voiced Zeus in the Hercules TV Series.
What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- He is a caring ruler over his subjects and servants, as well as being loving husband to Queen Leah.
- Despite still being widely regarded as a neglectful parent to Aurora, some people like him for being a protective and selfless father, as proven when he had no choice but to give up raising Aurora to the Three Good Fairies in order to protect her from Maleficent's curse.
- The Disney Fans appreciate that he is the first father in a Disney Princess film to stay alive, as well as being one of several Disney Fathers in general to do so.
- He is good friends with King Hubert, in which several fans consider them to be interesting comic reliefs that balanced out the serious tones of the movie.
- Even if he can come across as somewhat hypocritical, fans tend to view him to have common sense as he tried to inform King Hubert that it's best they wait until their children get better acquainted for the wedding ideas. They also agreed that he didn’t even see his daughter after being separated from her for sixteen years.
- Due to his similarities in appearance, some people may view him as the good version of Captain Hook, due to them sharing the same reference model and almost same voice actor, Hans Conried (even though Taylor Holmes took over the voice role of Stefan in the final version).
- Speaking of which, most people have pointed out that Hans Conried could have been better as Stefan than Taylor Holmes was in the final cut and that could have not only reunited him with Bill Thompson, who voiced Hubert, but would have likely fleshed out Stefan's flat and inconsistent personality, had Conried remained as a voice actor for the vocal part in the final cut. To add to that, Conried also did a superb job voicing the character with dignity and charisma as he was intended to, as showcased in the deleted song called "It Happens I Have a Picture".
- Overall, some people consider him as one of the funniest characters of Sleeping Beauty.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- In spite of the narrative putting King Stefan to be blamed for his infamous role as the unintended catalyst of the film for not inviting Maleficent over to the christening of his daughter without clear explanation, the biggest criticism surrounding him for his role as a character is that some detractors accuse him for unintentionally endangering his daughter and causing Maleficent to get revenge on them and their kingdom by deceiving them into letting her bestow her so-called “gift” on Aurora which actually turns out to be a curse that Maleficent would inflict on their infant daughter.
- While some argue that him not inviting Maleficent wasn’t technically his fault, others could also argue that it was his fault for unintentionally causing Maleficent’s curse on Aurora as he only worsened the conflict with Maleficent since he did nothing to explain his lack of explanation for excluding Maleficent by allowing the fairies to insult Maleficent, who fooled him and Leah into thinking she’s not offended when she’s not.
- Even though he's supposed to be a soft spoken and caring ruler, some fans pointed out that his personality is arguably considered quite inconsistent and not fully developed enough, as his personality seems to be almost a lot like King Hubert's by being wrathful, lethal, and argumentative, as well as not always displaying his soft spoken voice. Even the change of his intended voice actor and performance model, Hans Conried, for the character in the finished version does not help his case either.
- Speaking of which, Taylor Holmes voices the character in the final version, as if he made Stefan too grumpy and depressed of a character who can overreact at times. Not only does this make the character seem too inconsistent, but some people also think it is somewhat rather unpleasant of a voice to listen to.
- Despite good intentions, some people claim that he should have not let Aurora live with the Three Good Fairies and think that he and his wife should raise her themselves until the curse can be avoided, believing him to be a neglectful parent to Aurora.
- While he is still concerned over his daughter’s life, his decision to burn all spinning wheels has become divisive as some other people criticize him for bankrupting the industry and working class system in the kingdom. Even Merryweather rightfully pointed out that this decision Stefan made isn’t enough to stop Maleficent. Due to this, some people think he is quite impulsive, idiotic and incompetent when it comes to making plans.
- Even if he does have a point of not seeing Aurora for a good reason and rightfully stated that it's best they wait until she and Prince Phillip can get better acquainted, Stefan insulting Hubert of his stubbornness has become controversial as some detractors point out that he shouted at Hubert for being "unreasonable, pompous, blustering, old wingbag" despite being accused for causing the conflict that unintentionally endangered his daughter and kingdom. To add to that, they also argue he's also a selfish, bad-tempered and stubborn jerk as Hubert is and went too far to declare war on him.
- Because of those reasons and criticizing Hubert for not being reasonable while doing the same bad things, some people believe Stefan is also a hypocrite.
- He underwent an extremely horrible case of character derailment and his personality started to change for the worse when he infamously got flanderized in Maleficent, where many fans consider his live-action counterpart to be even worse since he went from being a flawed, but well meaning father into an irredeemable and evil tyrant, as well as being a lot more jerkish and bad tempered than he was in the original film.
- Additionally, most people also agreed that the role as a villain in that film doesn’t suit him at all, due to the negative character change. It's one of the reasons why the original fans of Sleeping Beauty hated Maleficent, which is considered divisive to them.
- Overall, due to his popularity and being an inconsistent character with no character growth, some people consider him one of the most overrated characters and fathers of Disney.
Trivia[]
- He and King Triton are the only two fathers from a Disney Princess film to be Base Breaking Characters.
- Ironically, their daughters are also Base Breaking Characters as well.
- He and Mr. Darling are the only two characters played by Hans Conried to be Base Breaking Characters.
- On top of the that, they, along with Queen Leah and Sir Ector are the only four parents from the Disney Silver Age to be Base Breaking Characters.
- While this counterpart is Base Breaking, his live action counterpart is considered Scrappy as that counterpart hardly has any defenders.
- Originally, the Skumps sequence was to take place at the beginning of the film and both Kings Stefan and Hubert were going to sing a song (“It Happens I Have a Picture”) where they would compare the virtues of their young children. The dialogue version of a deleted song from 1952 featured Hans Conried auditioning for Stefan, along with Bill Thompson as Hubert. So if Conried were to be cast as Stefan and if they keep the deleted song in the finished film, it is unknown how it would affect Stefan’s Base Breaking status or if he would end up as an Ensemble Dark Horse as Hubert is.
External Links[]
- King Stefan on the Disney Wiki
- King Stefan on the Heroes Wiki
- King Stefan on the Conflicting Evil Wiki
- King Stefan on the Likability Scaling Purgatory Wiki
[]
 Base Breaking Characters
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