Oh foolish father, you bring doom wherever you go

The character I'm going to comment on is an archetype that has garnered a lot of attention in all fairy tales and despite being a minor character in almost all circumstances has a profound effect on the development on the story. I speak of course of the parents of the main character, in this case the father of Snow White. Like in most other fairy tales, his actions are directly responsible for the plight of the beautiful young girl.

In The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest, he actually almost avoids putting his daughter in any sort of peril by being wary of his possible marriage to the evil stepmother. However, that wouldn't have resulted in a very good story, would it? So as fate would have it, the boot held water and the father married his daughter's would-be tormentor and the rest is history. After the marriage though the father mysteriously disappears from the picture, again facilitating the progression of the story by not stopping or hindering the evil stepmother and her wicked doings.

In the Brier Rose story, again the father plays a part in the misfortune that befalls his daughter but it is not by his marriage to some evil stepmother (though the woman he scorns is still an old crone). By failing to invite the 13th wise old woman (unlucky 13?) to his feast, he causes her to lay a terrible curse on his young daughter. Though unlike the father in the Three Little Gnomes story, the king takes a proactive approach to help his daughter and destroys all of the spindles in his kingdom, one of which is prophesied to be the cause of a hundred year sleep for his daughter. Unlike the previous story, the king does not just disappear into oblivion but still plays a central role in the story.

In Snow White, again the king is the cause of his daughter's turmoil (indirectly, anyway) by marrying the evil stepmother and sealing her fate. But again in this story the father just kind of disappears and plays no further role in the unfurling of events. He serves as a catalyst for a reaction, and once the reaction has taken place he ceases to be useful and is cast off. Though it appears his role as the spark that starts the fire, so to speak, never really changes, his role in the rest of the story changes from tale to tale.