Nathaniel (Enchanted)

Infobox character
name = Nathaniel
series = "Enchanted"


caption = Timothy Spall filming "Enchanted" in New York City.
first = "Enchanted"
last = "Enchanted"
creator = Bill Kelly
portrayer = Timothy Spall
gender = Male
occupation = Servant
Author (later on)
residence = Andalasia
New York, New York, USA
imdb_id = 0037702

Nathaniel is a fictional character from the Disney fantasy film Enchanted (2007).

Fictional character history

Andalasia

Nathaniel is first introduced as the portly, neurotic sidekick of Prince Edward. He accompanies Edward hunting Trolls however in secret he is a servant of the evil Queen Narissa with whom he is quite smitten. Edward is the rightful heir to the throne and so if he ever gets married, he will take his mother's place as ruler of Andalasia, the magical world in which the main characters live. Nathaniel, on orders of the Queen keeps the Prince too busy going on adventures and hunting Trolls to think about getting married. However, despite Nathaniel being successful in keeping the prince too busy to meet women, the Prince still begins to yearn for a women to marry. When Edward rescues the main character, Giselle from a Troll however, they immediately fall in love and agree to get married the following morning. Narissa tricks Giselle and casts her through a portal into another world, namely the Planet Earth, New York City. Edward immediately travels to the other world to rescue Giselle.

New York

Playing on Nathaniel's feelings for her, Narissa manipulates him into jumping through the Portal and going to New York to stop Edward from finding Giselle. Like Giselle and Edward before him, he arrives in New York through a manhole. Three workmen who have also encountered Edward greet Nathaniel. Their leader says "Let me guess, you're looking for a princess" to which Nathaniel haughtily responds "No, I'm looking for a Prince actually" causing the workmen to look at him quizzically. Nathaniel soon finds Edward and travels with him and Pip the chipmunk on their quest to find Giselle. Narissa sends Nathaniel three poisoned apples with which to kill Giselle. Pip sees Nathaniel communing with Narissa and tries to alert Edward to their plan but has lost the power to speak in the human world and so Edward is unable to decipher what he is saying. In the guise of a salesman, Nathaniel tries to sell Giselle a poisoned apple disguised as a caramel apple but she fails to eat it.

Later on in the movie, Nathaniel watches a soap opera in which he sees a beautiful woman reject a man with low self-esteem on the grounds that she cannot love a man who doesn't even like himself. This makes Nathaniel realize that he himself suffers from low self-esteem. He later disguises himself as a waiter and tries to trick Giselle into drinking an Apple Martini, made from one of the poisoned apples while she is dining in a restaurant. She is stopped from drinking it by Pip who becomes trapped inside a pizza. Enraged, Nathaniel flings the pizza with Chip inside it into an oven, apparently incinerating the chipmunk. Fortunately he escapes.

Furious to learn that Nathaniel has "wasted" two of the apples, Narissa comes to New York in person to destroy Giselle.

Denouement

Nathaniel meanwhile, while disguised as a taxi driver, participates in a radio talk show in which he tells the host that he is not sure if he still loves Narissa and he has seen a new side to her. The host tells him that he needs to find out how she feels about him. Narissa promptly appears at the window of the taxi in which Nathaniel is sitting (disguised as a Muslim) and says "Hello worthless" before making him drive her to the ball where Giselle is dancing. Narissa, disguised as an old hag, tricks Giselle into eating a poisoned apple, sending her into a coma. As Edward clutches Giselle's fallen form, Narissa assures him that she has merely fainted. Nathaniel however who has realised how evil the Queen really is, exposes her murderous plan and restrains her with Edward's sword. Giselle is later ressuscitated by a kiss from the main protagonist, Robert. In a rage, Narissa transforms into a gigantic European dragon. Nathaniel calls her "selfish."

Narissa picks up Robert, climbs onto the roof of the building and tries to throw him to his death but is thwarted and destroyed by the combined efforts of Giselle and Pip.

Nathaniel later becomes successful and famous, writing his autobiography entitled "My Royal Pain: Vanquishing the Evil Queen Within".

Personality

When first introduced, Nathaniel appears to be little more than a cowardly, sycophantic minion to Queen Narissa. Over the course of the film however, it becomes clear that his low self-esteem as well as his infatuation with the Queen have allowed the cruel Narissa to manipulate him. His true, brave nature comes to the fore when he manages to break free of Narissa's manipulative grasp however and stand up to her at the climax of the film.

Nathaniel also seems to be a master of disgiuse, able to fashion many and be able to mimic other voices. Despite the lack of technology in Andalasia, he seems to be quite capable of handling mechanical devices, such as a candied apple maker, and a taxi, with ease.

Nathaniel is portrayed as a somewhat pompous and neurotic individual who frequently says the word "Sire", in the vein of characters such as Zazu from "The Lion King", "Sir Hiss" from "Robin Hood", Creeper from "The Black Cauldron" and the Footman from "Cinderella".

Portrayal

Timothy Spall plays Nathaniel in the movie, both in animated form and in live action.