Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio introduces the audience to Candlewick (voiced by Finn Wolfhard), a boy from Pinocchio’s town who the puppet befriends at training camp. Pinocchio showed the fates of the title character and his loved ones, but what happened to Candlewick after their time together at the camp? 2022 saw the arrival of two very different versions of Carlo Collodi’s famous 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio: a live-action version from Disney, which is also a remake of the Mouse House’s 1940 animated classic, and a stop-motion animated version by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, which is darker and more loyal to the original tale.
Set in 1930s Italy, Pinocchio followed the title character (voiced by Gregory Mann) as he struggled to blend in with the rest of the town and make his father, Geppetto (David Bradley), proud, all this while also finding his own identity and struggling with different figures of authority. After dying a second time, Pinocchio found himself on his way to a training camp, as Podestà (Ron Perlman), a fascist government official, had planned to do with him from the beginning. Once at camp, Pinocchio bonded with Podestà’s son, Candlewick, whom he helped stand up for himself. Candlewick wasn’t seen again after Pinocchio made it out of camp, and his fate was left unknown.
Candlewick Probably Died In Pinocchio
Candlewick and Pinocchio met on the latter’s very first day as a living being, but Pinocchio didn’t make a good first impression. After surprising and unintentionally terrorizing the town’s residents at church, Geppetto was visited by the Priest (Burn Gorman), Podestá, and Candlewick to talk about what he planned to do with Pinocchio. Candlewick tricked Pinocchio into burning his feet in the chimney, establishing himself as a potential antagonist, but this changed during their time at training camp during the war. When the camp was bombed, Podestà was killed, Pinocchio was thrown in the air, and Candlewick climbed out of the debris, but he surely died sometime later.
The last time Candlewick was seen in Pinocchio he was climbing out of the debris and calling out for Pinocchio, but the puppet was captured by Volpe (Christoph Waltz). As Candlewick was a human boy, and supposing he survived the war, he died at some point. Because Candlewick didn’t show up again nor was he mentioned, it’s possible that he didn’t return to his hometown, whether to make a life far away from it or because he died in battle, but had he returned, Pinocchio would have seen his friend die just like Geppetto, Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), and Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett) did.
The Real Meaning Of Candlewick’s Arc In GDT’s Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio focuses more on themes of parenthood, authority, identity, and the meaning of life rather than on obedience and the horrible consequences of not following the rules, and instead of Pinocchio looking to become a human boy, what he wants is to be himself and be accepted as he is, especially by Geppetto. This same theme is seen in the relationship between Candlewick and Podestà, only that, while Pinocchio rebelled and stayed true to who he is, Candlewick gave in to his father’s expectations, which led him to live in fear of disappointing him and being labeled a “coward”. Candlewick is there to show that it’s never too late to be yourself and stand up for yourself, and surely, the young boy never forgot what Pinocchio taught him during their short time together at camp.
