Top 20 Strangest Disney Fan Theories Ever

#20: Alice Is Just Trippin’ “Alice In Wonderland” (1951)

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This Lewis Carroll classic has long been associated with drugs - specifically LSD. And that’s because it is absolutely bonkers. The story became a signature part of the counterculture movement and is the subject of Jefferson Airplane’s iconic song “White Rabbit”. And while Carroll wasn’t known to indulge, many people believe his story is a thinly-veiled tale about drug experimentation. Alice eats mushrooms, drinks questionable potions, and sees impossible sights throughout the movie. Is Wonderland a real place, or was Alice just tripping in the woods after eating some funky fungus?

This lighthearted movie about video games contains one of the darkest back stories in Disney history. And that’s saying something. We learn that Calhoun, the protagonist of “Hero’s Duty,” suffered a tragedy on her wedding day when a Cy-Bug ate her fiancé. Viewers see the bug eat him, but not the immediate aftermath. And it’s probably for the best. Cy-Bugs become their food, which means this one would have been in the process of turning into Brad. So Calhoun would have been shooting her own mutated fiancé off screen. There’s a reason the camera cuts away. No one wants to see that. And it turns an already dark backstory into something downright horrifying.

#18: Mother Gothel Is the Evil Queen “Tangled” (2010) & “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937)

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One of the most popular, and convincing, Disney theories is the idea that Mother Gothel is actually the Evil Queen from “Snow White”. The theory goes that the Queen survived her fall and discovered the flower at the base of the cliff. She left Snow White alone because she now had a magic flower to keep her ageless, whereas Snow White would eventually grow old and lose her youthfulness. Several things seem to support this theory. The Queen’s name is Grimhilde, meaning both start with “G.” Both tales take place in a Germany-inspired setting. And apples are a recurring motif in both movies. In fact, Gothel is deliberately shown avoiding a bite. Is “Tangled” actually a sequel?

If you thought Bambi’s mother’s death couldn’t get any more depressing, think again, because it is entirely possible that Gaston was the human who pulled the trigger. We never see the hunter who kills Bambi’s mother, which obviously opens the possibility that it could have been anyone. We also see a doe drinking from a stream at the beginning of “Beauty and the Beast” and find out Gaston is an accomplished hunter. Did he one day manage to snag himself a doe in the nearby woods? To make this connection even stronger, it’s entirely possible that one of the heads in the tavern belongs to Bambi’s mother. As if we needed any more reasons to HATE Gaston.

#16: Andy’s Mom Used to Own Jessie “Toy Story 2” (1999)

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For this beloved sequel, Joan Cusack entered the mix as rowdy cowgirl Jessie. Jessie is another character with a tragic backstory, as she was outgrown and eventually abandoned by her owner, Emily. Emily seems to just represent growing children everywhere, rather than being a major character. But what if Emily is actually Andy’s mom, Mrs. Davis? It may work, as we never learn Emily’s last name or Mrs. Davis’s first name. The two characters also share similar hair, and the timelines match up too. Andy can also be seen wearing Jessie’s cowgirl hat, minus the white ribbon. Could it possibly be a hand-me-down from his mother, who’s seen wearing the exact same hat in the flashback?

Fans love them some “x was dead the whole time” theories. If it’s not Nemo being dead and Marlin experiencing the five stages of grief, it’s Carl dying at the beginning of “Up.” According to the theory, Carl dies in his sleep after being notified that he needs to move. Russell is simply Carl’s guardian angel who has taken the form of he and Ellie’s desired child. He’s looking for his final “merit badge,” a metaphor for angel wings. And the floating house is an obvious metaphor for Carl leaving the physical world and entering heaven and the afterlife. We mean, a house being lifted by balloons? This theory is starting to make sense.

#14: Aladdin Takes Place In a Post-Apocalyptic Future “Aladdin” (1992)

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Like “Cars,” some believe that “Aladdin” takes place in the distant future - well, after conventional, modern society has broken down. Genie calls Aladdin’s fashion “so third century” and impersonates 20th century celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson. Yet he mentions that he’s been in the lamp for 10,000 years. If the Genie was around between the 70s and 2000s for Schwarzenegger and Nicholson and was subsequently imprisoned for 10,000 years, that means that “Aladdin” must take place sometime around the late 11,000s or early 12,000s AD. It’s possible that there was some sort of disaster that wiped out modern technology, resulting in a futuristic society that looks deceptively antiquated. (xref) A second theory posits Jafar is actually the hero of the story. Is that why he got his own movie?

#13: Peter Pan Is the Angel of Death “Peter Pan” (1953)

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Jeez. If it’s not characters secretly being dead, it’s characters being the Angel of Death. (xref) Or even Peter Pan straight up murdering the Lost Boys! What is the obsession with death, here? According to this incredibly dark yet comforting theory, Peter Pan is actually an angel of death who takes dead children to Never Land, aka the afterlife. You obviously never grow old in the afterlife, which explains the Lost Boys. This may sound like silly nonsense, until you consider that the character’s creator, J.M. Barrie, gave the rights to Peter Pan to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, a hospital for sick children. Were Peter Pan and Never Land Barrie’s way of comforting terminally ill children? We’re not saying yes, but we are saying… maybe.

#12; Tamatoa Is… Ursula “Moana” (2016) & “The Little Mermaid” (1989)

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Both “Moana” and “The Little Mermaid” are centered around the ocean, so of course fans are going to find some kind of link between the two, no matter how strange. This theory posits that they share the same universe. Both Tamatoa and Ursula share a distinct purple hue, have very flamboyant personalities, and multiple limbs. However, since “Moana” takes place later, Tamatoa isn’t exactly Ursula as we once knew her” - she’s been reincarnated!. We’re not sure how this explains Tamatoa being a crab instead of a human-octopus hybrid, but hey, we didn’t say it was a perfect theory. Speaking of imperfect theories, there’s apparently one claiming Tamatoa is actually Ursula’s grandson, since he mentions eating his enormous grandmother…

#11: Hercules Killed Scar “Hercules” (1997)

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In one specific scene in “Hercules,” the titular character can be seen wearing Scar’s head and fur skin as a trophy. It’s a cute little Easter egg, and quite an obvious one at that. But what if the Easter egg has...darker connotations? Within the movie, Scar’s skin takes the place of the Nemean Lion. This is a real monster in Greek mythology, and slaying it served as Heracles’ first of twelve labours. The lion has golden fur in the story, but this was obviously changed for the movie. Is it possible that Hades returned Scar from the dead to fight Hercules?

On the subject of people wearing dead animals, let’s discuss the possibility that Kristoff is walking around wearing Sven’s mom. This horrifically dark theory posits that the ice harvesters skinned a reindeer and gave its pelt to Kristoff. Sven, who was orphaned as a calf, smelled his recently deceased mother on Kristoff and began following him around. Kristoff, maybe being unaware of the pelt’s origin, thought Sven was just a friendly reindeer. But he’s not a friendly reindeer - he simply thinks Kristoff is his mother, as Kristoff is wearing her skin like Buffalo Bill! Yikes.

And here we go again with the death stuff. Either Disney fans are some truly dour people, or Disney loves them some cryptic metaphors. This theory suggests that Snow White’s Prince is the personification of death. You see, the apple that the Queen gave Snow worked a little too well and killed her. The Prince, aka the Grim Reaper, appears and kisses her, awakening her to take her away to the afterlife. Snow is then given a moment to say goodbye to the dwarfs before departing. And what do they depart on? A white horse, an obvious reference to the Biblical pale horse and its rider, Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

#8: Jane Is a Descendant of Belle “Tarzan” (1999) & “Beauty and the Beast” (1991)

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The events of “Beauty and the Beast” take place sometime in the mid 18th century, likely around the 1760s. “Tarzan” takes place almost exactly one century later in the mid 1860s. Is it possible that Belle is Jane’s great-grandmother? They both share a similar fashion sense, favouring yellow dresses with white lace. They also look somewhat alike and share the same hair color (although Jane’s is a slightly lighter shade of brown). Both have eccentric fathers. Both share a taste for wild, untamed men. And perhaps most telling of all, Terk can be seen drumming on a tea set exactly like the ones seen in “Beauty and the Beast.” A family heirloom, perhaps?

Somehow, people in movies seldom seem to face legal consequences for their actions. As Reddit user SkyWasTheRobot has pointed out, that’s readily apparent in the “High School Musical” franchise. Trashing the school? No consequences! Dubious workplace practices in Lava Springs? No one even thinks of reporting it. And wouldn’t Ms. Darbus have had to forge Troy’s signature to send in his application to Juilliard? These incidents have led SkyWasTheRobot to propose that the series takes place in a world like The Purge, where all crime is legal for a time. Or perhaps there just are no laws. If all drugs are also legal, this provides a convenient explanation for the music sequences: “mass LSD trips”.

#6: Moana Is Maui’s Daughter “Moana” (2016)

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In April of 2017, The Film Theorists posted a video positing that Moana isn’t the daughter of Chief Tui of Motunui, but the shapeshifting demigod Maui. The theory revolves around Moana’s adventure in Lalotai. In the original drafts of the script, Lalotai is referred to as a place for “ancestral spirits.” It’s a sort of underworld that should be inaccessible to mere humans. Some of Moana’s traits signify that she’s more than human, including her relationship with the ocean, her God-like parting of the sea, and her name literally meaning “ocean.” But it gets better. Moana’s mother is named Sina … sometimes used as a variant of Hina, the goddess married to Maui. Moana is Maui’s long lost demigod daughter.

You may think that Dopey was just another dwarf, but what if he was actually a young Geppetto? First argument: appearances. There’s no denying that the two look alike, from the wide, oval eyes to the big ears to the bulbous, red clown nose. The two also share similar personality traits, such as their clumsiness and agitation. Then there’s the fact that Dopey doesn’t talk – he’s simply too young for speech. It’s possible that the dwarves took in a child, mistaking it for one of their own, and subsequently gave Geppetto the boot when he got older. He moved to Italy, became a woodworker, and the rest is history.

This one is strange, but damn if there isn’t a lot of evidence to back it up. One of the mermaids in Neverland looks an awful lot like Ariel, complete with the signature red hair. (As an aside, since Ariel’s sisters all look very different, they may have different mothers). In the prequel to “The Little Mermaid,” “Ariel’s Beginning,” it’s established that Ariel’s mother was killed by pirates. Captain Hook, a pirate, hates mermaids. And Triton hates humans, obviously due to a pirate murdering his wife. If we’re to believe the “Neverland equals the afterlife” theory, then it’s obvious that Ariel’s mother is there and is still being terrorized by her murderer. Now that is one unfortunate afterlife.

#3: Chip Is Beast’s Illegitimate Son “Beauty and the Beast” (1991)

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“Beauty and the Beast” contains some of Disney’s most timeless characters, including the adorable mother-son tea set Mrs. Potts and Chip. But what if Chip isn’t Mrs. Potts’s son? After all, Mrs. Potts seems far too old to have a child that age. And she clearly did not give birth as a teapot. According to one version of this theory, the Prince was seduced by and impregnated the Enchantress, and when the child was hidden away for being illegitimate, the Enchantress cursed the castle and everyone in it, including her own son. Mrs. Potts simply raised him as her own because she’s the sweet, old maternal type who doesn’t want a kid to grow up without a mother.

OK, forget “Tangled” being a sequel to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Apparently it’s the lynchpin of a far wider Disney extended universe! Again according to The Film Theorists, Anna and Elsa are not biological sisters. Rather, Elsa is the long lost twin sister of Rapunzel! Both are left-handed and have magical powers. And Rapunzel is clearly seen with Flynn at Elsa’s crowning, signifying that both stories take place at the same time, and that the princesses are close in age. It’s also been said that Tarzan is Anna and Elsa’s younger brother, by the way. We can’t even keep up anymore...

#1: Boo Is the Witch from “Brave” “Monsters, Inc.” (2001) & “Brave” (2012)

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The ending to “Monsters, Inc.” is perfect. But what if there is A LOT more to Boo’s story? This incredibly strange and convoluted theory states that Boo eventually lost contact with Sully and somehow traveled back in time to visit the will-o’-the-wisps, the source of dimension-hopping energy or... something. She is now trying in vain to cultivate this magic so she can create time and dimension-hopping doorways in an attempt to find Sulley and Monstropolis. If you look closely, you can even see a carving of Sully in The Witch’s woodshop in “Brave”, which is a clear dedication to her old friend. This theory is seriously convoluted, but hey, it’s all in good fun.