JAFAR 👀
My ultimate blorbo <3
Favourite thing about them: How multifaceted he is! It's easy to write him off as simply unapologetically evil—which he is—but he's also surprisingly sociable and willing to work with others (Iago, Nasira, Hades, etc). He's kind of uptight. He loves puns. He's egotistical. He's easily made insecure (best example of this is when Cruella insults his outfit in Cursed Cafe). He's a manipulator. He's easily manipulated. What a guy!
Least favourite thing about them: Disney's insistence that he has any sort of romantic feelings for Jasmine.
Favourite line: "A snake am I? Perhaps you'd like to see how snakelike I can be!" Such a great moment, and I love how associated Jafar is with snakes (<- guy who loves snakes).
brOTP: Jafar and Mirage! Iago mentions that Jafar used to travel a lot in search of "magical advantages" and immediately clocks that they're in Morbia in Mirage's debut episode, so I like to think that he's been there before. Considering the Egyptian imagery associated with Mirage and that cobras feature heavily in ancient Egyptian art, it's possible that she may have given him his staff. I imagine she sees him as an agent of evil, and that he enjoys having such a powerful ally.
OTP: MozenJaf, which has been my OTP for almost a decade now. I love how weird their power dynamics are, I love how aligned they are in their values and goals, I love the idea of them trying to outfox the other until they realize they're more powerful together, I love them accepting each other wholeheartedly because who else in this world is going to support you in your evil deeds... they're just so much fun and I'm really glad to see more fanworks with them, I treasure them all.
nOTP: It's a toss-up between Aladdin/Jafar and Jasmine/Jafar. Both of these ships tend to be extremely OOC, with very little thought given as to why Aladdin or Jasmine would be attracted to Jafar outside of the author's own bias, and Jafar is always portrayed as this hyper-intelligent dark CEO type that's Good For The Kingdom, Actually. It just reeks of those shitty booktok romance stories with the whimpering little subby reader-inserts and the cringeworthy dommy bad boys. Not my cup of tea.
Random headcanon: He's of Egyptian descent on his mother's side, specifically Nubian. She was also a sorceress and the one who got him and Nasira into magic—the rubies in his cobra staff were actually her earrings, which she gave to him when he was in boarding school. They have/had a very close relationship.
Unpopular opinion: I actually dislike quite a few Jafar-centric fanfics because they make him too cool. He's a theatre kid who's impulsive and emotional and loves puns! Don't erase that side of him and make him into a Boring Generic Sociopath! Angels are losing their wings!
Song I associate with them: "Are You Satisfied?" by Marina and the Diamonds. Especially for his younger years.
Favourite picture of them: