Jarreth became much quieter after the death of his sister. Few noticed. Fewer still knew why. Even Milksop knew only because he became responsible for checking on His Majesty's niece and nephew. The children, it seemed, were hearty and human. The boy had a thick mop of red hair and the little girl with chestnut hair. Though both were rather mischievous, neither bore their mother's gift. After an age, Jarreth assigned some of his trolls with comparatively stronger intellect to watch over his sister's children while Milksop remained with him.
It was about this time that Jack Frost began to fade. He had spent his time growing increasingly bitter and corrupt. By the end, one could not tell if he had been poisoned or simply not awakened from his sleep, and no one much cared to investigate either. The only friends he had were the worst kinds of fiends, which are no friends at all. Now fully free of his father's tyranny, The Goblin King stepped into his role.
As it turned out, Being King of the Goblins was at once incredibly binding and terribly freeing. Goblins required almost nothing; they aspired to little, organized less, and thought only a few moments at a time in general. For Jarreth this was something of a dream turned nightmare. He was infinitely clever and now found himself bored with little to apply himself. The role which he had dreaded for its infinite responsibility now seemed ideal. Eventually, the frustrated Goblin King turned to organize his kingdom.
Using the physical manifestation of his magic, he found the goblins and trolls worth noting. Milksop and Jarreth put together a list of these creatures and what made them worth noting. The next goal was to put them to use. He had rock trolls watching his sister's family; he sent several out for intel in the human and fey realms; some to gather food (goblins could sometimes be too stupid to fend for themselves) and guard orchards; others were assigned to the collection of lost persons.
His next task was moving all those that he deemed incompetent to the area surrounding his castle. The most incompetent were moved into the castle. Jarreth found this miserable for himself, but much more effective for his kingdom. It had the added bonus of the goblins surrounding him being blindly loyal to him. This gave him quite a power boost. Bored, and now irritated by the constant surroundings of stupidity, he set his mind to larger things. The city itself needed to be redesigned to keep stupid goblins from wandering out of the city. By this time, Milksop was far past elderly for a goblin. He suspected he owed his good health to a stubborn troublemaker that he had helped raise. Magical longevity or not, nature's will took her due with Milksop as well, leaving Jarreth alone in his kingdom.
Loneliness fueled Jarreth to distraction. His powers, now prolific thanks to years of isolation, ascension to his rightful position, and hoards of devoted subjects, took on darkness while surpassing his previous best. He created an unbreathable fortress: a labyrinth. Not only was it menacing to navigate, but it was conscious enough to evolve and adapt to those who threatened it. It would keep invaders out and goblins in. It would protect and redirect thoughtless goblins while directing invaders away from its contents. It was fatal enough to take out armies and clever enough to outwit faeries. His final touch, remembering Milksop with reluctant fondness, was to cover the entire realm in gold glitter. Now he could traverse the entire realm in anonymity.
He considered anonymity to be his greatest achievement and made use of it often. In many ways, he relived his boyhood: traversing the once city, now realm in disguise. He entertained himself by maneuvering his way through the Labyrinth and watching the goblins do so as well. He learned the Labyrinth had something of a sense of humor. While it safeguarded the goblins, it did so in a frustrating manner. It would block them in, lead them in circles, or simply open up and spit them out elsewhere. He too enjoyed such pranks, but eventually even that grew stale.
Eventually, he found himself navigating the Labyrinth with such ease that it no longer required effort, and the joy of anonymity too faded. He found himself bound to a throne with no real work and no real escape. He was the babysitter of goblins. The most strenuous of his jobs now was making sure those that joined his realm were properly acclimated. He had, perhaps, done his job too well.
One monotonous lifetime, the trolls communicated with him. He had gifted them with crystals to call him should anything of note happen to his sister's family. Jarreth, all too eager to break the monotony, went directly to the trolls instead of bringing them to him.
Upon arrival, he found himself staring at a field of stones in the snow.
"You called?" He said archly. The stones unrolled themselves into small trolls. Nervously, one (wearing the most crystals) waddled forward and performed an awkward bow.
"Your Majesty, one of the mortals is gifted."
"And her gift?"
"She has the spirit of winter." The troll spoke in an odd cadence Jarreth could only assume had been picked up. Trolls liked to fancy themselves wise souls like healers and sages.
"Interesting," and with that, he vanished.
An owl sat outside of the great castle for a few moments then swooped into a room as the window blew open. The owl perched quietly in a corner taking in all that was around. It was snowing in the room delicately. The bassinet in the center of the room held a small child. Edging closer, the owl saw his sister playing with snowflakes as they fell from the ceiling. It wasn't until the child's eyes were fixed on him that the image disappeared. Her eyes were softer, less wild than his sister's. Mortal. Yet the young girl visibly carried his sister's legacy. For a moment he toyed with the idea of bringing her back with him. After all, the Goblin City belonged to her as well, and should she not be with her family? He could teach her so much, and the goblins would adore her. He could finally live to be with his sister.
As quickly as the idea came, it shattered. The queen swept in pulling her husband behind. She was excitedly explaining to her husband how she had witnessed the miracle of their daughter's gift. Her husband was stunned, but he too smiled at their daughter. Fern's parents had loved her. She had been happy. How could he make her happy when he himself was not? Of course, she should stay with her parents that loved her. The decision made, he discreetly exited.
Returning to the trolls, he gave brief instructions for them to let him know immediately if anything changed.
In a moment of uncharacteristic sentimentality, the Goblin King made a decision. Upon his return to the Labyrinth, he gave orders that children would not be taken, unless their families declared the children unwanted. This caused so much confusion, that eventually Jarreth laid out the magic words that meant a child could be brought back to the Labyrinth. This, unfortunately, reduced his responsibilities further as the influx of children dwindled. Even so, the order remained.
Hello friends!
So this chapter is less lore related, and more theory related. I started reading the text Labyrinth as well as a few texts on goblins to help construct a theory of how the Labyrinth came into existence as well as some lore about fairy royalty.
Fay Royalty: So Jarreth has some royal connections, but otherwise, Faerie royalty don't seem to have a clear lineage. They just are.
The Labyrinth: Goblins and faeries are often thought to live underground. For some, this corresponded to Hell, but mostly it was a connection to the Earth. The Fae were considered to extensively be connected to the Earth or some other element. Goblins and trolls are both primarily earth elements and thus live in them. There are some hybrids, but that's getting a little advanced. They are also thought to be mischievous but generally harmless. Occasionally their pranks are deadly, but generally, there is a positive correlation between intelligence and menace. In the movie, the Labyrinth was designed to be its own being. It customizes its challenges to best suit the opponent. We can see elements of this throughout the movie (dead-ends springing up, walls changing, etc). I did my best to piece the book Jarreth's attitude toward's life/goblins and work it into the creation of the Labyrinth (though less extreme, as I felt this would come in time).