The Villains of Agrabah
Chapter 1: Mechanickles
Author's Note: My take on the development of each main Aladdin villain: Mechanickles, Abis Mal, Mirage, and Mozenrath. This is a four chapter series. I do not own Aladdin. Hope you enjoy!
Mechanickles was raised in an affluent Greek town. He was raised by his stern, but disciplined mother and his loving father. Mechanickles' mother prepared the food and bartered in the market for the best goods. She kept a very clean house and required all members of the household to abide by her rigid rules: clean out the chamber pot every day, make sure the debris and garbage from their house was laid far from their home, and ensure that every item of clothing was in its proper place. Mechanickles adapted her obsessive tendencies, eager to please his mother and afraid of her staunch disciplinary actions. She would beat her son if he came to supper with messy hands. In time, Mechanickles knew how to stay clean and avoid a beating.
His mother's harsh actions led Mechanickles to spend much of his time outside the house. He attended school every day. His parents both insisted on the best education for their only son, whom they regarded as an exceptionally intelligent boy. Mechanickles was way ahead of his time. He had vast analytical skills and he was an accomplished inventor. He grasped scientific concepts way before his time. Mechanickles' knowledge of scientific disciples would guide him for the rest of his life.
For instance, Mechanickles was a stronger believer in the gradual evolution of animals. He felt this was clear by his careful observation of the world around him. Mechanickles used to carefully collect many species of bugs. He was fascinated by the awesome proliferation of such lowly species all over the world. He used this entomological knowledge to create his machines from a bottom-up approach. Simply give his creatures the minds of bugs and they will develop into more sophisticated, complex machines. Mechanickles also thought there was something quite poetic about developing machines that resembled insects: turning a filthy carrier of disease into the pinnacle of intelligence and cleanliness.
His father commended Mechanickles on his incredible innovations. He was Mechanickles' biggest fan and his greatest hero. Mechanickles' father worked in law enforcement. He protected Greece from the criminal elements and kept his town safe. Mechanickles so admired him that he vowed to follow his altruistic example. He talked about using his technological genius to make the world a better place. He would fix the roads and infrastructure of the city. He dreamed of designing cheap, affordable housing for the entire city with all the modern conveniences. But his dreams changed that fateful night his father left him.
Mechanickles came home one afternoon, delighted to regale his father with the new facts he learned in school. He found his mother sobbing at the kitchen table. Mechanickles was stunned. He approached her awkwardly, fearing the worst.
"Where's my father?" he demanded, his voice quavering.
"He's gone, Mechanickles. He left us a note. A note!" she cried hysterically, shoving the note into his hands.
Mechanickles' face fell as he read the letter. His father had another wife and he had a child with her. All the time he spent with his son commending his abilities, his talent was a lie. This other boy was apparently much more important to him. His whole façade as a hero, a voice of the people: another lie. What kind of humanitarian would abandon his own son? Mechanickles felt his world shatter around him.
First, his obsessive, compulsive tendencies worsened. Everything had to be in place. Everything had to be clean and neat. He demanded order when his world had turned upside down. He would scrub his hands until they were raw and bloody. Mechanickles bathed three times a day. His mother scolded him for wasting the precious water and insisted that he need only bathe twice a week. Mechanickles refused. He felt that no matter what he did, he was never clean.
Mechanickles' obsessive nature carried into the classroom where he spent hours studying. He was at the top of the class. He soon realized that he possessed much more knowledge than his teachers could give him. He grew weary of the unanswered questions and started talking back to his instructors. His teachers suddenly found him too petulant, too radical for the traditional schools. They decried his ideas as folly or the Devil's work. He was soon exiled from school.
His expulsion made Mechanickles even more driven and confident in his own abilities. He invested more time into inventing his robots: creating more and more sophisticated machinery. His mother started to fret about him. She encouraged him to go back to school and finish his education. She told him that he spent too much time alone. He needed friends. He needed to socialize or even just get out in the sun. Mechanickles did not appreciate his mother's concern. He mocked her as an unimaginative, uneducated woman. He cried that she never understood his genius.
One day, a fight escalated and Mechanickles left the house for good. He isolated himself from the town and continued toiling on his machines. The insistence on perfection at all costs drove him mad. Still, each time he completed a robot, he would compare it to the technology around him and scoff at the ignorance of the common folk. Eventually he came to a revelation: the way to help the poor peasants of the villages was not to build them nice houses. They could not even fathom how to make use of his wondrous creations. No, Mechanickles needed to be the ruler among them. He would get rid of the filth and degradation of the world. And he would not tolerate for anyone to stand in his way.
Mechanickles never considered himself a cruel man. For each city he destroyed he would justify his actions: he had given the cities a choice to surrender. Their obstinateness, not his thirst for power, had caused the devastation of their fair city and any consequential deaths. Anyone who defied him was a fool standing in the way of his progressiveness. Fools such as Aladdin.
Aladdin would often defeat Mechanickles with the help of that magical entity and his own loud-mouth nature. Mechanickles never realized how his garrulousness proved to be his undoing. His isolation from the world caused his intense loneliness. He would name each one of his creations and coo them as if they were his offspring. He would prattle on and brag about his genius during each battle. He knew that even his enemies must have had some admiration for his talents.
Truth be told, Mechanickles secretly admired Aladdin's resourcefulness. A peasant with little schooling managed to foil his carefully planned schemes. He would concoct his newest plot eager to out-wit his uncultured foe: another challenge for the mad inventor. One day, he would create a clean, well structured, and prosperous government. The people of Agrabah would appreciate his cleverness and hail him for the marvelous ruler he was.
One day he would destroy that infernal Aladdin….
Next: Abis Mal and Haroud
