#labyrinthnook

Okay, so we know for a fact that a variety of major things in Sarah's life have duplicates of some sort which can be found within the Labyrinth.  I'm going to do a quick break down of those here in order of their Labyrinth appearances.

The Barn Owl - As we all know, this is Jareth's animal form which he uses quite often.  There is a reason I selected the owl from the beginning of the movie - when Sarah is not technically in the Labyrinth yet, and I'll explain that further on.  The owl sculpture you see on the right is from a shelf in Sarah's room, high up and to the right of her vanity table.

The Book/Play - I assume it's a play because Sarah talks several times about not being able to remember her lines.  This play is what her entire adventure is based on.  Essentially she becomes the heroine from this story.

Jareth (Part 1) - The statue that you see is on Sarah's vanity table.  It's a little over a foot high and clearly shows an angry man who looks remarkably like the Goblin King - hair, clothes, right down to the crystal in his left hand and the riding crop in his right.

Jareth (Part 2) - I know the pics are a bit hard to see, but in this scrapbook we see images of Sarah's mother with a man who looks almost exactly like Jareth (Yes, David Bowie posed for the photos).  So now, even though Sarah never seem to acknowledge it in the movie, we know that Jareth looks almost exactly like Sarah's mom's on-again, off-again lover.  And that this man is quite possibly an ideal for Sarah, who obviously idolizes her mom.

The Labyrinth - Sarah has this marble game in her room, obviously very similar to Jareth's own labyrinth...if a little less elaborate.

Hoggle - Sarah has a book end featuring a dwarven creature which looks almost exactly like her friend from the Labyrinth.

The Cleaners - Sarah has what appears to be a record album on a shelf in her room called "Slashing Machine" - which, visually, appears to be a direct reference to The Cleaners in the Underground.

Labyrinth Sculptures - These sculptures of the soldiers and the clown are replicas of toys found in Sarah's room.

Ludo - Sarah has a soft plush toy of Ludo sitting on the shelf almost directly beneath the "Slashing Machine" record album.

The Fireys - Sarah has a plush toy of one of these guys in her room.  It's one of the first toys we see.

Sir Didymus - Another of the very first toys we see upon being introduced to Sarah's room.

Ambrosius/Merlin - This one is kind of obvious...don't you think?  Merlin is Sarah's dog and Ambrosius is the loyal, yet cowardly steed of Sir Didymus.

The Ball Gown/Music Box - One of the most iconic dual images from the movie - the gown Sarah wears is a replica of one found on a music box doll in her bedroom.

Jareth's Final Labyrinth - Yet another Iconic image which apparently has its origins in an Escher poster from Sarah's room.

The Journey and the Companions - This one's a bit of a stretch, however this book appears twice in the movie and is obviously one of Sarah's favorites.  It's a story about a young girl being whisked away to a magical place and having to go on a journey before she can return home.  Along the way she meets magical companions who help her get to her destination, and help her grow as a person along the way.  The same thing happens to Sarah in her journey, although you could argue that it's simply  a common archetype and leave it at that.

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Alright, so those are all the parallels I could find, now for my theory.  It's pretty easy to say that this is a dream and leave it at that.  But there are quick, easy things that seem to say otherwise

The fact that, unlike most "it was just a dream" sequences, the heroine herself is not left wondering if it was a dream - only the audience is.  Sarah experiences no "falling asleep" or "waking up" scenarios.

At the end of the movie, the jewelry Sarah gave up in the Labyrinth is still missing.

But wait - what about all the parallels I just showed you?  It's got to be a dream, right?  Maybe not.  I think it's possible that it might be more like an elaborate illusion.  I believe that Jareth himself is real...at least in a sense.  He is a creature of unknown origins (faerie, alien, ghost, etc.) who has somehow stumbled upon and become intrigued by this human girl.  He sees her play-acting - at the park, in her room, etc. - and for whatever reason (curiosity, loneliness, love?) he wants to be a part of that fantasy.  He is a creature of power, and when Sarah gives him the sudden, unexpected opportunity to become a part of her "play world" he takes it without a second thought.

He then uses his knowledge of her, as well as things from her own mind, to create what he thinks she wants.  The Labyrinth is not a real place - it is a place he has conjured into being using snippets of Sarah's life.  Even his own face has been chosen for her; it's not his true appearance.  In reality, as we've seen in Sarah's scrapbook, it's a replica of the man Sarah's mother is/was enamored with.  Perhaps the kind of man Sarah sees as her "ideal"?   I'm undecided on whether the other creatures in the Labyrinth are real - I honestly prefer to think that they are all varying aspects of Jareth's true personality. Which perhaps is why Hoggle, at the end of the movie, seems so surprised to hear Sarah say she needs them all - because Jareth thought he'd failed in his interactions with her.

Anyway, that's the reason I used the owl from the beginning of the movie - I believe it is simply the creature we know as Jareth observing Sarah as he does on a regular basis.  He takes a form she is familiar with - hence the owl statue in her room - hoping, perhaps, that even if he seems out of place she will ignore it due to visual familiarity.  When he finally appears to her in a human form, he fashions himself into the Goblin King from her story.

So, for clarification - my theory is that the Goblin King, the Labyrinth, the creatures that live there...none of it truly exists - they are all illusions of some kind, rendered by an unknown creature of unknown origin who calls himself Jareth.  So essentially, I suppose I've taken the two most prevalent theories - that the Labyrinth was real and that it was a dream - and combined them.  

Personally, I feel like the creature would probably young...at least by the standards of its kind.  I sort of see it as a youngling that's wandered too far from home and decides to play in the human world for awhile.   It's a curious thing who's never really experienced humans before, and then somehow discovers Sarah and decides to observe her for awhile...sort of losing itself in the process.