Conceptualised as the inner fantasy of Sarah, Jareth's character design was influenced by Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and Rochester from Jane Eyre, as well as the Scarlet Pimpernel, medieval knights, Grimm's Fairy Tales, ballet dancers, contemporary rock stars, and "leather boys" such as Johnny Strabler from The Wild One.
[14] Familiar with his music, the Hensons had also seen Bowie act on Broadway in the play The Elephant Man,[17][19] and felt that his "other-worldliness" and energy would be a good match for the fantastic creatures and settings planned for the film.
[20] "I wanted to put two characters of flesh and bone in the middle of all these artificial creatures," Jim Henson explained, "and David Bowie embodies a certain maturity, with his sexuality, his disturbing aspect, all sorts of things that characterize the adult world.
[1] The concept behind the character is that Sarah, having reached the age of sexual awakening, creates Jareth as the living embodiment of her adolescent interests and desires;[13] he is a dream figure who reflects her inner "romantic turmoil.
[34] In his afterword to the 20th-anniversary edition of The Goblins of Labyrinth, Froud wrote that Jareth references "the romantic figures of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and a brooding Rochester from Jane Eyre" and the "transfiguring" Scarlet Pimpernel.
Jareth's costumes are intentionally eclectic, drawing on the image of Marlon Brando's leather jacket from The Wild One as well as that of a medieval knight "with the worms of death eating through his armour" from Grimms' Fairy Tales.
[39] For the ballroom scene, Froud and costume designer Ellis Flyte fashioned Jareth a velvet tailcoat shot with blue, black and silver, and embroidered with broken jewels and mirrors on the front and shoulders.
[53] The dialogue starting with the phrase, "You remind me of the babe," that occurs between Jareth and the goblins at the beginning of the song is a direct reference to an exchange between Cary Grant and Shirley Temple in the 1947 film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
[50] Cinemaps: An Atlas of 35 Great Movies authors Andrew DeGraff and A.D. Jameson suggest the significance of this reference is that The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is about a teenage girl's crush on an older man, just as Sarah is infatuated with the fictitious Goblin King.
"[59] Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History authors Paula Block and Terry Erdmann suggest Jareth's mournful repeated line at the end of the song, "I can't live within you", is his acknowledgement that he exists only in Sarah's imagination, which she is on the verge of leaving behind.
Confronting Hoggle, Jareth questions the dwarf's loyalty, as he had been supposed to lead Sarah back to the beginning of the Labyrinth, and threatens to suspend him over the Bog of Eternal Stench if he continues to help her.
"[84] Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire author Carol Dyhouse wrote that Jareth exudes sexual allure, describing him as "a bad-boy Prince of Darkness with biker chic and super-natural overtones.
"[85] Cat Lafuente of TheList.com identified Jareth's crystal balls and sceptre as phallic symbols along with the genital bulge in his trousers, which she wrote represent sexual maturity and "serve to show ... that adulthood is just around the corner" for Sarah.
[86] Michael Booth of The Denver Post wrote that Jareth's "alternately fey or menacing" demeanor is "true to the fairy-tale tradition [wherein] the adolescent girl is always supposed to be threatened or enticed by adulthood.
"[90] Bridget McGovern of Tor.com likened the Goblin King to the eponymous villain of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, writing that such characters "tend to represent an unsettling mix of childhood fantasies and adult fears and desires; they draw their would-be victims in through a disturbing blend of infantilization and seduction".
[92] Jareth's use of tainted fruit to impede the story's heroine has been identified as a mythological motif tracing back to the Wicked Queen of "Snow White",[93] as well as to the serpent who tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden.
[81] English scholar Tammy H. Gladwin noted that Labyrinth "overtly decontrusts the Prince Charming motif" as Jareth promises to make Sarah's dreams come true only if she submit to his domination.
[101] According to Kelcie Mattson of Bitch Flicks, Jareth embodies both patriarchy and the loss of Sarah's innocence, "a man dictating to a woman what he deems is the best thing for her, while also introducing an initiation into the sexual world as reward for her coming to heel," which she wrote are "very real, very relevant threats" to young women.
[95] Chris Cabin of Collider commented that while Jareth represents "a kind of repressed vision of sexual desire", he also reflects a societal expectation for Sarah "to cater to a man rather than becoming more independent".
"[84] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times considered Jareth to be one of the film's strong points, writing, "he has a nice, mocking sense of irony, and he looks suitably magical with his Kabuki lion-mane hair ...
"[105] Mary Mae Goris of the Irish Independent wrote, "with staring hair and svelte in clinging pantaloons and high hessians [...] he'd make a good Hans Heiling if he could sing.
"[114] Hailing the character as "one of cinema’s most daring and eccentric bad boys" in a feature for film website OneRoomWithAView.com, Amy Hubbard wrote: "Bowie’s Jareth does exactly what he is designed to do – he is the ultimate heartthrob, a representation of danger, love and lust as well as the confusion that such feelings inspire.
Club acclaimed Jareth as "a spectacularly realized character,"[117] while VultureHound's Jack Edwards praised him as "a wonderful villain without ever truly being evil," writing: "He has that whimsical nature of a folklore antagonist; he provides the chance for victory for the hero by giving Sarah 13 hours, he doesn’t turn Toby to a goblin immediately and when he has been beat he is not destroyed, he is bound by the terms of his world.
"[112] Chris Cabin of Collider found that "as a character, Jareth seems to be having infinitely more fun than most film villains do," and his creators were "careful not to stress some sadistic side or a rigid belief in evil as a kind of religious duty.
"[118] Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib of MTV News wrote that the Goblin King is "not a villain in the traditional sense ... he want[s] to be feared, respected, but mostly adored," concluding, "Jareth represent[s] a lot of things, perhaps the greatest being anxiety over whether we will ever be truly loved".
[119] Glamour's Ella Alexander appreciated that, unlike many male film antagonists' attitudes towards a young female protagonist, Jareth "notes the complexities and intelligence of Sarah, and is eventually defeated by her", calling it "pretty groundbreaking stuff".
"[122] However, Victoria Mather in The Daily Telegraph panned his acting as "robotic", writing, "Bowie makes himself quite ridiculous as the Goblin King complete with punk hair do and black leather, desporting himself with a small, non-speaking character in a babygro".
[130] Josh Winning of Total Film wrote of his performance, "Bowie sweeps about his sumptuous castle set like a thing possessed, clearly revelling in the dress up while bringing depth and snark to the role.
"[132] McGovern attributed much of Labyrinth's humour to Bowie's performance, observing that his portrayal of Jareth seemed to draw upon his "penchant for spoofing his own image as a spoiled, out-of-touch rock star and willingness to poke fun at the stereotype of the pretentious, self-obsessed pop idol".
[175] Since 1997, the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, an event inspired by the character and film, has been held annually in various US cities, including San Diego, Hollywood, and, most recently, Los Angeles.