Iago during one of his relatively calmer moments
Iago (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) is a fictional character in Disney's Aladdin franchise, starting out as a secondary villain and comic relief in the original film, and later supporting protagonist in the film's sequels and related TV series. He is nominally part of a royal menagerie in fictional Arabian city, Agrabah. He is named after the William Shakespeare character; the TV series mentions his twin brother Othello.
Personality traits
Iago resembles a Scarlet macaw. He can speak fluent English and has the ability to perfectly mimic other characters' voices, due to Jafar's influence. He also possesses knowledge of various tricks learned from Jafar. He is easily frustrated and openly vocalizes his frustrations.
Appearances
Aladdin
In the first movie he resents living under the Sultan and Jasmine as much as his owner Jafar does, though he contrasts Jafar's dark brooding with angry, sarcastic ranting. Iago often says how he hates crackers which the Sultan always gives him. The Sultan seems to not know until the end of the first movie that Iago can speak complete English and is evil. Whenever Iago gets annoyed he points out that he is molting, often pulling out his own feathers to emphasize it. He is dragged into Jafar's lamp with him at the end of the movie and is then banished to the Cave of Wonders as well.
The Return of Jafar
He has a main role in the movie. Having escaped from the lamp, Iago switches sides in the second movie, seemingly to desire aligning himself with the winning side. However, in the end it is revealed that he is actually concerned about Aladdin and Jasmine. He's tired of being oppressed by Jafar and easily kills him by pushing Jafar's lamp into molten lava.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves
He has a supporting role in the third movie and chooses to depart Agrabah with Aladdin's father Cassim at the end instead of staying with Aladdin and Jasmine on the grounds that he couldn't handle the "lovey-dovey" stuff. Cassim's sense of thievery is more in line with Iago's, as well.
Aladdin TV series
In the series he provides a sarcastic, realistic, or cowardly perspective on events and is only really willing to face danger if great reward is promised. He is sometimes forced to battle his conscience. Iago's common schemes involve trying to sell anything with any value (real or not), trying to steal things, and trying to treasure-hunt. He can usually convince Abu to be his partner in crime, but Abu is more likely to leave at the first sign of danger and often lacks the finesse that Iago requires. He harbored a crush on the rain bird Thundra, while admitting his manipulative personality made appealing to others difficult. Aladdin has occasionally exploited this, since antagonists are more willing to accept Iago as being ruthless and amoral than he is.
Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams
Iago appears as a supporting character in this straight-to-DVD movie and he performs a musical number called "Peacock Princess" with Princess Jasmine.
Kingdom Hearts
In the video game Kingdom Hearts he is initially Jafar's sidekick, but then later is used by the player to assist in defeating Jafar. His Japanese voice actor in Kingdom Hearts is Akira Kamiya, and his voice actor in Kingdom Hearts II is Tōru Ōkawa. Gilbert Gottfried reprises his role in the English versions of both games. (An in-joke on an episode of the TV animated series has Iago running in panic after his face is turned into that of Gilbert Gottfried).
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories he makes a brief cameo appearance during the Boss battle against Jafar's genie form. During the battle, attacking Jafar has no effect. Rather, the lamp must be hit which is held up high by Iago, a la The Return Of Jafar. It can therefore be assumed that Iago is on the side of the good guys again.
In Kingdom Hearts II, like in The Return of Jafar, Iago leaves Jafar and returns to Agrabah in a slump after failing to make amends to Aladdin and Jasmine. When he unintentionally assisted Sora in the task of beating the Heartless and retrieving Jafar's lamp, he manages to gain everyone's trust. But that trust is soon shattered when Iago is forced to help Jafar yet again in keeping Sora and the others occupied at the ruins. Despite losing faith, Iago redeems himself by intentionally getting shot by a spell that Jafar intended to shoot at Aladdin. He survives and was forgiven after Jafar's defeat.
Other appearances
Like most characters from Disney's animated films, Iago made recurring appearances on Disney's House of Mouse, where the movies' continuity did not seem to matter, and Iago was depicted as either Jafar's sidekick or exhibiting his protagonist behavior.
At Walt Disney World, along with Zazu from the Lion King, he appears as one of the hosts of The Enchanted Tiki Room.
References