Labyrinth 1986

Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly), a creative teenager with a passion for fantasy, had a tendency to immerse herself in her favorite storybook, the Labyrinth. One afternoon, as she wandered through the park near her home, she found herself reenacting her beloved tale, only to be brought back to reality by the striking of the city hall clock tower at 7pm. Realizing she was an hour late and needed to get home to care for her baby stepbrother, Toby (Toby Froud), Sarah’s tardiness led to a heated argument with her stepmother and feelings of neglect from her father. Left alone to tend to the fussy infant, Sarah’s frustration reached a boiling point as she was given one of her favorite teddy bears, Lancelot, by her stepmother. In a moment of desperation, Sarah called out to the universe for relief, only to be met with an eerie silence.

In a last-ditch effort to calm Toby’s cries, Sarah spun a tale of the Goblin King’s love for the girl who was stuck at home with the baby, and how he had bestowed upon her magical powers. Though she didn’t truly believe this fantastical story, it seemed to momentarily soothe the child. However, in a fit of rage that the crying wouldn’t subside, Sarah summoned the goblins to take her brother away. The Goblin King, Jareth (David Bowie), appeared and offered Sarah an ultimatum: she could claim her dreams or spend 13 hours navigating the ever-changing Labyrinth, with the promise that if she reached the castle at its center within the time limit, Toby would be spared from a fate worse than death – becoming a goblin. Resolute in her determination to save her brother, Sarah chose the latter and set off on her perilous journey.

As she ventured into the mystical realm, Sarah encountered an ancient dwarf with a sharp tongue, Hoggle (voice Brian Henson), who warned her not to take anything at face value in this treacherous place. Initially dismissive of his guidance, Sarah eventually found herself trapped in an oubliette, only for Hoggle to reappear as the Goblin King’s appointed rescuer. With no clear ally or enemy, Sarah was left to navigate the labyrinthine world alone, driven by her determination to save Toby and reclaim her brother from the clutches of the cunning Goblin King.

As Hoggle’s allegiance began to waver, he found himself torn between obeying Jareth’s orders and assisting Sarah on her perilous journey. Despite being instructed to send her back to the labyrinth’s entrance, Hoggle chose to defy the king’s decree, opting instead to guide Sarah towards the center of the maze and ultimately, her brother Toby. This act of defiance did not go unnoticed by Jareth, who was incensed by Sarah’s haughty attitude and responded by stealing three hours from her time, threatening to dispatch Hoggle to the dreaded Bog of Eternal Stench if he continued to disobey his orders.

Enraged, Jareth turned his attention to Sarah, inquiring about her experience within his labyrinth. Her flippant remark that it was a “piece of cake” only served to further enrage the king, who subsequently dispatched a machine equipped with whirring knives to pursue Hoggle and Sarah. As the pair managed to evade their pursuers, Hoggle’s fear of the howling creature proved too great, prompting him to abandon Sarah and retreat into his own shell, leaving her to fend for herself in the treacherous labyrinth.

Undeterred by her isolation, Sarah drew upon her inner strength, recalling Jareth’s ominous warning that “things aren’t always what they seem” within the maze. It was then that she chanced upon Ludo, a gentle giant despite his imposing size, who became an unlikely ally after she intervened to save him from the merciless goblins. However, Sarah soon found herself separated from Ludo and stumbling into a surreal forest, where she encountered the enigmatic Firies, creatures capable of dismembering themselves at will.

As they attempted to disassemble her as well, Sarah fought back by dispatching their detached heads into the distance. It was Hoggle who ultimately arrived on the scene to rescue her, though Sarah remained oblivious to Jareth’s edict that any display of affection towards him would result in his immediate consignment to the Bog. Her gratitude was palpable when she bestowed a kiss upon Hoggle’s bald head, and it was at this very moment that the earth beneath them began to tremble, sending them tumbling into the Bog.

Fortunately, they managed to avoid the mire, reuniting with Ludo in their midst. It was then that they crossed paths with Sir Didymus, a gallant fox knight accompanied by his loyal sheepdog steed, who pledged his assistance to Sarah on her quest to reach Toby before it was too late. With the castle drawing ever closer, there seemed little standing in her way as she strove to reunite with her brother and complete her odyssey through the labyrinth.

As Sarah’s hand closed around the juicy peach, the weight of Hoggle’s reluctant obedience settled upon him like a guilty conscience. The Goblin King’s machinations had forced the loyal servant to betray his trust in Sarah, presenting her with a fruit that would erase her memories of Toby from her mind. Starving and helpless, Sarah devoured the peach, and her world became a surreal dreamscape. She found herself ensconced in a lavish ballroom, surrounded by masked revelers, as Jareth (David Bowie) twirled her around the dance floor with an air of possessive intimacy. But Sarah’s grip on reality faltered, and she broke free from the Goblin King’s grasp, shattering the crystal sphere that had contained their whimsical waltz.

Sarah awoke in a junkyard, the peach still clutched in her hand, but her memories remained as fragmented as the discarded trash around her. The goblin woman, adorned with an assortment of knickknacks, guided Sarah back to her bedroom, where she collapsed onto the bed, convinced that the preceding events had been nothing more than a nightmarish hallucination. However, the reality principle soon reasserted itself when the goblin woman entered her room, insisting that Sarah join her in collecting trinkets from her own quarters. The sight of her book about the Labyrinth jolted Sarah back to her mission: rescuing Toby before time ran out.

With her friends in tow, Sarah hastened towards the nearby castle, pursued by hordes of goblins as they breached the boundaries of the Goblin City. Amidst the chaos, the trio finally reached the castle’s throne room, where a ticking clock served as a stark reminder that time was rapidly expiring. With less than five minutes to spare, Sarah set off solo up the stairs, her friends’ anxious voices echoing through the corridors as they urged her to hurry.

As Sarah ascended to the labyrinthine room at the top, she clung to the wall for dear life, her senses reeling from the dizzying prospect. The space before her was a maze of stairways that seemed to lead nowhere, walkways that twisted and turned in seemingly endless permutations. There was no up or down, only a disorienting sense of spatial dissonance that left her stumbling through the void. But then, like a specter materializing from the shadows, the Goblin King emerged, his malevolent presence radiating an aura of menace as he effortlessly strolled along the ledge, seeming to walk straight through Sarah’s very being in an attempt to intimidate her. With a wicked grin, he hurled a crystal orb that bounced across the multiple perspectives of the room, finally coming to rest in the hands of Sarah’s brother, who sat upside down above her like some macabre puppeteer. Now that she knew where Toby was hiding, Sarah’s greatest challenge lay ahead: navigating the treacherous terrain to reach him before it was too late. But every time she thought she had neared his location, Toby would miraculously relocate to a new and unexpected locale, defying gravity with an ease that left her stumbling in frustration. It wasn’t until she finally spotted him sitting on the floor, dangling his feet over the ledge of a door, that Sarah realized he was mere inches away – twenty feet below her, trapped in a prison of paradoxical spatial relationships. Time was running out, and Sarah knew that if she didn’t seize Toby before the clock struck midnight, he would forever lose himself to the abyss, transformed into one of the Goblin King’s twisted minions. With a heavy heart and a queasy stomach, Sarah steeled herself for the leap of faith, knowing that if she succeeded, her bones would pay the price in shattered fragments scattered across the floor. Yet, with no other choice, she took the plunge, hurtling through the void towards Toby’s waiting form, her very existence hanging precariously in the balance.

As Sarah’s descent continued, the very fabric of reality began to unravel around her, the room fragmenting into a kaleidoscope of fragmented moments. Yet, her downward trajectory was arrested as her feet finally made contact with solid ground, and she found herself face to face with the enigmatic Goblin King emerging from the shadows like a specter in white. His ethereal cloak of feathers billowed behind him like a dark angel’s wings, drawing near with an unnerving slowness. Undeterred by the king’s approach, Sarah recited the lines that had been scripted into her storybook, hoping to outmaneuver him and ensure her brother Toby’s safe return. However, the Goblin King intervened, extending an olive branch in the form of tantalizing promises and even his own presence. Yet, Sarah remained resolute in her determination to save Toby, completing her dialogue with a sense of purpose, only to find herself whisked back to her mundane reality. The defeated king, vanquished once more, took flight, transformed into an owl as he fled the scene, banished from the world of humans.

Sarah hastened upstairs to confirm that her brother had been returned unscathed and found Toby slumbering peacefully. With her mission accomplished, she retired to her room, busy tidying away the remnants of her childhood fantasies like a grown woman shedding an outgrown skin. Yet, as she was engaged in this nostalgic ritual, the faces of her friends from the Labyrinth materialized before her in her mirror’s reflective surface, their countenances a testament to the enduring bonds they had forged during their shared odyssey. These spectral visitations whispered reassurances that they would forever be present if needed, and Sarah acknowledged this promise with a nod, knowing that the memories of their adventure would periodically resurface in her life like an recurring refrain.