- The following video is brought to you by the
official Jon Solo Discord. If you enjoy my content and want to talk about it with your fellow Solo Fam members, check out the link in the description. (light upbeat music) What is goin' on, everybody? My name is Jon Solo and welcome to another
episode of Messed Up Origins. The show where we explore some of the messed up legends and fairytales that inspired your
favorite childhood movies. Last episode, we talked
about Winnie the Pooh and, honestly, that was one of my favorite episodes we've ever done. So if you like what
this video has in store, I highly recommend you
check out that one as well. I am especially excited
for today's episode, because we're talking about one of my favorite Disney movies
of all time, Aladdin. He was always one of my favorite characters growing up. He was clever, could survive on his own and he had a magic genie, which was also pretty cool. Unfortunately, the
Disney version of Aladdin is very much unlike the Aladdin from back in the day, who was pretty much just a loser. Also unlike the Disney version, this story contains a lot more murder, lying, stealing, spying on naked women, and all around deplorable behavior. Before we get into that, though, let's go over what happens in the cartoon real fast. Just sit back, relax, hit that like button, and enjoy. Aladdin tells the story of an orphaned street rat named, you guessed it, Aladdin. He lives in the city of Agrabah, which is ruled by a good hearted Sultan with a gorgeous daughter, Jasmine. Against her father's wishes, Jasmine refuses to marry a suitor and runs into Aladdin after storming out of the palace. The two become fast friends, but Aladdin gets arrested by the guard and later the secretly evil Jafar, who's the advisor to the Sultan, tells Jasmine that Aladdin was executed. Then, while dressed up as an old man, he helps Aladdin break out of jail, and tells him to go to a magic cave and retrieve a lamp for him. Well, one thing leads to another and Aladdin finds himself
trapped in the cave, but accidentally summons the magic genie from the lamp, who helps them escape. Aladdin has three wishes for the genie to grant, and the first one he makes is to be a prince so he can marry Princess Jasmine. At first, she's not into this prince-version of Aladdin, aka Ali of Ababwa, but they end up falling for each other pretty quickly. Sometime later, Jafar manages to steal the lamp away from Aladdin, uses his wishes to become an all powerful sorcerer, and reveals Aladdin's true identity to Princess Jasmine. For a while, all hope seems lost, but Aladdin tricks Jafar into trapping himself in a lamp and the day is saved. The movie ends with
Aladdin freeing the genie, and him and Jasmine making
plans to get married. Wasn't that a good story? Disney really knows what they're doing. I guess you have to, though, if you're gonna make stories like the one we're about to get into family friendly. This story is called, "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" and it's an honorary addition to the "1,001 Arabian Nights" collection, which is essentially just a massive collection of stories from a long time ago. I'll probably get into the
history of that collection in a different video. But one thing I want to make clear is that despite popular belief, the story of Aladdin was not originally included
in that collection, but was later added alongside two other stories by a translator. That's right, once again the translator had to mix everything up and confuse everybody. The story's inclusion in that collection as well as the Disney movie gives the impression that the story takes place in the Middle East and always has. But in actuality, settings are China and Africa. And another huge difference between the story and the movie, is in the story, Aladdin is a loser who lives with his mom. So he's not an orphan, but in the beginning, his father does die from, get this, disappointment that his
son is such a loser. I might sound like I'm being pretty harsh on Aladdin, but don't feel too bad because despite being the direct cause of his father's death, he refused to change his loser ways. That is, until his father's brother, his long lost uncle, runs into him on the street. Spoiler alert, it's not
his really his uncle. This character was the
inspiration for Jafar. That night Aladdin, his mother, and his fake uncle have dinner together. And his fake uncle asks him what he does for a living. And when this happens, his mom immediately bursts into tears because she's upset that
her son's a loser too. "No worries," says the uncle. "I'll help you get on your feet. "I'm gonna buy a shop, "stock it up, "and you can be the merchant." The next day, fake uncle takes Aladdin for a walk around the area shows him the sights and buys him a new suit. All things seem great at this point, but that all changes the following day. Uncle takes Aladdin out for another walk, only this time the walk is much longer and ends with them in the mountains chillin' by a campfire. Aladdin's ready for rest after the long day of
traveling they've had, but fake uncle has other plans in mind. He takes a powder out of his bag, throws it on the campfire, and says some magic words. The earth below them starts to shake and immediately, Aladdin freaks out and tries to bolt, only to get clotheslined by his uncle, like WWE-style clotheslined, by his uncle who shows him that a hidden trap door has appeared before them. Uncle tells Aladdin the trap door leads to a cave that hold a treasure that could only be his, hence why he took him into the mountains. He tells him what the treasure is, how to avoid the traps inside, pretty much everything he needs to know, and gives him a magic ring in case he runs into any trouble. Believe it or not, Aladdin finds the
treasure without a hitch. It isn't until he
returns to his fake uncle that things start to go wrong. He gets back to the entrance and before he can get out, his uncle says, "Hey, gimme that lamp!" To which Aladdin replies, "No, let me get outta this scary cave "with all the traps in it first, "then you can see the lamp." Fake uncle isn't having
any of that nonsense, aka logic and reason. So in a fit of rage, he shuts the cave entrance, throws some more magic powder on the fire and before he knows what's going on, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. He sits down there for two days before he loses hope and begins to pray. But when he brings his hands together, he accidentally rubs the magic ring that his uncle gave him and a genie comes out
to say, "Whaddya want?" Naturally, Aladdin answers, "I want outta this cave" and almost instantly, he's transported back
to his mother's house with the lamp in his possession, as well as some priceless jewels. He tells his mom about the fake uncle, how he got back, and then he does the same thing that all kids at all ages do when they get back home from an adventure, asks what's for dinner. Well, his mom didn't have any dinner made, so he volunteers to sell the lamp and buy dinner with it. She takes a rag and wipes it off to make it look nice, when out of nowhere, a hideous genie pops out and says, "Whaddya want?" I know what you're thinking, but the genie being hideous was not my addition. Here's an artist's rendition of what he might have looked like. Pretty ugly, right? Aladdin's mom passes out instantly in fear of the magic man, but since Aladdin has already met a genie, he wasn't afraid in the slightest. He told the genie to bring
them something to eat and food was delivered
immediately on silver plates. Aladdin and his mom eat the food, sell the plates for a hefty amount, and live on those funds for awhile. Sometime later, on a clear blue morning, the Sultan announces that his daughter will be walking to the bathhouse, and for everyone to stay inside and close their shutters for the sake of her privacy. Aladdin hears the request, but as we established earlier, he's not exactly a model citizen. So he sneaks into the bathhouse to peep at the princess and it's love at first sight. Aladdin then asks his mom to go to the Sultan with the priceless
jewels he got in the cave and ask for his daughter's
hand in marriage on his behalf. The jewels were enough
to convince the Sultan. But when he turns to
his advisor for advice, the advisor says to wait three months so his own son can find a gift worth more than that. Political corruption at it's finest. And to think, this story doesn't even
take place in America. Fast forward two months and the princess ends up getting married to the advisor's son, but Aladdin decides he's
not gonna stand for this. On the first night of their marriage, he orders the genie to bring the princess and her husband to his house. Aladdin then wishes for the husband to be trapped outside in the cold all night, and then explains the
situation to the princess. That he's not gonna hurt her, but the Sultan promised
him her hand in marriage, so he's gonna hold him to that. He falls asleep soundly next to her while she endures what's described as "the most miserable night of her life." The next day, the princess is transported back to her palace, and when she tells her mom what happened to her and her husband the night before, her mom says, "Don't worry about it. "It was just a dream. "Don't think anymore of it." But that night, the same exact thing happens again. The next morning, the Sultan comes by to wish
his daughter good morning, but she's so traumatized from another terrifying night sleeping next to a total stranger that she can't bring herself to speak. That is until her dad literally threatens to cut her head off. Her and her husband tell her father about their terrifying nights together, and then her husband requests to be separated to avoid further traumatization. Another month go by and before you know it, it's been three months since the Sultan said Aladdin
could marry his daughter. So Aladdin sends his mother to the palace to remind the Sultan about his promise. Now, initially, the Sultan wants to back outta this deal because Aladdin's mom looks a lot more poor than she did before and this time she isn't
holding any priceless jewels. So as a way to try to get outta the deal, he makes a bizarre request he thinks Aladdin won't be able to fill. He says Aladdin must send him "40 basins filled to the brim with gold, "carried by 40 black slaves, "led by 40 white slaves, "all splendidly dressed." Ridiculous, I know, but Aladdin simply wished
this into existence and then sent them to the
Sultan with his mother. As you might expect, the Sultan was like, "All right, that was a
hyper specific request "and this guy met it exactly. "I gotta meet him." But before meeting the Sultan, Aladdin knew he had to look his best. So he wished for "a scented bath, "an embroidered gown, "a horse surpassing the Sultan's, "and 20 slaves to attend him." In addition to six
beautifully dressed slaves to tend to his mom and 10,000 gold coins
loaded into 10 purses. This is where the inspiration for the Prince Ali of
Ababwa parade came from. It's not quite as exquisite, but Aladdin still rolls up to the palace on his beautiful horse with his slaves throwing
gold coins at the passersby. The Sultan was immediately ready to marry Aladdin to his daughter, like literally that day, but just because Aladdin likes mind games, he goes, "No, actually. "I think need to have a
palace fitting for her first." Then he left and wished
that into existence as well. If you hadn't noticed yet, Aladdin can make pretty much infinite wishes to the genie. That three wish limit
was invented by Disney. After showing the Sultan the new palace, Aladdin marries the princess who apparently just got over all those scary nights
she had to spend with him, and the two do very well for themselves as time passes. Word of Aladdin's kindness spread throughout the region and he was very popular
with the country's citizens. Actually, he was so popular that word of his good deeds spread all the way to Africa where his fake uncle had fled. You forgot about him, didn't ya? Well it turns out, the fake uncle was actually an African dark magician who heard about the magic lamp and needed to trick an idiot into going in the cave and getting it for him. Apparently the lamp's powers can only be used when you're given the
lamp by somebody else, hence why Aladdin could use it after he gave it to his mother and then took it back. It's a similar concept to the movie where the Cave of Wonders could only allow a diamond
in the rough to enter. Well after the magician found out that Aladdin
didn't die in the cave and he's actually living
a pretty sweet life, he knew that the lamp had
something to do with it. While Aladdin was away somewhere on a several day hunting trip, the magician got about
a dozen new oils lamps and went to the palace
dressed as an old merchant, offering to swap out
old lamps for new ones. The princess still wasn't aware of the magic power of the lamp, so she gave it right to the magician who ran off to put his plan into effect. He made a wish for Aladdin's fancy new palace to be
transported to Africa along with the princess, and wow did this mess
things up for Aladdin. The next morning, the Sultan looks out his window to see Aladdin's palace has disappeared. He immediately suspects that Aladdin has used some kind of enchantment to make the palace and
his daughter disappear. So he sends his guards to retrieve Aladdin in chains and execute him on the spot. It's pretty terrible timing because Aladdin is on his way back from the hunting trip when the guards intercept him, so he doesn't even get to see that his palace is missing. So he's brought to the executioner's block with no idea of what's going. It's not until the citizens, who love Aladdin, start rioting that the Sultan decides
to cancel the execution and explain the situation. Aladdin is naturally shocked and scared when he hears the news, and he asks the Sultan for 40 days to find the princess, which he's granted. Without the lamp, the dude is essentially useless, though. So after spending three days wandering around like a crazy person asking if anyone's seen his wife, he decides to end it all by throwing himself in a river. Just like what happened in the cave, Aladdin brings his hands together to pray one last time, and accidentally summons the genie in his magic ring. Remember, it was a totally different genie that helped Aladdin escape from the cave. It was the slave of the ring, who is much less powerful than the slave of the lamp. Aladdin wishes to be brought to his wife, and the ring genie
transports him to Africa right out outside the
window of his old palace. Shortly after, he
reunites with the princess who explains what happened and how she was tricked. Then the two devise a plan to get back at the
magician once and for all. When that night comes around, the magician comes by for dinner and the princess pretends to have accepted Aladdin's death, and is ready to celebrate her new life. The magician go down to the wine cellar to get a bottle to celebrate and while he's gone, Aladdin sneaks a powder-based poison into one of the cups. A few minutes later, the magic man goes from making a toast to being toast. As in he drinks the poison and dies, not that he was turned into a cooked piece of bread. Aladdin reaches into the magician's vest, pulls out the lamp, transports them all back to China along with his palace, and the day is officially saved. However, the story isn't done yet. The magician actually
had a younger brother who was even more wicked, and vowed to kill
Aladdin and the princess. His plan is even more messed up than his older brother's. He travels to China, meets with an old religious lady known for giving out
blessings named Fatima, and threatens her into giving him her church uniform. After putting it on and covering his face with the veil, he kills Fatima to avoid any witnesses. He then goes to Aladdin's palace and because of his outfit, everyone thinks he's the famous Fatima. So the princess has no issues inviting him into the palace and asking him to stay for a while. She shows him around the property and when they get to the grand hall, he says it's beautiful but the only thing it's missing is a roc's egg hanging from the ceiling. The princess can't help but agree and soon after, it's all she can think about. So she asks Aladdin if he
can get her a roc's egg. Since he's gotten about everything he has from simply wishing for it, he goes to the genie to ask the genie for a roc's egg, but he's met with a surprising response. The genie lets out a horrifying shriek because finally he's reached his limit with the wishes. He yells at Aladdin saying he's done so much
for him at this point. How dare he request his master be hung from the ceiling. If you don't know, a roc is a legendary predatory bird in Middle East mythology. A roc can be so powerful that it's the master of a genie, or at least this particular genie, who's so offended by the request he refuses to grant anymore wishes from Aladdin and his wife. Before he leaves for forever, he offers some advice though. He says, "By the way, "you and your wife are
ignorant, ungrateful people "who deserve everything
that happens to you, "but that Lady Fatima is a fake Fatima "who tricked you into
revealing your ignorance. "It's actually the magician's brother. "Have fun with that." - Congratulations, you played yourself. - After this happens and Aladdin has finally
been taken down a peg, he tells the princess
to fetch the holy woman because he has a headache and no one's invented Tylenol yet. When the fake Fatima comes close enough to him check him out, he pulls out a hidden blade and stabs her right in the chest. Of course, the princess is freaked out because she just saw her husband stab an old lady, but Aladdin says to just chill. He pulls back Fake Fatima's veil and reveals her to be
the magician's brother. The story then concludes by saying, "After this, Aladdin and
his wife lived in peace. "He succeeded the Sultan after he died, "and reigned for many years, "leaving behind him a long line of kings." And that was the story of "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp." I hope you enjoyed it and learned yourself a little something. I gotta say, this was a long one and it took a long time
to properly summarize it in a way that you would get the most out of this video. If you enjoyed this story and appreciate the effort, I would greatly appreciate you hitting that like button so we can reach our goal of 3,000 likes. Make sure to subscribe and turn notifications on. That means ring that little bell next to the sub button so you don't miss any
of my future uploads, and share this video with
your friends and family who are also diehard Disney fans just like yourself and might find it interesting. Also, before I go, I've got some exciting news for those who really like this series. If you're a fan of shows like Spongebob, the Fairly
Odd Parents, Rugrats, ya know, the old school
cartoons that we grew up with, my friend Kmack Time just launched his own series where he dives into the origins of those classic shows. There's a link to the first episode in the description and
at the end of this video. If you like those shows, I highly recommend you check it out because it's a great episode and, you know, it's right up your alley. Thank you all so much for
watching this episode. I'll be seeing you very soon. Until next time, my name is Jon Solo. And remember, Jon shot first.
