Jaq

Unreleased

Jaq is a character from the Castle of Dreams world in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. He is from Walt Disney's twelfth animated feature film, Cinderella.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
All that is known thus far is that Jaq, along with Cinderella's other mice friends, assists Ven in procuring materials in order to make Cinderella a dress for the royal ball.

Personality
Jaq is a natural leader who takes charge of the mice in Cinderella's care, often taking it upon himself to welcome newer mice to the group, such as Gus. He is extremely clever, and takes great enjoyment in using this cleverness to outwit Lucifer, the cat of the Tremaine household who longs to eat Jaq and his friends. Out of all the mice, Jaq seems to have the strongest relationship with Cinderella; she often monitors his leadership and expects that he keep an eye on the other mice.

Appearance
Jaq is a small brown mouse with a long tail and two large front teeth. Thanks to Cinderella, he wears miniturized clothes specially crafted by her for him; Jaq's custom outfit consists of a cap, shoes, shirt and overshirt, which are all shades of red. In mouse form, Jaq has a noticeably high-pitched voice to suit his small stature. In addition, Jaq and his mouse friends occasionally let slip a minor speech quirk, referring to Cinderella as "Cinderellie" and Lucifer as "Lucifie".

In the original film, Jaq, along with a few other select mice, are turned into horses to take Cinderella to the Prince's royal ball in style. As horses, Jaq is purely white and covered with decorative accessories to give him a regal apperance.

In the original film's straight-to-DVD sequel, titled Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, the Fairy Godmother allows Jaq a day to be human in order to assist Cinderella. In human form, Jaq is tall and gangly, with brown hair. However, his facial features are similar to his mouse form, retaining his pointed nose and buck teeth.

Abilities
Although Jaq's abilities in Kingdom Hearts are currently unknown, in the film he is shown to be clever and stealthy, traits which help him during his constant run-ins with Lucifer. Being a mouse, he can also access tight spaces and areas not accessible to humans.

Origin
Jaq's appearance in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is directly based on his appearance in Walt Disney's film Cinderella (1950). The film was, in turn, inspired by the Charles Perrault fairy tale Cendrillon, published in 1697. In Perrault's tale, the mice were only included with the purpose of being turned into horses for Cinderella's carriage. For the film, the mice's roles were expanded, turning them into friends for Cinderella, and some of them were given distinct personalities; thus, Jaq became the lead mouse.

Quotes
[apparent translations]


 * (to Ven) Watch out! (throws a ball of yarn at Lucifer) Run away! Into the house!

Trivia

 * Jaq has been featured in promotional pictures and footage of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, confirming what will be his first appearance in the series, despite Cinderella appearing in the first Kingdom Hearts game.
 * Jaq likely disappeared, along with his world and most of its inhabitants (excluding Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother), when the Castle of Dreams was destroyed by the Heartless, an event which could possibly be depicted in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
 * As he requires a voice actor for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Jaq will likely be voiced by Rob Paulsen for the English version of the game. Paulsen is the most recent voice actor for Jaq, having voiced the character in Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.