The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth is the fictional play Sarah is seen reading at the start of Labyrinth. Sarah recites lines from the play both at the start and end of the film, and her victory hinges on her ability to correctly remember the play's climactic speech.

The play that featured in the early script was called Meander's Queen, and its role in the narrative is less important than that of The Labyrinth. Sarah is shown actively performing Meander's Queen in the park rather than reciting lines from it, and it is only referred to at the start of the script. In the early draft, Jareth disguises himself as the play's author Robin Zakar in order to gain access to Sarah's house and steal Toby.

The Labyrinth is not to be confused with the film's novelization, as the copy of The Labyrinth that appears in the film is a prop and would most likely have contained blank pages.

Plot

The Labyrinth is only known through the lines Sarah recites from it in the film. The most important speech in the play is the one Sarah says aloud at the start of the film, and later has to recite at the end of the film to defeat Jareth.

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered,

I have fought my way here

To the castle beyond the Goblin City,

To take back the child that you have stolen,

For my will is as strong as yours,

And my kingdom is as great.

You have no power over me.

At the end of the film, Sarah does not recite the speech she makes at the start of the film word-for-word, as she leaves out the line "To take back the child that you have stolen." This omission can perhaps be taken as an indication that Sarah appreciates that Jareth did not exactly steal Toby, since he took him at her request.

The story Sarah tells Toby prior to wishing him most likely describes the basic plot of The Labyrinth, although a definite link is never established. The story Sarah tells Toby is as follows:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl, whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, and he wanted everything for himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers. So one night, when baby had been particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help.

"Say your right words," the goblins said, "and we'll take the baby to the Goblin City and you will be free."

But the girl knew that the King of the Goblins would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever and ever and turn it into a goblin. So she suffered in silence, until one night when she was tired from a day of housework, and she was hurt by the harsh words of her stepmother, and she could no longer stand it."