Some of our favorite Disney characters of all time are also the characters that leave us with the most questions. You know the type: Their souls are like rivers, peaceful and deep. Their origin stories are a secret that we wish they wouldn’t keep, etc. Here are 10 of our favorite mysterious Disney characters:

1. Rafiki, The Lion King



We have a lot of questions about this mandrill, including but not limited to: Where did he come from? Are there any others like him? If he has a family, are they ALL shamans, or is that just his thing? How did a monkey get so incredibly wise?

2. Olaf, Frozen



Olaf’s magical origins make him slightly less of an enigma, because the answers to any questions about him can be answered with “it’s magic, of course.” Still, we would love confirmation that he is basically immortal, except in cases of heat. Mostly because we want our own talking snowman to follow us around dispensing really profound relationship advice.

3. Chip, Beauty and the Beast



A while ago, a few of us editors got into a really long talk about this little guy. Lumiere says the castle occupants have been cursed for 10 years, but Chip hardly seems that old. Plus, at one point Mrs. Potts tells him “into the cupboard with your brothers and sisters.” How come Chip’s brothers and sisters don’t follow her around? How many of them are there? And why, when he initially serves Belle tea, do the sugar bowl and creamer set not have faces? If you have answers, we want to know them.

4. Vladimir, Tangled



We would like to collect more information about the Pub Thug who collects ceramic unicorns. For starters, where did he get his first ceramic unicorn, and why did it inspire him to have a dream of collecting more? If he is actively in the process of collecting ceramic unicorns (he has at least one, after all), one could argue he is already living his dream. Where does one get ceramic unicorns? We’re asking for a friend. (That was a lie. We’re asking for ourselves.)

5. Grimsby, The Little Mermaid



We really, really love Eric’s manservant—both for his charming quirks like seasickness and gifting people giant statues of themselves, and for his outlook on love. Grim is super antsy to see Eric get married, but then he also has the ability to drop perhaps the best relationship advice of all time: “Far better than any dream girl is one of flesh and blood. One warm, and caring, and right before your eyes.” We simultaneously want Grimsby to be our grandpa and our best friend. How did he get so cool?

6. Iago, Aladdin



This little guy is awfully mysterious for one so sarcastic. We do get some answers about him in Return of Jafar—notably about the origins of his distaste for crackers; a hatred so extreme that it’s probably the main reason he conspires against the Sultan and then later, defects from Jafar. Aladdin screenwriter Terry Rossio has even written that Jafar magically transferred all his emotions to Iago to leave Jafar free of distraction. Crazy, right? We’d watch a whole movie dedicated to Iago’s origin story.

7. Dr. Finkelstein, The Nightmare Before Christmas



First of all, this cranky scientist’s insistence on never letting Sally go anywhere is not cool at all. Luckily for her, Sally is the smartest person in Halloween Town and outwits him easily at every turn. But still we want to know: how can someone so curmudgeonly also be so desperate for companionship? We’re glad he finds it by splitting his brain in half and all, but still.

8. Chien Po, Mulan



Chien Po is a complex, many-layered being; here is a guy who is the biggest and strongest, but also the resident pacifist. When Yao is about to fight Mulan, Chien Po even calms him down with a hypnotic chant. Where did this gentle giant come from? How can we go there to learn his ways?

9. Dory, Finding Nemo



Naturally, we want to know where Dory came from and how she lost her memory … and Dory wants to know those very same things. As of now, we’re only about six months away from getting some answers in Finding Dory, which is coming to theaters on June 17, 2016. Our countdown has already started!

10. Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean



Possibly the slipperiest and most complex Disney character ever, Jack Sparrow leaves us more confused the longer he talks, but in the absolute best possible way. We can trust a dishonest man to be dishonest, but that also means accepting that only Captain Jack ever really knows what’s going on with Captain Jack. And we’re fine with accepting that, because he just has so much style.

Who’s your favorite mysterious Disney character and what do you want to know about them? Ask below!

Posted 5 years Ago