I can hear you saying, “WHO?!” and you probably have a right to say that. Hopefully, everything can be explained as we progress.
We are visiting Walt Disney’s 18th animated feature film, “The Sword in the Stone” (or as I like to call it, “How Many Times Can You Hear Wart Say, ‘Wha..?Wait. Whoa!’?“).
Released in 1963, it was the last animated Disney film released during Walt Disney’s life.
The film is based on Arthurian legend and tells us the story of young Wart (King Arthur pre-kingdom) and his education as provided by a lovable, somewhat cantankerous, yet wise wizard named Merlin
and his pet “educated owl”, Archimedes who’s much more cantankerous and grumpy!
This film has always been one of my favorites and it’s on my “My Top 13 Favorite Animated Disney (Canon) Films” list! The film is definitely the most philosophical and educational of the canon and also contains one of the best Disney scenes ever!
And as I get more and more into these successful/popular Disney films, it gets harder and harder to pick a forgotten/minor character. So who were my runners-up for this position?
Firstly there was Sir Pellinore!
He’s Sir Ector’s friend and informs the latter of the king-deciding tournament that’s about to take place. He also treats Wart amicably as opposed to the majority of the other human characters. But, he is in the movie quite a bit and not really forgotten, so he was struck out!
Next, there was the kitchen maid/cook/female character.
She…got upset that her kitchen was under the “black magic” influence of Merlin. And…that was pretty much all I could say about her, so she was struck out as well!
Then, there was Black Bart.
He’s one of the participants of the tournament and one of the first to recognize that Wart has pulled the sword from the stone! Again, not much could I say about him, so he was strike three!
This left me with 2 viable candidates. The first was this guy:
I mean who is he?! Yes, he’s the official…raiser of the drawbridge! But we never see him after this! Heck, we never even see him up close! He’s out there in the pouring rain protecting the inhabitants of the castle from foes! He’s essential to the security of the castle! And yet, what else do we know about him? Nothing! As said before, the security men deserve recognition!
My second candidate was the one that I chose: Hobbs!
Enough with that! After Merlin makes Wart’s chores do themselves via an assembly line,
Sir Ector and the others get angry at Wart for shirking his duties. They also make false accusations about Merlin which leads to Wart defending him and giving back talk to Sir Ector. That’s the last straw that Sir Ector can tolerate and announces that Hobbs will replace Wart as Kay’s squire!
But who is Hobbs? Well, let’s do some deductive reasoning!
One, Sir Ector describes the lad as “young Hobbs”, thereby making it known that Hobbs is of the younger generation. And seeing as Wart was the first choice of squire, we can assume that Hobbs is about the same age as Wart.
Two, apparently Hobbs lives in the castle, hence is someone important (well not that important, since we never see him) to the household. Who is he though? Is he the raiser of the drawbridge’s son? Well probably not; the only other time we hear of Hobbs’ name is later on when Hobbs mysteriously gets the mumps!
And the one to bring that news to us is the kitchen maid/cook/female character; so my guess is that Hobbs is somewhat related/connected to her, maybe Hobbs is her son!
And…that’s pretty much all we can deduce: Hobbs is a young tween-age boy in the castle who may or may not be related to the kitchen maid/cook/female character!
Now why did I pick an unseen and barely mentioned character as my choice? True, that definitely counts as forgotten or minor, but it seems like cheating! Well think about it! Hobbs, a young boy is given the chance of a lifetime to be a squire! Imagine what’s going through his head!
See how important this event was for our unseen character! No matter how unimportant a character, events will always affect their actions, thoughts, desires, emotions, etc. And we as the viewing public can not close our eyes to this shameful happenings!
No forgotten/minor character is better than another, and who more to cement this fact than Hobbs, our unseen character from “The Sword in the Stone”!
The Animation Commendation 
Wow, you really went obscure on this one…. Well done.
Lol, thanks! It seemed like the best choice!
Pretty much my only complaint about this film is the inconsistency in Wart’s voice, which fluctuates from the decidedly deeper vocals of Rickie Sorensen (at its deepest at the very end, after the climactic withdrawal of the sword from the Stone) and the high pipes of Dick and Bob Reitherman- the brothers of the then-future Mowgli, Bruce. The way Wart’s voice changes not just from one scene to the next, but from one LINE to the next, is quite distracting, to say the least. As an aside, somebody once remarked that the reuse of Wart’s “Whoa, whut, whoa!!” line would make for a great drinking game. (I’m a teetotaler, myself, though…)
Aside from that, there is a lot to love about SWORD IN THE STONE. The animation is sprightly, the voice acting for the other characters is spot-on (especially Karl Swenson as Merlin, and Martha Wentworth as Madam Mim), the characters are very well-developed*, the songs are lively and fun (with my favorite being arguably the funniest Disney song ever- “Higitus Figitus” [Seriously, I can’t listen to it and keep a straight face!]), and there’s a LOT of good comedy!**
*I must single out Merlin, especially; he could easily have been played as a flawless, imposing being, but in this version, we are reminded that, all-powerful though he may be, he’s, above all, human- he’s forgetful, he makes mistakes, he sometimes loses his cool, and he can be a bit clumsy at times. This makes him a much more interesting character than he would have been otherwise.
**I’d go so far as to rank this with ALADDIN, EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, and ZOOTOPIA as one of the funniest Disney animated features ever.
I’d agree with you that this could be one of the funnier Disney films!
lol, I remembered Hobbs. No, literally. I watched this movie just six months ago. Not big on it though. I was expecting something a little more…uh…dignified. It was disappointing =( Funny though. And my little sibs loved it.
I enjoyed it a lot personally.
You forgot to include the iconic Hobbs picture of Sir Ector! When he says Hobbs, he seems to be taking amusement at Wart’s expense. He seems actually triumphant and he’s enjoying tormenting him. As he says Hobbs (the second time I think?), he looks upwards and sticks his nose in the air! That’s what I always remember about Hobbs.
By the way, which scene do you consider the best? The wizards’ duel? I’m assuming the screenshot is relevant but it’s not clear.
Oh yes, the wizards’ duel is my favorite scene in this film!
I should have included that. Thanks for reading and commenting!