When you think of Disney Villains, you picture wicked blue flames, deep purple tentacles, sinfully red and black serpents, and a fire-breathing dragon engulfed in tangled thorns – some of the most iconic images of evil sorcerers and witches in recent decades. They scream malevolence with a mere glance, andDisney Dreamlight Valleydelicately balances these villains’ malice with giving them a second chance at a do-gooder’s life.
However, with this comes the real struggle: someone has to be the villain, and it’s hard to make the traditional bad guys fill that role when this is supposed to be their chance at a fresh start. Original characters are the perfect solution, but Disney Dreamlight Valley hasn’t yet nailed the perfect execution.
Spoilers for Disney Dreamlight Valley and its DLC content.
The Forgotten Was A Good Start
At the beginning, back in 2023 when my starry-eyed and sleep-deprived self stumbled across the Early Access build for Disney Dreamlight Valley, the premise of a dark and brooding ex-ruler captured my attention. After all, how could someone be even more destructive than the Disney villains we all love to hate?
Yet, here they were in all their shadowy glory,lurking in the background while I dug thousands of holes to plant my pumpkin army. When I finally confronted them, decked out in my new drip from selling all those pumpkins and thoroughly ruining the Dreamlight Valley economy (thanks Goofy, you’re a real one), I was cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
After all that time spent farming Dreamlight magic to free trapped villagers inside their Realms, sacrificing Kristoff’s memories of Anna to stop a wicked spell, and hunting down dozens of lost alien toys, I was ready to put an end to The Forgotten’s reign of terror – until I realized they were just the hurt, abandoned younger version of myself.
That gut punch wasn’t a surprise, but the degree to which The Forgotten struggles with their identity and what it means for them now that you’ve outgrown them was powerful. It was so impactful, in fact, that the developers implemented a trigger warning for those who aren’t quite ready to face that part of themselves.
Despite all of that, the ending conflict was little more than a series of puzzles and a dramatic cutscene where you work together with the fallen ruler of the Valley to bring peace back to the village. It’s sweet, if underwhelming. However, this left the story in an awkward spot. What’s next?
The Eternity Isle DLC Used A Traditional Villain, But At A Cost
Seeing that Jafar was on his way to the village in the Eternity Isle DLC, hunting down the Spark of Imagination, brought back that fuzzy feeling inside. I anticipated a tale of uneasy alliances, broken promises, and ultimately an epic team-up of Disney and Pixar characters to save the day.
However, that didn’t really happen. Jafar being the villain made things all too predictable, and honestly, it was hard to welcome him into the village once the main quests were complete. Even his friendship quests result in a trial to hold him accountable for his crimes and his punishment is summed up as, ‘Oh well, maybe he’ll learn this time.’
I’m not asking for the villains to suffer, but a little more depth outside the brooding would be appreciated.
The lack of an original villain hurt this second act of Disney Dreamlight Valley, especially when so much content was teased in trailers and in the landscape of Eternity Isle. A thriving jungle with background music reminiscent of Phil Collins’ Tarzan soundtrack and the expansive Ancient’s Landing, complete with the guardian statues of Atlantis on the horizon, left much to be desired. No sign of either film being incorporated further, nor their respective characters joining the lineup, were present.
Surely something could have been done to reshape the narrative and put Jafar in our good graces? A rogue guardian that needed to see that everyone deserves a second chance, perhaps a vengeful nature spirit that took over the island? Anything that could have given the Disney and Pixar cast something to rally against.
The Storybook Vale Started Off Story, But Met The Same Fate
Despite my disappointment with the narrative in the last DLC, I dove into the Storybook Vale with gleeful abandon. The maps were bigger, the new mechanics were more engaging and less frustrating, and the idea that a biome could basically be one giant library had me foaming at the mouth.
My inner bookworm thrived, especially when a new original character stepped onto the pages of history. She was The Lorekeeper, an ancient tome that carries all of the Disney and Pixar fairytales within its yellowed pages. She was as helpful as she was clever, adopting a matronly role while helping you mend the rift between Maleficent and Hades.
The first act did a brilliant job of setting the stage and giving the characters more depth. Flynn Rider, for example, fell under Maleficent’s spell while helping Princess Aurora investigate the Never After and essentially became the Big Bad Wolf. He continues to carry the trauma of hurting his friends with him well after the story concludes.
However, the second half of the DLC hit the same slump that tripped up the narrative before. This time, however, it felt messy. Almost out of nowhere, the Lorekeeper started acting differently and eventually turned against you, threatening to erase you, Princess Aurora, and all the Disney characters for mingling together. The lack of order drove her to madness, understandably, but the buildup just wasn’t there.
I’m all for a surprise villain, but this just wasn’t it.
Long story short, I defeated her with the power of friendship and a dollop of logic. From there things just… went back to normal? Like she didn’t just attempt to kill the entire Disney canon through corporate bureaucracy. She’s not an official villager, so there are no further quests to help sort things out, no incentive to keep talking to her aside from solving some puzzles for furniture rewards. So what was the point of making her the villain at all?
I’m not sure there was one. Maybe they learned from Jafar, since Hades could be recruited almost immediately and Maleficent wasn’t outright evil. She acted like a Karen in the archives, but that’s to be expected of anyone who’s told their wait time to be seen is over 16 million years. I’d be upset, too.
The Lorekeeper’s surprise villainy felt like a shock grab at best, with poor writing to support it. After all, there’s only one quest between that discovery and the end of the DLC content. Somehow you convince her to change plans just like that? This isn’t Stitch trying to convince Jumbaa to save Lilo – these are some of the most feared villains in Disney lore fighting for control over a floating island… and a talking book that could be my grandma somehow beat them?
Not to diss my grandma, who definitely could’ve taken down either of those villains with her kindness.
Disney Dreamlight Valley needs to pick a lane and stick with it. A cozy narrative takes violence off the table, but simplifying puzzles that are ‘too hard’, too quickly dismissing war crimes, and making everyone get along isn’t a pattern I want to see repeated in the next expansion.
A new original villain is welcome, but it needs to be well-thought-out and orchestrated to be believable and fulfilling. Like classic Disney and Pixar films, a villain needs to be carefully built up to earn our ire without becoming irredeemable. Here’s hoping the next one sticks the landing and gives us something to think about.
