Labyrinth - Final Confrontation

Final scene between Jareth and Sarah

[akdlgsjjslk]

Y'all, that paradoxical line is what persuaded me to watch Labyrinth "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave". It's just so... Alluring? Captivating? It honestly made my stomach have butterflies. He's offering her himself, but only if she offers herself to him. Hot dang.

[jessiecorvus]

you can see the exact moment Jareth's heart breaks...

[Scavenger]

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." To be queen of the goblin realm? I would have accepted. Anyone else?

[scriptsupervisor]

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."
Me: Yes, hell yes!

[roseehill]

You can tell Jareth wants her, he fell in love with her despite the fact that he wasn’t supposed to. You see, in mythology goblin King’s were known to take children and lure pretty young maidens to their castles. BUT the more Jareth watched her, the more he fell in love. So he used what he knew to try to get her, manipulation, deceit, power, but in the end that stuff never really works. He lost her and she got her little brother back, which was what she wanted. RIP Goblin King, king of heart breaks. 💔 #DavidBowie

[kimmc]

It gives me chills, the way he asks for so much and makes it seem like so little. "I am exhausted from living up to your expectations." Actual things he has done for her benefit: 1. stolen her brother which he seems to have wanted to do anyway. 2. Not been as cruel to her as he could have been. In return, he only wants her to leave her entire life behind. This is so brilliantly designed to emotionally manipulate her, that "You have no power over me" hits hard.

[healerofthewaters]

So, everyone else is giving their interpretation here, so why not throw my hat into the ring on this scene? I personally think that this is a bit of a Phantom of the Opera situation where Jareth has been watching Sarah for a very long time. He wants her because she is perhaps the only person who truly believes in his existence anymore. I mean, she's out reciting and acting out scenes from the book in the park instead of doing anything else. He believes she's in love with him and that's why she's constantly doing it, because she wants him to take her away to be his forever. After all, she does say, "Someone take me away from this awful place!" So... Jareth does as she wants, acting out the part in the book for her, being the big bad Goblin King who's in love with the girl who steals away her baby brother and forces her "Through dangers untold and trials unnumbered" just as she so desperately seemed to want. He thought he knew what she wanted, and at first even Sarah gave off the vibe of being entranced and yet afraid just like the girl in the book. She did say, "I-- I can't... It isn't that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me... but I want my baby brother back." Jareth thinks that she's too worried about the ties she has to the human realm, father, stepmother, etc. So... He takes the baby and everything that happens to Sarah plays out like the story, and in the end... In the end Jareth begins to realize she doesn't love him at all, but he still grasps at the few straws he has left and gives her the all too famous option to, "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." If he can only get her to say yes... Then the girl he's obsessively pined for for so long would finally be his. He did, "Everything that you wanted." She, "Asked that the child be taken. I took him." She, "Cowered before me. I was frightening." He, "Reordered time and turned the world upside down." He even says, "I am exhausted from living up to your expectations." He did all of that for HER, and now he is getting pissed off and annoyed and letting his true colors show. He was never anything more than an obsessed, lonely, throw himself at Sarah's feet begging in desperation type of man. The one person whom he thought would love him doesn't reciprocate, and he simply couldn't cope. In the end he resigns himself to transform into the owl and watch over Sarah despite all that she did to him and that he did to her. He still loves her, but... He knows she will never love him in return. He's a really tragic character if you think about it.

[rvhtpdq]

Damn... and nobody is talking about the BULGE. David Bowie had 10 year old me SHOOK.

[jayleenc]

David Bowie was a snacc in this movie I ain’t even gonna lie.

[slendersera]

The Bowie Bulge is eye-catching. I want to look away, but I cannot XD

[jamlym]

You know Jareth, if you wanted her to choose you, you probably shouldn't have made the loss of her brother the cost for that.

[Sunkist]

I get where everyone is coming from with the whole "manipulative narcissist" thing, but he's how old? Been alone (except for the goblins) for how long at a time? He wants someone to love and to love him. Yes he wants power in the relationship because he's a king (duh), but his offer to be her slave...so sincere. She could ask for anything or for him to do anything and he would do it just to have her near. He's just so lonely and wants to be loved at the heart of it.

[SaraSmileTube]

If you actually listen to what he is saying he is a master manipulator. The symbol of him as a magician of sorts~manipulating space into crystal balls that look solid at first, yet when Sara touched the "crystal ball of dreams" he was trying to sell her, she found that it was only an illusion~a fragile bubble that popped. He was actually telling HER to be HIS slave by asking her to basically worship him (do as I say, etc). but then saying he will be her slave? And Before that he tells her all the things he's done "for her, " trying to make her feel guilty. These are classic tactics of a narcissist manipulator. Glad the movie ended with Sara realizing her power💛. Listen a bit more closely guys✨

[SilverArro]

Weird how so many people miss the point of such an obvious scene. Her fear of him is what gives him his power. At the beginning she’s a spoiled child. She begs for her brother to be taken away and then immediately begs for his return once she realizes the consequences. She stamps her feet and declares every new trial as “not fair!”. He does not love her - he needs her to fear him, obey him, worship him. And at this moment she seems him for what he really is: a powerless wretch who only has as much control over her as she allows him to have. And that is what defeats him.

To everyone who says they would have taken his offer, I get it - he’s gorgeous. But once the fantasy wears off, you’ll likely find it wasn’t quite what you bargained for.

[ingdanify]

This is like a masterclass of acting. The concentration and emotion, just astonishing! They are both so incredible. Sad that he is no longer with us, but he did bless us with his great personality, talent, music and movies. Thank you Bowie.

[desibarton]

My view on it is he did love her. The Goblin King is of Fae decent if I interpret correctly so in that meaning means that he was raised to be arrogant and the such and he's a king. He did bend some of his natural rules to allow for her to get what she wanted. He did what she asked of him but could not directly hand over her brother because of the agreement. Fae are also notorious for speaking in riddles. "Fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." I take it as she must fulfill her duties as a queen but he intends to give her everything she asks of him. I dont know everyone interprets things differently 🤷‍♀️ that's the wonder of stories and movies

[Felhek]

"I want this girl, what can I do? Mmm
I know!!! I will steal her little baby brother!!! Yess!!! Then surely she will love me!!!!"

[Sinewmire]

I love this from the Fairy perspective. Jareth is clearly an Unseelie fae.
They're obsessed with the letter of the law, and obligations, and love to trap mortals in them. Folklore says you must never accept anything from one of them, or you will be bound by obligation, and that you can trap them the same way, but it can make them very angry if they owe you. They have very warped ideas of desires and obligations - I love the idea that Jareth literally thinks that because Sarah was frightened of him, he was obligated to be frightening - and that was granting her a favour.

[JT-djvx]

'You have no power over me!' Powerful words that everyone needs to know and use at some point of their lives 💝

[GuukanKitsune]

Can I point something out?
Sarah technically FAILED.
According to the terms of the challenge, she had until the stroke of the 13th hour to solve the Labyrinth and GET HER BROTHER BACK.
Getting her brother back was not a reward for solving the Labyrinth. It was one of the tasks set to her. She had to physically get to the center, and claim her brother physically, in order to succeed.
And she did not ever actually claim her brother, thus failing the entire challenge.
So why did Jareth send her and her little brother back to their home?
Simple. Jareth loves Sarah. At this point he knew how much getting Toby back meant to Sarah. And goblins can leave the Labyrinth on the command of the Goblin King. As a final gift to her, one last gift before he backed away, he sent Toby back with orders to grow up outside the Labyrinth with his sister, even though he was technically a Changeling now and belonged to Jareth.