The film Pan’s Labyrinth is not without its share of perilous moments. Throughout the duration of Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy opus, many dangers both real and supernatural are presented to the protagonists. These real and fantastical dangers can be personified in the characters Captain Vidal and The Fawn. Captain Vidal, the death-obsessed sociopathic step father of young Ofelia, directly terrorizes, tortures and kills many characters in the film. On the other hand, there is The Fawn. The Fawn enlists Ofelia, whom he refers to as Princess Moanna, in completing multiple tasks in order to return to return to the harmonious and peaceful underworld. Although the imminent dangers presented by the captain seem far more menacing at first, the
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After convincing Ofelia that she is the princess of the underworld shortly after her arrival to the war-torn hills of rural Spain, The Fawn enlists her to complete multiple tasks in order to return to the underworld to live in prosperity. Sounds simple enough. However, these tasks are incredibly dangerous, especially for a young child. There are many times throughout the film that The Fawn puts Ofelia directly in the line of danger in order to achieve his goals. One of the more gruesome cases of this endangerment is Ofelia’s encounter with The Pale Man: a ghastly and otherworldly monster that devours children after luring them to its lair. The Fawn knowingly engineers this encounter, putting Ofelia directly into harm’s way, and also scolds her when she returns after she fails to properly follow the exact instructions given to her. Later on in the film, he directly deceives Ofelia when he fails to disclose the exact nature of his final task to her. After he decides to give Ofelia one last chance to follow his demands to the letter, he tells Ofelia to, “Pick up your brother and bring him to the labyrinth- as fast as you can”. However, he does not disclose that he needs her brother’s blood to open the portal to return to the underworld. Only after Ofelia drugs, ducks, and dodges a wounded and delirious Vidal right after she grabs her newborn …show more content…
Captain Vidal is a man driven by many things: his unquestioning loyalty and obedience to the Falangist-led Spanish regime, his desire to have a son, and an almost insatiable craving to die on the battlefield in a similar fashion to his father. Not only is he a man who follows orders without questioning them, he also enjoys the constant murdering of the Spanish rebels. Even when it comes to those he cares about, he only cares about them to fulfill his own goals. Although he cares about Carmen in the film, he only does so because she is pregnant with his son. And although he cares about his son, he only seems to care about him solely on the fact that he wishes to mold him into a soldier when he comes of age, much like his own father had done to him. Speaking of which, it seems that Vidal’s relationship with his deceased father is a major driving force in his character arc. He is constantly toying with his father’s watch that was broken and stopped at the moment of his death in order to communicate to Vidal “how a brave man dies”. It is unclear as to Vidal’s exact relationship with his father as it is not specifically addressed in the film itself, but Vidal’s constant obsession with the watch certainly seems to imply that he revered him quite
After convincing Ofelia that she is the princess of the underworld shortly after her arrival to the war-torn hills of rural Spain, The Fawn enlists her to complete multiple tasks in order to return to the underworld to live in prosperity. Sounds simple enough. However, these tasks are incredibly dangerous, especially for a young child. There are many times throughout the film that The Fawn puts Ofelia directly in the line of danger in order to achieve his goals. One of the more gruesome cases of this endangerment is Ofelia’s encounter with The Pale Man: a ghastly and otherworldly monster that devours children after luring them to its lair. The Fawn knowingly engineers this encounter, putting Ofelia directly into harm’s way, and also scolds her when she returns after she fails to properly follow the exact instructions given to her. Later on in the film, he directly deceives Ofelia when he fails to disclose the exact nature of his final task to her. After he decides to give Ofelia one last chance to follow his demands to the letter, he tells Ofelia to, “Pick up your brother and bring him to the labyrinth- as fast as you can”. However, he does not disclose that he needs her brother’s blood to open the portal to return to the underworld. Only after Ofelia drugs, ducks, and dodges a wounded and delirious Vidal right after she grabs her newborn …show more content…
Captain Vidal is a man driven by many things: his unquestioning loyalty and obedience to the Falangist-led Spanish regime, his desire to have a son, and an almost insatiable craving to die on the battlefield in a similar fashion to his father. Not only is he a man who follows orders without questioning them, he also enjoys the constant murdering of the Spanish rebels. Even when it comes to those he cares about, he only cares about them to fulfill his own goals. Although he cares about Carmen in the film, he only does so because she is pregnant with his son. And although he cares about his son, he only seems to care about him solely on the fact that he wishes to mold him into a soldier when he comes of age, much like his own father had done to him. Speaking of which, it seems that Vidal’s relationship with his deceased father is a major driving force in his character arc. He is constantly toying with his father’s watch that was broken and stopped at the moment of his death in order to communicate to Vidal “how a brave man dies”. It is unclear as to Vidal’s exact relationship with his father as it is not specifically addressed in the film itself, but Vidal’s constant obsession with the watch certainly seems to imply that he revered him quite