A Disney Disaster: The Black Cauldron Part 2
If you’re coming here from part 1, you know all about what high hopes Disney had for this awful adaptation, as well as how and why it crashed. You also know why that was ultimately a good thing, although I personally wish it hadn’t happened to Cauldron because most people you talk to today are completely unaware that it was based on a delightful book series.
Today I’m just going to rant about the various changes that were made in an article that would probably be served best as a video rant (maybe that’ll come later!). It’s important to see just how far Disney deviated from the source in an attempt to reign the series into a single-film story that would hit all the check boxes for what they were looking for in a dark(ish) 80s fantasy flick.
Needless to say there are massive spoilers for the first three books (I don’t spoil everything from the third book, and skip over a lot from the first two to keep this series from dragging on and on) as well a the movie in this article! If you do not want to be spoiled, I highly suggest you buy the books, watch the film, and come back later.
The Setup and Prologue Stuff
I already touched on this in part one, but because Disney was only making one film, most of the lore got cut in favor of something much more concise and easy to wrap up.
The movie starts out with a story about a king who was so evil that his soul was trapped in the form of a great, black cauldron. Said cauldron has the power to raise an army of the dead, and as such the lich-like creature known as the Horned King is on the search for it. Apparently he has no means of accomplishing his evil without the aid of said cauldron, and it’s up to our heroes to prevent him from possessing it.
As for the book, the land of Prydain was once ruled by Queen Achren, who is evil, just so you know. However, her consort Arawn, usurped her and took over the realm of Annuvin, which is Prydain’s equivalent of Mordor. Forcing Achren into subservience, he proceeded to steal for himself everything advantageous to man (in other words, magic stuff) in order to secure his own power.
Within Annuvin, Arawn is immortal and shapeless. He has the ability to take on any form he pleases, but doing so robs him of his immortality.
For example, he could turn into a rabbit, remaining inconspicuous and allowing him to spy on people, but if a hawk swoops down to nab him, he has no way to defend himself.
Anyway, since Arawn is too paranoid to leave his domain, he’s shored up all the magic and has plenty of ways to fight for dominance in Prydain without having to venture out himself. He has the gwythaints to be his eyes, the Huntsmen of Annuvin (a marauding group that shares power with each member. If one member of the group dies, the rest become more powerful, so fighting them really isn’t in your best interest), his own army, the Horned King’s army, and the Cauldron Born.
Unfortunately, the House of Don (Prydain’s version of Gondor) stands in the way, and until they fall he doesn’t have much of a chance.
The Beginning, in Which Taran Loses Henwen and Winds Up in a Dungeon
The book and movie start off very similar. Taran in an Assistant Pig-Keeper on Dallben’s farm who dreams of participating in the war, which where he thinks all the glory and excitement is. There are a couple big differences here, but since Disney wasn’t ever planning on doing the whole series, we can forgive them for cutting the character Coll out completely.
It’s a bit harder to forgive them for turning Dallben into a normal old man instead of the enchanter he is, being described in appearance as being more like Gandalf or Merlin, but, again, since most of the lore was changed there’s no reason to have Dallben meditating on the state of the war with Annuvin, as it no longer exists in this version.
Because of this change, there is no “Book of Three” or politics for Dallben to info dump on the audience. Instead, we get a brief explanation of the pig Hen Wen’s oracular powers (which function a bit differently in this, but that’s likely because the medium of animation allows for extra creativity when it comes to visuals) and that’s the end of Dallben’s purpose in the story.
In both versions Hen Wen winds up running away. In the movie it’s because Taran gets distracted by his delusions of grandeur and she trots off, in the book it’s because she and the other animals became terrified by the Horned King’s presence when he and his army drew too close to Caer Dallben.
What happens next is where things really start to diverge!
The Disney film cuts straight to Taran’s first encounter with Gurgi, which we’ll get to later. As for the book, Taran’s first encounter is actually with the Horned King!
He isn’t noticed by the warlord, who is described as being a gigantic man wearing a crimson cape, a human skull as a mask, and the antlers of a stag. He screams like a wild beast as he and his army make their way through the forest.
Unfortunately, a henchman in the army notices Taran. His sword slices his back as he attempts to escape in the underbrush, but they don’t pursue him any further. Taran instead falls unconscious as he bolts through the trees and wakes up in the presence of another character Disney cut from the film: Prince Gwydion of the House of Don.
Gwydion is riding to Caer Dallben to try and use Hen Wen to glean all of the information she can give him on the Horned King, and he’s journeyed for a whole month by himself to find her.
“When the time is ripe, the Horned King and I will meet. And one of us will die. That is my oath. But his purpose is dark and unknown, and I must learn it from Hen Wen.” — Gwydion
Needless to say, he’s less than pleased at Hen Wen having run off and agrees that Taran should tag along to find her, seeing as how he can’t leave the youth alone with the Horned King’s forces somewhere in the forest, especially if he might be riding towards Caer Dallben to nab Hen Wen himself.
They camp for the night and when Taran and Gwydion resume their search, Gwydion explains some of Hen Wen’s origins. He knows that Hen Wen will not stray towards either Annuvin or Spiral Castle, which is where Achren has made her base of operations.
As they travel, Taran is suddenly set upon by Gurgi, a creature that seems to be a kind of half-man/half-ape creature with all the hygiene of a sloth. The Disney version follows this encounter quite closely, with the exception that Gwydion has been cut from the story and Gurgi looks very little like how he’s described. Outside of that, Gurgi’s speech quirks have managed to survive the adaptation, although he’s not quite as morbid as the Disney film.
“‘It is only Gurgi,’ Gwydion said. ‘He is always lurking about one place or another. He is not half as ferocious as he looks, nor a quarter as fierce as he’d like to be, and more a nuisance than anything else. Somehow, he manages to see most of what happens, and he might be able to help us.’”
Gwydion attempts to bribe Gurgi for information with the promise of “munchings and crunchings” if he cooperates. Luckily, Gurgi doesn’t hold much back when you dangle food in front of him. He’s seen the Horned King and his army, and reports that they’re actively searching for the pig. Apparently, they attempted to get someplace, but a fire turned them away. He also lets them know that he saw Hen Wen crossing a river.
Unfortunately for Gurgi, he thought Taran was the promised food in exchange for information, but is still happy with what Gwydion rewards him with.
In the film, the encounter with Gurgi is brief. His personality is largely intact, the exception being that he’s not as morbid as his book counterpart and has no intention of eating Taran, and he’s reluctant to give information if there’s nothing in it for him. The major change, of course, being that the Horned King never leaves his castle and is not on the prowl through the woods.
Instead of continuing with Gwydion to search out Hen Wen, Taran hears her cries and finds her just in time see her carried off by a gwythaint to the Horned King’s castle, which he attempts to infiltrate. We’ll cover that in Part 3, though.
As for the book, Taran, Gwydion, and now Gurgi are searching for Hen Wen. Taran initially wanted to return to Caer Dallben, seeing as how the Horned King set fire to it, but Gwydion still feels that their best hope is to continue the search for Hen Wen.
Like in the Disney film, they encounter gwythaints, but it’s nothing as exciting as the film. They do, however, encounter the Horned King again. They spy him marching through the forest with the banners of several armies under him and witness something that probably fits better with an episode of Game of Thrones than a Disney movie: he happily sets several wicker baskets on fire, burning alive the people trapped inside them. Needless to say, Gwydion realizes that Taran will likely be traumatized by that kind of thing, so they hurry away.
“Before Gwydion could speak again, the Horned King, bearing a torch, rode to the wicker baskets and thrust the fire into them. Flames seized the osier cages; billows of foul smoke rose skyward. The warriors clashed their shields and shouted together with one voice. From the baskets rose the agonized screams of men. Taran gasped and turned away.”
Unluckily, they next encounter the Cauldron-Born, who capture the pair and take them to Achren’s castle. The Disney movie attempts to reintegrate the events of the book and movie once again, except it no longer makes sense because all of this context is gone and Gwydion, a major character, is no longer with Taran.
See you next time for Part 3, where we meet Eilonwy, Fflewder, and find a magic sword.