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Zelda & Sir Archibald

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Zelda the Witch, (or simply Zelda), and Sir Archibald the Warlock, (or simply Archie, as he’s referred to by Zelda and Jack O’Lantern), are the main antagonists of Jack O’Lantern, the 6th episode of the Rankin/Bass animated series Festival of Family Classics (more specifically Zelda is the main antagonist while Archibald is the secondary antagonist). They are the archenemies of Jack O’Lantern. Zelda is an evil, scheming witch who plots to take over the farmlands with some help from her army of demons, and her warlock husband Sir Archibald, who is often reluctant to join her in her wicked plans.

Personality[]

Zelda: Like most stereotypical witches across various media, Zelda is wicked, evil and the more villainous of the two. She greatly enjoys spreading terror and destruction across the farmlands, using her dark magic to scare away any farmers and make the farmlands useless and unhabitable for them in order to obtain the land for herself and her husband. She is also murderous, as she threatens to turn the two children, Michael and Colleen, into stone statues as ransom for the source of Jack O’Lantern’s magic, his pot of gold, which is he selflessly surrenders in order to save the kids. She is also rather grumpy and bossy, particularly with Archibald, and such is quick to snappy remarks when his reluctance in their scheme annoys her.

Sir Archibald: Archibald on the other hand is the lesser of the two evils. Unlike Zelda, he is rather cowardly and anxious, showing extreme reluctance and hesitance towards their plan; often, he expresses his desire to simply head back to their unseen home, especially learning that Jack O’Lantern is involved, only to be stopped Zelda. Archibald is also shown to be a bit more moralistic than his wife, as he captures the children under Zelda’s orders but doesn’t enjoy it in the slightest, even telling the kids so. However, this is probably more so out of a dislike of children as a whole rather than actually true remorse for his actions. In spite of his overall cowardice and reluctance, he still possesses some traces of villainy as seen when he guards the magical pot of golden hidden within Jack’s pumpkin head, warning Jack and the children who are tied up in the barn not to pull any tricks on him, and even trying to capture the children again a moment later, only to be rammed out the window by Billy the goat.

Appearance[]

Zelda: Zelda is a short and stocky witch with pale greyish-green skin, a large, bulbous nose with a small wart, pale gray hair and a single tooth visible on her lower jaw. Her wardrobe consists of a stereotypical black, pointed witch’s hat, a dark greyish-purple dress with large, long hanging sleeves and a collar in a much lighter shade of greyish-purple, and large black boots with gray buttons.

Sir Archibald: Archibald is a warlock who’s taller and more slender than Zelda. He possesses the same pale greyish-green skin and pale gray hair as his wife, but nose is bulbous yet more pointed and does not have a wart. He also has one pointed tooth visible from his upper jaw. His wardrobe consists of a gray tuxedo with a pale grey undershirt and cuffs with three gray buttons on each cuff, a grey string tie, a black cape with a light greyish-purple interior, a matching black top hat with a greyish-purple hatband, and white and black spats.

Role in the episode[]

Zelda and Archibald first appear riding on their broomsticks, leading their army of ghosts, ghouls and demons toward Michael and Colleen’s farm. Zelda cackles with wicked delight, prompting Archibald to ask her why she must do so as it’s not very lady-like. Zelda responds by telling him “Witches aren’t supposed to be lady-like!” and proceeds to cackle some more. Archibald expresses his disdain for their involvement, wishing they could spend a nice, quiet evening at home, only for Zelda to remind him that he was the one who said they should acquire a nice piece of land for when they reach retirement age.

Zelda sends her demons to sling a shower of hailstones down upon the land, which Jack O’Lantern foils by catching them all in his trusted “horn of plenty” and blowing them back at them. This angers Zelda, who suspects foul play. Next, the witch comes zooming down on her broomstick, starting a brush fire with the flame from her broom. Jack stops the fire by casting a spell that brings an instant tropical storm, washing out the fire.  Zelda is further infuriated by the tropical storm putting out the fire, and suspects who might be behind it. Finally, she sends the demons down upon the farmland to freeze the soil in a harsh frost, even frosting the kids, whom Jack thaws out with a touch of his hand. Jack then calls on the midnight sun from the North Pole, which scares away the demons for the moment and melts the frost, watering the fields. Zelda finally realizes that Jack O’Lantern is behind all her previous attacks failing, recognizing the midnight sun trick as he had pulled that one on her once before. When Archibald learns that Jack is involved, he attempts to fly back home only to be stopped by Zelda. She sees a weakness in Jack she can use as a means to get the better of him; that he is rather fond of the children. Archibald tells her not to involve the children as they might “botch up” their plans, but Zelda assures him nothing will go wrong.

She orders the demons to distract Jack while Archibald captures the children, much to his chagrin. Archibald reluctantly follows Zelda’s orders, grabs the children, flies away with them on his broomstick and brings them to Zelda off-screen. After temporarily chasing away the ghosts, Zelda reveals herself to Jack, showing him that she has the children captured. She warns him if he doesn’t surrender his pot of gold to her, she’ll turn the kids into stone statues. Realizing he doesn’t have a choice, Jack gives up his pot of gold, leaving it inside his pumpkin head and emerges in his true leprechaun form. Zelda then ties him and the kids to post, then gives the pumpkin to Archibald and sets out to ruin the farmlands and chase the farmers away for good.

Archibald guards the pumpkin and warns them not to “try anything tricky” as he now has the magic pot of gold. Jack quickly devises a clever plan. He shakes off his hat and asks Archibald to fetch it. Archibald agrees to do so, as long as Jack doesn’t pull any tricks. When he reaches down to pick up the hat, Billy the goat rams him and sends him crashing into the barn door, which Swayback the horse places a collar around his neck to keep him in place. A moment later, after Jack and the children are freed by Lulu the cow and Jack hops back into his pumpkin to chase away the demons, Archibald somehow frees himself from the barn door and tries to abduct the kids again, only for Billy to ram him again out through the barn window. Zelda and Archibald are last seen flying away on their broomsticks out of cowardice to escape Jack’s wrath, to which Jack chases them away for good with one final magic zap. They are not seen again after this, and it is assumed they never returned to the terrorize the farmlands ever again during Jack’s time on the farm, undoubtedly out of fear of him.

Gallery[]

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