#magicflower

Yes, here’s a smut fic I finished: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19105543

Telling you all rn- I haven’t even watched the Aladdin live action yet and most likely won’t until it’s out on Netflix, but I’m all aboard this Jasmine x Jafar ship because I’m trash.

So here are some headcanons I have based on what I pieced together about the live action remake from looking through the tag:

- Jafar started out as an orphan who was surviving on the streets as a pick pocket. One day, when he was still quite young, he picked the wrong pocket and ended up condemned to getting his hand chopped off, but the Sultan happened to be around and pardoned him. Maybe the Sultan saw a spark of something special in Jafar, maybe he was trying to fill the void of never having had a son, or maybe he was just feeling particularly charitable, either way, that day, the Sultan took Jafar in to be raised in the royal palace (hence why he calls the Sultan ‘baba’). While Jafar was being educated, he showed a lot of intelligence and talent and was eventually groomed to be a royal vizier.

- I’m imagining Jafar and Jasmine being pretty close in age with Jafar being ~5-7 years older. Supposing that Jafar arrived at the palace when he was about 9-10 years old, it’s safe to assume that they grew up together. Assuming that Jafar had absolutely no educational background upon arrival at the palace, I’m thinking they were also educated alongside each other.

- As a highly sheltered princess, the few interactions that Jasmine had with other kids her age were not very satisfying. She wasn’t allowed to play sports and any games she played, everyone would let her win. She was treated very delicately and formally because no one wanted to be the one to offend the princess or make her cry. And Jafar, due to his rough, common background, other children of the royal court were either scared of him or were strongly discouraged from hanging out with him. Because of this, most if the time, Jasmine and Jafar would only have each other to play with (assuming that Dalia doesn’t come into the picture until later), which was something that neither of them was very happy about. Jafar, being older, felt that he had better things to do than entertain the little princess, and Jasmine just thought that Jafar was too serious and no fun at all. Nevertheless, Jafar would treat Jasmine normally and Jasmine wasn’t afraid of Jafar. Even though they were never best friends, they are the ones who know each other best.

- The reason why Jafar shuts Jasmine down so much isn’t because he thinks that she’s incompetent or incapable, but the very opposite- he grew up with her, studied alongside her, he knows her better than anyone else, he’s witnessed how strong and brilliant she really is and that threatens him and all that he’s been working so hard for. Which brings me to my next points...

- The real rivalry at the heart of the story is (or at least should have been) between Jasmine and Jafar. A lot has been made about Aladdin and Jafar being set up as foils to each other, but I could also see parallels between Jasmine and Jafar, mainly that they’re both misfits in the palace and despite being the most qualified people, they’re both being passed up for the throne.

- That said, I like to think that they struck up some sort of alliance/partnership against whatever suitors are asking for Jasmine’s hand. Jasmine finds one reason or another to reject them and Jafar would be quietly complicit either by sabotaging the suitors or occasionally raising his own objections. It’s in both their interests that Jasmine not marry because her future husband would just be one more person standing in their respective paths to the throne. This, however, doesn’t stop Jafar from turning around and making Jasmine out to be unreasonably difficult and obstinate when she does reject a suitor (as with Prince Anders).

-...But then you get moments like when they exchange glances when Prince Ali comes around. The look that Jasmine gives him can’t be described as anything less than saucy. There’s mischief and complicity in that look. You know that they’re on the same page and they’ve been through this before. You can just see them, every other time before, coming back together after rejecting a suitor and just laughing about it.

- In fact, I could even picture one such moment when Jasmine and Jafar have been left alone after dismissing a suitor and they’re laughing their little heads off together and Jafar looks at her and half-jokingly says something like “At this rate, Princess, I’ll be the only one left to marry you.” And Jasmine, very seriously, replies “No, baba would never allow it. I’ll only marry a prince, or a sultan.” She says this not because it’s true but because she’s afraid that it isn’t. She fears that maybe this had been Jafar’s plan all along, she fears that if the Sultan somehow gets it into his head that Jafar could be a suitor, because of his favored position the Sultan would definitely marry her off to him and she doesn’t trust Jafar to not use it as an opportunity to take all the power for himself. Jafar, on the other hand, realizes in that moment that 1) marrying Jasmine could actually be the solution to all his problems 2) he wants to marry Jasmine even if the throne wasn’t part of the deal 3) Jasmine doesn’t want to marry him and not only does that hurt, but he thinks that it’s because of his impoverished background (which is something that he’s always been insecure about, and it also explains the bitterness behind what he said to Aladdin about Jasmine just toying with him like she does with all commoners).

- So of course he becomes fixated on this idea. When he actually forces Jasmine to marry him, there’s no real logical motive behind it. He’s already the sultan so theoretically he had no use for Jasmine, but instead of having her killed or locking her up and throwing away the key, he chooses to have a full on wedding, imam and all and vows to protect and look after her always. The only explanation that makes any sense is that he wanted to marry her for love (as confirmed by the actor). And also, I’m headcanoning that it was important for him to have the Sultan witness this as a big fuck you to what (headcanon) Jasmine had said about the Sultan not allowing Jafar to marry her.