Cedric the Sorcerer is the former main antagonist (and sometimes the antihero, even sometimes serves as the hero of some episodes) of the Disney Junior series Sofia the First. He is the Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia.
Personality[]
Cedric is a bumbling sorcerer whose spells often don't work very well, though he takes great pride in, and often brags about, his abilities. He wants to steal Sofia's Amulet of Avalor, hoping to use it to take over the kingdom and reign as a dictator-like king. In order to achieve this, he often tries to trick Sofia into giving it to him, though his attempts usually fail, due to his bumbling nature. Sofia often mispronounced his name as "Cee-dric" rather than "Said-Rick," which annoyed him to no end. However, she dropped this when the second season began, which has begun leading Cedric into the light in the process.
Cedric voices his disdain for King Roland and his annoyance towards Sofia every chance he gets. His animosity towards the king is likely due to the fact that King Roland is constantly criticizing him, while Sofia gets on his nerves simply because she keeps inadvertently thwarting and dodging his attempts to acquire her amulet. The only one Cedric seems to hold in high esteem - besides himself - is his loyal raven Wormwood. He seems rather impassive towards James, Amber, Baileywick and all the other residents of the castle; as they in particular seem to stay out of his way and have made no attempt to irk him.
Though his motives may speak otherwise, Cedric is not truly evil. He desires power merely to prove to those that mock him that he is capable of greatness and it has been revealed that Cedric is very much aware and hurt by how poorly others regard him. One of the main reasons most of his spells fail is actually shown to be due to how easily he gets nervous, especially in the presence of King Roland. Also, despite having the looks and desires of his mother, he has a code of morality--he will not directly harm anyone, though he does manipulate, and he does not let anyone unnecessarily suffer and will always pay back debts, or at least try to. Cedric also hates cheating, even though he is unafraid of lying.
While Cedric is devious and conniving, he is not without a heart. In fact, it was during one episode that Cedric was visibly touched by Sofia's kindness towards him and was grateful when she purposefully spilled a potion on herself during a performance in order to help him display his magical abilities before King Roland and the visiting King Magnus. At this point, he declined to use an invisibility potion that he had concocted to steal the amulet, instead using it to show off his magic more. Later, he stated to Wormwood that they could always take over the kingdom tomorrow. In episodes following this, he is indeed shown to still be plotting ways to steal Sofia's amulet for the purpose of taking over the kingdom. Though how exactly he plans on doing this once he has the amulet is currently unknown.
In the episode "The Amulet of Avalor," Cedric once again tries to steal Sofia's amulet when it is taken by a baby griffin. He first attempts to use a freezing spell on the griffin, but ends up freezing Wormwood instead (but is able to thaw him). Next, he tries to lure the griffin in with a shiny jewel and then cage it in a bird cage, but when the griffin grabs the jewel, he tries to use his wand, but it won't work. He then tries to grab the griffin himself, but it gets away and then after checking his wand again, it finally works and he ends up trapped in the cage. For his final move, he uses a flying contraption with a plunger attached to it. He chases the griffin throughout the castle until he crashes through the door into the ballroom. Sofia checks on him to see if he's injured and notices her mother's tiara that had previously been stolen from her with him. From this, Roland assumes that Cedric was the one who had been stealing all the items and he orders the guards to arrest him. But Sofia proclaims Cedric's innocence after she finds clues that proves Cedric's innocence and he is released by the end of the episode.
In "The Amulet and the Anthem," Cedric's evilness truly comes into play. Like the Disney villains that have come before him, he plays on Sofia's desperation to rid herself of the Amulet's curse and relentlessly tempts her to hand over her amulet. Unlike previous episodes, Cedric taunts and manipulates Sofia. When she denies him the Amulet the first time, Cedric follow Sofia to the fairground in a second attempt. Sofia runs into Cedric at the fair, claiming to have been cured. But when she croaks again, Cedric takes pride in her anguish and tries to win the Amulet again, only to fail when Sofia leaves to seek help from Belle.
In "Princess Butterfly," Cedric's evil side shows up again in his manipulation of Amber. However, Goodwin's moral code in him also appears when Cedric shows a strong dislike of cheating and questions Amber of her actions when she seeks his help.
When Cedric becomes a sea monster in "The Floating Palace," he loses all of the morality that restrained him from directly harming others, especially Sofia, as spells of bestiality often corrupt those that they are cast upon. Though he is seen going to great lengths to avoid Sofia so he may proceed with his plans, Cedric is showing signs of losing patience with the - as he describes her - precocious princess. He does not wish to hurt anyone, but he's demonstrated, as of late, that he will do whatever it takes to achieve his plans for domination, no matter the kingdom.
Cedric reveals, when he meets Sascha the Sorceress, aka Miss Nettle, that he has a fondness for beautiful sorceresses. He also revealed that when being publicly humiliated, he quickly gives up, and does not think clearly when passionate. When Sofia told him Nettle wanted her Amulet, Cedric was willing to side with good, even if only in order to have the Amulet for himself once Nettle was defeated.
In the episode "King for a Day" he was slightly annoyed with James, who kept asking for things without acknowleding Cedric for creating the things he wanted in the first place. In the end he was visibly touched that James told his father how much he helped and wasn't angry when his first attempt at a door failed due to his shrunk wand because no one laughed at him.
In the episode "Mystic Meadows" Cedric's relationship with his parents is explored further. His father had a very poor opinion of his son's magical skill. His constant interrupting and correcting, messed up Cedric's spells, leaving him with little self confidence. In contrast, his mother tried to get her husband to give their son a chance. In the end his relationship with his father improved greatly.
Background[]
Cedric's father, Goodwin the Great, was the Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia before he was and was considered the greatest sorcerer the kingdom had ever had, saving the king's life many times (nine-and-a-half). While Goodwin was honest and moralistic, his wife Winifred, Cedric's mother, was vain and ambitious while doting on her son, encouraging Cedric to make the wrong decisions. Cedric seems to get along better with his mother, while having a more hostile relationship with his father. This is likely due to the fact that his mother coddles him, while his father tries to push him in the right direction. His relationship with his father may also be the result of how often Cedric is compared to him and frequently said to not be as good as he was. Both of Cedric's parents seem to exasperate him at times.
Cedric's pet of choice is a raven named Wormwood, nicknamed "Wormy", with whom he often converses. However, unlike Sofia, due to not bearing the Amulet, Cedric does not possess the ability to actually understand what Wormwood is saying.
Cedric has apparently undertaken fifteen years of sorcery school, in preparation to take his father's place once he retired. According to King Roland in the premier movie, Cedric comes from a long line of royal sorcerers ("So... [The Royal family's] stuck with him.")
Appearances[]
Season One[]
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Season Two[]
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Trivia[]
- In the episode "The Big Sleepover," Cedric states that he has 15 years of training as a sorcerer. It is unknown if he started as young as Sofia, or exactly how long passed before he actually became the Royal Sorcerer once he graduated. It has been revealed that the first spells he learned were counter curses, though, like Sofia, he also learned Mutato early, as he demonstrates in "The Amulet of Avalor" when he easily turns a rock into a diamond. He is also good at hover charms, having two in his book, summoning charms, vanishing charms, and making enchanted objects, such as his key, which can open any lock, from his lair door to his golden cage. He has at least two sleeping spells in his spell book, proved when Amber looked through it in "Two Princesses And A Baby," since she did not recognize the sleeping spell, making it be different from the one Cedric gave to Sofia in the pilot. He also has a shrinking charm, which he isn't very good at, it once backfiring on his wand in "King For A Day."
- The failsafe of the Amulet of Avalor demands it be passed on willingly in order for its power to be used. Cedric has tried on numerous occasions to get Sofia to hand it over, (Premier, "The Big Sleepover," "Cedric's Apprentice," and "A Royal Mess").
- His pet raven, Wormwood, was inspired by Diablo, the raven that appears on Maleficent's shoulder in the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty.
- Cedric's hair is a homage to Cruella De Vil in addition to possibly reflecting his personality being made of both good and evil.
- Cedric is, in a lot of ways, similar to Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, due to the fact that they both consider themselves to be prototypical villains, yet due to some flaws in their planning and/or personality they manage to trip over their own feet on numerous occasions. It is also worth noting that both have unusually large noses.
- The name Cedric is of an Old-English origin, and the meaning of the name is 'Kindly' and 'Loved', which greatly contradicts his general personality. However, it is true when he shows his softer side to Sofia in Cedric's Apprentice, resulting in Sofia's great admiration and respect towards him, as a friend and a great sorcerer.
- Cedric is similar to Prince Hans from Frozen. Both want to rule a kingdom to get attention and to show how great they are. Needing attention and love could be the reason why both of them are bad. However, Cedric has proven to have a soft side, and is not very persuasive.
- His voice actor voices him similar to Wakko Warner from Animaniacs and Tosh Gopher from The Looney Tunes Show, all voiced by Harnell.
- Cedric may have attempted to steal the Amulet before it chose Sofia-Roland's concern over its security and suspicion that Cedric had stolen the jewels seem to point to it. However, this is unlikely, as Cedric had been searching for the Amulet but never knew it was in Enchancia until he saw it around Sofia's neck.
- Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings are voices of Cedric and Wormwood, they also voices Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole from the TV segments of Super Secret Secret Squirrel from Cartoon Network's animated series 2 Stupid Dogs.
- Like Maurice, Cedric is very good at inventing, though it is a talent that is not respected, likely due to it being more of a private hobby than a business for him.
- Cedric and Wormwood are the second villains of the sorcerer and his right-hand bird, Jafar and Iago are the first villains of the sorcerer and his bird. However, if female magicians are included, Cedric is the fourth, with Maleficent and The Queen as the first and second bird-loving baddies. Cedric is the third villain to have a raven henchman.
- Despite their differences in character, fate and all around willpower, Cedric has some similarities to Jafar.
- Both aim to acquire a magical object (Genie's Lamp for Jafar and The Amulet of Avalor for Cedric) and use its power to take over a kingdom (Agrabah for Jafar and Enchancia for Cedric), even before those objects wound up in the possession of the protagonists (Aladdin and Princess Sofia).
- As a cover-up for their objectives, they both serve in the palaces they aim to take over.
- Both have birds as sidekicks (Iago for Jafar and Wormwood for Cedric) that often get beaten up by mistake.
- Both work for the rulers of the kingdom "Roland II and the Sultan," with little respect from their employers.
- In the episode "Two Princesses and a Baby," it is revealed that he's allergic to dandelions. This same episode is where Sofia actually pronounces his name right (/sedrik/ instead of /seedrik/), for the first time.
- In the episode "The Enchanted Feast," it seems that Cedric had a crush on Sascha, who is Miss Nettle in disguise, but his heart got broken when she embarrassed him in front of everyone from the Tri-Kingdom Area at the table.
- In the same episode, Cedric only then realizes that Sofia said his name correctly, but this could simply mean the episodes were aired out of the order intended.
- In the same episode, when Sofia hugs him in sheer happiness for triumphantly capturing Miss Nettle/Sascha, he doesn't push her away. Unlike in the episode of "Cedric's Apprentice" when he transforms Sofia back into a human from a lizard and Sofia hugs him to thank him, he removes her after a second or so. This shows that he acknowledges and accepts her carefree actions and doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all, even if it means getting a hug from her every now and then. This is similar to Clover, who dislikes being hugged by Sofia at first, but then eventually accepts it.
- Since the start of the second season, Cedric has so far shown less interest in stealing the Amulet of Avalor from Sofia. However, in the episode "The Enchanted Feast" when he's told Miss Nettle is after it as well, he reveals he's still after it when he says, "No one can have that Amulet except for me!"
- Cedric has many spare wands in his lair, as his magical clumsiness often damages wands he uses, such as in "King For A Day," when he shrunk his wand, and "The Enchanted Feast" when his wand got hexed.
- Like most magic users, the strength and accurateness of their spells depend on Cedric's self confidence, which could be the reason he usually messes up his spells. Its been noted when people believe in him or treat him with respect his spells work perfectly.
- As revealed in "Mystic Meadows," Sofia is Cedric's first and only friend he's ever had.
- In "Sofia the Second" and "Mystic Meadows", it is shown he uses Wormwood as a test subject for his spells.