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You think Monkeys, Mosquitoes and Lions are bad? This is the beginning... I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares...Things you can't even imagine...Things you can't even see...There are things that hunt you in the night...And if something screams, then you hear them eat...And you hope to God that you're not dessert...Afraid?!...You don't even know what afraid is...You will not last five minutes without me.
—Alan Parrish to Peter Shepherd

Alan Parrish is the main protagonist of the 1995 "JUMANJI" film and its novel adaptation. In the 1995 film, Alan was famously played by the late Robin Williams, while his younger self was played by Adam Hann-Byrd. Out of respect to Robin Williams, Alan Parrish is referenced in "Welcome to the Jungle". Also, one of the game's clues is an Elephant idol that resembles the game board token which Alan used in the 1995 film.

Role[]

Alan Parrish was born and was raised in Brantford, New Hampshire by his mother Carol and father Sam, in a large mansion and was positive friends with Sarah Whittle, much to the jealousy of her boyfriend Billy Jessup. He was also friendly with Parrish Shoes employee Carl "Soleman" Bentley, but he accidentally caused Carl to take the blame and lose his job after accidentally placing his prototype shoe on a conveyor and damaging the machinery. He had a rather pessimistic outlook on the game at first, the novel also expanding on Alan's outlook of his life as somewhat miserable and even hating his family dynasty due to being harassed without end by Billy's gang and feeling unwanted by his parents when they enrolled him into the Cliffside Academy, dreaming of a more exciting life away from Brantford. Nevertheless, he had great respect for his ancestor, General Angus Parrish; always nodding to his memorial statue when passing on his bike.

In 1969, after having a bad day involving Billy and his gang, Alan was coaxed by the sounds of drums in the construction site for the annex of Parrish Shoes. There, buried under the sand was an old chest, inside was a neat looking. wooden board game called "JUMANJI". In the midst of being spotted by a construction worker, Alan kept the game and ran home with the game to inspect it further. That night, Alan's relationship with his father Sam was already difficult as Alan always ran away from his fears instead of standing to face them, but they even had a falling out after being enrolled into a private school, giving Alan the notion to run away from home. His plan halted after Sarah came to give his bike back from Billy Jessup, as they began to hear the familiar drumbeats emitted from the strange game, leading to Alan inviting Sarah inside to play. Sarah was not convinced and dropped the dice down as she began to leave, but her Rhinoceros token began to slide on its own, drawing her back to watch the game unfold it's powers as the board's crystal ball emitted rhyming words that triggered the arrival of Bats hiding in the fireplace. Terrified by the game's power, Alan began to put the game away but was spooked by the sudden grandfather clock chimes and also dropped the dice down, which the game accepted as a roll. As his Elephant token stopped moving, he read the text on the crystal ball, immediately causing Alan to evaporate and was transported to the jungles of "JUMANJI" and would remain trapped inside unless a five or an eight was rolled. Alan called out to Sarah, telling her to roll the dice, but she was attacked by the Bats that presumably became agitated by the screaming kids, and chased her away from the house. Sarah was haunted by the experience which caused her to stay away from the Parrish Mansion, rending the game they started on hold and therefore leaving Alan still stuck in "JUMANJI".

Jumanji Crocodile Alan

Alan tries to wrestle a Crocodile.

Alone in "JUMANJI", Alan was forced to learn the laws of "JUMANJI" and improvise his own survival skills, becoming a Tarzan styled jungle man. It was here that Alan met the great white hunter Van Pelt, who for some reason did not take kindly to Alan, and the two became enemies as part of an ongoing hunt for his own head.

26 years later in 1995, when Nora Shepherd bought the empty Parrish Mansion to convert into a bed & breakfast hotel, her niece and nephew Judy and Peter discovered "JUMANJI" in the attic, after the sounds of drumming called them to it. They too were coaxed into playing the game and unintentionally released Alan after Peter rolled a five, as well as a Lion. Alan managed to overcome the powerful Lion with improvised tactics, and learning from the kids about the outside world in the time since he was gone, was astounded when he quickly discovered the state of Brantford, due to the sudden closure of Parrish Shoes and even more devastated by the deaths of his parents, all of which he unintentionally caused and even bumped into a policeman, who appears to be Carl with Carl not recognizing Alan. When visiting his parents' graves, Alan even whined in grief to himself wishing his family never existed and Peter comforts Alan for his loss (since Peter misses his parents too).

Back at the mansion, at first, Alan was done with the trauma "JUMANJI" inflicted on him and refused to play the game with the kids, but after reverse psychology from Peter, claims he will watch. But, when the game refuses Judy's dice rolls, he realised the game was still set on the round he started with Sarah in 1969, and that meant both he and Sarah have to play too in order to end the game. Alan was at first tense at the thought of going to ask the girl that abandoned him to help them out, but he moved on from his little grudge and effectively convinced her to help him and the kids play the game and undo the consequences to regain their peace that "JUMANJI" took from them.

Jumanji Monsoon

Alan swims through the rapids.

As the time turned to Alan's second turn, Van Pelt, his archenemy from "JUMANJI" was released by the dice rolls and resumed his hunt for just Alan, ignoring the other three players. Alan evaded the hunter's gun and returned to the mansion in time for Judy's second turn. Answering Sarah's questions, Alan explained to her that the tow men have been at ends with each other for a while and that the Hunter desired to take Alan's head as his next prize for uncertain reasons. After the Stampede and retrieving the game from a Pelican, when Alan was arrested by Carl on suspicion of the weird events happening around Brantford, which results in Peter trying to finish the game by cheating and getting turned into a monkey as the penalty for cheating. After Alan apologised to Carl for ruining his career at the Shoe Factory, he tried to explain the unnatural goings-on and they eventually managed to put a stop to Van Pelt at the Sir Sav-A-Lot. On the way back to the Mansion, Alan took Peter aside to tell him off for trying to cheat at the game, but regretting it after realising he was acting too much like his father.

Quicksand Jumanji

Alan is nearly swallowed by the quicksand.

After returning to the Mansion, the three players followed Alan through the Monsoon and trusted his navigation away from the Crocodiles, but he had to dive back into the water to wrestle one away from Sarah. Alan's third dice roll in the attic landed him in a pond of Quicksand that dragged him through the floors but only stopped when Judy's third dice roll froze it, leaving him and Sarah stuck between the floor and unable to repel the Spider attack. Once the Earthquake came to an end, however, Van Pelt returned one last time to finish Alan off, demanding him to drop the dice. This was Alan's fourth and unintentionally final roll, as the roll lead to a winning roll, and he was able to call the name of "JUMANJI". Then everything that was transferred out of "JUMANJI" was pulled back into the game board and returning Alan and Sarah to their childhood in 1969.

After his return to 1969, Alan reconciled with his father and told him the truth about the incident in the shoe factory and it is not even Carl Bentley's fault and his father told Alan that he doesn't have to go to a private school. Alan worried about Judy and Peter before Sarah told him that they don't exist in their era, which means they are safe. The two then went on to dump "JUMANJI", weighted down with bricks, into the river and began dating.

By the time Alan reached 1994, in the new timeline, he was married to Sarah, expecting a baby and in charge of Parrish Shoes while his parents were retired and moved to Florida, but still alive, and were due to join them for Christmas and Carl still works at Parrish Shoes as the plant supervisor. Alan employed Jim Shepherd as an advertising agent for Parrish Shoes and invited him and Martha to their Christmas Party in 1995. Since they brought their kids, Alan and Sarah met Judy and Peter again; where neither displayed memories of their time together in the "JUMANJI" timeline. To stop Judy and Peter from losing their parents, Alan and Sarah convinced Jim and Martha not to take the fatal skiing trip, therefore preventing the unfortunate fateful events on the Shepherd family from the alternate timeline from repeating itself and Jim and Martha agree to cancel their upcoming skiing trip and start work on the marketing on the new line at Parrish Shoe Company. Alan and Sarah then proceeded to invite the Shepherds into their house, promising that it was also their house too, in gratitude for Judy and Peter saving them from their previous lives and gifting them in the new "JUMANJI" sneakers for Christmas.

2017[]

When "JUMANJI" changed its board game into a new video game format to adapt to the times, it kept the jungle theme of its world and retained the Parrish Treehouse that Alan Parrish built and lived in during his 26-year imprisonment in "JUMANJI", as well as a marker that he lived there.


Skills[]

Jumanji Harvest Time

Harvest time!

  • "JUMANJI" Knowledge: Due to Alan's years of survival and lifestyle in "JUMANJI", it gave him a unique knowledge and wisdom of the game's environments, creatures and inhabitants, which were essential to helping his friends finish the game as he insisted they would not last 5 minutes without him.
  • Survival Skills: While trapped in Jumanji with no way home, Alan was forced to learn how to survive on his own without his parents help. While the exact events of Alan’s time in Jumanji are unknown, it is known that Alan learned how to survive against the dangers of the jungle as well as learning how to hunt, make weapons and make clothing from whatever materials he could find.
  • Athletics: A hard lifestyle from living in "JUMANJI" gave Alan the fitness he needed to be able to run from a stampede and Van Pelt's gunshots, handle a sword and even wrestle a swimming Crocodile to save Sarah. As a twelve-year-old, he was an accomplished cyclist as he was able to stay as far ahead of Billy's gang as possible.
  • Blades: Alan’s became highly proficient in using bladed weapons while trapped in Jumanji, crafting himself a survival knife made with wood and stone to protect himself against the hostile wild and plant life. He was able to throw blades to walls or surfaces as he managed to delay Van Pelt by throwing his grandfathers sword at his pursuer’s right jacket sleeve to delay him.
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