Sarah Williams

Sarah Williams is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. Portrayed by Jennifer Connelly, Sarah is an imaginative teenager who wishes for the goblins from her favourite story to take away her baby brother Toby. When her inadvertent wish comes true, she must solve an enormous otherworldly labyrinth in thirteen hours and rescue Toby from the castle of Jareth, the Goblin King. Created by director Jim Henson and writer Dennis Lee, the character was developed by a number of colleagues including screenwriters Laura Phillips and Elaine May as well as executive producer George Lucas. Sarah is Labyrinths central character, in whose imagination the film's fantasy settings and characters exist, based on the books, posters and toys in her bedroom. Elements of her adventure were inspired by fairy tales and classical stories, as well as fantasy literature such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Reception to the character upon the film's release was mixed, although Sarah has grown in the esteem of critics in recent decades. Reviewers were divided over her initial petulant attitude, with some regarding her as unsympathetic, while others have found her to be an identifiable teenage protagonist because of her flaws. The character's intelligence and perseverance have also received praise. Connelly's role as Sarah brought her international fame and has remained one of the actress's best known performances. Development Concept and writing Labyrinth started as a collaboration between director Jim Henson and conceptual designer Brian Froud following their previous collaboration, The Dark Crystal (1982). In making Labyrinth, Henson wanted to create a film that combined elements of fairy tales and classical stories in a script that would appeal to a modern audience. According to Froud, he and Henson decided to have human characters as the lead roles to make Labyrinth "more accessible and immediate" than The Dark Crystal, which had featured only puppets. Henson explained that they structured Labyrinth "in a way that the human is really carrying the whole picture" and acts as a "bridge" between the fantastical puppets and the audience. The protagonist of Labyrinth was, at different stages of its development, going to be a boy, a king whose baby had been put under an enchantment, a princess from a fantasy world, and a young girl from Victorian England.