Lumiere (Beauty and the Beast)

DisneyChar
name = Lumière


caption =
first appearance ="Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
created by = Nik Ranieri
voiced by = Jerry Orbach (films,House of Mouse)
Jeff Bennett ("Kingdom Hearts II")
aliases =
relatives =

Lumière is a fictional character and supporting protagonist from Disney's 1991 American animated film, "Beauty and the Beast". He was voiced by the late Jerry Orbach and later by Jeff Bennett.

Biography

Beauty and the Beast

Lumiere is the kind-hearted maître d' and Head-Servant of the Beast's castle, transformed into a candelabrum when his master, Prince Adam, was turned into a hideous Beast by an Enchantress as punishment for his cold-heart. Lumiere, however, at the time of the movie, is the polar opposite of his master: while the Beast strictly forbids people from entering his castle, Lumiere takes kindly to visitors, and is even willing to bend the Beast's rules in the most serious of ways, much to the dismay of his best friend, Cogsworth, the majordomo who was turned into a clock. This often causes friction between the two, the point that they fight or even stop speaking to each other temporarily.

Lumiere first appears in the film when Belle's father, Maurice, enters the castle after being stranded in the wolf-infested forest by his horse. While Lumiere welcomes him warmly and even sits him in the Beast's private chair in the lounge, the Beast arrives and locks Maurice in the tower as punishment for tresspassing. When Belle arrives to find her father, she trades her life for Maurice's, and the Beast accepts. Lumiere, believing Belle to be the girl they have been waiting for, advises the Beast to place her in a guest suite, to which he reluctantly obliges. Along with the other servants, Lumiere quickly bonds with Belle and takes her for a tour of the castle after a dinner party ("Be Our Guest"), which reaches its climax when Belle wanders into the West Wing, a place the Beast had ordered her to avoid at all times. The Beast catches her, and accidentally scares her out of the castle in his rage. As Belle passes Lumiere, it is implied that Lumiere alerts the Beast of her departure, leading to the Beast saving Belle from a hungry pack of wolves.

In the aftermath, Belle heals the Beast's injuries, and they slowly start to become friends. As a way of showing his gratitude, the Beast enlists Lumiere's help in surprising Belle, and he suggests giving her the castle library as a present, as she had shown interest when he had mentioned it during their tour. The plan works, and the Beast, for the first time, comes to appreciate Lumiere as a friend. Belle and the Beast's relationship reaches its climax when they dance the night away at a private ball, but much to Lumiere's dismay, the Beast allows Belle to leave the castle to rescue her father, who got lost in the woods while looking for the castle. Later on, the castle is invaded and stormed by an army of rioting villagers, led by another man competing for Belle's feelings: Gaston. Lumiere valiantly leads the servants into battle against the rioters, and is almost killed by Gaston's henchman, LeFou, with a burning torch, but for the timely intervention of Cogsworth. Lumiere, however, notices Gaston desert the battle to kill the Beast, and gives pursuit along with Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts. They arrive too late, just after Gaston has been defeated (thrown off the balcony of the West Wing), but mortally wounded the Beast moments before. The Beast does not survive his injury, and dies in Belle's arms as Lumiere mourns him.

The spell, however, breaks moments later, since the Beast had earned Belle's love, and the Beast is revived, and returned to human form, along with Lumiere and the rest of the servants. The next day, a ball is held, in which Lumiere and Cogsworth get into another quarrel, this time over who suggested Belle to be the one who would break the spell.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

In the direct-to-video midquel, Lumiere's role is not as big as that of the first movie. Generally, he and the other servants vow to help Belle in her plan to relive Christmas in the Beast's castle, something the Beast opposes, as he was transformed into a Beast on Christmas Eve. Lumiere, however, does spend some time alone with the Beast, during which he tries to lighten his spirit about Christmas. His biggest part in the story is when Belle is tricked by Forte (a giant pipe organ and the primary villain of the movie) into going into the forest to find a suitable tree for Christmas. Realising Belle won't survive the thin ice, Lumiere and Cogsworth rush to her rescue and arrive just before Belle and the tree fall beneath the ice. Lumiere tries to save Belle, but fails. The Beast, however, arrives in time and rescues her from the freezing water, but locks Belle in the dungeon as punishment for "trying to leave the castle" (as Forte had put it). Lumiere visits Belle in the dungeon and tries to cheer her up, when the Beast, having seen a present Belle had left for him earlier, comes and releases Belle, finally accepting a Christmas party. At the film's climax, Lumiere is just barely able to escape the crumbling dungeon (Forte's doing) as the Beast rushes to the tower and destroys Forte's keyboard, saving them all in time.

Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World

As in "The Enchanted Christmas", Lumiere is not as central to the story as in the original movie, appearing only as a supporting character to give advice to the Beast or to Belle whenever they are not speaking to one another. His biggest roles are in the segments, "Fifi's Folly" and "Mrs. Potts' Party". In the former, Lumiere attempts to find a way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his relationship with Fifi, his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Lumiere seeks Belle's advice, and their conversations give Fifi the impression that Belle and Lumiere are having a love affair. To spite Lumiere, Fifi attempts to seduce Cogsworth, but he takes no notice. In the end, the confusion is cleared up, and Lumiere resumes his relationship with Fifi. In "Mrs. Potts' Party", after Belle decides to plan a surprise party to cheer the depressed Mrs. Potts up, Lumiere and Cogsworth's rivalry proves to be a problem, as they both pick different flowers (which they end up delivering to the sleeping Beast after Mrs. Potts sees them), and simultaneously advise the cooks to put more of the ingredients each one prefers, eventually leading to the ovens blowing up. In the end, Lumiere and Cogsworth put their differences aside, and work together to revive the party.

Friendship or Rivalry

When Lumière and Cogsworth first notice Belle, they believe that she is the one to break the spell. Lumiere claims that allowing Belle into the castle was his idea. Cogsworth obnoxiously denies it and states that he was the one who told Lumière. Looking at Cogsworth's dialogue at the end of the movie, it is understood that Lumière and Cogsworth had known each other for a long time, presumably longer than they have known the Prince. How they became friends is unknown.

Despite being at odds most of the time, Cogsworth saves Lumiere from Lefou when the castle is under attack. However, Cogsworth is much more afraid of the Prince then Lumière is, which causes him to appear uncaring, though when he's really afraid of the outcome. While still very afraid of his master, Lumière is more kind, caring, loyal, and hospitable than Cogsworth, as he offers Maurice a seat by the fire, and he tried his best to make Belle feel welcome and comfortable during, "Be Our Guest".

As Cogsworth proclaims several times throughout the film that he is in charge, and tries to act like he is, he is ultimately out witted by Lumière. Even though Cogsworth outranks Lumière by being the butler, and Lumière being the Maître d' , Lumière always finds a way to embarrass and out smart Cogsworth. Though being good, old friends, a friendly rivalry often sparks between them, and usually causes hilarious, ridiculous arguments. And twice during the film when they were still objects, Lumière had the upper hand against Cogsworth since he could burn his hands if he did something to annoy him especially when Cogsworth covers Lumière's mouth in order to keep him quiet.

Relationships

Throughout the time in the castle, or maybe even before, Lumière is romantically interested in one of the maids that serve the Prince, who is identified as Babette in the Broadway musical version of "Beauty and the Beast" (but is incorrectly referred to as "Fifi" in "Belle's Magical World). She was turned into a feather-duster by the magic spell, as well as all the other maids. Although it is clear that they are romantically interested, and often flirt throughout the movie, in the song "Human Again" in the special edition DVD, Lumière states that if he were human again, he would have a on each arm, and he would be courting again. Mrs. Potts commented that would start up the husbands alarm, it is clear that Lumière was and is a flirt, and may have become interested in several women before Babette. But due to the events in the movie, them teasingly flirting behind a curtain when Lumière was supposed to be on guard watching Belle, he saving her from one of Gaston's men when the castle was under siege, and to romantically catching her in his arms both exchanging loving looks. At the end, when everyone is human again, Babette teasingly and subjectively flirts and teases him with a feather-duster as she walks past him. He immediately runs after her with a lustful look and a big grin on his face.

Due to his appearance as a human, it probably wasn't very hard to attract women, and as stated in Human Again, he missed his good looks and charm. But he and Babette care for each other deeply, as they are seen holding hands at the end.

Other appearances

*Lumiere makes an appearance in the "Kingdom Hearts" series as a minor character. In the first game, Lumiere only appears in the game's prologue as a silhouette on the "Beauty and the Beast" podium. However, the real Lumiere appears in "Kingdom Hearts II" as a supporting character in "Beast's Castle". Here, Lumiere and the other servants have been locked in the castle dungeon by the Beast, due to the influence of the villanous Xaldin of Organization XIII. However, he and the others are freed by Sora, Donald and Goofy, and Lumiere shows the three heroes a secret passageway into the West Hall through the castle's undercroft. Later on, after Xaldin has been defeated by Sora, Lumiere complements Belle's valiant actions (she elbowed Xaldin in the stomach and escaped his grasp with the rose), saying "She is rather unique, isn't she?". Owing to Jerry Orbach's passing, Lumiere was voiced by Jeff Bennett for "Kingdom Hearts II".
*Lumiere also appears on the TV series House of Mouse as a regular guest at Mickey Mouse's night club.