Lord Henry Mystic is a character from the attraction Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland. He is an audio-animatronic character voiced by Stephen Stanton.
History[]
Background[]
Lord Henry Mystic was a British nobleman in the 19th century. By the 1850s, he was a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, a guild of aristocratic and colonial globetrotters. Around the late 1870s/early 1880s, he came upon a monkey in the jungles of Papua New Guinea which was caught in the web of a giant spider. Lord Mystic saved the monkey, adopted it and named it Albert after a beloved uncle of his.
Lord Henry Mystic and Albert went on many adventures together across the world. In 1896, the two returned to Papua New Guinea where they claimed a large swath of land that they colonized into Mystic Point. Within the colony they built Mystic Manor, a victorian mansion which held what would become a collection of 7,000 artifacts taken from across the Earth.
Mystic often attended the estate of fellow S.E.A. member Dr. Albert Falls which held a secret meeting-place for the society. In 1929, Lord Mystic hypocritically revoked the membership of grave-robbing S.E.A. member Prof. Garrett Reed for having grave-robbed the tomb of Egyptian mummies (a crime which Mystic himself commit). Around the early December of 1932, Mystic was interviewed on Reed by Andrew Sinclair-Harris of the Daily Colonial Journal where he refused to state why he expelled Reed, but gave a quote on him being, "Sinister".
By 1936, Henry had also become a member of the Adventurer Trading Company when it travelled to Mystic Point. He was known as a recipricantt of the Elephant Juju, attributed to his collection of stolen artifacts in Mystic Manor.
Development history[]
Creation & Changes[]
Mystic Manor was created as Hong Kong Disneyland's counterpart to the Haunted Mansion. Due to Chinese culture not traditionally featuring ghosts and the undead within the horror genera, the focus was shifted onto curses and malevolent inhuman spirits instead. The attraction was originally planned to be darker with a relatively more realistic and horror-oriented aesthetic, similar to the Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor. However, this was opted out for a more over-the-top cartoony aesthetic and shifted focus on Albert the monkey getting into cutesy shenanigans.
Controversy & colonial propaganda[]
Lord Henry Mystic is a romanticized depiction of real-life British colonial explorers and is shown performing many actions in a, "Heroic" context which have been commit in real-life as part of colonial crimes. This includes the claiming and colonization of jungle land in Papua New Guinea, being a British noble with a museum of Indigenous artifacts, and having both grave-robbed and desecrated the remains of an Ancient Egyptian for his collection. This was also the first attraction to retroactively create the Society of Explorers and Adventurers; previously an Italian renaissance society from Tokyo DisneySea's Fortress Explorations here made into an assembly of glamorized colonists and aristocrats including the villainous Harrison Hightower III from Tower of Terror, a character made to criticize many of the same actions which Mystic is romanticized for.
Jungle Cruise Appearances[]
Adventure Trading Company[]
The Daily Gnus newspaper journalist Priyanka Manhas mentions Lord Mystic having been given the Elephant Juju for his tracking abilities. The list of Adventure Trading Company members also has his name listed on it. The Daily Gnus mentioned the titular Adventure Trading Company travelling to Mystic Point along with the Lost River Delta and Harambe prior to its arrival in Adventureland.
Bengal Barbecue[]
Mystic makes a small cameo on the miniature of S.E.A.'s 1899 meeting in the Hotel Hightower in the possession of Prof. Blauerhimmel. Albert makes an additional cameo as a plushy aboard the Zambezi Miss in the African veldt alongside Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayer, characters from The African Queen (1951).
Jungle Cruise[]
Lord Mystic is mentioned as, "dear friend Henry M." on a map made by Dr. Albert Falls in the queue for this attraction, referencing Mystic as having advised Falls not to touch anything in ancient ruins which Falls followed while exploring the Irrawaddy ruins.[1] In Dr. Leonard Moss' journal, Lord Henry Mystic is referred to as, "Lord Henry" when Moss ponders if his species of carnivorous plant is similar to one which was discovered by Lord Henry Mystic. Beneath is a note to contact Mystic Point's archive for assistance on the subject.
Leading up to the 2021 refurbishments of the Jungle Cruise, an in-universe article of The Daily Gnus newspaper was released. In this newspaper, Alberta Falls mentioned how her grandfather had brought her to Mystic Point when she was young. Upon the reopening, crates to and from Mystic Point were put in the queue though these were quietly removed from the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise. There is a post-card for Mystic Point in the bulletin board of the Amazon River Base.
Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity[]
The Daily Colonial Journal interviewed Lord Mystic and Indiana Jones in 1932 on the topic of Prof. Garrett Reed's crime-spree.
Skipper Canteen[]
Mystic's fez is in a display-case within the entrance to the S.E.A. meeting hall. Books written by the lord appear in the library with the titles Manor of Fact, Primates as Shipmates, and Treasures of the Manor.
Tropical Hideaway[]
An oar is hung up in the Tropical Hideaway which commemorates Mystic's 1874 expedition on the Ganges river.
Other Appearances[]
Mystic Point[]
Explorers Club Restaurant[]
Mystic Manor[]
Oceaneer Lab[]
Soaring: Fantastic Flight[]
In other media[]
Tales from the Haunted Mansion[]
Trivia[]
- Lord Mystic was originally planned to look more realistic before Mystic Manor adopted a more tonally confused, cartoony aesthetic.
- While supposed to be a benevolent member of the S.E.A. in contrast to vilified members such as Prof. Garrett Reed, Harrison Hightower III and Barnabas T. Bullion, Mystic is responsible for many of the same vilified actions as the aforementioned figures.
- The Tales from the Haunted Mansion books seem to reference a more historically-accurate, vilified depiction of Mystic by affiliating him with the exploitation of the mummy Prince Amenmose for tea leaves. In real-world history, British Victorian explorers such as Lord Henry Mystic were known to desecrate mummy remains and cannibalize them as an exotic form of tea.
- As master of Hong Kong's counterpart to the Haunted Mansion, Mystic serves as a rough counterpart to Master Gracey, the Ghost Host, and Henry Ravenswood. This connection is potentially referenced in the pre-show of Mystic Manor where Mystic communicates to guests from outside of the room resembling the Ghost Host (and Phantom's) disembodied voice.
- Lord Henry Mystic's reference on Dr. Falls' map is ironic as it says that Lord Mystic gave Dr. Falls the advice to, "Look but not touch" while exploring ancient ruins, while Lord Henry Mystic is a prolific collector of amorally acquired ancient artifacts.
Gallery[]
