I get twisted.

Thinking more about Labyrinth, and in the spirit of Halloween. . .

We start with Sarah, a teen girl so utterly obsessed with a book called The Labyrinth to the point of cosplaying it in the park with her dog. Back home, Sarah has a wicked stepmother and an annoying infant half-brother to watch over. So, using knowledge from this random fantasy book she summons the goblins to take baby Toby away.

This leads to David Bowie in tights, and a race through his Labyrinth(!) to save the baby. Sarah wins when she finally remembers the one line in a book she otherwise had utterly memorized in the nick of time.

Think about the coincidences here. Does Sarah just happen to have a book that maps out the entire plot she must follow? Jareth set this up because the Goblin King needs an eventual heir. Jareth has inherited control of bloodlines and influences, so he pushes and pulls, and he creates his heir in Toby, and in Sarah, a caretaker. Then he just gives one little push. . .

Jareth wins. In the end, Sarah seems to be back in her home, but then the goblins come in without being summoned. Jareth has his heir, and an ensorcelled Sarah will act as a caretaker until she is discarded to be one of the Junk Ladies, the final fate of those who care for the eventual Goblin Kings, forever rooting in the junk pile for their lost lives.

Yes, I had a very dark take on that movie.