 | |
| PERFORMER | various |
| DEBUT | 1986 |
| DESIGN | Brian Froud |
The Four Guards were two pairs guarding two doors in the movie Labyrinth. One of the doors would lead to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth, while the other door would lead to "babababum certain death". One red pair, one blue: the lower two guards don't know which door leads where, while the upper two guards disagree about their respective honesty.
The Four Guards obey a set of rules about the information they share. Only one of the upper two guards could be asked about the door. Supposedly one always tells the truth and the other always lies, though the two naturally dissent about which is the honest one.
Sarah tries to solve the logic challenge by asking one of the guards a question to which both guards would give the same answer, namely if the other guard would say that the door she chose is the correct one. The answer is, "Yes", so the other door is supposedly the correct one. If the guard is the honest one, he would truthfully say that the lying guard would tell her to go through the wrong door, and if the guard is the lying one, he would untruthfully say that the honest guard would tell her to go through the wrong door. Although Sarah's logic is correct, she falls into the oubliette after declaring the Labyrinth "a piece of cake".
The challenge of the Four Guards is based on the Knights and Knaves logic puzzle.
Behind the Scenes[]
The novelization refers to these characters as Alph and Ralph and Jim and Tim, and the fabrication credits group the guards under Alph and Ralph.
The guards were puppeteered by Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, Anthony Asbury, and Dave Goelz, with the voices of Anthony Jackson, Douglas Blackwell, David Shaughnessy, and Timothy Bateson.
The Creature Shop fabrication team consisted of Cheryl Henson, Ricky Eyres, Rollie Krewson, Polly Smith, Bernard Kramer, and Geoff Paige.
After having been part of the Center for Puppetry Arts exhibit Jim Henson: Wonders from His Workshop since 2008, the Four Guards became part of the center's permanent Worlds of Puppetry exhibit in 2015.
