Maxim Horvath is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 2010 film The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Background
Personality
As stated by his actor Alfred Molina, Horvath is a sophisticated, well-mannered and cultured man, always impeccably collected and polite, even when about to kill someone. But this refined facade hardly veils his cruelty. He is cold-hearted, cares only about himself and disposes off his followers and allies without second thoughts.
Though he does have (or had) strong feelings of love for Veronica, and retains a grudging respect for Balthazar. Also, as long as he gets what he wants, he holds his parts of bargains and leaves his foes alive (when he has no interest in killing them).
Role In The Film
He was, along with Balthazar Blake and Veronica, a disciple of Merlin and a force of good more than a thousand years ago. But their mutual love for Veronica split the colleagues apart and Horvath has instead become an ally of the wicked Morgana, who murdered Merlin and is seek sought to conquer the world with an army of undead sorcerers. He and Balthazar have battled through the ages, finally bringing their conflict to modern-day New York City. “In the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Horvath's mission is world domination,”. Balthazar is maintaining the Merlinean standard of magic as a power that’s used for the benefit of mankind. Horvath is the leader of the Morganians, who take the very different view that magic should be used to subjugate humans.
It was until Balthazar defeated and sealed him away in the Grimlock, a near unbreakable object that sealed Morgana away thousands of years ago. Then 10 year old Dave accidentally freed Maxim and after a struggle with Balthazar, the two were stuck in a pot for ten years. After the ten years were up, Maxim went after Dave, sending a pack of wolves after the boy. Yet Balthazar, who had escaped as well, rescued Dave and began sorcerer training. Freeing Morganians, he vowed to destroy Dave, the Prime Merlinean, so that Morgana would be free and send her wrath upon the world. After absorbing energy from other Morganians, he freed Morgana and attempted to kill Balthazar. But it was Dave who defeated him and Balthazar who blasted him away.
Horvath managed to escape the battle between Morgana and the Merlinean sorcerers, vanishing about the time Morgana's magical circle was disrupted. His current whereabouts are not known, though the film's stinger shows an unidentified hand retrieving his hat from the Cabana Arcana.
Trivia
- Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice is greatly inspired by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Maxim Horvath is the equivalent of Tom Marvolo Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. Unlike Voldemort, however, Horvath used to be Balthazar's ally, once a true good man, and knows what love is (how he turned to the dark side was out of jealousy as he fell in love with Veronica, but she chose Balthazar instead as her lover and made him evil), while Voldemort never learns about love and he became pure evil since his early life.
- In terms of his backstory prior to his betrayal, his former friendship with Balthazar, and also his status as de facto leader of Morganians, Horvath can be comparable with Megatron in the Transformers franchise, particularly in the Transformers film series. This was due to both Horvath and Balthazar once good friends much like Megatron and Optimus Prime used to be until they became enemies, Horvath mainly held control over Morganians that founded by Morgana like Megatron does with the Decepticons that previously founded by The Fallen, and also, both organizations that they affiliated with shares similar racial ideology and beliefs.
- In the movie opening where Horvath was introduced via his depiction in the Encantus, he appears to held a bottle of some kind of potion, suggesting that he held a degree of knowledge in magical potion brewery and/or even alchemy albeit his said talent never seen in the movie itself.
Gallery
Template:The Sorcerer's Apprentice