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I recently watched an interesting youtube video which theorizes that Genie still owes Aladdin one wish, however as I was watching it I realized that it could in fact be argued that Genie never fully fulfilled any of Aladdin's wishes except the one to set him free. Since he set Genie free, then Genie doesn't owe any wishes to Aladdin anymore. But did he ever actually officially grant either of the other two wishes? He never officially makes Aladdin a prince and Aladdin never says the words "I wish to be saved from drowning." Video with the theory can be seen below.

Q: Is it not true that Genie never actually granted any of Aladdin's wishes other than the one to set him free?

NOTE: Related to but not a duplicate of Does the Genie trick Aladdin with the third wish?

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  • SCB (as much as I love them) are by no means an authoritative voice. I don't see why the question was edited so drastically, but I guess the main premise is still there. – Skooba Oct 17 at 18:59
  • Also, for answer to be complete would we be making counter arguments to the prince and drowning wish, or just the prince one? – Skooba Oct 17 at 19:01
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    Note that, regardless of the legitimacy of the wishes, freeing Genie releases him from "owing" Aladdin any remaining wishes. – Walt Oct 17 at 21:48
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    So my entire life is based on a lie? – RobbyReindeer Oct 19 at 9:15
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    @BruceWayne he didn't lose his magic by being set free, only the pattern of servitude and having masters that he was bound to grant wishes to. – sanpaco Oct 19 at 15:57
up vote 45 down vote accepted

Genie only officially granted the wish to be made free

Of the other two wishes, one was in progress but never fulfilled and the other was not official since it was never verbalized.

Wish 1 - Genie never makes Aladdin a prince

Aladdin wishes for Genie to make him a prince. Genie then grants him a menagerie and all sorts of other fancy things to make him look like a prince, but he is not officially a prince as is pretty well established throughout the rest of the movie.

The only way for Aladdin to become a prince is to marry a princess. So Genie is still in the process of granting Aladdin's first wish the entire movie.

Genie tries to convince Aladdin to tell Jasmine the truth about not being a prince in order to woo her

Genie: All right, Sparky, here's the deal. If you wanna court the little lady, you gotta be a straight shooter. Do you got it?
Genie: Tell her the truth!
Aladdin: No way. If Jasmine found out I was really some crummy street rat, she'd laugh at me.

Jafar exposes Aladdin as a non-prince

Jafar: ♪ Prince Ali, yes, it is he. But not as you know him! Read my lips and coms to grips with the reality. Yes, meet a blast from your past, whose lies were too good to last! Say hello to your precious Ali! ♪
Iago: Or should we say Aladdin?
Jasmine: Ali?
Aladdin: Jasmine, I tried to tell you. I'm just...
Jafar: ♪ So Ali turns out to be merely Aladdin! Just a con. Need I go on? Take it from me.

The Sultan has to make a new law so that Aladdin and Jasmine can get married

Genie: No matter what anybody says, you'll always be a prince to me.
Sultan: That's right. You've certainly proven your worth as far as I'm concerned. It's that law that's the problem.
Jasmine: Father?
Sultan: Well, am I Sultan or am I Sultan? From this day forth, the princess shall marry whomever she deems worthy.

At this point Genie has already been set free so it could safely be said that he has not granted Aladdin's wish of being made a prince before being set free. A change in the law actually has to be made so that Jasmine and Aladdin can get married. Its also worth noting that they do not get married until the third movie Aladdin and the King of Thieves

Wish 2 - Aladdin doesn't officially wish to be saved from drowning

Genie can't grant an official wish unless Aladdin says the words, "I wish for [blank]", but this doesn't limit Genie's ability to intervene. There are two examples in the movie of Genie performing acts on Aladdin's behalf which Aladdin didn't verbally wish for.

Unofficial wish #1

First, Aladdin tricks Genie into getting them out of the Cave of Wonders, which Genie accepts was not an official wish due to this logic.

Aladdin: Ah, no. I never actually wished to get out of the cave. You did that on your own.
Genie: Well, I feel sheepish. All right, you baaad boy, but no more freebies.
Aladdin: Fair deal.

Unoffical wish #2

When Aladdin is drowning, Genie saves him but since Aladdin is unconscious he is unable to make an actual wish. Genie even tells him that he can't save him unless he says the words. But this would appear to be untrue as he immediately goes ahead and saves him anyway after Aladdin appears to nod.

Genie: Never fails. Get in the bath and there's a rub at the lamp. Hello? Al? [gasping] Al! Kid, snap out of it. You can't cheat on this one. I can't help unless you make a wish. You have to say, "Genie, I want you to save my life." Got it? Okay! Come on, Aladdin! I'll take that as a yes.

Counter arguments

It has been argued that this second wish was official because of the original agreement of "no more freebies", however it is already established that Genie does have the ability to intervene without there being an actual wish made. I don't see any evidence in the film or otherwise that the "no more freebies" agreement was binding in any way that would eliminate Genie's ability to perform an action without a wish being made.

In addition, I would argue that Genie was already obligated to save Aladdin from drowning due to Aladdin's wish to be made a prince which had yet to be fulfilled.

Conclusion

So, Genie never grants Aladdin's first wish to made a prince. Aladdin only becomes a prince after he marries Jasmine, which he doesn't do until the third movie and is only able to do because the Sultan changes the law.

The wish to save Aladdin from drowning was non-binding because:

  • Genie was obligated to save him because he had not yet fulfilled the first wish to make Aladdin a prince
  • While Genie and Aladdin had a verbal agreement of "no more freebies", it is established that for the wish to be official, Aladdin must say the words, which he doesn't do.
  • It is also established that Genie does have the ability to intervene without a wish being official
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    "In addition, I would argue that Genie was already obligated to save Aladdin from drowning due to Aladdin's wish to be made a prince which had yet to be fulfilled." That is downright speculation. – jpmc26 Oct 17 at 22:33
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    It seems like from a certain point of view, one could argue that Aladdin was made a prince in at least his wealth and entourage. That he have the official title of prince wasn't necessarily part of the deal. – Mark Rogers Oct 17 at 22:43
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    @jpmc26 perhaps to some extent but I think it makes pretty logical sense. Regardless, that is only one of the reasons listed which makes that wish unofficial. – sanpaco Oct 18 at 5:14
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    'Argued'? I love that people argue about this stuff. – Strawberry Oct 18 at 13:47
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    the drowning wish is a real wish - note that Genie nods Aladdin's head and ventriloquists the words and Genie then says 'I'll take that as a 'yes'" - the nod (and specious words) being an acceptable stand-in for a verbal response. Nod, wink, or speaking - the scene clearly indicates that at the least, Genie requires some kind of indication from Aladdin that the wish is made, which the nod supplies – NKCampbell Oct 18 at 19:40
up vote 22 down vote

Aladdin already was a prince, even before he made the wish.

From the third movie we know that Aladdin's dad is the king of thieves, which sort of makes him a prince. Of course you can still argue wether the title was legit or not, but what defines a king anyway? If it's the people under his reign, he had those. (39 thieves I think)

Aladdin already was a prince, so basically his wish would still have been fulfilled even if Genie had done nothing. But that would have been a quick end to the movie and a major spoiler I guess.

So the answer is no, Genie does not own Aladdin a wish.

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    I love this answer since it's the classic Genie Wishes trick. – Masclins Oct 18 at 14:58
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    What's the exact phrasing on the wish? If Aladdin said "I wish I were a prince" then Genie could fulfill that without doing anything, but this answer says the phrasing is "Genie, I wish for you to make me a prince", which I think does require that Genie actually do something. – Lord Farquaad Oct 18 at 17:29
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    This answer seems to ignore that, according to the logic established in the movie, Aladdin never made three wishes. I agree that his first wish was fulfilled, but Aladdin never wished to be saved from drowning. I think Genie wanted him to say the words so that it would use up a wish, but Genie realized he cared about Aladdin and decided to save him anyway. Then he lied to Aladdin about it being a wish. That's the only intepretation that makes sense to me. – only_pro Oct 18 at 17:54
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    @LordFarquaad Except the only way to be a prince is to be born one; had that wish not existed, Aladdin's dad wouldn't have been the king of thieves. The Genie just had to impose upon history for it to be true. Either this is a branched timeline, or the Genie's imposition on history makes it the only history that ever existed. ;) – Yakk Oct 18 at 19:52
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    This is an interesting theory for sure, but I don't think it meets the requirements to be an actual prince. "King" of thieves isn't a royal title, its more of a nickname. So Aladdin might be considered the "prince of thieves", but I don't think that makes him a prince in the sense that is needed to fulfill the law which would enable him to marry Princess Jasmine. – sanpaco Oct 18 at 22:22
up vote 12 down vote

Genie does grant the wish to make Aladdin a prince!

The easiest counter argument is that without Jafar's involvement Aladdin would have stayed a prince. Jafar's magic counteracts Genie's when he "exposed" Aladdin.

Aladdin was made a prince, the "real truth" he needed to tell Jasmine was that he made a prince by magic and that he was not born royal. Remember Jasmine was mad at Ali because he felt he had a "right" to marry her. Telling her the truth at that point reveals that the whole prince thing is just a way to even have a chance at seeing her again.

Jasmine ends up realizing Ali and Aladdin are the same person, but Ali ends up covering this with another lie. If Jasmine believes this lie she still believes he is a prince. Without Jafar's interference, if Aladin can reestablish the connection he made with Jasmine in the market there is no need for the Sultan to change the laws as the secret would not be made public (or at least to public to the Sultan).

The conclusion would be that Aladdin and Jasmine get married, Genie fulfilled the wish.

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    This is a good point, but I would argue that Aladdin does not really seem to be a prince as he has no lands or anything real that would make him so. It's just a disney move so not a big deal, but it has always bugged me that his retainers and gold etc... disappear, when it seems Genie did have the power to have them be permanent. – Majaii Oct 17 at 20:36
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    Strong disagree. Aladdin doesn't become a prince. He gets some fancy accoutrements, sure, but he acquires no royal lineage, becomes the heir to no thrones. No definition of Prince is "has a bunch of fancy clothes and a parade through Agrabah" – Daniel B Oct 18 at 3:55

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