For years, there have been countless conspiracy theories about our beloved Disney/Pixar and children’s movies. While Disney/Pixar movies are supposed to be children’s movies, the theories behind them are very dark and morbid. The theories and metaphors could possibly be there purely for adults’ enjoyment, but they also keep the innocent aspect of them to be appropriate for adolescents.

It’s interesting to consider whether the examples that follow are pure conspiracy or if Disney/Pixar deliberately had these in mind to entertain adults (as noted above) or develop the story into a more complex one.

Let’s start with Peter Pan. A huge theory that fans came up with for Peter Pan, is that Peter is actually the angel of death. Fans theorized that the Lost Boys and all the other characters in Neverland never grow up because they’re already dead! They theorized that Neverland is some form of the afterlife and/or Heaven. However, with Wendy and her brothers, since they did not stay in Neverland and ended up going back home, they did not stop growing up/die.

Going along with Peter Pan, another theory fans have come up with is that Captain Hook killed Ariel’s mother. This theory came about because one of the mermaids in Peter Pan has the same red hair as Ariel. Nobody has ever seen or met Ariel’s mother, but we know her name is Athena.

In the movie Peter Pan, the mermaid that resembles Ariel is never named, however, there is a possibility that her name is Athena. Most importantly, we know that Athena was killed by pirates and the mermaids in Peter Pan have a less than cordial relationship with Captain Hook and his pirates.

We all know and love the Pixar movie Up, but what if I told you that maybe Carl is dead (along with his wife) and Russel (the boy scout) is an angel trying to earn his wings, or in the movie, earn his Wilderness Explorer badge?

Fans also theorized that Carl’s trip to Paradise Falls was actually his move to the afterlife, hence why they named it PARADISE Falls.

Did you know that Disney’s Aladdin has been determined, by Disney conspirators, to take place in the future? I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out!

Disney conspirators have theorized this because the genie claims that he has been locked in the lamp for ten thousand years. If this is true, that places the story far in the future. Genie also tends to impersonate actors from our time, meaning there is no way that Genie could have been alive in the ancient times. If the story does actually take place in the future, then Genie would have actually gotten locked in the lamp during the 20th century.

What if I told you that Mother Gothel from Tangled is also the Evil Queen from Snow White? Disney lovers have theorized that Tangled was actually just a sequel to Snow White.

The theory is that the Evil Queen survived her crushing defeat in 1937. Or maybe she faked her death. However, no matter if she died or not, the Evil Queen and Mother Gothel look awfully similar. They are also magically similar. For example, the Evil Queen used her magic to appear as an old hag and Mother Gothel used the magical flower to make her appear youthful.

Finally, our last theory is about Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. The theory about this childhood favorite is that all of the characters of Halloweentown are actually fear-personified.

Basically, fans have theorized that Burton made the Halloweentown citizens based off of dark and primal fears. For example, Jack Skellington is based on the fear of death. Fans also theorized that Oogie Boogie is based on the fear of the unknown/the dark, and Sally is based on the fear of disability.

In the end, we don’t really know whether these theories are true or not. What we do know is there are a lot of different theories for all kinds of Disney/Pixar movies, and there are sure to be more theories out there.