Gwythiants are the tertiary antagonists in Disney's 1985 film The Black Cauldron. They are a pair of winged reptiles that work for their boss the Horned King, patrolling the skies for whatever he seeks.
Background[]
Physical Description[]
The Gwythiants are based on wyverns, with sharp talons, large, leathery wings, antelope-like horns, and gray/black scales.
Personality[]
They are evil and savage, but also very intelligent of tracking down their targets.
Appearances[]
The Black Cauldron[]
Gwythaints are minor villains in The Black Cauldron. They serve as the Horned Kings minions and dragons. He sends them on missions to find for whatever he is looking . They manage to find Hen Wen when Taran acciedentally let her escape in the woods. Taran sees the gwythaints and tries to help hen Wen fand fight the Gwythaints. However, one of them hurts Taran with its claws. They capture Hen Wen and take her back to the castle.
They are later seen celebrating the capture of Hen Wen, along with Creeper and the other henchmen. One of the henchmen gives the two Gwythaints a bone to eat, which they do until the Horned King arrives.
Later, when Taran and Hen Wen try to escape, Creeper, the henchmen and even the Gwythaints try (without being ordered) to give chase. The Gwythaints break free of their chains but pull out the bricks attached on the walls, causing them to fall down and forcing the henchmen to give up for a few seconds. Creeper and the henchman capture Taran but not Hen Wen, who escapes in a moat.
The Gwythaints are later sent to follow Taran to find the Black Cauldron, while they succeed, they are chained up again. One of them is killed when the Horned King's castle is destroyed and the other Gwythaint is saved by Creeper, off-screen. The Gwythaint escapes with Creeper, laughing madly that the Horned King can no longer punish him, riding on his back and flies away.
Trivia[]
- Their design is exactly like a Wyvern's design. (A Wyvern is a type of dragon-like creature sporting two wings and two legs (as opposed to four legs and two wings like a typical western dragon), much like a pterosaur)
- Unlike Creeper and most of the other minions, the dragons seem to love and respect the Horned King.
- They have appeared on numerous occasions in House of Mouse.
- They are as rapacious as their master.
- In the original book series by Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Prydain, the Gwythaints are giant bird-like creatures that are in no way reptilian as they are portrayed in the movie.
- The Gwythaints' roars are actually the trumpeting of an elephant.
- The Gwythaints' roars are actually the trumpeting of the non-Disney films like "Quest For Camelot" and "Bartok the Magnificent".
- Gwythaints's recycled roars are now stock sound effects and have been used in several movies and media involving giant monsters and similar creatures.For example:
- Sharptooth from The Land Before Time
- Obsidius,from the video game Godzilla Unleashed
- Mama Scarface a T-rex,from Turok (2008)
- The Utahraptors from Primal Prey
- In My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic,monsters like the dragons,the hydras and Cerberus utter original Gwythaints roars sometimes
- The T-Rexes from Discovery Channel's Dinosaur Revolution all utter Gwythaints roars.
- The Great Animal from The Swan Princess has a higher pitch version, in the screech and the growls.
- Diprotodon and Megalania from "Land of Lost Monsters" had used these sounds.
- Ludmilla's Dragon form uttered the sounds.
Gallery[]
